How to Show the ROI of Your Senior Living Marketing Program When Systems Aren’t Integrated

Written by Kelly Braun | March 14, 2023 at 7:31 PM

As a marketer in senior living, it's important to be able to show the ROI of the marketing strategies you execute. However, this can be challenging if you have software such as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, Marketing Automation Platform (MAP) and clinical/financial software that aren’t integrated to share data.

For example, organizations that use HubSpot as their CRM and MAP can track what website pages prospects visit, what emails they open, what direct mail pieces they receive and any other marketing touchpoints that led to them moving in. In fact, HubSpot’s attribution tools even connect the dots for you, making ROI a piece of cake to see. However, many organizations don’t have this type of closed-loop system in place.

In this blog article, we’ll provide tips on how to track the ROI of marketing efforts when your systems don’t talk

Set Clear Goals and Objectives

The first step in tracking the ROI of your marketing efforts is to set clear goals and objectives. Focus on what is most important to track, as it can be easy to get overwhelmed with data. Too much data can be just as invaluable as not enough data.

Here are some questions to help you define your goals:

What overarching goals does the organization have, such as growing census numbers by X% or filling X number of new assisted living apartments?
What marketing strategies will roll up to help achieve the overarching goal?
How can you make SMART goals? (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)
What metrics will you use to help track your progress, such as website traffic, leads generated or sales conversions?

Be sure the goals are mutually understood and approved by all involved. If you set a goal that isn’t understood, regardless of how successful it is, you’ll walk away frustrated and struggle to earn trust and buy-in, even if you are proving ROI.

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Use Manual Tracking Methods

If your CRM and other software systems are not integrated, you can still manually track your marketing efforts. While this can be time-consuming, it can be done by creating spreadsheets or using other tracking tools to monitor your progress.

Some metrics to start tracking are the touchpoints your target audience takes.

Use a website contact form with a required drop-down menu where leads can choose how they heard about you. (Google search, email, TV commercial, direct mail piece, etc.)
Make it a policy that sales ask new prospects, whether on the phone or in person, how they heard about your organization and record it in the spreadsheet.
Conduct surveys soon after a prospect commits to moving in. Ask how they heard about your organization, what attracted them to your community and the steps they took to learn more. This can help you identify which marketing efforts are most effective and which channels drive the most revenue.

Use Call Tracking

Call tracking is another effective way to track campaigns, especially direct mail pieces. This involves assigning unique phone numbers to different marketing campaigns and tracking the number of calls received from each campaign. Without knowing the source of what led these people to call, it can be difficult to track what marketing is generating the most revenue.

Build a Case for Automation and Integration

Without the right automation and integrations, you will find it time-consuming to track ROI. Both marketing and sales will spend time navigating multiple systems, placing themselves at risk of pulling inaccurate data.

Begin to build your case for investing in automated and integrated systems that can replace these manual tracking processes. You can use these tools to track a wealth of metrics, such as website traffic, email open rates, social media engagement and what specific touchpoints led to move-ins.

Not only does this save time and prove ROI, but it also provides valuable data to help make better decisions about marketing efforts in the future.

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