From Winter Lulls to Spring Surges: Understanding Seasonal Podiatry Marketing

You're listening to podiatry marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald.

Hi. I'm Tyson Franklin, and welcome to this week's episode of podiatry marketing. With me, as he is every week, it is big Jim Mac. How are doing today, Jim?

Tyson, I'm doing well. I'm doing well. How about yourself?

I'm fantastic. It's we're in autumn now, which our autumn has been very similar to our our summer. The temperature has not changed in any way, which is fantastic. Means the pool water has maintained itself. And as long as it does that, I'll be swimming right through to April, which should be fantastic.

Yeah. We're jumping into spring here in in Oregon, so it's nice to transition. Hopefully, we'll get some more sunshine as the days go on, and the the gray and the rain will slowly go away. So

Have you found it living in a new place this past what's been six months now?

Yeah. We've got about four more months left here in Oregon before going back to Montreal, and it's been great. Yeah. Just like it's been nice not having to deal with a real Montreal winter. I can get out and run and hike and play soccer with the kids.

It's been it's been great. So definitely enjoy Oregon. It will be nice to get back to Montreal and get back home, but definitely soaking in the the sunshine and some of the liquid sunshine here in the Pacific Northwest.

Okay. Quick question. It's got nothing to do with marketing. But when you go running in in Oregon In Oregon. Yeah.

Oregon, have you come across any crazy animals like bears or anything like that?

There are a lot of turkeys around Oregon, which is kind of around Eugene at least. And I I remember seeing That's not

what I expecting.

You weren't expecting turkeys?

No. I said, yeah, just wild turkey. Like, the really big ones with the big ass feathers.

Yeah. Yeah. The the the there are kind of I see about 20 to 25 of them every day. Not necessarily on my runs, but definitely when I take when I pick my my kids from school, they're kinda hanging around the side of the road on the route that we drive to and from school. So Yeah.

We have scrub turkeys up here, and they just see skinny ass little things that just just make a mess. But we're we're only talking about it the other night. We were talking about chickens laying eggs. Assume turkeys lay eggs, obviously.

I assume so. Yeah.

I like that. You assume so too. And but do they lay them on a daily basis like a chicken does?

I don't think so. I think they're they're more seasonal, less all kind of it's kinda leeway into this topic, but I don't I don't think based on the size of the turkeys, you definitely can tell some are more juvenile than the adults, but I don't I think it's more every year. I don't think it's like chickens.

Yeah. And people are asking, why are we talking about turkeys? But this leads this is a good segue into today's topic, which is

Our topic is kinda talking about the overall seasonality of podiatry marketing. You know, I think, you know, occasionally I'll talk to some of my clients and they're, you know, there's some lulls, there's some hot times, there's, you know, some different kind of seasonality to the practice at times. And, you know, part of what I offer is for marketing and what I try to work with the practices that I do work with is how can we kinda smooth out some of those, you know, low times into to making them more profitable and and busier for the clinics I work with. So we'll kinda get into some of the common pitfalls that I that I see with some of the clinics I work with and, you know, how you can be proactive and avoid it with scheduling and working closely with your marketing provider.

And I suppose it would also the seasonal thing depend where you are in the world. Like, where you are, you would go through your four definite seasons. Where I'm in Cairns, it's either hot or it's hot and wet.

No. Absolutely. I would say, like, if you live in somewhere like Hawaii or in North America, you're like in a in Florida or somewhere warm in Southern California, maybe, you know, it's not quite the same. Yeah. You don't necessarily have to deal with distinct seasons, but, you know, it's not only a necessarily seasons when it comes to weather, but it can also be you know, I I find a lot, know, sometimes it's patient behaviors, you know, people are gonna be going skiing and they need orthotics and stuff, and maybe even they live in a warm area, they wanna go to Colorado or or North Of Montreal, Mont Tremblant or something.

You also have to deal with, in The US at least, insurance cycles. Generally, most health care plans and insurances have pretty large deductibles, you know, in order to have the insurance pay for your care. You may have a thousand, five thousand, or $10,000 deductible that has to be met before you can receive care from your health care provider. So, you know, understanding that kind of potential obstacle. And it's also the lifestyles of the patients.

Right? You know, are you living in a place where you get a lot of, you know, winter you know, people kind of fly south, head south in the wintertime. Yeah. Are you seeing certain patient demographics more certain times a year than others? So we'll get into some of these in more depth, but that's kind of a a general overview.

Okay. I suppose school holidays would also play into it?

