wiki/clients/current/skaalen/2026-03-monthly-marketing-call.md · 1352 words · 2026-04-05

Skaalen Monthly Marketing Call — March 2026

Overview

Monthly marketing review for [1]. Covered resolution of a WordPress/Beaver Builder site outage, finalization of open house campaign logistics for March, February performance metrics, and Q1 OKR proposals. Nick (new Skaalen team member, backup to Dawn) attended his first day on the job.

Date: March 2026
Attendees:
- Melissa Cusumano (Asymmetric — account lead)
- Sebastian Gant (Asymmetric — supporting)
- Mark Hope (Asymmetric)
- Avokerie Onorimuo (Asymmetric)
- Dawn Zaemisch (Skaalen)
- Kris Krentz (Skaalen)
- Nick (Skaalen — new, first day; backup to Dawn on web/social/HubSpot)


Key Decisions


Action Items

Owner Task
Melissa Send Q1 OKR proposal to Dawn
Melissa Send Community Finder draft questionnaire to Dawn
Melissa Investigate 40% YoY drop in February ad impressions (snowbird/holiday hypothesis)
Melissa Create new unit flyers using provided photos and floor plans with dimensions
Melissa Add new badges to Volunteers page and About Us page
Melissa Create website banner for open house
Melissa Send open house email on Mar 12; send follow-up email on Mar 18
Melissa Schedule open house social posts for Mar 12 and Mar 18
Chris Follow up with Brianna on broken ADP career page images
Dawn Provide flyer copy/text for new units
Dawn Confirm Nick's email address for future communications

Website Technical Issues

Problem: Site went down due to a compatibility conflict between WordPress v8.8 (auto-updated) and the Beaver Builder page builder plugin.

Resolution: Rolled back to WordPress v8.2. Full site functionality restored.

Validation: Melissa submitted a test form during the call; the contact appeared in HubSpot within minutes, confirming the WordPress-to-HubSpot integration was intact.

Note: The site's nav and footer remained visible during the outage (only Beaver Builder content areas were blank), so some users were still able to navigate and request materials via email. Plugin compatibility checks currently happen at end-of-month; mid-month auto-updates can still cause breakage.

"Next time we'll be ready." — Kris Krentz


Website Content Updates


February Performance Review

Metric Value Notes
Impressions ~4,000 ↓ 40% vs. prior period
Click-Through Rate 9% Strong; includes all campaigns
Top search terms "Skaalen," "Skaalen Retirement," "Skaalen Heights" Branded terms dominate clicks
Competitor campaigns Low yield Consistent with other clients

The 40% impression drop is likely seasonal — snowbirds away in February, Valentine's Day reducing search intent mid-month. Melissa to pull year-over-year data to confirm whether this is a recurring February pattern.

Branded searches drive the majority of clicks, indicating strong name recognition in the local market. Non-branded and competitor campaigns underperform by comparison — a key motivation for Q1 OKR focus on non-branded SEO and ads.

Google Analytics (GA4)

Metric Value
Sessions ~2,400
New Users ~1,900
Top traffic source Direct (37%)
Organic Search 28%
Paid Search 21%
Top landing pages Homepage, Careers
Primary device Desktop

Direct traffic is the largest channel, consistent with strong brand recognition. Desktop dominates, likely reflecting adult children researching options during work hours.

Google Search Console


Q1 OKR Proposals

Melissa will send the full written OKR document to Dawn and Chris for review. Summary below.

Objective 1: Improve Non-Branded Search Visibility

Key Results:
- Improve average position for "assisted living in Stoughton" from 9.3 → 5.0
- Publish 3 competitor/neighborhood comparison guides
- Refresh all website meta titles and descriptions (full audit)

Objective 2: Optimize Google Ads

Key Results:
- Complete a full Google Ads audit (in progress at time of call)
- Implement A/B testing on new non-branded campaigns (emphasizing continuum of care and 125-year heritage)
- Fix high-impression, low-CTR content gaps

Objective 3: Build a Customer Journey Wizard

Key Results:
- Develop an interactive questionnaire to route users to the correct community (Independent / Assisted / Skilled Nursing)
- Grow the Skaalen Ridge waitlist
- Increase qualified leads from the website

The wizard logic: answers are scored/keyed to care level. Example criteria discussed — ability to rise from a chair independently, need for one vs. two-person assist, memory/cognitive changes, need for skilled medical care. Dawn has a clinical version from Simone; Melissa has a top-level UX draft. These will be merged.

Objective 4: Execute Open House & New Construction Marketing

Key Results:
- Open house materials developed ✅ (complete)
- Website banner for open house (in progress)
- Pre-marketing flyers for new units (in progress — awaiting copy from Dawn)


Open House Campaign Details

Copy note: "Meet our new in-house staff" was updated to "Meet our therapy team" (some therapists are new in-house, some are not; "team" preferred over "staff").


Notable Context


Sources

  1. Index|Skaalen Retirement Services
  2. Index|Skaalen Client Overview
  3. Q1 2026 Okrs|Skaalen Q1 2026 Okrs
  4. Customer Journey Wizard