September 24, 2025 • 47 mins
Summary
In this episode of 'From Leads to Leases', host Jerry Vinci engages with senior living strategist Lola Rain to explore the intricacies of marketing within the senior living industry. They discuss the importance of intentional strategy, the impact of branding, the role of events in community engagement, and the challenges of career advancement in the sector. Lola emphasizes the need for effective follow-up strategies post-events, the significance of language in care, and the evolving role of AI in marketing. The conversation highlights the necessity of understanding acquisition costs and the importance of a cohesive marketing approach that resonates with the target audience.
Learn More:
- Connect with Lola Rain on LinkedIn
Takeaways
- The key to better move-ins is understanding the 'why' behind actions.
- Strategy in senior living goes beyond marketing and sales.
- Branding should reflect the true essence of the community.
- Life enrichment is central to community identity and marketing.
- Effective event marketing requires early planning and multi-channel promotion.
- Follow-up strategies are crucial for converting leads post-event.
- Recognition in the industry can significantly impact personal growth.
- Career advancement often requires navigating organizational barriers.
- Understanding acquisition costs is essential for financial planning.
- Language used in marketing can shape perceptions of care facilities.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to From Leads to Leases - A Senior Living Business Podcast
02:06 The Importance of Strategy in Senior Living
05:04 Building a Brand that Resonates
06:50 Using Resident Testimonials in Brand Building
08:16 Measuring ROI from Brand Development
12:13 Event Marketing: Driving Census through Engagement
19:40 The Power of Recognition in Senior Living
21:09 Navigating Career Growth and Barriers
25:24 Marketing ROI: Understanding Acquisition Costs
28:19 Budgeting and Working Better with Marketing & Sales
33:47 The Impact of Language in Senior Living
38:23 AI's Role in Transforming Marketing Strategies
Keywords
senior living, marketing strategy, branding, community engagement, event marketing, career advancement, acquisition costs, language in care, AI in marketing
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
We're talking about branding to make people feel comfortable
that senior living isn't what they think it is.
Like we're trying to, we're trying to change perceptions,
and the best way to change perceptions is by being out
there and actually saying what it is, right?
This is, this is not a nursing home from 50 years ago.
This is a vibrant place where people enjoy life.
(00:22):
What is the key to better Move Insurance wasn't another ad
campaign, but finally asking why.
Before we act, today's guest is on a mission to bring strategy,
soul, and smarter systems to theway we grow communities.
Welcome to From Leads to Leases,ACCR growth podcast that helps
(00:43):
senior living providers transform their complex
challenges into opportunities. Listen in for stories from
industry leaders, innovative strategies and insights, and
with our expertise, learn how toincrease occupancy faster,
Guaranteed. Welcome back to another episode
from Leads to Leases, the podcast that dives deep into the
(01:03):
senior living and senior care industries, bringing you
insights, strategies, and stories from the experts at the
forefront of innovation, leadership, and care.
I'm your host, Jerry Vincey, CEOof CCR Growth.
For those of you who don't know about us, CCR Growth is a full
service marketing and growth agency exclusive to the senior
living industry. And through this podcast, I'm
here to guide you through the evolving landscape of senior
(01:25):
care, exploring the innovations,the strategies, and leadership
insights that are shaping the future of the industry.
So whether you are a provider, acaregiver, or an industry
leader, this show is here to help you make informed decisions
and create meaningful impact. Today's guest is Lola Rain, a
senior living strategist, speaker and creative force who
spent over 15 years inside the industry driving change from
(01:48):
both the provider and vendor sides.
From high tech innovation to oldschool event marketing, Lola is
known for helping organizations elevate their brand, humanize
their messaging, and build strategies that actually move
the needle. So welcome Lola.
I'm so glad to have you here. Hi, Jerry.
It's good to see you you. Too you too.
I want to jump right into it. We got a lot of questions to
cover and obviously marketing isone of my favorite topics and I
(02:12):
love your approach. You've got this new school, old
school approach that's always running and I, I want to talk
about both. So you've said in the past that
strategies your area of expertise.
What does that actually look like in practice in senior
living? So starting with the big
picture, what is the number one goal that you're trying to
achieve and what are some of thebarriers to achieving it?
(02:35):
So looking beyond just marketingand sales, but what else is
going on within the building or the organization or even bigger
within trends of the industry oreconomic challenges?
Why do you think so many leadersdefault to execution before
planning? I see that a lot too.
Yeah. So a lot of times somebody will
come to a leader and say, hey, this competitor over here is
(02:58):
doing this one thing. Can we do that?
Well, what I really look at is what is the intention of it?
What do you want the outcome to be?
Let's not just duplicate what somebody else is doing.
Let's do it better. Let's determine is it something
that's going to help differentiate us?
If it's not going to, if it's just going to make us look like
(03:18):
the guy next door, then why do it at all?
I see there's a lot of, and I don't know if it's in other
spaces as much as senior living,but there's a lot of that FOMO
action happening with marketing and advertising.
I see this guy's running ads over here.
I need to be running ads over here and nobody's really asking
that question. Why?
Which I always find interesting.It's a budget burn for no reason
if you don't understand the why behind it.
(03:40):
So totally agree with your your perspective there.
Yeah, most of the time if you'regoing to hire an agency, the
first thing the agency is going to do is a competitive analysis
and see what what the different buildings around your region are
doing and what's working and what's not.
So I highly recommend working with the professionals like you,
Jerry, because you'll you'll be able to dive in there and create
(04:00):
that plan that really differentiates.
So what would you say if a provider came to you, an
operator came to you and said I want to create a video because
the guy down the street has a video just because that's what
the competitors doing, but he doesn't really understand the
why. What would you say to someone in
that situation? Yeah, this has happened to me
quite a bit. And in fact other departments
have brought me videos and said can you go ahead and put this up
(04:21):
on our YouTube channel. And they felt the need to go
out, hire a videographer, go outto the communities, create this
in product without getting the marketing department involved
with it. And so there was no why.
And I said, well, what would youlike to do with this video?
And the answer was put it on theYouTube page so that people
could see it. Well, who's going to see it?
(04:41):
And if I remember correctly fromthat example, they spent $3000
on videos. And, you know, I looked at it a
year later and only 30 views hadhappened.
So you got to have your why before you even start.
And if you're going to hire a video team to come in and do
videos, let them know what that intention is so that they can
(05:02):
create it with the end in mind. Into branding a little bit, I
feel like branding doesn't get the attention that it deserves,
and I know that you focus a lot on that.
I focus a lot on that. I think it's the core of what
really sets communities apart, especially in today's
competitive market. You had shared a plan to build a
brand that's felt throughout thebuilding with me prior.
What are the key parts of of that approach?
(05:24):
So going in and talking with your residents and your staff,
they know your your brand and what differentiates you better
than anybody and really celebrating that brand across
every department in the community and in the
organization. Because if you don't go to the
frontline staff and get them involved and get them excited
and really illuminate what's happening day-to-day in your
(05:47):
communities, you are making a brand that has no realistic
application. Like you can put a logo out
there, you can you can put your website with all your colors and
and if it doesn't really exude what's happening within the
community, then it means nothing.
And what role? You wouldn't often think
branding and life enrichment play hand in hand, but I feel
(06:07):
like that's part of the culture that you're building through the
branding. What role does life enrichment
play in standing out from the crowd?
So life enrichment is really theheart of the entire building,
right? The whole community gathers
together to do at activities andthose activities should be
designed around the the likes and the interests of the people
who are living there. And so that's where the vitality
(06:30):
lives. That's where each individual
gets to express themselves and socialize and really gets to do
what they want to do, right. I think that life enrichment is
the most important part of the community.
And if it's not being highlighted through the
marketing efforts, we're fallingshort on what we need to be
doing to to draw more new residents in.
(06:51):
Piece of the brand too is resident and staff testimonials.
How do you gather those in a in a way that feels authentic and
usable for the community? Well, I like to go hang out with
the residents and ask them questions.
So I will go to different eventsthat are happening in the
community and talk with residents.
Also ask for volunteers to sit down with me and tell me their
(07:12):
stories. So story storytelling is one of
the best ways to really dive into your marketing and get good
testimonials for your website. Whether do that through
interviews or videos, there's just so much you can do.
We'll highlight certain residents with interesting
histories, right? So say, say there's a music
(07:32):
event coming up. And so that's that's happening
right now at the Tama Pius Bar and we have a music event coming
up in a couple of months. So I'm going to go in and speak
with the different residents whoare really involved in music,
whether that means they play thepiano or they love certain types
of music. But I want to uncover those
interests. And then I want to also, during
(07:53):
that period of time that I'm talking to them, get to the core
of what do they love about living in the community.
You know, what do they want other people to know about
living in the community? And that way we can do this
storytelling and put it out on our website and our social media
channels. And it, it basically tells the
truth about the building, right?Because we're hearing it from
(08:15):
inside the building. When it comes to branding too,
do you find it difficult to measure the ROI and the OR the
results that come from improvingthe overall brand, the culture,
the messaging that comes throughthat or is that something that
you found can be quantifiable? So it's really interesting if
you start with a good strategy and you have your goal.
(08:35):
So I often will start with how many move insurance do I need
this year and then I'll back outfrom there.
And 50%, maybe 25% of what I do is going to be branded, branded
efforts, right? The other elements of the
campaigns will be focused on driving people straight to the
building. So whether that's coming in for
an event or coming in for a tourand we want to get people into
(08:58):
the building, but we, we need toremember, remember that there's
a, a whole effort put into branding prior to people making
contact with us, right? They need to recognize who we
are. And sometimes that doesn't
happen until they're actually doing their first search, right?
And so even what you have popping up on your Google search
(09:20):
needs to not just be about the amenities of the community.
It needs to be about who you are.
So if you're a nonprofit who's been around 60 years, you got to
say that if you are a place thatattracts certain types of
people, then say that as well, right?