Yeah. School holidays, you know, people coming back, you know, in The US, a lot of, you know, undergraduate or university students will kind of you know, they'll go to their university town and then come back home in the summertime. So, you know, that that could be an opportunity as well during the summer to maybe, you know, have something that tailored more for those active, you know, younger people or ingrown toenails or things like that that you usually find with a younger population.

Okay. So where do we start? What's the first seasonal thing you wanna talk about? The seasonal trend?

Yeah. So I'd say that like, you know, the the first kind of seasonal trend or the kind of first seasonal topic is kind of, you know, it starts with kind of knowing where you're at. Where is your clinic located at? You know, like we talked about previously, it's important to kind of recognize what patterns are unique to your practice. You know, if you're in Florida, like you said, maybe there's no you know, it doesn't really matter.

It's gonna be warm and sunny there all year long, and people are gonna step on things on the beach and that kind of stuff. But just knowing, you know, what type of clientele and, know, are there gonna be, you know, more seniors there in the wintertime? Are there ways to appeal to those visiting seniors when they need to have you know, because if someone has, you know, needs a diabetic doctor, needs diabetic foot checks, needs to have, you know, those kind of more things that are kind of more maintenance care. Now are you that option for them while they're, you know, 3,000 miles away from their primary care or their primary podiatrist? So it's really important to kind of understand where you're at.

You know, if you're like I said, if you're in Colorado in the wintertime, you know, maybe it's a great opportunity to make orthotics or something that can fit into ski boots. Right? So and and kind of tapping into those people, not only during the ski season, but also having a plan where you're kind of building into it. You know, the month leading up to it can be a huge time to either market to those people or just kind of gain awareness that those are the kind of services you provide. So I think it starts with, you know, where are you located, understanding kind of what the seasonal opportunities are for you, and then understanding where are you what are your current hurdles.

Right? You know, I I work with some different clinics kinda in the Midwest, and they run into that, you know, the deductible not being met in January and February, and that leads to what they feel is like a slower time because also, you know, October, November, December, people have generally met their deductible and they want to be seen and have surgery immediately. So you get these clinics that have very successful ends of the year, and then that first quarter of the year feels a bit of a, you know, a bit dull and a bit under, you know, under kind of profiting or kind of under kind of generating revenue kind of from what they were used to that last three months of the year. So it's important to kind of look at your books, look at your patient population, look at kinda what seasonality and challenges do you have in your local area is kind of the best place to start.

Yeah. Well, I think every clinic, regardless of where you are, even if your weather doesn't really fluctuate too much, like us in Queensland, it's a lot warmer. I know when I had my clinic on the Gold Coast and even in Cairns, the amount of patients we used to have over this three month period during the winter, because a lot of people from down south would basically come over the border for the warmer weather. And there were usually older people who were retired because they would just want to get away from the cold weather over that three month period.

No. Absolutely. Like, the snow they call them snowbirds, like, in in North America, you know, people that even people from Canada will head down to Florida for

Yeah.

You know, three three to you know, they they can stay in The US generally for up to a hundred and eighty days, you know, until the the terrorists and all the drama happened between US and Canada,

least at

least until recently. Maybe that will change. But

Is America still gonna call Canada Canada, or are they gonna call it North North America?

That's a great question. I guess things will get figured out, but we'll see what happens there.

That's what I say. Hey. But your deductible thing that you keep talking about Sure. So does that mean if I lived in America, for example, I have to spend a certain amount of money first. And if the insurance company goes, ah, Tyson, you've you've spent $5 on your health this year.

Now everything you spend after that, we will help look after that. Is it a percentage, or is it the whole thing?

Yeah. Generally, it's a set amount. So with most plans, you know, obviously, the higher the deductible, the cheaper kinda monthly payment you'll have to pay for your health insurance plan, but it is one of those things where you have a set cap. You basically pay out of pocket for your services and basically have to show, you know, maybe some of the clinics these days will have the ability to send those bills to show the clinics that you you spent that much, but, you know, sometimes you actually back in the day, I don't know if it's still that way, but you have to kind of, you know, show your insurance all the money you spent at those clinics. And then once you meet that cap, then the insurance then the insurance companies will start paying for your claims as long as it's within the know, the the types of claims that they cover.

Yeah. And and while that's important for clinic, obviously, you know that that barrier is potentially there. So what kind of, you know, things can you do to shift that around or to, you know, change your marketing in way that will still attract patients during that maybe lean time during January, February, and March. You know, obviously, people are gonna be less prone to kind of go for, you know, kind of elective appointments or elective surgery. So maybe it's time to shift to things that are more urgent in nature.

