Many adult children come back from a holiday visit distressed by the visible decline in their parents. Perhaps normally tidy Mom was disheveled, or even unbathed. Maybe Dad’s mail is piling up, including unpaid bills. A ride as a passenger revealed a parent’s misjudgments as a driver. And what about those new dents in the car? “Oh, just a little fender bender….”
None of these problems were evident during phone calls or zoom sessions. But during an in-person visit, they became quite obvious. Worried daughters and sons come home and start looking for help right away.
Are you easily discoverable?
As a care manager, they may or may not know how to find you.
Google can help, especially if the adult child has heard of your business before and searches for it by name. (And you have a Google My Business page with consistently positive reviews!) But more they might be looking for—or be especially receptive to—blogs, social media posts, perhaps even a webinar about common warning signs:
- Changes in hygiene
- Changes in eating
- Changes in mobility
- Skin changes
- Driving changes
- Changes around money
- Mood and behavior changes
- Withdrawal from activities
- Mild forgetfulness
- Reasoning and memory changes
Now is the time to prepare for a post-Thanksgiving, or even post-New Year webinar.
Because you want to use this as a discovery tool (reaching out to new audiences), you will need to do promotions. Perhaps on Facebook or on local online bulletin boards. Consider having a senior-oriented organization in your community sponsor and promote the talk.
- Assisted Living Communities. They often have a budget for advertising, and they are hoping to reach the same audience that you are. This could be the beginning of a fruitful relationship!
- Employee Assistance Programs. Roughly two thirds of family caregivers are still employed. This connection will help you reach middle-aged and younger—”sandwich generation”—family members.
- Senior Centers. With the pandemic, these organizations and their members are getting more and more adept at Zoom. You would likely reach Boomer family caregivers supporting their 90-year old parents.
Whatever group you work with, provide your presentation for free, but do ask for the email addresses of those who attend. This is a common request. If the sponsoring organization is squirrelly about it, you can frame it as a one-time use for follow-up, and stick to that agreement. (Anyone who responds to your email you can of course continue to communicate with and consider them “yours” from there on out.)
Don’t forget audio!
Consider a radio interview on a senior- or health-oriented talk show. While there are no email addresses to gather, you can ask for the audio file and put it on your website as a downloadable podcast. You can also encourage listeners to email you to get a handout that illustrates the warning signs.
Making your investment pay into the future
Besides name recognition and brand loyalty, the real value of a webinar or podcast is your ability to make it, or at least your handouts, available in the future—especially for the price of an email address. Such “gated” offers through a landing page are common and extremely useful.
An email address allows you to build a relationship
Without a viewer’s email address, you are at the mercy of whether visitor to your website, blog, or social media posts are inspired or ready to cross the divide and make contact. With an email address, however, you can initiate communications that help you learn more about the specific concerns of each individual.
Tailored engagement
Tailoring is very important. No use talking to a family caregiver about dementia if her real concern is falls. But once you know falls are the key issue, you can speak to the value of a home safety assessment and how you can help their relative get past the fear of falling enough to exercise more and work on balance issues. Your obvious expertise, along with strategic prompts to “Schedule a Free Initial Consultation” can help convert lurkers to someone who signs on the dotted line.
Would you like help with post-holiday marketing?
We have a DIY Holiday marketing kit with:
- Text and graphics for a blog about warning signs
- Powerpoint presentation and handout: Signs Your Parent May Need Help
- Landing Page with text and email notification to you when someone downloads the Warning Signs handout
- Text and graphics for 7 Facebook posts driving traffic to the Landing Page
Contact us to learn more:
1-707-477-0700 (Pacific)
helpyougrow@elderpagesonline.com
