Marketers claim that the top challenges they face include engaging customers in real-time and innovating. About 61% of marketers say lead generation is their top challenge. In fact, 63% of leads won’t convert for at least three months. If you’re opening a sober living home, it’s important to develop a strong marketing strategy. Otherwise, potential patients might not realize you’re there to help.
Here are 10 tips that can help you learn how to start a sober living home marketing strategy. With these tips, you can reach potential patients online. Then, you can show them you have the tools and resources they need to maintain their sobriety.
With these tips, you can help more people than ever before.
Start promoting and marketing your sober home with these tips today.
1. Research Your Audience
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when learning how to start a sober living home is neglecting to strategize. Instead, start developing your plans by gathering research first.
Without audience research, your marketing materials might not appeal to your target audience.
In fact, 74% of people get annoyed when website content fails to align with their interests. About 73% expect companies to understand their needs and expectations.
Researching your target audience will help you personalize your digital marketing strategy. You can promote your sober home to the right people. You’ll have an easier time converting leads into residents as a result.
Personalization will help you connect with your audience and engage them on a more personal level. In fact, about 90% of marketers report a measurable lift in results due to personalization.
Personalization could deliver eight times the ROI on your marketing budget, too. Then, you can spend more time and money helping residents.
Segment Your Audience
In order to personalize your marketing strategy, learn as much as you can about your target audience. First, determine if you’re focused on reaching addicts or their loved ones. If you’re targeting both groups, segment your audience into smaller personas.
Then, you can create content that’s distinct to recovering addicts versus loved ones searching for help.
You can also distinguish your personas based on:
- Location
- Age
- Gender
- Household income
- Marital status
- Pain points
- Specific addictions
- Buying behaviors
- Interests
- Hobbies
- Language
- Education
- Career
Once you create distinct personas, begin gathering keyword research. What keywords do people use to find sober living homes online? You can use tools like Answer the Public, Google Trends, Ahrefs, and Keyword Planner to get started.
Look for terms that are made up of four more words (long-tail keywords). These keywords are more precise. Choose keywords with a high search volume, too.
You’ll use these keywords to develop your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. SEO will help your website appear for relevant searches.
You can create content distinct to each persona based on the terms they use during an online search.
2. Outline Goals
Before you start developing your marketing strategy, take a moment to establish your goals. Understanding your goals can help determine the tools and resources you’ll need. You can make more informed decisions about which marketing strategies to use, too.
For example, perhaps you want to establish your team as thought leaders in the rehabilitation industry. You can create thought-provoking blog posts to demonstrate your credibility.
Perhaps you want to generate more traffic to your sober living home’s website. You can use SEO and content creation to get started. You can also use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising or social media marketing.
Other goals might include:
- Increasing brand visibility
- Generating brand awareness and recognition
- Boosting brand credibility
- Improving search engine rankings
- Generating more form submissions or calls
- Gaining more residents
- Generating more social media followers
- Improving your marketing ROI
Once you outline your goals, consider which marketing tips you’ll use to accomplish each goal.
Creating an outline will help you remain efficient. As you use these tips, make sure to review the results of your campaigns. Determine which strategies are helping you accomplish the goals on your list.
3. Build a Brand
Before you start a sober living home, it’s important to develop a unique brand. Your brand will help you stand apart from other sober living facilities. Otherwise, people might confuse your home with others in the area.
This is where your audience research comes into play. Shared values account for 64% of brand relationships. Think about what your target audience cares about most.
Then, develop a brand that appeals to their needs, interests, and values.
It can take over five impressions before brand awareness starts to grow. Make sure your visual brand stands out. Your branding includes your:
- Brand personality
- Voice
- Tone
- Mission statement
- Vision statement
- Logo
- Color palette
- Font styles
- Imagery styles
Research your competitors to ensure your branding is unique. Then, create a brand guidelines document for your team. Make sure to use the same visual branding across all platforms.
Keeping your brand consistent will help awareness and recognition grow. Otherwise, you could risk confusing your target audience.
4. Update Your Website
Once you develop your branding, you can start building your website.
Focus on creating a website that offers an easy user experience (UX). A positive user experience indicates your site is easy to explore. Visitors will have an easier time finding the information they need.
You can work with an experienced web design and development agency to get started. As you develop your website, make sure to offer multiple conversion opportunities.
For example, you can add a chatbot to your site to quickly answer visitor questions. You can add forms and pop-ups, too.
Make sure your website is fast, secure, and mobile-optimized. A strong website will set the rest of your marketing strategy up to succeed.
5. Create High-Quality Content
You can attract visitors to your website by creating high-quality blog content. Blog content can also demonstrate your experience and expertise in the industry. You can show potential residents that you have the resources they need to maintain their sobriety.
Experiment with different content formats, including articles, eBooks, polls, and quizzes. You can also create video content to keep your audience engaged.
Once you start creating content, make sure to share it online.
6. Use SEM
Search engine marketing (SEM) can help you generate brand awareness, website traffic, and leads. As part of your SEM strategy, consider using SEO and PPC.
SEO is an organic SEM strategy. You can boost your rankings on search engines like Google. Higher rankings will help more people find your website.
You can optimize your web pages and blog content using your keyword research. Claim and optimize your Google My Business listing, too.
PPC advertising allows you to create text or display ads. These ads can appear on Google, other websites, and social media.
Use strong call-to-action language to encourage more people to contact you after reading your content or seeing your ads.
7. Stay Social
You can also promote your sober living home on social media.
First, make sure to share your blog content. Direct people to your website to learn more about your sober home.
Host live Q&A video sessions to answer any questions people have, too.
Consider working with other businesses or influencers as well. They can help promote your sober living home online. Then, you can expand your reach to appeal to an even wider audience.
8. Generate Reviews and Referrals
About 93% of people read reviews of a local business to determine its quality. Generating reviews can help boost your credibility. New residents might have an easier time trusting your brand as a result.
Ask your recent residents and their loved ones to post their reviews on your Google My Business listing. Then, use a plugin to share those reviews on your website. Continue generating fresh reviews throughout the year, too.
You can also share their reviews on social media as video posts.
Otherwise, develop a referral marketing strategy to reach a wider audience.
9. Generate Email Subscriptions
Make sure to add an email subscription form to your website. Consider using a lead magnet to generate subscriptions. For example, you can share an exclusive eBook about sober living.
Once you begin generating subscriptions, segment your lists. Use email automation to keep your subscribers engaged. For example, you can send them updates about services or new sober living homes in the area.
You can also send them your latest blog posts to continue generating website traffic.
Email marketing will help you remain top-of-mind throughout the year.
10. Analyze and Optimize
Once you learn how to start a sober living home marketing strategy, make sure to keep it going. Analyze the results of your campaigns. Look for areas where you can make improvements.
Optimizing your campaigns will ensure you make the most of your budget. You can generate more leads, help more people, and experience lasting success.
Set for Success: 10 Tips for Promoting and Marketing a Sober Living Home
Learning how to start a sober living home marketing strategy doesn’t have to feel stressful. Instead, give these 10 tips a try. With these tips, you can promote and market your sober home with ease.
Then, you can attract more residents to provide them with a safe, drug-and-alcohol-free living environment.
Want to find more qualified clients who are looking for sober housing? We can help.
Learn more about our resources today to get started.