By Leigh Ann Hubbard

Kristen Reyes-Tarsiuk knew there was a problem with the marketing. She just couldn’t wrap her mind around how to fix it.

She felt like she was in the middle of so many fires that she didn’t know which to put out first.

She was the senior director of creative and marketing at Crista Senior Living, and they’d been through multiple marketing directors over the past five years. That meant multiple campaigns, brochures, and websites. Branding became inconsistent, and strategies confused.

At one point, leads decreased, and they thought it was because of the pandemic. Nope. Turns out, someone had turned off digital campaigns that had actually been working!

“We needed help to restart,” she recalls.

They thought they needed digital-marketing support. Instead, she found, they needed someone to help them completely refocus.

How Crista Got Their Groove Back

Kristen contacted Wendy O’Donovan Phillips, CEO of Big Buzz (a Foresight partner). Wendy specializes in getting marketing teams back on track.

Wendy and her team led the Crista team through a process that unearthed the main problem: They needed to start thinking strategically, not just tactically. Kristen explains:

The difference between strategic and tactical is being able to lift your head, deciding, “What kind of community do we want to be in a few years?”

When they figured this out — and then worked through the strategizing process — Kristen says, the results were astonishing. 

Kristen and Wendy talked about their journey and gave steps to get started on your own in a “fireside chat” with the Washington Health Care Association. Check out the video below.

Here are some key time codes:

  • 00:57: The Challenge
  • 09:41: Marketing Planning Tips + Tricks
  • 21:15: Content Marketing Tips + Tricks
  • 33:51: Social Media Marketing Tips + Tricks
  • 43:47: Sales Tips + Tricks

In the video, you’ll see the actual matrix Big Buzz uses to help clients prioritize efforts so they can create a roadmap to what Wendy calls “the big, important goal” they ultimately want to achieve.

Here’s a Tip

If you want to go beyond this chat and get one-on-one advice, here’s a tip: Big Buzz offers an initial strategy session free. It’s a can’t-lose offer that could yield huge results.

P.S. You can also subscribe to Big Buzz’s blog here and get lots more advice — both strategical and tactical.