Goodbye 2002, Hello 2023

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 is my cohost and friend, big Jim Mac. How are you doing today, Jim?

Tyson, I'm doing well. I'm in the holiday spirit, full of turkey Oh, yeah. Squash squash pie in my family, stuffing. I'm just here getting fat in in Montreal. So

So you had a good Christmas?

Yeah. It was wonderful. It's it's that time of year where I go visit the family for a little while down in The States. Yeah. Get to really kind of enjoy that small town American, you know, kind of like, you know, stereotypical Christmas.

So now I love I love the holidays. And then, you know, before we know it, it's gonna be 2023 as we can ramp into the new year.

Oh, yeah. I know. It's only it's not too few days away. But what I what I find interesting with you and I, especially this time of year, my Christmas is really, really hot, and your Christmas is really, really cold. So we're on opposite sides of the world.

So but next year, our plan is we're gonna have a white Christmas in The US. That's that's the family plan anyway.

There you go. Yeah. I always found it strange to think that, like, your winter, your December is the hottest time of year. Just like it's the the most hottest time, you know, not the most wonderful time. It's probably the sweatiest time of the year for you, but, yeah, living on the other side of the world.

No. No. So today, we're we're doing a bit of a wrap of what we've done over the past twelve months because I can't remember the exact episode number. This is 53. We've covered a lot we've covered a lot of topics over the past year, and we're actually getting a lot of people listening to us now too.

I I actually I did a search the other day of top podcasts in the world, and podiatry legends and podiatry marketing were the top two.

Yeah. You and I are rocking the the leaderboards there in the podiatry podcast world. So, Noah, it's been a great year working with you and having these conversations. Hopefully, along with people learning a new nickname that I have. They've gotten some value and some some you know, we're gonna touch a couple key takeaways today, but I think it's been a a fruitful year of collaboration between two podiatrists, you know, on the opposite sides of the world.

And that was one the episodes when you're on podiatry legends. We spoke about that about collaborating with other people and collaborating with other podiatrists. And I think it's that could be like a marketing thing in itself is if you're in your podiatry clinic is thinking, who can I collaborate with that we're on the same sort of wavelength, same sort of thinking? We might have the same sort of patient base, and how can their patients and my patients benefit by actually working together?

No. I think you said that correctly there, especially people in private practice, especially people in solo practice. Sometimes they're in that solo owner mentality where it's like them versus the world or them versus their bills.

Yeah.

And they don't, you know, I have I have people that I talk to that are my clients, and they're my podiatry classmates or my residency, you know, residency mates. And I'm like, I ask, you know, have you talked to so and so from school recently? You were really close friends. Like, oh, I haven't talked to that person in seven years. And it's like, come on, man.

Like, you're both in a similar type of practice, maybe different location, but sharing some information, you know, sharing some what's working well, what's not working well in a practice can be a having those conversations can really kinda lead to some different breakthroughs. So whether you're starting a podcast together or you're just trying to figure out whether or not you know, some laser or some type of, you know, modality is gonna be helpful for the bottom line of your practice, there's great ways to, you know, connect and collaborate with your fellow podiatrists.

Yeah. I think so. But that's even not just podiatrists, but when I mentioned to you that I went to Business Black Ops in October, the thing I take away from that is it's a small group of people. There's about 40 people there. We're all different businesses even though there are usually a few podiatrists there.

But it's just the ideas that you bounce off of each other or somebody might be talking about their particular business. And when you hear them, you go, my god. This got nothing to do with podiatry, but they're going through exactly the same thing that I'm going through. Or they might even have a a business where you're going, wow. Your business and my business even got nothing to do with each other.

It sounds like the type of people we work with is very similar. Can we do something together? And doesn't always work for me because I'm in another country, but online, we we still can.

No. I totally agree. I think sometimes when you have a different perspective or someone is, working a different field or a different specialty or even outside of medicine, right, you can really see like it can really make you think about, is that something that I could incorporate into my practice? I know that whenever I started working with clinical websites, there's kind of a very cookie cutter way A lot of other marketing providers work with their clients or things they have on their website. But, you know, like I learned, one of the big things recently is that search is really heavily local.

