Like other life plan communities, Beatitudes Campus, Phoenix, AZ, markets the benefits of its community using a variety of familiar strategies, but this LeadingAge member also makes sure to involve the real experts on living there: current residents.

Among the most popular marketing events involving residents is “Music & Wine,” a concert series that brings prospective residents to campus and makes it easy for them to mingle and talk with current ones in a relaxed setting—with a very low-key marketing pitch.

“We [wanted] a unique way to have our residents engage with future prospects in a casual setting,” says Jonathan Gibbs, Beatitudes’ director, future resident engagement, about the concept that was launched in spring 2023. “We decided to advertise a free musical experience to the general public and invite residents to come too, in hopes [they would] interact with the guests on an informal basis to hear about the Beatitudes.”

Music & Wine, one of many tactics Beatitudes deploys, is held one Friday a month from 6:30 – 8 p.m. Gibbs welcomes the guests and gives a very brief “elevator speech” in which he encourages the visitors to meet the residents in the room and ask questions about living at Beatitudes, before introducing the entertainment. Guests are served wine and usually a snack. Music & Wine draws 100-150 people to each performance; according to Gibbs, that group usually includes 20-30 prospective residents.

Performers have included a father/daughter guitar and fiddle duo, a virtuoso violinist and piano duo, a harpist, an Elton John tribute show, a local community choir, and a group of Arizona State University music and theater professors who perform together in a group, the “Flyin’ Winds.” One night, the latter group provided an unexpected bonus, Gibbs says, when its leader spontaneously told the audience about the positive experience she and her family had when her late mother lived at Beatitudes.

Ads for the events—on local radio and in newspapers—ask guests to RSVP in advance, and visitors are asked to fill out information cards, but the marketing message is more subdued than at other events, Gibbs says.

“Our residents are excited to get free, first-class entertainment, and our guests are getting to experience a slice of campus life in an engaging, non-salesy way,” he adds. Beatitudes has been able to schedule a good number of follow-up tours and has gained depositors as a result of these experiences.

Gibbs has integrated residents into other marketing initiatives, including “lunch and learns” with simple presentations about the community, lifestyle, and levels of care. Another was a recent panel event that paired a realtor and a downsizing expert to give an educational talk about market trends and how to prepare a house for sale, followed by a discussion with residents who had all been through the process and answered audience questions.

Open houses, with independent living model apartments on display, are Beatitudes’ latest resident-inclusive function. “Resident ambassadors will be available along the way to help direct and welcome prospects,” Gibbs explains.“And then in the actual apartments will be the residency counselors that are going to talk to them about the nuts and bolts of the apartments and prices.”

Gibbs says he’s always impressed with how engaging current residents are with prospects. “At Music & Wine, when I give my little speech, I always say, ‘You’re going to be sitting next to residents that live here, and you can ask them anything you want.’ I always make the joke that I’m not afraid of anything they’re going to tell you. Because I know that whatever they say, in the end, they’re going to tell you they are happy living here.”

Photo: A Music & Wine performance featuring Flyin’ Winds, a group from Arizona State University. Photo courtesy of Beatitudes Campus.

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