Health & social care marketing
Are you a care provider looking for more self-pay clients for your care homes, domiciliary care and / or supported living services? If you’re looking for strategic, cost-effective and pragmatic help from a social care marketing expert then you’re in the right place.
Are you struggling to turn your organisational strengths into self-paying clients? Are you concerned that you have no visibility of the enquiries coming into your organisation? Would you love your operational staff to help you win more business? Do you lack the in-house marketing expertise to create a sales and marketing strategy that aligns with your organisational objectives operating in a competitive market? Could you do with some strategic marketing support whilst you set up a new service, website or IT system to support a new revenue stream?
A must read BEFORE investing in websites & marketing promotion
I’ve helped social care providers big and small to adapt to a changing external environment, capitalise on their internal strengths and introduce new revenue streams.
I offer strategic marketing consultancy to help social care organisations to:
- Adapt to a changing market
- Turn your strengths into increased revenue
- Generate more prospects – online and through staff and sign posters
- Turn more enquiries into customers
- Get the right business at the right price
- Integrate marketing into your existing systems, processes and culture
Each new self-pay customer is probably worth thousands of pounds to your organisation but attracting these customers requires different skills from the ones that most social care providers have.
I’ve helped social care providers big and small to adapt to a changing external environment, capitalise on their internal strengths and introduce new revenue streams.
CARE HOMES
Visit the care home marketing page
HOME CARE PROVIDERS
Visit the home care marketing page.
How has the social care market changed?
- All work commissioned by the local authority or PCT. Providers tender for contracts and either win all or nothing
- One size fits all service / price
- Providers may have a reputation but there are very few recognisable brands – there was no need
- Jargonistic ways of communicating with professionals
- Only need to manage relationships with a handful of commissioners
- Budget and provider allocated to the service user by the commissioner
- Getting information about the pros and cons of providers was difficult as there was limited choice
- Consumers had low expectations and were grateful to get any support they could get
- There was no real need for marketing specialists, activity or resources
New world
- An increasing demand for services but only those with “critical” and “substantial” need receive state funded care
- Without adequate self-pay clients, increasing numbers of providers are struggling to survive
- COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted vulnerable people and put extreme pressure on staff and already stretched organisational finances.
- People are becoming increasingly nervous about going into care homes.
- Some consumers are willing to pay a bit more for a great service
- Brexit has brought additional challenges, particularly in relation to staff recruitment.
- Individuals are much more savvy and can easily access information about dozens of potential providers including CQC and other ratings.
- Sales and marketing skills are becoming as important for social care providers as they are for other service providers.
There is evidence that some voluntary sector organisations subsidise services contracted from the public sector from their charitable funds, with as many as two thirds reporting that they actually need to use other sources of income, such as money from fundraising, in order to deliver contracts.
New Philanthropy Capital (2017)
Charities taking charge: transforming to face a changing world
A changing market requires a different approach
The continued squeeze in state funding means that you may struggle to survive on block contracts from local authorities and primary care trusts. As a result, social care providers are having to think not just about the quality of the care they provide but also how to generate business in a changing environment.
More and more are looking at diversifying their revenue streams and tapping into the more lucrative self-pay market. The problem is that whilst they may well have a reputation with statutory buyers, most lack the marketing skills required to generate and convert enquiries in sufficient quantity. They are not visible when potential customers are looking for care and many fail to harness what has so far made them successful and convince their ideal customers to choose them.
It takes, on average, 25 touches to convert senior living customers. Throughout their research, family members will engage with senior living facilities through numerous touchpoints and channels
The struggles mid-sized organisations often face
Whilst demand for care services is increasing, too many great charities and mid-sized social care providers struggle to turn this into adequate customers.
Some of the larger organisations I work with have staff with business development, communications and fundraising skills. They tend to be good at developing relationships that generate big pieces of business from statutory funders; identifying, writing and sharing stories; and raising funds.