You know, if someone, you know, whether that's in your Google AdWords you're using or the things you're showing on your social channels, both paid and, you know, and organic, you know, show that you do provide, you know, same day service for sprained ankles or fractures or wound care or any lacerations, for example, or ingrown toenails. You might wanna shift during that time to to really highlight those things to show that, you know, if someone has a broken foot or hurt foot that hurts really bad, they're gonna come to you no matter what. Right? So or maybe it's time to shift as well to to show that you do, you know, if you're in a local area where you can, you know or you know that things aren't covered by insurance, you know, like maybe it's Shockwave or other types of services that aren't necessarily covered, maybe that's a great time to go ahead and kinda show off those different services because something elective and people are gonna you know, if they can wait, they're gonna really wait a long time to be seen by you. So advertising on kind of elective care is probably not the best move during those kind of lean early months in the year.

I never wanna get sick in America under any circumstances. It just it just sounds complicated.

Yeah. It definitely is there's not a safety net. I mean

No.

Obviously, there's there's Medicare and Medicaid, and those are gonna just pay for super catastrophic care and you still might be on the hook for, you know, hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars of of care and that can just Jeez. You know, that can ruin someone's life. You know, medical debt is real in The US. Yeah. It's one of the things I noticed, you know, moving to Canada, you know, maybe we don't have the fastest elective care for certain procedures and those things, but there is some peace of mind knowing that, you know, there is a safety net.

Yeah. Australia like, I look at our health care system. And even though, yes, some people go, oh, it needs more funding here or there's too much money going to a certain area. But you walk outside and collapse in your front yard, no one's gonna ask you for an ambulance to turn up. They'll take you straight to the nearest hospital, and they will save your life.

Yeah. And it's not gonna cost you anything. They will just save your life. You'll you'll be oh, mate. Maybe it has.

I haven't had my life saved, I don't know if it does cost you something or not. But you never hear of people losing their homes or being in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt because of some accident or illness. It just doesn't happen.

Yeah. Oh, for sure.

So we're the lucky country. I think when it comes to health care, oh my god. Anyway, now we're seeing anyway. So what's next?

I'd say next is kinda like we talked about kind of being preemptive and kind of being planning planning ahead when it comes to, you know, things like, I would call it, the spring surge. So, you know, things like, you know, fungal toenails. People are gonna wanna be wearing flip flops and, you know, walking around in bare feet. So, you know, also people are gonna be getting more active during the springtime. So it might be a good time to think about, you know, marketing to those different types of people.

Right? You know, it's a great time to show that you do provide some antifungal opportunities for them to clean up those gross looking nails so that they can look great at the beach or at at poolside. Also, you know, people are training for, you know, half marathons or marathons, and a lot of those people basically have done nothing all winter, so they're gonna be prime candidates for any kind of foot overuse injuries. So, you know you know, whether it's, you know, talking to local marathons or local road races, becoming kind of involved in the running scene could lead to, you know, significant amount of uptick as far as new patient visits and kinda getting into the the sports medicine side of things. You know, I just wanna make sure you, you know, focus your marketing on, like I said, those sports medicine services, and maybe providing some injury prevention workshops at running shoe stores.

It can be a great way to get in front of the right type of patients and help spread some word-of-mouth or digital word-of-mouth. And then, you know, kinda making some, you know, targeted content for some of those active populations, you know, a guide about how to be injury free in your lead up to a marathon. There's a lot of different things you can do when it comes to content. It'll be either on your website or distributing to local businesses that are already kind of servicing your ideal patient. There's a lot you can do kinda in those, you know, winter to spring transition.

Yeah. And it was something you said then too just about the the planning of it, and it's like it's really thinking. They said it's coming up in spring. What happens in spring? But what sort of patients do we get coming in spring?

And and we've had them in the past, and they were profitable, and it went great. So why not really focus in on that to if if you want even more of those patients.

No. Absolutely. I think it's one of things that people just, you know, instead of just shouting into the void, it's it's an opportunity to kinda tap into those relationships you've already built with local businesses or other local medical providers. You know, you don't have to do it alone. It's one of those things where, you know, if you've been you know, if you've, you know, referred, you know, patients to go see a certain running shoe store or, you know, people say, hey, we give what are the three good running shoe stores or, you who's a good physical therapist?

It's it's time to kinda reconnect with some of those people and just, you know, provide value to them and say, hey, how would you like to do like a joint running injuries seminar or, you know, a night at your running shoe store, Rob. I'm happy to come in and spend sixty minutes with, you know, the different running clubs in the local area. We can invite them into your store and and have this marathon injury prevention talk, and they're gonna be more than happy to do that. So they don't always you know, as much it is, you know, it's fun to have Google Ads and do stuff online. I think, you know, really kinda building a community and working with local partners is is a can have a huge impact on on your clinic when it comes to this kind of getting over some of these seasonal bumps in the road.

