The Key to Increasing Your Facility's Census

Traditional marketing is fun, but is it increasing your census?

Do you find yourself asking, “How can we keep our building full and generate more referrals? We are marketing everywhere yet we are not getting better results!” Well as much as you would like to think that your marketing strategy will generate more referrals, chances are it will not. So why is that? Most skilled nursing facilities are not using the correct model for the changing times.

The skilled nursing industry continues to become more crowded and more competitive. With the baby boomers coming of age, this will only get worse. So how do you stay on top and make sure you are getting the referrals you need? You must start thinking differently, and be more innovative in your approach. You need something that will set you apart from your competition that will generate referrals.

Arete Rehab is redefining successful aging.

Arete Rehab is redefining successful aging.

So, what is it? 

Target marketing, with a target message, at the right target time of year. 

You must market the problem and not the service. And while this is not entirely new to the sales world, chances are it is new to the Skilled Nursing industry. There is plenty of time to talk about how great you are, or how many stars you have but if you are not marketing the problem you will have no one to tell that to. 

Whether you are McDonalds, Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, or any other successful organization they apply the same principles and you should be doing it too! Look closely at their marketing efforts. They have the right message at the right time of the year directed at the right person. They understand how the subconscious mind thinks and sell directly to it.  Let me give you an example. Although respite care will more than likely will not fill your building, when should you be marketing this? When family is together during the winter holidays, or would it make more sense to do it during the summer when people are traveling and someone needs to look after mom and dad? And then who should you market to? The patient, the children making those decisions, or someone entirely different? And how?

Of course, there is no perfect way to market, and yes, we didn’t divulge everything about this strategy (that is for our clients) but if your building is not full and you would like it to be, it is worth a look. By using this process and other census growth strategies, we have never had a building we worked with not have a full census during our time with them by applying these principles. We're sharing this information as part of our strategy at Arete Rehab. If you would like to find out how to learn more detailed steps in filling your building or if you are an owner and want to see more success out of all your buildings, contact us.