Senior living occupancy has been on the upswing, but maintaining that momentum could require larger investments in sales and marketing for 2025.
Beztak, for instance, has increased its sales and marketing budget over the last several years, from around $900,000 in 2023 to just over $1 million in 2024. For 2025, that amount is anticipated to increase to around $1.2 million, according to Jason Kohler, executive vice president for senior living. Beztak operates six communities under the All Seasons brand.
“It’s purposeful. We opened a brand new 24-unit community. We are still in the lease up phase of two other communities,” Kohler told Senior Housing News.
12 Oaks Senior Living also will likely increase sales and marketing budgets for 2025, according to Aaron Catoe, senior vice president of operations. However, that is going to need to be determined on a by-community basis depending on how many units need to be filled. Dallas-based 12 Oaks operates communities across Arizona, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin.
“We want to invest in resources or invest in avenues that maximize the return, meaning maximize the amount of qualified leads in a given market area, and that’s the lens through which we look at it,” Catoe told Senior Housing News. “We really try not to separate marketing and leasing … because the two literally are complimentary of one another.”
And nonprofits also are ramping up their sales and marketing efforts, with FellowshipLife being one example. Live events that build awareness of senior living’s value prop are one key strategy for the provider, which operates several life plan communities in New Jersey.
Generally, the increased budgets across the industry are going to a variety of avenues, with both physical and digital campaigns being targets for increased spending.
Increased budgets and needs
Liz Fandel, chief marketing and innovation officer with FellowshipLife, said each of the nonprofit’s five communities has a different marketing strategy that is required to meet its unique needs. While not being able to disclose how much is required to budget as a whole, she noted the organization is planning on increasing its overall marketing spend for digital pay per click advertising, events and direct mail to local communities.
Additionally, FellowshipLife has been using its sales and marketing budget to invest in technology such as HubSpot to allow its sales teams to better understand incoming prospects and Money Gauge to allow prospects see the costs of senior living. The reason for doing so, Fandel said, is because prospects are spending more time educating themselves than ever before in the history of senior living.
“As far as marketing budgeting goes, it’s a priority in all of our communities that we are building brand awareness and helping our prospects understand who we are and what we offer: Living at one of our communities provides them with a robust, active place to call home,” she said.
There are a variety of reasons why the budget is continuing to increase for Beztak. At the moment, the company is getting ahead on advertising for an 80-unit assisted living expansion, along with pursuing website redesigns. Additionally, a key strategy is going to be investing more money in search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing, with services being brought in-house in the coming year.
“We spend a good bit of money on paid digital media. We think that there’s an opportunity to shift some of those dollars over to strengthening our SEO and maybe shaving some of the dollars in the paid search arena,” Kohler said. “I think that’ll also help us overall with paid referrals too.”
12 Oaks is largely going to continue focusing its marketing efforts on digital spending, which has proven effective up to this point. According to Catoe, the average cost per lead for the company tends to range between $250 and $700, depending on the community. That average is used to determine the community’s marketing budget, which is expected to increase in the coming year as well.
Marketing opportunities and challenges
Looking to 2025, shifting the way senior living is marketed is seen as one of the biggest opportunities for the industry, particularly through engaging with the surrounding community.
“We’re not your grandmother’s nursing home. We’re engaging with the greater community,” Fandel said, noting FellowshipLife budgets between $20,000 and $30,000 annually for events open to the public.
“We have information available about the community, but we do not sell the community,” she said, of the approach to these events.
One reason for hosting engagement that way is to highlight that senior living is different from skilled nursing.
Additional opportunities lie in marketing automation for Beztak, and recapturing leads from sites such as Caring.com and A Place for Mom at 12 Oaks.
Kohler said Beztak recently hired a digital marketing manager and has seen “wildly successful” results so far, particularly through having an improved social media presence.
Part of 12 Oaks’ strategy is going to be focusing on better utilizing Google’s algorithms to promote communities. One thing in particular that is starting to prove successful, according to Catoe, is how the algorithm recognizes IP addresses from posts.
“We’re distributing some of the posting power back to the properties … therefore having a higher weight or a higher recognition from Google,” Catoe said.
On the flipside, there are a variety of marketing challenges that need to be overcome in the coming year as well. Based on the demand and lead volume seen at 12 Oaks, Catoe said the company is having to ensure there are enough leasing staff and resources in place to be able to handle the workflow, which will be among the budgeting priorities for next year.
According to Kohler, a top challenge for the industry is always going to lie in experimentation to find what is effective for prospects.
“I think we’ve got a great opportunity to improve our organic presence, but will paid ads in the social media realm work for our communities? We’ll see,” he said. “It’s hard to predict that, and if it does work, you better believe that we’re going to double and triple down on that right next year, which makes it kind of hard to budget for.”
Editor’s Note: We are currently planning our 2025 Sales & Marketing Conference. If you work with a senior living operator and are interested in speaking on a panel, please email [email protected]. If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, more information can be found here.
