New Study on Elder Care Marketing Reveals Fresh Insights in Targeting Aging Population

Free Report Analyzes How Social Media and Other Innovative Marketing Techniques Are Impacting the Face of the Senior Care Industry

Newport Beach, Calif. (PRWEB) April 5, 2010 - SmartBug Media, a leading inbound marketing company, has released a research report on how elder care marketers grow their businesses. The Elder Care Marketing Industry Report, which can be downloaded for free at http://www.smartbugmedia.com/elder-care-industry-marketing-report/, examines marketing trends and tools, as well as the impact of social media on the senior care business.

Although still in its infancy, the senior care market offers an incredible opportunity to companies that supply goods and services that improve quality of life and provide peace of mind to the families of aging parents. The challenge in marketing to seniors is finding optimal ways to connect unique offerings with the families who need them.

The Elder Care Marketing Industry Report examines the marketing behavior of 166 business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers, providing new insights into how to market and sell to in the senior care market. The report contains valuable information about various marketing tools and their effectiveness, the length of sales cycles, the size of budgets, lead generation and management, and the use of social media in senior care.

“Our team worked hard to look beyond the obvious and search for patterns that best illustrate the state of senior care marketing today,” said Ryan Malone, president of SmartBug Media. “My hope is that our findings will help marketers better allocate budgets, refine strategies and connect with their customers.”

Some of the key findings in the study include:

• Referral or affiliate programs, search-engine optimization and informational seminars are viewed as the most effective vehicles in meeting marketing objectives;
• More traditional marketing vehicles, such as telemarketing, radio ads, magazine ads and newspaper ads are viewed as the least effective;
• Sales performance is only tracked between 20 and 40% of the time;
• Small companies (1-50 employees) are twice as likely than big companies (50-500+ employees) to use social media in their marketing; and
• Both B2B and B2C businesses benefited most from social media through increased mailing lists, traffic and subscribers, generating leads and creating partnerships.

“The elder care industry needs to read and absorb findings from the Elder Care Marketing Industry Report — which reveals an industry that has more of a shot-in-the-dark’ approach to selection of methods and medium than other industries,” said Laurie M. Orlov, founder and principal analyst, Aging in Place Technology Watch. “Readers should use the report examine their own areas of improvement — better management of sales leads and self-education on social media, for example — to shorten sales cycles and time-to-revenue.”

Packed with more than 30 color charts and diagrams, the Elder Care Marketing Industry Report is rich with information that is easy to digest for any newcomer or veteran marketer. It is particularly valuable to senior care providers and technology companies that offer unique service models.

Download a free copy of the report at: http://www.smartbugmedia.com/industry-marketing-report/.

About SmartBug Media
SmartBug Media is a leading inbound marketing agency enabling companies to get found online by qualified prospects and increasing leads, customers and reach. SmartBug Media helps companies achieve better marketing results by combining content marketing, social media, informational products and white paper marketing. The company has delivered results for leading brands such as Acxiom Corporation, Brookdale Senior Living, HireRight, INC Research and Valpak. For more information, visit http://www.smartbugmedia.com.

# # #