You, those are your differentiators.
And so that's what goes into a good branding campaign.
(09:43):
Now going back to your question about how do you measure its
success, Well, that's not the easiest thing to do because as
we know, we're we're not out on a regular basis doing Atoma.
So, you know, top of mind awareness research and I've done
those in the past working for different companies, but it's
not something that's normally done where you ask people what
(10:04):
companies do you recognize the names of.
So since we're not doing that type of research like some other
industries might do, what we're looking at is, are we driving
results, right? So we're looking at the
database, we're saying how many new leads came in, how many have
converted to tours in the building, How many are now in
that final stage of filling out an application and moving in.
(10:28):
And then that way I take the entire marketing budget and I
divide it by the number of move insurance.
And so that shows my success andthen I benchmark that and I
watch it over time. So then that way the CFO comes
to me, I know my numbers, right?And generally, you know, working
with CFOs, what they care about is that there's their reach,
their occupancy, because they, they know their numbers too,
(10:50):
right? And so I just need to prove that
my budget is being spent in achieving what that financial
goal is. I think in this industry too,
it's more about brand differentiation than it is brand
awareness. So I think what you're saying
makes total sense. And I only say that because
nobody's really looking for senior living until they're
looking for senior living. And then they may only be a few
(11:10):
months into their search or a few weeks into their search.
So they haven't had enough time to really absorb all of the
different options and brands that are out there.
And there's only a few really that are kind of, you know,
household names these days anyways.
So I think the brand recognitionpiece is so important because
while we see that as an obvious thing, if you've been around
since the 1960s, make sure to put that on your website.
(11:33):
You know, put that front and center that you have history and
and longevity and you've maintained 100% occupancy for
the last 20 years. Like that says so much, but
there's so many communities thatdon't think about the importance
of communicating that first and foremost.
Right, right. And taking that one step
further, even we're, we're talking about branding to make
(11:53):
people feel comfortable that senior living isn't what they
think it is. Like we're trying to, we're
trying to change perceptions. And the best way to change
perceptions is by being out there and actually saying what
it is, right? This is, this is not a nursing
home from 50 years ago. This is a vibrant place where
people enjoy life. Absolutely, Absolutely.
(12:15):
One of the big things that you focus on too, and this is where
we met, was events. So I know that events can really
help. Dr. Census and you're passionate
about event marketing. What makes an event successful
in today's environment? So First off, you got to start
early and you're planning for it, like I think we were talking
before about how some buildings decide, oh, I'm going to have an
(12:38):
event in three weeks. Let's let's go and put it on our
website and then nothing happens, right?
Like how's people supposed to find it on your website if
you're not out there promoting it?
So really start 8 weeks in advance.
And I even prefer to know the entire event schedule at the
beginning of the year. Now, I can't get every building
to do that. But when I, when I just take the
(13:01):
initiative, I say, here's your calendar, right?
Like not waiting for the sales team to get back to me and just
say, here's your calendar. If you would like certain types
of it of events, let let me know.
If not, I'll go ahead and schedule speakers for you.
And as soon as I know those topics and those speakers, I can
start creating the landing page,the ad campaign, the direct
(13:24):
mail, the print ads. We do some Google ads and some
social media ads around events. But we still know that the
number one driver for our eventsis in our own database, right?
Because we've been collecting these e-mail addresses for years
and people maybe have not been ready a year or two ago, but
(13:46):
they're ready now. The second driver for events is,
is direct mail on direct mail where we think, oh, it that it
doesn't work anymore. It does work with our
demographic because they see it and they say, oh, I want to go
there and check that out. I've been thinking about this.
So you have to show up in their mailbox at the right time.
(14:07):
Like with any advertising, it's it's about hitting them with
relevancy, right at the right time, with the right message,
which means over and over and over and over and over again
until it's the right time. And aside from timing right?
And aside from giving yourself enough time to properly prepare,
are there any specific ways thatyou found that really drives the
(14:28):
needle home drives registrationsfar greater than others or is it
just a combined efforts of like all those different strategies
working together? I absolutely think you need
combined efforts. I also think it's the topic.
So like when I have Matt Paxton speak at the different
communities, it draws in crowds of 100 to 200 people.
And obviously, you know, it's the size of the auditorium when
(14:50):
you have to cut off the the registrations, but the more you
do, the more you can bring people in.
And so just keeping out the up those efforts.
So what often I'll do is a direct mail.
And if I'm not hitting that registration number, then I
start increasing the amount of e-mail blasts.
And I use different local publications that have e-mail
(15:13):
lists. Like I gave the example of Tama
Pious Marin, the local newspaperthere.
Their e-mail blasts hit 60,000 people in our target
demographic. So it's a great way to get the
message out. So you have to know what those
local media outlets are and whattheir reach is, where you can
work with them. You can say, Oh yeah, let's do
this print ad and let's do this e-mail blast and let's do these
(15:36):
banner ads on your website. And so that combination drives
that number. And you know, again, turn up
that volume if you're not hitting your number, which means
more money that you have to put into your campaign.
And you need to know, like, whatis that budget?
When do you have to cut this off?
But I'll tell you, when you havea really good speaker and you
fill that building, fill that room, that auditorium, it's
(15:59):
relatively easy to get people toto deposit immediately after.
And you, you know, you want somewhere between 2:00 and 5:00
deposits. But the only way it's going to
happen is if your sales team follows up with the people and
gets to know them and does theirsales magic.
Since you've managed events in several different geographic
areas too, I mean, do you see the same similar formula working
(16:21):
in all of them, or does each require its own unique strategy
and formula? So I think the formula is pretty
universal. The main thing is to know your
audience, right? So if you have a local
publication and nobody reads it,then don't pay to advertise in
it, right? Another good way is when people
(16:41):
come into your events or come into tour your community, ask them
how they heard about you, right?That's going to tell you where
to keep advertising. Make sure you put that
information in your database because your marketing team is
going to go back in and look forthose sources.
So when I go into Welcome Home in this example and I look for
sources or I can't even go into HubSpot because I use HubSpot as
(17:05):
well and I can look to see what websites triggered the form
fills, right? I take all of that information
and I say, Oh well, we didn't get much success over here.
We got more success here. I can adjust my budget going
forward, but I also want to warnpeople that just because you
didn't get immediate success from 1 channel doesn't mean it
(17:27):
didn't do good for your branding.
Yeah, yeah. Future decisions based on
previous data isn't always 100% accurate.
So yeah, I agree with that. And then at the end of the event
when it's over, how do you recommend following up to make
it count? Well, this is an entire strategy
on its own. So during the event, usually you
(17:48):
have a couple of sales people walking around talking to people
and it's very important to take notes and to put those notes
immediately into your CRM. I mean, that's number one.
And activity follow-ups. So you want to make sure every
single person, let let's say 50 people came to this event.
Every person in your seat needs to be in there with a activity
(18:10):
follow up. So that means call them in three
to five days. How did you like the event?
What kind of questions do you have?
When can I schedule a time for you to come back so I can give
you a personalized tour of our community?
So those are those are definitely your follow-ups
within that short period of time.
Then if they say, oh, I'm not ready yet, put that activity
(18:31):
reminder in your CRM. Follow up with them in three
weeks, six weeks, you know, justkeep going, keep going, but
don't let it fall off. The only time you should close a
lead is when they absolutely don't want to move into your
building. They moved and somewhere else.
And even then, you know, when you close them, you lost them to
a competitor. But doesn't mean they can't
(18:52):
resurface at some point. Yeah.
So, so be very diligent about following up.
That's great advice. There's so much value in that
list. And often times people, I think
sales teams give up too soon. You know, they'll try to reach
out to somebody just a few timesand then they go into this other
list, right, that they never tapinto again.
And you can do so many things with follow-ups and to keep
(19:15):
those semi warm leads warm or engaged or at least knowing
what's going on with your brand just in case, like you said,
things change on their end because it does happen quite a
bit where somebody might move insomewhere else and then change
their mind. Yeah.
So that's great. Also your marketing animation to
keep nurturing those leads that works over time.
(19:35):
Text messaging, utilize text messaging.
It's a great way to stay in touch.
I want to talk a little bit about the path that doesn't
exist yet. So you mentioned how powerful it
was to be hugged by Lynn Kassmanand Bob Kramer at the last
event. Why did that moment mean so much
to you? So because I've been in the
industry for 15 years and I've gotten to know a lot of people
(19:57):
over those years, there's peopleI look up to and they're the
usual suspects. They're the ones that get
invited to do keynotes all the time at different industry
events. And now to be recognized by them
and for them to know my name, that's so exciting to me.
And then also the hugs like that.
To me that means like that I'm valued, not am I only recognized
(20:19):
but like. Wow, you know, I, I feel like I
have a relationship with them and in a way it's, it's like
that I've, I've gotten to that place in my career, right?
Like celebrating that I'm known and valued.
I just love it. I love, I love the people who
work in our industry. I always say, once you go into
senior living, there's no other industry for you, right?
(20:39):
You you stay here and because it's rewarding and there's so
many wonderful people who we canlook up to and learn from.
And Bob and Lynn are are two of those people for me.
That's such a great feeling to get recognition like that in the
industry, especially after putting in your time, so to
speak. I know the first event that I
met you at, I had at least five people come up to me and ask me
(21:01):
if I've met Lola yet. So it's pretty cool.
I mean, you're definitely like ahousehold name when it comes to
the the event circuit, which I love for you.
And I think, you know, you're starting to, or you already have
carved out your own path in thisindustry.
I mean, what has that journey been like and what barriers have
you faced along the way? It's interesting because you
would hope that you would get toa point and you would be able to
(21:24):
continue to grow. But it takes a lot of effort and
I'm sure that's the same in Indian industry.
I used to work in residential real estate and new
construction. It was a little bit different,
but in our industry in particular, right, you've got
people who work in the building and then you've got people who
work in corporate offices or support centers, and you want to
be able to grow your career and move up into a leadership
(21:46):
position. And it's not that easy.
