Creating a Yearly Marketing Roadmap

You're listening to Podiatry Marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald. Welcome back to Podiatry Marketing. I'm your host, Jim McDannald. With me as always is Tyson Franklin. Tyson, how are things going today?

I'm fantastic, Jim. It's August at the moment. So we're towards the end of winter in Australia, but which is no real big deal for for for me in Cairns. Down south, it gets a little bit colder, but up here in Cairns, to give you an equivalent, it's probably usually during the day, 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and that's our winter. Nice.

Yeah. That's that's probably one of the few months where I'm actually warmer than you are and more humid than you are. So I'll take I'll take what I can here in Montreal. So that that's always good.

Yeah. So so where you are, is it, like, a definite four seasons, or is it only two seasons, cold and hot?

Well, that's the thing. They said it's two seasons. It's winter and construction. Those are two seasons in Montreal because it's constant potholes that are that are trying to fill all spring Cool summer weekend. All along.

Yeah. Because of the winter, the the fee the freezing and thawing really causes, like, huge gaps in the road to open up. Okay. I mean, we do have nice fall, honestly, like, you know, kind of Montreal's just north of, like, Vermont and New York. So you kinda get these, like, Appalachian, like, you know you know, the the the colors, the the reds, the oranges, the yellows of the the trees, you know, changing colors in the fall.

So, you know, I I joke about the winter in construction, but it definitely feels like winter can be four to six months depending on the year or so.

Yeah. Well, I suppose it's up here in Cairns even though we only have two seasons, warm and warmer. Yeah. Yeah. But we also have a wet season.

So during the summer, it's usually a mon yeah. Like monsoonal type weather. It can rain constantly for weeks or it might rain you just don't know what you're gonna get, and sometimes it'll go a little bit longer. More rain we get, roads flood, potholes, exactly the same thing. So but we don't base the seasons on based on potholes.

So let's get started for today.

Yeah. Let's get rolling. What are we gonna talk about today?

Well, I wanted to talk about creating a yearly marketing planner. So it's sort of like not thinking about tactics or anything like that or what you're specifically gonna do. It's more looking at your whole year as almost like a road map. So it's just giving you some direction on where you are, say, in January, for example, or say, August now, and what are you gonna be doing over the next twelve months? So a lot of people will start this January and do it for twelve months, which is how I do it.

But you can start it at any time. And the idea is really just to give you direction without too many specifics. And and I always say, your your yearly marking planner is actually set and stand. You can add things, take things away. It's it's really just set and sand.

It's not set and concrete. Like, the joke I always say when I'm doing talks is the only thing set in concrete is Jimmy Hoffa.

The Americans will get that, but the the Canadians and Australians will be like, what are you even talking about? So

Go and look up Jimmy Hoffa. It's really funny. Once you understand the joke, it's a funny joke. So but yeah. But I do.

I look at you you're you're designing. Where did what do you wanna do over the next twelve months? And there's so many different parts of of your business. And and I think if you can plan it out and give you some form of direction, then it's not just for you, but it's also for your team. It's also if a if a sales rep came and saw you or if somebody said, oh, there's this event on, does it fit in with our plans for the next twelve months?

Or this is something you just put off till next year.

Now that's a really good point. I think just like I think we talked a little bit before the show started recording. You know, there's there's definitely even within podiatry, there are seasonal things that you definitely should touch on. When you take time and just step back a little bit, sometimes those things become more apparent or more obvious than if you're just, like, going from month to month with no overall plan. You're just kinda like, you know, sprint, stop, sprint, stop without really kind of having a high level overview.

Yeah. And and I think when you're when you're planning out, like, say, over seasons, most countries will have four seasons except where you are. It's cold and potholes. But I'm sure the activities that people do, say say in your neck of the woods during winter, are gonna be completely different to me. So you can't you can't just base on what other people are doing.

So in Cairns, we do. We have four seasons. We we have summer, really hot. We have autumn, it's just hot. We have winter.

It's beautiful. But for most people down south, they can't go, still a bit hot, but there's no humidity. And then it go into spring, and it really starts to hot up again. So we're a very outdoors type climate. Even when it's raining, people still wanna go to the beaches, go hiking, yeah, up hills, and we've got the reef and the rainforest.

