In this third episode of the "Do Your Jobs" series, the host (Speaker A) and guest Nicole critique how NDIS providers market specialist disability accommodation (SDA) and supported independent living (SIL) services. They argue that the sector is fundamentally a relationship‑selling business, yet most providers advertise vacant rooms and property specifications rather than the lived experiences of participants. The discussion clarifies the structural distinction between SDA providers (who own/build the housing) and SIL providers (who deliver daily supports), noting that current messaging blurs these roles and confuses participants. Nicole highlights that SDA providers are beginning to use story‑driven marketing—showcasing participant success stories—while many SIL providers still focus on vacancy listings. The speakers recommend shifting marketing to LinkedIn, targeting support coordinators, plan managers, and allied health professionals, and populating content with authentic participant testimonials, day‑in‑the‑life videos, community engagement footage, and empathy‑focused narratives. They stress the need to move from “selling rooms” to “sharing lives,” positioning providers as problem‑solvers that enable dignity, inclusion, and independence, thereby differentiating one provider from another.
Chapters
Hello everybody, welcome back to my channel. Today we have the third in the series of Do Your Jobs. So this is about talking to the people in the industry and giving them some frank, direct advice about certain things. Over the weekend I was watching a particular video Doesn't matter who it was and doesn't matter where it was. The important part is the message. As most of you know, I've been banging on for a while about the way we advertise our services. I've said in the past that the NDIS sector is a relationship-selling sector. It's not a widget sector. We're not selling cars. We're not selling platforms. We're selling relationships. So if you're going to be a BDM, a relationship manager, a partnership manager, whatever that word is in the NDIS, you need to have a different mindset. One aspect of the NDIS is the SDA or SIL providers. Now, SDA is specialist Disability accommodation. They're the ones that build the house in conjunction with the builders. And there's the SIL providers, are the ones that provide the services for that house, e.g., home care services, gardening, maintenance, payment of bills, and so forth, support workers, etc., etc. Now, I have been noticing this for a while, and I actually put a post up I think nearly a year now, we talked about how the advertising of this has been just way off the charts. It's not been very, um, informative, and it has not been very much, um, targeted to the people that need to see it. Yeah, I'm talking about here about a LinkedIn platform. Now, if you're on Facebook, where there might be some participants, and again You know, you can advertise on Facebook, on print things on Facebook, that's your choice. I think it's very noisy. I think it's very congested. I think there's just too much. But I use LinkedIn. Now, on LinkedIn, we have professionals. You have your support coordinators, you have your plan managers, you have your allied health professionals, you have some other stakeholders that are part of the NDIS sector. So when we're promoting, we're advertising to this particular group of people, we need a different type of approach. Now share what Nicole talked about in this video that I referred to, and we'll come back and have a chat.
The change in marketing that I've seen over that period of time, and I think KPIs probably have a little bit to do with it as well. We see— look, as an SDA provider, we very rarely advertise, here's this vacancy, here's this house, here's this house, here's this house. We advertise stories. This is what's actually happening for the people who are moving into these houses. Here's this person that we've been able to support to purchase their own house as a person with a disability using—
Notice what she said there. She said, we advertise stories. Keep that in mind.
—and is able to live with their partner. But we— that's the stories we share. But we're seeing SIL providers on the flip side who actually— that's the stories they should be sharing— are sharing, we've got these 10 houses with these 2 vacancies in each, and it just flies up on fire, all these vacancies. And we're saying that you aren't the housing provider. So you're just going out almost misrepresenting to the state blocks, the actual people who need your supports, that you are the housing provider and the supports.
So there we are. We have to hear which is addressed is that there is confusion about what a service provider does because they're not advertising the stories. They're advertising this house, 2 rooms, close to hospital, close to train station, and so forth.
And the amount of time we see that and the actual residents don't understand the difference between, oh, but it's not them, isn't it? I thought they just owned the house. It's all, it's all that one company.
Again, this is the confusion. The participants are confused. They believe the SILs are the SDAs when it's really a delineation of the 2 different entities.
It's like, no, it's just there's an owner, then there's an SDA provider, then there's the SIL. But there's, there's so much misrepresentation in the marketing.
