Effective B2B and B2C Marketing Approaches in Home Care

Effective B2B and B2C Marketing Approaches in Home Care

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Dennis Gill: Right. So welcome to CareSmartz360 On Air, a home care Podcast. I’m Dennis Gill, senior sales consultant at Caresmartz.

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Dennis Gill: So today we have the pleasure of speaking with Beth Douglas, an experienced Marketing Director, with over 20 years of expertise in developing and implementing successful strategies across a wide range of industries.

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Dennis Gill: Beth has worked with startups and fortune 500 corporations alike, owning her skills in digital and creative marketing content creation, social media website, design email campaigns and video production.

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Dennis Gill: Our impressive portfolio includes writing projects for healthcare, senior living education technology and nonprofit organizations along with the strategic development of promotional materials for B2B and B2C Marketing.

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Dennis Gill: So, join us as we dive into Beth’s wealth of experience and insights, and discover how her marketing prowess can help home care agencies of all sizes achieve their goals. Let’s get started so welcome to the podcast Beth.

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Beth Douglas: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

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Dennis Gill: We are really glad that we are able to connect with you today, and it would be great for our audience today, so they will have such a person, with such a great and vast experience, so, and just addressing their concerns.

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Dennis Gill: So, without wasting much of your time, I’ll stay away tune to my 1st question for you. So, Beth, what are some of the key differences you’ve observed in effective marketing strategies for B2B and B2C marketing audiences.

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Beth Douglas: So I get. The 1st thing that comes to mind, of course, is with the advent of marketing analytics being able to measure the response of any kind of digital media.

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Beth Douglas: So my experience has been, for example, doing a campaign, whether whether it’s for social media or any kind of digital media is to provide a hyperlink to a landing page

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Beth Douglas: on the website where you’re trying to drive your traffic.

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Beth Douglas: When you create that hyperlink. Obviously, you can track the the path of the consumer as they navigate through your website

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Beth Douglas: and pinpoint

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Beth Douglas: when they leave. If they leave, and you can follow up with them. Another very effective tool, of course, is asking people to opt in

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Beth Douglas: to receive future marketing communications from you. For example, a newsletter, or when I worked for sonata senior living. We did quite a bit in the State of Florida for hurricane. Prep preparedness. What to do with your loved one. If they’re they’re experiencing stress from from the hurricanes and things like that, more educational in nature than marketing.

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Beth Douglas: It’s a good, good, effective tool to get people to opt in to receive communications from you, otherwise it can be put into spam.

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Beth Douglas: and none of us want to be put into a spam folder.

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Dennis Gill: Rightly said right.

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Beth Douglas: So yeah, I I think that the main difference, too. As far as B, 2 b versus B to C,

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Beth Douglas: of course. b 2 b when I 1st started working in senior living.

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Beth Douglas: I think I was a bit of an idealist, and I thought it was all about the quality of care.

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Beth Douglas: And while it is important to have quality of care,

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Beth Douglas: it’s all about profit margins as well

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Beth Douglas: trying to make sure that whatever practices you have in place, you’re getting your Roi so, for example, keep record keeping, making sure that the medicines are being administered, that the doctors know that each doctor is talking to one another. If you have a general practitioner talking to a neurologist talking to an Osteo doctor talking to, you know the whole host of

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Beth Douglas: of caregivers that we get when we get older.

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Beth Douglas: So I think that

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Beth Douglas: the b 2 b market. What I learned was when you’re targeting other healthcare professionals

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Beth Douglas: to focus on how to streamline

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Beth Douglas: their work. Day.

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Beth Douglas: It seems like 10 out of 10 healthcare organ organizations nowadays are understaffed.

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Beth Douglas: and they need methodologies that make their workday more productive.

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Beth Douglas: Try to squeeze. Try to squeeze 60 seconds out of every hour. 60 min. Rather.

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Beth Douglas: Yeah. So trying to make sure that everything is profitable from a healthcare perspective that the patients are always well cared for, but also that they’re

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Beth Douglas: their profit. Margins are protected.

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Dennis Gill: Profit is, that’s the bottom line.

