ReubenSegelbaum
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Aug 24, 2006, 9:54 AM
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Here’s a new book that I recommend — Waiting for Your Cat to Bark — by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg. It’s a great read for all marketers who need to contend with the issues surrounding marketing in today’s economy, including those in senior housing and health care.
A key point in the book is the simple reality that marketers no longer have the same power of 25 years ago. A quarter of a century ago, there were a lot less channels, no internet, FM radio was just coming into its own, and the newspaper was the dominant means for getting messages to people. The times, they are a changing.
Today, an excess of cable television and satellite channels have opened up vast programming for viewers. Satellite radio is the latest addition to empower listeners to hear the music they want, and to delete commercial messages. Last, and lets not fool ourselves, the Internet is a completely push mechanism and is becoming less pull in nature as users become more sophisticated.
So what are marketers to do now that clients and potential clients have all the power and are calling all the shots? How do competent marketers succeed in demonstrating value?
Suggestions:
- Start with the least sexy part of the job . . . analyze the results.
- Spend extra time examining and tweaking programs to see how to impact end results.
- Focus on the results of copy from the first week program and compare it to the results for the changed copy in week two.
- Choose a medium where changes can be made quickly and easily (like the internet, for example). Whatever works best.
- Implement across other media.
Employ a combination of logic and practical efforts. Don't forget . . . the clients are in control, so play to that reality. In terms of print, television, and radio, demonstrate an ability to empathize with clients.
In particular, in the senior housing and health businesses, families need to know that there is an understanding about what they are going through. Moreover, potential residents considering a retirement community need to feel that it is not their last spot, but the next phase of their living. Leisure Care Retirement Communities based in Seattle, WA, and their marketing efforts, are testimony that retirement can be promoted as fun, lively, and vigorous.
As seekers of information become more sophisticated, so do their methods of searching. A recognition of new media needs to be accepted. If a vendor is willing to demonstrate the value of their services, at no obligation, take them up on it. It may be surprising, it may not, but as businesses change, so do the vendors.
All businesses have to be flexible - otherwise, it's like marketing to people who aren't listening, seeking the attention of people who are distracted - waiting for your cat to bark.
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Reuben Segelbaum is the Vice President of Business Operations for RetirementHomes.com, providing sales, marketing support, accounting, and human resources skills.
Before coming to RetirementHomes.com, he pioneered Fusion Media Group in Calgary, served as Vice President of KSCIENCES Canada, a Chicago-based technology consulting firm, and operated Dental Success Interactive – a division of RareMethod Interactive, Calgary.
Mr. Segelbaum has developed a variety of programs in vertical business markets, including — telecommunications, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, and financial and land development in strategic sales, marketing, and operations.
Contact:
Reuben Segelbaum
65 Samor Road
Toronto, ON M6A 1J2 Canada
Toll-Free: 877-777-7738, ext.230
Phone: 416-544-9124, ext 230
Fax: 416-850-9908
reuben@RetirementHomes.com
www.RetirementHomes.com
A Division of Target Directories Corporation
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(This post was edited by ReubenSegelbaum on Aug 24, 2006, 11:21 AM)
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