So it's a very outdoors sort of area. If you're in a colder climate, you actually have those four seasons. Snow, yeah, cold coming out of it, and then you you then you'll actually have a quite a hot summer. Your activities will change. So I think that's something that you need to look at your yearly planner and distinctly break it up into quarters to start with.

What what happens over those seasonal changes, and does it affect how you will approach your marketing?

No. I think that's a great idea. Like you said, like, you know, obviously, Canada gets this stereotype that they're basically hockey obsessed. Right? So, like, if it's hockey season, you know, maybe that's a a time to, like, put forth a marketing plan to get those patients that need either an update to their orthotics or maybe they need new orthotics.

There's definite like you said, there's custom ways to kind of make sure that what your marketing is doing is what you wanna do in your practice also aligns with that specific seasonal need of the patient.

Yeah. Because I've people say in Australia, the normal soccer season will kick off a football. Football if you're in The UK, soccer in Australia or America, but some people in Australia say football as well. But the season will normally kick off around April. So, like, say junior sports.

So if you were gonna write something about soccer, you want to do a bit of a promotion towards because soccer is a really, really big sport in Australia, especially at junior level, and it probably is in The States as well, is if you're wanting to really target that area, then don't write all these articles or do a big push about soccer in November. It's not the time of the year be doing it. It's yeah. Your March, April leading into that season is when you wanna do it. So you look at your marketing planner.

Soccer is a sport or or triathlons might be a sport. When does that kick off? When is it starting and put your focus into that sporting area in that particular time?

No. I think that's a that's hugely important. And, you know, I think in in what I've noticed in Canada, for example, is that soccer has really started to take off because the men's national team is gonna be at the World Cup this year. So like

Oh, okay.

It's it's it's also being aware of, like, what's going on in some of those areas. Maybe you you are in sports medicine, you know that soccer is kinda having a moment in your country or where you're based at and kind of utilizing that kind of momentum. And, you know, obviously, you're probably not gonna be the, like, the podiatrist for that national team, but there's ways to, you know, associate yourself with that kind of that that movement or that momentum in maybe an area of practice that you want to market and, you know, something you would enjoy doing in your in your in your own clinic.

Yeah. And it's also what what's really popular in your town. So in Cairns here, netball I don't know. Do you do you know what netball is?

Not really.

Not really? Okay. Go and Google that. Netball. It's like basketball without a backboard and complete and completely different rules.

Like, the only similarity actually is the balls around, and it's a completely different ball as well. So I really have no idea what I'm talking about, but I did I have played mixed netball a couple of times, and it's a really fast stop start, really rugged on your knees, ankles. It's prone to a lot of injury, lower limb injuries. Cairns, we have a massive netball competition up here, And we were my clinic was a sponsor for it, oh, for probably eight years that we used to sponsor the local netball competition. But at certain times, they pretty much played all year round, but they did have major competitions at certain times.

So it was the same thing. And they also have, like, a national netball competition now, which is which is quite big. So as that's kicking off, you know, maybe you need to talk about netball. So it's it's really thinking about what sports you're interested in. Because if you have no interest in soccer and don't care about it, then you might get that's not what I'm after.

I I might yeah. When's tennis kickoff? But be aware of all the different sporting seasons and put that into your marketing planner. The idea is you have it in your marketing planner. Whether you do something about it or not is really up to you.

But if you don't put it in the planner, the season could start and finish or be halfway through before you go, oh, that's right. I think tennis has started, the nipple has started, the soccer has started. We should have done something. And next thing, your competitors have.

No. That's a perfect example. I think one of like I told you previously, I was a big into the running scene, the sports medicine scene, and

Yeah.

Where I practiced in Eugene, Oregon. Know, not only did they host the USA track and field trials, but, you know, there would be an annual marathon or a couple of large annual races each year. And a lot of those those, you know, races would have kind of a training program. Maybe it's eight weeks or twelve weeks before the Eugene marathon. So that just knowing that those things exist, that not only the race itself, but also this training plan or the training groups and, you know, finding your ways to co market with some of those other folks, whether it be physiotherapists, physical therapists, the race organization.

