News Line

BY ALYSSA GERACE

Brookdale, the largest senior living provider, made national media headlines after an incident that took place at Glenwood Gardens, a Bakersfield, Calif. continuum of care community the company operates.

On February 26, a Glenwood Gardens independent living resident collapsed in one of the community’s dining areas. A Brookdale staffer initiated a 911 call, per company protocol, then handed the phone to a nurse.

Throughout the approximately seven minute phone call, the 911 dispatcher repeatedly asked the nurse to either perform CPR on the woman, or find someone else who would, but the nurse refused, saying it was against company policy. The resident ultimately passed away.

The Brookdale incident and the way the company handled it arguably did not have a substantial impact on its bottom line, but others have seen much different outcomes for their own crises.

The manner in which companies respond to crisis situations can play a large role in how they’re covered by the media, and how the public—and by extension, investors—perceive them, says Todd Harff, president of marketing and public relations firm Creating Results.

Click on the headline above to read the article featuring Todd Harff on Senior Housing News, April 11, 2013.

BY: LESLIE BRAUNSTEIN

Often overlooked by developers and planners studying the housing needs of Generation Y, the fastest-growing age group in the US is actually the one aged 65 and older, says John K. McIlwain, ULI senior resident fellow/J. Ronald Terwilliger Chair for Housing.

Aging but active baby boomers, as well as the generations before them, are creating new opportunities as well as challenges for the US housing industry as it strives to meet the diverse lifestyle needs of people in various phases of their senior years, according to McIlwain, author of a recent ULI publication, Housing in America: The Baby Boomers Turn 65.

You can hear from ULI’s McIlwain and other industry leaders focusing on the emerging housing needs of the 65-and-better generation at ULI’s 2013 Real Estate Trends Conference, “Life Cycles in the New Economy – People and Places” to be held Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at the Ronald Reagan Center in Washington, DC. Joining McIlwain will be David Mayhood of The Mayhood Company, Julie Smith of Bozzuto Management Company, and Dan Cinelli of Perkins Eastman on a panel moderated by Todd Harff of Creating Results.

Click on the headline above to read the article featuring Todd Harff on April 9, 2013.

Q:  With Facebook and other new media options, should we still bother creating and sending out an old-fashioned newsletter?

A:  After helping to motivate more than 13,000 people to move over the last 20 years, the Creating Results team would answer “Yes, newsletters are an important and effective way to market to 50+ home buyers.”

Here are three ways to move your newsletters to the front of the marketing class.

Click on the headline above to read the article featuring Erin Read's advice in the 50+ Housing Online Magazine, April 1, 2013.

“We definitely see a lot of things trending online, whether it’s the source of generating leads, to the way we nurture and communicate with leads through email, social media, or using content to get people to come back to [the community's] website,” says Todd Harff, president of marketing agency Creating Results. “However, brochures are just as critical—if not more so.”

As the length of time for someone to make a decision increases, he says, the physical nature of a brochure becomes “that much more important as a tangible and ever-present reminder of the community.”

The biggest criticism of brochures—and of marketing efforts for senior living communities in general—is when they fail to differentiate the community, Harff says.

Click on the headline above to read the article featuring Todd Harff on Senior Housing News, March 26, 2013.
 

Selling to Seniors, in a related story, reported that two East Coast 50-plus community developers won major awards from the National Association of Home Builders during the International Builders show in Las Vegas. While the winning firms—North Hill Communities Inc. of Needham, MA, and Traditions of America of Radnor, PA, were recognized for their transformative senior living concepts, the—also were each awarded for their marketing programs. It comes as no surprise to learn that one firm handled the marketing of both properties.

Click on the headline above to read the article in Selling to Seniors.

“Of course, the kids who are pushing media into the future aren’t the only ones inching out of the early days of connectivity. Gen X is taking its lump, but figuring it out: Larry Dubrow can now operate his iPad with a baby on his hip … And even us wizened Baby Boomers, fat fingers and all, are proving to be a fiercer digital force than many would have predicted, and will be so for decades to come. (Consider Erin Read Ruddick’s ‘Boomers: Past, Present and Powerful,’ (p. 62)).”

Click on the headline above to read the article by Erin Read Ruddick in MEDIA Magazine, Fall 2012.

