Part-Time and Project Based Outsourced Marketing Expertise Drives Organization Growth as a Leading Voice for the Elder Care Industry Through Fundraising, Media, and Business Coaching Strategies.
Working with Ombudsman Services part-time, Q2Mark built effective processes to attract alliances and loyal donors, raise awareness, excel in overall growth, and help transition their executive director from a local thought leader to a national authority figure working on behalf of the entire elder care industry.
• COVID Media Coverage Included Features in The New York Times, the Associated Press, and NBC
• Selected to Testify at a Congressional Hearing
• Nominated as Woman of the Year
“With all of our organization’s initiatives and expansions to empower older and dependent adults, we had to put a pause on some of our marketing communications efforts. But when it was time to put things back in motion, I knew we needed to source help externally.
I was initially introduced and recommended to Susie/Q2Mark from my appearance on the Absolute Trust Talk podcast and Absolute Trust Counsel’s Elder Advocacy and Law Boot Camp event.
Q2Mark wasted no time getting started. We dove into working on our social media and email communications strategies, donor support tactics, and our annual report.
Our virtual working sessions with the Q2Mark team are highly effective and efficient, so we can get to the root of what’s happening and what we need to be done. On top of that, Susie and Taylor always provide ideas to expand ROI, reach, awareness, and marketing integrations beyond what we expect.
Our work together has expanded public relations, marketing funnels, events, advertising, database management, market research, and branding tools. Especially now, when the COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted our community. Susie and Taylor have been available to support our needs at a moment’s notice.
With Susie and Taylor as a part of our team, we’re exceeding our goals, and I would recommend the Q2Mark team for your marketing and communications needs.”
Nicole Howell
Executive Director
Ombudsman Services Contra Costa, Solano and Alameda
In Contra Costa, Ombudsman Services started with just a few government grants, a single staff person, and a lot of determination. Now, nearly 50 years later, Ombudsman Services of Contra Costa, Solano and Alameda is the third largest organization in California. Ombudsman Services are the only organizations mandated by law to make unannounced visits to long-term care facilities to ensure that residents are free from abuse and are receiving quality care, and all services are free of charge. With a team of highly trained Ombudsman staff and volunteers, Ombudsman Services of Contra Costa, Solano and Alameda fights for more than 29,000 residents across their counties in over 900 long-term care facilities. As an independent nonprofit, government grants are just one source of funding. They rely on foundations, grateful families, and concerned citizens to fuel their work.
Initially, when Nicole came to me for help, she wanted to focus on social media. However, as we began to discuss goals and strategies, it was clear there was much more potential not just for the community and the work they were doing but also for their leadership position in the industry.
Ombudsman Services of Contra Costa, Solano and Alameda offers individuals and their families amazing services to navigate the journey of aging through person-centered advocacy, education, and collaborative leadership. The problem was that their audience didn’t know who they were or all they had to offer.
Ombudsman Services didn’t know how to leverage their results to build awareness and gain support, and their processes needed an update to maximize efficiencies and effectiveness.
My focus has been to hear what they’re doing, leverage their work, and build it into a fully integrated marketing communications tactics.
The starting point with Ombudsman Services was social media marketing but, as mentioned above, I wanted to start threading in the bigger picture and the overarching strategies I had in mind for the client. Ombudsman Services has a strong brand and I wanted to help add more detail and personality to make their voice stronger for greater exposure. Utilizing Nicole, her strong voice, industry expertise and vision, Nicole is spokesperson audiences are relating to, recognizing, and reaching out to for thought leadership.
Taylor (our Q2Mark copywriter and social media director) performed an audit of all social media platforms, and together we made recommendations on how to realign each profile with their brand for more cohesiveness. We developed new graphic elements, actionable copy that told their story, as well as call-to-actions.
