Leveraging health observance months

Did you know October is Lewy Body Dementia Awareness Month? Also…

• Down Syndrome Awareness Month
• Financial Planning Month
• Long-Term Care Planning Month
• National Crime Prevention Month
• National Depression Education and Awareness Month
• National Physical Therapy Month
• Bone and Joint Health National Action Week
• National Check Your Meds Day, 10/21

The abundance of observance months (or weeks, or days) is a marketing bonanza for eldercare providers committed to content marketing.

Originally created by nonprofit groups to raise awareness (and funds) for various conditions, health observance months provide a unique opportunity for you to showcase your ability to support individuals with these conditions, and/or their families, and/or referring colleagues in the field.

For any given month, think about what you offer related to these themes and ways to get that word out. It may be to family caregivers. Or this may be an opportunity to network with professionals you hadn’t thought of before or don’t regularly connect with. Through the medium of content marketing, you can reach new customers while contributing to the health and well-being of your community.

Consider these options:

• A newsletter or blog article about the health topic. Send an email to your client list telling them about this educational article. Encourage them to call you if it seems appropriate. (Remember that in the Customer Journey, you want to use tailored engagement to move people closer to the signing of a contract.)
• Social media posts pointing to the blog or newsletter article. These kinds of posts are highly shareable. They might also be worth boosting, for instance on Facebook, where you can focus on women ages 45-65 (primary decision-maker demographics) and even filter for upper income if you are in a private-pay business (home care or care management).
• A presentation about the topic or a specific aspect of the topic where you can authentically offer insight (and distribute your company brochures in the process). A senior center is one venue; so is the library. If you are in a private-pay occupation (home care or care managers), pick communities that are higher income so the audience is more likely to be able to afford your services. This isn’t all charity work. You do hope for a return on investment here. If you have a branded, printed handout on the topic, this will profoundly increase the impact of your talk. Print materials get passed along to others. They also have been shown to quadruple the response rate as they tend to knock around for a bit and keep your expertise top of mind.
• An ad in the local senior newspaper honoring those touched by the topic, possibly with a link to your article or mention of a specific service or related expertise you can provide. November, for instance, is National Family Caregivers Month. Publicly celebrate family caregivers and let them know you understand how much they give and how important they are. People love to be recognized. It doesn’t hurt to celebrate the primary decision makers concerning your service.
• An email or letter to referrers who work in that field. Highlight your interest and where your services intersect with theirs. Might there be a way to collaborate? For instance, February is Low Vision Awareness Month. This could be a time to connect with ophthalmologists to talk about mutual referring and how you can support each other. National Healthcare Decisions Day is in April. Connect with estate-planning attorneys and suggest that you prepare a talk about this subject to present together. Through your joint marketing efforts about the presentation, you will be exposing your clients to your referrer, and vice versa.
• A media release to the local press and TV. They too enjoy the variety of subject matter that health observances provide. Running a story based on the theme of the month helps them be topically current and promote the health of the local population. All the better for advertising any particular talk or presentation you are giving (especially if it’s free). Don’t underestimate the benefits of a good relationship with the senior or health reporter in your area. They routinely need to get quotes about current events in eldercare. How wonderful it is if they start turning to you for those attributions, positioning you as the local expert. (To come to their attention, regularly leave positive comments about their articles and suggest further resources that are not self-promoting. Also, if they do contact you, respond ASAP. They are often on a deadline and greatly appreciate a source who can get back to them quickly.)

Want help creating content?

Consider our monthly newsletter for family caregivers.

You receive three evidence-based articles per month (36 per year), written in a friendly conversational style at the ninth-grade level. (Even PhDs prefer to read smaller words!) You also receive a branded PDF that is print ready if you wish to include the newsletter with your invoice as that “spoonful of sugar,” reinforcing your value to your clients. You can also use the newsletter articles to drive a monthly email campaign or weekly social media posts.

We frequently choose articles to highlight health observance months.
Plus, clients who license our monthly family caregiver newsletter can also license our single-topic, branded handout module, which combines three newsletter articles into a handout with your name, logo, and colors. With over 50 topics such as dementia strategies, caregiver stress, or living with cancer treatments, you have handouts ready for taking advantage of the marketing opportunities provided by health observances. (To make it even easier, we send you a featured handout each month with a marketing strategy to get you started.)