Running a home care business is an honourable pursuit, but it’s also not an easy one. Apart from caring for your patients, there are bills that need to be paid. There has to be that perfect balance of earning enough profit to keep your home care business running but not at the expense of providing nothing less than first-class care for your patients.
Just like any other business, it’s, therefore, important to come up with an actionable home care marketing plan. This is needed to promote your business’ existence, as well as to convince your potential clients and their respective families that your home care is the best choice.
With that said, here are the best ways to market your new home care business, especially when you’re still starting out:
1. Create A Strong Brand Identity
To give your home care business an edge against your competitors, creating a strong brand identity is very important. Given the digital age today, one of the best ways to achieve this is by marketing on social media. The goal here should be, when a family thinks about home care for their sick or elderly loved ones, your business consistently makes it on top of their list.
Along that line, here are workable tips on how you can create a strong brand identity for your new home care business:
- Set aside a budget for digital marketing. Among all marketing forms, digital marketing continues to reign supreme.
- Speak at local events. Many medical schools often hold seminars regarding home health care. When these are available, make it a point to speak during these seminars so you can establish your name and authority in-home health care.
2. Ask For Referrals From Current Clients
When it comes to a service-oriented business like your home care, there’s often nothing that beats word of mouth marketing. Amidst all other more advanced marketing forms, word of mouth marketing, which is one of the simplest, is still very effective.
Your current clients who are more than satisfied with the care they’re receiving from your home care business will do their part to get the word out about your business. This is also known as testimonial marketing. Since the testimonies are from their first-hand experience, other potential clients who can hear those positive comments will take your current clients’ word for it.
The best way to get those referrals and testimonials from your current clients and their respective families is to focus on developing a good relationship with them right from the start.
3. Update Your Social Media Account Frequently
It’s not just enough to focus on having a social media account and then not keeping it active. An inactive social media account can even be one of your pitfalls as this sends the wrong message to online users who’ll come across it. Since you haven’t updated your social media page, would-be clients might be under the impression you’re an illegitimate entity, you’ve closed down, or you aren’t providing superior quality. In that case, it’s better to have no social media account at all than to have an inactive one.
It’s important to keep it updated as frequently as possible. You can post about anything on your social media account. This can include real images of your clients, with their permission, of course. It can also comprise some of your daily activities, promotions you may have, or further certification and training your staff may be undergoing at the moment.
4. Create A Google My Business Profile
Apart from social media, another online tool you can use to improve your marketing efforts is an online business directory, specifically Google My Business.
When your business is listed on this platform, it can significantly widen your reach. Note that with the rise of smartphones, many individuals are making searches for companies they wish to do business with on the Internet.
If you don’t have a Google My Business listing, you may lose those would-be clients in favour of those other local home care businesses that have one.
5. Distribute Branded And Print Goods
Whenever you attend seminars or conferences, make it a point to prepare branded and printed goods. These can include anything from pens, tote bags, shirts, fans, and notebooks, among many others. You can also have these types of merchandise in your lobby so you can hand them to families who are making new inquiries.
Branded and print goods are other forms of effective marketing tactics simply because they serve as walking advertisements. Every time the recipients bring out and use those things, the word is out about your brand’s existence.
Conclusion
Home health care is a booming industry, given that no matter the circumstance, people will always age. As much as children will want to care for their ageing parents by themselves, this isn’t always doable. Adult children also have families of their own and other responsibilities. But this doesn’t mean they love their parents any less. Sending them to a home care is often one of the best ways to ensure the needs of the ageing population are attended to and they’re given the best love and support during the sunset years of their life.