Yeah. Well, that was an email sent recently, And I said that to people that if if digital marketing didn't exist, how would you market your podiatry clinic? If it didn't exist, what what would you do? And I think part of this, what you're talking about then about getting involved with other people and, yeah, whether you put together an injury prevention talk and you you team up or you're going out to a shoe store, it's there's a lot of legwork you can do. And I think all that sets a really good foundation.

So then if you are then doing digital marketing on top of that, it makes it even better.

No. Absolutely. It's just a matter of like having kind of a well formed marketing plan in general. Right? It's like not like we talked about in many previous podcasts.

When you kinda put all those online and offline things together, you know, you just you shouldn't just do one or the other kind of in isolation. You have to kind of blend those things together, and the more you can kind of be visible and be a part of that community, and then also back it up with great online marketing, that's when you're gonna win.

So what is next?

I'd say it's next it's kind of that transition from, you know, spring and summer into fall and winter. Right? And, you know, what kind of what do what should we be looking forward to and what are some opportunities kind of on the marketing front there? And that's when it kinda comes down to, you know, kind of managing more chronic conditions. I would say that, you know, during the colder months, you're gonna see maybe unless you live in a you know, if you get into an area where there's, you know, ice and slick roads, you know, people are gonna potentially have more fractures.

A lot of ankle fractures will happen, you know, during ice storms or during cold weather. So something to be aware of. Like I talked about previously, making sure that you're you're putting out enough educational information whether it be through your ads or through your website to let people know that you are an option for people if they do have those, you know, kind of more urgent injuries than something emergent. But, you know, that if you do like to do wound care, it's a great time to kind of lean into that because people are going to need to have that taken care of. Since you've already kind of done your sports medicine, you've done some of the other types of treatments, maybe more upfront and center in some of your marking.

Some of these chronic conditions such as diabetic care or arthritis is something you can kind of focus on during those colder months. Generally, people with arthritis as well will not like they'll have more pain and more restrictions and mobility during kind of colder months of the year. So something to be aware of. It's probably more top of mind for them during that time of year as well when it gets a little cooler. So, you know, make sure that you have, you know, comprehensive diabetic foot care programs if that's something you like to do, and, like, how do you manage, you know, different types of arthritis, something that you may want to lean on kinda during the winter months.

Also, you know, you can also if you're really more into sports medicine, you can help patients transition to, you know, going from their outdoor activities. If you're somewhere where it's gonna get cold and snowy in the wintertime, you know, kinda helping them understand what some of the options are as far as exercise during the the cold winter months and kind of injuries to avoid or things to consider during the wintertime. Because, you know, I was at you know, I've run outside in the the snow and the ice, and you slip and you fall, and you can do all kinds of stuff. But, you know, just kinda helping educate your patients about what are some different forms of exercise is something that will not only benefit you, but maybe benefit some of your local partners as well like you talked about.

That's good. It's it's a good tip too because it's like I said, you you where you are, you have those extreme weather condition changes, you know, from snow from snow to being, you know, really hot. You get so I can actually see a person there would be a lot of patients that do a certain activity, and they're doing that all year round, like running. Like, when it's really snowing, do you go out there and run?

Or Yeah. So I've had to kinda change things up because I've had some, I would say nasty falls, but I've had friends who have broken bones out in the wintertime when they're running because of slipping. Ice. Of slipping. Yeah.

I had a friend kind of bust up and fracture his kneecap, had a patellar fracture that required surgery. So I generally will kind of as much as I dislike it during the colder winter months, I'll go from mostly running and some lifting to indoor biking, still some lifting, and then maybe time on the treadmill.

Okay.

I I'd really I really don't like treadmills that much to be honest, in the wintertime, but, you know, it's it's the most running specific type of exercise you can do. So I'll I'll still do it a few times a week.

But it's funny when you talk about the slipping part. We have more slipping probably here in Cairns during summer because of all the rain, and sometimes footpaths get moldy.

Yeah.

Yeah. And you can be going around the corner, you hit the mold, your feet will go out from underneath you. So it's it is just being aware of that.

No. I mean, sometimes that first rain after it's not rained for, you know, a couple of weeks can kinda cause like a there's like a at least in Montreal, there's gonna be like a thin film of like like kind of I don't know, like gas or petrol or oil and then the water, and it can be really really slippery. Sometimes even, you know, the first couple months of when it goes from winter to spring, they usually in in Montreal, they'll use not only will they use rock salt, but they'll also use like small finite kind of rocky particles like to kind of help clear off and melt the snow. But what happens when the snow is all gone before they can kind of brush away that those kind of small rocks is that that can also be super slippery. Like you said, you try to do a 90 degree turn and you put your foot in the wrong place and you lean the wrong way and all of a sudden you're on the ground.

