Is Your Newsletter Serving "Double Duty"?

--by Connie Parsons, Director of Marketing

Your newsletter is an important marketing tool....

Many senior care and senior living communities produce a newsletter for their staff, families, and residents. This newsletter is often seen as an internal communication tool, with information that is only relevant to those who work, live, or have a loved one in the facility or community. However, this very same newsletter is a wonderful marketing tool!

A newsletter that is created for residents, families, and staff naturally contains information in which a referral source or potential family or resident would be interested information that might well influence the decision to choose your facility over another. The day-to-day happenings at your community are something that a marketing brochure can never convey in the same way as a newsletter. Your newsletter contains greater detail, and people do not feel like they are being "sold" anything, so it instantly becomes a trustworthy source of information.

So, how do you start using your newsletter in marketing?  In a perfect world, all people and departments would work together.  If your organization has reached that moment of "zen," then your marketing and activities person should work together on their newsletter project.

Or you can simply add referral sources to your newsletter mailing list.  Your organization should have, or should establish, a method of tracking known referral sources.  You can also build a referral database by doing a little research in your community.  Good sources to add to this list are places where seniors and their families frequent, including

• senior centers
• adult day centers
• doctors' offices
• area agencies on aging. 

Many will let you place newsletters in their waiting areas as a service to their clients. 

Your newsletter is a good way to reach out to your community, and a great reason to stay in touch with your target market, which supports your organization's marketing effort.  If your organization is already producing a newsletter, you may as well receive the greatest benefit from that effort by using it in every way possible.

Click here for more information about Caresource's newsletter service.

In the October/November Communicator: Is Your Newsletter Making a Good Impression in the Community?