Lindsay’s Silver Lights Senior Services uses Digital Transformation grant to capture what makes it different
For seniors in the Lindsay area, Silver Lights Senior Services feels more like family than service. “Our staff don’t just go in, give you a bath and then walk out, they spend the time getting to know the clients and building that trust and friendship with them,” says Susan Fisher, managing director of Silver Lights Senior Services. “We’re kind of like extended family for a lot of clients.”
Team members do grocery runs and bring in cleaners, they visit seniors in nursing homes for a few hours of socializing and pop by for check-ins when someone is feeling off or a little ill. It’s a stopgap, says Fisher, a private service spun out of a need for companionship amongst the area’s aging population. But despite the need, it’s been challenging to effectively advertise the business’s services as it grows.
Founded in 2019 by Tammy Adams, Silver Lights Senior Services has been funnelling its resources into growing its offering and adapting to the colossal needs the pandemic created. “When the pandemic hit, everybody was pulling their loved ones out of long-term care and bringing them home, but they didn't have the support that they needed at home to care for their loved ones.”
Around that time, Silver Lights Seniors Services introduced a team of Personal Support Workers to expand their services. “We opened our adult day program for dementia in November of 2022,” she says. “It has just been growing exponentially since then.”
Advertising has fallen to the side.
“When you don't have the funds to market yourself, you’re not making those meaningful connections with your potential clients,” says Fisher. “We want people to know that this service exists in the community and we're truly here for them and want to make a difference.”
This past year, Silver Lights Senior Services decided to focus in on its branding. Fisher heard about Digital Main Street, a program combining grants and one-to-one support from the Province of Ontario alongside partners to help main street businesses strengthen their online capabilities and plan for the digital future. She saw the $2,500 Digital Transformation Grant and training as an opportunity to strategically invest in their marketing materials.
Through the training, Fisher says she really learned how to hone in on the business’s differentiator and come up with strategic ways to illustrate that.
First up was professional photographs. “Getting this grant and having a professional photographer come and work with our clients and get these beautiful professional action shots of our clients enjoying the day program and services meant the world to us,” says Fisher. “We wouldn’t have been able to do that without the grant.”
They’re also in the process of shooting a promotional video to highlight the business’s services.
“Having these images and this promotional video of our actual clients enjoying themselves and laughing and talking together really brings that personalized feel to the website and our social media,” says Fisher. “It goes along with our vision and mission.”
The video will showcase real-life clients and their stories as well as how the business has helped, something Fisher hopes will spur other seniors in similar situations to reach out.
“It is such a rewarding feeling to know that we’re making a difference and we want to let people know that we still have spaces available here… we could help so many more people,” she says. “Getting the word out there (has been) the hard part so this will really help.”
To learn more about Silver Lights Senior Services you can visit their website here, and check them out on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X).
To learn more about Digital Main Street's programs and how we can help your business visit here.
Digital Main Street was created by the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) with direct support from the City of Toronto. DMS is also supported by a group of strategic business partners, including Google, Mastercard, Shopify, Meta, Intuit QuickBooks, Square, Lightspeed, Ebay and Canada Post.
Continued investment from the Province of Ontario, through the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade (MEDJCT) has allowed the ongoing expansion the Digital Main Street Platform in order to support more businesses going digital across Ontario.
