Marketing for Care Homes and Home Care Providers

CQC ratings in your marketing

Regulation 20A of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires CQC-rated providers in England to show their most recent rating at each location and on every website maintained by or on behalf of the provider. The website display must include the CQC web address and a link to where the latest report can be read, and make clear which rating applies to which service. CQC provides a widget that updates automatically, and says it can prosecute a breach without first issuing a warning notice.

For marketing, that means every landing page we send ad traffic to carries the rating widget, and any rating mentioned in ad copy, social posts or brochures is current. Quoting an outdated 'Good' after a re-inspection would be misleading under consumer law, as well as a CQC issue. If your rating is strong, we use it: it is one of the first things families look for. In Scotland the Care Inspectorate grades services, in Wales Care Inspectorate Wales, and in Northern Ireland the RQIA.

Fees and the CMA advice

The CMA's consumer law advice for care home providers, re-issued in December 2021, says key information should be given to prospective residents upfront, including on websites, before they commit. That includes indicative weekly fees, whether the home accepts local authority funded residents, whether a third-party top-up or guarantor is needed, and any upfront payments or deposits. The CMA's market study also recommended that homes publish a copy of their standard self-funder contract.

Families research fees early, often at night after a difficult conversation. A page that shows a fee range, explains what is included and offers a visit gets more qualified enquiries than one that says 'call us for details'. We build ad landing pages around that.

Reaching the family who decides

The person searching is usually an adult child, often in their 50s or 60s, sometimes living some distance away. They search 'care homes near [parent's town]', 'nursing home with dementia care', 'respite care for elderly' or 'home care [town]'. We target the location of the home, not the searcher, so a daughter in London looking for her mother in Mansfield still sees your ad.

• Search: by care type (residential, nursing, dementia, respite, home care), each with its own landing page.
• Facebook: warm, honest content about daily life, activities and staff, plus ads promoting visits and open days.
• Call tracking: most care enquiries are phone calls, so we track them properly.

Be careful with photos of residents. Use only images with documented consent, and never imply a level of care or staffing you cannot provide every day.

Recruitment that fills the rota

For many providers, staff are as hard to find as residents. We run recruitment campaigns on Facebook and Instagram, and Google Search for 'care assistant jobs [town]', sending applicants to a short mobile form. Ads should state pay, shift patterns and location clearly, and avoid wording that discourages applicants by age, sex or other protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. Where Meta classes the campaign as employment advertising, targeting by age and gender may be restricted, so creative does the filtering. See our page on recruitment marketing for more.

Measuring enquiries, visits and admissions

A care home's sales journey is slow and personal: an enquiry, a phone conversation, a visit, an assessment, then a decision that may take weeks. If the only thing measured is form fills, the ad platforms optimise for the easiest enquiries rather than the families most likely to choose you. We track calls (with a minimum duration), web enquiries and visit bookings as separate conversions in GA4 and Google Ads, and ask your home manager or enquiry software to record the source of each admission. Over a few months that shows which campaigns, care types and towns bring self-funding residents, and which simply bring phone calls. Conversion tracking set-up is £145 + VAT one-off; a Looker Studio dashboard for operators with several homes is £145 + VAT one-off.

What you get

• Search campaigns for 'care homes near [town]', 'dementia care', 'respite care' and 'home care'
• Landing pages that show the CQC rating widget, indicative fees and how to book a visit
• Facebook ads to adult children within a sensible radius, focused on visits and open days
• Care staff recruitment campaigns on Meta and Google with tracked applications
• Family newsletter and enquiry follow-up emails
• Monthly report: enquiries, visits booked, admissions where shared, and cost per applicant

How it works and what it costs

Google Ads management from £150 a month, social media management from £125 a month and email marketing from £95 a month, all + VAT. Ad spend is separate and paid to the platform. No long contracts.

1. Free review

   We look at your current ads, social, email and analytics, or your plans if you are starting out, and tell you plainly what we would change.

2. Plan and price

   You get a written plan with targets, budgets and a fixed monthly fee before anything starts.

3. Set up properly

   Tracking and consent first, then campaigns, audiences, content calendars or email flows, all in accounts you own.

4. Run and improve

   We manage it every week: search terms, bids, creative, posts and tests, cutting what does not pay and doing more of what does.

5. Report in plain English

   A monthly report on leads, sales and cost per result, not vanity numbers, with what we will do next.

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