How a Marketing Audit Can Bolster Your Clinic's Profit Margins

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 good friend all the way on the other side of the world, Jim McDannald. How are doing this morning, Jim?

Tyson, things are great. It's a lovely day. Just having a great time. So no Nothing better than to spend some time talking some podiatry marketing with you today.

I love this subject. I really do. And you were saying that recently, our our numbers are really starting to increase as well. And more people are tuning in to podiatry marketing podcast, which is how they should and anyone listening to this, make sure you tell your podiatry friends, only the ones you like, that this show exists and help them grow their business. The ones that you don't like, yeah, we probably don't talk to them anyway.

Yeah. I know it's been fun growing the numbers with you. Obviously, I think there's a a need for podiatry marketing information out there and if we can, you know, send some people in the right direction having some more success in their practice that makes us both feel like we're doing a job well done so.

I think so. So what is the topic of discussion today?

So today is what is a marketing audit and you know this is something kind of in the process of when you're looking at potential options as far as service providers or what's all out there. It's kind of a first step towards developing a marketing plan but also having a thorough assessment of kind of what you're currently doing from, you know, from a professional or from an expert.

If somebody contacted you and they said, I want to do a marketing audit. What what does that mean to them? What do you tell them that it that actually means?

Yeah. For sure. I think when people kinda either contact me or they listen to this show or they're just kind of out about in the world. Right? Like when they hear the word podiatry marketing or marketing plan, probably it's a different definition for somebody, you know, for somebody that has never done it before, just not a practice or has been in practice for a long time.

So there's kind of three types of people. You know, there's kind of a spectrum I would say as far as marketing knowledge or sophistication. You know, there's there's one group that's like, I don't even know where to start. Like, I don't I know that I probably should have a website. I never really looked into it before.

They're not that group of people is, you know, like, they think that maybe market could be helpful for them, but they don't really have any clue or any idea about not only, like, how much to spend, but, like, who to go with, like, what are the different options available, what are the technologies and tools available. So that's kind of one side of the spectrum, I would say. The other side of the spectrum is someone that is, like, like extremely knowledgeable or at least thinks they have an idea of exactly what they need and how fast they should be getting that as far as what the budget should be. Yeah. Someone who's, you know, and that that, you know, with enough time, you know, any podiatrist can be knowledgeable on this topic and maybe they've had multiple experiences with the different marketing providers, so they have a general sense of what the market is.

But I'd say most people are kinda somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, especially the younger people coming into practice. You know, they've dealt with social media or they've they realize that online visibility and awareness is something that's really important to a lot of aspects of this kind of digital culture we're living in. So yeah, it's kinda like three kind of groups, but it's kind of the spectrum of like someone doesn't know anything or where to get started to someone who's like had either great experiences or bad experiences with all types of marketing providers.

I think it's important what you said too about the person that yeah, may not know where to start or, yeah, feels like they don't know anything. And I I just want people to understand, if you don't understand market or you're not sure how to market your business or you've been trying to market your business as not really working, there's nothing wrong with putting your hand up and saying, I don't know how to do that. It's nothing to be embarrassed about, you shouldn't feel silly about it, there's nothing wrong with reaching out and actually getting help. To me, it's no different. If someone didn't know how to do nail surgery, would you just go and do nail surgery not knowing how to do nail surgery?

You wouldn't do that. So you go, no, I wanna do nail surgery, so I'm going to be taught how to do nail surgery so I can perform it properly. Marketing's the same.

No. Exactly. That's that's well put. I think that's a good example and then like you talked about there's some different what so why would someone want just to do an audit. Right?

Why not just jump into having services right away? And I would say that starts with you want an opportunity to kinda like like fill out a relationship or get a good sense of what it would be like to work with someone. And if you sign that your contract off the bat, someone cold called your office said we'll build you a website, we'll do all this marketing for you and you like sign on the dotted line from for a year, you you have no idea what they're gonna provide you. I mean, you don't know what's gonna be like to work with them, like, how they you know, maybe you they they say they've done this before, but I think having an audit, what that does, you know, kind of by assessing your current online presence, assessing and we'll get into specifics as far as what the the audit actually is or an assessment is, but it helps you kind of, like, test drive a relationship with a service provider, but also see if someone's the right fit for you. Do they work at a a cadence you're happy with?

