The Business of Aging

Joe Paterno Coffin Comment and Other Rants About How We Treat Older American's

Some of you may have heard about the Texas A&M male cheerleader who during a pep rally in preparation for playing Penn State in the Alamo Bowl said Joe Paterno (the 81 year-old Penn State coach) was on his death bed and needed a coffin . It got some national media attention but the story quickly faded, mainly because Paterno shrugged off the comments and because Texas A&M sent the cheerleader home and issued numerous apologies.  And BTW, how irresponsible was ESPN in actually replaying the tape of the incident during the nationally televised bowl game?

Anyway, this incident got me thinking about how our culture treat's the elderly.  In a word, pretty badly.  There are many theories on why American's attitudes toward the elderly are somewhat negative.     I was personally never aware of this until I started caring for my aging mom.  And now I see examples of it every day. Here are a few: 

• I witnessed an older woman ordering bacon at a diner and trying to explain to the waitress how she liked it cooked (crispy :-), but the diner was crowded and noisy so the waitress got very impatient with the woman and simply walked away saying it comes only one way. 

• I was behind an elderly man at a Shop Rite pharmacy the other day who had just received his prescription but was confused about the price and medications he had received. He was obviosuly hard of hearing so he was speaking loudly to the woman behind the register about his concerns - but he was not being rude, just voicing his frustration over some apparent errors in his prescription refills. The woman behind the register got very upset with the man and angrily replied "don't yell at me". The man quietly walked away.

As America ages, we will all need to get better at understanding and communicating with the elderly. Especially businesses.  As we age, we are not as sharp and we can get easily confused.  These pharmacies and other service businesses need to train their employees on the importance of patience and understanding toward seniors. With the massive increase in our senior population this is good business, and just good period.  It's the right thing to do. These "seniors" helped build the society we now enjoy and a little respect is due. Service is bad enough to everyone but cut the senior a break - you'd want the same treatment when your that age.

SeniorCareMarketer.com Research to Reveal Best Practices in Marketing and Selling in the Senior Care Industry

  How prevalent are the use of blogs, podcasts and other Web 2.0 tools by suppliers in the senior care marketplace? Are print advertising budgets being reduced in 2008? Will senior care vendors attend fewer tradeshows? These questions and more will be answered in an upcoming research report titled, “Trends in Senior Care Marketing: Where Suppliers Spent Marketing and PR Dollars in 2007, and What's Ahead in 2008.”

Senior care suppliers who would like to participate in the research may visit:  http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e26wwgxvf8p5629f/start

Scheduled to launch in early 2008, SeniorCareMarketer.com is an on-demand marketing and PR service for companies selling products and services relating to the aging of America. SeniorCareMarketer.com will offer the senior care industry the same marketing benefits and services that its sister product, HRmarketer.com, offers the human resource industry: the ability to generate publicity, website traffic, sales leads and improved search engine rankings. It is owned by Fisher Vista, LLC, the marketing and information services firm that also owns HRmarketer.com. Launched in 2002, HRmarketer.com is the largest marketing and public relations firm in the human resource marketplace.

The upcoming “Trends in Senior Care Marketing” report will outline key trends such as: the patterns of adoption and use of various marketing and public relations tactics by senior care suppliers; the growth of "Web 2.0" tactics including social networking; what marketing activities have the greatest impact in lead generation; the importance of SEO and search-optimized press releases; the amount suppliers will invest in Pay-Per-Click advertising.

According to Mark Willaman, president of Fisher Vista, LLC and founder of both HRmarketer and SeniorCareMarketer, reaching buyers of senior care products and services can be quite challenging, considering the vast array of purchasing influencers in this marketplace. These include family caregivers, doctors, nurses, social service agencies, hospitals, geriatric care managers, pharmacists, physical therapists, rehabilitation centers, home health care, housing and residential facilities, and more.

"The Internet is dramatically changing how brands are established and purchases are made. For suppliers attempting to reach buyers of senior care products and services, new approaches are needed," said Willaman. "This report will help senior care suppliers understand their marketing and PR options, what their peers are doing and how to better allocate their marketing and PR dollars in 2008."

To complete the “Trends in Senior Care Marketing” survey and receive a complimentary copy of the finished report, please visit: http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e26wwgxvf8p5629f/start

About Fisher Vista, LLC

Fisher Vista, LLC (http://www.fishervista.com) is a marketing and information services firm focusing on the human capital and senior care industries. The company’s flagship product, HRmarketer.com, is the No. 1 online marketing and PR service in the human resources industry. Since 2001, over 500 human resource suppliers have used HRmarketer.com and the HRmarketer Services Group to generate publicity, website traffic, sales leads and improved SEO. SeniorCareMarketer.com is scheduled for launch in early 2008 and will achieve similar results for companies selling products and services relating to the aging of America.

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