The barriers are fresh trading because in order to move up, you
have to generally change companies.
And then to find the right company that's a good fit for
you, you've got to be at these industry events, which takes a
lot, a lot of time, costs a lot of money.
But you're going to make a lot of phone calls and try to get to
(22:08):
the right person, right? So you generally want to talk to
CEO's or people in those leadership seats and then tell
them your story. And even if you may be good at
sales and marketing, you may notbe great at selling yourself.
I think that that's probably pretty true for most people,
right? Is yeah, is you have to market
yourself and people have to knowwho you are.
(22:29):
And so, you know, my next step in my career is definitely in
the season suite, but how do I get there, right.
I've been in VP positions at multiple companies.
It's about where do I go next that I feel like I'm thriving
and that I'm making the biggest impact.
And so I think that everybody who's who wants that growth
(22:51):
needs some kind of plan to get there because it's not going to
just happen by wishing for it. You know, somebody's not just
going to recognize you and say hey, you, you get to go to the
next place. That's so true.
It's going to have perseverance and keep trying.
You know I've. Spoken with quite a few leaders
and even specifically women in, in leadership roles, CE OS or CF
(23:14):
OS. And a lot of them, they're like,
oh, I started out in food service or I started out
somewhere else in the building, right?
And then they eventually just like moved up and moved up and
moved up. And that seems to be the
pathway, right, to getting to that C-Suite.
But do you think there's less ofthat now than there was or do
you think are people just hiringfrom the outside in?
(23:36):
Yeah, I don't, I don't think there's as much movement within
an organization as we think. We see the people who are at an
at industry events and on stage and they're talking about their
paths. And I remember the story from
Costco, right, that the CEO started as pushing carts.
Well, that's a wonderful like American.
I worked up from the bottom right.
(23:58):
I achieved greatness. I don't think that's the reality
for for most people. I think that yes, you, you have
to be agile and move companies if you want to get to the next
level. But each, each person's unique,
right? They might be happy being in
that certain role for 30-40 years.
(24:18):
I, I've met those people and they're absolutely fine just
where they're at. So I think it's, it's as a
department head, recognizing thepeople who want to achieve more
and do more and impact more, those are the people that need
the support. And when I was at the Senior
(24:39):
Living Executive Conference, there was a great panel with the
women in leadership that Argentum has put together.
Some of the things that they said was not only do we need to
mentor each other and network together, but we need to be
advocate, advocate for each other, right?
We need to support each other bytalk, talking about each other
(25:01):
and saying this person over hereis doing such great work.
That's that's a sponsorship. That's what the the word that
they used is sponsoring each other.
I like that. So, so it takes being being
collaborative, which is a littledifferent because think about
when you really want that next job and you're in competition
(25:22):
with other people, different mindsets.
Yeah. I want to talk a little bit
about marketing ROI and the hardtruths.
I think a lot of operators don'tnecessarily know or don't
realize the costs associated sometimes with the efforts that
are being put in. I know you mentioned cost per
movement at a life plan community can easily hit 25,000.
(25:43):
How do you justify those acquisition costs?
So it's interesting in our industry, people don't generally
talk about acquisition costs because because of the reason
why like, oh, let's do this, let's do that.
They're trying so many differentthings.
They're not creating a formula and repeating that formula.
And so generally, we don't talk about acquisition costs, which I
think is is a missed opportunity.
(26:04):
We should know how much money we're putting into each person
that's moving into the building.The way that I calculate the
acquisition cost is different than maybe in a different
industry where they're looking for attribution costs, right?
So an attribution is this move in came from this channel.
How much money did I move, did Ipay on this channel to get this
move in. So that's different than taking
(26:26):
the entire budget and saying what efforts did it take to get
this get the number of move insurance that we needed this
year. So if you take your 30 move
insurance that you got last yearand your $300,000 budget and
divided that, that's your cost per per move in.
But in for life plan communities, it's a lot higher,
(26:47):
right? Like all the efforts that go
into it. And it's even from the point
that somebody fills out the application and the different
stages they go through with the financial and health portions of
that application, the reviews that that require people from
other departments, right? The, the chief medical officer,
(27:09):
head of the clinical clinical services, so many different
people help that process along. And it's a, it's a long process,
especially like going back to assisted living where it's, it
should be a shorter process because it's need driven.
The cost should be low because you are getting people to move
(27:29):
in quicker. But you need to know your costs
and if it's acceptable or if youwant to try to lower those
costs. What can you do to really be
more efficient with your budgets?
Yeah, I totally agree. Acquisition cost was one of the
first numbers that I realized that most of our clients didn't
have a line of sight on at all, you know.
So that was one of the goals wasto get clarity on that so we
(27:52):
could help them make better, smarter decisions.
And I know some life plan communities have been their
sales cycle is anywhere from three to five years in some
cases. So they're spending huge amounts
of money just to get people through the door.
But like you said, there's so many steps in the process, it
makes sense that they would haveto put four or five times the
budget behind getting one move in that an assisted living or
(28:14):
memory care or even independent living, you know?
Yeah, Yeah. What do you say to leaders who
want just one more brochure or $25,000 video without a plan to
use it? And don't do it.
Yeah, it's even creating a brochure.
There's so much resources that go into that.
(28:34):
So you've got to hire the designer, the writer, who's the
project manager internally, who's the decision maker, Who
else does it need to go out to before it's approved?
Then it goes to printing. And so if somebody says, oh,
this brochure only cost $2.00 per unit to print, that's not
how much it cost. You got to take all of those
(28:55):
other people's times and put it into that equation.
So you need to know that those brochures are going to be used.
I produce some really, really nice sales collateral that's
about 4:50 a unit to be printed.So, and it took months to to
(29:15):
create these pieces. So the back end could be $10,000
easily of, of, you know, prep time and design and writing and
editing and everything that goesinto it.
So when a salesperson wants to go use these as a tape at a
tabling event, I say no, use your trifold brochure.
That brochure, this beautiful piece is what you give somebody
(29:38):
at the end of your tour. This is when you sit down with
them and show them, this is everything you get when you move
into this community. Your life is so much better.
Look at these smiling faces. Look at this list of different
activities in the community, right?
This is, this is your portfolio.If you're at a tabling event,
you don't know who's going to bewalking up to your table.
(30:00):
Don't give them this $4.50 MPs, give them this $0.50 trifold
brochure knowing like if we don't tell the salespeople this,
they're not just going to automatically know it.
I think there's a huge lack of communication between all
departments of here's the best practices and how we want to
have things done from a, a budget, you know, resource
(30:22):
perspective. How do you think sales and
marketing could work Better Together?
I think there's, there's always a, a divide, but on some level
I'm starting to see it viewed more as like this is the
acquisitions team, right? Like we're both, we're all
working together to achieve the same goal.
Yeah, Yeah. A Revit com revenue department
like yeah, maybe renaming them away from sales and marketing.
(30:46):
That might be a great test to do.
So the best way is that marketing needs to spend time
with sales in the communities and that within the communities,
the, the titles need to be accurate.
So if you have a marketing person sitting in a sales seat,
we really need to make sure thatthey are named appropriately so
(31:07):
that they know what their what responsibility is.
So often we might have a marketing person in a sales seat
and they're out doing a little bit more outreach.
They're making Flyers, going outto industry events, doing
outreach, but maybe they're not the best at converting a lead,
right? So evaluating your team and
(31:28):
ensuring that the right talent is in the right role.
Without that, you're you're never going to hit your
occupancy numbers. One of the things we talked
about too was, and then we talked about a little earlier
was you've kind of working backwards, figuring out how many
movements do they need first andthen kind of reverse engineering
from there. What do you think is often
missed in that process? What's missed is all of the
(31:48):
times during the year. So let's say we're we are
creating a strategy for the upcoming year and we have our
formula and we know the number of movements.
The thing that can throw this completely off is 1 move outs,
attrition, deaths. And we can't ignore that in our
industry. There have been times where
we've said, OK, you know, we're going to have 1010 move UPS or
(32:12):
move outs within the next 12 months and we end up with 20.
And so instead of needing 30 move insurance, we need 50.
Like it really, it can be a surprise and it impacts
everybody in the building, the morale, because when you lose
your residence, it's sad. It impacts everybody.
And it's not just a projection, it's real people's lives.
(32:36):
So that can derail the whole strategy and and you got to
bounce back from it and with andbeing a human during that
process, right? Like not calling the executive
director saying, oh, well, you know, we need to get back on the
boat. You know, like, yeah, we were
like, I'm sorry that you're you're experiencing these
losses. It's human life.
(32:57):
The other thing that impacts it is, is when people come to you
and say, Hey, can we do this other thing?
Can I have $25,000 for this video that we want to do?
Then you got to say, OK, how is this video going to help us
achieve these movements? So knowing that you're spending
the money in the right places, the other, you know, we get
calls constantly from vendors saying, Hey, do you want to try
(33:20):
this new AI or let's do these direct mail pieces over here.
Like it's endless. The, the amount of phone calls
and we can't engage with every single one of them because our
budget is, is a certain number and we can look at it go, wow, I
can see how that will help me achieve my goal this year, but
it has to have an impact on thatgoal.
(33:42):
Can't just do it because somebody is asking you to pay
for another product or service. One of the things too we have
talked about, you talk about a lot is the F word.
So I wanted to ask you about that.
I was so excited to speak at Mary Furlongs Longevity Venture
Summit recently and talk about language.
You know, words matter and perception, thoughts, they
(34:06):
matter too, But specifically thewords that we use make a huge
impact on everything we do in inour industry.
And the word facility is the F word that I'm referring to.
And facility, one of the definitions of facility is a
place where you store something,a place where you store
(34:27):
something. We do not store people.
We do not store older adults in senior living or long term care,
right? That's not what we do.