Do they provide good work? I think that's the the kind of the first thing that's important as far as like why consider getting an audit instead of just jumping in with a with a service provider just off the bat.

I think that's super important because I have heard people say, oh, I'm now using x company to help me with my marketing. And usually, whenever I hear that, it's always the same thing. It's always online. I was at a I was at a a cruise couple of months back, a boat cruise, and I was one of the speakers there in this little in the marketing sort of section. And there was myself, and there were three other people up there.

And the other three were all representing different online marketing companies. And every question that got that was asked that we had to provide, oh, how would we handle this or how would we do that? Every answer was based around Facebook, Google, Instagram. That that was the only that was the only thing they had. I'm going, at no stage have you gone back and sort of like but you're talking about doing an audit on.

What do they really need? Because I'm sure when you're talking to a client the same as when I'm talking with somebody, the first thing I wanna know is what what are they what do they love doing in podiatry? What do they want more of? What do they hate doing? So if you don't like routine podiatry care, then stop putting it in any of your marketing.

So is that the sort of question you'd be asking as well?

That's totally the type of answer. You know, the type of questions I wanna have answered by the people I'm doing an assessment with. I think the thing that like sometimes the podi it's the podiatrist that wanna jump to services, but sometimes it's the service providers. Right? Like they have this like, you know for lack of better term cookie cutter solution.

Yeah.

They think they're gonna they think they already know that you're a foot doctor right? So you do these like 20 diagnosis and these 20 treatments so they've got a library of content based off those things that they're just gonna like repurpose reformat a little bit for you and put on your website and everything's gonna be good for $500 a month. Right? But looks like you said Tyson, like you really need to have a clear understanding of the value and the type of results you want to generate. Right?

And that starts with making sure there's alignment between the service provider and that they understand and are working towards your specific goals and objectives. Right? Not like when I was in practice like I wanted to do more like sports medicine type things and like runners and those things that that was interesting to me. But if I jump straight to services without telling my someone in this assessment like what I want more of like you're gonna get the same website as the clinic down the street. Right?

So it's a matter of just like, you know, sometimes I like the term you have to slow down to speed up. This is sometimes what feels like a slowdown. You know, like a thousand or $2,000 for an assessment like

Some people I would I want it.

Oh, yeah. For sure.

It's not just slowing. Some people just need to stop doing what they're doing, take a big deep breath, and then just and restart and build momentum.

No. That that's perfect. I mean like but you look at it right? So if some people look at it a bill, You say, would I want to like slow down or stop and spend a thousand or $2,000 on assessment? That makes no sense.

Why would I wanna do that? Well, that same person probably would have no issue with spending $500 a month for a year, which ends up being about $6. Right? And maybe didn't have a plan. They built a website that wasn't right for you.

So like it does help to kind of slow it down and kind of bring it back to basics and making sure that expectations are also aligned. Right? If you know, if the service provider is not providing level service you're happy with or it's a matter of just kind of getting on the same page there that's really really important.

But I think the one of the biggest difference too between somebody working with just a service provider or the difference between, say, working with you or doing, a brainstorming session with me is if if you said to the other service provider provider, tell me what a podiatrist does. Sit back and just wait until you hear some of the dumb answers that come out of their mouth. Now if you ask you, what does a podiatrist do? I I assume you could probably answer that, Jim, the same as if they said to me, Tyson, what does a podiatrist do? I got a rough idea because we're podiatrists.

That's what sets us apart from a lot of those other peoples. And I know straight away the people that you have worked with already who are getting great results. I know when I do a brainstorming session with somebody that that one brainstorming session, what they paid me to do that session, that will make back tenfold very, very quickly. Whereas if you're using someone who is doesn't have that background or has not worked with a lot of podiatrists before, it's well they say it's like pushing shit up a hill with a pointy stick. It's really hard.

Do you have that saying in America?

I mean it makes sense to me what you're talking about there, but I haven't used that in in pleasant conversation in a while to be honest, but I like it. I'll try to use it at my parents house and see what they have to say. As far as like the next step I think this is really important is that like why do an assessment is that especially if you're someone who's done a lot of marketing already. Yeah. Like you there can be some concerns about like, well, I've already tried this or I did Google Ads or I did something.