Because the Ombudsman organization thrives on donations, we needed to implement the use of Facebook and Instagram fundraising and donation tools. One of our first actions was to register Ombudsman Services with Facebook as a nonprofit – this was a huge opportunity they were missing in terms of fundraising efforts – to get the buttons, links, and call-to-actions added to their profiles.
Taylor and I then developed and executed a social media policy and strategy for the team. We worked to define key messaging concepts, and then through the use of a variety of platforms including Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube, we proposed and published monthly content bringing forth their branding and Nicole to demonstrate their industry leadership.
We saw an increase in traction from our focus on monthly social media content. Our work included daily monitoring to engage with Ombudsman Services audiences and monthly reporting for Nicole to share with her board on all our successes. As we seg-wayed into COVID, things changed rapidly for Ombudsman Services. It was vital that Nicole and her team had to remain visible, as they were frontline responders and voices for the older adults that were isolated from friends and family members, so that meant really leaning into the strengths of social media. As the news was being released on the pandemic’s impacts on long-term care and the elderly, Taylor and I were developing responses on Nicole’s behalf calling elected officials to action. We also worked round the clock to promote and share localized resources that seniors or their families could connect to throughout the greater Bay Area.
Email marketing is still a huge communications vehicle. We don’t know precisely when their audiences are going to consume, so being able to touch them with an omnichannel type of focus gives us more chances to reach them.
Ombudsman Services had an extensive contact list through their fieldwork, but again they weren’t utilizing it for visibility. Nicole had created an email account through MailChimp, but it was sitting idle. Taylor took hold of the account, implementing branding tactics and building out a database system segmenting contacts for optimal communications.
Taylor and I also pitched, developed, and facilitated the distribution of monthly content and news items to meet Nicole’s goal of sending out regular content.
After several months of this original monthly content, we had a new idea to repurpose the heartfelt stories, successes, and news items of Ombudsman Services for even more reach by adding the newsletters as blog posts to their website. Nicole loved this idea and agreed. So, we got to work setting up a blog section on OmbudsmanServices.org and began importing the content that now leverages the power of Ombudsman Services through a new medium.
Quarterly newsletters and annual reports are vital for a nonprofit as they keep donors, board members, partners, and the community informed of the organization’s achievements and funding successes while continuing to empower and engage their audiences on their mission.
Ombudsman Services has a really sharp, bright, and engaging brand, so Taylor and I worked to hone the voice of their messaging while buttoning up their design and layout. Q2Mark worked with Nicole and her team remotely through email and virtual working sessions to mine the data and information needed to craft and refine these pieces.
As mentioned above, the Ombudsman Services brand is killer and on point for their organization and audiences. As any good business does, they have equally beautiful assets and collateral. With a handful of new tools in production, Q2Mark was able to step in and provide refinements and creative direction on flyers, brochures, presentations, and banners for community events.
Q2Mark also had a hand in pitching content and developing flyers and infographics for a quick turn around on initiatives that would pop up with just days’ notice. Throughout the height of the pandemic, Ombudsman Services worked in partnership with local public health departments holding a variety of information virtual events. Taylor and I collaborated with Nicole and contacts at each organization to build flyers and promotional pieces that were shared via email, social media, and print.
One of the purest forms of social proof is having a strong following and engagement where your audience is most active. For Ombudsman Services, that’s Facebook.
The more likes a business, the more its audience will see all the great work being done. It encourages followers to share it, engage with it, and get involved, ultimately building a foundation for greater support. So, in the case of Ombudsman Services, when they ask the community for help, they are more proactive in giving back to the organization.
The Facebook Like Campaign was a tactic I pitched to Nicole, and she loved the idea. So, I moved forward with a campaign targeted to the people in their geographical region, at her request, vs. a broader target market.
With an organization so involved in legislation, like Ombudsman Services, tactically, it’s smart to leverage local media. Ombudsman Services has been recognized for programs like the Elder Justice League, and with Nicole being such a robust and engaging speaker on the fly, she has also been known to comment for stories in the past. When she mentioned new chances to engage, I jumped at the chance to leverage Nicole’s strengths for greater media relations and leverage appearances to share Ombudsman Services’ leadership demonstrations via social media and email marketing communications.