BY ALYSSA GERACE

As growing numbers of older adults become accustomed to using the Internet, including email, search engines, and social media, marketers are looking for the latest ways to reach their target audiences. But while it’s smart (and increasingly necessary) to explore new avenues, market researchers say it’s ill-advised to abandon the tried-and-true methods.

Social media—and Facebook in particular—may be a new frontier for senior living providers when marketing to older consumers, but they’re still not in a position to replace what’s perhaps the most powerful medium to mature consumers: TV ...

In short, says Beth Rand, director of client services for strategic marketing firm Creating Results, TV is still king—but that’s not to say new approaches shouldn’t be used ...

Click on the headline to read the article.

BY DANIELLE VERBIGGHE

Baby boomers may be getting older, but they still want to feel young. With about 77 million boomers controlling more than half of the nation’s wealth, many retailers are paying close attention ...

The shopping experience also is important to some boomers. Todd Harff is treasurer of International Mature Marketing Network and president of Creating Results, both of which specialize in helping companies reach the boomer market. He suggested retailers focus on keeping music, lighting and in-store atmosphere friendly to all ages.

Click on the headline to read the article.

PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS

[C]ontrary to the popular belief that anyone over the age of 50 is technologically inept, a new study conducted by a Barrington firm that specializes in marketing to baby boomers shows that Internet users over the age of 50 are using social media more all the time.

“If you’re driving your business toward baby boomers, you cannot ignore social media,” said Erin Read Ruddick, client services director for Creating Results, a strategic-marketing firm in Barrington with a sister office in Washington, D.C. Her firm defines baby boomers as those 46 to 64 years old. But Ruddick said those 65 years and older use social media more than might be expected.

Creating Results, a marketing agency for senior living properties, has announced that it has received awards for its recent work for continuing care retirement communities in Pennsylvania and Virginia.  The firm received the following four awards for senior community marketing:

SENIOR HOUSING NEWS 

What do you think about internet sites and their ability to influence decisions for senior housing?  Are you as connected (facebook, twitter) as the media is portraying?  As more and more organizations are touting the connectedness of mature consumers, here is your chance to participate in the study. (Read More)

Tired of cookie cutter campaigns? Fed up with marketing programs that don't resonate with older consumers? Todd Harff was, too.

Frustrated with marketing that overlooked and even offended mature consumers, Todd joined with other co-founders and created the International Mature Marketing Network in 2007. It seemed a natural next step for his agency, Creating Results, to take after more than 17 years targeting mature, affluent Americans.

Do you know who you’re talking to, and are they still the right prospects for you to try reaching?

It pays to take a closer look at the people in your database in order to determine whether your prospects’ aspirations or life stage may have changed in the past few years, says strategic marketing expert Erin Read Ruddick of Creating Results LLC. Once you make that determination, you can focus on the words, messaging and strategies for reaching those prospects.

BY Todd Harff

Our economy may finally show signs of recovery, but in 2010 many marketers of wellness/health facilities and services to age 50-plus adults will continue to be challenged. They’ll be asked to connect, motivate and inspire Baby Boomers and beyond with advertising, websites and other communications. All with potentially smaller budgets, reduced staff and less time.

How can your team rise to the challenge? One way is to harness the incredible power of pictures.

Showcasing the new Willow Valley Retirement Communities Welcome Center, designed by Creating Results.

Todd Harff is one of several experts quoted in this article by Mark Dolliver.

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Stick around for seven or more decades and you're apt to become the focal point of some stereotypes before you're done. In the case of today's 65-and-older consumers, though, the problem is that the stereotypes of frail-and-lonely ancients are more creaky than the people to whom they're applied. And it doesn't help matters that baby boomers talk loudly about being poised to transform the nature of old age, as if it has heretofore been unchanged dating back to the Stone Age. Looking at some survey data on 65-plusers, and hearing from people professionally engaged in understanding and marketing to this cohort, we get a clearer picture of how older Americans see themselves and the advertising that's aimed (or, often, misaimed) at them.  (Read More)

MEDIAPOST ENGAGE: BOOMERS
By Todd Harff

Remember the old joke about the camel? That it's a horse built by a committee?