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Beth Douglas: Right.

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Dennis Gill: Yes. So just adding to that thing. So what are some innovative digital and creative marketing tactics? You’ve used to help senior living communities stand out and capture the attention of the target audiences.

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Beth Douglas: Well, I’m a huge believer in keeping things personal. Telling the stories. My degree, technically, is in journalism.

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Beth Douglas: and the art of storytelling is huge when when it comes to any kind of health care or senior care, because

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Beth Douglas: let’s face it. At the end of the day. We want to take care of our moms and dads. We want to make sure that

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Beth Douglas: the healthcare professionals that are interacting with our loved ones are caring and compassionate

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Beth Douglas: so the a marketing tactic, for example, was sonata senior living

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Beth Douglas: there was a woman who had her husband coming to memory care

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Beth Douglas: 3 days a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, from 12 to 5,

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Beth Douglas: and then she escalated that up to Monday through Friday 8 to 5,

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Beth Douglas: and then she escalated it to full time

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Beth Douglas: having him

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Beth Douglas: in the facility. So I asked her, just on a conversational basis.

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Beth Douglas: how did you know when it was time to place your loved one in a care facility.

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Beth Douglas: full time.

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Beth Douglas: and she said, Well, that’s easy, because one day I went to run errands. I came back. He had overdosed on medication and ended up in hospital.

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Dennis Gill: Oh! Oh!

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Beth Douglas: And she, she said, I realized at that point.

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Beth Douglas: I couldn’t leave him alone.

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Dennis Gill: Yeah.

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Beth Douglas: And so stories like that, I said, Would you mind telling your story in video form so that we can share it with other people who are having a hard time letting go of the care of their loved one and turning it over to a healthcare professional. And she said, I’d love to share my story.

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Beth Douglas: So I got permission. I had a waiver

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Beth Douglas: and shared it on social media, and everyone was liking and commenting and sharing it because these stories are so relatable.

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Beth Douglas: so to capture a target audience

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Beth Douglas: back to your question, I think it has to resonate with them on a personal level

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Beth Douglas: if they can actually say, Oh, my gosh! I’ve been experiencing that myself.

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Beth Douglas: And when they can relate to the stories that you’re sharing, I think that’s huge.

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Dennis Gill: Yeah. The crux can be the personal touch.

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Beth Douglas: Yeah.

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Dennis Gill: Okay, okay? And any can you share a successful, sorry, successful case study or campaign that you worked on that effectively? Reach? Both B, 2 B. And B, 2 C. Customers in the senior living care space.

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Beth Douglas: Yes, so for National Assisted Living Week.

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Beth Douglas: I did a campaign, and I called called it the power of connecting

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Beth Douglas: and I

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BethDouglas: I solicited from staff to share their stories about. Why do they love

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Beth Douglas: the work that they do?

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Beth Douglas: So it was all about them sharing

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Beth Douglas: why, their work was meaningful. It’s more than just a paycheck.

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Beth Douglas: And so in sharing these stories and these quotes in the form of sort of testimonials.

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Beth Douglas: and putting those on social media as well. It worked twofold

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Beth Douglas: because it works it.

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Beth Douglas: You’re targeting. Obviously, the consumer, the adult child who wants to put their mom or dad into a care facility, knowing that these are caring compassionate people who are passionate about the work that they do. And then it’s also.

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Dennis Gill: Sorry I lost you.

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Dennis Gill: Beth, are you there?

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Dennis Gill: It just froze

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Dennis Gill: alright. Sorry we had. Some technical issue. We’ll just continue from where Beth left. Yeah, Beth, please continue.

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Dennis Gill: you’re getting.

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Beth Douglas: I’m not sure where.

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Dennis Gill: About the question that we were discussing was that successful case study about reaching both B. 2 B. And B. 2 C. Customers in the senior living care, space.

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Beth Douglas: Right. So I I had finished a sentence. I’m not sure if you heard what I was saying at the end, or how much you didn’t hear. I was basically saying that in order to reach both b 2 B+B to C, in the National Assisted Living week campaign. The employees shared the reasons why they enjoy their work. And it speaks to the quality of people that you have.

