As the VP of Sales and Design for Model55, I’ve worked with a lot of senior living corporations over the years that have demonstrated the importance of having strong brand identities. The reason why brand identity is such an important aspect to any senior living corporation’s success is because it takes up such deep roots in every initiative planned and acted on by that corporation’s sales and marketing personnel. It is, without a doubt, that the best and most successful corporations within the industry are those that have solid brand messaging and positioning; whereas those that do not, continue to fall short of their marketing and sales goals. Whether on the community or corporate level, the need for a brand strategy is not a task that should be ignored or taken lightly. Below I’ve created a high level 3-step plan for any senior living corporation looking to create or refine their brand:

This may seem obvious, but more often that not branding efforts are bucketed into sales and marketing, when they truly need to be something that everyone who interacts with your senior living corporation is involved in. Understanding what a brand is might seem simple, but it is actually a highly detailed and complex concept that touches upon every single aspect of your corporation. So, what exactly is a brand? A brand is the imagery, services, name, features, symbols, and any other sticking points that help your partners, vendors, thought leaders, and prospects differentiate you from other senior living corporations in North America. Your brand is how you make people feel, which can be easily divided into positive or negative categories. If you’re like most people I know, you want your brand to be positive, and to strike a chord that sets you an echelon above the competition.

Once you understand what a, or more importantly your brand is, you need to focus on creating or refining it’s identity. Simply put, your brand identity is how you position your corporation to everyone you come into contact with, within the industry. Your brand identity represents how your senior living corporation as a whole, communicates who you are, what your purpose is, what values drive you, what you’re passionate about, and what makes you strong as a corporation. Although you might have the answer to all of these factors in your head, it’s important to make sure that you also have them written down.

In order to create a successful brand identity, you will need to answer the above listed factors in a well-crafted message; this is called your positioning statement. Keep in mind that your positioning statement should answer who you are, what you do, how you do it, and who you do it for.

In the last Model55 blog, CEO and Founder, Sharon MacDonald, shared insight intodefining differentiators amongst communitieswithin the senior living industry. Once you have a good idea of where you want to position yourself in the industry, it’s important to review what it is about your corporation and individual communities that sets you aside from the competition. Defining your differentiators will open up doors in your sales and marketing efforts to create captivating messaging that grabs your target audience.

For more information on how to brand create a brand identity and strategy for your corporation, be sure to reach out to me at susan@model55.com – and thanks for reading!