Are you a senior living executive looking to solve a complex marketing mystery or challenge? In this gripping podcast, you will gain tools to uncover the marketing problems killing your organization fastest, strategies that will focus you on the right clues, rather than distractions, and evidence of much more lasting marketing solutions. Real executives like you are engaged in active listening and strategic thinking to solve real marketing mysteries with facts and data. Guests include senior living executives in sales and marketing as well as select sales and marketing consultants to their organizations. Gain clarity on how you can increase ROI, generate higher quality leads and sustain long-term success. Immerse yourself in the suspense, sleuthing and satisfying endings to solve your marketing mysteries! Voiceover: Robin O'Donovan, Artwork: Stephanie Vecchiarelli, Audio Editing and Mastering: Wendy O'Donovan Phillips, Molly Waters, Melinda Gisbert, Copyediting: Evan Franklin. Your host Wendy O’Donovan Phillips is CEO of the senior living marketing agency Big Buzz, www.bigbuzzinc.com. She is the author of two marketing books available on Amazon and her firm consistently exceeds $1 million in annual revenues, which only 1% of women-owned businesses achieve, by applying the marketing solutions you will learn in this podcast. She is one of 1.5% of U.S. marketing agency owners to have sat on the Forbes Agency Council. She has dedicated her career to solving complex marketing mysteries.
The Proper Use of AI Mystery
In this episode, Jenni Bost, Vice President of Marketing with Radiant Senior Living, and I unpack together the proper use of AI in marketing. The story starts with technology preceding artificial intelligence. She and I both believe in first gathering survey and analytic data to identify the types of marketing that have the biggest impact on sales. This data offers guideposts as to where to focus efforts. We discuss how the right marketing automation and CRM software can further strengthen relationships and success rates with prospects. Then we get right down to the nitty gritty on AI: My general stance is AI is the junior copywriter. It’s the marketer’s responsibility to: 1) give the junior copywriter rich topics and data points to start and 2) polish the junior copywriter’s “cruddy first draft” with additional research, quotes and industry insights. People read people, they don’t want to read robots. And Jenni weighs in from there. Have a listen!Learn more about Jenni and her team: www.radiantseniorliving.comRead the about the eBook referenced: https://www.bigbuzzinc.com/download-team-alignment-is-the-secret-to-achieving-higher-marketing-outcomes/Learn more about the marketing automation referenced: www.activedemand.com
12/1/2023 • 36 minutes, 17 seconds
The Sales Leadership Mystery
Too much management, not enough leadership. That’s what my guest, Shane Ness, Regional Director of Sales at MBK Senior Living, and I believe is the root cause of low occupancies from a sales perspective. In this episode, Shane and I explore the real secret to building trust and relationships with the sales team, a two-day “Tour Development Sales Training” he swears by for improving census fast and ways to connect person to person, heart to heart, rather than getting swept up in the busy-ness of sales. Together, we unpack what empowerment really is: asking from a place of curiosity, setting healthy boundaries, relentlessly sharpening emotional IQ. Shane even gives listeners a three-part approach to driving the sales effort while still putting people first. Listen now! Learn more about Shane and his team: www.mbkseniorliving.comRead the about the sales training referenced: www.bigbuzzinc.com/crista-senior-living-case-study
8/9/2023 • 38 minutes, 38 seconds
The Heart Work Mystery
My guest in this episode is Niki O’Brien, Director of Sales and Marketing with Legend Senior Living and winner of 2016 Argentum Sales and Marketing Director of the Year. Niki loves solving problems with her team and is an expert on revenue growth, maintaining the highest level of occupancy and developing and executing sales strategies. In this episode, Niki and I explore sales strategy as framed “Heart Work,” a mainstay of Legend Senior Living’s culture. We discuss how strategy is different than tactical work, how to support in improving hopelessness and isolation one conversation at a time and Niki shares her approach to researching, understanding and taking action on a sales and marketing approach that honors whole person throughout the process. Reach Niki and her team: https://legendseniorliving.com/Get the Four Agreements book we reference: https://amzn.to/44hng1TGet the Being Mortal book we reference: https://amzn.to/3LLbBRNGet the Storytelling eBook referenced: https://bit.ly/3VphQOs
7/12/2023 • 30 minutes, 15 seconds
The Involvement Mystery
