2020 has been a challenging year for digital advertisers. Hopefully, these challenges have proved themselves to be opportunities for you and your digital team to think outside of the box and succeed in light of the presidential election and COVID-19.

As this year quickly comes to a close, it is time for us to prepare for our final advertising challenge - having your brand heard among the online noise of the holiday season. With a little creative thinking, thoughtful targeting, and spend, you’re bound to reach your target audience and move-in goals this year.

Markentum is sharing our top four tips for leveraging your senior living community through paid advertising services during the holiday season.

1. Consider Increasing Your Ad Spend

Keep in mind that it will not just be your business ramping up efforts around the holidays - your competitors will be present as well. Ensure that your strategy has the necessary funds to propel your senior living community to the top.

One way that Forbes suggests increasing your ad spend is by teaming up with a brand you work with, perhaps a service provider in your community, to streamline efforts and relay overall value during the holidays. This will help cushion the necessary increased spend and show your potential residents a service that makes your community unique.

While establishing your paid advertising budget for 2021 with your team, consider building in a 20% increase for the holiday months. This way you will have your extra budget ready and can focus your efforts on creativity and targeting when that magical time of year returns once again. Read our blog for some key basics to help you navigate paid social vs. paid search advertising throughout the rest of the year!

2. Create Relevant Ads

If you have a design team, consider creating some holiday-themed ads that you believe will resonate with your target audience. Choose aspects of the graphics that relate to your target audience and the time of year including demographics, locations, and [socially distant] celebrations. As with any time of year, using high-quality custom photos in your graphics is your best option to display what it is that makes your senior living community the ideal home.

You can also change your copy. Create copy for your advertisements that is relevant to the holidays while explaining why that time of year is the perfect opportunity for potential residents to consider moving into your senior living community. For your search ads, be sure to assess all available copy aspects of your ad. Taking the time to create holiday-specific ads at the right time will show your audience that you are up-to-date in your advertising and engaged with the season. Wordstream breaks it down like this 👇

As always, it is a good idea to test your graphics or copy as you begin your campaigns. Taking the time to test what works best for your audience will allow you to allocate your spend most effectively.

3. Be Timely & Keep Your Ads Up-To-Date

If you decide to run creative featuring graphics or copy that talks about a particular holiday, ensure that you stop those ads from running after that holiday has passed.

If you advertise on Google, consider adding ad extensions and setting the run dates to correspond with the holidays. This will help set you up for future success (let’s be honest, we have enough to remember around the holidays! Give yourself a break on this one, so you don’t have to go back and turn ad extensions off).

Ad extensions are also free to use, and Google typically increases ad quality scores for ads that are using them, so this is a great way to spruce up your existing ads without needing a lot of time or resources. It is also easy to control dates on Facebook by setting up an appropriate start and end date for ads with holiday-sensitive aspects.

4. Consider YOUR Platforms

When deciding which platforms to focus your ads on during the holidays, keep your target audience in mind. Naturally, you want to steer away from the “noisiest platforms,” but be sure to stay where your customers are. You also may want to advertise on more than just one platform for a greater overall return on investment.

Think about the types of ads each platform allows you to pursue and how you can use its features to best show off your senior living community. For example, if you have the resources to create high-quality video assets, consider creating a holiday video and sharing that on YouTube.

If a video production team is not part of your crew, consider a carousel ad on Facebook that shows off many creative photos that offer an inside look into your community during the joyful holiday season. This article from Google shares some platform-specific ideas to help your business succeed this season, including updating search queries, setting specific KPIs, and planning out a promotional calendar. 

Advertising during the holidays is difficult any year. However, if there was ever a year for you to really direct your attention towards some changes that will help you succeed in Q4, it is certainly 2020!

If your senior living community is looking for some additional help, reach out to us to learn more about our paid advertising services. Let Markentum help you make the most out of your advertising budget through the holidays and beyond.

✨ From all of us at Markentum, have a safe and happy holiday season!