And like on a surface level, if you tried some type of marketing that didn't work, there there's a there's a chance that maybe it does not work for you. But what we find a lot of times especially Google Ads is a perfect example, is that there's certain thresholds you have to meet in order to really get results. So you know, going back over your previous marketing efforts to hear what worked, what didn't work, what you didn't like about a relationship with another. If you're working with someone like Tyson or myself, it's good to hear what didn't work so we can try to make sure that, you know, we try to, you know, not retread those same steps. But even if someone, you know, you'd had Google Ads before, it doesn't mean they don't necessarily work.

So I think it is important to keep an open mind, but also just have an opportunity to kind of like vent a little bit about what you didn't like or what wasn't great about your last experience because sometimes there's just not a good fit between you know the marketing expert or the the the service provider and the practice. So it's trying to find those kind of win win relationships which is really important. I'd also say that like you know assessing your current online presence is huge. Right? So like how does your website look overall?

Does it highlight your expertise? Is it easy for people to make appointments? You know there's all these kind of things that are like I have a checklist of things I go through with every patient or every clinic that I work with to make sure we're hitting all these things that will really you know, having an outside perspective on these things. Know you think you know what button to hit on your website, but is it visually distinguishable from the the overall color scheme of your website? Does it stand out?

Does your social stand out? Your ads read well? Are they generic? Are they utilizing an unoptimized way of using Google Ads? Like, are things that are answered during these assessments about your online presence to see where those opportunities are.

And and it's not that you just jump in and fix them right away, but at least you have an overall kind of list of things you can tackle or address moving forward.

So going going back to what you just said too about the relationships. When if you if you've had a bad experience before, it's no different to other relationships. If you've yeah. Male, female, whichever way you swing. If that has not you got a funny smile on your face when I said that.

If you've had a bad experience with in a relationship, you don't all a sudden go, that's it. I'm never I'm gonna be alone the rest of my life. You just know that wasn't a great relationship, so you you need to move on. And you also will go through your mind what you what was good about it and what wasn't good about it. So then when you go and create the next relationship, you you have experience.

And hopefully, next one works out. To me, working with people like us is exactly the same thing. If you ever had a business coach before and they sucked, doesn't mean they all suck. If you feel that, oh, it was a waste of money and I was ripped off, doesn't mean they're all a waste of money and they're all and you're gonna feel ripped off. No different working with you in the online world because there's some dodgy people out there, and I know you're not one of them, Jim.

Well, I appreciate that.

Otherwise, we call this the dodgy podiatry marketing podcast, which we don't.

I mean, we can always think of a name shit, know, name change. I mean, I'm I'm up to discussing, you know, I'm always up with, you know, up to like, you know, improve our marketing for our podcast. So

I don't think we get I think you can make it any better. Podiatry marketing podcast. I wonder what they're talking about.

No for sure. I think you bring up a good point and I think it's also important to note that like, you know, I'm I'm I'm assuming you'll agree with me when I say this, but I may not be the right fit for everybody. Right? And maybe you're not the right fit for everybody.

Oh definitely not.

We definitely we definitely wanna like have conversations with folks and try to see if there is a mutual you know, that there's a fit fill right? But the same time if it's if it's not a great fit for the practice or for you know for me then that there's no hard feelings there but you have to keep kind of exploring these different opportunities within, know, promoting your practice and really highlighting your expertise is really crucial.

Yeah. So with when when you're doing like an audit and and I know how I approach things as well. But how important is it to do an analysis of like the local competitors in the area? What are they what are they doing?

No. I think that's really really important. I mean it like you can learn a lot about a local area by seeing, you know, our people running Google Ads, what do their Google Ads look like, what do competitors or other local podiatry clinics how are they positioning their websites? Like, what highlight what are they highlighting as far as their areas of expertise? Are they that one stop we do every podiatry thing shop, or are they very clearly focused on diabetic wound care or surgery?

Or maybe there's a local orthopedic surgical clinic in your area that's really highlighting the surgical skills of podiatrists they've hired. So it's really important to I mean, it just it just good to know what else is out there from an online perspective to make sure that, like I said, along with the assessment, the second half of things is kind of a, you know, a kind of a marketing plan or like a Lego block style of where are the best opportunities for return on investment of your marketing dollars. And when you know what else is going out there, if someone's spending you know $4,000 a month on Google Ads and like they're always number one and they're on point then maybe it's time to like it wouldn't be a great idea initially to get in there or you'd have to have realist it would kind of reset realistic expectations about how many new patient that might drive a month. But it just yeah, like definitely talking you know finding out about local competitors can be a huge way just to understand those real opportunities in your local area.

