Local Community – The large population size of metropolitan markets can make it difficult to build awareness with a large percentage of the people in your market. But it also means you can focus on a specific niche and reach enough people to hit your business goals, even when there are several competitors in the area.

Number of Competitors  – Before investing in a specific marketing strategy, you want to know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Determine how each competitor is viewed by the community. Observe the strategies and activities they use successfully. Look for ways to differentiate your message.

Population Density – In a metro market, tactics like outdoor advertising are likely to reach more people, at a lower cost per impression, than in a rural market (although the cost of the advertising itself may be much higher). Look for opportunities to be seen that also demonstrate your commitment to your customers. This will build awareness, and at the same time will show you are committed to helping your customers and their families.

Referral Sources – These are critical in any market. There is an abundance of opportunities in an urban market, so you must plan and develop a strategy for reaching the most productive referral sources. Strive to build strong and lasting relationships with the specific referral sources you choose to target.

SEO – Optimizing your website for search engines is always important. However, investing in professional SEO for a rural market should be kept in its proper place. There may be a smaller return on investment due to the smaller population. Strategies like Pay-Per-Click advertising may be more effective in reaching all the right people in a rural market since you can target specific demographics more cost-effectively.

Social Media & Reputation Management

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Blogging and dozens of other social media tools remain a hot topic in the world of marketing. The ability to connect with individual customers, share ideas, stream live video, have genuine conversations, build networks, special interest groups, and even fan clubs is forever changing the way companies market. Thanks to social media, the customer has a stronger voice than ever before, and companies better start listening! For home care firms, social networks provide an unprecedented opportunity to engage clients, prospects and even job candidates into meaningful dialogs that yield tremendous results in terms of referrals, feedback on services and new business concepts, improved customer service, and building your reputation.

Blogging and microblogging tools offer you the ability to position yourself as an expert and demonstrate you’re caring about individual clients. And best of all, most social media tools are free to use (although you may need a little guidance to know how to use the best).

Do not underestimate the power and importance of online reviews. Be sure you are monitoring your online reputation and requesting reviews to measure (and publicize) the “customer experience”. Yelp, Google, and Facebook collect reviews about your business, which are then prominently displayed in search results. Make sure those reviews are positive and accurate. Caring.com and Agingcare.com, both leading online destinations for those seeking information and support as they care for aging loved ones, receive reviews and refer prospective clients to home care businesses that maintain positive reputations. Make sure to get the most out of these great resources.

What you should know: Families searching for senior care online find it easier to identify the best care providers for their loved ones thanks to Home Care Pulse’s partnership with Caring.com and AgingCare.com. Home Care Pulse will post authentic consumer feedback from surveys they perform for their customers on Caring.com’s and AgingCare.com’s home care agency web directories. This can help your home care agency stand out as a top quality service provider.

Best uses: Networking, prospective client and caregiver research, market research, delivering company news and service announcements, distributing content, personalizing and humanizing your business, increasing referrals and monitoring your company’s reputation, building trust.

Public Relations

PR experts have long known that a good story in the news is worth more than dozens of paid advertisements. And thanks to the Internet, there are more PR options open than ever before. The challenge with PR is to find “newsworthy” events, and then get your story written and distributed.  In terms of events, your PR can include news about changes at your company, stories about ways you are helping local clients, how you are putting people to work, and other contributions you are making to the community. Stories can also be educational information that you share, such as a column in a newspaper, or a presentation you give on an aging care related topic. For distribution, you can submit articles to the editors of business and trade publications, develop relationships with writers as the go-to expert for home care, and take advantage of free and paid PR distribution services like PR Web and PR.com.

Best uses: Building your company image as a community supporter or thought leader, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), name recognition. 

Affiliate Networks & Partnerships

If you have a large number of people or organizations who might be able to send you referrals, consider setting up a formal affiliate or referral network. An affiliate network is a formal referral incentive program in which you share a percentage of your sales with anyone who refers business. Your affiliates can help you market by including links to your website on their websites, incorporating information about your services in their marketing, agreeing to distribute your marketing materials (this works particularly well if you can offer them educational information to share), or in some cases, directly selling your services.

Who else is trying to reach the same target market that you are? Would partnering with them increase your probability of success? Partnering can be an effective way to reach more prospects and open doors with people you ordinarily could not get to see. But, it can also dilute your sales message. This technique works best when you partner with organizations that offer complementary services. For example, a home care firm could partner with an elder law attorney or assisted living facility, or a financial planner to offer a wider variety of solutions.

Best uses: Lead generation, selling to larger referral sources who want to deal with fewer vendors, creating solutions for smaller firms, increasing referrals.

