With the availability of so many marketing tools and strategies, it’s easy to go down a rabbit hole as you develop a marketing plan for how to grow your home care business.
One great strategy leads to another and you’ll be tempted to try them all. Before you know it, your marketing budget for obtaining home health care leads has gotten way out of control. The challenge in marketing in relation to how to sell home care services lies in starting with a few proven strategies and building on them.
Some strategies may take longer to get results than other strategies. For example, a strong Google Ads campaign will get results quickly, while an organic SEO strategy will take longer to get results. Either way, your business needs to have an online presence to get home health care leads in droves and a trickling of referrals to follow them.
Running the day-to-day operations of your home care agency is a top priority, and it’s where you have the most expertise. Marketing may not be as familiar to you, yet it’s important to learn the basics. The good news is you don’t need to know everything about how to grow your home care business using digital marketing. You can do it with just a little help, and you can do it for under $1000.
Starting a Home Care Agency
In the beginning, there are many tasks to complete to open up a home care agency. You need to set up a legal company, arrange for office space, recruit and hire staff, and get your certification. You then need to start working on your marketing plan for how to sell home care services. If you want to learn more about how to start a Home Care Agency check our blog
“HOW TO START A PRIVATE HOME CARE BUSINESS”
Home Care Marketing Starter Kit
Every business needs marketing if it wants to succeed. Home care agencies have relied on traditional marketing for so long, but today you also need to implement digital marketing in order to build a senior care business.
To start running a home care agency, you need some basic marketing assets. We understand that you are just starting and money is tight. Therefore, we have created a Starter Home Care Marketing Package that includes:
If you buy this package, you have the opportunity to earn a list of 200 referral sources (names and emails) so you can start promoting your home care agency. (restrictions apply)
A Professional Website Design
5 Page WordPress Website
Logo
Calls to Action
Mobile Responsive Theme
Managed Hosting *
SSL Certificate *
Content Creation or Transfer content from your current site
2 Rounds of Reviews
Contact Forms (Jobs and Leads)
Chat
8 Social Media posts
We provide the design only. You have to send the file to a printing company.
We create branded social media posts and send them to you to be posted on your social media pages. It is important that you have some social media activity because people will search for your agency on Facebook.
A Business Card
A Flyer About
**Restrictions apply**
We provide 200 referral source contacts for your area such as hospitals, assisted living, and nursing homes. This applies only if you enroll in our SEO or PPC program.
How to Promote Your Home Care Business Online
There are lots of online channels you can use to promote your home care agency online to get home care leads rolling in. Obviously, before you go to the next level you need to start with the basics (Home Care Started Kit)
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SEO Marketing
To be clear, SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s great to have a website, but potential clients won’t be able to find it unless you take steps to make sure it’s visible when someone types “home care agency” into an internet search box.
The benefit of SEO marketing is it’s cost-effective. The more visible your website is online, the less you will need to spend on advertising for home health care leads.
Think about the types of keywords someone would type into the search box if they wanted to find your agency such as home care agency in Manhattan, New York, caregiver services for seniors, home care help at home, etc. Then, use those words in your content, and your website will become a 24/7 lead-making machine.
SEO marketing takes more time to build results than other marketing strategies, but the results are lasting and highly effective.
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Local SEO Marketing
Home care agencies are unique in that your target market is local. People from 100 miles away will have little or no interest in your services. With local SEO marketing, your website only shows for people who are within a certain distance from your agency. Google Maps will display your business in the top 3 results when someone is searching for a home care agency near where they live. This is important because you will be getting leads from people that need your services within a few days, if not sooner. Google Maps is a local SEO marketing strategy that gets results!
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Managing Your Reputation
Consider that you are not only marketing your home care agency, but you are also trying to fight your territory from the competition. Once your agency is more visible online, you need to find a way to differentiate your agency from the competition so it stands out among the crowd.
The best way to do that is through social proof which is another way of saying customers give you reviews online. Social proof tells prospects that your business is legitimate and other customers recommend your agency.
The following statistics demonstrate the importance of acquiring good reviews:
- The average customer reads 10 reviews before deciding to trust a business.
- 89% of customers in the healthcare industry read consumer reviews.