So if you have local pages, things are locally relevant about you and your practice being local. And that's not something that I saw on a lot of podiatry clinic websites. It's something that is kinda like picked up from, you know, looking at some other industries and some other enterprises. So, yeah, like you said, just having those sharp individuals, no matter what their profession is or what field they're in, can really help spark some ideas to kind of, you know, level up your practice or incorporate some new ideas.

Yeah. It's funny what you say about websites. I will look at a lot of podiatry websites, and the amount that I look at, and I'm trying to find out where are you? They're they're a dresser. You'll be reading through things, and I'm going I I still I'm almost at the end of the first page, and I still cannot figure out where are you located.

It's not really obvious where they are. And then sometimes you go all the way down the bottom, and in really fine print, it'll have their address. And you go, oh, okay. So you are a local business. I wasn't I wasn't actually quite sure.

So I find that really irritating.

No. For sure. That's that's the thing. You have to really make it obvious to the the person searching and knowing that kind of user intent or that searcher intent is a huge thing to be built into a clinic website.

So and the other part it taught me to just talk about collaboration. When I was in The States, it was I was paying attention to each day, I I was going I was approaching each day with intent and trying to learn something. And there were a couple of businesses that were actually doing things a bit different. There was a mechanic shop in Cave Creek, and at the front of the mechanic shop had a cafe. Now this was a pretty seedy looking place, but the food was fantastic, and the staff were really, really funny.

It was just old. But I'm thinking, wow. What an interesting combination, a mechanic shop and a cafe. And then there was another one that it was a a furniture shop and this other cafe, but they were, like, two separate businesses, but they're obviously feeding off of each other. And maybe think, what else could podiatrists do in their businesses that is completely different to what you'd normally do but could actually work?

And I have heard of podiatrists who have set a coffee shop up at the front of their business and the podiatry clinic's at the back. Everyone knows podiatrists will sell footwear, so they'll set up a shoe shop within their podiatry clinic. But I thought, maybe if you set up a a light like like a bookstore that was part of your podiatry business. And I know some people go, oh, I know books are outdated and all that, but as far as I'm concerned hear that? I love books.

I love the smell of them. I love the feel of it. I like the thud factor when you put it down. Oh, the sound effects today are amazing. So I don't and they reckon bookstores are making a comeback.

So could you have a section in your podiatry business where you actually have a section where you're selling books. And that's a crazy idea, but I still think it would work.

I've heard of crazier ideas. I think there's also kind of a digital like version of that. I think there's this big thing that I'm seeing here recently is, obviously, people have their podiatry clinic website. Yeah. But also people getting more into a online store or what they would call like an affiliate marketing website associated with the clinic.

Maybe that first year, you're not gonna make a bunch of revenue selling products online. But I definitely think there is, whether it be through a YouTube channel or sometimes influencer marketing, there is a bit of a push. And some people that I've seen that have done well, kind of with an alternative business strategy along with their their practice. But it definitely something that's not doesn't just like automatically happen. Someone has to have some basic skills, understanding, and a drive and determination to want to do that.

But, yeah, I think there are you know, creative ways to promote not only the the podiatry practice, but also get into some other things associated or maybe not associated with with the clinic that you enjoy, you think could benefit the people that come to your location either online or physically.

Yeah. And that's the thing. And then like I said about the bookshop compared to say an online store, because I like books, it would be not difficult for me if I had a podiatry clinic to have a wall that was in that clinic that was selling motivational business books, things that I know interest me. And because I attract a certain patient and I would relate to those patients in a certain way, they probably say, Tyson, what book would you recommend? And you would say, this one right here.

So, you know, it would just be an add on just like selling a foot cream. You would sell could be book of the month. But the whole online version, I I know some people that are making, yeah, a hundred thousand dollars a month just through affiliate links on their websites. Just crazy. Yep.

So what's your what's your biggest takeaway from this year? Or what what what are a couple of things that you wanna highlight that we've actually covered?

Yeah. I guess I would get started just saying there's kinda like three main takeaways that I kinda like they're very general, but I think they can be helpful helpful way to frame people going into 2023. Mhmm. You know, I think the first thing is just getting a general understanding what all the opportunities are out there. I don't you know, we didn't go to school to become marketers or become digital online experts or even marketing experts in the real world.

