Embracing Video in Your Marketing Mix 

Video is an investment, but well worth it, especially in today’s fragmented media landscape.

by Jim Dudley, Director of Strategy

by Lance Morgan, Director of Digital Strategy

It’s not breaking news that video is a great tool for marketing. But if that’s true, why do so many senior living communities have either very little video or sub-par video in their marketing mix? In a word: money.  

As marketing tactics go, video is more time consuming, more complicated, and more expensive compared to traditional text and photography. A blog post on your website or a static ad on Facebook is going to be cheaper—by a significant margin—than a really good video showing off what your community is all about.  

But we believe that as a marketing tactic, video’s benefits far outweigh its cost. Let’s take a look at why video is so effective at achieving the three most important goals of any marketing message: 

1. Capturing the viewer’s attention 
2. Delivering a message the viewer values and remembers 
3. Affecting the viewer’s actions (at some point) 

Engagement 101: catching eyeballs 

Whether it’s seen on your community’s website, viewed on your social media pages, or served as a digital ad, video earns higher levels of engagement than any other format. Meta reports 59% more engagement and an unbelievable 12x higher rate of sharing for video posts compared to text and image posts. On Instagram, Reels (short videos) have three times (.23%) the engagement rate of image posts (.08%) and account for 50% of all time spent on the platform.  

Videos are shared an unbelievable 12x more than text/image posts.

Even when served as ads, video ads have the ability to capture attention and stop a user’s scroll compared to static ads. As human beings we are just wired to notice motion more than static images. Even if we don’t watch the full ad, the hook has been set.   

Just as importantly, your audience wants more video content. With more and more web traffic being consumed on mobile, video is simply a more efficient method for communicating.

Video is the ultimate storytelling medium  

With your audience’s attention secured, the next step is to deliver a message the viewer values and remembers. Research firm Insivia notes that users retain 95% of a message delivered on video, compared to 10% retained when reading text online. And when messages stick, they have a much greater chance of achieving the ultimate goal—affecting user actions.  

So why is video so much more effective at actually delivering your message? Because we like to see things for ourselves rather than just being told something. You can talk all day about how happy residents are at your community. But when you show it—when people see genuine smiles and people having a great time—viewers are more likely to believe it and remember it.  

You can talk about community groups at your community, or you can show a 60-second piece showing the weekly gathering of guitar players meeting up on the community veranda and gleefully plucking out some tunes together on a warm summer evening. You can say your community is full of interesting people, or you can show a video featuring the former race team head mechanic who volunteers to work on his neighbors’ cars rather than race cars these days.  

It can take a novel to write about a character in a way that makes them truly dimensional. Video accomplishes this same task in mere seconds.  

Finding community: emotion = action  

As your audience moves through the marketing funnel, different messages will be effective at different times. Early on, users are qualifying various community options. Does a given community offer the features I’m looking for? Can I afford it? What types of homes are available? What levels of care are there? What are my contract options? This is where written narrative shines. Just the facts, please. Tell me what I need to know in a quick and concise format. Bullet points, charts, numbers, floor plans—these are your most effective tools at this stage.  

But once you make it to the final 2-3 options under consideration, the calculus shifts. Most begin to ask themselves: which community feels like my community? Where can I see myself being happy? Which community feels right? Friends and family weigh in.  

You can talk all day long about your flexible dining program, heated pool, and open-concept floor plans. But when a prospect sees a video of a group of people piloting remote control boats on the community lake and thinks “That looks like my kind of place,” you’ve won.  

Your audience may know which option, logically, is the best option to take. But it’s when someone feels emotionally ready that they actually move forward.

Video allows your very best salespeople, your residents, to share their stories, their passions, and their personalities with prospects in the most effective and personal way possible outside of an in-person meeting. And that personal approach is what drives action. Think about it. You can know which option, logically, is the best option to take. But it’s usually when you feel emotionally set on the right option that you actually move forward.  

ROI: you have to invest to get the return 

We opened by talking about how video is more expensive than other marketing tactics, but its ability to connect with viewers is unparalleled. To get that return, you have to have quality videos that represent your community’s brand the right way.  

Poorly done video can be as corrosive to your brand’s value as good video is beneficial. That doesn’t mean you need to hire Spielberg to direct your next piece. You can work with a professional film or video production company, or you can get great results with a good idea, an eye for good light, and an iPhone.   

All it takes is having something worth saying and a clear idea that brings that message to life, and you can count on it making a mark with your audience. When you invest in video—with your time, your attention, your creativity, and your resources—you will see a real, significant return in terms of audience engagement and overall audience response.