Care Home PR And Marketing Masterclass Podcast: Recent Episodes

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In this episode of Care Home PR and Marketing Podcast, Adam James and Samara Ullmann of Springup PR reveal how to get regional news TV coverage for care homes – to amplify awareness, boost staff morale and positively impact residents and their families.

They focus on how care homes can craft compelling stories and how securing media coverage for care homes can drive community engagement and contribute to enhancing their reputation in the local area.

Adam and Samara provide insights into the strategy behind media pitches, explaining how a strong human interest angle is key to capturing a journalist's attention.

In the episode Samara and Adam discuss:

• The power of media exposure and how “TV coverage brings incredible benefits—not just for awareness, but for boosting staff morale and making families and residents feel proud”.

• Why care homes should target individuals aged 45+, who are more likely to consume traditional media such as the 6 pm news.

• The “ripple effect “of TV coverage and how this can lead to immediate calls to care homes, asking about the specifics of the story, like how they improved residents' lives.

• Why it's crucial to "hijack the news agenda," using current events to create relevant stories about care homes helping to address these issues.

• The importance of visual storytelling for TV with stories needing a visual element to capture attention, “whether it’s music therapy, dog therapy, or even a piano performance by a blind resident”.

• Why care homes should focus on human stories that highlight the benefits to the individual, their family, and the wider community.

• Why local journalists are eager to share positive, uplifting stories from care homes that benefit both residents and the community.

• Why the local press love stories where care homes engage with their community, “like a care home donating food from its allotment to a local food bank”.

• The importance of media training and why it’s important to “ensure that the spokesperson feels comfortable and confident.”

• The pitching process, “making sure to send a clear, concise email with a full package for the journalist: the story, interview opportunities, and what they can film.”

• Why you shouldn’t pitch stories when there's a regional crisis happening, “wait until journalists are less busy with breaking news,” for the best chance of success.

• The importance of building relationships with journalists by picking up the phone and speaking directly to the news desk to ensure your pitch is received well.

• How care homes can shine in the media though “a bit of preparation and the right story,” to present themselves positively in the media, benefiting both their reputation and their community.

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This episode of the Care CEO Success Stories podcast features Jac Owen, founder and managing director of Connect, which handles enquiries on behalf of care homes.

Jac discusses with host Adam James of Springup PR how Connect helps care homes increase their occupancy by managing enquiries effectively - emphasising the importance of handling inquiries with empathy and understanding, recognising the emotional journey of callers, and ensuring enquiries are followed up appropriately.

Jac highlights the need for care providers to be accessible and responsive across various contact methods, including phone calls, emails, and live chats.

She also shares her insights into training staff to handle inquiries with a personal touch, avoiding a tick-box approach, and ensuring clear communication about next steps for callers.

The discussion also touches on the importance of following up, the benefits of having transparent pricing, and the various ways to measure and improve conversion rates from enquiries including:

• The importance of "understanding the emotional journey,” of callers looking for care for their loved ones

• How care providers should be accessible via phone calls, emails, live chats, and even WhatsApp.

• Training should focus on listening skills, empathy, and avoiding a tick-box approach.

• Follow up calls are a courtesy and show care and interest and “should be done in a way that is helpful and not intrusive”.

• Having “transparent pricing,” on the website is important but should be “balanced with the opportunity to discuss the value of the services”.

• Measuring success by tracking enquiries and ensuring effective follow-up.

• Care providers should “continually review and improve,” their enquiry management processes with training and support for staff.

• Calls should start with “empathetic listening,” to understand the caller’s needs and concerns.

• Always provide clear next steps to the caller, ensuring they know what to expect.

• Handling enquiries with a “personal touch rather than a scripted response,” makes a significant difference.

• Ensuring enquiries from multiple channels are managed efficiently and effectively.

• Consistent engagement and follow-ups “build trust and demonstrate commitment”.

• How it's essential to discuss the “value of the services,” during initial enquiries, not just the price.

• Being adaptable to the needs of callers and “providing tailored responses," enhances the overall experience.

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing Podcast features Stephen Forster, founder of the Care Social Network.

Drawing from his background in care and recruitment, Stephen shares how to revolutionise care worker hiring for care homes.

Stephen used to work as domiciliary care assistant in Huddersfield, and it was here that he advanced to HR manager subsequently helping to double the size of the company within two years before founding recruitment and retention company Care Social Network.

In the episode Stephen focuses on:

• “Why you can recruit all your carers via Indeed”: Stephen believes care providers need only use Indeed for hiring care assistants – and he offers unique insights into optimising job adverts and budgets.

“Indeed is 100% a golden ticket. Learn how to use Indeed you can smash it! One provider I’ve been helping has at least 500% more applications while using the same budget as previous,” says Stephen.

He adds: “focusing your efforts on Indeed rather than spreading them thin across various channels,” is key.

• Why “it’s now a candidates’ market – so you must strip back your entire recruitment processes to make it work”

Stephen addresses how overuse of agency staff can lead to permanent staff being unhappy, which ultimately negatively impacts care.

• Why “time-to-hire: is vital:

“Often if someone applies for a care job on Indeed the care home will reply three days later, and it’s often a boring ad. And yet they expect candidates to get back to them!?” says Stephen.

“The truth is you must treat applicants with unbelievable respect, like gold dust - and get on the phone to them straight away”

“I use a VET (voicemail, email, text) system, and I do this twice per day, per applicant.

“Remember, candidates may be applying for 4 or 5 care jobs in one go on Indeed. So you have to be fast

“And you must sell the company ethos to candidates, and why your provider is the best place to work.”

Stephen gives the example of one Lancashire provider with three homes which cut agency usage from 60% to 5% saving over £10,000 a month in agency fees.

• Why face-to-face interviews are, in the present recruitment climate, more about “candidates interviewing the care provider.”
• Why lengthy screenings of applicants via the phone need to be reduced - and face to face interviews should be around one hour.