When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and began to severely impact public health among the elderly and specifically Ombudsman Services’ ability to visit and inspect facilities, Nicole and her team had to take quick action. They needed to communicate what was happening and how it was impacting the community. As the story evolved, so did their response, and Nicole continued to team up with the media to call upon decision-makers for increased oversight and more solutions. To help Nicole remain vocal through all of this, Q2Mark was ready at a moment’s notice to support her efforts again via social media and email communications, driving traffic back to their website and COVID-19 resource center. Q2Mark also crafted a statement and press release in response to a COVID-19 outbreak sadly and severely impacting a local facility in the Ombudsman Services community.
As the pandemic continued and the world was starting to settle into an unfortunate yet seemingly new normal, Nicole and the Ombudsman team were looked to as experts and industry leaders. They demonstrated time and time again solutions on how to move forward in the world of older adults and elder care, given their emergency response at the beginning and height of the pandemic. Nicole continued to be featured in localized and national media, including KQED, The San Francisco Chronicle, California Healthline, Mercury News, East Bay Times, The New York Times, the Associated Press, and NBC News. We shared the publications socially and as highlights via Ombudsman Services monthly newsletters to capitalize on these appearances. Taylor and I also pitched the idea of redeveloping the News section on the Ombudsman website to house all of these appearances, making it a hub for their work to help give another clear demonstration of Ombudsman Services’ impact.
Alameda County Area Agency also contacted Nicole on Aging, who requested an article for their quarterly senior publication. We jumped on this project for her to develop a piece within ten days that highlighted the COVID-19 era from an ombudsman’s point of view as well as the impact on ombudsman fieldwork.
Alameda County Area Agency also contacted Nicole on Aging, who requested an article for their quarterly senior publication. We jumped on this project for her to develop a piece within ten days that highlighted the COVID-19 era from an ombudsman’s point of view as well as the impact on ombudsman fieldwork.
It’s no secret that the emergency work Nicole and her team were doing was making waves, and our strategies to keep them visible were paying off. On June 25, 2020, Nicole was asked to testify at The Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Hearing: Examining the COVID-19 Nursing Home Crisis. Taylor and I immediately jumped in to help Nicole prepare and then pitched pre-and post-hearing campaign ideas highlighting Nicole’s appearance. We started by updating her professional bio, reviewed talking points to help her testimony flow, discussed outfit ideas, and assisted in lighting and camera set up through pre-hearing test runs.
We wanted EVERYONE to attend and know about Nicole’s opportunity to speak for a movement of older adults and their families, so we developed social media promos and an e-blast to their database of over 3,000 contacts asking for supporters to tune in and view the hearing. On the day of the hearing, we sent out one final blast calling for viewership support. After the hearing concluded, we worked repurposing the video of Nicole’s testimony and call to action, adding the content to YouTube, the Ombudsman Services website, social media, and email.
Above we briefly touched on the idea of using Nicole as the attractive character and spokesperson for Ombudsman Services. Not only does Nicole have over two decades of boots-on-the-ground experience, but her passion and expertise shine through when she is speaking – Nicole is a true industry leader. So, showcasing her is a no-brainer. Taylor and I pitched the idea of developing a landing page on the Ombudsman Services website that housed her media contributions and told Nicole’s story and demonstrated why she and the Ombudsman Team are the go-to sources for the elder care industry.
