29 March 2013

A Quick & Easy Way To Create Great PR For Your Care Home

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Here’s a great example of how easy it is to create good, positive publicity for your care home.

This is a screenshot of an article that appeared in Chad.co.uk, the website of a local newspaper.

Here’s the text of the article:

RESIDENTS and staff at Sutton’s Stoneyford Care Home kick-started the festive season with their very own Christmas Fair.

The Christmas Fair at Stoneyford had a little something for everybody, including stalls with bric-a-brac and Christmas wrapping paper as well as a cake stall.

Residents, relatives and staff also got involved in the fair’s raffle event.

The event also helped to raise £535 for the residents’ fund.

Stoneyford Care Home Manager, Janice Leyland said: “It has been wonderful to see all the residents, relatives and the local community enjoying themselves and getting into the Christmas Spirit.”

How you can use this technique to create great PR for your care home

Every morning in every town across the land the local newspaper editor wakes up, scratches his (or her) head and thinks ‘How the heck am I going to fill the paper with interesting news items that’ll keep our readers coming back so we aren’t all out of a job and on the scrap heap?’.

Now being a newspaper Editor the language used might be somewhat stronger than that, but the sentiment is the same – where do I get good content that will be of interest to my readers?

This is where you come in. If you can hold an event or report on something of interest that has happened or is about to happen at your care home then you’re almost certain to get it covered in the local papers. You should be doing this 3 to 6 times per year.

Almost every time our clients have done this it has resulted in new enquiries for their home. And the more interesting or unusual the story, the more it gets notice and the more enquiries you get.

More ideas to get your news story & press release noticed & published

The above story is simple reporting of an event but it does have two ingredients that help it become more likely to get published:

  • It’s topical. In this case the topic is the season of Christmas. Everyone likes to read heart warming stories at Christmas
  • It raised money for a good cause.

My very favorite way of getting good PR is doing what’s known as piggybacking. This is where you take something that is current and newsworth and you piggyback your own story onto it to get published.

Let me give you an example.

Let’s take the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. This occurs at the same time every year so you can easily plan in advance. What is Wimbledon famous for (apart from the tennis!)? Strawberries & Cream. So, in your care home you hold a Wimbledon day where the residents watch the tennis and scoff delicious strawberries and cream and sit outside in their sun hats. Take some good pictures and submit this story to the local paper and you’re almost certain to get it published.

Simple!

So what other events can you piggyback on?

Here’s a few more suggestions:

  • Royal Ascot – Dress up for Ladies Day
  • The Olympics – Fund raise for a local Olympian and get them to come and collect the cheque
  • Oscars & Bafta – dress up as your favourite film star and watch the ceremonies
  • Strictly Come Dancing or The X Factor
  • Halloween and bonfire night
  • Any of the national Saints’ days

Now what about something unusual or heart warming that you hold yourselves. How about teaming up with the local school and getting all the kids to come round and sing and entertain the residents? What about finding someone who has unusual animals that they can bring in for the residents to look at and interact with?
How about having a garden party to rasie funds for a local charity or something like Help For Heroes?

The list really is endless. And what makes this extra special is that all of these activities will be great fun for the residents.

I hope this short article has stirred up your creative juices and given you an appetite to try this for yourself. It really is easy and it’s also great fun and will build your credibility and reputation within the local community.

If you like this article and it’s been helpful why not share your ideas for events to piggyback on or ways that you’ve used PR in your home. Just click here to email them to me.

Many thanks,

Simon Beck
Care Home Marketing Expert

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Simon Beck

Simon Beck is the founder of Care home Marketing Expert and author of 'Full Beds Forever - How To Market Your Care Home in 3 Simple Steps'. He is also a regular guest speaker at many of the care industry shows such as Naidex, The Care Show & Health+Care.