So let's take that slowly. There's an owner, an investor, there's the SDA provider. So let's look at that sort of as a flowchart. The owner says, here, Mr. or Mrs. SDA, I've got a house. Mr. or Mrs. SDA then looks for a sole provider to fill in the vacancy.
And I've said, you know, if we're going to advertise, I use kind of the camping analogy. That we're the tent. As a housing provider, we're the tent. That's not fancy. It's bricks and mortar. It's just something for you as shelter. As the support provider, you're the mountains, you're the river, you're those sitting around seeing the way around the entire place because you're the ones that are providing access and empowerment to live a really good life, which is what the person actually needs. But you're just advertising the tent. They're not seeing this life that you're going to help them and, you know, support them to actually live. And if you guys are showing, like, the other sale, if the sales are just showing the tent, but we're showing, hey, look at this amazing lawn, and then they're coming to us and they're not knowing who to choose because they're like, there's these houses and there's 50 of them in the same estate. They're not seeing that difference between who's actually going to help me live a really great life and who's just bricks and mortar, which is just—
So who's actually going to help me live a great life and who's actually bricks and mortar? Again, some great points made by Nicole.
It's a good house that has had good access, good up and down benches, you know, good showers, because that stuff's fairly easy to tick a box on. It's the life of it, the actual support that you need to show. And I think that's been the biggest difference. Everyone's just hammering, hammering, hammering all these houses but not actually showing what they can provide in terms of that.
Okay. So, what a great little piece there. And that was part of a broader conversation at that Wise Healthcare forum by a lot of great people. I think Nicole has really honed in and targeted exactly what a number of us have been saying. And Nicole's been saying this too for a while. Numbers have been saying is the, the NDIS industry, the way we brand, the way we market, the way we position certain aspects is totally off compared to some other industries. And in fact, Nicole and the team did do a post on this about 4 days earlier. And so we can make it a bit bigger here so we can see it, where they actually talked about that particular aspect. And you see the graphic they use there, which I like a lot, is, are you selling services or solving problems? So here we are, we have a provider, EmpowerAbility, who's actually, who's actually harnessed these and actually advocated for this. But who's listening? Well, that's where I come in. Do your job. Do your job. If you're going to be an SDA or a SIL provider, do your job. Just like Empower Livability is, do your job. Now, what does this do your job actually mean? Well, what's missing here? What's missing from the participant's perspective is very few posts share real stories from the people who will call these places home. There's hardly any testimonials. I know that's a bit of a challenge in the industry given the privacy of the situation and the nature of the situation, but even a quote, anonymous quote testimonial, is great. A day in the life insights— get a participant to do a day in the life living in that residence, or how they undertook the journey To get into that residence. What else is missing? There's a lack of content showing how accommodation transforms residents' wellbeing and their social cohesion. And lastly, there's a limited use of actual photography or video of residents engaging in the community. in their life while in these residences, learning new skills, reaching new goals. So if you hope you understand where I'm coming from here in relation to how we are positioning and marketing and branding these particular Opportunities. So what we've seen is that the posts prioritise housing specifications over the broader purpose, the dignity, the belonging. Instead of describing what is possible for the tenants— inclusion, growth, participation— the posts often dwell on amenities and procedural steps in how to become a resident of the particular residence. Okay, so what's missing then? What is that one piece that's missing? Well, the one piece that's missing is that personal touch. We need to evoke empathy by highlighting the family's peace of mind, the pride of independence, the meaningful moments that are largely overlooked. Really, do these posts invite your audience to join a wider movement of vision for inclusive communities? So let's summarize it. The dominant shortfall is a lack of authentic participant-focused storytelling. For a true shift, SDA and SIL providers need to frame their posts around lived experiences, hopes, futures. They need to create content that resonates emotionally and motivates action. Yes, we're talking to SCs, yes, we're talking to plan managers, yes, we're talking to our health professionals, but they need to see these stories as well because they will share that with their participants, with their families. You need to move from selling rooms to sharing life, sharing life-changing impact, and how this will set Provider X and differentiate Provider X from Provider Y. Do your job. Focus on those life moments. Focus on sharing those testimonials and not sharing the specifications of of the house and the location and the closer transport. That's what's missing when we are promoting, advertising these particular places for people to live. Do your job.