Why offering jobs on the spot should not be considered as “being desperate”.

Rather it’s about doing “whatever it takes,” to get the right person to work for you.

• No-shows: “Providers complain that potential applicants are not good enough and do not show up – but when I dig deeper it’s because processes are not good enough from the start,” says Stephen.
• Hiring registered managers: Stephen recommends “using Indeed and its CV search features to proactively reach out to potential candidates, potentially saving on recruitment fees…..You can hire a new manager for £250 – and that can be done by every care company…”

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Saskia Binns, a communications, brand and marketing consultant who serves on Championing Social Care’s organising committee. Saskia shares how, when starting a new care home or care provider, “it's important to understand your brand positioning, demographics, competitors, and determine your niche”.

Saskia also examines the importance of competitor analysis, defining your values and vision, adopting your own tone and matching images with words.

Drawing on her years of experience as former head of communications at Majestic Care and building the Championing Social Care brand, Saskia shares secrets to building a brand with unique insights including:

• How understanding your brand positioning is crucial, “it’s about recognising the unique essence of each care home and telling their story in a way that resonates with their community.”

• Analysing market demographics, competitors, and identifying a unique market niche by conducting thorough competitor analysis to gain insights, possibly through industry forums or conventions.

• The critical considerations when building your brand and how “it's not just about what you offer; it's about how you offer it”.

• The importance of strong values and vision aligned to staff and how emotional connection and values are key in care.

• Ensuring your website content connects emotionally through tone of voice and matches brand values and how “images and words must align”.

• The importance of brand USP and how “your people and team will be your unique selling point.” so promoting them well on social media sells the care.

• How brand colours have psychological impact, what colours associate with care and what colours to avoid in your branding.

• Why logos should reflect your company ethos, avoid overly simplistic designs and resonate with the consultancy's mission rather than focusing solely on initials or acronyms.

• Utilising Facebook is key for care marketing and ensuring a consistent brand and calls to action.

• Utilising platforms like Linkedin to build professional networks and aligning company branding across platforms.

• How “a care home's website should be more than information; it should take visitors on an emotional journey, giving them a feel for life within the home."

• How Championing Social Care started from small conversations in lockdown about care workers and has grown to huge national events led by volunteers passionate about care.

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This episode of the Care Home PR and Marketing Podcast discusses how care homes can become the preferred choice in their catchment areas through effective community engagement with Carl Roberts and David Martins.

Carl is the Associate Sales and Marketing Director of Boutique Care Homes, a care provider with a focus on quality and innovation.

With five years of experience in the care industry, Carl believes in being a social care influencer, building networks within your team and the local community, identifying needs, and tailoring events and initiatives to local needs.

David Martins is the Head of Sales at Westgate Healthcare, an experienced professional with around eight years of experience in the care sector.

He emphasises the importance of community engagement in becoming a care home of choice.

David's strategy involves understanding and meeting the community's needs by collaborating with various local groups, offering events and building strong relationships based on shared values and goals.

The pair offer practical strategies for engagement, including becoming community hubs by offering valuable services and initiatives that address local needs, such as setting up a cinema club for young carers, and how each team member has a network that can be leveraged to build contacts and relationships.

Both Carl and David stress the importance of taking action and recommend planning events well in advance, focusing on unique and engaging ideas that benefit the community, and approaching engagement with a genuine desire to help and collaborate, including:

• Insights on how care homes can become integral parts of their communities by identifying community needs and offering valuable services.

• Tapping into the networks of care home staff members to build contacts and connections within the local community.

• David discusses the value of planning events and initiatives that are unique, engaging, and serve the community's interests.

• Both guests stress the importance of taking action and not being afraid of rejection, as the community generally responds positively to care homes' efforts to engage and contribute.

• Emphasising the importance of becoming a social care advocate and engaging with local communities.

• Dementia care providers should aim to connect with people who may not be familiar with their services, even through insurance channels.

• How local care providers play a crucial role in offering information and support to the community.

• Changing the outdated perception of care by building trust and helping people on their care journey.

• Tailoring engagement to community needs, as demonstrated by a care home adjusting its outreach for builders.

• Sharing examples of successful community engagement events, like coffee mornings and support groups.

• The significance of relationship building in sales, connecting on a personal level to guide emotional journeys.

• Getting sales basics right, promptly addressing enquiries, sending brochures, and following up with personalised calls.

• Leveraging the power of simple tools like text messages for communication and follow-up.

• The need to focus on genuine care before the formal care process begins, showing empathy and support.

• The impact of promptly addressing enquiries and avoiding unnecessary barriers in the process.

• Listening to and analysing calls for effective customer service improvement.

• Utilising live chat and text messages for engagement and follow-up, adapting to busy schedules and preferences.

• The intimate nature of phone communication, the importance of tone, and the need for effective follow-up to advance sales.

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing Podcast podcast features Sam Lewis, editor of Care Home Professional.

With a number of years experience in trade publications, Sam brings a wealth of knowledge on pitching stories and gaining recognition as an expert in the care sector.

Having worked in various sectors, Sam has now found a home in the care sector and is passionate about sharing stories that raise the profile of care providers and highlight their achievements and unique perspective on the industry.

In this episode, Sam unveils the secrets behind getting yourself or your care provider featured in the care sector press, particularly Care Home Professional.

This includes:

• The secrets on how to pitch stories to the magazine and gain recognition as an expert care provider.

• How pitching to the press is a way to elevate your care provider's profile and reputation both regionally and nationally.

• The different types of stories that Care Home Professional covers including news, interviews, guest columns, financial results, research, and partnerships, and how you can tailor your story to maximise the chance of being featured.

• The best way for providers to proactively send their stories and content to the magazine and why.

• Sharing stories about new CEOs, acquisitions, new care home construction, financial initiatives, and initiatives related to wages and why these work.

• Why business focused stories are more suitable for the publication than those centred on the residents.

