Stop blending in. Start getting referrals.

Stop Blending In. Start Getting Referrals.

If your referral partners can’t quickly explain what makes your assisted living community different, you may be making it harder for them to refer you.

In this episode of the Marketing That Moves series, I'm talking about positioning: what it is, why it matters, and how to create an internal positioning statement that becomes the North Star for your marketing.

I break down the difference between your positioning and your value proposition, why phrases like “compassionate care,” “family atmosphere,” and “personalized service” aren’t enough on their own, and how to think more strategically about the position you want to own in your local market.

You’ll also hear examples of how things like your resident profile, location, care model, customer experience, clinical background, communication style, and referral relationships can become meaningful differentiators.

Your marketing action for the week: Create an internal positioning statement that answers:

• Who are we?
• Who are we for?
• Where do we fit in our market?
• What experience are we intentionally creating?
• What do we want families and professional referral sources to say about us when we’re not in the room?

Because strong marketing starts before the flyer, the Facebook post, or the referral visit.

It starts with knowing exactly who you are in the market.

Mentioned in this episode:
Momentum Marketing Bootcamp, where we go deeper into positioning, ideal residents, messaging, marketing channels, referral strategy, and building a 90-day marketing plan designed to support occupancy.

New cohort starting Sept 9th! Click link for more.