Next, I worked with Nicole to do a new photoshoot to update her headshots. I helped remotely source local photographers in the Bay Area. I also provided hair, make-up, outfit recommendations, and direction on posing. Once we had these new headshots in hand, we went to work on developing her bio flyer and other website content to showcase Nicole. Amid working to boost Nicole’s positioning, she was selected as one of Congressman Garamendi’s 2020 Woman of the Year. This was a HUGE honor and a big opportunity to demonstrate the power and impact of Nicole’s work once again. And I think you know what comes next, a campaign of course! Leading up to the virtual ceremony, we developed several social media and email promos celebrating this recognition while also calling for supporters to register and tune into the event. After the event aired, I, of course, added it to the Ombudsman Services YouTube channel and cut down Nicole’s speech and engagement with Congressman Garamendi to snippets that we could easily share on social media.
At Ombudsman Services, their programs are the backbone of the organization. One of their annual programs was an elder justice symposium held each June to bring together community members and senior service professionals to network and hear from other organizations and leaders in the elder justice realm. This program aimed to enhance the work senior service providers offered and spread the word on new efficiencies in combating elder abuse and neglect. As the age-old story now goes, COIVD hit canceling the in-person event. Taylor and I immediately met with Nicole and brainstormed ways to redevelop the program bringing the same valuable content but in a different format. The collaborative idea that was settled on was a monthly Lunch & Learn session that brought in a new featured speaker and a discussion on various topics related to fighting for elder justice. The Q2Mark team worked on pitching and developing every touchpoint. Taylor and I worked on naming the program, we developed logo and tagline concepts, proposed and developed the event landing page on the website, theme imagery, the PowerPoint template, we build out registrations systems that includes Eventbrite and MailChimp integration, and a monthly promo system via social media, email, the Patch, local directories, Facebook events, and LinkedIn events among others to promote each monthly session. Once all of the pieces were in place, we launched the Elder Justice Lunch & Learn series with two months of promotions, a press release, and specially curated content for event sponsors and guests to share via their social media, email, and websites. I also worked with Nicole and her team to initially train them to produce a webinar via Zoom and StreamYard.
Another program we worked to help Nicole launch was Friendly Visiting and Telephone Reassurance. While this program had a name and a structure in place, we needed to build its presence. To prepare the program for launch, Taylor and I proposed copy ideas for a new landing page on the Ombudsman Services website. We also presented themed imagery and developed flyers and brochures for the program itself as well as literature and content for volunteer recruiting. We developed an entire campaign when the program launched, including a press release, social media, and email marketing communications. Since the start of this program, we have also developed a variety of promotions to help build both a client list and a volunteer roster.
One program that Ombudsman Services had developed in collaboration with two other local organizations, known as Healthcare Career Pathway (HCP), had grown rapidly. This program was an initiative designed to provide opportunities for students with addressable barriers to enter the medical field as fully trained CNAs and it had been recognized as a part of the statewide Master Plan for Aging Local Playbook as proven program for replication. Because of this growth and acknowledgement, the HCP collaborative was ready to expand but needed help developing their budget ask content. Taylor and I jumped in to help develop their budget flyer and a supporting social media and email campaign that included promos which asked for community members and partners to send in letters of support and calls to action. In addition, to help fully build out the brand of this program, we also worked to pitch and then develop logo ideas that spoke to the heart of the services provided to the students, but also the answer to a need that program was offering – a direct response to the CNA staffing crisis.
For a non-profit, donors are a significant driver of everything they do. When we started working with Ombudsman Services, they weren’t as visible as they needed to be and didn’t capitalize on their accomplishments to help highlight fundraising. At nearly every meeting with Nicole on the spot, I proposed different donor contribution promotion strategies, either highlighting the stories she was sharing or the impact that Ombudsman Services had on the community, and Nicole loved the ideas. Taylor and I developed a field story form for employees to record their work, effectively building a database content to curate monthly donor outreach content. We also helped Nicole and her team build campaigns, via social media and email, around their Tablet Turnover Program, which collected money for new tablets for long-term care residents to keep them connected with family during isolation and a month-long COVID Connection Campaign in partnership with Travis Credit Union that included video messages from Nicole and each of the Ombudsman Services board members sharing the importance of OS and why their donations were vital to the community.
