It’s incredible to think that it’s time to begin digging into the 2011 budget process already.  When many senior care marketers are still trying to figure out how to generate results with their 2010 budgets, 2011 budget planning can appear to be an overwhelming task.

The days of expecting a 3-4% increase in marketing budgets every year are gone, and in its place I see the continual evolution of doing more with less.  Interestingly enough though, I am seeing a definite trend of higher census, occupancy or referrals/billable hours in those senior care organizations who have made marketing a priority in their organization.  A focus on brand positioning, niche service lines, and diversified strategies are proving to be very beneficial.

Budget Planning Considerations

Based upon my predictions for 2010 that are proving true, give some thought to the following considerations when preparing your 2011 budgets:

* Brand positioning.  If your brand message and look is more than 4 years old, you are out of date.  Maintaining a “fresh” brand will help you stand out.  Be in tune with what colors create strong attention, or which words or phrases are no longer appealing.  Does your message communicate a competitive edge, or is it warm and fuzzy with a bulleted list of services just like your competitors?  When freshening up your brand, don’t just replicate the collateral pieces you’ve been using.  Today “less is more” means downsizing the number of pieces you use, in turn helping to keep your costs down.

* Conduct an honest evaluation of what strategies have been working for you.  Divorce yourself from the emotional “but we’ve always done that” mentality and take a good hard look at where your money has been spent and where you have gotten the biggest bang for your buck.  Keep what’s working, and put to rest for awhile those things that are not.  For example, just because you’ve always been at the fair booth, or at a certain health fair, doesn’t mean you need to keep doing it.

The money that it costs to maintain staff, giveaways, etc. at these types of events could be put to better use.  If you’re not sure how to evaluate your marketing strategy effectiveness, then it’s worth seeking expert coaching so you can evaluate things objectively, and learn how to sell it to those who make the final budgeting decisions, if it’s not you.  You would be amazed at what you could discover with just simply an hour or two of coaching support.

* Social media is a non-negotiable must-have for 2011.  If you are not engaging in some form of social media activity you are already losing ground on driving leads to your web site, at the very least.  At a minimum, be sure to allocate resources to either outsourcing some basic form of social media activity, or reallocating existing responsibilities to staff, or adding staff.  Outsourcing is an excellent short term strategy to help organizations initiate engagement, determine how much time and resources it truly takes and to see some form of ROI before investing in added staff.

* Web site enhancements or redesigns are another non-negotiable for 2011.  The static web sites of yesterday are long gone, and to generate leads organic search engine optimization is essential.  A good web site today will probably cost far less then what your first web site did.

Be cautious when selecting your vendor.  Select a vendor who understands the senior care industry, and understands content management systems and SEO.  I can’t tell you how many sites we’ve helped clients enhance because they selected an original vendor who was a “friend”, could do it “cheap”, or just didn’t know what they should look for when working with a web vendor, and the organization was not experiencing the results they should have after the new site was up.  A good designer does not necessarily a good marketer make!

* Yellow page advertising.  It’s easy…don’t waste your money with large ads.  Understand this: the majority of people using the yellow pages are doing so to look up a phone number because they already have the name of a location, not because they’re not sure who to call.  Evaluate your contracts and if you feel you need to stand out, then simply do a 1 inch block ad in the body of the listing, not a separate ad.  You’ll save tons of money!

* Direct mail is still very effective when used correctly, with the right message, to the right audience, and with the right mailing list.  It’s a great avenue to maintain a relationship with discharged clients/patients.  Our clients are seeing a great ROI on our InTouch Subscription program for example.  Ask for info on this program!

* Staff Development.  Investing in the development of your staff is critical today.  People aren’t inherently going home and spending time improving their work skills.  Be sure that regular and consistent learning opportunities are provided throughout the year to enhance internal and external sales skills, lead generating skills, customer service skills and social media skills.

We may be seeing slight improvements in the economy, however our industry continues to be challenged with reimbursement concerns, slow and methodical decision makers and an abundance of competition.  Sure death for any organization is not making marketing a priority, and not creating consistent brand awareness.  Look for marketing strategies that help you maintain a consistent presence with a “competitive” message, engage people in a relationship with you, and provide something of “value” to create a memorable experience.

What will you be considering when planning your 2011 marketing budgets??