- 87% of healthcare customers believe online reviews are important.
- 79% of consumers equate online reviews with personal recommendations from family members and friends.
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PPC Google Ads
Running PPC Google Ads will boost your website to the top of the search results. Search engine users will find your website, discover your contact form, and the leads will start pouring in. You can expect messages in your email inbox and phone calls with inquiries.
Google Ads costs a bit more than some other marketing strategies, but it’s the fastest way to generate home health care leads. If you’re serious about growing your home care agency, it’s the way to go. It will eventually pay for itself.
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Email Marketing
An email marketing strategy is a great supplement to other marketing strategies and it will likely increase client acquisitions. Using email marketing templates, you can contact referral sources and potential clients and use automation to follow up with them.
Email marketing strategies can also be used to contact social workers from assisted living facilities, local hospitals, nursing homes, and other community resources to bring in a steady stream of referrals.
Email marketing is a good way to get the word out about an event your agency is hosting or sponsoring. It’s also a good way to promote a speaker meeting or networking event to connect with others in the community who may need to refer families seeking care to your agency.
The marketing strategies you choose largely depend on your budget. If you have a minimal budget, the tips we’ve provided here will help you get started. For a little more money, you can get your home care agency marketing plan off to a great start.
Businesses require an investment not only of your time but also of your money. Our senior care marketing starter kit is only $1000. This small investment in marketing will give you the basics of a solid marketing plan that you can build on as you get results. With our starter kit, you will be able to grow your business faster and with less effort.
Other Ways to Market Your Home Care Business
There is no shortage of ways to market your home care business. In addition to getting a senior care marketing starter kit, here are some other effective ways to market your home care business.
Speak at Community Events
Set up talks at local community events where you can inform members of the community about the good services your agency provides. Being a public speaker will give your agency visibility, establish your authority in the senior care industry, and connect you with other professionals within the community.
Where do you set up speaker events?
- Senior centers
- Assisted living facilities
- Nursing facilities
- Retirement communities
- Senior housing facilities
- Rehab centers
Some of the topics that will interest your audiences are nutrition, sexuality, memory enhancement, fall prevention, and exercise.
Partner With Local Healthcare Professionals
Take the time to make a list of all the local healthcare professionals that you can connect with to promote your agency. The following list will help you find them:
- Physicians and house call physicians
- Occupational therapists
- Social workers
- Nursing home
- Hospital discharge planners
- Rehabilitation centers
- Adult daycare centers
- Hospices
- Assisted living facilities
- Skilled nursing facilities
- Medicare-certified home health agencies
- Social service agencies
- Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC)
- Veterans Administrations Programs
- Disease-specific associations such as ALS or MS
Ask for Referrals
According to the Private Duty Benchmarking Study (5th edition), the top sources of new referrals are current and past clients.
By forming positive relationships with current and past clients, they will be inclined to refer other people they know to your agency.
An excellent way to motivate clients to offer referrals is to incentivize them by giving them discounts on services.
Partner With Complementary Businesses
Lastly, keep in touch with complementary businesses such as rehab centers, hospice agencies, and skilled home health agencies. There is often a gap in their services that your agency can help fill.
Regardless of the marketing strategies you choose to implement, you will still need to put an email strategy to work so you can continue nurturing relationships with your clients and keep your brand in front of them. By asking clients to leave online reviews, it helps to establish credibility for your agency.
Without a doubt, digital marketing is a must in the home care agency industry, and the senior care marketing kit is a must to help build your brand.
If you’re ready to start your senior care business at the affordable cost of just $1000, contact Senior Care Clicks today at 954-401-9058 and we will get your business online and visible to your community. Contact us today!
Karina has spent most of her career working in the senior care industry, mostly as a digital marketing manager for home care and nursing home facilities. With 8+ years of hands-on experience in digital marketing to her credit, Karina also worked as a consultant for senior care businesses. As someone who cares deeply for seniors and has expert skills in digital marketing, Karina founded SeniorCareClicks to fulfill her passion for her permanent career.
Karina and SeniorCareClicks have been featured in Home Health Care News, HomeCare Magazine, Forbes, The Nursing Home Podcast, and other media. Karina is “the premier expert in senior care marketing”!