Industry Insights – Aged Care

March 31, 2021
Blogging, Branding, Design, Digital Marketing

When it comes to Aged Care, good branding can lead to so much more than just an increase in profits.

With the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety issuing it’s final report on February 26 2021, it’s more important than ever to build trust with your customers, promote transparency and showcase ethical company values via your marketing. As with all industries, effective branding for Aged Care differentiates itself from its competitors, and highlights what it can offer that others in the industry do not. Communicating what specialist services are on offer that isn’t offered anywhere else combined with the years of experience and service in the care industry all build a brand persona that the customer can trust and depend on.

An agency with expertise in this field will be able to drill down into your core mission and values and be able to communicate this with a brand that has both relevance and longevity and they will understand what touch points will then be the most effective for your target market.

1.3 million

Consumers in Australian aged care.1

1 in 3

Australians in aged care were born overseas.2

30%

of older Australians are highly digitally literate this decreases with age.3

1 in 10

Australians over 65 have dementia, that number rises to 3 in 10 for over 85 year olds.4

42%

The increase in the number of people living in residential care and using home care over the 2009-2019 period.5

70%

of older Australians have low to no digital literacy skills, want face to face help.6

How can you make an impact?

Reach your decision-makers

Online: Those researching online are not just family and friends who may be advising individuals, or looking for care for their parents. In fact, the 2016 Sensis Social Media Report found that over 70% of people over 65 years access the internet daily.

Word of mouth: The decision-making process is heavily influenced by a number of advisors, with word-of-mouth recommendations being a key factor. According to the 2016 Sensis Social Media Report, 38% of 50 to 64-year-olds, and 20% of over 65’s, use social networking sites at least once a day. With older generations increasingly active on social media, this becomes an important tool for driving advocacy and instigating conversations about aged care, to amplify brand appeal.

Print and spaces: The behaviour and presentation of staff, the facility décor, and all print material provided needs to be consistent and aligned with the overall value proposition which is being articulated through external marketing activity. Forget traditional marketing; this is about the sharing of information and energy with the goal of a strong, stable and rewarding aged care facility which is home to loved ones and the community’s most frail.

Customer experience

Good brand strategy creates unity: Customer-focused design and marketing communications can, and should, be a vehicle for positive social change.

They can:

  • Improve accessibility and understanding of key information
  • Reduce risk and harm in decision-making
  • Inspire and guide people to act on issues that matter
  • Build relationships for collective impact
  • Clarify needs so they may be adequately addressed

Customer pathways: When developing strategies to build brand awareness and attract customers, organisations need to consider customer path to purchase, in particular the changing role of digital marketing in aged care as a source of information in the decision-making process.

Brand awareness: Company marketers should focus on creating brand awareness, identify every point where individuals and families are looking for information and discussing aged care and establishing calls to action at those intervals to build recall.

Be a pioneer: Marketers need to ensure their facility and brand is unique from others.

Sources

  1. https://www.gen-agedcaredata.gov.au/www_aihwgen/media/ROACA/ROACA-Summary-2020.pdf
  2. https://www.gen-agedcaredata.gov.au/Topics/People-using-aged-care.
  3. https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/research/digital-behaviours-older-australians/digital-confidence
  4. https://www.dementia.org.au/statistics
  5. https://www.gen-agedcaredata.gov.au/www_aihwgen/media/ROACA/ROACA-Summary-2020.pdf
  6. https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/research/digital-behaviours-older-australians/attitudes-motivations