What You Need to Do NOW to Win a Best of 2016 Award

Does your home care agency or senior community deserve an award? Well, the SeniorAdvisor.com Best of 2016 Awards are your chance to prove it. We’ll announce the winners of our annual Best of Senior Living Awards this winter. That means your business still has time to qualify. Consider this blog post your sneak peek of what your business needs to do now to win an award.

What are the Best of 2016 Awards?

If you’re new to SeniorAdvisor.com and don’t know what the awards are, they’re an incredibly prestigious award based on the opinions of those who matter most – your residents and their families! The SeniorAdvisor.com Best of 2016 Awards recognize the top 1 percent of senior living and home care providers in the United States based on the online ratings and reviews they’ve received from their families – the people who truly know how much you and your staff care. These awards can do wonders for marketing your senior care business to your local community – it’s WAY easier for families to understand the value of an award based on online reviews than it is for them to understand that your survey was deficiency-free. Don’t believe me? Consider these two hypothetical conversations between a potential resident’s daughter-in-law and her friend:

Conversation #1:

Daughter-in-law: “I can’t make lunch today. I’m touring [your community’s name goes here] today to see if it’d be a good fit for my mom. They had a deficiency-free survey this year.”

Friend: “Okay. I don’t understand what that means, but I hope your tour goes well.”

Conversation #2:

Daughter-in-law: “I can’t make lunch today. I’m touring [your community’s name goes here] today to see if it’d be a good fit for my mom. They won a Best Of award based on online reviews from their families.”

Friend: “Oh wow, an award based on their reviews? Families must really love it there. I hope your tour goes well.”

Okay, the examples may be a bit far-fetched, but you get the idea. Families understand the importance of online reviews. It’s why you’ve always used testimonials in your marketing. They may appreciate the value of a deficiency-free survey after you’ve explained to them what it means during the tour, but it’s not what’s going to get them in the door. Excellent online reviews, on the other hand, will.

Best of 2016 Award Eligibility Requirements

So, how can you make sure your outstanding community qualifies for an award in 2016? Here are some guidelines:

• Your business must provide home care or senior living services (assisted living, nursing homes, senior apartments, independent living, Alzheimer’s care, and CCRCs all qualify).

• Your business must maintain a 4.5 minimum star rating on SeniorAdvisor.com.

• Your business must have received at least 3 new reviews on SeniorAdvisor.com within 2015.

You will also need meet a minimum overall review requirement. This number has not yet been decided as it depends on what makes up the top 1% of providers. The best way to ensure your business qualifies is to get new, positive reviews.

How To Get New, Positive Reviews

Click to view full-size version suitable for printing.

To help you qualify for the Best of 2016 Awards, we are running a limited-time review promotion! The best way to get reviews is to make it easy and convenient for your families to review you. A big hit with families and residents are our SeniorAdvisor.com Review Postcards. You can distribute these in person immediately after a tour, which the family member can then fill out at their convenience. The postage is pre-paid, so all they have to do is drop it in the mail. You can order them for free here. We will mail them to you within 1 business day. The reviews typically get posted within 1-3 business days of receipt.

You can also download the SeniorAdvisor.com Review Postcard template. Print off copies to give to residents and families, then collect them and either scan them to us at support@senioradvisor.com or mail them to us at 7756 Northcross Drive #101, Austin, TX 78757.

To qualify for inclusion in the Best of 2016 Awards, the postcards must be postmarked or electronically received no later than October 15th, 2015. Reviews received after this date will still be transcribed onto the site, but they will not affect your eligibility for the Best of 2016 Awards.

What are you waiting for? Go out and get those rave reviews! Our team is already working hard to make this the biggest awards celebration yet. We hope we’ll get a chance to highlight your business in this year’s Best of 2016 Awards!

Learn more about the awards and see the 2015 winners here.

Amelia Willson

Based in Austin, TX, Amelia is the former Content Marketing Manager for SeniorAdvisor.com. When she’s not writing about online reputation management, online reviews, and social media in the senior living space, she enjoys yoga and running with her dog Rockefeller. She graduated from Wellesley College cum laude with a dual degree in English and Medieval/Renaissance Studies.