• The value of quotes and perspectives from care providers on current sector topics, as these adds depth and credibility to yourself and the publication's coverage.

• The benefits of hearing directly from your provider with a unique and valuable perspective rather than relying solely on well known industry spokespeople.

• Why you should aim to provide interesting and unique stories that the audience of Care Home Professional would want to read to increase your chances of being featured.

• How the frequency of coverage for a particular care provider will depend on the relevance and quality of their submitted stories.

• How and when to follow up on your story if you haven’t received a response and whether this can affect your chances of coverage.

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This episode of the Care CEO Success Stories podcast features Jason Hancock, founder of Hancock and Rowe which specialises in website user experinces.

In the episode Jason discusses how he helped the Good Oaks Home Care franchise after it approached him asking for a “visual uplift“ to its website and a better digital experience for families looking to find home care, and to ultimately secure better enquiry-to-customer conversion rates.

In the episode Jason reveals:

• The importance of initial research, and how he interviewed 6 Good Oaks Home Care clients, and 6 franchise owners ahead of planning the new s
• The role of “site map” and “map journeys” in creating good website navigation, and using both long-form and short-form surveys during research.
• How he created 3 key personas for Good Oaks Home Care, including one for high-net worth families looking care and another for job-seekers
• The importance of testing to ensure best possible experiences for website visitors and ultimately improving enquiry rates.
• The process for developing and optimising a website after it’s been designed and ensuring key information and calls to action are easily accessible and visible to users to help drive more enquiries

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Fiona Hales, managing director of CoolCare, an administration software provider covering “everything a care home needs to run efficiently and with profit”

Fiona sets the vision for CoolCare and guides development while leading the team to create the best experience for customers.

In the episode Fiona outlines the best strategies for dealing with enquiries when they arrive with your care provider, and how to ensure the best experience for prospective families and residents including:

• How prospective customers are more discerning and viewing more homes to find the right place for their loved ones. And why families may now have a list of 10 care homes to choose from rather than 3
• The importance of having an impressive online presence through websites, and social media articles in the local media to be under consideration.
• “Families are now interrogating what might be the best care home for their loved one,” says Fiona.
• How providing the best possible experience for prospective residents and their family is key in a competitive market.
• How the level of care and attention afforded to residents should be shown from the moment the enquiry comes in.
• How good record keeping is vital to the process for care providers and central digitalised records can streamline the process.
• The importance of good internal communication across your team to ensure the enquiry process runs smoothly.
• How having a standardised procedure for dealing with enquiries for all staff is key to keep prospective families informed and happy throughout the process.
• The impact of an inefficient process on vacancy levels in your care home and how changes to this process can increase occupancy.
• How a friendly, professional and personable attitude from staff is key to making prospective residents feel like “your home could be their home”.

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Welcome to the second episode of the Care CEO Success Stories podcast where the UK’s leading care operator CEOs celebrate and share their single biggest achievement!

This episode features Roger Catchpole, MD of Stow Healthcare, which now operates six homes and has running for 12 years.

Roger, who previously worked in marketing and property development, has specialised in turning around failing care homes, as well fostering excellent relationships with local authorities and Care Commissiong Groups.

Three of Stow Healthcare’s homes are currently rated Outstanding by CQC.

In this episode, we focus on how Stow Healthcare goes about reversing the fortunes of under-perfoming homes, how they negotiated the pandemic and the company’s plans for the future, including:

• Why there’s no shortcut to improving care homes – it takes effort and passion from the team.
• How to find the right care home to invest in and turn around, including whether it needs financial support or other resources. It’s important to be clear on what exactly you offer and what a new care home’s needs are
• The process of improving a care home, and who should be involved in conversations – including working with CQC
• How to use word of mouth to turn around people’s perceptions of a care home, and why it’s vital for residents, family and local health services to trust an organisation.
• How Roger has created a group structure that has enabled the company to grow.
• How to change a failing care home’s culture, including working with existing residents and staff
• How Stow Healthcare worked to support their local communities during the pandemic – while maintaining high levels of occupancy
• How Stow Healthcare partners with CCGs and local authorities to support them during winter and other busy hospital times, including opening a designated covid-19 nursing setting during the pandemic to support hospital discharge for covid-positive patients.
• How Stow Healthcare rewarded its staff team during the pandemic, and how to recruit and retain talented colleagues.

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Welcome to the first episode of the Care CEO Success Stories podcast where the UK’s leading care operator CEOs celebrate and share their single biggest achievement! This first episode features Raina Summerson, CEO of Agincare with whom she been with for 18 years, and she reveals how she’s helped turn Agincare from a £4m-a-year care operator to £90m.

Agincare, based in Dorset, operates a care homes, 24-hour live-in, home care, supported living, extra care schemes, respite and day care services around the country, and employs nearly 4,000 staff.

Raina began her career as a care worker, and then a social worker. After working in local authorities and regulatory inspection, she joined Agincare.

In this episode she talks through how she helped build Agincare into a £90m operation, including:

• How Agincare began as a smaller, family-owned care provider, where every member of staff covered multiple roles, to becoming a much larger organisation – that’s still family-owned.
• The importance of bringing the right people on board, and having a passionate, excited team, and regularly reviewing a company’s vision, mission and values.
• How key team members helped Agincare grow, and how the organisation has retained vital team members
• Why growth isn’t always the goal – and that families/clients and frontline colleagues must be a priority, and why growth has to be sustainable.
• How to have honest conversations about finances, commissioning and contracts
• What Raina learnt during the covid-19 pandemic, and how resilient she feels social care teams have been.
• How Covid and cost increases are having an impact on social care provision.

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Paul Robinson, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Doctify, a real-time digital feedback system for health and social care providers. Doctify allows social care providers to collect high volumes of reviews and testimonials on a consistent basis – giving you greater insight into how people view the care you provide, and allowing potential families to have that extra level of trust in you as a care operator. In this episode, we talk about how testimonials and reviews can be utilised to promote your care home operator,how operators can get more positive reviews, and what you can do with them once you’ve collected them.

