A MAP Leads to a
Total Solution
Erickson Senior Living
What do you get when you combine passionate human partnership with breakthrough digital solutions and beautiful print? The ongoing successful relationship between Erickson Senior Living and YGS.
ERICKSON SENIOR LIVING manages continuing care retirement communities for more than 30,000 residents nationwide. The organization needed a more robust automated marketing storefront that would enable its many sales reps the ability to produce their own personalized, location-specific marketing materials and other important collateral. Working collaboratively with Erickson, YGS brought this vision to life.
The Challenge
Erickson’s sales representatives needed a way to customize on-brand collateral for specific properties, add their own contact info, have it printed at the click of a button, and have it shipped to them in an average of three business days. With so many communities in different regions, represented by so many different sales reps, it was a daunting task.
The Results
Starting with a presentation of our MAP+ (Marketing Automation Portal) solution and working collaboratively with Erickson leadership to customize this solution to fit their unique needs, YGS delivered on Erickson’s objectives—and then some. In fact, YGS brought many of its solutions teams into play for this multifaceted project, including YGS technology solutions, YGS specialty graphics, YGS print production, and YGS fulfillment.
“As a national leader in the continuing care retirement community industry, our company continues to identify new opportunities to leverage our online storefront, Erickson Branded Solutions (EBS), in ways that extend far beyond our original scope.
What started as a business enablement and brand management tool has evolved to create operational, resource, and cost efficiencies, as well as becoming a direct marketing vehicle to help improve our time to market by responding to ever-changing market conditions.
Needless to say, EBS has been a game changer for Erickson Senior Living.”
Tim Eller
Senior Director of Production –
Sales, Marketing, and Communications
Over 1,400 Products available with more on the way.
With impressive speed to market, YGS provided Erickson’s retirement community representatives with the Erickson Branded Solutions storefront. Representing 26 communities, the storefront showcases over 1,400 available products. And more great products are on their way, with monthly orders now reaching almost 250 and continuing to increase. Currently, the site offers items to support the Erickson sales team, including brochures, floor plans, welcome folders, pullup and light pole banners, and more. In addition, it includes property-specific branded pieces for current Erickson residents, like birthday cards and dining comment cards.
The YGS Group and Erickson Senior Living
- 1,400 Items Available
- 26 Uniquely Branded Properties
- Nearly 250 orders shipped per month
- 3 Business days from order to ship
- Averaging 221,000 pieces printed per month
- 4 YGS Solutions
Promo, Apparel, and Print
Customized promotional items and apparel are powerful tools to heighten brand awareness. YGS can help you get the high-impact products you need, branded to represent your community. Additional printed items are also available to promote the communities. For example, luncheon campaign pieces can be sent to prospects inviting them to a particular community to learn more and to take a tour (the logistics behind just this one component are incredibly complex!). YGS even has a direct relationship with Erickson’s paper supplier to ensure stock availability on all products, proving to be highly valuable as paper availability becomes more and more challenging.
On-going improvements and growth
In recent weeks, more large format and specialty graphic items have been added to the EBS storefront in an effort to expand site functionality. Erickson communities can now easily order
products such as signs, banners, and posters. Erickson and YGS also extended storefront access beyond Erickson employees, creating ShopErickson, a place where family members of community residents can order items like flowers or candy, among other helpful services. Other great things are on the horizon, too, like highly targeted on-demand direct mail and email, web and digital asset delivery, and Salesforce integration, all powered by YGS.
Together, Erickson Senior Living and the total solutions offered by YGS are delivering a powerful, scalable portal that meets its many users’ expanding needs.