Stories are one of the most valuable assets for communication teams.
In senior living organizations, stories populate social media platforms and websites. Narratives inspire prospective residents, families, and investors, demonstrating that selecting your community over the competition is the right choice. Stories foster relationships with news stations, podcast hosts, print reporters and other members of the media.
Communication teams in multi-site senior living organizations have an exciting opportunity to tell different layers of stories. There are stories at the management level that weave together the collective experiences of a system’s communities, residents and staff. Then, there are stories within individual communities that draw prospective residents and families to that specific residence.
The messages in both layers of storytelling should remain consistent. Community spokespersons should share one voice that communicates the values and mission of the system. But how can multi-site senior living teams ensure that stories at every level align with the communication goals of the umbrella organization? How can central communication teams support the stories that individual communities tell and amplify them?
Preparing Spokespersons for Storytelling
At each community, it’s important to identify a handful of folks who are capable of representing the organization in media opportunities, video assets or other marketing collateral. It can be easy to assume that executive directors, marketing and sales leaders, or activity directors are well-versed in the mission and values of the organization, or that they will use the correct verbiage when talking about a specific service. But it can be daunting for spokespeople when they find themselves in front of a journalist or a cell phone camera without preparation. Sometimes, even the most well-intentioned interview can go sideways when a community spokesperson is unfamiliar with the media process or feels a rush of nerves that jumbles their words.
At AKCG, we employ several tactics to help prepare spokespersons, keeping them poised and confident to discuss initiatives, residents, services, or other community elements in a way that advances organizational goals.
- Spokesperson Training – We offer spokesperson training to executives at the management level and also at the individual community level. Community executive directors, in particular, benefit from this type of training. These comprehensive training sessions prepare spokespersons to present key messages with authority and use verbal and nonverbal communication to their advantage. While the training primarily prepares for media exchanges, many trainees find that the program builds confidence in other exchanges as well. Attendees leave sessions feeling empowered to speak with precision and clarity in media engagements, as well as with the ability to tackle challenging, unexpected situations.
- Communication Guidance Materials – Tailored to the culture and makeup of the organization, these materials differ per system, but often include high-level information such as mission statements, core values, talking points about specific service offerings, and a list of preferred or non-preferred terms. For multi-site organizations, we work closely with in-house communication teams to provide relevant information to streamline community-level media efforts, including step-by-step guidance on what to do if a media opportunity becomes available, such as how to select a spokesperson and how to loop in the central communications team. When AKCG secures a media opportunity for clients, we provide crucial logistical and background information, such as anticipated questions and intel on the outlet, helping clients feel prepared for the interview.
- Conducting Mock Interviews – AKCG leads mock interviews with staff or residents. Going through a mock interview allows individuals to imagine what it will be like to participate in an upcoming media opportunity. The AKCG team is adept at anticipating reporter questions and can provide questions that might test or provoke additional responses from a spokesperson. Through our engagements with senior living organizations, we’ve seen how conducting these prep interviews in advance of a media interview can help sift out the impulse to overshare or veer off course. As a trusted media partner, AKCG can take the overwhelming responsibility of managing individual community opportunities off the central team’s plate.
How Central Communication Teams Can Solicit Stories Across a System
Multi-site senior living organizations spanning multiple cities and states often struggle to understand the local news stations and journalists in each market. But having stories told at the local level regularly is an advantage to the entire system. Stories can be shared, retold and repurposed on the system’s website and social media platforms. Positive earned media with thought leaders across a system can work together, harmoniously, to show how individual communities maintain their personalities while benefitting from being part of a larger system. Local media coverage can establish a presence in geographic pockets across the country (or even the world), making the management organization’s name more familiar and more positively received.
But how can communication teams with limited resources equip individual communities to create relationships with local and regional media and secure that earned media (new stories, podcasts, blogs, etc.)? How can communication teams assist new marketing and sales directors in gathering materials for social media that create a reliable, cohesive story about the organization for prospective residents and families?
At AKCG, we support central communication teams in these efforts.
- AKCG team members meet regularly with individual communities to learn about their upcoming events, hear residents’ stories, tap subject-matter experts at the community level and provide support to existing events and endeavors.
- AKCG is skilled at embedding into new media markets quickly and effectively. Our team has the expertise and passion to learn about the personalities of local broadcast stations, understand the types of news local papers cover, and find regional and trade news outlets, podcasts, and influencers that can effectively tell organizations’ stories to the right audiences.
- AKCG uses predictable and reliable tools such as an annual editorial calendar to solicit stories at the individual community level. Every senior living community has good stories to tell. Still, sometimes marketing and sales teams need regular reminders, prompts for what makes a good story, and someone to take the burden off them to meet with a resident, write a story and share it externally.
Central communication teams can deploy these same principles internally, setting up a monthly call at each community, investing in media monitoring tools and subscriptions to local media markets, and creating tools and messaging structures that solicit stories. At AKCG, we’ve found that engagements with central communication teams provide a needed layer of support in these efforts.
Learn more AKCG Accelerator
Your multi-site senior living organization has exciting stories to tell. Media relations and social media are essential parts of a public relations strategy. Learn more about boosting credibility and visibility for your brand today.