We discuss:

• Why reviews and testimonials of care operators are a key part of the decision-making process for families looking for a care provider. Reviews can make or break a decision to make a first enquiry.
• The importance of having a large volume of reviews to build trust. We discuss the why it’s important to have recent reviews, rather than just older ones
• Where reviews and testimonials can be left – will you encourage reviews on your website, Google reviews, Facebook, carehome.co.uk or other places? Your team can work with families to create reviews personally, such as video testimonials.
• How sites such as carehome.co.uk use reviews to promote you as a provider – both the rating and volume of reviews
• How care operators can encourage people to leave reviews or testimonials
• How the Doctify system works on a realtime basis, using QR codes and allowing customers to leave reviews quickly and easily – and then it’s up to you how you use the reviews
• What you can do with reviews once you’ve received them – will you share them on your website, social media, news releases or elsewhere?
• That collecting positive reviews can help change the wider perception of social care, and raise your staff morale – reviews are a fantastic data collection tool for your team.
• What to do with negative reviews – if a negative review is posted publicly, what should you do, and when should you have it removed?

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Mark Topps, regional business manager for reablement service Essex Cares.

Mark has a long history of working in social care, starting as a support worker, then registered manager and regional manager. He’s worked for multiple private and charity organisations.

In this episode, we discuss how to cultivate productive relationships with local authorities.

As care providers, positive relationships with local authority personnel are key – they’re vital for placing funded clients and sometimes about future decisions about your service.

This episode reveals some of the most effective ways to get yourselves in front of key decision-makers and commissioners, and what you should say when you’re there.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How to find out who your key local authority decision-makers are, both in your area and surrounding regions
• The most effective strategies to contact decision-makers – and how the Covid pandemic changed this. And with so many care providers trying to contact them, how can you stand out?
• How to make sure you stay at the forefront of decision-makers’ minds, including with regular emails, and some of the best-received content to include. We discuss weekly emails and some best-performing examples.
• How to best use time with commissioners and other key decision-makers
• The importance of being transparent about what your care service can deliver for clients – and the value of being honest, including discussing any negative aspects.
• How to talk to commissioners and key decision-makers about what’s included in your fees - and why it’s important to talk about some of the challenges in social care, such as recruitment, budget and salaries.
• The value of the personal touch – it makes you memorable, and it will be appreciated! Keep up small talk, and follow and engage with your commissioners and key decision-makers on LinkedIn or Twitter

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Alfie Jones of Cahoot Marketing when we discuss everything you need to know about SEO for care operators and how you can improve your Google rankings.

We discuss:

• What SEO is, and the basics of technical, on-site and off-site SEO for care operators.
• What the difference is between organic results and paid Google Ads (and why Google Ads can be a quick win)
• How to choose the best keywords for your care operator – how specific should you get?
• Why you should spend time researching keywords and what tools you can use
• How to talk to your web developers about the importance of SEO
• Tips to produce an ideal website page with the right word count and keyword usage
• How to improve your website’s authority, including listing your care provider on directories and securing editorial coverage
• The amount of time you should expect to secure results

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Marcus Wrinch of C4B Chat, a website live-chat service specialising in the care sector.

He reveals how live chat enables prospective families looking for care to get answers to their questions quickly, easily and discreetly – and from real people!

Live real-person chat functions also maximise your chances of securing an enquiry in the first place before that family member goes browsing other care providers’ sites.

In this episode, we also discuss:

• The pros and cons of different types of chat services – including why AI or bot chat services with pre-programmed responses aren’t always the right choice for care providers
• Why getting people onto your care operator website via SEO, PPC and digital and traditional marketing and PR is only half the job – you still need to get visitors to engage with you
• How a real-time chat service can be branded and made to function seamlessly with your existing website
• How a “managed” (i.e. real-person) sales chat service works, and how it can maximise sales enquiries while putting minimal pressure on busy colleagues; an external person will text and email team members to ensure someone can jump on to the chat quickly and answer specific questions
• How a chat service operates when none of your team is available, and how a prospective enquirer’s details can still be captured
• How a prospective client or family member can use your website to talk directly to one of your sales, care or management team and so build that all-important rapport - and the process they’ll go through
• Why it is important to book a prospective client or family in for a visit early in the enquiry process
• Why a live-chat system can be easier for a prospective client or family member than a phone call or email – it’s quicker, more discreet. Plus for your as a care operator you have a written record of the live-chat enquiry.
• How to set up a managed chat service on your website

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Neil Russell, chairman of specialist neurological care provider PJ Care which employs more than 600 staff.

Neil reveals how they use innovative PR and marketing campaigns to help become “inundated” with new care and nurse staff applicants.

The episode includes:

• Why Neil decided PJ Care’s PR and marketing focus should be on on recruitment and making PJ Care attractive to new care and nursing staff
• Why this “red hot” strategy was more successful than a “scattergun” PR approach
• Why having a defined #1 target for PR is vital - and all efforts should be made to achieve that #1 target.
• How PJ Care massively increased using Facebook as a tool for recruitment - helping it secure up to 6 new staff “hits” per day via the platform alone
• Details on how PJ Care promotes itself as as an attractive employer and place to work
• What messages PJ Care communicates to help attract new staff, particularly nurses whose skills will be upgraded once working for PJ Care
• The approach that PJ Care employs to help retain staff, included during mandatory Covid vaccinations.
• How PJ Care ensures its accolades and awards are communicated to new target recruits - and the importance of conveying the message that care is a fulfilling and rewarding career and offers benefits over working in retail or hospitality
• Why Neil considers his care staff working “on the floor” to be his most valued staff.
• How to lead a successful care operator
• How Neil personally endeavours to meet much of his staff, who between them speak 44 languages and share a heritage with 50 nationalities
• Why PJ Care’s slow and steady growth with a focus on quality above quantity has been deliberate.
• Neil’s view on building a leadership team, including how it’s important to learn from when you get it wrong, and the value of allowing people to make mistakes to foster learning and development.
• Why Neil’s single most important piece of advice is to “Listen to everyone and then make your judgement. And encourage people to challenge you”

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Facebook Ads specialist Michael Rodger of Springup PR where we discuss the case study of how one care operator received the CVs of 21 care worker applicants over a 2-month period using Facebook Ads combined with a PR strategy.

