Through my roles with Downsizing.com.au and Agedcare101.com.au over the past 6 years, I have been lucky enough to get to know and visit many Aged Care Providers around the Country.
While I have seen some wonderful websites and marketing campaigns from the larger providers I have noticed a gap in websites and digital marketing efforts from the smaller and medium size providers. This became even more evident during the pandemic, many providers were not digitally ready to take the next step.
During the pandemic, many old marketing strategies became not only redundant but impossible to actually do, with the closure of local newspapers and the inability to get market. Aged Care Providers are not driving enough quality leads via online and digital tools to their own websites, and that is a problem.
Aged Care Living is a medical decision more than a property decision like (Retirement Living) and (Landlease/Lifestyle Communities) and is under enormous pressure to remain viable in its own right and not be gobbled up by the larger operators. Getting your website and digital marketing strategy right is a very cost-effective way to help achieve greater rates of return to your facility.
Another problem is time, show me a Village Manger and I’ll show you someone that is extremely time poor with all the things that have to be managed day to day. So things like updating website content for example go by the wayside. The good news is that our websites are extremely easy to use and update.
Having easy-to-use websites with great content and explainer videos, virtual tours, professional photography, and family updates is the bare minimum. And what about staffing, nearly every provider I have met has complained about not being able to attract good quality staff. What is the first thing a potential staff member will do, that’s right check out your website. Your website needs to be a much more cleaner and professional extension of your Aged Care facility than in real life.
