Why Your Independent Living Community Should Implement Sensory Marketing

First impressions are important, especially when people are searching for a place to call “home.” Sensory Marketing can help you engage and delight visitors while providing a positive experience for residents and staff.

Video Marketing for Independent Living Communities

Video Marketing is a powerful tool for connecting with visitors and showing them unique benefits of your community.

Research shows that:

The average viewer retains 95% of a message delivered by video.
When a viewer enjoys a video, it increases the intent to purchase by 97% and brand association by 139%.

So, visitors are more likely to remember information presented via video and more likely to make a purchase decision based on that information.

Effective Video Marketing Elements

Videos that resonate with an audience typically include these elements:

A captivating narrative: What story are you telling? How do you want visitors to feel? What’s the goal of this video? The answers to those questions will serve as a guide for weaving a compelling narrative that captures attention and encourages action.
Authenticity: Stock footage or staged scenarios that appear inauthentic could cost you your audience’s trust. But when you show authentic footage of your community, residents and team and share real stories from real people, you can build trust with prospective residents and their families.
Engaging visuals: Captivating video of your beautifully landscaped grounds, spacious common rooms, modern amenities and inviting social spaces can engage your audience and create a positive first impression.
Emotional connection: Choosing to move to an independent senior living community can be an emotional decision. By appealing to those emotions, a good video can inspire peace of mind while laying the foundation for trust.

Types of Video Content

Video elements that often appeal to visitors include:

A virtual tour of the community
Testimonials from residents and their family members
Introductions to your staff
Life as a resident
Information about senior care, health and wellness and related topics

Best Practices for Your Video Marketing

Know your audience: The people watching your videos are either prospective residents or their family members. Consider what they’re going through at this time and the information they need to reach a confident decision.

Plan your video: An effective video starts with a detailed plan about the storyline, visuals and overall style. Also, consider the length of the video. It should be long enough to provide a complete story, but short enough to leave them wanting more.

Control the narrative: Does your community have positive online reviews? Use video to prove your value and why you’re worthy of each resident’s trust.

Promote community highlights: Show your community’s interior and exterior environments, examples of the culture and the experiences your residents enjoy. Provide a look at your most popular amenities and activities, plus beautiful shots of your rooms and common areas.

Pull on the heartstrings: Incorporate testimonials from your residents, as well as stories from your staff to show the heart of your community.

Scent Marketing for Independent Living Communities

Distributing a branded and thoughtfully created aroma throughout your facility is known as Scent Marketing.

By appealing to your audience’s sense of smell, you can engage them beyond what they see and hear, deepening their emotional connection to your community.

How Scent Can be Used in Your Community

You can use Scent Marketing in your independent living community to:

Trigger memories: The part of the brain that processes scent is adjacent to the area that processes memories. So, by using distinct scents, you can evoke certain memories for your residents and their visitors. You can also use a branded aroma to inspire positive memories of your community.
Enhance perception: With Scent Marketing, you can delight your visitors and enhance their perception of your community.
Elevate mood: People experience a 40% improvement in mood after smelling a pleasant scent. So, Scent Marketing can make visitors, residents and staff feel happier and more positive about your community.
Encourage longer visits: Research suggests that certain scents encourage people to linger, which gives you the opportunity to deepen your relationship with prospective residents and their families.
Motivate staff: Deploying certain scents can motivate your staff. For example, cinnamon promotes alertness and focus, peppermint is associated with increased performance and citrus reduces stress.

Audio Marketing for Independent Living Communities

Audio Marketing is the practice of playing music and audio messages in your community’s visitor and common areas. It’s an effective way to immediately set a positive tone and inspire desired actions and emotions.

Music has proven to offer several benefits, including elevating moods, alleviating stress and anxiety, improving sleep, reducing depression and pain, and enhancing memory recall.

Audio Marketing Best Practices

Play a thoughtfully curated playlist: When creating your playlist, consider your brand, as well as your residents’ and visitors’ state of mind. Would your brand sound more playful and vibrant or sophisticated and serene? Would you rather people feel joyful and energetic or nostalgic and calm? Answering those questions will help you design an effective playlist for your community.
Promote purposeful audio messaging: Consider what people are doing in your community. Residents could be on their way to lunch. Family members might be stopping in for a visit. The staff could be conducting their daily rounds. When people are on the move, it’s best to keep the messaging short with a specific call to action if applicable. And ensure that the audio message provides value for your audience.
Consider the voice: If your brand were a person, what would he or she sound like? It’s important that the voiceover talent you select properly represents your brand and communicates the message effectively. Also, make sure the voice reflects the energy of your space to provide a consistent experience for your audience.
Create a balance: If your residents or staff were to hear the same audio messages or songs all day every day, they may find that displeasing. So, create a thoughtful balance between music and messaging, and change the playlist and audio content frequently to avoid frustrating your audience.

How You Can Use Audio in Your Community

You can use Audio Marketing to:

Set the mood or tone in your environment
Encourage lingering with popular, captivating or intriguing music
Welcome visitors at the entrance
Share time-sensitive announcements throughout the community

Sensory Marketing Services from SensoryMax

Specializing in creating immersive brand experiences, SensoryMax offers a unique approach and access to a diverse team of experts who can create positive encounters for your residents, visitors and staff.

To learn how we can enhance your onsite experience, reach out to us.

About the Writer

Cassandra Evans has been a Creative Consultant with MadAveGroup since 2019. She has a passion for creating “positive, lasting impressions” on every audience.