So don't ever call it a facility.
I don't even care if facility isin the name of it.
Do not use the F word. So we know that a skilled
nursing facility sniffs the F words in there, but we don't
(34:50):
have to call it a skilled nursing facility.
We can call it skilled care, a skilled nursing center or just
skilled nursing and somebody said something to me like, well,
we don't ever call the the opposite unskilled.
So why are we even calling it skilled?
So there's there's two things within a skilled nursing.
There's long term care and rehab, so we could call it
(35:12):
rehabilitation service and long term care, right?
That that F word does not have to be in your language.
The most important thing that you have to tell, no matter what
level of care that you're offering in your buildings is
you have to tell your frontline staff what are the appropriate
words to use and what words to not use because they'll continue
using the word facility. From a clinical viewpoint,
(35:34):
that's all they know because that's what they learned.
Until you tell them otherwise, they're going to continue to say
it. And if we really want our
residents and their family members to know that we are
caring for them as humans, we need to stop using the word
facility. It does not help our efforts at
all. Yeah, it's got to come from the
top down. It's a cultural change within
(35:55):
the community where everybody's speaking the same language, for
sure. I mean, even memory care, I hear
that a lot. People say memory care facility,
and it always just makes my skincrawl, you know, and skilled
nursing, too. I mean, it's still a community.
They're all communities. People are coming together to
live in a space collectively forthe care that they need, but it
doesn't mean they're being warehoused.
(36:16):
It doesn't mean that it's an only clinical setting and
nothing else. It's not a hospital per SE.
So yeah, I think that's important.
And from the perspective of the family members.
So I remember when I used to work in a lot of skilled nursing
communities, I would watch people walk in and then I was
also in charge of the the onlinereviews.
(36:36):
So I went, I would see them walkin and their expressions on
their face, and then I would read their reviews later on
there. When you go into skilled
nursing, there's so many aspectsof it that somebody who's brand
new will not understand. People sitting out in the
corridors in their wheelchairs, right?
Like it's a different environment.
(36:58):
And it can be really upsetting for somebody whose parents or
loved one has just gone through a stroke or a heart attack or
whatever that their health eventwas that got them there.
The whole family is emotional, and so knowing that this is the
first time they've ever seen this and what the reaction is
and how can we make it more settling for them, right?
(37:19):
Like, how can we make them feel good about being there and not
just being another nursing home that is, you know, a place you
don't want to go? My father, I will never go to a
nursing home, is what he tells me.
And I said, well, there's more than nursing homes out there.
Yeah. Yeah.
And my parents too nice. You know, I, I saw my
grandmother and that's how, that's how things have changed
(37:39):
generationally. I mean, all my grandparents
ended up in some type of senior living community.
My grandmother had dementia and she did end up in a nursing
home. And it was a, a terrible ordeal,
terrible situation. But my, my family didn't know
any better at the time and they were kind of pressed to find
something quickly. So I just think that the whole
narrative is still there with the boomers now.
(38:00):
They're still thinking about everything as a nursing home and
not seeing that there's all these differences until they go
Tour 1 and then they're like, wow, this is amazing.
I love cruise ships. It's like a land based cruise
ship. Yeah, for the most part, it can
be. It can be.
Hard, but that's why you have togo out and visit multiple
communities and see where the best fit is for for each
individual. Yeah.
(38:23):
Just talking about the future too.
I mean, I know we're all just kind of getting started with AI
and getting into our daily workflow.
How do you think AI could or is reshaping marketing in our
field? Well, I've always liked to say
I'm an early adopter of different things, but AI was one
of those that I was like, I don't like this.
This is from a, from a society standpoint, it's really scary.
(38:45):
It's really scary now, now that I've started using it, I'm using
ChatGPT almost every day. It's fantastic, Fantastic for
when I'm out at conferences and I want to take notes and I want
to transcribe into bullet pointsand there's just so much I can
do with it. I used it in the most recent
presentation I gave. It helped me make my slide deck,
(39:07):
and then I went through and edited it.
So what I've learned from the different speakers recently is
that AI is good to generate ideas, but you still have to go
in and you have to edit it down and Fact Check it because it may
not be factual. The a couple of different
vendors that I've I've met with,I am excited about their
(39:28):
offerings. So things like the chat bots on
our website that I no longer have to write scripts for, I
still have to edit them, but I don't have to write the scripts
for them. That saves me hours of time and
headache because writing scriptsisn't just about me writing
scripts. It's about sending it out to
each salesperson asking, is thisaccurate?
Is this what you're hearing frompeople who actually call and ask
(39:51):
the questions? Because I can't assume that know
those details that only the salespeople would know.
But yeah, there's other things like I met a company called
Buddy AI out of Silicon Valley and they have a product that is
behind the scenes that's almost like a Zapier that can connect
your tech stack together so thatdata flows from one program to
(40:11):
the other, which is just phenomenal.
Even Copilot, there's things we can train Copilot on Microsoft
to do, like analyze budgets and see where problem areas may be.
So that's exciting. And I also want to share that
AI, artificial intelligence, what we're doing now has gotten
here in iterative process, right?
(40:32):
Because if you think back 1015 years ago when big data was on
the front cover of, of Harvard Business Review and then these,
these buzzwords that have happened over the years, AI is
just the next generation of everything.
Machine learning AI, the next generation.
It's not like it just all of a sudden popped up, it got here,
(40:53):
it grew, you know, to be what itis today.
Yeah, I agree. I think there's always going to
be some level of human intervention on some level, I
hope when it comes to the marketing side of things.
Otherwise it just becomes completely impersonal.
But when it comes to the workflow of the things that we
can accomplish and the amount oftime that it takes, that's where
I think we see the real benefitsand gains right now from graphic
(41:15):
design, content creation, planning, outlining strategy.
I mean, all of those things I think are are benefited by some
level of AI depending on what platform you're using.
But we're using it in pretty much all areas of our business
now from managing emails to creating marketing proposals for
clients. And it's, it's been very, very
(41:35):
efficient and it's getting better all the time.
So. Well, and you can, you can put
into ChatGPT, give me the 10 bullet points I need to know
about this organization. And so, you know, I can use that
information when I'm then go into their website and look at
their brand and, and really get to know who they are and be
prepped for any conversation that I'm having with them,
(41:57):
right? Like it just makes a huge
difference. It lessens the amount of
discovery that I need to do whenI'm talking with somebody.
It also allows me to make more of a human connection because
I'm not so focused on the details of their organization.
Yeah, I think because we're sucha relationship based industry
too, I think the human element is always going to be a part of
(42:17):
that, right. Simon Sinek was recently on a
podcast. He was talking about the
proliferation of AI, and he was basically saying that everybody
right now is so focused on the destination with AI.
They just want output. They want to put a question in
and get an answer, and they don't want to focus on the
journey that happens in between.And that's where we as humans
learn, you know, And I think that's the part that we can't
(42:40):
get rid of that because at the end of the day, even if AI is
helping us, right? Like if it's, if it's providing
you a brief before you meet somebody, you get to know the
top 10 things about them. You still have to digest that
and understand how to apply thatand use that in the
conversation. And you still have to have the
social skills to have that conversation in the 1st place.
So there's there's ways it helps, but then there's also
(43:02):
things that are still ultimatelyunder our control.
Right, well, and here's where I'm worried though, because like
for example, I would love to useit to create pillar content.
So pillar content is something I've not done because the amount
of time that it takes. And pillar content is literally
having a page of information andthen creating other topics
(43:22):
around that. But then Google uses to help
rank our sites higher, right? So also prospects read it.
So it needs to make sense. You can't just have different
topics that aren't, that are tied together, that really don't
belong together, right? So it's very, very time
consuming. I haven't done it.
I've always wanted to do it, butthere's other things that we can
(43:45):
do instead. And now with AI, we can do
pillar content very easily. However, Google is adjusting
continuously the way they rank websites, right?
So we can now go and create this, these things that we
haven't necessarily had the timeto do.
But will Google continue to use that content the way that
they've previously used it? And they're also saying that
(44:06):
Google can recognize if it's AI generated content.
And then there's the new what Google's doing itself with the
AI generated content at the top of of different web page at web
searches and how do we get into the AI generated content?
So that's the next stage. So sometimes it feels like we're
chasing our tails because we're not really in control.
(44:26):
Google's no. We only, you know, we, yeah,
they're light years ahead of us without us even knowing it.
You know, when the next thing comes out, we're already behind.
Somebody recently asked, you know, are you guys keeping up
with the latest marketing trendsas best we can?
But 5 minutes from now, there's going to be something that
changes and then we're going to have to go learn that too.
So I think in the role of marketing, our role is just to
(44:49):
stay as educated and up to speedas we can because our clients
rely on us to be able to put their best foot forward and to
connect with their audience in whatever way their audience is
consuming content, right. So whether they're searching on
chat versus Google, we have to be able to be visible on both
platforms now versus just Google.
(45:09):
Yes, definitely, yeah. Well, Lola, thank you so much
for such a great conversation. This was awesome.
Appreciate. You coming on, it's great to
talk with you. Where can our audience go to
learn more about your work, follow you, or connect with you
online? Yeah, find me on LinkedIn.
I'm the only Lola Raine out there, so connect with me, send
me a message and I'd be happy tochat.
(45:30):
Awesome, awesome. Well, as we wrap up today's
episode, I want to extend a hugethank you to you, Lola Raine,
for joining us and sharing your insights on what it really takes
to market with intention and senior living.
From strategy frameworks and event planning to elevating
brand storytelling and pushing for leadership representation,
Lola, your voice is one this industry needs more of.
So if you want to connect with Lola, we've included her
(45:53):
LinkedIn info in the show notes.As always, we hope you found
this episode insightful and inspiring.
And don't forget to subscribe toour podcast on your favorite
platform. And stay tuned for more episodes
where we continue to explore theevolving world of senior care,
covering everything from innovative care models and
leadership strategies to family support technology in the future
of aging. And remember that from leads to
(46:14):
Leases isn't just an audio experience.
