Remember when you could create a Yellow Pages ad for your business and just wait for the calls to come streaming in? Sadly, those days are over, and today’s marketing requires a lot more maintenance than a static print ad. Consumers are savvier now, and have many means by which to ignore advertising they don’t want to see. The trick to catching the eye of potential clients, particularly for those in the home care industry, is to position yourself to be found when their need for care arises.

How do you know if you’ll be found when someone needs a home care provider? First, you must be online. If you’re marketing without a website today, you’re not really marketing. But, even if you have a website, it may not be as optimized as it could be to help your agency show up in a Google search, and you may still be missing out on some other valuable online marketing tools. Take our quiz to see if your website and home care marketing plan may be in need of a makeover!

Question 1: When you Google home care plus your local area (i.e. “home care Albany”) where does your website appear within the search results?
a) Toward the bottom of the first page of results
b) At the top of the first page of results
c) We used to show up on page two, but now we’re a few pages back

Note: If you answered C, your website may not be SEO optimized. Adding targeted keywords to your on-page SEO as well as your meta data is a good first step toward making your site SEO friendly, but there’s much more to SEO than meets the eye. This is something the professionals at corecubed can handle!

Question 2: On which social media sites is your agency active?
a) Facebook
b) Twitter
c) LinkedIn
d) Google+
e) Pinterest
f) All or some of the above
g) None of the above

Note: If you answered G, your agency is missing out on connections to potential clients, as well as valuable SEO juice. While you don’t have to be on every social media outlet there is, it’s important to test a few, find out which ones work for your agency, and produce regular, relevant content for them. Don’t just sign up and let your Facebook page or Twitter account sit vacant!

Question 3: How often do you post to your blog?
a) At least once a week
b) Once a month…sometimes
c) The last time I blogged was 2 years ago

Note: A blog is one of your most important online marketing tools. Not only can it provide the up-to-date, relevant content that Google likes to see, a good blog can set your agency up as a thought leader within the industry and your local community. Not blogging or letting a blog sit unused for too long can send the wrong message to Google and your potential clientele.

Question 4: How often do you send out an e-newsletter?
a) Any time something important happens within the agency, so sometimes not for months
b) Once a month
c) We’d love to send a newsletter, but we’re just too busy

Note: Did you know that e-newsletters are not only a great way to keep in touch with current clients, but they’re also useful in helping gain new clients and referral sources and even win back former clients? While you may not have “newsworthy” things happening each month, it’s very important to stay in touch with your clients and referrals and let them know what’s going on within your agency and the industry on a regular basis.

How did you agency score? If the answer is “not so good,” that’s nothing to be ashamed of. With the rising tide of baby boomers and older adults in need of care, home care agencies are busier than ever these days, with less time than ever to devote to marketing. However, corecubed’s MOST home care marketing program can help. MOST is a marketing membership program for home care agencies that provides access to award-winning, fresh, helpful and relevant home care marketing materials each month that are designed to specifically target those searching for home care services. You choose each month which materials, social media or website services you’d like to order from our growing online library and we take care of the rest so that you can spend more time focusing on your business. Take a look at some examples of our award-winning MOST materials and contact us today to learn how we can remodel your marketing for remarkable results!