So it's definitely, you know, definitely something I'm more aware of as I'm getting a little bit older, but definitely I don't want to. I'd like to limit the number of fractures I have to deal with whether it's in the springtime or the winter.

Yeah. And I suppose too, you'd be looking at festive footwear or if people are traveling.

No. For sure. Like, you know, you gotta be careful. You know, things people can step on things. Obviously, people are wearing, you know, maybe maybe people are a little bit more conscious about wearing good footwear, but now there's holiday parties.

People are wearing, you know, and dancing and doing all kinds of stuff and, you know, three to four inch heels and maybe that's gonna lead to some potential injuries and and foot pain. So definitely something you can kinda work into your marketing plan.

It's funny because it's everything you're talking about. I'm seeing it from the exact opposite when you talk about the top of footwear that wear. Whereas when it's when you're in the tropics and you're in really warm weather, it's more about the footwear they're not wearing. The thongs. Going bare feet.

Yeah. And the thongs. The ones between your toes, not between the cheeks. Yeah. And your bum.

Between your bum cheeks. And it's so it's funny you told me because it will be when we have really great weather here, people on weekends will put their thongs on, we'll walk around them all all weekend, and they go for long walks, and they go on holidays. And then they wonder when they yeah. After a week holiday, they come back and their ankles are swollen, balls are yeah. The balls of their feet are sore.

They got knee problems. And because they're so used to wearing footwear at work, and then they're either bare feet or they're wearing non supportive thongs. So it's yeah. It's funny. Just you told me about footwear for winter, but I I see as you say that, I'm thinking footwear at summer.

I'm the yin to your yang there

Yeah.

Tyson's summer.

We are the exact opposite. It's to wrap this up, what are your final strategies?

Yeah. To wrap it up, I'd say just, you know, like, kinda like there's obviously seasonal aspects of your practice that you really need to get on top of it. You know, you need to have that core baseline of leveraging kind of digital marketing and patient education is at the core of things. Right? And knowing when are those right times.

So, you know, you can utilize digital platforms to really disseminate timely content that's aligned with these different seasonal trends. It's a matter of kinda being, you know, having a plan, kinda executing that plan with whoever you're working with and doing your marketing. Because there's gonna be different topics that come up at different times of the year on different different ends of the world. Right? So it's a just to ensure that your your practice is ranking well for, you know, season specific foot care searches.

These are easy blog topics. Right? So, you know, these are easy topics to put on in your newsletters, in your on your blogs, on your social media to really help educate and be proactive with the foot health of those people you treat throughout the year. So when you align, you know, your marketing strategies with these kind of seasonal insights, the way your podiatry practices, you know, can be better. You can better meet the needs of patients.

You can optimize kind of appointment schedules and really enhance the overall practice growth and trajectory of your practice. You're not kind of dealing with those kind of bumps in the road when it comes to patient care. So, yeah, it's kind of putting all those things together. I think it's important that, you know, like I said earlier on tonight's podcast, you know, really wanna make sure that, you know, kind of investigate, you know, where are your slow times of the year and where are those opportunities maybe you haven't fully executed on, and maybe it's time to have have a plan to to execute on those things moving forward.

Yeah. And it goes back to something I said earlier, and I've spoken about in my marketing workshops when I've done the twelve week reboot. I talked about, yeah, with my coaching clients about having a yearly marketing plan is looking at your year and knowing when the seasons are and what things are coming up. And and using your yearly marketing plan is like a bit of a road map on what you need to be preparing for and getting things ready. Don't think about it.

Oh, it's April. What do we do? Yeah. It's now June. What are we gonna do this month?

You should have thought about that months ahead of that. So when you actually get to that month, you can just pull the trigger and bang. You're you're off and running.

I couldn't agree more. It is all about kind of knowing those trends and planning accordingly ahead of time.

And pulling the trigger is a American term, I think. It sounds American. Gonna have to Google that one. Just like bear advice.

Absolutely.

Okay, Big Jim. So this has been interesting. Nothing else you wanna say to finish up on?

No. I think we're good. I think I left that on a good good note, and looking forward to talking to the next one, Tyson.

Yes. Okay. Talk to you again soon. Bye.

Bye now. Thanks for listening to Podiatry Marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDaniel. Subscribe and learn more at PodiatryMarketing. That's the website address, podiatry.marketing.