Our $2,500/month Ad Strategy That Consistently Delivers Move-Ins

Why Most Senior Living Ad Budgets Fail

Let’s be blunt—most senior living communities are burning their ad budgets without even realizing it. Not because the demand isn’t there. Not because families aren’t searching. But because the strategy behind the spend is either outdated, generic, or worse—completely disconnected from how families actually make decisions today.

And we get it. The senior living sales cycle is emotional, complex, and high-stakes. You’re not selling a product. You’re earning trust during one of the most delicate transitions in a family’s life.

That’s exactly why "running a few Facebook ads" just isn’t enough. You need a full-funnel strategy that anticipates objections, nurtures hesitancy, and guides families toward action without pressure or fluff.

After working with 139+ senior living communities, we’ve stress-tested what works—and more importantly, what doesn’t. Our $2,500/month ad strategy was built for one thing: filling rooms with the right residents while dropping cost-per-lead and cost-per-move-in. And unlike cookie-cutter agencies or big-box placements, we don’t rely on guesswork.

Here’s what most communities are doing wrong:

❌ Relying on Stock Images + Generic Messaging

“We offer compassionate care and luxury amenities” is not a value proposition. It’s background noise. Families are emotionally drained and looking for connection, not brochure copy.

❌ Targeting Everyone, Reaching No One

Broad targeting like “senior care near me” yields unqualified traffic and inflated ad costs. You need to target the adult children—age 40–60—living within 25 miles, with behaviors and interests that match the caregiving journey.

❌ One Ad, One Audience, One CTA

Different stages of the funnel need different messages. A cold audience shouldn’t get a “Book a Tour Now” button on the first touch. That’s like proposing on the first date.

The Exact Breakdown of Our $2,500 Ad Strategy

Let’s walk through exactly how we stretch $2,500/month to consistently drive qualified tours and move-ins. This isn’t about throwing money at traffic—it’s about squeezing every dollar to do one thing: fill units.

We divide the strategy into three core layers, each built to move prospects from curiosity to confidence to conversion.

🔹 Layer 1: Awareness Ads (Top of Funnel – $750/month)

The first step is making sure families actually discover your community—but without hard-selling them. We run emotional, story-driven video and image ads targeting adult children who:

• Live within 10–25 miles of the community

• Are between the ages of 40–65

• Show interest in caregiving, dementia, assisted living, or Medicare topics

• Have engaged with senior living or elder care content

  
  

Ad Format:

• Lifestyle imagery or video (real people, not stock)

• Soft, curiosity-driven copy

• CTA: “Learn More” → Leads to a helpful landing page or blog post

  
  

Why it works:Instead of jumping straight to “Book a Tour,” we earn trust by showing families they’re not alone—and that there’s a local community that truly gets what they’re going through.

🔹 Layer 2: Engagement + Education Ads (Middle of Funnel – $1,000/month)

Once someone watches a video or clicks an awareness ad, they’re added to a custom retargeting audience.

Now, we deliver more detailed content focused on transformation, not features.

What we run here:

• Real resident testimonials

• Emotional storytelling ads (“Imagine your mom smiling again…”)

• Lead magnets: downloadables like “Top 10 Questions to Ask on a Senior Living Tour”

• Highlighting reasons families choose the community

  
  

CTAs:

• “Download the Guide”

• “See Why Local Families Trust Us”

• “Meet Our Residents”

  
  

Why it works:These ads build emotional connection. We’re not selling services—we’re showing outcomes and peace of mind.

🔹 Layer 3: Conversion Ads (Bottom of Funnel – $750/month)

This is where it all comes together. Warm leads who have watched videos, visited your site, or engaged with previous ads now see stronger calls to action.

We use:

• Retargeting ads with seasonal urgency:“Only 2 private suites left this month”

• Tour scheduler ads with direct links

• Limited-time offers:“Move-in by [date] and get your 3rd month free”

  
  

CTA:

• “Schedule a Tour”

• “Check Availability”

  
  

Why it works :At this stage, they’ve already connected emotionally. Now we’re giving them a clear, easy path to take action—without friction.

🧠 What ties it all together? Data. We track every click, scroll, and conversion—and we meet weekly with our clients to optimize performance in real time.

The Results — and Why We Guarantee Them

You’ve seen the strategy. Here’s the part that matters most: does it actually work?Short answer: Yes. Consistently.

Here’s what our senior living clients are seeing from this exact $2,500/month setup:

📈 Real Results from Real Communities

✅ Maplewood Senior Living – Southport, CT

• Tour increase: 8 → 35/month (in 90 days)

• Cost-per-lead: Dropped from $243 → $167

• Placement agency reliance: Decreased by 60%

• Quarterly move-ins: 3 → 10

• Revenue impact: +$117,000 in 90 days

“We didn’t just increase tours—we built trust with families. That’s something no stock photo or generic ad could do.”– Clara Bennett, Marketing Director

✅ Coastal Pines Assisted Living – Maine

• 19 tours booked in 30 days from one campaign

• Lead reactivation sequence alone brought back 12 ghosted families

• Cost per lead dropped by 42% from previous agency

  
  

✅ Willow Creek Memory Care – New Hampshire

• Launched in a competitive market with zero online presence

• Hit 14 tours in month 2

• 4 move-ins before month 3

• Now running ads in 3 locations across the state

  
  

💡 Why It Works (When Others Don’t)

• Built for how families make decisions We guide them through the emotional journey with story-first ads—not bullet points about amenities.

• Optimized every week—not “set it and forget it” We test copy, visuals, targeting, landing pages—everything. Always.

• Hyper-local + behavior-based targeting We don’t waste budget on clicks from people outside your service area or interest group.

• Conversion-ready infrastructure From the landing page to the chatbot, we remove every ounce of friction.

  
  

🔒 The Guarantee: We Deliver, or We Work for Free

We back every plan with a simple promise: If we don’t deliver your guaranteed tour volume by month 2, we’ll work for free until we do.

Why? Because we’ve battle-tested this system across 139+ communities, and we know it works. And we only work with partners we’re confident we can help.

📞 Want to See If It’ll Work for You?

We’ll run a quick strategy audit, show you what’s already working in your market, and project exactly how many tours you could generate with this budget.

👉 Book a Free Strategy Call — no pressure, no fluff. Just results.