Home Care

I have a prominent position in town where traffic has to stop for traffic lights so am well placed to be noticed.

I have had flyers printed and have attended local fayres to try to promote the company in the local community.

The company web site is currently being updated and I have placed free ads in Yell (both on line and in the directory) Thompson Local and am considering using Yell to place an advert.

Any suggestions wo9uld be appreciated as I am new to marketing.

Janet

I'm still a bit confused about what types of homecare services you provide for adults. You've probably told us already but would you remind us please?

If it's support services - eg granny sitting, domestic support and house-cleaning for the disabled and elderly - then wouldn't it be a good idea to make contact with the local Social Services Dept, Age Concern, Stroke Association and the like? My local Council has a list of vetted organisations available to help vulnerable adults and OAPs, free advertising for everyone that's on it! Linda

Thanks Linda

I am currently going through an accrediation process with Bradford Council and am registered with North Yorkshire Council.

The service provided by my agency are personal care, activities of daily living including meal preparation, support with medication, shopping/laundry, benefits collection together with all the other services you have listed.

I will contact the local stroke association so thanks for that suggestion. Have made an appointment with Age UK in my local area so it seems I am on the right track.

Thought about advertising in Yellow Pages (YELL). I have a free add but was considering paying for an add in the booklet and on the web page. Is this good value for money? Has anyone had any dealings with this type of advertising and if so did you have a positive outcome?

Probably not relevant as the info's so old but ... I took out an eighth page ad in Yellow Pages back in the Dark Ages (you know, before every company had a web site). It brought in enough local business to be worthwhile.

A lot depends on the type of business you're in. Your local market will be very important to you (mine's more of a national market with most customers coming from the South-East).

Some of your target audience will probably feel more comfortable doing a paper-based search, other OAPs will surf the net.

You're selling trustworthiness, reliability, care and compassion. What's probably most important to you is personal recommendation / being personally known.

Who do you know who's got her ear to the local marketplace and is well connected? When I wanted to know about good local tradesmen, for example, I talked to neighbours who'd lived in the village all their lives and / or drank in the local pubs.

Use different types of advertising and compare the response.

Newspaper advertisements and directories such as Yell are more likely to get a short term response. Setting up websites / Facebook / Twitter etc will take longer but are a better investment.

Yorkshire - market locally using the above suggestions. Also, look at mobile marketing as more and more people are searching for services from their smart phones, tablets and other devices.

Hi Janet,

I would also suggest the following 3

- Get in contact with charities (especially the larger ones) as they often do research with the NHS and in the current climate geriatric care in the community is the big area where money will be spent (you may get considered for a pilot scheme which turns into something permanent) The two key growth areas at the moment seem to be Care in the Community and Surgical Liaison so perhaps look at specialising your service for each

- Take some time to find out specialist within the field of geriatrics (there are a few who do a lot of research projects and these could be opportunities to get in with a pilot scheme (like the suggestion above) and perhaps end up doing it long term

- Research the now newly NHS Commissioning Groups. These GP led commissioning groups will be making the final sign off on healthcare services in each area and they may be able to guide you in what they will be looking for either now or in the future.

Sounds like you have already done some great work so all the best and keep us updated

Hi Janet, I'm a little late to the thread, but could smell a Yell comment

If you're new to marketing, think long and hard before blowing any marketing budget (I'm assuming you do have one!).

There have been some great suggestions, and it sounds like you are well on the road to getting approval from your local council so that will be plenty of free marketing.

Website wise, work out what it is you are trying to achieve. What keywords or phrases are you aiming for? ie what would people type into google to find your services?

If you don't know, find out. There are plenty of tools out there (ask another question and we'll tell you )

Until you know this, then hold off spending any money on things like directories, as you may have the opportunity to incorporate your keywords into adverts or anchor text that will potentially help your website.

Yell and similar have very aggressive/affective sales forces that will fill your head with facts and figures making any proposition sound reasonable. Take a step back and do some google research. Weigh up costs. It could well be the route to go, but how much budget will it absorb? What is your expected return for it to be viable?

Online marketing is a hornets nest for the unwary. I'd stick with free options until you have a clear marketing plan and strategy in place.

You may even end up going down the Google Adwords route, or have a tinker with social media.

Cost effective marketing is all about planning and testing.