As famous businessman, Dave Ramsey, said, “People are in such a hurry to launch their product or business that they seldom look at marketing from a bird’s eye view and they don’t create a systematic plan.” Marketing can be an intimidating endeavor, especially if it’s not in your wheelhouse. However, a strong marketing strategy is the most effective way to grow your home care business. Developing a good marketing strategy is essential for any home care business. It is important to know where your success comes from and how to replicate it. But what makes up a successful marketing game plan? Below, we’ll discuss the primary touch points for a strong marketing strategy.
The Home Care Marketing Life Cycle
The first thing to know about marketing is that it touches every point of the client experience. Everything your home care business does is marketing and can affect your reputation. From calls with your scheduling coordinator to the interactions your clients have with your caregivers, every client touch point influences the public perception of your business; your job as a marketer is never done. In the home care marketing life cycle, there are seven main touch points you will have with every client.
1. Captivate Interest
This is the number one thing people think of when they discuss marketing. How are you captivating the interest of your potential customers? Is it through your website? Referral sources? There are many areas in marketing where you have contact with a potential client and their family members, so you want to make sure they are positive and informative.
2. Capture Inquiries
This is often an overlooked aspect of the marketing cycle. People focus so strongly on captivating interest, they may forget to create a plan to capture inquiries once their client’s interest is piqued. How are you capturing their inquiry? This does not just mean their name and phone number, but also their interests and their challenges. You need to personalize the inquiry, so when you reach out to them again, you know what areas of your business to discuss with them.
3. Nurture Prospects
How are you connecting with your prospective clients so they don’t forget about you? If you aren’t consistently reaching out and connecting with them, when the time comes to choose a home care for their loved one, they will choose another provider. The key to this step is to remind prospective clients you’re interested in their well being, and give persuasive reasons why you are their best choice. You want your home care business to be on the forefront of their mind when it’s time to make a decision. It’s important that you reach out to them from time to time to continue to educate them about your services and to show them you care.
4. Convert Prospects
Converting prospects may sound straightforward, but it can be one of the trickiest steps of all. It is combining all of the above steps, plus your sales efforts, and closing the sale.
[related article: 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Home Care Sales Technique]
5. Create the Ultimate Client Experience
Your number one referral source should be your own clients. Creating a stand-out experience helps ensure that your clients refer your business to their family and friends. Of all the steps in the marketing life cycle, creating an amazing client experience is often the most likely to not get the time and effort it deserves. Creating the ultimate client experience involves every aspect of your business. In this stage, all your efforts, organization, and attention to detail will lead to satisfied clients and these satisfied clients will become one of your greatest marketing assets. If you don’t make an effort to provide the ultimate client experience, your competition certainly will.
[related article: Mapping Your Client Journey]
6. Upsell Clients
What are you doing with your existing client base to get them to use your services more often? You may be searching high and low for new clients to add to your census, but opportunities for more revenue may already be within reach. Organize processes and marketing activities you can put into play to identify and upsell your current clients. It’s much easier to sell to a happy client than to a new prospect, so make sure their client experience is a positive one.
7. Ask for Referrals
Once you complete the marketing cycle for each client, identify your happiest clients and ask them for a referral. Offering an incentive for your current client and for their referral can help you get more referrals. Asking for client referrals may be intimidating, but it is one of the most effective ways to receive new clients and grow your business.
So what’s the next step? Now that you know the seven stages of the marketing life cycle, you need to establish the marketing activities that revolve around each one. Your marketing efforts will continually need to be tweaked and perfected as you find out what works and what doesn’t. Make sure you know what key indicators to look for so you can identify what is working. For help measuring your client and caregiver satisfaction, Home Care Pulse can provide you with detailed monthly reports and tools to help you market your home care business more effectively.