We're also a video video podcast, so if you want to see
the video versions of our episodes, make sure to subscribe
to our YouTube or Spotify channels.
I'm Jerry Vincey, CEO of CCR growth.
Thank you for joining us on FromLeads to Leases.
Please like, subscribe and sharethis episode with anyone who
might find it useful. I'm truly grateful for your time
and attention. And until next time, lead with
(46:36):
strategy and with heart. Chat with you again soon.
Thanks, Lola. Bye.
Thanks for listening to From Leads to Leases.
Are you ready to fill your roomsfaster and increase occupancy?
Visit ccrgrowth.com to learn about our Senior Growth
Innovation Suite, a proven system to generate highly
qualified tour ready leads, accelerate sales and reduce
(46:56):
acquisition costs. Let's connect and turn your
challenges into opportunities. See you next time.
We're talking about branding to make people feel comfortable
that senior living isn't what they think it is.
Like we're trying to, we're trying to change perceptions,
and the best way to change perceptions is by being out
there and actually saying what it is, right?
This is, this is not a nursing home from 50 years ago.
This is a vibrant place where people enjoy life.
(00:22):
What is the key to better Move Insurance wasn't another ad
campaign, but finally asking why.
Before we act, today's guest is on a mission to bring strategy,
soul, and smarter systems to theway we grow communities.
Welcome to From Leads to Leases,ACCR growth podcast that helps
(00:43):
senior living providers transform their complex
challenges into opportunities. Listen in for stories from
industry leaders, innovative strategies and insights, and
with our expertise, learn how toincrease occupancy faster,
Guaranteed. Welcome back to another episode
from Leads to Leases, the podcast that dives deep into the
(01:03):
senior living and senior care industries, bringing you
insights, strategies, and stories from the experts at the
forefront of innovation, leadership, and care.
I'm your host, Jerry Vincey, CEOof CCR Growth.
For those of you who don't know about us, CCR Growth is a full
service marketing and growth agency exclusive to the senior
living industry. And through this podcast, I'm
here to guide you through the evolving landscape of senior
(01:25):
care, exploring the innovations,the strategies, and leadership
insights that are shaping the future of the industry.
So whether you are a provider, acaregiver, or an industry
leader, this show is here to help you make informed decisions
and create meaningful impact. Today's guest is Lola Rain, a
senior living strategist, speaker and creative force who
spent over 15 years inside the industry driving change from
(01:48):
both the provider and vendor sides.
From high tech innovation to oldschool event marketing, Lola is
known for helping organizations elevate their brand, humanize
their messaging, and build strategies that actually move
the needle. So welcome Lola.
I'm so glad to have you here. Hi, Jerry.
It's good to see you you. Too you too.
I want to jump right into it. We got a lot of questions to
cover and obviously marketing isone of my favorite topics and I
(02:12):
love your approach. You've got this new school, old
school approach that's always running and I, I want to talk
about both. So you've said in the past that
strategies your area of expertise.
What does that actually look like in practice in senior
living? So starting with the big
picture, what is the number one goal that you're trying to
achieve and what are some of thebarriers to achieving it?
(02:35):
So looking beyond just marketingand sales, but what else is
going on within the building or the organization or even bigger
within trends of the industry oreconomic challenges?
Why do you think so many leadersdefault to execution before
planning? I see that a lot too.
Yeah. So a lot of times somebody will
come to a leader and say, hey, this competitor over here is
(02:58):
doing this one thing. Can we do that?
Well, what I really look at is what is the intention of it?
What do you want the outcome to be?
Let's not just duplicate what somebody else is doing.
Let's do it better. Let's determine is it something
that's going to help differentiate us?
If it's not going to, if it's just going to make us look like
(03:18):
the guy next door, then why do it at all?
I see there's a lot of, and I don't know if it's in other
spaces as much as senior living,but there's a lot of that FOMO
action happening with marketing and advertising.
I see this guy's running ads over here.
I need to be running ads over here and nobody's really asking
that question. Why?
Which I always find interesting.It's a budget burn for no reason
if you don't understand the why behind it.
(03:40):
So totally agree with your your perspective there.
Yeah, most of the time if you'regoing to hire an agency, the
first thing the agency is going to do is a competitive analysis
and see what what the different buildings around your region are
doing and what's working and what's not.
So I highly recommend working with the professionals like you,
Jerry, because you'll you'll be able to dive in there and create
(04:00):
that plan that really differentiates.
So what would you say if a provider came to you, an
operator came to you and said I want to create a video because
the guy down the street has a video just because that's what
the competitors doing, but he doesn't really understand the
why. What would you say to someone in
that situation? Yeah, this has happened to me
quite a bit. And in fact other departments
have brought me videos and said can you go ahead and put this up
(04:21):
on our YouTube channel. And they felt the need to go
out, hire a videographer, go outto the communities, create this
in product without getting the marketing department involved
with it. And so there was no why.
And I said, well, what would youlike to do with this video?
And the answer was put it on theYouTube page so that people
could see it. Well, who's going to see it?
(04:41):
And if I remember correctly fromthat example, they spent $3000
on videos. And, you know, I looked at it a
year later and only 30 views hadhappened.
So you got to have your why before you even start.
And if you're going to hire a video team to come in and do
videos, let them know what that intention is so that they can
(05:02):
create it with the end in mind. Into branding a little bit, I
feel like branding doesn't get the attention that it deserves,
and I know that you focus a lot on that.
I focus a lot on that. I think it's the core of what
really sets communities apart, especially in today's
competitive market. You had shared a plan to build a
brand that's felt throughout thebuilding with me prior.
What are the key parts of of that approach?
(05:24):
So going in and talking with your residents and your staff,
they know your your brand and what differentiates you better
than anybody and really celebrating that brand across
every department in the community and in the
organization. Because if you don't go to the
frontline staff and get them involved and get them excited
and really illuminate what's happening day-to-day in your
(05:47):
communities, you are making a brand that has no realistic
application. Like you can put a logo out
there, you can you can put your website with all your colors and
and if it doesn't really exude what's happening within the
community, then it means nothing.
And what role? You wouldn't often think
branding and life enrichment play hand in hand, but I feel
(06:07):
like that's part of the culture that you're building through the
branding. What role does life enrichment
play in standing out from the crowd?
So life enrichment is really theheart of the entire building,
right? The whole community gathers
together to do at activities andthose activities should be
designed around the the likes and the interests of the people
who are living there. And so that's where the vitality
(06:30):
lives. That's where each individual
gets to express themselves and socialize and really gets to do
what they want to do, right. I think that life enrichment is
the most important part of the community.
And if it's not being highlighted through the
marketing efforts, we're fallingshort on what we need to be
doing to to draw more new residents in.
(06:51):
Piece of the brand too is resident and staff testimonials.
How do you gather those in a in a way that feels authentic and
usable for the community? Well, I like to go hang out with
the residents and ask them questions.
So I will go to different eventsthat are happening in the
community and talk with residents.
Also ask for volunteers to sit down with me and tell me their
(07:12):
stories. So story storytelling is one of
the best ways to really dive into your marketing and get good
testimonials for your website. Whether do that through
interviews or videos, there's just so much you can do.
We'll highlight certain residents with interesting
histories, right? So say, say there's a music
(07:32):
event coming up. And so that's that's happening
right now at the Tama Pius Bar and we have a music event coming
up in a couple of months. So I'm going to go in and speak
with the different residents whoare really involved in music,
whether that means they play thepiano or they love certain types
of music. But I want to uncover those
interests. And then I want to also, during
(07:53):
that period of time that I'm talking to them, get to the core
of what do they love about living in the community.
You know, what do they want other people to know about
living in the community? And that way we can do this
storytelling and put it out on our website and our social media
channels. And it, it basically tells the
truth about the building, right?Because we're hearing it from
(08:15):
inside the building. When it comes to branding too,
do you find it difficult to measure the ROI and the OR the
results that come from improvingthe overall brand, the culture,
the messaging that comes throughthat or is that something that
you found can be quantifiable? So it's really interesting if
you start with a good strategy and you have your goal.
(08:35):
So I often will start with how many move insurance do I need
this year and then I'll back outfrom there.
And 50%, maybe 25% of what I do is going to be branded, branded
efforts, right? The other elements of the
campaigns will be focused on driving people straight to the
building. So whether that's coming in for
an event or coming in for a tourand we want to get people into
(08:58):
the building, but we, we need toremember, remember that there's
a, a whole effort put into branding prior to people making
contact with us, right? They need to recognize who we
are. And sometimes that doesn't
happen until they're actually doing their first search, right?
And so even what you have popping up on your Google search
(09:20):
needs to not just be about the amenities of the community.
It needs to be about who you are.
So if you're a nonprofit who's been around 60 years, you got to
say that if you are a place thatattracts certain types of
people, then say that as well, right?
You, those are your differentiators.
And so that's what goes into a good branding campaign.
(09:43):
Now going back to your question about how do you measure its
success, Well, that's not the easiest thing to do because as
we know, we're we're not out on a regular basis doing Atoma.
So, you know, top of mind awareness research and I've done
those in the past working for different companies, but it's
not something that's normally done where you ask people what
(10:04):
companies do you recognize the names of.
So since we're not doing that type of research like some other
industries might do, what we're looking at is, are we driving
results, right? So we're looking at the
database, we're saying how many new leads came in, how many have
converted to tours in the building, How many are now in
that final stage of filling out an application and moving in.
(10:28):
And then that way I take the entire marketing budget and I
divide it by the number of move insurance.