But taking some time to listen to some of our previous shows, whether it be about Google search ads, like you talked about some other options, you know, like the content matrix or the different ways of, you know, the different pillars of marketing you've gone through.

But Yeah.

We have some shows now in our catalog that, you know, the first step really is to have that curiosity and to understand these opportunities. Because until you have a general concept about how something works or, you know, why it might benefit your practice, it's easy to kind of blow off. So I think the first real kind of take I would get people is that whether it's learning about a blog or about website design, we have a nice library of content and people should jump in and try to really kinda like get to know one or two of those topics kinda leading into 2023 and just kinda expand that knowledge. They feel comfortable either implementing some of these things themselves or talking to other people to help them implement into their practice.

Yeah. It's a good point because there there's been so many subjects that we've actually covered, and there was one I can't remember exactly when it was. I think it was around October when you spoke about TikTok. And and we're not we're not condoning podiatrists getting there and dancing on screen. Not condoning that at all.

But it is it is a platform. It's a relatively new platform, and somehow, some way, people just know how to how to work that platform to so for marketing and for business. Something if it's a platform that you've looked and you think, wow. I think I could actually use that in a beneficial way. Dig into it.

Learn more about it. Become the podiatrist that actually understands TikTok better than anybody else and and actually use it in your marketing. Or pick something else. It could be videos. It could be audio.

It could be something.

No. That's the great point. I think there are like, we talked about this. The online world and the real world is, like, changing rapidly. Right?

Things like, you know, short form video has kinda taken off and and whether it be TikTok or Instagram having kinda Instagram stories kinda copying some of the format with the reels. You know, you don't necessarily have to do all of the things, but if you are going after a younger demographic, if you are you know, if you're going after an older demographic, you need to know where those potential patients are spending their time and, you know, getting information where they trust or learning about different topics, you have to kind of have a general idea what the what the rules of the game are on on those different platforms. And if if you just look at it from afar, you kinda stand back if you don't engage, you don't learn anything about these platforms. Everyone's busy, right? You're running your practice, you're hiring your staff, you're taking care of your patients, but to really make your clinic grow, having a reputable, trustworthy online presence, I think is essential.

It's it's it's something that your competitors are gonna have and the younger generation behind you is gonna have. So you really have to take action and gradually learn about some of these topics. So by understanding your opportunities and knowing what's out there, it can kinda lead to other things.

Yeah. Well, we mentioned the YouTube reels. When that first started becoming a bit more popular, I'm thinking, why on earth would I wanna watch a video that goes for sixty seconds? Yeah. Like, these ones coming through because there's so many other platforms that we're sharing short videos.

I'm thinking, is YouTube going down that that path? So I'm like, not ant here, but I'm just thinking, I I wonder why. But then I find myself the other day, I'm sitting there for about half an hour, and I'm just flicking through all these reels. And I'm I'm cracking up laughing, and my wife said, what are you doing? I said, oh, I'm just watching these short videos.

And then it clicked to me, I'm watching YouTube reels. And when I'm going through that, there was probably about five people, and I ended up subscribing to based off of their short form videos that I went, that was good content. That was good content. And by about the third or fourth time, I'd sort of come across them. I went, I'm gonna start following this person because I actually like what they have to say.

So I can just say that's another platform or an area that if if you're interested, dig into a little bit more and and learn how can you use it in your podiatry business.

I think it's funny you say that because I think that is kind of the hook of these short form videos is that It is. You know they're you know they're not very long. So you tell yours you tell yourself, oh, this is like 15. Like, I'll just check it out real quick, and then I'll go Mhmm. Do something productive.

I'll go Oh, yeah. Read a book. I'll go read a book. I'll go start you know, I'll go build that bookshelf in my in front of my office, you know, from for my bookstore.

But because you know it's gonna be quick, they have to get to the point really fast or they know they're gonna lose your interest. It's not like when somebody be doing a webinar or a live a live feed, say, on Facebook, and you get on there and you go, oh, it says it's gonna be at ten. So you get there at 10:00. And like, oh, yeah. No.

