Work Smarter, Not Harder

How We're Enhancing Our Marketing Process

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

I’m so proud that, as we continue to refine our sales and marketing efforts, Westminster Communities of Florida is achieving new heights all the time. We’re on the road to 100% occupancy – that’s our theme for 2017!

I’m also delighted to say that, in the last fiscal year, we generated 14% more leads than in the previous year. Most of that increase is from the categories where we can have the most impact (advertising, direct mail and digital strategies). But we strive to do even better! As the creative team leader, my main focus is on how I can make our marketing and sales efforts more efficient and more successful for everyone. The best way to do that is to work smarter, not harder.

Today we’re rolling out new toolkits for our sales and marketing teams to use for a variety of lead generation events and resident referrals. Our in-house creative team – artists Chris Ware and Natalie Rooney – has done an amazing job producing a stellar set of direct mail pieces that are sure to stand out in every mailbox. We can now provide every team a set of pieces that reflect best practices from around the organization, matched to great-looking artwork, and even a guide to how to put on these events. That means everyone’s working smarter, not harder!

Here are the three key ways we hope to “Work Smarter, Not Harder” with our new toolkits this year:

1. Save valuable creative time and put it where it really makes an impact! Creative teams everywhere re-create the wheel with each event, coming up with a new theme, a new topic, a new name and new artwork. We decided to standardize some of our event planning using our tried and true best practices and create shared, pre-designed pieces to complement. This allows our sales and marketing teams to save time by adopting the same successful event approaches in different markets. Great-looking pieces married to a great event can save working time and still give you a fantastic product.

2. Standardize the assets to run a resident referral program. We know that Westminster residents are very enthusiastic about their communities! They share their experiences and refer friends in a variety of ways. Resident referrals are consistently our lowest-cost and highest-converting leads. Why leave it to chance that we get it right? We decided to create a cohesive program, identity and collateral materials that empower our marketing and sales teams to encourage and reward residents who refer friends to our communities. Our new program provides every community with the same set of items and instructions on how to maximize this program.

3. Take advantage of best practices. With nine communities around the Sunshine State and nearly 8,000 new leads each year, we’ve probably seen it all. We’ve compiled a set of best practices that our sales teams can take advantage of to make our marketing events shine: The right concept, the best topic, the perfect name and even the easiest way to stage an event. We’ve done a lot of the advance preparation, so the communities can focus on what they do best – working with our prospective residents to help them make the Westminster choice!

How do you and your teams work smarter, not harder?