And so that shows my success andthen I benchmark that and I
watch it over time. So then that way the CFO comes
to me, I know my numbers, right?And generally, you know, working
with CFOs, what they care about is that there's their reach,
their occupancy, because they, they know their numbers too,
(10:50):
right? And so I just need to prove that
my budget is being spent in achieving what that financial
goal is. I think in this industry too,
it's more about brand differentiation than it is brand
awareness. So I think what you're saying
makes total sense. And I only say that because
nobody's really looking for senior living until they're
looking for senior living. And then they may only be a few
(11:10):
months into their search or a few weeks into their search.
So they haven't had enough time to really absorb all of the
different options and brands that are out there.
And there's only a few really that are kind of, you know,
household names these days anyways.
So I think the brand recognitionpiece is so important because
while we see that as an obvious thing, if you've been around
since the 1960s, make sure to put that on your website.
(11:33):
You know, put that front and center that you have history and
and longevity and you've maintained 100% occupancy for
the last 20 years. Like that says so much, but
there's so many communities thatdon't think about the importance
of communicating that first and foremost.
Right, right. And taking that one step
further, even we're, we're talking about branding to make
(11:53):
people feel comfortable that senior living isn't what they
think it is. Like we're trying to, we're
trying to change perceptions. And the best way to change
perceptions is by being out there and actually saying what
it is, right? This is, this is not a nursing
home from 50 years ago. This is a vibrant place where
people enjoy life. Absolutely, Absolutely.
(12:15):
One of the big things that you focus on too, and this is where
we met, was events. So I know that events can really
help. Dr. Census and you're passionate
about event marketing. What makes an event successful
in today's environment? So First off, you got to start
early and you're planning for it, like I think we were talking
before about how some buildings decide, oh, I'm going to have an
(12:38):
event in three weeks. Let's let's go and put it on our
website and then nothing happens, right?
Like how's people supposed to find it on your website if
you're not out there promoting it?
So really start 8 weeks in advance.
And I even prefer to know the entire event schedule at the
beginning of the year. Now, I can't get every building
to do that. But when I, when I just take the
(13:01):
initiative, I say, here's your calendar, right?
Like not waiting for the sales team to get back to me and just
say, here's your calendar. If you would like certain types
of it of events, let let me know.
If not, I'll go ahead and schedule speakers for you.
And as soon as I know those topics and those speakers, I can
start creating the landing page,the ad campaign, the direct
(13:24):
mail, the print ads. We do some Google ads and some
social media ads around events. But we still know that the
number one driver for our eventsis in our own database, right?
Because we've been collecting these e-mail addresses for years
and people maybe have not been ready a year or two ago, but
(13:46):
they're ready now. The second driver for events is,
is direct mail on direct mail where we think, oh, it that it
doesn't work anymore. It does work with our
demographic because they see it and they say, oh, I want to go
there and check that out. I've been thinking about this.
So you have to show up in their mailbox at the right time.
(14:07):
Like with any advertising, it's it's about hitting them with
relevancy, right at the right time, with the right message,
which means over and over and over and over and over again
until it's the right time. And aside from timing right?
And aside from giving yourself enough time to properly prepare,
are there any specific ways thatyou found that really drives the
(14:28):
needle home drives registrationsfar greater than others or is it
just a combined efforts of like all those different strategies
working together? I absolutely think you need
combined efforts. I also think it's the topic.
So like when I have Matt Paxton speak at the different
communities, it draws in crowds of 100 to 200 people.
And obviously, you know, it's the size of the auditorium when
(14:50):
you have to cut off the the registrations, but the more you
do, the more you can bring people in.
And so just keeping out the up those efforts.
So what often I'll do is a direct mail.
And if I'm not hitting that registration number, then I
start increasing the amount of e-mail blasts.
And I use different local publications that have e-mail
(15:13):
lists. Like I gave the example of Tama
Pious Marin, the local newspaperthere.
Their e-mail blasts hit 60,000 people in our target
demographic. So it's a great way to get the
message out. So you have to know what those
local media outlets are and whattheir reach is, where you can
work with them. You can say, Oh yeah, let's do
this print ad and let's do this e-mail blast and let's do these
(15:36):
banner ads on your website. And so that combination drives
that number. And you know, again, turn up
that volume if you're not hitting your number, which means
more money that you have to put into your campaign.
And you need to know, like, whatis that budget?
When do you have to cut this off?
But I'll tell you, when you havea really good speaker and you
fill that building, fill that room, that auditorium, it's
(15:59):
relatively easy to get people toto deposit immediately after.
And you, you know, you want somewhere between 2:00 and 5:00
deposits. But the only way it's going to
happen is if your sales team follows up with the people and
gets to know them and does theirsales magic.
Since you've managed events in several different geographic
areas too, I mean, do you see the same similar formula working
(16:21):
in all of them, or does each require its own unique strategy
and formula? So I think the formula is pretty
universal. The main thing is to know your
audience, right? So if you have a local
publication and nobody reads it,then don't pay to advertise in
it, right? Another good way is when people
(16:41):
come into your events or come into tour your community, ask them
how they heard about you, right?That's going to tell you where
to keep advertising. Make sure you put that
information in your database because your marketing team is
going to go back in and look forthose sources.
So when I go into Welcome Home in this example and I look for
sources or I can't even go into HubSpot because I use HubSpot as
(17:05):
well and I can look to see what websites triggered the form
fills, right? I take all of that information
and I say, Oh well, we didn't get much success over here.
We got more success here. I can adjust my budget going
forward, but I also want to warnpeople that just because you
didn't get immediate success from 1 channel doesn't mean it
(17:27):
didn't do good for your branding.
Yeah, yeah. Future decisions based on
previous data isn't always 100% accurate.
So yeah, I agree with that. And then at the end of the event
when it's over, how do you recommend following up to make
it count? Well, this is an entire strategy
on its own. So during the event, usually you
(17:48):
have a couple of sales people walking around talking to people
and it's very important to take notes and to put those notes
immediately into your CRM. I mean, that's number one.
And activity follow-ups. So you want to make sure every
single person, let let's say 50 people came to this event.
Every person in your seat needs to be in there with a activity
(18:10):
follow up. So that means call them in three
to five days. How did you like the event?
What kind of questions do you have?
When can I schedule a time for you to come back so I can give
you a personalized tour of our community?
So those are those are definitely your follow-ups
within that short period of time.
Then if they say, oh, I'm not ready yet, put that activity
(18:31):
reminder in your CRM. Follow up with them in three
weeks, six weeks, you know, justkeep going, keep going, but
don't let it fall off. The only time you should close a
lead is when they absolutely don't want to move into your
building. They moved and somewhere else.
And even then, you know, when you close them, you lost them to
a competitor. But doesn't mean they can't
(18:52):
resurface at some point. Yeah.
So, so be very diligent about following up.
That's great advice. There's so much value in that
list. And often times people, I think
sales teams give up too soon. You know, they'll try to reach
out to somebody just a few timesand then they go into this other
list, right, that they never tapinto again.
And you can do so many things with follow-ups and to keep
(19:15):
those semi warm leads warm or engaged or at least knowing
what's going on with your brand just in case, like you said,
things change on their end because it does happen quite a
bit where somebody might move insomewhere else and then change
their mind. Yeah.
So that's great. Also your marketing animation to
keep nurturing those leads that works over time.
(19:35):
Text messaging, utilize text messaging.
It's a great way to stay in touch.
I want to talk a little bit about the path that doesn't
exist yet. So you mentioned how powerful it
was to be hugged by Lynn Kassmanand Bob Kramer at the last
event. Why did that moment mean so much
to you? So because I've been in the
industry for 15 years and I've gotten to know a lot of people
(19:57):
over those years, there's peopleI look up to and they're the
usual suspects. They're the ones that get
invited to do keynotes all the time at different industry
events. And now to be recognized by them
and for them to know my name, that's so exciting to me.
And then also the hugs like that.
To me that means like that I'm valued, not am I only recognized
(20:19):
but like. Wow, you know, I, I feel like I
have a relationship with them and in a way it's, it's like
that I've, I've gotten to that place in my career, right?
Like celebrating that I'm known and valued.
I just love it. I love, I love the people who
work in our industry. I always say, once you go into
senior living, there's no other industry for you, right?
(20:39):
You you stay here and because it's rewarding and there's so
many wonderful people who we canlook up to and learn from.
And Bob and Lynn are are two of those people for me.
That's such a great feeling to get recognition like that in the
industry, especially after putting in your time, so to
speak. I know the first event that I
met you at, I had at least five people come up to me and ask me
(21:01):
if I've met Lola yet. So it's pretty cool.
I mean, you're definitely like ahousehold name when it comes to
the the event circuit, which I love for you.
And I think, you know, you're starting to, or you already have
carved out your own path in thisindustry.
I mean, what has that journey been like and what barriers have
you faced along the way? It's interesting because you
would hope that you would get toa point and you would be able to
(21:24):
continue to grow. But it takes a lot of effort and
I'm sure that's the same in Indian industry.
I used to work in residential real estate and new
construction. It was a little bit different,
but in our industry in particular, right, you've got
people who work in the building and then you've got people who
work in corporate offices or support centers, and you want to
be able to grow your career and move up into a leadership
(21:46):
position. And it's not that easy.
The barriers are fresh trading because in order to move up, you
have to generally change companies.
And then to find the right company that's a good fit for
you, you've got to be at these industry events, which takes a
lot, a lot of time, costs a lot of money.
But you're going to make a lot of phone calls and try to get to
(22:08):
the right person, right? So you generally want to talk to
CEO's or people in those leadership seats and then tell
them your story. And even if you may be good at
sales and marketing, you may notbe great at selling yourself.
I think that that's probably pretty true for most people,
right? Is yeah, is you have to market
yourself and people have to knowwho you are.
(22:29):
And so, you know, my next step in my career is definitely in
the season suite, but how do I get there, right.
I've been in VP positions at multiple companies.
It's about where do I go next that I feel like I'm thriving
and that I'm making the biggest impact.
