The Business of Aging

Using Elder Care Programs to Retain Employees

In the latest Talent Management magazine (a popular trade magazine for human resource professionals) there is an article titled Back to The Future.

Within this article there is a sidebar article on How to Retain Generations X and Y. Something many employers are concerned about considering these generations consistently boast the highest turnover rates in corporate America (staying on average 20 months per job).

What does this have to do with senior care?

A lot.

The writer, Sarah Sladek (CEO of Limelight Generations and author of a lot of books) lists some of the ways companies can retain these employees.

And high on the list is  "Elder Care programs" considering most Gen Xers and Yers will find themselves caring for aging loved ones if they are not already.

At HRmarketer.com, a sister product to SeniorCareMarketer.com, we work with a lot of companies who market elder care programs to employers and their products/services are in high demand these days. 

Companies that market senior care products/services need to really take a look at the employer channel as a possible market - but is a far different marketing and sales process than B2C (selling to Boomers). I will be speaking about this topic at the March What's Next in Boomer's Summit. If you are attending this event I would be delighted to speak with you about this market and help you determine if it is the right channel for your product/service.

Some Thoughts on Boomers, their "Retirement" and the Companies That Market to Them.

I came across two interesting articles I wanted to share - and why the information is important to companies selling products and services relating to the aging population.

"The Census Bureau forecasts that the 65-and-over population will rise from 38.7 million in 2008 to 88.5 million by 2050 and that the 85-and-over slice will swell from 5.4 million to 19 million. The actual size of this "age wave," though, could reach tsunami proportions, if a December study from the healthcare policy journal Milbank Quarterly turns out to be prescient. It predicts an average American life span of 86 years for a man and 93 years for a woman by 2050—more than a decade longer than now—and a grand total of up to 108 million seniors."- Excerpt from January 25, 2010 U.S. News and World Report article.

The first, Why Baby Boomers Should Rethink Retirement, from U.S. News and World Report discusses how seniors today are living more independently, dying less from lengthy and debilitating bouts of cancer, and are happier than they were in the past (according to a 2008 University of Chicago study). The article goes into pretty good detail about the impacts of an aging - and active - population on the individual and society as well as the challenges it brings to public policy.

The second article, Economy Forces Changes in Thinking about Retirement, discusses the economy's impact on senior housing including smaller homes, increased emphasis on bike paths and walking trails (and decreased emphasis on greens and fairways), a shift away from traditional "warm weather" retirement destinations, and the types of design features the 55+ population wants in their homes.

Some lessons from these articles:

When it comes to marketing to an older demographic group, strategies that may have worked in the past will not work with aging boomers.  This is new territory for a lot of companies because historically people over the age of 50 have not been highly targeted by marketers because their spending power was minimal.  But as a group aging boomers will have double the spending power of today's 60-70 years olds, will not consider themselves "old", are affluent, and will live independent and active lifestyles well into their 70s and 80s and beyond if they are healthy.

All of these changes will have a dramatic impact on how company's market their products and services - all companies, as well as how employers recruit and retain older workers.

Sizing Up The Market For Assisted Living: New Report from Harvard Medical School.

Thanks to Kathy Mills from Factix Research, LLC whose blog post alerted me to this excellent new report.

The report's abstract is: (Get full report here)

"Assisted living has emerged as an important housing and long-term care option for older Americans. To date, development of this sector has occurred largely without government financing or regulation. In this study we used primary data that we collected on county-level assisted living supply to gain a fuller understanding of this sector nationally. Reflecting their reliance on private resources, assisted living facilities are located disproportionately in areas with higher educational attainment, income, and housing wealth. As this sector evolves, policymakers will have to contend with issues related to access to services, public financing, quality of care, and regulatory oversight."

Kathy sums is up perfectly:

"If you're in the assisted living industry, you may want to check out this new study: Sizing Up the Market for Assisted Living. It contains data on the national level, which is difficult to find elsewhere. The researchers provides some helpful statistics and interesting maps, including a map detailing the correlation between assisted living penetration and an area's sociodemographic traits. The data was based on the market as of 2007. "

Educational Content. What Every Senior Care Vendor Needs. But Few Have It.

A lot of senior care providers are creating free profiles in our new senior care directory - and we invite you to do the same.  But unlike our sister directory for human resource vendors, few senior care providers have used this powerful directory to syndicate content (see how HR vendors do this) from their web site.

The reason is that most senior care vendors do not have useful content on their web site. Most sites are what we call brochureware.

These sites  provide basic information on the services the respective provider offers and some contact information but they don't engage visitors to their site (e.g., potential customers), don't give them a reason to return and certainly don't give them a reason to share their contact information such as signing up for a newsletter or a blog feed (what blog - most senior care vendors don't even have one).

There is no excuse for senior care providers not to be providing useful content for their site visitors.

In a related "people" industry, Human Resources, we find that HR buyers LOVE and need information! HR vendors who produce compelling non-promotional content to address the needs of HR professionals reap the rewards through increased sales leads, higher web site traffic and improved search engine rankings.

As great as the demand is for HR content, it is much greater for senior care. Consumers need information. This would explain the enormous popularity of sites like Caring.com. Assuming that people know the differences and all the nuances of assisted living, nursing homes and in-home care is a mistake. Most don't. In fact, assuming  the adult caregiver knows anything about their care needs is a mistake.  Most don't because unlike say preparing for a newborn, elder care needs often blindside us and we are initially clueless about what to do. I know I was.

Senior care providers who understand this and can create useful educational information for their buyers will reap the awards described earlier. 

Yet, too many senior care providers have web sites that look like this.

Here is a great example how senior care provider Home Instead uses content to educate caregivers.   And here is how one franchise in Fort Worth, Texas leveraged useful content in their marketing during the recent holidays.

Producing great content for your web site results in increased traffic, improved search engine rankings and more sales leads. And this content can be leveraged in ongoing marketing and PR activities. 

Content marketing includes white papers, webcasts, podcasts, articles, tip sheets, videos, etc. You want whole-brain content marketing messages that quickly engage and entice and motivate intellectually as well as emotionally - i.e., I want to know more.

What's the context of your marketing content? Are you targeting the right audience with the right content? Remember, your long-term marketing efforts are not one size fits all. Cold marketing may start out that way, but how you use other activities like social media to spark conversation with content definitely needs to be tailored to the audience.

Are you optimizing for your buyers' experience? Is it easy to download your content? Can they easily submit feedback? Can they easily have a conversation with you if they want to know more? Ensure that your landing pages include clear call-to-actions for what you want them to do and why the content is valuable to their organizations.

Regardless of what size you are or what stage of the business you're in, the lead generation tower is best built with content and conversation in context.