Transcript

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Here's something I want you to think about. If I took your name and logo off your website today and replaced it with the name of another assisted living community that's, let's say, down the street, would anybody notice? Seriously, if your website says compassionate care, personalized attention, home-like environment, treating residents like family, could I put your competitor's logo on top of it and it would still make sense? Because if I can, you may not have a marketing problem, you may have a positioning problem, and that is your Marketing That Moves tip for the week. Now, while we are talking about website, I don't just mean just for your website. I mean in every area of your business that you use for marketing. It could be your social media posts, it could be your brochures, it could be your messaging when you're at a networking event. If you are sounding and looking like everyone else, that is where we're having an issue. So welcome to Marketing That Moves, where I give you one practical marketing idea each week that you can actually put to work in your senior living business Nothing complicated. One idea, one explanation, and one thing I want you to do this week That's what we're focused on today. And today, we're talking about something that sounds very corporate when you hear the terminology, but it's actually pretty simple. More specifically, How do you communicate your value proposition so people understand why your community is different? Now, I know we talked a little bit about this in the last episode, and we went broad. Today, we're going deep. Now, I know positioning statement, value proposition, all of that sounds like somebody in a conference room in some corporate location, in an ivory tower is what we call them, executive level suite, that is put on a PowerPoint and people are nodding their heads, like smiling. You know how we do in corporate. "Yeah, yeah, that sounds good." But stay with me here, okay? Because this really does matter, especially if you own a small assisted living community. Here's the easiest way I can explain positioning statement and value proposition. Positioning is the space you want to occupy in someone's head when they think about the problem that you solve. That's what positioning is. That's it. What do you want people to remember about you? What do you want them to say when somebody asks? What do you want them to talk about when you're not in the room? What do you want them to say when somebody says, "Have you heard of this community?" And your value proposition is simply the reason that position matters to them. In plain English, positioning is what you want to be known for. Your value proposition is why the person you're trying to reach should care. That is your value proposition, and that could be anyone from the discharge planner, the rehab director, the adult daycare owner, absolutely anyone. And that's the difference between the two. So if your positioning is we're a small assisted living or we're a small residential assisted living family care home where residents receive individualized attention, the value isn't that you're small. The value is what being small creates for the resident and the family. Maybe mom is known by name, right? Or maybe the changes in the, your resident's behavior can be detected sooner, and that's a benefit to the physician. Um, maybe the family has easier access to the staff. That's the value might be for the social worker. So you have to know, number one, who you're talking to in terms of the target market, you know, in terms of your referrer and what's important to them, but then understanding your value and who you are, then you can tie it into that conversation. When you put these two together, your positioning statement and your value proposition, you're beginning to answer the most important questions in marketing your community. What do I want people to know? What do I want people to remember about me, and why should that matter to them? And this is where I see a lot of small assisted living owners get stuck. They start marketing with the activities, that they think is promoting their community. should I post on Facebook? Or should I go to the hospital and talk to a discharge planner? Or, um, maybe I should make a flyer and just pass it around or do an event and sponsor an event for somebody. Um, even digital, like maybe I should do Facebook ads or Google ads. Um, I love this one. Should I be on Instagram? Well, what are you gonna say when you get there, right? That's the idea. So these are all legitimate questions. I am not downplaying them, but they're not the first marketing question for you. Because if you decide where you're going to put your message, you need to know what the message is. Otherwise, you're just distributing or promoting or paying for marketing that nobody will particularly remember. And that is the difference between doing marketing activities and actually marketing with intention So this is the one thing corporate marketing does understand, and it's the one thing I learned working inside larger senior living organizations, is that good marketing usually starts long before the brochure gets designed, long before the website is developed, long before the new community goes up. That is done well ahead of time. So for some people, you're focused on licensing, but really go back. You should focus on who you're going to be and then get licensed. We in corporate would look at the market. We would look at competitors. We would look at the pricing in the area. We would look at the demographics in the area. We'd look at the type of resident that we are wanting to serve in this particular market. We look at everything that's happening around the community, and then we ask, "Where do we wanna be a fit in there? How do we be a fit?" And then we develop from there. Now, did every company always execute this perfectly? Of course not, but the thinking of it matters, and it will help guide you. It will help give you a plan to maximize the results that you're wanting while at the same time minimizing the waste of, waste of time, waste of money, waste of resources. And small communities need that same level of thinking. You know, you don't need a corporate marketing department, but you will benefit from a corporate level strategy because one of the advantages you have as an independent owner is that you actually can be more specific. You don't have to be everything to everybody. These big communities, they have to do that for the most part. But the problem I see is that so many, and it... I, I'm almost nauseated from it, is we provide great care. Everybody says that. everybody says we provide g- great care And so when someone says, you know, what makes your assisted living different, right? Especially when you're