{"id":6587,"date":"2020-11-13T11:32:23","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T17:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/?post_type=case_study&p=6587"},"modified":"2025-04-17T09:49:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T14:49:39","slug":"multi-channel-digital-marketing-strategy","status":"publish","type":"case_study","link":"https:\/\/www.digitalstrike.com\/case-studies\/multi-channel-digital-marketing-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW A MULTI-CHANNEL DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY DECREASED COST PER LEAD BY 81%"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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CASE STUDY<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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How a Multi-Channel Digital Marketing Strategy Decreased Cost Per Lead by 81%<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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See how a thorough digital marketing strategy led to an 81% decrease in cost per acquisition for a major senior living facility management firm<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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THE RESULTS<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Desire to generate cost-effective leads after large acquisition costs<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Implement a robust marketing plan with an emphasis on lead tracking<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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ROI 4x higher than routing through listing websites <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In 2018, the organization agreed to purchase 36 under-performing properties from one of the largest senior care providers in the country.<\/p>

Before the ink was dry on the paperwork, the enormity of the challenge that lay ahead had begun to take root.<\/p>

The properties that comprised the agreement were populated with disillusioned staff, and their physical state, characterized in part by outdated design, had long been ravaged by deterioration because of subpar management.<\/p>

There was a massive string of bad reviews across multiple platforms.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Some of the more choice reviews included language like \u201c\u2026I would NOT recommend this \u2026 facility to anyone\u2026\u201d and<\/p>

\u201cWorst place ever,\u201d just to name a few.<\/p><\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Add it all up, there was a lot of work to be done. The only solace was that the properties had been acquired at a discount.<\/p>

The first order of business was stamping these new properties with the seal of the new brand, and each location needed extensive digital touch-ups to make them more appealing to potential residents.<\/p>

Each new property desperately needed improved occupancy to make the huge investment worthwhile, but that wasn\u2019t going to happen without an entirely revamped approach to generating the leads needed to spur that growth.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Problem<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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At the time of the acquisition of the new properties, each community was using third-party listing sites as its primary means of reaching prospective residents online.<\/p>

A third-party senior living directory site makes money by stipulating within its contract that any organization that uses its services is beholden to paying that directory a fee for every lead that becomes a new resident at that organization\u2019s facility.<\/p>

Oftentimes, this fee may be upwards of nearly two times the cost of one month\u2019s rent at the facility.<\/p>

This process is not atypical of what happens after the acquisition of a head in a bed, so to speak, but what appeal does a stipulation like that possess, particularly if it forces the senior living organization to pay the listing site a fee that many (if not all) would consider exorbitant?<\/p>

That answer is, not much at all. That is, unless, the organization in question does not have the necessary resources or guidance to build out its own internal marketing plan \u2014 one that operates either in unison with or in place of, an agreement with a listing site.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Listing sites typically charge 1.5x month\u2019s rent for every head in bed they have a hand in. That can be anywhere between a few thousand dollars to over $12,000 per new resident!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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For many senior living organizations, including our client, the easy way out of this conundrum is to throw your hands up and simply concede that the pain of eating the cost demanded by the listing site is less excruciating than the thought of digging in to conceptualize and build an internal marketing strategy that offers independence from third parties.<\/p>

Our client could have easily done that and doubled down on the efforts of previous ownership, especially when you consider the possibility that some low-hanging fruit dangled by listing sites may have ignited a turnaround of the under-performing properties they had just purchased.<\/p>

In our discussions with the client, our team suggested the best approach for predictable and profitable growth was to invest in their own digital marketing efforts, which would eventually weaken the dependency on third-parties for lead generation.<\/p>

It was made clear that this route would not be the shortest, but ultimately, it saved our client money and provided the entire organizational structure, namely its marketing department, with a sense of freedom and autonomy that had been lacking for years.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Solution<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Our paid search team introduced Bing as a new avenue for paid search in January 2024, to start the new year.<\/p>

Our team noticed that Bing Ads offered success for other clients in different verticals. We hoped that success would transfer to Fundraising Brick with the right strategy and implementation. Specifically, we saw Bing Ads as an avenue for success because one struggle for Fundraising Brick was the higher cost per lead on Google Ads\u2026 which would be less of an issue on Bing Ads, making Bing the best place to test our paid search strategy.<\/p>

Bing Ads are not as mainstream as Google Ads because the vast majority of searchers\u00a0use Google, not Bing<\/a>. In fact, Bing only holds just over 7% of search engine market share in the United States, Google holds a whopping 87%. Most advertisers see this discrepancy and drop Bing Ads as a viable route for leads.<\/p>

We saw past this discrepancy to see opportunity. And it\u2019s because we understood our target audience. Our target audience leans older, has more disposable income, and uses Microsoft applications. These 3 characteristics overlap with Bing\u2019s typical users, who are often older, wealthier, and prefer Microsoft compared to Google users. Even better, because there are less advertisers on Bing Ads, we had less competition and lower costs per lead.<\/p>

The best part of this strategy?\u00a0<\/strong>We didn\u2019t need to ask the client for more money for a Bing campaign. We just reallocated $500 from our $2500 Google budget to Bing, and saw quick growth in leads from the get-go. Not only could we generate more leads from our budget, but we could also generate them at a lower cost per click (CPC).<\/p>

Once we began to see growth (139% increase in engagements, to be precise), we decided to move more of the budget from Google to Bing. The leads just kept growing.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Our Comprehensive Digital Marketing Strategy Consisted Of The Following Four Pillars:<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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