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The Power of Video for Marketing Your Assisted Living Facility

The Power of Video for Marketing Your Assisted Living Facility

If you are marketing your assisted living facility, it goes without saying that you are constantly trying to come up with new ways of engaging your target market with news about your facility.  But with budgets getting tighter and time slipping through your fingers, how are you going to innovate your process to attract more residents?

Well, how about video?

In previous blogs I have written about the power of video when it comes to enhancing your online marketing strategy, but when it comes to assisted living facilities the power is even more intense.

Video can capture aspects of your facility that would normally go unseen or inexperienced by your target market and has the power of evoking emotions that can influence their decision to move into your facility faster.

Just think about it.  The market that you are trying to attract are facing a tough, life changing decision.  Whether it is an elder who understands that they can no longer care adequately for themselves, or a caregiver who sees the mental decline of their loved one and requires help.  These tough decisions and emotional turmoil create a need for more engaging content.  While they may enjoy inspirational and helpful materials, visual content will really attract and engage their attention.

Another reason is that by “lifting the curtain” and showing some of the inspirational, joyful and happy times, in addition to highlighting key services that your facility offers (memory care, personal care), as well as showcasing what makes your facility special, allows you to impart a higher level of understanding about what it truly means to be a resident within your vibrant assisted living community.

Sounds good, but where do you start?

Here is a quick-start guide for you to begin creating videos that will help you make a splash online:

1.  Create a “Capture List”.  Write down all of the moments that you would like to capture alongside the services that you would like to highlight.  For example: family visits, birthdays, happy hour, events, fitness classes, memory care and respite care.  Then add and delete as necessary.  This will be a quick guide to the sort of moments that you should be looking to capture.

2.  Choose a Length.  As many people have extremely low attention spans, you want to be creating videos that are relatively short.  I wouldn’t go for more than 3 minutes per video.  Choose your limit and write it down for reference.

3.  Choose Your Device.  How will you be recording the video?  Choose one universal device that will be the sole recording tool for all videos.  Phones are great, but different models and manufacturers will cause videos to look different.  You want a cohesive look and feel.  So choose something like the facility’s iPad, video camera, etc. Write down the approved device.

4.  Choose a Director.  Every facility will have staff who may eagerly jump at this opportunity, but choose one person to do all of the taping.  Remember, you won’t be taping 30 videos a day – so I usually suggest the marketing director of the facility to do this (if they are located on-site).  Having multiple people doing the videos will give each one a different look and feel which will not show brand cohesion, which is a must.  Just think how a Michael Bay directed movie differs from a Woody Allen film.

5.  Sample Shoot Day.  Schedule one day (just a morning or afternoon) to practice shooting.  Do some outside, do some inside.  Do videos with people talking, with music and with movement.  Try to get a feel for how your device will react to each of the different settings (including sound and lighting).  After the sample shoot is done, download the videos to a computer and check to see how they turned out.  Then take notes and enhance the next ones you shoot.  This is when you can figure out the best environment to create maximum quality.

6.  Create a Video Goal.  Every week, create a goal of how many videos that you want to shoot and distribute……then meet it!  Don’t go overboard, think realistically.  Go for maybe 1 per day and then increase/decrease it as necessary.

And there you have it – you are now ready to use the power of video to bring your assisted living facility to life!  But this is just the first phase – you also have to share these videos on your website, YouTube page, blog, Facebook Page, Twitter account, LinkedIn account and lots more.  But having the content is the tough part of the battle, the rest is a much easier process.  So get out there and start shooting today – you’ll be pleasingly surprised by the outcomes you will reap!

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