As media usage evolves, home care marketing options are increasing. Home care and home hygiene providers must consider the benefits and risks of platforms such as Tiktok, TV and print advertising.
According to industry marketing executives, home care companies should also consider significant changes in audience and consumer preferences.
“We are looking for transformative growth,” says Teresa Selmer, chief marketing officer at Brightstarcare, in a recent home healthcare webinar. “The transformative growth we are looking for requires us to continue doing some of what we are doing today and take on new, bold, different channels, audiences and content to attract the right people.”
Based in Chicago, BrightStar offers home care, senior living and supplemental staffing. Peak Rock Capital acquired Brightstar in March.
Brightstar focuses its marketing efforts on the trio's audience, Celmer said. This includes consumers seeking home care for their loved ones and BrightStar's B2B targets. This includes national accounts such as senior local nursing facilities and workers' compensation. The third is “How Brightstar makes it all come true” and its caregivers.
Companies that provide primarily at-home health have different purposes. According to Chief Marketing and Communications Head Heather Wilson, Dallas-based AccentCare's marketing strategy is primarily a mix of referral, ownership and paid marketing. Marketing activities aimed at recruiting talent are often carried out through paid advertising, through amplifying the name of AccentCare as a trusted employer, Wilson said.
AccentCare recently launched a “massive refresh” of marketing look and feel, creating a home referral relationship, Wilson said. The company has overhauled its website and brochures to equip its sales team with appropriate marketing collateral, she said. Her marketing team has moved to digital tools, including QR codes and other marketing tools that people can lift up on their phones and tablets.
In addition to having the right tools, Wilson said, strong reputation and brand trust are important to drive referrals in industries that are looking for transparency and proof.
“For us, it all depends on storytelling, whether it's social or through what we're doing,” Wilson said. “
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The home care industry is still rapidly moving away from printing.
According to Celmer, businesses need to be everywhere their audience is consuming. So BrightStar has always been in “pilot mode” and tests new tactics at the local level before determining whether the strategy is worth rolling out at the national level.
Over a third of BrightStar's budget goes to video marketing, including TV, cable, YouTube and more. Another third is dedicated to “all things digital.” This said Celmer is a key part of the company's growth. The last third of a company's budget is placed on technology, including Hubspot, public relations, and content creation.
“Digital is our best friend again, but at the same time, it's very challenging and constantly changing,” Selmer said. “It appears Google is changing the rules for every two of its algorithms. But the idea is, how do we stay above it. It gives us a bit of a blessing, “We're going to test it, we'll track it, we'll use the data and continue to make better decisions with the information we have.”
With AccentCare, it is rare for clients to choose to partner with the company based solely on advertising. Instead, the company's ground sales team works to create a hyperlocal feel.
“We're sure we're not the only ones dealing with this, but at the end of the day, I don't think patients care about us being a huge company,” Wilson said, adding that many of its markets are trying to predict that AccentCare will be a more “small town, one ranch” operation.
AccentCare's marketing budget is “digital-first,” including online advertising and email, Wilson said, but the company is investing small amounts in print material such as pamphlets.
Digital and social media marketing has expanded AccentCare's ability to educate both consumers and referral partners, Wilson says. Dispelling myths and resolving confusion about hospice and palliative care is a central pillar of the company's marketing strategy, especially due to the widespread misconception among consumers.
According to Wilson, the “beauty” of digital marketing is the ability to receive immediate feedback on campaign performance.
“We're a very data-driven company, and perhaps like most people in healthcare,” Wilson said. “We can show our leadership team how something worked within minutes.”
Trends that change
While it is important to make a strategic choice of which channels to invest, home-based care companies need to stay behind in changing demographic trends to determine which channels to expand and which marketing strategies to employ.
“What I've seen recently is that the audience is getting a little younger,” Selmer said. “Usually we start to be about 40 years old (advertising to our audience) (but) in fact we get a few years younger. That's a function of people who are giving birth to children later, and parents are at a certain age.”
BrightStar testing and pilot marketing across different channels to address the young population. Some BrightStar franchisees have started marketing on Tiktok, but corporate brands may not yet be ready to join that particular platform.
“The conversation that comes out quite a bit and comes up over and over again in my team is, 'Are we ready for Tiktok?” Selmer said. “As a marketer, as we know, it's a big commitment to being in that space. You just don't show up all of a sudden, sometimes.”
Wilson also notices his demographic is younger, but AccentCare has also chosen to join Tiktok.
In addition to younger care, family-based care consumers are also looking forward to higher levels of personalization than ever before, Wilson said.
“Consumers are used to getting exactly what they want and can live in their own ecosphere,” Wilson said. “How do you get involved in that ecosphere and show up there? Make sure we are relevant. Tiktok is not the right place, but it shows where it feels personalised and where the final consumer is, but as a brand, it's authentic to us.”
According to Wilson, an example of a genuine message is sharing the voices of employees and patients through online videos.
According to Wilson, a near-supportive marketing trend is the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Marketers need to use generation AI responsibly, Wilson said, but optimizing AI content can help marketing teams improve their creativity and innovation.
“We don't even know if it's a trend anymore. It's just the way we live,” she said.
With the rapid change in consumer behavior and care delivery, embracing innovations such as AI has become increasingly essential to stay ahead of the line in home care.
“It's really about lifecycle marketing,” Selmer said. “That means doing it for a while before you really feel comfortable will make you uncomfortable. So we're challenging the status quo.”
