As budget season nears for many Life Plan Communities, it\u2019s the perfect time for marketing professionals to reflect on their budgets and set new goals. Creating an efficient budget and strategic plan goes beyond crunching numbers though\u2014it\u2019s part science and part art.<\/p>\n
Whether you\u2019re fine-tuning your current budget or planning a complete overhaul, these five effective tips can help you budget smarter and ensure your marketing dollars work harder.<\/p>\n
Your team\u2019s financial data from previous years are easily your biggest asset. Knowing where the Life Plan Community stands financially and how <\/em>each of your marketing investments translates into operating revenue and financial performance is important for productive planning.<\/p>\n As a team, it can be helpful to\u2014fearlessly and without judgment\u2014reflect on past wins and losses. Answering the following questions with your team can lead to insights that fuel innovation and help you break out of dangerous (and expensive) \u201cBut we\u2019ve always done it this way\u201d thinking.<\/p>\n The difference between budgeting<\/em> and budgeting well<\/em> boils down to creating a budget that\u2019s tied to specific and realistic goals. Be selective and strategic about your community\u2019s priorities\u2014you don\u2019t have to accomplish or invest in every goal at once for the coming year.<\/p>\n One helpful budgeting strategy is to begin by creating categories of questions to prioritize general, short and long-term goals. A general rule of thumb is to ensure that every item in your marketing budget contributes directly to a specific goal.<\/p>\n The following questions can serve as a road map for senior living marketers:<\/p>\n General goals: <\/strong><\/p>\n Short-term goals:<\/strong><\/p>\n Long-term goals:<\/strong><\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve determined your goals, you\u2019ll want to consider the tools you\u2019ll need to achieve them and, of course, evaluate how much everything will cost. There are several budget-friendly tools<\/a> to enhance your marketing performance, as well as sales training and content marketing. Some of the most popular investments for a typical Life Plan Community\u2019s marketing program include:<\/p>\n It\u2019s best to create a marketing strategy using a combination of print and digital tools, but it ultimately depends on what you\u2019re trying to accomplish. If your community\u2019s top priority is to increase leads, keep in mind that lead sources vary in value. For example, leads generated by referrals and outreach can close at approximately 10% to 12%, whereas leads generated by traditional advertising can close at about 2% to 5%.<\/p>\n The last thing you want to do is to set your budget on autopilot and forget about it. We strongly recommend revisiting your goals each quarter to make course corrections based on your marketing tactics and sales results. By taking a proactive approach, your team can make timely adjustments that will eliminate last minute scrambles to meet year-end goals.<\/p>\n Additional benefits of implementing budgets through tactical quarterly plans include:<\/p>\n At Love & Company, our team specializes in budget planning and helping Life Plan Communities nationwide define their budgeting strategies and identify measurable goals.<\/p>\n No matter where you are in your budget planning or goal-setting process, we can provide the tools and guidance you need to succeed. We understand how overwhelming and time-consuming budgeting can feel. Remember, it\u2019s okay to ask for help\u2014that\u2019s what we\u2019re here to do. Call Tim Bracken, vice president of client relations, at 301-663-1239<\/strong><\/a> to get started, and be sure to view our expert-led webinar about how to approach your marketing budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n Discover 5 smart budgeting tips for Life Plan Communities to maximize marketing impact and set achievable goals for success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthcare-marketing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.loveandcompany.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.loveandcompany.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.loveandcompany.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.loveandcompany.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.loveandcompany.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.loveandcompany.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.loveandcompany.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.loveandcompany.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.loveandcompany.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.loveandcompany.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
2. Connect your marketing budget to clear goals<\/h2>\n
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3. Invest in useful marketing tools<\/h2>\n
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4. Practice proactive budget management<\/h2>\n
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5. Draft a winning budget with Love & Company<\/h2>\n
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