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Beth Douglas: So in turn, it. It helps market your organization as a caring professional organization as well as marketing to the consumer who wants to make sure that their loved ones are being properly cared for.

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Dennis Gill: Got it, got it, got it? Got it?

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Dennis Gill: Okay? And how have you leveraged content marketing social media and other channels to establish your clients as thought leaders and trusted authorities.

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Beth Douglas: Okay? So I believe in the power of knowledge. Educating people with, did you know? And asking questions?

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Beth Douglas: that might give people free educational tips. For example, if you have a loved one who’s not eating.

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Beth Douglas: I found out with my own mother she was not eating meat.

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Beth Douglas: She decided she would be a vegetarian at the ripe old age of 86.

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Dennis Gill: Okay.

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Beth Douglas: And I found out that she was having a hard time chewing her food.

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Beth Douglas: And that’s why she didn’t like the meat so little little tidbits about

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Beth Douglas: information that they might might not know. That isn’t always intuitive. Little educational facts that you can provide to people. That establish you as a thought leader.

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Beth Douglas: That professionals might know that the average person on the street wouldn’t know. So just basically providing educational tips and advice to people who are in need of caregiving advice.

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Dennis Gill: Great, great, great great to hear about that. And looking ahead finally, the last thing from my side. What emerging marketing trends or technologies are you most excited about.

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Beth Douglas: Well, it’s highly controversial, but AI. Artificial intelligence, of course, is becoming very, very prevalent.

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Beth Douglas: It can be both a blessing and a curse, because we don’t want to invade people’s privacy. But we also want want to glean as much information as we can from our consumers. On the positive side of that. I believe in surveys.

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Beth Douglas: I believe in asking people, what do you like about us? What do you not like about us? What do you like about our competitors? What do you not like about our competitors trying to glean as much information from a marketing perspective? Because you have to understand your competitors in the marketplace.

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Dennis Gill: And.

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Beth Douglas: What they’re doing best what you could improve your your best best practices.

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Beth Douglas: Excuse me. So I believe in in AI and surveying also using Google Google ads, pay per click.

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Beth Douglas: pay per click is an effective way to keep your marketing costs down.

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Beth Douglas: Providing you use Google adwords. So, for example, with senior living, what I discovered is a lot of people in an older generation still call it an old folks home.

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Beth Douglas: So someone is searching for an old folks home, and you’ve got senior living and assisted living and memory care assisted living. You might be missing a big

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Beth Douglas: market if you’re not using the right words that they’re searching.

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Beth Douglas: type it in the search bar. So it seems like common sense. And yet you you really need to experiment. I think the power of doing a B testing.

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Beth Douglas: So if you do an ad campaign and you change your

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Beth Douglas: your subject line could be a question, or it could be a shocking statement. But to shake it up a little. Try. A lot of experimentation. There’s a lot of psychology in good marketing, trying to find out what someone’s motivations are.

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Beth Douglas: yeah. Sometimes asking a question can be very thought provoking. How do you know your parent is being well cared for.

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Dennis Gill: Yeah.

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Beth Douglas: Or you know things that sometimes even hitting on a a key fear can trigger that response because

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Beth Douglas: At the end of the day. We’re all solving problems. So to hit that

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Beth Douglas: that need right between the eyes. What is the need? What is the problem that we can solve

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Beth Douglas: for you

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Beth Douglas: so, and being very direct, I think that that’s very important in marketing.

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Dennis Gill: Yeah. And because, I have also had the few sessions, few podcasts with other people also regarding marketing thing. And this was the thing that came out from most of the people. That one is AI. Obviously it’s controversial, but pay per click.

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Beth Douglas: Make sense.

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Dennis Gill: Google adwords. Yeah, this will. These were the main things that do come out from all the that is out there.

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Dennis Gill: It was great, great great talking to you, Beth, and thank you. Thank you for sharing your expertise today and to our lovely audience. Thanks for tuning in until next time. I’m Dennis Gill, signing off.

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Dennis Gill: Thank you.