It’s no secret that home care is a fiercely competitive market. With 426,820 providers nationwide, according to IBISWorld, there is often significant local competition for most agencies. This competition is even more intense because most families don’t even begin their search for care until they have an immediate need for it, not to mention the highly personal nature of in-home care.  Given these factors, creating buzz around a post-acute care business is essential.

A recent finding in the 2023 HCP Benchmarking Report shows that creating a buzz-worthy reputation in post-acute care marketing rests heavily on the agency’s ability to create an exceptional employee and customer experience. Fortunately, there are five ways to strengthen your marketing strategy today to build a reputation that gets your agency noticed for all the right reasons.

When it comes to getting noticed and selling your services, reputation matters. According to the HCP Benchmarking Report, customer referrals are an agency’s top marketing source. Referrals generated over a third of all revenue for those surveyed in 2022. A strong, positive reputation not only attracts more clients but also attracts better caregivers as well, which in turn helps improve satisfaction and bolster your reputation. Use the following steps to help strengthen your agency’s reputation and marketing strategy:

1. Record and track inquiries. According to HCP, the top three home care marketing sources in the 2023 benchmarking study, in order, are word-of-mouth, SEO, and PPC. If you are investing in these efforts, it makes sense to understand how well the inquiries generated by those investments are being handled. Call listening can help you evaluate the intake skills of your staff, refine search marketing efforts, and track marketing ROI. Additionally, using a call recording service, like CallRail, can help you digitally track where callers are finding you online and gives you the opportunity to hear how calls are handled by your staff as well. This allows you to refine search marketing campaigns further and improve call handling to improve satisfaction.
2. Ensure satisfaction. The best way to ensure your agency creates a stellar experience that will attract clients and caregivers is to seek feedback. Ask employees, clients, and their loved ones for an evaluation on an ongoing basis. High satisfaction scores can then be used to demonstrate excellence and distinction in the market. If scores are on the lower end, use this as a guide and develop strategies for improving any areas where you may fall short.
3. Manage reputation. Too often, small business owners are scared to ask for client reviews for fear of getting less than a 5-star rating. However, all feedback is beneficial to growing your agency and reputation. Ask happy clients, loved ones, referral partners, and employees for reviews. Display the positive feedback prominently on your website, social media channels, and other marketing materials to highlight why others should work with you. If the reviews are posted on a review website such as Google or Yelp, link to those review sites rather than post them directly on your website. Most review websites have rules about reposting content from their website.
4. Share helpful information. A fundamental way to build a strong reputation as a subject matter expert is to center your marketing around being a helpful resource for your target audience. Use your blog and short videos to share how-to information, dos and don’ts, industry developments, etc., and share it in various ways, such as via your website, social channels, email campaigns, etc.
5. Encourage word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth advertising has routinely been one of the most potent forms of marketing for in-home care services, so it is crucial to make it easy for employees and customers to spread the word about your agency. For employees, consider offering a referral rewards program to encourage them to contact other qualified caregivers they might know. Send current clients, their loved ones, and your referral partners an informative email regularly to stay top of mind. Encourage them to forward your emails to people they know who might need care services. Ask for testimonials from satisfied clients and referral partners and use them in your marketing materials and social media.

When it comes to ensuring your home care marketing strategy is strong enough to help your agency stand out from the crowd, the award-winning team at corecubed can assist, from increasing online reviews to call-listening to creating content that sells. Contact us today to learn how we can help you strengthen your care marketing strategy.