Video marketing is more important than ever, and when done right, it can be a powerful way for a brand to spread its message in an easy to consume and accessible way. Because Nicole is such a strong speaker, I knew I had to get her on camera. When I started working with her, she had a few guest appearances on a live podcast show and on local tv. To start, Taylor and I developed a YouTube account for Ombudsman Services to house all of the news content, the Lunch & Learn webinars, live events, and donor outreach videos. I pitched video concepts for organization updates and donor engagement content and saw them through to publishing. This includes script development, creative direction during filming, as well as post-production editing and branding – all done remotely.
At Ombudsman Services, it is clear that their team is the heartbeat of the organization, constantly making things happen on the ground. It was amazing to watch them quickly pivot to become a socially distanced advocacy machine when the pandemic started. The best part was they seemed to strengthen their vigilance even though long-term care facilities were on lockdown. But even from the beginning of our relationship, Ombudsman Services was missing out on highlighting the culture and work these individuals consistently pumped out. To bring the team forward, we started by having a new photoshoot to get a professional headshot of everyone. I remotely provided creative direction on everything from hair, make-up, and outfits to the final selection of shots for publication. Once we had a polished looking team to present, I proposed several campaign ideas for social media marketing and email marketing to highlight the teams work out in the field, individual ideas they had about the aging journey, what their work meant to clients, their continuing education opportunities that enhanced Ombudsman Services as a whole, promotions, new hires, and more. I also worked with Nicole in an HR capacity to help streamline recruiting both employees and volunteers and termination.
Nicole had come to me with thoughts about a possible name change for Ombudsman Services a couple of times, but they were still very much in their evolution mode. Now that the organization was cemented in their growth and looking at new business models, she had a feeling it was finally time to make a change. Ombudsman Services of Contra Costa, Solano, and Alameda was too long, too regional, hard to pronounce, and limited what and who the organization had become. To start, I did a full audit of their entity and made new name recommendations that helped demonstrate their work and differentiate them from other organizations. Nicole, the board, and I did an exercise to power their potential identity with each of the recommendations. The board and Nicole ended up voting on Empowered Aging, which was one of their recommendations, but the strategy and intent that I provided with the audit and identity exercise ultimately helped confirm their decision. With a new name selected, I then developed and presented the launch strategy. Everyone at the organization was on board, and Q2Mark executed.
Leveraging a name change can be an effective marketing and communication strategy that provides opportunities to build greater awareness, better demonstrate who you are as an organization, grow your database, gain donor support, and more. To start, we needed to ensure we were prepared to inform all Ombudsman Services’ stakeholders and audiences. We worked to identify each group to confirm that they were connected to the organization and ready to receive the communications. Once that was completed, we pitched and then prepared a pre-launch campaign set to begin a month before the official reveal. Tactics included a website countdown and “We’re More Than Ombudsman” messaging that spoke to the evolution of the organization throughsocial media and email marketing promotions. Our next step was to identify all brand touchpoint that needed to be updated for the transition – the website, social media platforms, donor tools, email marketing systems, CRM systems, official documentation, and more. For the reveal itself, Q2Mark proposed, developed, and distributed a host of marketing tools to officially announce the new name. These items included a press release, social media promotions, a video announcement from Executive Director Nicole Howell, an email to their database of over 3,000 contacts, and a direct mail letter that culminated with the “What Does Empowered Aging Mean to You?” virtual launch event. The launch was largely supported by several state and local government officials – Senator Steven Glazer, Senator Bill Dodd, Congressmen DeSaulnier, and Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan, whom we worked with to develop congratulatory video messages that were played during the event.
For over 16 years, Q2Mark has been working in-person and virtually with businesses and clients across the U.S. to protect, grow, and support business opportunities. While working with Ombudsman Services on a part-time basis, we have helped build effective alliances, loyal donors, awareness, and overall growth.