It includes:

• The most effective ways to run Facebook ads for care operators including how to test various Facebook ads.
• How to use the “human touch” and testimonials from present employees and care workers into the Facebook ads.
• The role of lead-gen Facebook lead forms in capturing the name, email address and mobile phone number of applicants. And whether to use a dedicated landing page or not.
• How to run additional qualification questions, including CV data, on Facebook ad lead forms
• How important it is to follow up via phone to care applicants received via Facebook ads.
• How following up via phone doubled the number of CVs received.
• How 1/3 of phone calls made to interested care applicants resulted in immediate contact.
• Details of the light-touch script Michael used when phoning care applicants.
• Why follow up via phone also enables care operators to understand how effective their Facebook ads are.
• The huge benefit of having the foundation that your care operator is well-known and recognized as a good employee.
• Why building in automated email sequences, via Zapier, to the applicant and the care operator is vital, particularly to keep applicants ‘warm’
• How of 66 care applicant leads received only 5 were classified as “dead-ends”, and two-thirds (21) gave their CV for the care operator recruitment team to follow up with.

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Nimesh and Pritesh Patel of 2-home operator Prime Residential Care.

They tell their story of how they purchased their first care home without previous experience in the sector, and ended up having the “toughest times” of their lives after a combination of bereavement and occupancy drop.

But through hard work and dedication to providing a first-class care home service to families they got back on track, and went on to use a PR and marketing strategy to get more enquiries and increase occupancy for their two homes.

It includes

• How Nimesh and Pritesh come from a retail background but had family familiar with the care sector.
• How they decided to purchase their first care home, Glebe House, in June 2017, but just ahead of the planned purchase date the home dropped to “requires improvement”.
• Why the bank nevertheless decided to support Nimesh and Pritesh in the purchase of Glebe House.
• How it was a “rollercoaster ride” in running Glebe House at first, but how they secured a turnaround within 6 months to become a CQC “good” home.
• How occupancy at Glebe House dropped following the requires improvement status, but nevertheless they purchased their second home, Down Hall in March, 2019, and why this ended up being “the toughest time” of their lives.
• The “phenomenal” role of PR and marketing in helping increase enquiries and occupancy at both homes. Including massive media exposure.
• The importance of steady and ongoing promotion of care homes to "put your good news out there” and how Facebook generates enquiries
• The values, including respect for elders, that Nimesh and Pritesh bring to running a care operator, and the value of pure hard work!
• What it takes to run a successful care operator
• Why their background experience of providing good customer service was vital

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Wendy Westbury, Director of Sales and Marketing at Dormy Care Communities, which operates 4 homes.

In this episode we reveal:

• What exactly call tracking is - and how does it work?
• Why care operators should embed call tracking software into their enquiry management system - and Wendy explains specifically why she did.
• What’s the difference about “dynamic” and “static” call tracking
• The benefits that call tracking can bring to care homes sales teams

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This episode of the Care Home PR and Marketing podcast features Anthony Rae of Montane Care, who will be revealing the essentials of selling your care operator, whether you’re a single home or a group of homes.

In this episode we discuss:

• How to value and appraise your care home operator – and assess its saleability. It’s (roughly) 5x your adjusted net profit. So if your care operator secures £800,000 adjusted net profit per year, your approximately valuation = £4m. (Note: It’s adjusted net profit)

• Current state of the market

• What to plan if you are thinking of selling your operator – and the pitfalls to avoid. e.g. The role when valuing an operator of your CQC ratings, possible improvements and demographics, supply and demand, financials, staffing, capital expenditure, assets and adjusted net profit. Transition and hand over of your operator to the new owner.

• What to think about in terms of best offers, potential buyers, and confidentiality

• How to advertise the sale of a care operator

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Fiona Hale, Managing Director of CoolCare, a leading care home management software provider.

In this episode we reveal:

• What role digital technology plays in managing care home enquiries

• How software can help improve occupancy, efficiency and digital record-keeping of enquiries

• Who within care homes should use and access data

• The cost benefits of using digital technology to manage enquiries, particularly in comparison to paper-based systems

• How software helps record accurate information from any individual enquiry, including assessing KPIs

• How digital technology helps prioritize enquiry management, can schedule in dates to follow up on enquiries and records conversion rate of enquiry to resident

• How social media can help get PR messages to the public and prospective families

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Debbie Harris, founder of Autumna, an online care and advice directory of care services for the elderly

In this episode we reveal:

• Why online information on care homes has become critical for self-funding families, particularly in light of the power of Google search

• How COVID has changed the way families choose care homes

• How to provide information to communicate the personality of your home, and what differentiates your home from others

• How some online directories rank care homes according to their marketing spend, whereas others rank according to location, service or price

• Why more than 5% of self-funding families are looking for a care home on a bus route

• Why many families search for homes on Saturday and Sundays, and even during the early hours of the morning

• Why families have the ability to directly compare one care home against another in vastly more detail

• Why Debbie encourages care providers to display their fees online

• Why too many care operators either fail to respond to enquiries at all or are late in responding, particularly to weekend enquiries

• Why if one resident is worth up to £250,000 in life-time revenue then it is worth getting coverage for enquiries during the weekend!

• Debbie reveals the staggering statistic that people answering enquiries fail to record a name or telephone number 75% of the time. “You've just lost your enquiry” says Debbie.

