The pandemic has brought on all kinds of challenges for Senior Living nonprofits. The compeition is fierce, the budget is small, and your rooms are empty. Make a marketing decision that can bring results rather quickly: Utilize your Google Grant!
The challenges we’ve all faced from the pandemic continue to ebb and flow. One day it almost seems like a bad dream that might finally be over and the next, there’s an outbreak of a variant of the coronavirus somewhere in our world and we realize that this may never really end. Our “new” normal is here and it’s not going anywhere.
The effects of Covid 19 on the senior housing industry are many and varied. I could probably write a book considering the high volume of data available around this topic from various reputable resources like the The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) and the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living AHCA/NCA). For this blog post, however, I want to focus on how this amazing resource from Google could usurp the pandemic's negative effects on your marketing. Are you ready for a turn around? I hope so because that’s exactly what this program can do!
Let’s take a look at three ways the Google Grant can boost your marketing efforts. There are many more I could share but basically, most of those trickle down from these three.
Number One: Drive More Quality (not quantity) Traffic to your Website
I’m not talking about general website traffic. I’m talking about very specific traffic of which the majority would be your demographic.
Before 2018, the Google Grant program was designed to focus on traffic regardless of CTR (click-through rate) or bounce rate. The goal was to get people to your site and hopefully, interspersed amongst those clicks were people who wanted your services. I remember when most Grantee nonprofits had thousands of visitors every month and were spending all of the $10k consistently. It all looked great on paper but the reality was that these visitors were not staying. They were not engaging. And for Senior Living nonprofits, they were not moving in.
The Google for Nonprofits team changed it all up in 2018 when they added some major rules to their already extensive policies. You can read about more of these changes from Nonprofit Quarterly here. Two of these changes I’ve highlighted below. Since these were implemented, I've seen amazing things happen that were not possible prior to these changes being made.
How do these changes help drive your demographic to your website? A CTR over 5% basically means that your ad copy is well-written and a mirror of the content the ad is linking to on your website. Your keywords also match the ad copy and your content. With this one change, visitors quit bouncing and started engaging. Our goal is to keep the CTR well over 5%, into the teens if possible, which is good news for you. Your people find you and then your website keeps them there.
As for the bid strategy, who can be competitive with a $2 bid cap? Especially a highly crowded field like senior housing? This one change gave power to senior focused nonprofits never seen before in the Google Search Network. Now, competing with the big budgets of for-profit Senior Living communities is attainable. I feel a cheer coming on!
Number Two: Show Ads More Often with Optimized Calls to Action
When Google’s algorithm scans landing pages to send ad clicks (visitors) to, it’s really, really happy when CTAs are visible, easy to engage, and numerous. The more your web visitors have to “do” on the page where they land, the more Google will show your ads. Google does not just want people to come to your website, they want them to engage.
For example, if you want someone to schedule a tour of your facility, then it should be super easy to do so and even better, be accessible from any and all landing pages. In-text links, which are almost impossible to see especially if you have vision problems like color blindness, can be overlooked. A big red button which says “Schedule Tour” at the top and bottom of each landing page has an opposite effect. This is what I mean by “optimized” CTAs.
Another tip - sending people as often as possible to your Contact Us page so they can reach out to you easily with an online form is extremely helpful when utilizing the Google Ad Grant program. Tracking that “Submit” button is also helpful to you and your team because you’ll know if your Google Ads, paid for by the Google Grant, are actually bringing people who want more information. This is huge!
Number Three: Utilize SEO Content To Drive Your Demographic
While Nonprofit Sherpa always encourages promotable blog content for our clients to boost success with their Google Grant, for Senior Living nonprofits, it’s paramount.
Let’s do a quick SEO overview so this makes sense to you.
Content on your website which includes keywords and phrases that are being searched right now is the content that will drive the most traffic. Success with organic results (search results which do not include any ads) is directly related to SEO or search engine optimization. By including a plethora of content which people are searching for in your space, you are setting yourself up for great success at driving traffic. People will find you organically if you have this type of content on your website.
The way this helps with Google Ads is that the more searchable content you have, the higher up you’ll be positioned in the search results. I’m talking above the organic results which includes your competition. Let’s have your ad be number one, two or three, not ten, eleven, or twelve organically which means scrolling down to find your information.
When seniors or their families are on Google looking for help and support for themselves or their loved ones, they are usually searching for broad topics like preventing falls or how to see signs of dementia. And this list goes on and on. Your blog should be filled with broad topic articles which address senior issues like the two I’ve mentioned above. Yes, searching for “assisted living near me” is also happening but with all of the competition in your space, you may not make the cut. However, your article about “How To Choose an Assisted Living Facility” will. Or at least, will have a better chance at appearing at the top of page one!
I was the Sales Director for a Senior Living community for 5 years and I know how difficult keeping occupancy over 85% was just 10 years ago. According to NIC, the record low for Senior housing dipped to 78.8% in the first quarter of 2021. (NIC, 2021) In some areas of our country, it was down to 72%. Dealing with the effects of Covid 19 not only includes issues around low occupancy but also with staffing, supply chain, and inflation. And the population needing your services continues to rise. The challenges you face daily are extreme. I know I’m stating what is totally obvious to Senior Living staff all over our country but knowing this makes using the Google Grant now even more important and timely. Its use could be the key to finding your way out of the mire to leverage yourself in the Google Search so you can fill those empty rooms and find quality staff. You've been searching for a solution and you may just have stumbled upon it by reading this blog!
I do want to encourage you to keep on keeping on, as my dad used to say. What you are doing is the key to any culture that wants to survive. Caring for our elderly population is one of the most noble and needed jobs being done on our planet. Your cause is just and your mission essential so please, don't lose hope in the fight; it's worth the effort!
If you want to learn more, I’d love to meet you! Book a 30-minute, info only Zoom meeting with me at this link.
P.S. Don’t forget that you need to have a well-optimized website to make this work. Feel free to check out this blog post which shares some specifics.
~Kathi Gross, Founder/CSO Nonprofit Sherpa