Give away information

Are there things you know how to do that your clients and referral sources don’t? Is there information you have that others would value? If so, you have a great opportunity to position yourself as an expert and generate new prospects by giving away your expertise. Consider publishing an email newsletter, creating a blog, writing a column for a local newspaper, and submitting regular articles for trade magazines or your local Chamber of Commerce newsletter. Turn your expertise into your competitive advantage!

Best uses: Developing credibility, positioning yourself as an expert, building trust, nurturing relationships, creating reasons to make follow-up calls, keeping yourself top-of-mind.

Market to decision influencers

While getting to the decision-maker may be the most intelligent sales approach, it’s not always the best marketing strategy. Sometimes, the shortest (and least expensive) path to a new customer is a decision influencer – a person who has direct access to, and influence over,  the decision-maker.

For example:
Market to gatekeepers to get appointments with decision-makers
Market to subordinates of decision-makers to develop internal champions
Market to peers to get referrals
Market to other vendors to get referrals or create strategic alliances

Best uses: Warm up cold calls, nurturing relationships, researching and developing a specific sales strategy

Surveys

Whether in written or verbal form, surveys offer a powerful way to develop new sales opportunities. They can help you quickly collect feedback from your customers, prospects, and even employees.

Popular uses of surveys include:

• Customer satisfaction audits: Identify ways to improve your services and pinpoint problems before they occur.
• New service evaluations: Test the marketability of new concepts.
• Industry trend surveys: Gather statistical data that will help you become a greater expert on your clients’ needs.
• Employee Engagement: Identify areas of improvement to design solutions, assess the impact of training and staff development initiatives to see if they are working, monitor problem areas, compare results over time and across departments and locations
• Challenges surveys: Determine areas where your clients will need your help in the future.
• Instant polls: Quick one-question surveys to share perceptions or develop a better understanding of specific issues.

Best uses: Reach a specific audience, update service offerings, build social media strategies and campaigns, research and analyze a target market, measure brand awareness, generate customer feedback for testimonials and reports

Seminars & Webinars

Whether in written or verbal form, surveys offer a powerful way to develop new sales opportunities. They can help you quickly collect feedback from your customers, prospects, and even employees.

 Popular uses of surveys include:

• Customer satisfaction audits: Identify ways to improve your services and pinpoint problems before they occur.
• New service evaluations: Test the marketability of new concepts.
• Industry trend surveys: Gather statistical data that will help you become a greater expert on your clients’ needs.
• Employee Engagement: Identify areas of improvement to design solutions, assess the impact of training and staff development initiatives to see if they are working, monitor problem areas, compare results over time and across departments and locations
• Challenges surveys: Determine areas where your clients will need your help in the future.
• Instant polls: Quick one-question surveys to share perceptions or develop a better understanding of specific issues.

Best uses: Reach a specific audience, update service offerings, build social media strategies and campaigns, research and analyze a target market, measure brand awareness, generate customer feedback for testimonials and reports.

Upgrade your website

How does your website position you? As an expert? As a leader? As a high-quality home care provider? Or as someone who’s nephew threw together a website on a budget…9 years ago? While a website upgrade may not necessarily be low-cost, it can be one of the best investments you can make to build credibility and enhance your company’s image. And when combined with valuable content and an email newsletter, your website can become a cornerstone of a low-cost marketing campaign. Upgrading your website can be one of the best investments you can make.

Best uses: Lead capture, providing customer service, branding, recruiting, build foundation for all marketing efforts

Interns

Most colleges can provide low-cost or no cost interns to your company. Some schools can even provide MBA-level students for specific consulting projects. Of course, without planning you may get what you pay for with interns.

Here are a few examples of projects that are ideally suited to using interns:

• Market research: conduct surveys, gather industry data for you.
• Competitive studies: do analyses of your top competitors.
• Develop prospect lists: research target companies and develop profiles.
• Website development: some schools can provide talented techs at low-cost.

Best uses: Complete important projects, increase staff at low or no cost, generate new ideas, outside the box thinking.

Improve your service process

Companies often overlook one of the most critical aspects of their marketing, and that’s their service process. Making improvements that increase quality, improve consistency, and enhance your customer’s experience can be among the best marketing investments you can make. As a start, look at the characteristics of your service that your customers like least. Then figure out how to eliminate those negatives. Next, look at the areas of your service that are most valued and find ways to further enhance your customer’s’ experience. Your goal is to create a defined, repeatable process that consistently delivers the greatest experience that your customer is willing to pay for. Companies like Home Care Pulse, the home care industry’s leading satisfaction management firm, can help you with powerful insights, resources, and data that allow you to provide better care to those you serve.

Best uses: Develop your value proposition, build consistency into service delivery, increase client satisfaction, increase client and professional referrals, increase caregiver satisfaction