Marketing in tough times

Is your client count down? Do you have vacancies or a lower census than you’d like?

We’ve been hearing from a number of clients that, with the high unemployment rate, families are stepping in to provide care, or are deferring the decision for outside care due to financial concerns.

If you’re looking for creative ways to enhance your marketing efforts, you’re not alone. You may be getting pressure from partners, owners or others to increase revenue; you certainly don’t want to cut staff or services.

Here are some ideas we’ve discovered that might spark some creativity – and results:

Get out the door. If your phone isn’t ringing off the hook with prospective new clients, use this time to get out and get networking. Does your community have networking groups of senior providers? Join in and attend. Go introduce yourself to anyone and everyone in your community that might be referral sources – and be creative. Pharmacists, medical equipment providers, area support groups – these are all potential referral sources.

Publish articles in the local newspaper. Let’s face it – news today is a tough business. However, if many of your prospective clients are being cared for by family members, they may be in need of information and tips on caregiving. Can you write brief articles and send them to your local neighborhood paper or senior newspaper? Call the editor and ask. If you need help with the content, email me. We have a number of articles, ready for publication, which we’d be happy to send to you. You can add some information about your company and note that you’re sponsoring the series of articles, and get a little free publicity. Being known as the local expert in senior care is a great marketing tool. You may not see the benefits immediately, but over the long haul, you’ll reap rich rewards.

Be creative with pricing. Can you offer any aspect of your service at an introductory price? How about free? We’re trying a new Pilot Program offering individual communities a chance to try our online staff training program absolutely free for 90 days.* We want people to try our product, love our product and then determine that they simply can’t live without our product. We’re willing to go out on a limb to make that happen, because we know that money is a very tight commodity right now. Can you do something similar with your product?

Educate yourself. Watch your local newspaper for free training courses on marketing in tough times. Many communities are offering courses or networking groups to support businesses that are struggling. Don’t be shy – sign up. If time is tight, consider online classes in marketing, too, including ours.

Educate your team. This is not the time to cut into your services. You can’t afford to jeopardize your reputation by providing anything less than exceptional customer service. That means everyone on your team needs to be sharp. Take this time to train them, reward them, and repeat the process. Get everyone on your team working smarter and avoid the common pitfalls of a reduced staff.

Keep your chin up. In a tough economy, especially if you’d have to lay off some employees, other staff members might be feeling anxious or threatened. They may be experiencing outside stressors, too, that this economy has brought to their home or family. A good leader promotes a positive attitude even when times are the bleakest. Save your own anxieties for times outside of work; don’t share them even with your closest employees. Your job as a leader is to stand up tall and say to the world, “We’re here to provide a service people need, and to do it in a way no one else can do.” Even during tough times people need your services. Stay focused and positive!

It’s tough, but you can still grow your business and stay positive even during hard economic times. Use this time to strengthen your base and watch your business absolutely boom when the economy turns, too.