No. We're just just just just waiting for a few more people to to get on, and and, hey, I'll just just move my pens around. And and you're sitting there going, you said it was gonna be on at 10:00. It is now, yeah, three minutes past ten. I'm here for some action.

I usually check out if it hasn't really dug into it. So I think they're short videos because they've got sixty seconds. If they don't grab my attention in the first five seconds, I'm just flicking. I'm moving on the next one.

No. That's a good point. Yeah. Time is people are time poor, and they don't like waiting around. So that's it kinda scratches that itch with the short form video.

Yeah. I don't have a short attention span. I mean, really, shiny bright lights. Something I go, oh, that's that's got my attention. But it is.

It's and and I think podiatrists can use these short form videos really, really well and can really give some just really important information very quickly. And I think patients would appreciate that too.

No. For sure.

So what else what else do you think is being something that we've done over the year that you you really that you wanna highlight and make sure people go back and either listen to that episode or just sort of think around that area a bit more.

Yeah. I think once people kind of, you know, they listen to a few of these episodes or some of these topics that they think that could be beneficial for the practice, they've learned some of the basics. The next step is really, you know, how how does someone develop kind of a next action plan that's really in line with, the clinical goals of the practice. Right? So when I say next action plan, I'm really talking about, like, what are those steps that you have to do to make something happen?

Right? Not just like, oh, like, I wanna have a YouTube channel. Oh, I wanna do Google Ads. Oh, I wanna have the best website. Like, really taking time either solo by yourself or working with a professional that does marketing for podiatrists or for health care providers and really having a plan built out.

You don't necessarily have to jump in and spend, you know, $5 on monthly marketing or something insane, but there's gonna be people out there that will offer, like, kind of an audit or a way to, check and see what you're currently doing, to kinda help you take some of those opportunities and really understand, in your location based off the type of care you wanna provide, what are those things you can do to kinda help move the needle? And, you know, like I said, it's one of those things that maybe even after you learn those opportunities, you're not sure how to do it or what the the plan of action should be, and that's kind of where you partner with either a coach that can kinda help you identify the direction you should head in and then finding that person to help you, like, co create and kind of implement a plan.

Yeah. I find coaching in general. Like, I I I enjoy doing it. I know we both do it in but in different formats. My my stuff is one on one coaching, doing twelve week podiatry business reboot.

That's how I like to work. You do a lot of the marketing, the online presence, the websites, and that area. But the amount of people that will will say approach me and and ask about coaching or hang on. I'm gonna rephrase that. They not many people would come up and just say, oh, Tyson, can you tell me about your coaching services?

I know you do things differently. What they'll say, you'll be at a conference and go, oh, what's what's one thing that you would tell me to you know, if I want to have a really successful podiatric clinic, yeah, what should I do? And I'll go, do you do you really wanna know? And they go, yeah. I go, you wanna know the secret?

They go, yeah. Okay. Get a business coach. It's a bit more specifically, get a podiatry business coach. And even more specific, you wanna work with me one on one.

That's the best option. And you see the glaze that comes over their eyes like, oh, you know what? I really didn't wanna know that much about it. Instead of, I really just want a magic pill or that that secret ingredient that is gonna make me successful. And then I realized there there is no one secret, one tactic, one thing.

It's it's an accumulation of things, and it's feeding off of somebody else's knowledge that's already done it. And I tell you, the amount of time it can save people that that you can just take you can speed the success of the business up so fast when they get the knowledge from someone who's already done it. A bit no different to if someone was sitting there trying to work out their own website or get you to do it for them. No. It'd be faster.

Obviously, I'm heavily biased, but I totally agree. I think the thing is that when you're kind of in the weeds and kind of in the you know, in it every day, you just see things that don't don't other people don't see, whether it be coaching or developing somebody's, like, podiatry website. You just you just, like, you just see it so much. You know, people are kind of blind to it because they, you know, they they have their practice. They're looking at their practice from their perspective.

Yeah.