After families make the decision to move an elder into a senior care community, there is a natural feeling of disconnection opposed with a deep desire for involvement. My guest in this episode is Doug Wilcox, CEO of How’s Mom, an app provided by senior care centers to help families communicate with care staff and keep up to date on loved ones in senior care. Doug and I discuss how technology can make involvement easier, care more well-rounded and families more connected. We also discuss how involvement starts long before move-in: the more connected folks feel right from the onset, with family and peers, the more connected they will stay. Doug founded How’s Mom in 2018 when he recognized the need for stronger family communications while shepherding his mother through senior care. Listen in to this passionate, insightful take on involvement even across state lines. Find out more about Doug and How’s Mom here: www.howsmom.net
6/6/2023 • 36 minutes, 33 seconds
The Industry Revolution Mystery
If we just shared our secrets and set and worked toward the right industry benchmarks, there are enough aged adults in the U.S. to get every operator in the nation to 100% occupancy. This is the philosophy of my guest in this episode, Cassie Tweten, Chief Sales Officer with Arrow Senior Living Management. Together, she and I explore seven challenges facing senior living sales teams now, we focus on the one challenge we deem “the shark closest to the boat,” and we envision a new future for senior living in which that challenge is eradicated industrywide. We delve into the importance of inviting micro-commitments throughout the marketing and sales cycles, and she offers ways to implement those across your communications. A change is gonna come! In the episode, I mention our eBook: The Complete Data-Driven eBook: Calls to Action that Work: The Senior Care Industry Insider ReportGet that here: https://www.bigbuzzinc.com/download-calls-to-action-that-work-the-senior-care-industry-insider-report/
4/27/2023 • 37 minutes, 58 seconds
The Referral Agency Mystery
Are your communities addicted to referral agencies? In this episode, my guest Angie Hildebrandt from 31-location Our House Senior Living unpacks why the industry is glued to referral agencies, what it’s costing senior care organizations like yours and steps to take to stop using them in favor of nurture marketing that earns higher and steadier returns. She laments that her company was once investing six figures with multiple referral agencies, only to find the returns were far lower than the investment. In her words, they were quite simply, “A bad business decision” made before her time. And yet, she shares how it felt scary to move away from referral agencies – a sentiment I often hear from her peers. We discuss short-term and long-term approaches to righting the marketing ship, moving away from expensive placement agencies that only deliver cold leads.
4/3/2023 • 38 minutes, 21 seconds
The Image Mystery
My guest in this episode is Tom Sanders, the mastermind behind Senior Stock Photos, a stock photography company that provides stock photos of seniors over the age of 55. What I love most about Tom’s work is that he creates authentic senior stock photos that truly celebrate aging – none of that run-of-the-mill stuff. Together, we uncover why stock photos from big box outfitters don’t connect: the photographer must have a connection with their subject, and it is that connection that shines through when the target audience interacts with the photo in the senior living communities’ marketing materials. No connection, no connection. Tom shares about photographing a 111-year-old woman who had been retired 40 years and written a dozen books in that timeframe. He shares tips and tricks to capturing terrific photos with your phone for use in social media marketing, and even how to make photography and videography a regular part of the activities schedule. One, two, three – SMILE! Find Tom’s work here: seniorlivingvisuals.com/ seniorstockphotos.com/ tomsandersphoto.com
3/7/2023 • 38 minutes, 55 seconds
The Engagement Mystery
Some folks are just naturally curious, creative and engaging, and Rachel Hill Creative Director for Senior Living Foresight, is one of them. In fact, Rachel is one of my favorite creatives in the senior living industry. She’s a writer, she’s a blogger, she’s a videographer, she’s a podcaster, she’s an influencer. In this episode, she and I talk about the importance of curiosity in sales and marketing, insider tips on off-the-charts social media marketing engagement and even our least favorite parts of social media. Listen all the way to the end for quick tips on favorite social media marketing tools, most important marketing social media metrics to measure and social media marketing pitfalls to avoid.
2/6/2023 • 39 minutes, 54 seconds
The Inputs Mystery
Sales and marketing outcomes are directly impacted by inputs. What inputs are mission critical? In this episode, my guests say critical inputs include research to uncover true messaging from brand to values and beyond, mutual respect for everyone on the internal and external team, dedicated and structured inter-team communications and repetition, repetition, repetition. I talk with Lisa Detweiler, VP of Sales and Marketing, and Jodie Roberts, Director of Marketing, both with Senior Services of America. Together, they oversee all sales and marketing for 19 communities across three states – and they have dialed in the right inputs to achieve impressive outcomes. Jodie even shares with our listeners two great questions to ask to sharpen time management. Terrific inputs add up to great outcomes.
