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Key things to help you everyday

Does your role include marketing? Is this your skillset?​

Village professionals wear many hats and require both the left and right side of the brain. But is marketing one skill you bring to the job or should it be outsourced?

Marketing, and especially ‘communication’ – using words to take your audience on a journey – requires writing skills. This is especially so now in this digital world where the reader is bombarded with messages and it is so easy to just flick past.

Meaningful connection with meaningful content

The best way to create meaningful connections with your customer/residents at every stage of their journey is to deliver well written, consistent and valuable information. In marketing terms, you may refer to this as content!

But when I browse the branding and advertising content of retirement villages, the information is repeatedly one-sided. 

It is very specific information about the village, about the offering, a house for sale or communal facilities. But as the reader, how do I interpret this as valuable information to me. WIFM – What’s in it for me?

People are not looking for a house that is apparently for sale. They are looking for the warmth and security of a home in a secure neighbourhood. It is expected that it will be provided in a house – that is a given.

A marketer will identify that a prospective resident is looking for companionship with other human beings, not the fact that the village has a community centre.

Is outsourcing a better idea financially?

Creating the words that create pictures in the mind of the reader is a skill, and we don’t all have that skill. If this is you, why not outsource the task to a Content Professional?

It costs money but so does your time and effort if you are not going to get the same results.

For the purpose of this article, we point to a service we know – Content Republic – to give an idea of the investment required.

They will write an email for you from $300. This may sound like a lot, but compare it to the time it may take you, and how important it is to get a good result. If it has cost $5,000 to create five sales leads, $300 is suddenly very economical to keep them alive and bring them closer to purchasing.

Over three months you may send out 3 emails which is $900 and you can be confident you have done your best.

The alternative is to create the emails yourself and you can be confident that perhaps you will not achieve the best result, and you will not know.

You can talk to Content Republic by clicking HERE. Alternatively use Google to search ‘Marketing Content Writers’ for a range of writers.

Test one or two emails and be freed to apply your real skillsets where they are best utilised.

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Key things to help you everyday Things to watch

Your website is often your first impression

Our favourite marketing support is Joshua Hanchett. We asked him to write this piece on the very important subject of websites.

You only get one chance to make an excellent first impression.

In 2021, the website is usually the first introduction to prospective residents and employees so providing a consistent experience online that represents the organisation well is paramount. 

An excellent online experience starts with the following: 

  1. Keep your resident, not the organisation, in mind. Each page should keep them central in the written and visual content. 
  2. Make it easy to contact the right person in the organisation. If your organisation provides multiple services, have a direct line or email to the relevant person. 
  3. Be a guide to your website visitor on their retirement journey. Inform them to make a great decision. Don’t sell. 

With this in mind, what can you do every year to keep your website relevant and visitors coming back time and time again? Below is a short list, but if you don’t have the time, reach out to us. We are happy to help your organisation reach their customer online.

1. Safety and Security – Is your website safe and your organisation’s privacy policy relevant and accessible? Visitors are encouraged to take action on websites by filling in forms, and it’s reassuring to know data isn’t going to be stolen or shared. Security Certificates and Firewall software are easy to install and automate these days.

Tip: Make it a priority at the beginning of each year to ensure your certificates and software are installed, activated, and working.

2. Responsive experience – Does your website provide a wonderful experience on a desktop and a mobile device? With mobile overtaking desktop in multiple demographics, it’s important the user experience is consistent across devices.

Tip: Open the website on a desktop and your mobile device at the same time. How does it load? Is the experience consistent? Is it easy to read and take action?

3. Read and refresh pertinent information. Set reminders in your calendar to read through your website and other sites making up your digital presence, including Google my Business, Facebook, LinkedIn, and listing sites like Villages.com.au. Start simple. Are your Name, Address, Phone Number, and Email details correct? Is your pricing accurate on listing websites? 

Tip: Open an incognito window in your browser and do a Google search of your organisation’s name. What’s on display? 

4. Track search, time, and behaviour on your site. Use tools like Google Analytics and SEMrush. Answer these questions. 

Where are your site visitors coming from? Direct, organic, social, or paid? 

Are they leaving quickly or sticking around for a while? 

Where are they spending time on your site?

Tip: Allow this data to inform how you change your website. A better site experience will increase time on site and reduce bounce rate.

5. Focus on Quality content rather than Quantity. Organisations that know their customers well serve their customers well. Speak to their problems and display authentic images of your residents enjoying their newfound freedoms in the community. Quality content will rank well on search engines, keep customers on your site longer, and even keep them returning for more.

Tip:  Treat your website as a living, breathing asset to your organisation. Let your users search online for solutions to their problem. Focus your creative energy on providing answers in a meaningful way. Once on your website, share to your social channels and email list with links back to your website.

6. Ask website visitors to take action – a phone call, a form filled, a downloadable pdf guide.

Tip: Pop ups have their place, but they can often be overused and deter a prospect. Be creative and strategic with your placements of all buttons, forms, pop ups and pdfs. Remain customer centric.

With more and more people online and so many simple free tools available online, there’s never been a better time to pay attention to your organisation’s website – it’s so much more than a brochure.

Set a time to implement these things in your busy schedule. It will pay dividends and speak to your professionalism, credibility, and ability to provide solutions to the evolving needs of your customer.

If you need help reaching your customer online, please reach out to us.

Joshua Hanchett – Your Digital Partner

josh@myheartstudio.com.au