Not always from the patient perspective. Or what is, you know, while bright shiny objects are fun and exciting you know, YouTube or Instagram Reels, what are those things those tactics or those things that are actually gonna lead to new patient appointments, specific types of new patient appointments, those goals that are in line with your clinic goals, you know, those tactics are in line with your clinicals because there's so many different things that are being created. There's so many different things you can do. Having someone help you filter out the noise Mhmm. And just be more clear about your intentions.

I think you're talking about intentionality earlier with me. And that's what's really all about is, like, narrowing that focus onto things that actually work. It's not a cookie cutter thing. Everyone has a specific individual situation. So it's like taking those known things that work and molding them to the the clinical goals like we talked about.

Yeah. And the other part I think people are gonna realize too like, if I said to you, Jim, say you had a podiatry clinic that was turning over 300,000 a year. And if I said to you, Jim, pay me 20 or 20 5, and I'll take it from 300 to $600,000 a year. Is that a good deal? I'm about to swear then.

Yes. It is a good deal. And this is what I do with people. I've had people that they're turning over just under 400, and then two years later, they're turning over 800. And they just say to me, they shake my head going, god, I wish I had contacted you earlier because they see the the significant improvement in the business in all these different areas.

It's not just about bringing in new patients. It's once you bring in the patients, it's can you manage them? Because if you can't manage them, all you do is bring them in, and then they're they're going down the road to your competition.

Now the recall and kind of patient retention is a huge aspect of kind of what I work on and obviously what you work on with the people that you coach and keeping them engaged and kind of knowing all the care that you provide. Like we talked about, I think in a previous episode, you know, what they see on your website is what you do. Right? And what you what you put out there into the world is what you're gonna get back. And if you want to do something and it's not visible, I think one of my favorite quotes from you is, you know, like, you know, if if it was a crime to have, you know, what you love to do on your website, like, would, you know, would I be able to convict you in court?

And I think that's a great kind of a a bellwether test. You know, if you have footprint footprints of, you know, walking on the beach on your homepage, like, I hope that you are the best specialist in, like, you know, seashell, like, you know, lacerations or, like, jellyfish bites or something. Right? That's great if you're doing that. But if you're not, if you're doing sports medicine or if you're doing ingrown toenails, like, you're putting out the wrong message.

So I think you talked about just having that relevancy and, you know, just really making sure that it connects your services to what the patient wants. And when you have that kind of that flywheel, success is is something that's gonna it's gonna come your way.

Yeah. Another thing that and this isn't some we I don't think we really touched on it during the year, but it's just this point popped into my head. And it's when I was talking to one of the clients recently, and I said we were talking about, yeah, what do you really love to do or who's your ideal patient? And they explained who their ideal patient is. And then I said, now what I want you to is go away and have a look at where your money's being made at the moment.

And when they look at where the money was being made and who their ideal patient was, it was so far from what they really wanted to what was actually really happening in the business. And how that popped into my head was when Doug Ritchie was on the podiatry legends podcast, and he told a story where he really wanted to have a sports podiatrist because that's what he was gonna he was a sports podiatrist. And when he came up with the Ritchie brace, he came up with it for sports people. But then all of a sudden, everyone started using it for post tib problems, old people. And his business just evolved and changed till all of sudden he realized he was making far more money from old people and post tib problems and was actually enjoying it.

So what he thought he really wanted, his business just evolved and totally changed. Now I think it's important at certain times to step back and listen to the market as well. What what you think you may want may not necessarily be it it may look look and sound good in your head, but in reality, it may not be what's really happening in your business.

I think that's a really good point. I think to having adaptability in your practice, obviously, knowing what you like to do, but let's say you wanna be like the world renowned, you know, running medicine doctor. And if you're in a a small town of, like, 7,000 people in the middle of Iowa, no picking on podiatrists from Iowa, but Oh, no. You know, are are people gonna, like, fly in from LA to come see you? No.

Probably not. So if you're dead set on being in that location, you you might have to find what the market needs are, right, and address them. Otherwise, you might be fighting uphill battles. I think it is like taking your your own market into account and what the opportunities are there is something you definitely should be considering.

Amit, we have covered so much this year. And I I find it actually really hard to look back at what we've done and the content we actually put together. And I hope people that if this is the first episode they're listening to, that they've just come across it, that they go back and they binge from episode one all the way through. And as they're as they're having questions to write them down and reach out to us. What's your email address?

