Home care marketing in Encinitas:
a direct mail plan for senior care

Cardiff-by-the-Sea (92007)

Cardiff has its own ZIP Code, with hillside homes above the ocean and older cottages near San Elijo Lagoon. Many owners have been here a long time, and the hillside streets and stairs can get harder to manage with age.

• What to offer: help that keeps people at home: errands, meals, light housework and rides to appointments, plus more care after a hospital stay. A free in-home assessment is an easy first step.
• How to mail: EDDM® to all of Cardiff. It is small enough to cover the whole ZIP Code every month or so.

Olivenhain (92024)

Founded as a farming colony in the 1880s, Olivenhain is still semi-rural, with winding roads, horse trails and custom homes on large lots. Many owners have lived here for decades, and incomes are high. A big property is a lot to keep up alone, and the nearest neighbor may be a long walk away.

• What to offer: full-service home care, live-in or around-the-clock care, memory care at home and a care manager the family can reach any time.
• How to mail: a mailing list filtered by age and length of residence, since the homes are spread out. Fewer, better cards on heavier stock fit these roads.

Old Encinitas and Leucadia (92024)

West of Interstate 5, along the 101, beach cottages and mid-century homes mix with condos, apartments and new rebuilds. Many residents are young renters, but some original owners have stayed for decades, often living alone in the house they bought long ago.

• What to offer: a few hours a week of help, a friendly visit, and rides to the doctor or the store. Clear hourly rates help.
• How to mail: a mailing list of households by age, rather than whole routes. Many homes here are rentals, so a list reaches the long-time owners without paying for every door.

New Encinitas, Village Park and Encinitas Ranch (92024)

East of the freeway, New Encinitas and Village Park were built mostly in the 1980s and 90s, and Encinitas Ranch in the 1990s around a public golf course. These are family neighborhoods. Few residents need care themselves, but many are the grown children who arrange it for a parent in Cardiff, Olivenhain or a nearby city.

• What to offer: peace of mind: updates after every visit, respite care so the family caregiver can take a break, and help for a parent who lives close by. For assisted living, a tour the whole family can join on a weekend.
• Timing: before Thanksgiving, when families get together, and again in January.
• How to mail: EDDM®. Nearly every home here is a family, so whole routes reach them at the lowest cost per card.

Home care or assisted living: who to mail in Encinitas

• Home care agencies can mail every home on the routes they serve with EDDM®, or use a mailing list to reach households by age and how long they have lived in the home. In Encinitas, EDDM® fits Cardiff and the family routes, and a list fits Olivenhain and the rental-heavy streets by the beach. The table above shows where older residents and seniors living alone are most common.
• Assisted living and memory care communities do best mailing every home within a few miles, since families want a parent close by. Pick the routes around your community in our EDDM® route planner and keep the card about the community itself.
• Both should mail the same homes again and again. Families often take months to decide, and the card on the counter when they are ready is the one they call.

Mail also works well beyond homes. Doctors' offices, discharge planners at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas and senior centers refer families every week, and a card or letter to them a few times a year keeps your name in mind. Ask us about a mailing to referral partners in Encinitas and nearby coastal cities.

A year of senior care mailings in Encinitas

You don't need every mailing. Most Encinitas agencies and communities start by mailing the same nearby routes every month or so, then add the seasonal cards. Our senior care direct mail guide has more ideas for each one.

What every Encinitas senior care postcard should include

• Your license number. Home care organizations and assisted living communities (Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly, or RCFEs) in California are licensed by the Department of Social Services. Showing the number tells families you are legitimate.
• Who pays, said plainly. Medicare generally does not pay for ongoing non-medical help at home or for assisted living. Don't suggest that it does. Say whether you accept long-term care insurance or veterans benefits, if you do.
• Offers spelled out: what a free assessment or a move-in special includes and when it ends.
• For assisted living, describe the community, not the residents you want. Rooms, care, meals, activities and your location. Communities are housing, and fair housing rules apply to their advertising.
• Large type and a phone number a person answers. Many readers are older, and many callers want to talk to someone right away.
• Where you are in Encinitas, with a landmark people know and the areas you serve.

These are general points, not legal advice. Your licensing office or an attorney can confirm the exact wording, and we adjust any design to match.

Get a quote for your Encinitas mailing

Tell us which neighborhoods and services you want to focus on. We'll reply with a price for printing and mailing, and the routes or list we recommend.