• Why tone of voice is vital for someone responding to an enquiry via the phone.

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Derya Filiz, head of external communications at Anchor Hanover, which operates 114 care homes in the UK

In this episode we reveal:

• How to promote your residential and nursing homes during a pandemic

• How to decide on which of your care stories are best to pitch to the media

• How to provide care home managers with media training and media and press release toolkits

• How to use social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and Tik Tok, to show families - when visits are not possible - your range of activities

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Joanne Balmer, CEO of the care home group Oakland Care which consists of four luxury care homes in the south east, with other homes in construction.

In this episode we examine:

• The process from beginning to end in setting a new and clear mission statement, vision and values

• How to re-brand, including the details and meaning of a new logo and colours associated with your operator.

• How to involve staff, including “roadshow consultations” when your leadership team hold events at your homes to familiarise themselves with your staff’s opinions and views, and conducting Facebook polls

• How to embed your mission, vision and values throughout all operations, including recruitment and hiring of staff

• How to know if your staff fully understand your mission, vision and values

• The role of PR and marketing, particularly promoting “good news” stories to the media

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features Tobi Alli-Usman of Smooth Digital.

In this episode we delve into:

• What you must do when a family gets to your website or landing page via adverts such as Google pay per click - and you want families to take an action to convert them into a resident.

• What your online landing page from an advert should look like by using the correct text, video and images

• Why you should convey the USP of your care homes, and show how during Covid residents are being kept safe

• How to build ‘lead triggers’ into landing pages so families actually get in touch!

• How, why, and when you should embed form submission boxes and options to download brochures.

• Why ALL these lead triggers should be on 1 landing page.

• How, by increasing the rate of a family member getting in touch, you're reducing your cost per inquiry.

• Why for care and nursing homes you should be aiming for a 3% "click to lead" rate.

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This episode features Simon Crowther of training and consultancy company Care Skilled.

Simon also owned and sold 2 nursing homes.

In this episode we delve into:

• How to best handle enquiries to your care and nursing homes, including who should answer the phone, how should the phone best be answered, and the key information enquiry-responders should gather
• Who should handle enquiries out of hours
• Why the person who receives enquiries MUST have training.
• The importance of a workflow to ensure the phone is answered correctly and professionally, and all relevant data is captured
• Why you should consider having a dedicated enquiry line, and using a virtual PA or virtual switchboards.
• How virtual switchboards can track exactly how many phone calls have been received, and what are the benefits of recording phone calls
• Why you HAVE to know your numbers, such as enquiries per month, and origin of enquiries, and conversion rate from enquiry to look around to resident.
• Why you must have a system to stay in touch with families who enquired, even if their family member is not ready quite yet to become a resident.

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast features York Woodford-Smith of Five On A Bike Video which has filmed more than 50 interviews with residents of care homes, and more than hundred interviews with care home staff.

Particularly featuring video tours of homes, and case study/testimonial videos.

In this episode we cover:

• What makes a good resident case study video
• How putting a video on your care operator website will double time people spend on your site.
• How during Covid video can help communicate a message about your safety procedures.
• How to create a care home video tour, an emotive testimonial video, and a staff video.
• When to use your smartphone for video production, and when to turn to professional video production.
• What to be careful of (such as spinach in your teeth!) when producing video.
• How to use video for Facebook, and why you should caption your videos.
• How video on your care home Facebook page increases the number of people you reach, why you must capture people’s attention within the first seconds, and why you should remember to use Facebook pixels.
• How Facebook videos can double the click-through-rate to your care home website.
• How long should your videos be? 1 minute or 10 minutes?

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing podcast, features Simon Parker, founding partner of SP&P which helps clients build high-performance teams, to deliver outstanding care and to grow their care home business. Simon also runs the Care Home Show

Simon discusses:

• What we mean by culture for care operators.
• Why it’s important to recognize the CQC scrutinizes culture in the “well-led” domain of its inspection framework.
• How a good culture improves recruitment and retention by minimising cost and time spent recruiting people and reducing attrition.
• How a good culture impacts care delivery, care quality, and CQC ratings
• How a good culture impacts occupancy and attracting self-funded residents.
• Why it’s vital to be clear on your care business’s vision and values
• Why you must embed culture into everything your team does
• Why fostering a good culture must come from the top
• Horror-story examples of when care operator cultures go wrong!
• The signs that demonstrate you’ve got a high-class team culture

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Adam James of Springup PR discusses:

How - During Covid-19 - Promoting Your Care Homes Via Positive Press Coverage Has (Surprisingly) Never Been So Vital

This episode looks at:

• Exactly what kind of positive news stories during the Corona virus period your homes can - and should be - securing

• Why (surprisingly) there are more opportunities now than ever before to communicate to prospective families that your homes are best equipped to protect residents, while also providing good quality care within the confines of Covid-19 - and so build up vital trust.

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This episode, featuring Paul Ridout of Ridouts Professional Services, which provides legal services exclusively to companies providing care and social care services, features:

• Why the CQC inspection report is a critical part of the profile and marketing image of a care provider.
• Why, if you want to challenge a CQC report, you must act fast – within 10 working days from getting the draft report
• Why every statement in the CQC report that you disagree with must be challenged.
• Don’t concentrate on what you’re going to do in the future – state where the report is wrong, and why
• Attach evidence for factual statements you make
• Be as detailed as possible. Paul has written factual accuracy responses running up to 100 pages
• What tone you should have when challenging a CQC report –this is a legal type submission because it may well become part of evidence in a tribunal case or a high court case judicial review. So the tone should be concise and courteous.
• Never, ever be abusive
• What happens after you submit your factual statement to the CQC and the CQC review your statements
• On what circumstances can – and should you - seek a judicial review. Yes, CQC decisions have been overturned this way. But a CQC report must be “seriously misleading” for this to happen.
• Examples of when CQC inspectors have “clearly gone wrong”.
• And why CQC inspectors “sometimes don't always see the full picture” or “have had a bad day” or are inexperienced.
• When providers should NOT take further action against the CQC.