There's a lot of interesting marketing opportunities that happen along like, talked about whether it be soccer, these different physical activities where, you know, someone's gonna get an overuse injury or maybe a traumatic injury where you can be real value add in multiple ways.

Well, I definitely agree. It's like you said, it's that lead up up to the sports. So even though I say rugby league here in Australia, the main competition kicks off March. Most local comps will be March, April. But there is there's you don't just, oh, the season started.

Let's all rock up with their boots and running out in the field, which I have done that, and I don't advise it. There is usually at least a two month preseason training leading up to any sport if you're going to take it serious. So when I was playing on the Gold Coast and I was playing a grade down there and even I was playing a grade rugby union up here, there was at least a two months training period up to and the amount of injuries people used to get at training just when they'll kick him back off because they may may not have done too much for a couple of month break. So that's that's a really good put. It's not just when the season starts.

It's that preseason actually leading up to it. So it needs to be

No pressure.

Needs to be in your yearly marketing planner.

Yeah. That's something you can if you if you enjoy it, if it works out one year, the great thing about some of these annual events, it's gonna come back around on the calendar the next year. Right? So Yeah. And then maybe you missed something the previous year.

Maybe this one didn't work, and there's something you wanna try instead. You know, things like high school sports. I don't know how is in Australia, but, like, high school sports are huge in North America, and those are also on an annual basis. So the more you are in tune with those types of patients you wanna treat and what their schedules are, the more opportunities you'll have for sure.

Yeah. I think high school sports in Australia have the popularity of marbles. It's not people don't rush out to go and watch high school sports. But I have but I've was in The States, and I was staying in the Airbnb on a and was a Friday night, I saw some lights on in the distance. Had a few people cheering, and I thought, it is football season.

So I went for a walk down the road. It was a local high school. And so I went, oh, I've never sat in. So I went and got my hot dog and drink and sat in the stands with everybody and cheered for the for the home team. And I was surprised how many people were at this high school game, and these kids were terrible.

They weren't very good. I mean, they were not very good at all. They're dropping the ball everywhere and people are throwing it, and it's just but they were getting the crowd was getting behind them and the the local side won. So but it was it was actually a lot of fun. So it is like, if so if you had a podiatry clinic in The States near a local high school that you know have a football team, then just be aware of when the football season starts, especially if you have an interest in that area.

But also I think it's just major events throughout the year, like when the Olympics are on. What can you do in your clinic or in your business or in your area to just build up to that?

No. That makes a lot of sense. Like you said, once there's kind of these collect you know, as, you know, media changes and as all these channels changes, there's very few kinda, like, things that bind us altogether. So finding those events like, is it the Olympics? Is it the Super Bowl in The US?

Are these things that you can kind of, like, you know, kind of co market or produce in concert with that really helps kind of like show that you are in touch with what's going on in that in those types of areas or those things you wanna practice.

Yeah. Well, I know when the Super Bowl used to be on, I think it's it's the first Monday in February that's normally on? Something like that.

Around there.

Yeah. So when I knew it was on, if I was at the clinic, I had the Super Bowl on on the big TV set in the reception area. I don't care if patients liked it or not, but it was just something I I always put it up there because to me, any major sporting event, we used to try and just put it on the TV because people just knew that knew about it, and it was never gonna be offensive. No one would sit there and go, hey. I'm offended that you've got the Super Bowl, and it's just disgusting to put on the midday movie.

So but I think other things you can use the planner for is if you have a special interest in certain areas, so whether it's running, could be heel pain, is throughout the year think, okay. Are we gonna talk about heel pain this time of the year? Are we gonna talk about fungal nails as it leads up to summer? Do you have a a back to school program that you're actually doing? We used to every January, February, we used to have a a concept that we did for eight weeks called the party's over, and it's time to exercise.

So it used to be January, February because a lot of people would settle the New Year's resolutions, and usually by about the January, they'd given up on them all because the pro how we had it done, it used to say, oh, jeez. I can't remember the exact wording. Usually, I can. Usually, once I get started, I can actually remember, oh, that's right. The party's over, and it's time to exercise.

But a painful feet is stopping you? If so, you should see the foot doctors at ProArch podiatry, and then we'd have the details. So that was how the ad actually went. We would have it in print. We would we had a a video done up of it that were just still shots, but the talking went over the top, and we used that on our social media pages.