a referrer, because everybody's going to these people. And then the answer is, we provide great care. Think about if you heard that ten times a day or twenty-five times a month. What is your response gonna be? Okay, I hope so. Um, you know what I'm saying? That's not me being funny. Well, maybe a little bit. Don't judge me. But that's not me being funny. But good care is actually the expectation, right? That is the price of admission. That's the price of a move-in. That's the price of opening up your doors. It's incredibly important, but from a marketing standpoint, that it doesn't necessarily help somebody distinguish you from the nine other communities telling them the exact same thing. Just like our residents are like family. Oh my God. Or we have a home-like environment. Can you name some of these that you've seen before? We provide personalized care. We're compassionate. Again, all those things all may be true, and I'm not telling you to stop being compassionate or stop being that. What I am telling you that if everybody can say it, it isn't doing enough work to position you as being different. So where does the difference come from? Well, think about it. Sometimes it comes from who you serve particularly well. Maybe you serve diabetics really well, right? Maybe you have developed an environment that's especially good for s-someone who's transitioning from living alone who still wants their independence. Or maybe, um, you work exceptionally well with families navigating early-stage memory care because you have your dementia cert-certification, and you can confidently support them. Um, maybe if you're a nurse and your clinical background, it allows you to support residents with needs that other homes in your market aren't comfortable in handling. These are all little things that can position you to be memorable to people when you're out there marketing And let's talk about size, right? Because you're small, for those of you who are small, not everybody's small, but for those of you who have a smaller community, let's say less than 24 units, you know, 24 rooms. Your size creates an experience where residents don't disappear in larger buildings, right? And your community may be particularly strong in helping families through the difficult transition after hospitalization, um, and support caregiving families in ways that the bigger communities cannot. You could maybe serve even a cultural community that is underserved in your market There are so many different possibilities to cause a differentiation for you that I think you're doing yourself a disservice by not identifying it. But here's the part that people miss. You don't make up a positioning statement because it sounds good. You have to uncover it, and then you have to intentionally build towards it. It should sit at the intersection of who you serve, what they care about, and what you're genuinely good at. That's where the message gets super interesting. What is that primary differentiator that you haven't even considered. it could be that you serve Medicaid, populations, you know, lower income or mid-market. It could be that you, um, cater to retired professionals. Like, you know, that could be a thing, right? Um, or a certain religion or a certain demographic, certain marginalized communities. There's so much that you could do with this that can make you different, but you have to uncover what is missing in your market and where is the demand in your market. And that is only one type of many differentiators that we cover in the Momentum Marketing Bootcamp. In the bootcamp, we, we talk about this differentiator, and we talk about, like I said, just who the resident i- resident is, is only one. There's about 15 other ways to differentiate all the way from your location. How do you position that as an advantage? You know, it could be, um, the way you hire your staff and train them. That could be another advantage. There's s... The world is your oyster when it comes to that, right? And that's why I struggle to understand w- everybody using the same four to five terms because there's so much more, and you could be so much richer in what you're saying that could really make you stand out from the crowd And then we get to the other corporate sounding word. Yes, the other one, value proposition. Again, what that really means for those who are wondering is why should the person you're trying to talk to or trying to reach, your referral person, why should they care? What does it matter to them as a professional about your community? And let's say you have a six-bed assisted living home. You know, you could say, "We're a six-bed community." Okay, well, that's a feature. What does that mean? Maybe it means a resident isn't trying to navigate a huge building. For some people, maybe it means that the team knows when she didn't eat breakfast, more personalized care, right? It could show that her routine is noticed sooner, or that a family, doesn't feel like they're calling into a giant system, waiting, a week to get back to them You have to know how to position the different, uh, I don't wanna call them pods, but the different pillars of your community, of your differentiators in something that sounds so simple and you're like, "Well, duh, people would know that if we're smaller, we can do that." But if it's not in your marketing message specifically and how it relates to them and when they're referring a family or referring a resident to you, that makes a difference. You wanna put the picture of your community in their mind specifically for that person that they refer Now we're starting to talk about value. So notice the difference. The marketing isn't we only have six beds. The marketing is about what being intentionally small creates for the resident and their family. That is your value proposition. Let's talk about another example. Let's say you are a nurse-owned assisted living community, and I see this one all the time because a lot of my clients are, are nurses or someone in healthcare, and someone's entire message becomes nurse-owned, and that's great. But again, I say, "So what?" Okay. I don't know what that means, and I'm not being disrespectful. Of course, I know what that means. But what does it mean when it comes to the area of marketing? You see what I'm saying? What does your clinical experience have to do with your community? And this is where messaging makes a difference. How does it change the resident's experience? Does it help you recognize changes sooner or improve communication with physicians, with pharmacies? Are you able to overs... have oversight over some of the meds that's different than maybe someone who don't know how they interact? Does it make families feel more confident when their loved one has a complicated care need that may come up, that you having that clinical background is going