Marketing drug rehab to families during the holidays has always been very necessary. The holidays have always presented challenges to individuals struggling with addiction. For some, the holidays represent family conflicts, financial difficulties and loneliness. Now, those challenges have increased exponentially. Since the holiday season last year, the world has been turned upside down by a deadly pandemic. What does this do to digital marketing for addiction treatment?
Many people find the holiday season difficult. A Google search on the subject will certainly confirm that. Nearly a quarter of the population traditionally suffers some form of seasonal mood changes at the holiday season. During this time, alcohol-related and drug-related deaths always go up. In the year of the pandemic, such figures are certain to be even worse. Marketing drug rehab to families during the holidays has become more necessary than ever before.
The holidays are well known for causing feelings of loneliness. Now factor in the effects of nine or ten months of quarantine and social distancing. Ever since the pandemic began, substance abuse has been on the rise. Alcohol sales went through the roof in March and April.
Marketing Drug Rehab to Families During the Holidays Has Become Especially Critical This Year
“Drug rehab marketing can’t go into some kind of sleep mode during the holidays,” says Dan Gemp, CEO of Dreamscape Marketing. “That’s always the case. However, it’s going to be imperative this year to market during the holidays due to what we’ve experienced with COVID in the last eight months.”
In a way, seasonal holiday depression began back in March. All this time, we have been experiencing the holiday blues and just didn’t realize it. That may seem like an exaggeration but it isn’t. The same feelings of loneliness and isolation have been felt. The same feelings of sadness have been experienced by tens of millions of people during quarantines and social distancing. Marketing drug rehab to families during the holidays is really no different than marketing to them at any other time during the pandemic.
What ratchets up stress and depression during the holidays? Generally, it’s one or more of the following:
- Finances: This is always a sensitive area. The pandemic, of course, threw many people out of work. Many of them remain out of work, and that becomes a particularly painful thought during the holidays. How can you give gifts when you’re out of work? How do you avoid disappointing your children? These are difficult questions to face for many this year.
- Difficult family relationships: While a challenge every year, this year is even worse. We’ve just been through an extremely divisive election, and many families are at odds politically. If there’s already a fire going, this is just more gasoline being thrown on top of it.
The Holidays Simply Emphasize the Difficult Times We Live In
This year, many extended families that normally get together during the holidays won’t do so. Due to an abundance of caution, many families have decided that safety outweighs the desire for families to be together during the holidays. For anyone who is in recovery, there are dangerous times.
Recovery is a challenging process, even under the best conditions. Clearly, these aren’t the best conditions. The temptations to relapse have been high for ten months already. Now, the prospect of a lonely holiday season will, no doubt, push many people over the edge and back into addiction. For that reason, marketing drug rehab to families during the holidays is the only way to keep this situation from spiraling even further out of control.
In addition to blogs, it would be wise to ratchet up your social media presence during this time with messages about dealing with all of the traditional holiday temptations. For those trying their best to avoid alcohol or drugs during the holidays, it’s good if they have a place to discuss these temptations. Social media can be a good outlet for such discussions.
Digital Marketing for Addiction Treatment Never Sleeps
As we discovered when the pandemic began, drug rehab marketing never got a shutdown order. While many businesses were shuttered and routines disrupted, digital marketing for addiction treatment was unaffected. It was still able to do its job without any sort of interruption. In fact, it was able to do its job better than ever. Why? Because it was reaching people where they’ve been living throughout the pandemic: online.
Marketing drug rehab to families during the holidays is an act of kindness. It’s important to get the message out that professional help is there for people during this especially trying time. People need the services you provide this holiday season. Make sure your digital marketing is doing just that.