12/21/2022 • 35 minutes, 26 seconds
The Automation Mystery
There are clues lurking in your existing marketing that will reveal your preferred buyer’s journey right to your door, show you precisely what is working well that can be bolstered for stronger results and expose exactly what’s not at peak performance that can be built better. Can you see those clues? My guest in this episode is Eric Murphy from ActiveDEMAND, and he reveals ways we can find and act upon those clues to make the most of all marketing efforts, automating many marketing and sales efforts in personal ways that tie to the individual’s motivations, needs and desires. Take the guesswork out of your most complex marketing efforts, consistently deliver the right communications from every location and begin building deep prospect relationships predicated on trust now, even before they ever talk with your team.
10/28/2022 • 37 minutes, 20 seconds
The Crazytown Mystery
You are tired. Your clients need too much from you. You are short staffed. You’re ready to quit and go work at Starbucks. My guest in this episode, Brenda Abdilla, lets us go there in our minds. Then she offers practical experience and concrete tools and strategies to come back better than ever. Brenda serves up neurological data on how the human brain processes, recovers and sets the future self in motion. We go deep on why we’re all in crazytown right now and step-by-step ways we can get back to sanity regardless of circumstances at work. Breathe. You got this!
9/30/2022 • 33 minutes, 57 seconds
The Thinking Mystery
Do you feel exhausted? Stressed about work and life? Like you are working harder with less fulfillment than ever? You are not alone, and there is a solution. Certified leadership coach, Sarah Ciavarri, PCC, CDTLF, CDWF-C, M.Div., joins me in this episode to discuss her book Finding Our Way the Truth: Seven Lies Leaders Believe and How to Let Go of Them. She unpacks with me the seventh lie: “I’m Responsible for it All.” We explore what’s real in that statement for senior care leaders, where it can turn unhealthy and a simple practice that can be done in small moments day by day to quiet unwanted thoughts, stop the cycle of negative thoughts, create more clarity and support leaders in making stronger decisions across the entire organization – operations, marketing and finance. She gives listeners actionable steps to better understand themselves, better understand the world and get back to finding joy in the tiny moments that add up to our lives. This is a can’t-miss listen!Get the book: https://amzn.to/3ya1cXCContact Sarah: https://www.sarahciavarri.com/
9/1/2022 • 40 minutes, 42 seconds
The Passion Mystery
What if there was a senior living brand that was powered by pixie dust and sprinkled good juju for everyone it touched? It’s not that silly a notion, actually. My guest Christy Van Der WestHuizen is Vice President of Sales and Marketing at MBK Senior Living, where they practice yoi shigoto, which translates from Japanese to “the good work.” This means hiring good people and being good to those people so they can in turn be good to those they serve. So simple, yet so magical. Christy and I discuss how to weave that goodness through the fabric of a brand, how to amplify it across social media and content marketing and the beauty and humility in doing the next right thing over and over, day in and day out for the greater good of humanity.
8/1/2022 • 36 minutes, 25 seconds
The Empathy Mystery
The Empathy Mystery Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Brené Brown writes in Atlas of the Heart, “If research is going to serve people, it has to reflect their experiences.” What if marketing analytics and digital efforts are only half the picture? What about the people we serve, what about their experiences? How can we collect data qualifying those experiences, acknowledge the ambivalence felt by the folks we serve and inspire them to confidently take the next right action? My guest in this episode is Alexandra Fisher, illustrator, painter, data maven and co-founder of Sherpa’s training and CRM technology whose design and functional specifications promote connection in senior housing sales relationships. She and I sat down to discuss how to put data behind relationship marketing and the importance of balancing digital marketing with relationship marketing efforts.
7/1/2022 • 37 minutes, 5 seconds
The Phoenix Rising Mystery
My dear friend and guest in this episode, Dawn Abbott, lost her business partner, husband and father of her three kids in a catastrophic boating accident. A few years later, the live events company she and her late husband had built to a multi-million-dollar business suddenly vanished in the financial crisis of 2020. 98% of revenue, the entire team – gone. And yet, she would get back to what she refers to as a “high-energy place” doing what she loves. Even more, she now works with teams of up to 200 people on how to do the same. We discuss what it’s like to rise from the ashes of trauma, how to get back to 100% strong in life and in business, and the promise of setting goals around action rather than outcome. (Think, what do I need to do rather than what do I need to get.) If you are willing to grow and willing to be honest, you have what it takes to be a phoenix rising, too.