to be a differentiating factor than the other ten that's in your area? This is all a part of that, and one that's really big is will it help when it comes to discharge instructions, that somebody returning from the hospital, you know the fact that you're a nurse, you know how to communicate, you know what to look for, you know what the pitfalls are from that, right? That's the value. So nurse-owned is the credential. What that credential means for the caregiving family and resident is the marketing, and that's the difference And this is one of the reasons people tell me, "I don't know what to post. I don't know what to say when I talk to a discharge planner. I don't know what to say, let's say, um, on my website or on my brochure. I feel like I keep saying the same thing." Of course you do, because you are, right? But it don't have to be that anymore, okay? We're gonna stop that right now, because what you're trying to create is content or promote your home before you have clarified your message. And once you understand the position you want to own, decisions and content becomes easier. Your website gets easier. Social media, all of it gets easier, and your referral conversations will get easier. Even what you decide to host as an event or sponsor, it will make more sense to you. And the bonus kicker of all of this is that organizations you decide to build relationships with becomes clearer, because now you're not just throwing marketing out into the world hoping somebody responds. There's a strategy, and you're connecting with it. So what's your action for this week? I want you to create an internal positioning statement for your community, and I want to emphasize the word internal, because having a positioning statement is not external. It's not your tagline. It's not something that you give a family or put in your brochure. Think of it as your community's marketing North Star, and it's going to answer the questions succinctly of who we are, who we are for, where do we sit in our market, what kind of experience are we intentionally creating, And what do we want people to consistently say about us when we're not in the room? And that last question is important, because your positioning isn't only about what you say you are. Eventually, you want whoever knows your community to describe you in a way that sounds remarkably close to the position you've intentionally created. Their description of your community on the outside, without even knowing your position, should automatically be close to what your positioning statement is. Well, let's make sure we get this right. A positioning statement is not a mission statement. Your mission tells you why you exist. Your positioning statement tells you where you've decided to compete, um, who you're best suited to serve, um, what you're going to be known for, and what evidence you have to support that position, right? So here's an example for an internal positioning statement might sound like this. Okay? Um, "At Hope Hill Assisted Living, we serve middle income older adults and families who want dependable care without the cost or feel of a luxury senior living community. Our residents are primarily teachers, veterans, and and long-term local families who value an active lifestyle, familiar surroundings, and straightforward communication. We are known for strong clinical oversight, consistent staffing, and a community that stays active beyond the front door with weekly outings, family events, and partnerships with local senior organizations. Our RN-led care team and three consecutive deficiency-free surveys give families and referral partners added confidence when a resident's needs becomes more complex. Our goal is to be the community local families, home health professionals, and discharge planners think of when someone wants high quality assisted living at a moderate price point with a reputation built on reliability rather than luxury extras So what does that sound like to you? It sounds to me like it is a place for people who are still independent, who only needs a little bit of support, and who, here is very still active, actually doing neighborhood outings, community outings. So that means that you have transportation, you have things, and that could be your... Again, that could be your, your differentiating factor because maybe smaller homes don't have transportation and don't do these things. So this is how it helps you guide your decisions when you have a statement like this. And the more specific you can get in that statement of where you're going to position yourself in your market, the better you're gonna be at differentiating that and making decisions based on it. Now, I'm not suggesting that you put this statement, you know, on your webpage or anything like that. This is, like I said before, is something that's super internal. That is, that is the purpose. It's, it's for you to know who you are before you start marketing who you are. Because once this statement exists, you can use it as a filter for all of your marketing decisions and activities. Even something as simple as flowers in the foyer starts making sense because it isn't random anymore. It's reinforcing your position. Your assignment this week is not to come up with a clever sentence, but to sit down and describe your community as if you were explaining it to a leadership team. This is who you have decided to be in this market. And then ask one more question. If I called three of your best professional referral sources today and asked them to describe your community, would what they say sound anything like your statements? Because that's when positioning gets really, really powerful When what you say you are and what your customer experiences are and what your referral experiences are and what the market says you are, when they all begin to match, that's your North Star. And this is actually one of the reasons I'm teaching positioning early in the Momentum Marketing Bootcamp because I don't want you spending seven weeks with me simply learning more marketing activities. That's not what the bootcamp is for. You can Google marketing ideas, right? I mean, it'll be very generic, but you can do that, and you can ask AI for 100 social media posts before breakfast, but that's gonna be generic. That isn't necessarily what's missing. What I want you to understand is how the pieces all connect, and then how do we turn all of that into a plan you can actually execute. That's the difference between collecting marketing ideas and building a marketing system and a plan. So we're going to work through this together in the bootcamp But whether you join me or not, start with this week's exercise because before you ask people to pay attention to your marketing, you need to give them something worth remembering. I will see you next week for another Marketing That Moves.