And so I think that everybody who's who wants that growth
(22:51):
needs some kind of plan to get there because it's not going to
just happen by wishing for it. You know, somebody's not just
going to recognize you and say hey, you, you get to go to the
next place. That's so true.
It's going to have perseverance and keep trying.
You know I've. Spoken with quite a few leaders
and even specifically women in, in leadership roles, CE OS or CF
(23:14):
OS. And a lot of them, they're like,
oh, I started out in food service or I started out
somewhere else in the building, right?
And then they eventually just like moved up and moved up and
moved up. And that seems to be the
pathway, right, to getting to that C-Suite.
But do you think there's less ofthat now than there was or do
you think are people just hiringfrom the outside in?
(23:36):
Yeah, I don't, I don't think there's as much movement within
an organization as we think. We see the people who are at an
at industry events and on stage and they're talking about their
paths. And I remember the story from
Costco, right, that the CEO started as pushing carts.
Well, that's a wonderful like American.
I worked up from the bottom right.
(23:58):
I achieved greatness. I don't think that's the reality
for for most people. I think that yes, you, you have
to be agile and move companies if you want to get to the next
level. But each, each person's unique,
right? They might be happy being in
that certain role for 30-40 years.
(24:18):
I, I've met those people and they're absolutely fine just
where they're at. So I think it's, it's as a
department head, recognizing thepeople who want to achieve more
and do more and impact more, those are the people that need
the support. And when I was at the Senior
(24:39):
Living Executive Conference, there was a great panel with the
women in leadership that Argentum has put together.
Some of the things that they said was not only do we need to
mentor each other and network together, but we need to be
advocate, advocate for each other, right?
We need to support each other bytalk, talking about each other
(25:01):
and saying this person over hereis doing such great work.
That's that's a sponsorship. That's what the the word that
they used is sponsoring each other.
I like that. So, so it takes being being
collaborative, which is a littledifferent because think about
when you really want that next job and you're in competition
(25:22):
with other people, different mindsets.
Yeah. I want to talk a little bit
about marketing ROI and the hardtruths.
I think a lot of operators don'tnecessarily know or don't
realize the costs associated sometimes with the efforts that
are being put in. I know you mentioned cost per
movement at a life plan community can easily hit 25,000.
(25:43):
How do you justify those acquisition costs?
So it's interesting in our industry, people don't generally
talk about acquisition costs because because of the reason
why like, oh, let's do this, let's do that.
They're trying so many differentthings.
They're not creating a formula and repeating that formula.
And so generally, we don't talk about acquisition costs, which I
think is is a missed opportunity.
(26:04):
We should know how much money we're putting into each person
that's moving into the building.The way that I calculate the
acquisition cost is different than maybe in a different
industry where they're looking for attribution costs, right?
So an attribution is this move in came from this channel.
How much money did I move, did Ipay on this channel to get this
move in. So that's different than taking
(26:26):
the entire budget and saying what efforts did it take to get
this get the number of move insurance that we needed this
year. So if you take your 30 move
insurance that you got last yearand your $300,000 budget and
divided that, that's your cost per per move in.
But in for life plan communities, it's a lot higher,
(26:47):
right? Like all the efforts that go
into it. And it's even from the point
that somebody fills out the application and the different
stages they go through with the financial and health portions of
that application, the reviews that that require people from
other departments, right? The, the chief medical officer,
(27:09):
head of the clinical clinical services, so many different
people help that process along. And it's a, it's a long process,
especially like going back to assisted living where it's, it
should be a shorter process because it's need driven.
The cost should be low because you are getting people to move
(27:29):
in quicker. But you need to know your costs
and if it's acceptable or if youwant to try to lower those
costs. What can you do to really be
more efficient with your budgets?
Yeah, I totally agree. Acquisition cost was one of the
first numbers that I realized that most of our clients didn't
have a line of sight on at all, you know.
So that was one of the goals wasto get clarity on that so we
(27:52):
could help them make better, smarter decisions.
And I know some life plan communities have been their
sales cycle is anywhere from three to five years in some
cases. So they're spending huge amounts
of money just to get people through the door.
But like you said, there's so many steps in the process, it
makes sense that they would haveto put four or five times the
budget behind getting one move in that an assisted living or
(28:14):
memory care or even independent living, you know?
Yeah, Yeah. What do you say to leaders who
want just one more brochure or $25,000 video without a plan to
use it? And don't do it.
Yeah, it's even creating a brochure.
There's so much resources that go into that.
(28:34):
So you've got to hire the designer, the writer, who's the
project manager internally, who's the decision maker, Who
else does it need to go out to before it's approved?
Then it goes to printing. And so if somebody says, oh,
this brochure only cost $2.00 per unit to print, that's not
how much it cost. You got to take all of those
(28:55):
other people's times and put it into that equation.
So you need to know that those brochures are going to be used.
I produce some really, really nice sales collateral that's
about 4:50 a unit to be printed.So, and it took months to to
(29:15):
create these pieces. So the back end could be $10,000
easily of, of, you know, prep time and design and writing and
editing and everything that goesinto it.
So when a salesperson wants to go use these as a tape at a
tabling event, I say no, use your trifold brochure.
That brochure, this beautiful piece is what you give somebody
(29:38):
at the end of your tour. This is when you sit down with
them and show them, this is everything you get when you move
into this community. Your life is so much better.
Look at these smiling faces. Look at this list of different
activities in the community, right?
This is, this is your portfolio.If you're at a tabling event,
you don't know who's going to bewalking up to your table.
(30:00):
Don't give them this $4.50 MPs, give them this $0.50 trifold
brochure knowing like if we don't tell the salespeople this,
they're not just going to automatically know it.
I think there's a huge lack of communication between all
departments of here's the best practices and how we want to
have things done from a, a budget, you know, resource
(30:22):
perspective. How do you think sales and
marketing could work Better Together?
I think there's, there's always a, a divide, but on some level
I'm starting to see it viewed more as like this is the
acquisitions team, right? Like we're both, we're all
working together to achieve the same goal.
Yeah, Yeah. A Revit com revenue department
like yeah, maybe renaming them away from sales and marketing.
(30:46):
That might be a great test to do.
So the best way is that marketing needs to spend time
with sales in the communities and that within the communities,
the, the titles need to be accurate.
So if you have a marketing person sitting in a sales seat,
we really need to make sure thatthey are named appropriately so
(31:07):
that they know what their what responsibility is.
So often we might have a marketing person in a sales seat
and they're out doing a little bit more outreach.
They're making Flyers, going outto industry events, doing
outreach, but maybe they're not the best at converting a lead,
right? So evaluating your team and
(31:28):
ensuring that the right talent is in the right role.
Without that, you're you're never going to hit your
occupancy numbers. One of the things we talked
about too was, and then we talked about a little earlier
was you've kind of working backwards, figuring out how many
movements do they need first andthen kind of reverse engineering
from there. What do you think is often
missed in that process? What's missed is all of the
(31:48):
times during the year. So let's say we're we are
creating a strategy for the upcoming year and we have our
formula and we know the number of movements.
The thing that can throw this completely off is 1 move outs,
attrition, deaths. And we can't ignore that in our
industry. There have been times where
we've said, OK, you know, we're going to have 1010 move UPS or
(32:12):
move outs within the next 12 months and we end up with 20.
And so instead of needing 30 move insurance, we need 50.
Like it really, it can be a surprise and it impacts
everybody in the building, the morale, because when you lose
your residence, it's sad. It impacts everybody.
And it's not just a projection, it's real people's lives.
(32:36):
So that can derail the whole strategy and and you got to
bounce back from it and with andbeing a human during that
process, right? Like not calling the executive
director saying, oh, well, you know, we need to get back on the
boat. You know, like, yeah, we were
like, I'm sorry that you're you're experiencing these
losses. It's human life.
(32:57):
The other thing that impacts it is, is when people come to you
and say, Hey, can we do this other thing?
Can I have $25,000 for this video that we want to do?
Then you got to say, OK, how is this video going to help us
achieve these movements? So knowing that you're spending
the money in the right places, the other, you know, we get
calls constantly from vendors saying, Hey, do you want to try
(33:20):
this new AI or let's do these direct mail pieces over here.
Like it's endless. The, the amount of phone calls
and we can't engage with every single one of them because our
budget is, is a certain number and we can look at it go, wow, I
can see how that will help me achieve my goal this year, but
it has to have an impact on thatgoal.
(33:42):
Can't just do it because somebody is asking you to pay
for another product or service. One of the things too we have
talked about, you talk about a lot is the F word.
So I wanted to ask you about that.
I was so excited to speak at Mary Furlongs Longevity Venture
Summit recently and talk about language.
You know, words matter and perception, thoughts, they
(34:06):
matter too, But specifically thewords that we use make a huge
impact on everything we do in inour industry.
And the word facility is the F word that I'm referring to.
And facility, one of the definitions of facility is a
place where you store something,a place where you store
(34:27):
something. We do not store people.
We do not store older adults in senior living or long term care,
right? That's not what we do.
So don't ever call it a facility.
I don't even care if facility isin the name of it.
Do not use the F word. So we know that a skilled
nursing facility sniffs the F words in there, but we don't
(34:50):
have to call it a skilled nursing facility.
We can call it skilled care, a skilled nursing center or just
skilled nursing and somebody said something to me like, well,
we don't ever call the the opposite unskilled.
So why are we even calling it skilled?
So there's there's two things within a skilled nursing.
There's long term care and rehab, so we could call it
(35:12):
rehabilitation service and long term care, right?
That that F word does not have to be in your language.
The most important thing that you have to tell, no matter what
level of care that you're offering in your buildings is
you have to tell your frontline staff what are the appropriate
words to use and what words to not use because they'll continue
using the word facility. From a clinical viewpoint,
(35:34):
that's all they know because that's what they learned.
