As consumers continue to take control of their online data, digital marketers must adapt accordingly. Third-party cookies and other identifiers will be increasingly phased out of use in the coming years, as user behavior changes and governments enforce new policies. This means your senior living digital marketing approach needs to emphasize information privacy.

If you’re like many marketers, you may have concerns about these new approaches. What information about prospective residents can you act on without individual identifier data? Can you drive business results while protecting user privacy? As it turns out, you absolutely can! Before you get started, let’s address a common myth about the fast-approaching future of digital marketing.

The Myth of User Privacy and Measurement Gaps

The truth is, privacy-first marketing means losing some observable data. That fact leads some to assume user data privacy and marketing results are incompatible. This line of thinking creates a false impression that reporting, downstream optimization, and business results will inevitably suffer when you put privacy at the forefront.

Fortunately, these negative outcomes are, in fact, a myth. Your senior living community will lose some actionable data, yes, but not all of it. Today, you have increasingly sophisticated options for maximizing the data you collect. But, you will need to use some creative thinking to design marketing strategies that are less dependent on data collection. 

How Can I Market My Senior Living Community While Protecting User Privacy?

Privacy-first marketing solutions take a variety of forms. Regardless, tailor your approach to match the unique wants and needs of your audience. Here are three approaches that can be helpful.

1. Leverage First-Party Data

First-party data is information gathered directly from your residents, prospects, and website visitors. Two-thirds of marketers believe first-party data is the strongest path to customer understanding and improved business performance.¹ Why? Because the data you collect gives you a snapshot of your exact audience, their preferences, and their behaviors. 

Use tools such as user registration, event-based tracking, and surveys as robust data sources to learn more about your senior living community’s current and prospective residents.

2. Embrace Contextual Targeting

Contextual targeting places your ads on web pages that closely align with your product or service. In the case of senior living communities, this could mean advertisements appearing on sites related to retirement planning, travel, or activities seniors enjoy. Notably, contextual targeting is 32% more effective than demographic targeting.² 

The best marketing strategies focus on reaching leads where they’re at. Typically, this means using personal information to paint a picture of their interests and habits. With contextual targeting, you can still get ads in front of your ideal audience without the need for sensitive data. 

3. Consider Machine Learning Solutions

Companies like Google are developing machine-learning techniques for maximizing user data points. A notable machine learning application for this task is conversion modeling. By combining information users have consented to share with other available inputs and drawing connections between them, conversion modeling paints a more detailed picture of your audience. Using this tool gives you accurate marketing insights without the need for personally identifiable data. 

Even without third-party cookies and other identifying data, your senior living community does have options for optimizing your marketing strategy while maintaining information privacy. Because this is an important issue for today’s web users, emphasize your commitment to privacy when interacting with your community and prospective residents. Showing concern about protecting their private data is an important way to demonstrate your trustworthiness and build a rapport with prospective residents.

Regulations around consumer and patient privacy protections will continue to evolve to keep pace with technology advancements and best practices. Senior living marketers will need to stay up-to-date on the most effective ways to operate in compliance with those regulations. An experienced senior living digital marketing agency can help your team create privacy first marketing strategies that connect and convert new residents. Call us at 888.307.7304 to schedule a discovery call to learn more.

 

 

For a list of references, please contact us.