According to recent news stories, many retirees won’t be traveling south this winter due to the deterioration of their retirement funds in the stock market. †Others may travel, but will not likely stay as long in the warmer climates as they had originally planned. †How does this affect marketing? †In the healthcare industry, many primary care physicians in the north will be seeing a larger volume of older patients with cold weather-related conditions. †This represents and opportunity for specialty practices, many of which are experiencing decreasing patient volumes, to alert the PCPs about symptoms and treatment for some lesser known winter conditions that may affect older adults.
Conversely, physicians in warm weather climates may not see the influx of “snowbirds” from the north, resulting in reduced patient volumes during what may be their peak period of activity. †More on this topic next week.
Mike