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing Podcast features Dion Meechan, operations director of Barrowhill Hall nursing home in Staffordshire.

With a property development background he discusses how his company launched a nursing home from scratch eight years ago and after some pitfalls now feels offers “some of the best care you can get.”

During the episode Dion discusses:

• The nerve-wracking pitfalls he experienced on launching a new nursing home – and what he has learnt.
• How Barrowhill Hall pioneered social media to promote the home, as well as other PR and marketing initiatives.
• Why some care operators “just don't get” the vital role of PR and digital media to promote the home to local audiences and stakeholders.
• The importance of keeping up to date with care innovations
• Why the location of a care or nursing home is key
• Why staff recruitment problems are only going to get worse – and how to mitigate against them.
• How to create a successful care home team culture, including an employee of the month scheme – and aspiring to create a working environment which is “better than a barbecue at the beach”
• Why if a care home is as nice as a resident’s home then the decision to become a resident is easier – “It's an upgrade, not a downgrade,” says Dion.
• What KPIs operators must focus on
• Why it’s important to understand social care funding “like your life depends on it”
• How a “slush fund”can mitigate for when a residents care is not paid for – perhaps for up to 12 months or more.
• Why operators should use Twitter to learn about residential care provision from across the world - including America, Brazil, Japan, India, China and Sweden.

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This episode of the Care Home PR And Marketing Podcast features Neil Eastwood author of Saving Social Care and founder of Care Friends, an employee referral app for social care employers.

Neil reveals top real-life workable tips to care providers on how to resolve the four biggest care operator recruitment nightmares:

• The interview no-show
• A general lack of candidates
• A lack of quality candidates
• Retention

Plus how and why PR and marketing initiatives are vital to build the reputation of your home to attract high-quality job-seekers and applicants.

The episode looks at:

• How to decrease your “no-show” rate – which can be around 50%. And how you can build in “personal connection” with applicants by offering them job interview times that work for them – to help with a 10% improvement in showing up
• Using text to nudge applicants to turn up to interviews
• The importance of diversifying recruitment sources
• The true financial recruitment cost
• Why you MUST use internet job boards LESS.
• “De-stress” language when communicating with applicants
• Why employee referrals and word of mouth are the vital drivers of at least 50% of high-performing staff. So, pump up your employee referral scheme and build your homes reputation.
• Using Facebook for recruiting.
• How PR and marketing to promote the reputation of your homes helps creating stronger awareness and brand association for your homes.
• How to attract retirees and older people and more men as staff*

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This episode, featuring Springup PR’s very own Danielle Booker, reveals the amazing story of how one care home Facebook post reached 14 million people, making it the most popular Facebook post ever for a care home.

In all the post was shared 236,000 times and the care home’s Facebook page increased its followers from 200 to 8000.

And all this happened within 7 days.

The episodes discusses:

• Details of the “Accelerated Facebook” campaign to reach record-breaking amounts of people.
• Why it was decided to launch the 7 day campaign during Dementia Action Week
• How the strategy was for every post shared from the post, the care home would donate a certain amount of money to a local dementia charity.
• How throughout the campaign Danielle posted from the care home's Facebook page various different posts about dementia - some advice posts, other showcasing the care home's dementia expertise
• Why encouraging Facebook post ‘sharing’ was vital to the explosive viral result.
• How the home’s manager and deputy got involved.
• The EXACT details of the post which went viral. Hint: It involved pyjamas!
• Why photos were vital + why the call to action was EVEN MORE important
• How the campaign prompted job enquiries

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Want to know what’s working RIGHT NOW for care providers using pay-per-click marketing?

In this episode, featuring Tobi Alli Usman, you will discover:

• What is “intent marketing”, particularly Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing using Google and other search engines for care homes and care operators.
• Why, in all likelihood, you are under-utilising PPC marketing.
• What’s working RIGHT NOW in the PPC world. For example, imagine a a son or daughter that lives in London, but their parent who needs a care home lives in Birmingham. How can you target that London person who’s looking for a care home in Birmingham?
• What keywords to use – words which suggest someone might be looking for a care home – for example, care or nusing homes in a particular area.
• The basics of Google “text ads” to drive traffic to your care home website
• How Tobi uses a “recording suite” to find out EXACTLY where once someone goes to your care home website after clicking on an ad, this enables you to monitor what happens afterwards e.g.how many of those visits turn into a phone call, an e-mail, a form submission, or a live chat lead.
• How the recording suite enables you to listen to any telephone calls made, for training purposes.
• How you can investigate which keywords are responsible for generating the leads, and which do not. This will help you understand what 20% of the keywords are responsible for 80% of leads
• How and why different keywords work for different homes in different areas
• Why different regions have different costs per click
• How you can calculate the average cost per click, BEFORE setting up a PPC campaign . e.g. if an average cost per click was £2, if you want to get a minimum of 10 clicks to your care home site this will equal £20 a day.
• How one care provider, using Google and Bing ads, a 24-hour live chat and re-marketing strategy secured a 350% revenue growth week-on-week.
• Why your care operator MUST consider using Bing, as much as Google. For example, most people using Bing are ageed between 40 and 50 which, for care home leads, is a prime audience to target and, at the moment, Bing is about a third of the price of Google.
• The reasons why care homes must use Live Chat more than other business sectors.
• How care providers can use real human live-chat 24-/7 representatives - real human beings, not bots!
• Why, for PPC, your landing page is VITAL in pushing up conversion rates i.e. increasing occupancy faster. E.g. the core USP for the care home, and relevant information about the home, and “trust-builders” such as testimonials from families, awards, staff training
• Why your care home website must have “lead triggers” e.g. brochure requests and the 24-hour live chat

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Want to discover what a new care operator's sales and marketing manager did for the group's first three new homes?

