How Hra, John Knox Village, beztak combat Perceptions Of Senior Living As Nursing Homes 

For all that senior living operators have done to change the perception of the industry, many prospects still conflate independent living and assisted living with nursing homes.

That immediate reaction can have an impact on sales efforts. Operators and their marketing teams then have to make an effort to showcase what the industry is actually like today and how it has changed since a prospect may have moved their own family members into a community.

Part of that reaction is fear-based, according to Ginger Atwood, national director of marketing and sales at Harbor Retirement Associates. Losing independence, becoming isolated and being unable to afford to live in a senior living community are all worries on the minds of older adults and their families.

“They’re perceiving it as a crisis-driven situation to begin with, rather than a lifestyle choice,” Atwood told Senior Housing News. “The challenge is as people wait longer and longer to make the decision to move into senior living, it can become a crisis situation.”

For Farmington Hills, Michigan-based Beztak, being equated to a nursing home is particularly damaging due to the operator’s focus on independent living, according to Jason Kohler, executive vice president of senior living.

Anecdotally, sales teams at Jaybird Senior Living and Heritage Communities state prospects still think of senior living as nursing homes and other high-acuity settings.

While education efforts with marketing materials is still the primary tool used to shift that perception, operators are also deploying campaigns to help better inform decision making adult children. The process of showcasing the differences is easier than in previous years, and in some instances is less of a problem for marketing teams, such as the team at continuing care retirement community John Knox Village, Pompano Beach.  

“They’re more fixated on the type of living arrangement they’re going to choose versus exactly what they’re going to get, which is that continuum of care for the healthcare,” Kim Ali, vice president of sales and marketing, said. “Less than probably 3% of prospects that walk in the door even wants us to tour them in higher care, which is a little shocking because that’s exactly what they’re buying.”

Starting with one foot forward

The marketing team of Vero Beach, Florida-based Harbor Retirement Associates is already starting with one foot forward for changing the perception of senior housing as a nursing home. The company’s marketing efforts focus on driving home the lifestyle and life enrichment programming that senior living communities offer and nursing homes don’t typically. For the past three years, the operator has built campaigns around showcasing its farm-to-table campaign to highlight how different dining at a HarborChase community is.

John Knox Village, Pompano Beach, one of the largest single-site senior living campuses in the country, is dealing with fewer prospects associating the community with being akin to a nursing home, but the worry is still there. Instead, it utilizes a community-driven newspaper to highlight what happens around the community with articles written by current residents, according to Ali.  

Kohler said that perception extends beyond just prospects to include financial planners and their clients.

“I recently presented a seminar called ‘Demystifying Senior Living’ at a financial advisory firm for its financial planners and clients,” Kohler said. “The questions—particularly around the differences between independent living, entrance-fee models, assisted living and memory care—reinforced for me that even a relatively sophisticated and informed consumer still has a lot of questions about how senior living works.”

While operators still rely on education materials about the difference between senior living and skilled nursing communities, there are also positive results coming from campaigns leaning into specific values and highlighting experiences to tell a fuller picture of what the industry is now like these days.

The value of experience

Operators are driving home the importance of experiences in marketing campaigns in a variety of ways. HRA often invites prospects in for a combination of events and “staycations,” where they spend a weekend at the community to showcase what life in senior living can be.

While the practice is more effective for lower-acuity independent living residents, it’s one that’s overall well received, particularly when paired with resident ambassadors, a common practice employed across the industry, Atwood said.

HRA is also seeing an impact on the industry’s perceptions from hosting events, support groups and professional speakers.

“They in turn are seeing what we’re doing, and it’s changing their perception of what senior living is all about,” Atwood said. “Even the professionals oftentimes have a different view of what senior living is, and many of them, including in the healthcare industry, are amazed when they come in and see what’s going on in the communities.”

According to Kohler, sales teams at Beztak are coached to spend less time trying to sell features and instead focus on understanding the prospect’s values. In turn, the conversation then turns to how senior living can help extend those values to highlight how they won’t lose access to them.

Other sales teams and industry representatives can help further change the perception of senior living through highlighting the resident rather than the building itself, he added.

“I think our industry’s marketing historically focused heavily on the building, amenities, and care,” Kohler said. “Those things remain important, but increasingly the story we need to tell is about the life that happens inside the building.”

While residents fear a loss of independence and losing parts of their lives, Ali said John Knox Village, Pompano Beach puts particular emphasis on its Green House Model offerings, which allow higher acuity residents to still maintain a sense of privacy and security as they age in place. What the sales and marketing team at the CCRC focus on for those residents is letting them know that they will still have full access to everything the community has to offer so they are not siloed or isolated.  

The teams also focus on driving home the nursing home experience believed to make up senior living largely comes from people who wait too long to move in.

“Having the amenities, having a greenhouse model … it just kind of continues that we’re not going to be grandma’s nursing home anymore,” Ali said.

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