6/1/2022 • 33 minutes, 19 seconds
The Deep Work Mystery
When was the last time you immersed yourself in the deep work, losing track of time as you engage your creative mind? My guest in this episode is Larry Williams, Director of Sales and Marketing at L&R. He and his team understand that “every day you battle villains that want to steal your time and destroy your brand in a cruel myriad of ways: an unending stream of one-off marketing requests, printer and production confusion, lack of templates, waiting on IT resources that may never come.” As an antidote, he unlocks the secrets to stepping back into doing what you love. We discuss the book Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most, the power of meditation, the importance of detachment and the true motivators for spending more time in deep work. Clear your desk of those nagging to dos and listen in for lasting answers to the age-old question: How will I get it all done?
5/2/2022 • 30 minutes, 42 seconds
The Inside Job Mystery
Often, we think external circumstances must change before things can get better: numbers are low because we are in a recession, census is low because of a pandemic, new leads dipped because of encroaching competition. My guest in this episode, Kristen Reyes-Tarsiuk of CRISTA Ministries demonstrates that in the most trying times, lasting marketing and sales solutions for pervasive issues are an inside job. As a result of empowering her team to overcome any obstacle regardless of circumstances outside their control, CRISTA Ministries saw new inquiries increase 77%. How did they do it? Kristen shares how she and her team agreed on one clear plan, got motivated by a compelling vision then focused on content marketing, social media marketing and relationship-based sales approaches to gain and sustain real traction.
4/1/2022 • 32 minutes, 13 seconds
The Wabi-Sabi Mystery
The Japanese term wabi-sabi refers to the concept of accepting imperfection in design and life. Few people I know embrace wabi-sabi in sales and marketing like guest in this episode, my friend Steve Moran. Steve is founder of Senior Living Foresight, a thought leadership incubator that publishes 5-10 articles weekly to help senior living leaders excel. He and his team challenge existing assumptions and tackle hard issues, and, he admits, sometimes even make people mad. He and I discuss how to make great connections at events without fearing the few who don’t wish to chat, how to share great content without worrying about critics and how to hone a strong presence on social media without being too perfectionistic. His message: work hard, celebrate the wabi-sabi and take a day off!
3/11/2022 • 25 minutes, 40 seconds
The Sales Mystery
How to close more move-ins without being “salesy”? What are key questions to really get families and future residents talking? How best to align sales and marketing teams for best overall results? My guest Mandi Grimes is a true maven of sales for senior living communities, leading sales teams for some of the biggest names in the industry: Senior Star, Brookdale and J&M Family Management. Mandi is an expert on sales training and best practices, lead generation and successful conversion tactics, as well as driving multi-channel digital marketing growth. Listen in for her secrets to softening and guiding the sales conversation to the close.
2/7/2022 • 31 minutes, 43 seconds
The Empathy Mystery
Brené Brown and nursing scholar Theresa Wiseman agree there are four attributes to empathy: to be able to see the world as others see it, to be nonjudgmental, to understand another person’s feelings and to communicate your understanding of that person’s feelings. This episode features guest Lola Rain, an expert at integrating the right people with the right processes to improve sales, marketing, and organizational health in senior care organizations. She and I discuss the unique power women have to identify, assess and address integrated issues – particularly due to our innate gift for deep empathy. Listen for secrets to how the body and mind process integrated aging, tips on integrated marketing as well as tools for integrating internal staff for more connectedness and momentum.
1/26/2022 • 32 minutes, 51 seconds
The Social Mystery
What if there is a natural fluidity to connecting with people on the web just as in real life? In this episode, my guest Dr. Seth Hall describes his family’s generations-long commitment to forming genuine bonds with patients, team members and all people that flow into his practice. He embodies what it means to be social online, demonstrating that it’s less about platforms, clicks and shares and more about authenticity and consistency. We also the discuss the loneliness dentists and doctors can face in private practice and the importance of connecting with people even when our minds tell us otherwise. As my grandmother used to say, “Get out and meet the people!”