I can never remember it. Do we have an actual email address? Have an email address attached to the podcast, don't we?

Yeah. So people go to podiatry dot marketing. We have a form there on the on the website where people can reach out to us at the podcast, or obviously, they can reach out to your personal email. Was it tyson at

No.

It's Of course not.

No. It's tf@TysonFranklin.com.

There you go. And I'm Jim@podiatrygrowth.com. So, you know, whether it's the form on podiatry dot marketing website or our individual emails, we're happy to to help out the listeners of this podcast.

Yeah. I just think go through. And if you've listened to them before and if you're listening to them a second time, note down questions and just send us emails. Because I I love getting emails from people saying, hey. I listened to this episode and you mentioned this.

Can you tell me more information? And I may have had a I may have a blog article. I may have another podcast episode that relates to it, and I just flick it to them and go, here you go. Yeah. Knock yourself heavy.

Any more questions, just let me know. Some people will ask questions. I've heard people ask me questions, like, over a twelve or eighteen month period on certain things and with no intention of ever working with me, but the questions are simple. So it's really easy to sort of just direct them on what they need to do.

No. I'm the same way. I get a lot of questions about what should I do in my marketing? You know, what do you think about this, that, and the other thing? And always happy to provide kind of some free guidance.

Definitely something that I enjoy talking about and discussing with folks. So that's definitely something I'm open to as well.

Okay. So I'm looking at the time. I think it's anything else you want to cover before we wrap up and head into the new year for 2023?

Yeah. The I guess the last takeaway I just wanted to share with our listeners is that, like, it's great to to know your opportunities. It's excellent to have a plan. But the thing that's gonna really, you know, really kind of move you and your practice forward is by taking consistent action.

Mhmm.

Right? And it's okay to, like it's okay not to be perfect on the first attempt. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right? So, you know, as you go into the new year, when you're chasing down these new opportunities and you have a plan in place, whether it's starting a podcast with a a fellow podiatrist

Yeah.

Is that consistency in action over time with your marketing, with getting out there, talking to your patients about all the things that you do, about soliciting reviews for Google reviews. All of these different things are gonna compound over time, and you won't have that success if you I'm gonna do one week of doing this. I'm gonna do one month of doing this and then then mix it up. Yeah. Like, if you do something for a quarter or three months and you're not seeing progress, maybe it's time to to make some adjustments and change course a bit.

But being consistent with do those things, I don't know. I I think it's it's not it's not that tough of a thing to get success and to grow a practice, But it is that consistency over time with whatever you're doing, building your practice or, you know, having a podiatry podcast with a guy named Tyson who calls you, you know, big Jim all the time. So, like, just be consistent at it, and definitely gonna pay out for you. Exactly.

Yeah. Yeah. It's not just big gym. It's big gym mac. I actually like it when you get better close to the microphone.

It's big gym mac. I think that's a good point there about the action. Everyone should be able to relate to it as in you know, because you wouldn't say to a patient, you only need to stretch once this year, and your calf muscles will be far better. It's something you'd have to do on a consistent basis. It's no different to going to the gym.

It's no different to if you're trying to get yeah. Lose weight. It's taking well, losing weight is taking consistent action on not eating is or not eating the wrong thing, but it's just it's consistency. You know, it's action with consistency and just doing it on that regular basis.

For sure.

So big Jim Mac, I wanna wish you a happy New Year. I hope you have a great time. And what are your plans? What are you doing for New Year's?

I've got small kids, so I'll probably stay up and watch a movie. I'm on the East Coast in The US. I'll probably watch the ball drop in New York City Okay. Then head to bed.

Sounds very exciting. Well, I'm actually I'm actually gonna be in our national capital.

There you go.

So I leave, oh, I leave tomorrow, actually. Yeah. Leave for Canberra tomorrow, so I will be in Canberra for New Year's Eve, which should be really interesting to find out how do they celebrate New Year's Eve in a national capital. It could be really boring. But

There you go.

I'll have fun regardless. Jim, I look forward to talking to you again soon and bringing in 2023 with a bang.

Sounds like a plan, Tyson.

Okay. See you.

Bye now.

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