What they often lack however, are what’s referred to as strategic, services and operational marketing skills. As a result, they find it difficult to pull together a sales and marketing strategy that takes into consideration a complex range of services, audiences and revenue streams operating in a competitive market. They don’t know which questions to ask, sometimes miss opportunities to integrate marketing into operational processes, are not great at communicating effectively with all potential stakeholders and may not be able to tell what is and isn’t giving a good return on investment.
The importance of marketing your social care services
With all providers facing the same challenges, competition is increasing and the winners are unfortunately often the providers who understanding marketing and not necessarily those that provide the best quality care.
Some people think of marketing purely as promotion but marketing in the widest sense is about understand your customers’ needs, the local alternatives available to them, ensuring you compare favourably and how you take people on the journey from initial awareness to becoming your customer.
It is helpful to have someone objective walk through this journey as your would-be customer does to see what barriers you need to overcome. It makes no sense to spend precious money sending people to your website if you are not effectively handling enquiries and your staff are missing opportunities with people that already know your organisation.
“Only 4% [of Directors of Adult Social Services] are fully confident that their budget will be sufficient to meet their statutory duties this year, down from 35% in 2019/20”
ADASS Budget Survey 2020
A must read BEFORE investing in websites & marketing promotion
Your care marketing strategy needs to come first
If you want to avoid mistakes like creating a website that needs to be redone later; recruiting a staff member with the wrong skills, or investing in promotional activity when the barrier to getting customers is actually your pricing, you first need a marketing strategy that answers the following questions:
- Who are your ideal customers, where can you find them, who already knows them and what are they looking for?
- Do the services you currently offer match the needs of your ideal customers? And are they priced in a way that is acceptable to your organisation and affordable to customers?
- Which other organisations are your ideal customers most likely to find and engage with?
- What makes you better / different than your best competitors?
- How much money can you afford to spend to win a new customer? What could you stop, start and continue doing?
- How could you turn more enquiries into customers? And what changes to your processes, systems and culture would help you to achieve your goals?
- What are the quick wins you can implement now?
“It often feels like all we hear about in the media is poor care, but for every bad story there are thousands of people we should be celebrating and empowering to carry on delivering the best care”
Nadra Ahmed, Executive Chairman of the National Care Association (2019 Newsletter)
Choosing the right marketing help
If you’re seeking expert help with your social care marketing, consider the following questions:
- Do they understand the social care market? Have they worked with similar organisations facing similar challenges?
- Do they operate at a strategic level? Will they look at things from a would-be customer’s perspective and think about sales AND marketing in the wider context of your organisation?
- Will they just be looking at how you promote your organisation or will they also consider your services, audiences, pricing and other revenue streams?
- Can they help you to work out how much a customer is worth to you, how much to invest in marketing and how to track return on investment?
- If they do offer a very specific service, are you sure that this is the part of the customer journey that most needs fixing? And are you confident you will get a good return on investment?
A must read BEFORE investing in websites & marketing promotion
Why Straight Up Marketing
I’m Nicki Wakefield and I provide strategic marketing assistance to a wide range of health and social care providers who need help realigning their organisation and adapting to a changing external environment.
As an employee I’ve led marketing functions at Bupa, BMI Healthcare (private hospitals) and Choice Support (a medium sized social care provider). And as a consultant I’ve worked with dozens of care homes, domiciliary care providers and mid-sized social care providers supporting older people and those with a learning disability and other social care needs.
I want vulnerable people to lead the best possible lives. And I want to help the good organisations to survive and thrive.
I understand that you have very little time and money and that marketing is unlikely to be your area of expertise. My aim is to provide you with low-cost, pragmatic solutions that generate income, cut waste and work alongside your existing systems and processes.
Testimonials
See what more of my customers have to say
Case Studies
Strategy & ongoing support – mid sized care provider
Over 6 months I helped this client to create a strategy, embed it into the culture and develop their in-house sales & marketing skills read more
The real reasons for low care home occupancy
Here are 9 big issues I uncovered for different care homes that could easily have been missed by a specialist marketing agency read more