Many of the ads targeting mature consumers these days appear to be built by committee. Chock full of pictures. Lots of messages all at once. You could consider them visual camels. (Read more)

... Todd Harff, president of Creating Results LLC and co-founder of the International Mature Marketing Network, says that while an advantage of reverse mortgages is that they ensure that the homeowner cannot be evicted from the home, there are a number of considerations that should be evaluated before opting for one.

SENIORS REAL ESTATE SPECIALISTS

If you’re still among the skeptics who think Twitter is just a timewaster and is geared exclusively to a youthful crowd, consider this. Twitter usage is exploding.

It experienced an eye-popping 1,382 percent year-over-year growth in February 2009. The number of total unique visitors increased from 475,000 in February 2008 to seven million last month. That’s according to Nielsen Online

SELLING TO SENIORS

When it comes to selling active adult housing these days, two words come to the mind of Creating Results founder Todd Harff -- compelling value.

Harff says some 50+ potential homebuyers are ready to make a purchase, but it’s imperative to provide the right product in the right location.

SENIOR HOUSING NEWS

Todd Harff, President of Creating Results, has been asked by the National Association of Home Builders to author a new course for the organization’s “University of Housing.”  Mr. Harff will develop a one-day course called Marketing to the Active Adult that will be offered throughout the country to builders, developers, and real estate professionals and manage a team of six subject matter experts as he designs the course. (Read More)

Todd Harff, President of Creating Results (www.creatingresults.com), a strategic marketing agency has been asked by the National Association of Home Builders to author a new course for the organization’s “University of Housing.”  Recognized as one of the top 50 executives in 50+ housing, Mr. Harff will develop a one-day course called Marketing to the Active Adult that will be offered throughout the country to builders, developers, and real estate professionals.

If you advertise your products and services to broad demographics, you’re in for a rude awakening. In this competitive marketplace, you need to segment your consumers into small sections of those demographics, based on their preferences, to see some ROI.

Not sure how to proceed? We did the legwork for you, by interviewing a marketer who shares how she:
o Conducted a survey to define the preferences of segments within a demographic
o Deciphered those preferences to determine which ads were more motivating for which segments
o Used the information to develop tailored ads for different segments (includes Case Study examples)

A picture may be worth a thousand words on average, but some pictures are worth more than others when used in ads aimed at consumers age 40 and older. A study by Creating Results, which specializes in reaching "mature" consumers, looked at how such people react to photography in ads.

Mature consumers prefer single-image advertisements over ads with multi-image collages by a margin of 66% to 34%, and also gravitate to images that show products and lifestyles,  according to a recent image-preference survey by Creating Results.

The “Photo Finish” study of more than 400 Americans age 40+ was conducted to determine which type of photography is most effective when advertising to Baby Boomers and older generations, as well as some members of Generation X.

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words.  For 50 plus consumers, that's a massive understatement, according to Todd Harff, president of Creating Results, a Virginia marketing firm specializing in the mature market.

Image is everything…..even more today than it has been in the past.  Many developers and communities are trying to create marketing and advertising material that provides consumers confidence and clarity to support making decisions to move into their facilities such as the Sunrise Senior Housing Financing Options Guide.  Creating Results, a generational marketing firm, recently released the results of a proprietary survey showing what type of photographic images are most effective when advertising to the mature consumer.  Creating Results, founded in 1993, has worked with many age-qualified housing projects throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic areas of the United States.

SARASOTA HERALD TRIBUNE

The real estate slump, along with a bear market, means many baby boomers will not have the retirement they had envisioned, if they retire at all. ... "The way we see it, markets that are going to do well are those that offer seniors opportunities to be productively engaged in society," Todd Harff said.

Working for a Life... Not a Living!
How people who refuse to retire are changing 55+ communities.

By Todd Harff

Nancy Gunning, the single, fifty something President of Chesapeake Resources reflected on her future, “I came from a humble background and thought that I would have to work till I dropped dead.  Now I have a choice.  I know I’m going to do something, but I just don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.”  In the next five years she plans to leave her current job, but she’s not thinking “retirement”.  She sees a future full of opportunity, meaningful work, flexibility, travel and a spacious no maintenance condo.  The last place she wants to be is in a community with “old people sitting around.”

NATION'S BUILDING NEWS
By Todd Harff

A carefully planned and well-executed pre-marketing program can produce tremendous results. But a lackadaisical program can be disastrous. This is particularly true if your company is trying to reach the 55+ market.