Ombudsman Services came to Q2Mark with big expansion goals for their programs and our marketing communication efforts helped them launch and achieve the tractions they were seeking.
Since the commencement of the Elder Justice Lunch & Learn program, it has amassed nearly 10,000 registrants from across the U.S and is in its second full year.
The Healthcare Career Pathway budget ask campaign helped Ombudsman Services and collaborative partners reach their goal of inclusion in the Governor’s budget. Over the next five years Healthcare Career Pathway will be expanding to six additional training sites across California. That means we will provide training to 630 CNAs, infusing the California economy with an estimated 23.5 million dollars, and help provide 1.3 million hours of direct resident care in their first year of work. Shortly after the budget approval, HCP was nominated for the Scan Foundations 2021 Innovation Award. For the nomination Empowered Aging was required to develop a video discussing the program and all of their successes. Q2Mark developed the script, produced the video, and did the voiceover work narrating the video.
Navigating COVID restrictions, our work to launch and help growth the Friendly Visiting and Telephone Reassurance program resulted in nearly 1,000 telephone visits and 100 in-person visits.
As mentioned above, Ombudsman Services had become so much more than a team of long-term care ombudsmen. They had become a leader in the community, supporting all seniors and their families through a variety of programs, outreach, and touchpoints, and it was time for the brand to reflect that. The marketing and communication tactics that Q2Mark provided offered Ombudsman Services the space needed to change and grow into their new name, Empowered Aging. We built out their content system and were acted as their voice at every turn by telling their stories, demonstrating their work, and helping to realize and realign their brand with what they were providing the community. Our results were so impressive that Nicole asked us to provide monthly reports to their board of directors.
Throughout COVID-19, Ombudsman Services was still considered an “on the ground team” maintaining oversight and making solutions happen for those they served. They saw first-hand the challenges and issues that older adults and their families faced due to restrictions and stay-at-home orders. Through a variety of communications tactics, we helped keep Nicole and the Ombudsman team visible, and it paid off. Nicole was selected to testify at the California State Assembly Budget Sub Committee No. 6 Hearing on COVID-19 in Skilled Nursing Facilities. She was also asked to speak locally on various panels discussing the local impact, including Senator Steven Glazer’s Town Hall.
With a focus on the local markets, Ombudsman Services $300-dollar media budget resulted in reaching over 5,000 new people, with over 8,000 impressions, and nearly 200 new page likes. We also discovered their top demographic was with females due to the 76% response rate vs. 24 % from men.
Q2Mark’s continued efforts to support Nicole through all media engagements have not only grown awareness and visibility but has also continued to result in more media appearance and speaking engagements with other community and government partners. In addition, we were able to help boost the Ombudsman Services media database with connections to NBC, The East Bay Times, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronical, KQED, and more.
Our press release distribution was targeted at 670 different media outlets and was picked up on 180 different media sites with over 2500 engagements and a potential audience of 25 million viewers.
When we started working with Ombudsman Services, they have 171 contacts. Our network growth strategies in combination with our email marketing tactics have grown the email list to 4,889 contacts. That’s an addition of 4,718 contacts and a 2,759% growth.
Q2Mark has helped create a social presence for Ombudsman Services that is memorable and engaging while working to educate their audience and communities about how to empower and protect the lifestyle of aging and older dependent adults, given the powerful and resourceful partner that Ombudsman Services is. Social media efforts have demonstrated ROI, continued growth, loyalty, and effective fundraising efforts.
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Working with Ombudsman Services part-time, Q2Mark built effective processes to attract alliances and loyal donors, raise awareness, excel in overall growth, and help transition their executive director from a local thought leader to a national authority figure working on behalf of the entire elder care industry.
• COVID Media Coverage Included Features in The New York Times, the Associated Press, and NBC
• Selected to Testify at a Congressional Hearing
• Nominated as Woman of the Year
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