It’s been said that living at Coburg Village is like being on a cruise ship 365-days-a-year. With 287 apartments and an average of more than 330 residents, it takes a sizeable, coordinated crew to keep things on course. Have you ever stopped to think of what goes on behind the scenes each day to provide Coburg Village’s extensive complement of services and amenities?

Let’s take a sneak peek at the Marketing Department.

The Marketing Department is responsible for keeping Coburg Village happily filled with wonderful residents.

Pam Welch serves as Coburg Village’s Marketing and Public Relations Director and has been with the community for nearly five years. Prior to that, she served as a Marketing Manager for a Capital Region healthcare organization for 21-years where she managed the communications and advertising activities for three of the organization’s hospitals and various service lines, including senior living. She started my career as a media director for several Albany-based advertising agencies. As smaller local agencies grew extinct, she transitioned to health and senior care marketing and communications.

Stephanie Walsh, Marketing Specialist, joined the department three years ago. She brings her experience in assisted living marketing to the table. She also oversaw activities at a Schenectady independent living community. A busy mother of three, Stephanie grew up in Clifton Park and is a dance instructor at a local studio.

Pam coordinates the communications and marketing activities at the community. Her role is to ensure we share Coburg Village’s story with our key target audiences, encouraging those individuals to seek out more information, and potentially schedule a tour. Additionally, Pam and Stephanie work closely with Facilities to make sure our apartments and cottages, “our product,” consistently reflect the promise of our marketed messages. The department also coordinates external signage and vehicle signage – which serve as moving billboards.

The department's goal is to define our target audiences and select a mix of advertising tools that reach those individuals with enough frequency to build top of mind awareness as cost efficiently as possible. Our key marketing outlet is our website, coburgvillage.com. All marketing efforts direct individuals to the website for more information. We populate our website content and coordinate its navigation. About a quarter of our inquiries come through our web contact form. Marketing writes and coordinates the creation of brochures and other collaterals, television spots, print ads, digital advertising and social media posts. We also engage in outreach activities, onsite lead cultivation events, and sponsorships.

Inquiries about the community primarily come through our website contact form, phone calls, and individuals who stop in for more information. We also receive a number of inquiries resulting from a resident referral. Once we receive an inquiry, our goal is to follow up on the same business or next day. We follow the progression of those inquiries using a computerized customer management system (CMS). It helps us track inquiries and allows us to journal key information and customer preferences. We conduct approximately eight to twelve tours each week. Often, people who tour our beautifully bright, well-maintained facility and are greeted by our friendly residents and staff, are ready to move in or go on our waitlist for a future move.

Once a prospect selects an available unit, Marketing collaborates with Facilities to determine when it can be ready for move in. The general rule of thumb is six to eight weeks from the time we receive a security deposit. We pull together leasing documents and coordinate the signing. We continue to work with prospects and Facilities throughout the process. On the lease start date we conduct a move-in inspection and are available to answer questions.

Stephanie serves as the liaison between marketing and the Residents’ Association’s Buddy Committee. The Buddies play a significant role in helping new residents feel at home at Coburg Village. Each month Stephanie attends the Buddy Committee meetings keeping the group up to date about upcoming move-ins.

Pam And Stephanie enjoy meeting prospective residents and building relationships throughout the marketing journey. It’s rewarding to see new residents flourish and to hear how happy they are to have chosen Coburg Village.