Own Your Zip Code: Local Marketing Strategies for Senior Living Communities

  • 13 June 2025

Are you tired of shelling out high referral fees for leads that are shared with half a dozen of your competitors? In today’s competitive senior living landscape, the communities winning are the ones taking back control of their lead pipeline. The secret isn’t a bigger budget; it’s a smarter, more localized strategy.

During our recent webinar, “Own Your Zip Code: Local Marketing Strategies for Senior Living Communities,” we brought together a panel of industry experts to unpack the tools and tactics that build a sustainable, first-party lead pipeline. Jen Lovely, Industry Principal at Conversion Logix, was joined by Amanda Warren, VP of Marketing at Merrill Gardens, and Abbey Kent, VP of Senior Living at Guardian, to share their real-world insights.

They explored why a “local-first” mindset, powered by digital precision, is no longer optional—it’s essential for growth.

Get expert insights on: 

Location, Location, Location: Why Proximity Reigns Supreme

The search for a senior living community often begins and ends with one word: location. As Jen Lovely pointed out, extensive interviews with seniors and their families reveal a consistent theme.

“Location kept coming up again and again,” Jen shared. “There’s a large number of seniors and their adult children who base their decisions on how close a community is to friends and family or things that they’ve grown up around or lived around for years.”

Prospects want to be near familiar comforts—the local coffee shop, the grocery store, the park, and most importantly, their children and grandchildren. This focus on a specific geographic area is your greatest advantage. While national referral agencies cast a wide, expensive net, you can focus your resources on the people actively searching for care in your neighborhood.

Escaping the Referral Rat Race: The Power of First-Party Leads

For years, the industry has relied on third-party referral sites, accepting high acquisition costs as a necessary evil. But the math is changing. By developing their own lead generation advertising, communities are seeing a dramatic reduction in cost-per-move-in. Jen Lovely highlighted a client who transformed their strategy and their budget.

“I worked on a campaign with a portfolio paying approximately $10,000 per move-in for a third-party lead,” Jen explained. “With first-party digital advertising, the economics are completely different. For example, even with just one move-in from a $2,000 campaign, you’re looking at an 80% reduction in acquisition costs.”

In another case, a community in Port Charlotte, Florida, shifted its focus to local digital advertising. The result? 72% of their move-ins now come from first-party leads, saving them an estimated $250,000 in referral fees in a single year.

First-party leads generated from your own website and campaigns aren’t just cheaper; they convert at a higher rate because you’re not immediately competing with four to ten other communities for their attention.

From Digital Clicks to Community Handshakes

An effective local strategy seamlessly blends digital outreach with authentic, on-the-ground engagement. Your online presence gets them in the door, but the real-life experience makes them want to stay.

Abbey Kent emphasized the importance of making the community a vibrant, welcoming place every single day.

“It’s about moving beyond a staged tour—you have to live it and breathe it every day,” Abbey said. “We personalize our tours based on what we learn about a prospect, so if we know they have a dog, we’ll set up a little doggy bed with a treat in the room. It’s those tiny, personal things that capture the love of the family and give you an opportunity to close quickly.”

Here are some powerful ways to integrate your community into the local fabric:

  • Host Consistent, Casual Events: Instead of a single, high-pressure open house, create recurring events like a weekly “Barbecue on the Patio” or a standing happy hour. This allows prospects to visit on their own terms and experience the community authentically. You can use tools like The Conversion Cloud® to promote events across your site and capture RSVPs.
  • Build Local Partnerships: Team up with the businesses your prospects already frequent. Sponsor a “free coffee for seniors” day at the local cafe, partner with the nearby grocery store, or co-brand an event with a local car club.
  • Get Involved in Local Festivities: Be present at city-wide events like street fairs and festivals. As Abbey noted, the Marysville Strawberry Festival brings in 75,000 people—a massive, localized audience you can connect with in person and retarget online.

Precision Targeting: How to Win Your Local Market

Digital advertising allows for incredibly precise targeting that referral agencies often miss. It’s about more than just a 15-mile radius. With tools like Precision Mobile Targeting Plus, you can focus your ad spend on the specific locations your ideal prospects frequent.

Here’s how you can get hyper-local:

  • Geo-Targeting: Focus your ad spend on specific zip codes, neighborhoods, or even the physical locations your prospects frequent, such as medical centers, senior centers, golf courses, or competitors’ communities.
  • Keyword Specificity: Target searches that indicate high intent, like “assisted living in [your city]” or “memory care near [local landmark].”
  • Dynamic Campaigns: Use feedback from your on-the-ground teams to pivot quickly. If you learn leads are coming from a specific suburb or after visiting a certain doctor’s office, you can adjust your digital campaigns in minutes, not months.

Amanda Warren highlighted the importance of this boots-on-the-ground intelligence.

“That local intel from the community team is crucial, particularly in busy, competitive markets,” Amanda emphasized. “They provide the on-the-ground knowledge—specific neighborhoods, zip codes, and trends—that helps us hone in on who we are really targeting versus who we want to be targeting. That knowledge is so important.”

The Takeaway: Own Your Backyard

Building a powerful, self-sufficient lead pipeline begins with a simple shift in perspective: focus on winning your local market first. By combining the precision of digital marketing with the authenticity of community engagement, you can attract higher-quality prospects, lower your acquisition costs, and build a reputation that referral agencies can’t compete with.

Ready to own your zip code? Watch the full webinar to get even more expert insights. 

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