12/1/2021 • 26 minutes, 30 seconds
The Cold Case Mystery
How do you rebrand and rename a 60-plus location organization while preserving 40 years of existing brand equity then update dozens of collateral pieces – all in less than 9 months? One step at a time. My guest Missy Day has 24-plus years of experience leading corporate marketing initiatives for billion-dollar corporations, and I have been rebranding organizations like this one for 20-plus years – yet at one point in this case, Missy and I were both stopped cold. Not one of the brand names under development was resonating with the stakeholders. Listen to find out how we rescaled the project, developed more than 300 warm contenders for the name and launched a brand that brought people to tears. Read the full case study here: https://bit.ly/2YEjhio.
10/23/2021 • 33 minutes, 6 seconds
The Identity Mystery
Too often dental and medical practices get lost in a sea of sameness when it comes to marketing. How does a practice set itself apart from the competition? A smart detective goes deep in understanding the identities of everyone involved. In this case, it’s prudent to document the practice’s true identity and gain a deep understanding of who each of the practice’s direct competitors are. Figuring it out on one’s own can lead to myopic thinking. In fact, it matters less what the dentist or doctor thinks – what matters most is how the patients perceive the identity of the practice. If you’re feeling burned by practice marketing, this is the episode for you. Learn how to truly differentiate the practice with clear brand messaging, a close eye on how your competition markets itself and social media marketing that honestly represents what sets the practice apart. Going deep with identity work can safeguard the practice for a decade or more.
9/9/2021 • 34 minutes, 19 seconds
The People or Process Mystery
In complex cases, detectives rarely work alone. They collaborate with other experts to add up all the clues – think photographs, fingerprints and receipts pinned to cork board with yarn connecting them. This visual gives the whole sleuth team a bigger picture and often leads to solved mysteries. In this episode my guest Alex Lopez and I discuss how working together to map out marketing processes, destinations and goals can unify the team and set the right course for long-term success. Too often executives at healthcare and senior care organizations fear that marketing people are to blame for campaign underperformance; in fact, it's more likely a case of missing processes. Learn steps to inspiring your team to collaborate for markedly improved marketing outcomes.
8/25/2021 • 30 minutes, 35 seconds
The Connection Mystery
The digital marketing trend lured this dentist in private practice into thinking SEO alone would be the secret to his marketing success. When new patient traffic plateaued, he was ready to diversify his marketing plan for more sustainable results, but was at a loss as to how to accurately accomplish that. Too often, he points out in our interview, dental practices throw darts in the dark to find the right marketing mix, and he was falling victim to that flawed method, too. By listening to his patients and communicating with his team, he not only mastered his marketing plan, he also stepped into his own authenticity.
6/22/2021 • 39 minutes, 14 seconds
The Grinding Halt Mystery
This marketing mystery was so confounding it had my heart drop to my toes. It was no mystery what caused business to come to a grinding halt – that was alarmingly clear – but how to crack the case and get sales back on track seemed at first baffling. In the years leading up to this catastrophic event, my guests in this episode pragmatically laid the foundation for what would become a swift resolution. In the end, they successfully faced the most incredible sales and marketing challenge of their careers. Guests on this episode are Rob Gochoel and Oliver Frum of PreXion Corporation, a Japanese company specializing in medical imaging research and development as well as distribution of Dental Cone Beam CTs in the U.S. and abroad. In this episode, learn how to lay a similarly strong marketing foundation to overcome any obstacle.
5/25/2021 • 39 minutes, 9 seconds
The Listening Mystery
The lure of digital marketing as a panacea for all marketing mysteries had an executive of a senior living organization running down a dark hole, chasing unqualified leads. With further investigation, he found a big break in the case: listen first then broadcast the right message across digital outlets and far beyond. How can you use listening to focus marketing efforts? How can you uncover the real opportunity now in marketing rather than going down a dark hole? In this episode, you will learn the key to both solutions.
4/30/2021 • 27 minutes, 32 seconds
Welcome to Marketing Mysteries Solved!
Introducing Marketing Mysteries Solved, a podcast where we talk to dentists, doctors and leaders in senior living, medical organizations, healthcare systems and hospitals about real-life marketing challenges and how to crack each case. Their stories are full of clues and suspects, but only one real culprit. Together, we get down to the bottom of what's really happening and how to solve the mystery, always offering insights listeners can put into practice on their own for stronger marketing results. Join Wendy O'Donovan Phillips, CEO of Big Buzz as she guides listeners from mystery to case closed.
