Unlocking Marketing Insights: Discover Your Senior Living Community Culture

Have you ever wondered what creates that “a ha” feeling when you step inside a senior living community? When we ask prospects or families why they chose a particular community, it’s common to hear responses like “It was just a feeling we got” or “We just knew this was the right place.” As a marketer, it’s challenging to recreate or implement tangible processes based on subjective feedback. However, understanding the intangible aspects of community culture can be the key to unlocking marketing insights that lead to higher occupancy rates. In this article, we’ll explore how to better understand your community culture by examining individual preferences, lifestyles, and motivations and leveraging qualitative insights to create a sense of community. 

Understanding Your Community 

Community Defined: 

• A group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
• A feeling of fellowship with others as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.

A community is not just a group of people living in the same place or sharing a common characteristic. It’s a feeling of fellowship and connection that arises from shared attitudes, interests, and goals. Research shows that quality of life (QoL) significantly improves in senior living communities when socialization and programming are offered. The staff understands the resident makeup to ensure it is well-received. 

To attract the right people to a community and build resident and staff culture, we must first understand individual preferences and lifestyle goals as the foundation for creating a sense of community. Research shows the communities with the healthiest cultures reported an average occupancy of 94%. In contrast, the least healthy communities in terms of organizational culture reported an average occupancy of 66%, well below the national average of 87%. Could culture and discovery using marketing insights be the missing piece to higher occupancy? 

Improving Your Current Resident Discovery Process

As a sales or marketing leader, the resident discovery process is an opportunity to gather data and insights about your current residents and understand what led them to choose your community. Beyond demographic data, which is often limited in most CRMs to gender, age, race, location, religion, past occupation, veteran status, or marital status, it’s important to capture qualitative insights that provide a more holistic understanding of your residents. One effective tool for this purpose is TSOLife’s Minerva solution. It uses recorded interviews to capture over 100 unique data points for each resident, helping staff identify residents as individuals and understand how they wish to spend their days in the community.

Senior Community Demographic Data 

_{Image source: Argentum Senior Living Resident Profile}

Demographic data is present and widely available. But demographics alone are not enough. If such data was all that is needed to prospect and attract new residents, all senior living communities would be full. While demographic commonality is known, residents are not a homogenous group based on age, gender, and needs. Let’s think of understanding our demographics as step one. 

Beyond Demographics 

Uncovering the Heartbeat of Your Community:

Every community’s unique personality or “heartbeat” sets it apart. By understanding your residents and staff’s talents, skills, and interests, you can capitalize on these strengths to create a culture of engagement. Ask yourself: How do residents want to spend their free time? What are their beliefs and interests, and how do they influence their preferences for programs, dining, and services? What commonalities do staff and residents share? By delving deeper into these insights, you can plan and program activities, allocate staff hours, and create a sense of community that resonates with your residents’ preferences and desires.

Harnessing the Power of Your Staff: Breaking out of the Marketing Silo

If you want to understand your community culture, it’s important to break out of the sales and marketing silo and tap into the wealth of knowledge your staff across all departments possess. They can be a powerful resource in understanding the community and guiding your targeting and building personas. By fostering open communication and collaboration with staff, you can gain valuable insights into resident preferences, interests, and motivations, which can inform your marketing efforts.

Engaging with staff from various departments, such as activities, dining, and caregiving, can provide unique perspectives on the community’s culture and the needs and desires of residents. They are on the front lines of interacting with residents daily and can offer firsthand observations and feedback. Consider conducting regular meetings or focus groups with staff to gather their insights, ideas, and feedback. This collaborative approach can provide valuable input for your marketing strategy and foster a sense of ownership and empowerment among staff, leading to increased engagement and commitment to the community’s culture.

When sales and marketing teams truly know the personality and makeup of the community, your campaigns and initiatives become much more intentional, precise, and confidently identifying your target audience. Asking, recording, and continuously updating common interests helps to understand people beyond commonly identified senior living statistics of age and gender. When we know more, we can do better selecting the personality types that will thrive and feel a sense of belonging. Only through continuous discovery and touchpoints can we deliver a great experience. 

We must market the DNA of the community, not just spaces, units, amenities, or care. Then, and only then, will we understand the statement, “There is no community without engagement.”

Creating a Culture of “We”

Strong bonds between staff and residents are essential to building a culture that feels like a family. Instead of a “staff vs. resident” mentality, aim to create a sense of “we” where staff and residents work together to create a vibrant and engaging community. Encourage staff to engage with residents personally, show genuine interest in their lives, and create opportunities for developing meaningful interactions and relationships. A strong community culture where staff and residents share common goals, interests, and values can lead to higher occupancy rates and increased resident satisfaction.

Understanding the “we” culture and thinking about senior living communities from the lens of a product market fit, not just a needs-based decision, will create authentic confidence for sales leaders when they tell families and residents that your community is undeniably the right choice.  

Elevate Your Senior Living Marketing Strategy to New Heights

In conclusion, understanding the culture of your senior living community is a critical factor in unlocking marketing insights that can lead to higher occupancy rates. Demographic data alone is not enough to fully understand your residents’ unique preferences, interests, and motivations. By delving deeper into qualitative insights, such as individual lifestyle goals, staff observations, and feedback, and fostering a culture of “we” where staff and residents work together to create a vibrant and inclusive community, you can create a sense of fellowship and connection that resonates with your target audience. By leveraging these marketing insights, you can position your community as a leader in the senior living industry, confidently demonstrating to families and residents that your community is the right choice. So, go beyond demographics and unlock the secret to discovering your community culture to create a thriving senior living community that attracts and retains residents for years.