Until you tell them otherwise, they're going to continue to say
it. And if we really want our
residents and their family members to know that we are
caring for them as humans, we need to stop using the word
facility. It does not help our efforts at
all. Yeah, it's got to come from the
top down. It's a cultural change within
(35:55):
the community where everybody's speaking the same language, for
sure. I mean, even memory care, I hear
that a lot. People say memory care facility,
and it always just makes my skincrawl, you know, and skilled
nursing, too. I mean, it's still a community.
They're all communities. People are coming together to
live in a space collectively forthe care that they need, but it
doesn't mean they're being warehoused.
(36:16):
It doesn't mean that it's an only clinical setting and
nothing else. It's not a hospital per SE.
So yeah, I think that's important.
And from the perspective of the family members.
So I remember when I used to work in a lot of skilled nursing
communities, I would watch people walk in and then I was
also in charge of the the onlinereviews.
(36:36):
So I went, I would see them walkin and their expressions on
their face, and then I would read their reviews later on
there. When you go into skilled
nursing, there's so many aspectsof it that somebody who's brand
new will not understand. People sitting out in the
corridors in their wheelchairs, right?
Like it's a different environment.
(36:58):
And it can be really upsetting for somebody whose parents or
loved one has just gone through a stroke or a heart attack or
whatever that their health eventwas that got them there.
The whole family is emotional, and so knowing that this is the
first time they've ever seen this and what the reaction is
and how can we make it more settling for them, right?
(37:19):
Like, how can we make them feel good about being there and not
just being another nursing home that is, you know, a place you
don't want to go? My father, I will never go to a
nursing home, is what he tells me.
And I said, well, there's more than nursing homes out there.
Yeah. Yeah.
And my parents too nice. You know, I, I saw my
grandmother and that's how, that's how things have changed
(37:39):
generationally. I mean, all my grandparents
ended up in some type of senior living community.
My grandmother had dementia and she did end up in a nursing
home. And it was a, a terrible ordeal,
terrible situation. But my, my family didn't know
any better at the time and they were kind of pressed to find
something quickly. So I just think that the whole
narrative is still there with the boomers now.
(38:00):
They're still thinking about everything as a nursing home and
not seeing that there's all these differences until they go
Tour 1 and then they're like, wow, this is amazing.
I love cruise ships. It's like a land based cruise
ship. Yeah, for the most part, it can
be. It can be.
Hard, but that's why you have togo out and visit multiple
communities and see where the best fit is for for each
individual. Yeah.
(38:23):
Just talking about the future too.
I mean, I know we're all just kind of getting started with AI
and getting into our daily workflow.
How do you think AI could or is reshaping marketing in our
field? Well, I've always liked to say
I'm an early adopter of different things, but AI was one
of those that I was like, I don't like this.
This is from a, from a society standpoint, it's really scary.
(38:45):
It's really scary now, now that I've started using it, I'm using
ChatGPT almost every day. It's fantastic, Fantastic for
when I'm out at conferences and I want to take notes and I want
to transcribe into bullet pointsand there's just so much I can
do with it. I used it in the most recent
presentation I gave. It helped me make my slide deck,
(39:07):
and then I went through and edited it.
So what I've learned from the different speakers recently is
that AI is good to generate ideas, but you still have to go
in and you have to edit it down and Fact Check it because it may
not be factual. The a couple of different
vendors that I've I've met with,I am excited about their
(39:28):
offerings. So things like the chat bots on
our website that I no longer have to write scripts for, I
still have to edit them, but I don't have to write the scripts
for them. That saves me hours of time and
headache because writing scriptsisn't just about me writing
scripts. It's about sending it out to
each salesperson asking, is thisaccurate?
Is this what you're hearing frompeople who actually call and ask
(39:51):
the questions? Because I can't assume that know
those details that only the salespeople would know.
But yeah, there's other things like I met a company called
Buddy AI out of Silicon Valley and they have a product that is
behind the scenes that's almost like a Zapier that can connect
your tech stack together so thatdata flows from one program to
(40:11):
the other, which is just phenomenal.
Even Copilot, there's things we can train Copilot on Microsoft
to do, like analyze budgets and see where problem areas may be.
So that's exciting. And I also want to share that
AI, artificial intelligence, what we're doing now has gotten
here in iterative process, right?
(40:32):
Because if you think back 1015 years ago when big data was on
the front cover of, of Harvard Business Review and then these,
these buzzwords that have happened over the years, AI is
just the next generation of everything.
Machine learning AI, the next generation.
It's not like it just all of a sudden popped up, it got here,
(40:53):
it grew, you know, to be what itis today.
Yeah, I agree. I think there's always going to
be some level of human intervention on some level, I
hope when it comes to the marketing side of things.
Otherwise it just becomes completely impersonal.
But when it comes to the workflow of the things that we
can accomplish and the amount oftime that it takes, that's where
I think we see the real benefitsand gains right now from graphic
(41:15):
design, content creation, planning, outlining strategy.
I mean, all of those things I think are are benefited by some
level of AI depending on what platform you're using.
But we're using it in pretty much all areas of our business
now from managing emails to creating marketing proposals for
clients. And it's, it's been very, very
(41:35):
efficient and it's getting better all the time.
So. Well, and you can, you can put
into ChatGPT, give me the 10 bullet points I need to know
about this organization. And so, you know, I can use that
information when I'm then go into their website and look at
their brand and, and really get to know who they are and be
prepped for any conversation that I'm having with them,
(41:57):
right? Like it just makes a huge
difference. It lessens the amount of
discovery that I need to do whenI'm talking with somebody.
It also allows me to make more of a human connection because
I'm not so focused on the details of their organization.
Yeah, I think because we're sucha relationship based industry
too, I think the human element is always going to be a part of
(42:17):
that, right. Simon Sinek was recently on a
podcast. He was talking about the
proliferation of AI, and he was basically saying that everybody
right now is so focused on the destination with AI.
They just want output. They want to put a question in
and get an answer, and they don't want to focus on the
journey that happens in between.And that's where we as humans
learn, you know, And I think that's the part that we can't
(42:40):
get rid of that because at the end of the day, even if AI is
helping us, right? Like if it's, if it's providing
you a brief before you meet somebody, you get to know the
top 10 things about them. You still have to digest that
and understand how to apply thatand use that in the
conversation. And you still have to have the
social skills to have that conversation in the 1st place.
So there's there's ways it helps, but then there's also
(43:02):
things that are still ultimatelyunder our control.
Right, well, and here's where I'm worried though, because like
for example, I would love to useit to create pillar content.
So pillar content is something I've not done because the amount
of time that it takes. And pillar content is literally
having a page of information andthen creating other topics
(43:22):
around that. But then Google uses to help
rank our sites higher, right? So also prospects read it.
So it needs to make sense. You can't just have different
topics that aren't, that are tied together, that really don't
belong together, right? So it's very, very time
consuming. I haven't done it.
I've always wanted to do it, butthere's other things that we can
(43:45):
do instead. And now with AI, we can do
pillar content very easily. However, Google is adjusting
continuously the way they rank websites, right?
So we can now go and create this, these things that we
haven't necessarily had the timeto do.
But will Google continue to use that content the way that
they've previously used it? And they're also saying that
(44:06):
Google can recognize if it's AI generated content.
And then there's the new what Google's doing itself with the
AI generated content at the top of of different web page at web
searches and how do we get into the AI generated content?
So that's the next stage. So sometimes it feels like we're
chasing our tails because we're not really in control.
(44:26):
Google's no. We only, you know, we, yeah,
they're light years ahead of us without us even knowing it.
You know, when the next thing comes out, we're already behind.
Somebody recently asked, you know, are you guys keeping up
with the latest marketing trendsas best we can?
But 5 minutes from now, there's going to be something that
changes and then we're going to have to go learn that too.
So I think in the role of marketing, our role is just to
(44:49):
stay as educated and up to speedas we can because our clients
rely on us to be able to put their best foot forward and to
connect with their audience in whatever way their audience is
consuming content, right. So whether they're searching on
chat versus Google, we have to be able to be visible on both
platforms now versus just Google.
(45:09):
Yes, definitely, yeah. Well, Lola, thank you so much
for such a great conversation. This was awesome.
Appreciate. You coming on, it's great to
talk with you. Where can our audience go to
learn more about your work, follow you, or connect with you
online? Yeah, find me on LinkedIn.
I'm the only Lola Raine out there, so connect with me, send
me a message and I'd be happy tochat.
(45:30):
Awesome, awesome. Well, as we wrap up today's
episode, I want to extend a hugethank you to you, Lola Raine,
for joining us and sharing your insights on what it really takes
to market with intention and senior living.
From strategy frameworks and event planning to elevating
brand storytelling and pushing for leadership representation,
Lola, your voice is one this industry needs more of.
So if you want to connect with Lola, we've included her
(45:53):
LinkedIn info in the show notes.As always, we hope you found
this episode insightful and inspiring.
And don't forget to subscribe toour podcast on your favorite
platform. And stay tuned for more episodes
where we continue to explore theevolving world of senior care,
covering everything from innovative care models and
leadership strategies to family support technology in the future
of aging. And remember that from leads to
(46:14):
Leases isn't just an audio experience.
We're also a video video podcast, so if you want to see
the video versions of our episodes, make sure to subscribe
to our YouTube or Spotify channels.
I'm Jerry Vincey, CEO of CCR growth.
Thank you for joining us on FromLeads to Leases.
Please like, subscribe and sharethis episode with anyone who
might find it useful. I'm truly grateful for your time
and attention. And until next time, lead with
(46:36):
strategy and with heart. Chat with you again soon.
Thanks, Lola. Bye.
Thanks for listening to From Leads to Leases.
Are you ready to fill your roomsfaster and increase occupancy?
Visit ccrgrowth.com to learn about our Senior Growth
Innovation Suite, a proven system to generate highly
qualified tour ready leads, accelerate sales and reduce
(46:56):
acquisition costs. Let's connect and turn your
challenges into opportunities. See you next time.
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