This episode, featuring Dormy Care's Wendy Westbury, discusses:

• How to think about re-branding your care operator, including a new website and its look and feel, and new logo
• The importance of consistency in branding and ensuring that families want to visit the home after visiting the website
• How small website tweaks e.g. adding a 'request call back' option on the care homes' contact pages can make a difference.
• How to launch individual Facebook pages for the homes, and how the pages can help secure enquiries
• How one Facebook campaign alone helped secure 500 job applications during the launch of one home
• How stories published in the local media help promote the homes
• How Wendy monitors the success of adverts e.g. newspaper or online adverts, using a "telephone-tracking" system
• The importance of recording calls to the homes, or making sure that any missed calls are monitored, especially considering that any enquiry may be worth tens of thousands of pounds in revenue from one resident.
• What to say on a care home "sales" call from an enquiring family.
• The importance of networking and "speaking to everybody" when launching a new home

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Want to discover how your care home’s good news story can reach more than 8,000 local people on Facebook for just £37.50?

Want to discover the most effective way to promote your care home’s quality of care on Facebook – and encourage engagement?

This episode, featuring Springup PR’s Adam James, shows:

• How you re-model your news release used for local media as a separate stand-alone Facebook post
• How using Facebook boosts can reach big numbers of local people at a very low cost
• A real-life example featuring the story of a care home resident’s 100th birthday party that was featured in local media and the story was optimised for Facebook – and reached more than 8,000 people for just £37.50
• Why you have to think differently when promoting your care homes via Facebook, as opposed to traditional media
• How using catchy Facebook post headlines, emoticons and strong photos makes a difference – and why
• What are the ideal audience you should promote your care homes to using Facebook boosts

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Want to know how to use content marketing for your care homes in order to have a superior online presence to competitor homes?

Want to get ranked number one on google for particular key word searches that prospective families might make when searching for a care home for their loved one?

Want to know how PR can propel your care home content marketing strategy?

Want to know what you have to include on your care homes’ websites to improve its SEO and rankings on google?

This episodes features Ciaran Connolly of content marketing company Profile Tree, and reveals:

• how content marketing and SEO can help get your care home more enquiries from prospective families
• How to analyse your care home website’s speed and make it faster and how often people search online under important key words or phrases such as ‘care homes in xxxx, ‘care homes near me’, ‘dementia care specialist’ and ‘residential care’
• Why content is particularly vital for your care home website’s home page
• What content your care home website should include, and why you should describe your particular specialisms e.g. dementia care
• The perils of your care home website pages being too “light” on relevant content e.g. words or photos
• Why your care home website must convey confidence to a prospective family member
• What to include on your care home website so prospective families will be enticed to contact you
• Why it’s important to include pictures and profiles of staff on your website.
• How you can find out – for free - how many people search online under keywords, and how much it would cost you to advertise on google for that key word or phrase.
• What keywords you should start to think about for your care home if you want to improve SEO, and how many words should be on each page of your website
• How having dedicated page on your care home website for particular keywords or phrases, such as 'care homes [your town/region], can propel your online presence.
• How to secure even better SEO results than the carehome.co.uk directory.
• Why your care homes must be hyper attentive to benefits of Google Maps an Google Reviews
• Why PR for your care homes can have an “incredible” impact on SEO, and why online exposure can propels your SEO results.
• The importance of video to convey what’s special about your care homes and to build trust.
• How PR and online exposure can work hand-in-hand with content marketing for your care homes

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Want to know how to grow a care group from 1 to 5 homes, with 60 beds or more in each?

Want to know what you should be looking for when financing your growth to 10 homes or more for your care group

Want to know how to promote the homes within your group to help with occupancy?

This episodes features Harnoop Atkar, chief executive of Oakland Care, which operates 3 luxury homes with another 2 due to launched.

The episode reveals:

• The importance of finding the right funding partner for your care group and the why having shared values and ethos with your funding partner is key
• How to choose the right area in the UK for a new care home
• Why it’s important to own and operate homes that are geographically close to each other
• What risks you need to consider, including unforeseen circumstances during planning and building phases
• Why it can take up to four years from identifying an opportunity to opening a new care home
• How continuity plans can prepare care operators for unknown factors such as Brexit
• The vital role of your care home team in ensuring your home gets off to a good start
• Setting milestones, such as breakeven point.
• How resident outcomes and person-centred care underpins everything
• Why care operators must continually have feedback loops both internally and with key external partners
• How “mobile care monitoring” can help ensure staff spend maximum time time with residents
• How marketing and PR can help differentiate your care homes from competitors
• How “good news stories” about your care home in the local media can help increase enquiry levels, and improve the way the sector is seen from the outside.
• What Brexit means for staffing for care operators
• Staff retention
• Why care providers should talk and communicate with each other more through, for example, organisations such as Care England and The Care Workers Charity

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Danielle Booker of Springup PR runs through the details of an Facebook "Accelerated Engagement" campaign for a care home which reached 25,000 local people within 7 days without one penny of advertising

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Featuring Lisa Pettifer of Springup PR who explains all you need to know and do to get local journalists to write regular good news stories about your home in order to promote your home and help fill your beds faster.

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Discover how one care home got creative via Facebook to reach 20,000 people organically.

Discover how the home used Facebook 'accelerated engagement' to raise its profile among local audiences, and promote how it was a good place to work.

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How can a special event - with more than 100 people - at your care home boost its reputation?

How do you get 100 people who have never been to your home to attend? How do you get busy professionals to turn up.

Listen to this episode to find out.

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Would you like to know how PR and Marketing techniques can help promote your home, get more enquiries and fill beds faster?

This episode outlines why care homes must do PR and Marketing

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Introduction to the Care Home PR and Marketing Masterclass Podcast.

Explaining what the Care Home PR and Marketing Masterclass Podcast is, why it was set up, and what future episodes will feature