MARKETING & RECRUITMENT
Embedded Files
Planning and implementing a successful marketing campaign for the National Respite Care Provider Training (NRCPT) involves several key steps to communicate to the public and ensure people learn about and register for the course. Whether you've done marketing and recruitment in the past or you're starting with a blank slate and need more experience, this portion of the Toolkit will give you the methods and materials used to market the NRCPT during a 12-month pilot project that resulted in 2,277 learners registering for the course.
Having the mentality that you're competing against other workforce positions like gas stations, supermarkets, and fast-food restaurants that may pay more per hour is not the right mindset when conducting this recruitment campaign. Effective communication and using language in promotional materials emphasizing the value of respite care and what people who provide the break for family caregivers are doing to change the lives of family caregivers' care recipients is critical. Other highlights of providing respite care include:
Having flexible work hours.
Opportunities for skill development and learning.
Have fun while you work.
A position that can align with your interests or values by providing meaningful moments and creative engagement with care recipients.
Potential for advancement or career growth.
The Internet is a tool for marketing and recruitment. Posting flyers on social media and hosting webinars with informational sessions can be helpful. However, phone calls, texting, emails, showing up in person at conferences to either present about National Respite Care Provider Training or exhibit at a booth, and hanging up promotional materials around your community are other ways to embark on your recruitment journey.
***CLICK ON THE SECTIONS BELOW TO LEARN MORE***
***CLICK ON THE SECTIONS BELOW TO LEARN MORE***
Effective Strategies
Awareness in your messaging is critical. Refrain from assuming that everyone knows what respite care is. It's up to the person or people doing the marketing and recruitment outreach to clarify the definition of respite care and the opportunities that respite care providers will receive by providing family caregivers with breaks. It's also essential to relay in your messaging that no experience is necessary—anyone can learn!
Effective marketing and recruitment campaigns often rely on a combination of strategies tailored to the specific goals, target audience, and resources available. You will set yourself up for your highest level of success by defining specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for your outreach campaign. Start by picking your favorite online spreadsheet to help you get started and organized, and create an outreach metrics tracker and dashboard. On your spreadsheet, you will want to track the measurables and accountability for each person responsible for outreach. Have a minimum goal you must meet and a striving goal you aim to reach. Measurables can include, but are not limited to, how many hours of invested outreach, outreach attempts, and scheduled meetings. For an example template, click here.
Finding people who want to make a difference in others' lives is the first step in creating your talent pool. Do the research, collect contact information, and make a list of community colleges, universities, high schools (HOSA - Future Health Professionals), volunteer organizations, faith-based organizations, wellness communities, rotary clubs, retired senior centers, libraries, retired nursing associations, workforce development, and employment agencies, and veteran organizations. Once you have your talent pool list, it's time to start doing outreach! It's important to document who you reached out to, when you reached out to them, how you reached out (email, phone call, in-person meeting, etc.), and schedule the next time you need to contact them again.
It's important to remember that making "cold calls" might seem foreign and, quite frankly, uncomfortable for most people. Remind yourself that your goal is to spread awareness about the valuable training opportunity that can benefit family caregivers and increase the availability of trained respite care workers. Emphasizing your message's positive impact on individuals and communities can help you feel more confident and motivated in your outreach efforts. When you believe in the value of what you're offering, it becomes easier to communicate that enthusiasm to others.
Keeping your outreach and promotional material diverse is as critical as culturally responsive care for the masses. Have intentional outreach to underserved populations, and keep your promotional materials and flyers diverse, showcasing different races, sexes, ages, and abilities. Pick your favorite online graphic design tool to make promotional materials, or hire someone to make your promotional materials, depending on your budget. Be sure to save your flyers or any other electronic materials as JPG (best for sharing) or PNG (best for images and illustrations) if you want to save your file as an image for sharing on social media. Saving as a PDF file is best for printing your materials.
Example of Promotional Materials
On the promotional materials for the NRCPT, use language that emphasizes the importance of respite, the benefits of working as a respite provider, and the free training opportunity. Highlight things like:
FREE Respite Care Training
Make a difference in your community! Become a respite care provider.
Everyone needs a break, especially people who are caring for someone they love. If you enjoy caring for others, you can give them that break when you learn how to become a respite care provider.
Help families in need
Choose your hours
Earn extra money
Change lives
The FREE Respite Care Provider Training program will help you provide respite care as a job or volunteer activity. You’ll learn everything you need to know about working with people with disabilities of all ages and their families. See what’s included—and learn how to register for this free course!
Realistic Job Expectations
Respite care workers provide invaluable services to families and, depending on the needs of the care recipient, they may be expected to assist with activities of daily living (ADLs): eating, bathing/showering, grooming (hair and oral care), walking, transferring, dressing/undressing, medication reminders, and toileting, if state or agency regulations allow. Some care recipients may only need reminders for ADLs, with cueing and assisting. Some people will not need help with these things and will only need companion care services for their safety. In some states, this may be all the respite providers are permitted to do.
Different respite providers may offer various services and be uncomfortable providing all the activities. For example, some respite providers may not give medications or do lifts and transfers. Depending on diagnoses, respite care workers can sometimes expect to help care recipients during challenging moments. It's essential for the people providing the care to learn as much about the care recipient from their families and to ask for what helps during these moments.
Some family caregivers might need light housekeeping, cooking, running errands, and transportation assistance. These activities should be discussed with the provider if these are tasks included in their responsibilities. However, a respite care worker's main priority is to provide high-quality care to the recipient so the caregiver can take a break.
Below are examples of marketing pieces used to promote the National Respite Care Provider Training.
Logos for Marketing Materials
Click this link to download a JPG file of the National Logo and Disclaimer Statement.
If you wish to obtain logos separately or in different sizes, please email info@respiteprovidertraining.com.
Lessons Learned
The following are lessons learned from the pilot project related to marketing and recruitment:
Ensure dedicated staff time to work on marketing and outreach to recruit potential respite providers.
Agencies involved in the pilot were most successful when they had dedicated staff time to work on marketing and outreach on an ongoing basis. It is recommended to block time by setting recurring calendar appointments each week on the same day or develop another way to dedicate time each week to marketing and outreach efforts.
It’s all about relationships!
Agencies involved in the pilot were most successful when they established and maintained strong relationships with key partners who could assist with recruitment. Once trust was established, partners were more likely to help pass along information about the NRCPT to potential learners and even helped agencies connect with new partners.
Disclaimer Language for Marketing Materials
Please review the NRCPT Terms and Conditions of Use before proceeding. You agree, by accessing and using the Replication Toolkit Materials, including marketing materials, that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by all legal terms. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ALL OF THE LEGAL TERMS IN THE AFOREMENTIONED DISCLAIMER AND TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE, THEN YOU ARE EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED FROM ACCESSING OR USING THE REPLICATION TOOLKIT MATERIALS, INCLUDING MARKETING MATERIALS, AND YOU MUST DISCONTINUE USE IMMEDIATELY.
***If you wish to make changes to NRCPT core curriculum courses or only utilize some of the courses, you must no longer claim nor represent that the training meets the NRCPT Professional Core Competencies and no longer use the NRCPT logo to promote training on any marketing materials, websites, social media, etc.***
You must include the following in all marketing materials:
Utilize the National Logo and Disclaimer Statement, "This project is supported by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $942,520 with 75 percentage funded by ACL/HHS and $312,845 amount and 25 percentage funded by non-government source(s). The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACL/HHS, or the U.S. Government.
NASHP would also like to thank The John A. Hartford Foundation for providing the non-government matching funds for this project."
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse