Guerilla Marketing for Podiatry Clinics

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. Join us always with my trusty co host, Tyson Franklin. Tyson, what's going on today?

Not a lot big, Jim, other than life is fantastic. That's that's my motto. Life is good. There's nothing to complain about.

Yeah. I think we are are similar minds when it comes to that.

Yeah. I hear people every now and then, and I suppose I've gone through those stages of my life where, yeah, business is difficult, and you've got pressure with family and whether it's children, your partner, staff, the government, whatever it is. And I I've come to the conclusion that if I cannot change it or if money can actually fix the problem, then I don't have really have a problem. So if I if I can't change something, there's no point wasting any mental energy on it. And if money can fix a problem, there's not really a problem.

There's people who got a lot worse problems than I've ever had.

Sounds like a that sounds like a good mental state to be in there.

Yeah. So since I've been following that philosophy and I look at everything and go, can I change it? Nope. So don't worry about it. It's like when you, you know, you see the government doing something really stupid, and this we're talking to all governments here around the world.

It can't change it. So don't lose sleep over it.

There you go.

Okay. So we're gonna dive into today's topic. Drum roll, please.

Yeah. What are we gonna get into today?

We're gonna talk about guerrilla marketing. And that does not mean putting on a guerrilla suit and running down the road even though I do have one.

I mean, you could spin those signs. Right? You like flip that that that sign around, that arrow sign. I mean, that's a great way to draw new patients in the practice. Right?

That's true. I forgot about that. Yes. You could do that. You could just get the gorilla suit.

I do have a gorilla suit. I bought it oh, it's well over ten years ago, and it gets worn at least twice a year. I'll have the gorilla

Halloween and for for anniversaries or what other kinda

Yeah. Halloween, always if we got if we're at home. I don't know. For some reason, it just seems to I end up wearing it. I'm not sure why, but it's a it's a lot of fun.

And so anyway, what guerrilla marketing is, if you think that in military context of, like, think ambushes, sabotage, raids, but we're doing this in a nice way. So it's about using unconventional low cost marketing strategies to promote a product or a service in a highly memorable way. That's pretty much the definition of it. And the focus is on creativity, surprise, and getting a big impact with a minimal budget. And it's also fun too.

Especially if you get your team involved, there is you can have a lot of fun coming up with gorilla marketing ideas. And every time I say that, I keep picturing a gorilla, but it is different. And and even though it's free, there is there is some intellectual investment, you do have to think about it a little bit. But it's a fantastic way of driving free publicity if you do it right.

Yeah. Sometimes being a little bit more innovative or coming up with a a novel idea can kind of you know, people will kinda tune things out. I think we've talked about this multiple times on the podcast podcast previously. If you just keep doing the same thing, yeah, you might need to refresh everyone. So all this is working great.

But if you're just doing the same thing that everybody else is doing, you kinda get lost in the noise. You don't seem that different from anybody else. And, you know, I think novel strategies like, you know, like you talked about with guerrilla marketing is one way to set yourself apart from others.

Yeah. And that's the thing that's fun with it is it's it's something that you can yeah. You can spend a bit of money on it if you if you really wanted to. Or you could do it extremely cheap. And the main idea for most people to be listening to this is you wanna come up with the most cost effective ways of actually doing it.

And the Wrecking Guerrilla marketing works because it creates an emotional connection. It grabs people's attention. And if you can connect with them on an emotional level, one, remember it, but they'll also talk about it with other people. So like I said, it's low it's low cost so it's ideal for small businesses and it encourages word-of-mouth. So whenever marketing is memorable, it is shared and that's how things become viral.

I saw I saw a advertising campaign in a few different Specsavers had one recently. Do you have Specsavers in America?

It's not like optical Yeah. Outfit there.

Yeah. So they always I think it's in The UK. It's in Australia. And they always have these funny ads. Yeah.

Should've gone to Specsavers. And it'll have a guy just doing something funny and next thing, yeah, should've gone to Specsavers. And they had one at the Melbourne Airport and had a big sign there that said, welcome to Sydney. And then and then underneath, had Specsavers. So many people took a photo of that and shared around, which is how I saw it.

I saw it on social media. So sometimes it's clever marketing can be viral, but guerrilla marketing is sort of it's it's taking it slightly different. Like I said, if you think back, like I said before, about military conduct, it's been ambushes, sabotage, and raids, but in a nice way.

No. Absolutely. I think that Specsavers example is is is like we talked about kind of a clever way. It's not much you know, it's not an expensive idea. You don't have to spend thousands or millions of dollars on it, but it's something that's definitely very memorable.

Kind of a it kinda gets a laugh out of people, so it kinda draws on that kind of emotional connection, which is pretty unique.

Yeah. Well, I've got some I've got a couple examples I wanna run through. One of the best companies to do it has always been Nike. Nike have done it really, really well, and they normally don't sponsor global sporting events. They're just not known for doing that.

They sponsor sponsor individual athletes, which you're gonna be aware of, and usually teams. So when it comes to the Olympics, for example, in 1996, they had the golden spikes, the ones that Michael Johnson wore for the for the 400 meters. And there was so much attention on those golden spikes that he won. So they put a lot of money into that athlete even though they were not the sponsor of that Olympic games. Somebody else I can't remember who it was.

Might be Reebok at at the time. And so they said in 1997, the year after, Nike sales went up 42% because everybody in the world was watching that race. Everybody saw those golden spikes. So they that was that's an example of Gorilla Marketing. Reebok was the sponsor of the Olympics, but everybody remembers the golden spikes that Nike had done.

And I'm sure they didn't spend the hundred million dollars that Reebok spent to be the sponsor.

There's also an example, I think it was the nineteen ninety two Dream Team where Reebok had actually sponsored the, like, the medal winning outfits for the Olympics and the, you know, Michael Jordan, a bunch of other athletes or Nike athletes. Oh, that's right. And what they did is instead of, like, showing off the the Reebok emblem, they got crafty. Maybe somebody at Nike told them to put an American flag around their neck. So the American flag was hanging around their neck.

So the the logo of Reebok was not showing up at all.

Yeah. And they this is what I mean. So Nike has just been renowned for doing this at the Sydney Olympics. They had a whole building in, like, a high rise building that they had done something with it, and they had Kathy Freeman with the big Nike tick. So Kathy Freeman was, once again, the 400 meter runner.

Everybody in the world was watching that race. Everybody in Australia was watching that race, and they hijacked that Olympics as well. And the two thousand twelve Olympics, which was hilarious, was the London Olympics. So here's her. Adidas won the auction.

They were the official sponsor for the Olympics. Paid a hundred and $50,000,000 for it. Okay? So Nike dipped out. The Nike was actually going for it, but they missed out.

Based on what Nike had done in the past, the Olympics created some really, really strict rules because they were sick of Nike sabotaging everything that they did. So no shoe company was allowed to use the words London Olympics. No shoe company could shoot in London in The UK and do any commercials, and no shoe company could use Olympians in their commercials or for any form of endorsements. So and there were a few a pile of other rules. So Nike found three loopholes.

Regardless of who the official shoe sponsor, athletes can still choose their own shoe. So they can't tell you an athlete, no, you can't wear a Nike. So Nike made 400 brand ambassadors their to wear their shoes, and they designed this particular shoe that was yellow and green. So it actually contrasted. It was highly visual with the track that they'd actually designed for the London Olympics, which I think is funny.

The second thing they did is they found 28 locations around the world that also had the name London in it. And they shot commercials there. London's gym. There's a London in Nigeria. So they went around to all these different places.

I think it's hilarious. And then while Adidas flaunted all the Olympians in their commercials, Nike hired a whole pile of just average teenagers, a couple of chubby ones, just normal ones, and they came up with the slogan, find your greatness. And that was how that whole campaign started. So that just absolutely once again, they interviewed a whole pile of people after the Olympic games and said, who was the official shoe sponsor for the Olympics? Twenty seven percent said Adidas, thirty two percent said Nike.

And they didn't spend a hundred and $50,000,000 to be the be the sponsor.

That's crazy.

So people might yeah. Anyone listening to this might be thinking, okay. That's great. That that's Nike. They've done this big thing, which is fantastic.

But how can I, as a small business owner, do something similar? So, Bill, any thoughts, Jim?

Like, you talked about the, you know, brainstorming some ideas, you know, thinking things that are memorable. I think, you know, whether it be, like, a contest or some way to, you know, show you know, whether it's through, like, a loyal like, a loyalty program, you know, kind of treating your best patients and kinda putting them on a pedestal and making them, you know, the star of in in The US, you can do testimonials

Oh, right.

Like that. But but it's a great way to kinda spread that around. I I didn't do a lot of those things when I was in practice, but I think there's definitely some some opportunities there.

Yeah. Well, there there was one I don't know if people remember, the Fiji Water girl. Do you remember her?

Not really.

Okay. She photobombed the Golden Globe Awards. So she so the Fiji water hired her to actually, yeah, go and hand out water, but they also told her, Bobby, what you do is is every time a celebrity arrives and you see them getting a photograph taken, we want you to sneak into the background with the Fiji water tray. You can actually go and look. You can Google it Fiji water girl.

Every single photo that they took at the Golden Globes, she's standing in the background somewhere with the tray and you see Fiji water on it. She became a celebrity. Fiji water, it just the whole the whole campaign went viral, and I think that is hilarious. There's a do you have Anytime Fitness in The States?

I don't if it's in The States. Definitely is in Canada.

Yeah. So anyway, so Anytime Fitness in Newcastle, which is just North Of Sydney. Well, Anytime Fitness, their color is purple. So they ran a competition with something I can't remember exactly what you you won, but what you had to do if you found a purple bike somewhere around town, you had to take a photo of yourself with the purple bike and then tag Anytime Fitness in there and post it to your social media platforms. And then they do these random draws and people each week would I think they're winning memberships or something like that.

So they had purple bikes chained to poles in different parts around the city. And as soon as someone saw the purple bike, they take a photo of it, tag Anytime Fitness. And I'm thinking, that is brilliant.

It's smart. I mean, it's just a a free way of getting more visibility and make making kind of Anytime Fitness be a little bit more top of mind and, you know, to to kind of people without having to do much more besides changing those bikes to the to the post or wherever they are and then, you know, getting kinda organizing that contest.

Well, it'd be the same thing. Imagine a podiatrist gives a whole pile of shoes, and they don't have to be good shoes, paints them gold, runs a chain through the gold shoes, and chains them to different locations in their area. So, hey, if you find a pair of gold shoes, take your photo with the gold shoes, and then tag tag the podiatry clinic.

There you go.

And there's a competition that you can win x. Now, anytime you're doing any of this type of thing, I don't condone breaking the law. So so don't go and change it to a traffic light hanging down or something like that. Be sensible. But you can take that same concept and just adapt it a little bit to your own business.

There was one we were talking I was talking to a builder about it. And he said, oh, how could I use guerrilla marking? I said, well, do you ever go to, like, home expos, you know, building expos, house items? And he goes, yeah. I said, well, why not have high vis shirt on, have a couple other people that work with you with your business shirts on, walking around with a piece of timber, and aren't going up to us and oh, do you wanna go in the competition?

Can you guess the length of this piece of timber? And when they guess, you give them a little sheet, they write the the name on there and the email address, and you say, oh, you will announce the winner. Whoever gets the closest, we'll send you an email. I said, you're collecting all these email addresses. You're not even a sponsor of this event.

You're just walking around with a piece of timber. Plus getting your photo at different times talking, you know, talking to someone, taking photos, and actually posting on your own social media. That is guerrilla marketing. That is an ambush that that you're actually doing. You didn't pay to be there, but you paid to enter, and you have a piece of timber.

There you go.

And if you're dressed like a builder, no security person's gonna stop you at the front. Go, sorry, sir. You can't come over that piece of timber. It's a building expo. Expecting it.

Some of the ones that we did in Cairns ourselves. There's the Ironman event that goes all around the world. So in Cairns, if you had a tent set up in the Ironman area, you pay thousands and thousands of dollars to have a tent there. So we set up a tent just outside the area, yeah, on the council lawn. And we had their signage all around the tent.

We had a barbecue set up. We were patients that were coming past. We were offering them a sausage. We're getting a photo taken with athletes as they're running past, and we paid nothing for it. And what was really funny, we did it the first year.

We did it the second year. The third year, there were more tents there. Now you go to that area and there's tents all the way down the road because the council never stopped anyone from doing it. They said, everyone's just having a good time. You're not you're not harming anybody.

Another idea that people can do if there's a a charity walk, you know, or an event in your area is get a pile of t shirts done with your business name name on there and and walk as a group. Be seen. Be wherever the the other sponsors that get photos of yourselves in front of that event, and people are gonna think you're actually part of it. And even if you have bottles of water done up, that's got your logo and everything on there and handing out bottles of water to people as they could be walking one way, you're walking the opposite direction just handing bottles of water with your business name on there, nobody is going to harass you for giving away free bottles of water at a walking event. And we used to get bottles of water done up before our clinic that we had for the clinic anyway.

Think with having your logo on there, all your business details, and a 500 mil bottle of water, I think that cost us like 80¢ to get done. Even if they cost a dollar. Right. And you handed out 500 bottles of water, cost you $500. And the amount of people that would be walking around with a water bottle with your business name on there, who are probably in photos with French I reckon you'd find that the name would be out there a lot.

Plus, you could take that idea and be like the Fiji water girl.

Do some photobombing?

Every time someone's getting a photo done, you just have the water bottles in the in the background, just strategically standing there talking to someone holding the bottle there. By the time they realize the photos being photobombed, which leads me on to photobombing.

There you go.

That is just there was a a radio station here called Triple j, and it used to be called Beat the Drum. These are the t shirt that had beat the drum on it, and they had stickers. And they used to run a competition every year. If you can photobomb, the best photobombing will win a certain prize. And I think the one that won at the year that I remember was the prime minister was meeting, like, the prime minister of Japan or something.

They're they're shaking hands. And there's a guy in the background. He's got just in the middle of them with a shirt like this, and you see the drum emblem right in the middle of the two prime ministers shaking hands. So that was absolutely fantastic. So I think when it when it comes down to all this, it's really it's just putting your thinking cap on.

And like I said before, is involve your team in it. Have have them say, hey, can you come up with any ideas? Well, the last idea I just wanted to share was and this one might sound some people might listen to this and go, well, that's that's silly. But if you're in a business where you had a lot of tradesmen coming into your clinic, if you wanna get more tradesmen in your clinic, then why not contact the local pie van and say, hey, I wanna sponsor a hundred pies. And have them go around to all the building sites and just go, hey, guys, anyone here want a meat pie especially around lunchtime?

And no builder will say no to a meat pie. You don't do meat pies in in America, do you? You do?

Not so much, but they do have them in there's a Australian meat pie place not too far away from where live in in Montreal.

So Yeah. So in Australia, we have pie vans that will just pull up at building sites and people come out and get a pie and a pasty. But you could contact a pie place and say, hey, can we today, I wanna sponsor, you know, the first hundred pies and actually get them delivered to these different building sites. And that's it's just an easy thing to do. So like I said, it's all about creativity.

It's seeing what else is actually on and actually just trying to especially events and things like that, try and take get involved in them. This and that's where the photobombing thing comes in really, really easy or makes it really easy because you could be at, yeah, a local basketball game or a national basketball game, and you always know players come out at the end. When players come out at the end, they're signing signatures. When the players are signing a signature, you could just stand in the background with your business name shirt on and try and get as many photos as you can of other people taking photos of themselves with the celebrities.

There you go.

So they're just ideas. So that pretty much covers it, Jim.

That was good. I think there's a lot of good takeaways here. There's I'm sure there's gonna be some interesting ideas that our audience has. So definitely, you know, reach out to Tyson and I if you have some guerrilla marketing ideas that don't involve you, you know, jumping into a guerrilla suit or flipping around a sign or eating bananas. But I think definitely there's a lot of different opportunities out there, and I'm curious to hear some more from our audience.

Okay, Jim. I look forward to talking to you next week.

Sounds great, Tyson.

Okay. See you. Bye now.

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