We had radio going at the same time saying, the party's over. But a painful feat stopping, and we go through the same thing. That was my radio voice.

I like that. I like that. It's funny that the Super Bowl Sunday is on Monday in Australia. That's the joy of a international podcast like we have. So you said Monday, I was like, yeah.

No Sunday. But like, yeah.

Oh, true.

It would be Monday for you.

True. Yes. Yes. We're we're in the future. That's why you can always ring me.

You can always ring me and tell me, did the world come to an end? No. That's still going. But some other things, like, I always talk about, like, previous episodes, we've talked about the marketing pillars. And one thing I do with some of the groups that I do coaching that with, I say to them, every month, pick a pillar and and make that your focus for the month.

So you look at your twelve months and go, okay. Where are we gonna put the pillars each month? What's their monthly focus gonna be in each of those marketing pillars? And and get your team involved. The best thing about it, like you said previously, is once you do it up and the year finishes, you can reflect back on that and use previous year to help you plan the next one.

And the more years you do that in a row, the better it gets, the more fine tune it gets. And then when an opportunity arise, you go, okay. Where can this fit in? It's not gonna fit in. Or you can go, wow.

That's great. There's a you know, the Cannes Ironman is in June. So let's make sure we're there, and let's put a tent up just down the road from where you actually have to pay to have a tent and and just do a big promotion that we did that for a few years. That was a lot of fun.

No. That's a great idea. I think, like you said, you don't have to have it all figured out in year one. It's kind of an incremental process, and it's one of those things that just get just get started. And, like, whether it's little the first year, you can just continue to build off that.

Like you said, once you have that rotation of events or ideas on paper planned out, it just makes it so much easier in year two, three, four. And you can really know, dial in what works and what doesn't, you know, and eliminate what doesn't work. So I think those are all really good points there, Tyson.

Yes. We used to and at the end of the month, we would as the month was progressing, we would do certain activities. We would take notes down, what worked, what went well, What didn't go so well? And if we could do it again, what would we change? And we would put these notes down, like, in a book that sort of related to each month.

At the end of the month, we then do a reflection of the month. If we had the whole January over again, what would we change? And we would start noting down some things. So then when we got to the end of the year, we'd reflect over the whole year, read all their notes that we took throughout the year. Because tell you right now, in December, you cannot remember anything about the previous January.

It's just I can't remember what I did yesterday, let alone what I did in January. That's why I love

this I barely remember last week's podcast. What did we talk about last week?

But even when you see those police shows and the cop turns up and says, what were you doing on June in 02/2017? My god. I have no idea. I'd have to go to my diary. Yeah.

But that's the thing. By keeping track of as you're doing things, what went well, what didn't go well, what would you change, and you do that each time you do an activity, then at the end of the month doing a monthly reflection, noting that all down, then the end of the year reviewing all those notes before you start the next year, you'll be you'll be sending me gifts and thanking me for that tip.

No. For sure. That that's a great way to approach it. Just month by month instead of, like you said, trying to, like, cram all that stuff or forget, you know, 90% of it at the end of the year.

Yeah. It's it's being proactive with your marketing as as a big overview instead of just being reactive. Oh, the guy down the road is doing this. Therefore, I should do that. Oh, this person's, you know, doing these these really cool videos on Instagram.

Oh, therefore, I should be on Instagram. And it's people just these knee jerk reactions to what everybody else is doing, and I think it's important to watch what your competitors are doing, but stop reacting to what they're doing. Look at what they're doing and thinking, okay, where's that fitting with the planning that I wanna do or the direction I wanna take my business? And if it doesn't fit, then don't worry about it.

%.

So I am covered on all that. Anyone who's listening to this today, sit down, start working out the next twelve months. And like I said, I I like it January to December. I think that's a good period of time. But it's August now.

So if you start September till December, and then do a fresh one January through December. And I tell you, it'll make a huge difference to how you actually run your business.

Yeah. For sure. I really appreciate those those tips. Those are gonna be very helpful for our listeners.

Okay. I will talk to you next week, Jim.

Alright. Sounds good, James. Okay. Bye. Bye now.

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