Yeah. It's I think assessing what your competitors are doing, but don't get over they spend too much time really watching what they're doing all the time, but you must be aware. Because when we back in the day, when we used to say advertise on TV, and in regional regional areas still in Australia, it is super cheap to advertise on TV at certain times. It's still a good platform when used the right way. But I remember when we stopped advertising on TV, and then a competitor started advertising on TV.

But their ad that they did was almost a complete rip off of what ours used to be that I'd run for, like, five years. And all of a sudden, we're getting these calls. They asked me, how'd you find Everest? I saw you on TV. I saw you on TV.

I'm going, we haven't advertised for a year. But that's great. But then all of a sudden, was watching TV. I saw their commercial. I went, oh my god.

They just copied what we've done. And because people were so ingrained that's what ProArch Podiatry did, as soon as they saw their they just assumed it was us. So I think you've gotta this is why it's really important to work with someone who's not just doing a cookie cutter approach and putting the same information out there. Because if your competitors already done it or currently doing it and they do it bigger and better, then I think what you're doing is helping to promote them.

I mean you had such good brand awareness with with your campaign there that they they couldn't help but remember that it was you. So that's a that's a pretty impressive thing. I will also say that it's really important that from a from a branding talking about branding, that you you know the names of the clinics around your local area. I recently conducted an audit and an assessment with someone, and the same marketing company has apparently named clinics within about 25 miles of each other almost the exact same thing through rebrand. And you don't really know that unless you can kind of assess the situation.

So you're wondering why you're not showing up for the name of your brand or the name of your clinic, and maybe it's because someone else has a similar clinic not too far away from you in the same state. So it is having these kind of like there can be some eye opening moments associated with doing these assessments, but I really think it's important that the assessment is hugely important, but like if you if you're working with a service provider or a marketing expert or someone, they should provide you like, you know, some a downloadable, a link to like a Google Doc that you can have, you know, after the fact. Obviously, my myself you know, after I provide an assessment and a plan for someone if it feels like it's a good fit, then I can be that person that helps execute those things. Yeah. But everyone you know, depending on budget or what you wanna do, like, you should someone should be able to give you like, you paid a thousand or $2,000 for the assessment.

You should have this kind of playbook along with the assessment to know what the highest return on investment opportunities are. So you can just really, you know, you know, dollar for dollar make the best decisions to help grow your practice and make it as successful as possible. Yeah. I really I really

think podiatrists need to when we said before you said, you know, it's slowing down. I think a lot of podiatrists do need just really just just stop, reassess what they're doing, and and you mentioned what's the return they're getting on their investment. And I've heard people say, oh, I I would do marketing, but it's to me, it's just it's a waste of money. I don't get a return. Well, then you gotta change your marketing.

You need to change the way that you're actually approaching it. If you're not sure what to do, then you need to talk to someone that knows what they're doing, who used to be a podiatrist. Okay. So, Jim, where should anyone who's listening to us now, what is the next step? What do you reckon they should be doing?

Yeah. I think it's once you're ready to kind of get into marketing and you're looking to have you know, take the kind of first serious step towards developing a plan and the kind of understanding the local landscape in your local area, you know, definitely, you can reach out to me. You know, definitely, if you wanna have something more on the lines of, you know, some coaching, you need to be coached up a little bit, someone to, you know, who will lend an ear and give you a podiatrist, you know, business perspective.

I'll help you make money for that. That's what I help people do. I help people make money in the But when it comes to the actual applying the marketing stuff, I don't do the that work. That's where I would direct them your way to do especially with with on the whole online Google, that that whole world I don't touch. I love the business and systems and everything behind that.

And also putting a marketing plan together, but when it comes to the implementation, I would much rather talk to you.

I think it's much like this podcast. We have very complimentary skills. We're both handsome, smart individuals. Oh, we

are handsome bastards from way back.

We look so we we've we've got perfect heads for audio. Exactly. Exactly. I got a face for radio for sure. But no, I think I think it's a matter of just like knowing where you're in that journey of your marketing and know, reaching out to Tyson or myself depending on what your needs are.

So if someone wonder like, if someone wants to email me directly, they can just send me an email tf@TysonFranklin.com. But about you, Jim, what if someone wanted to just email you direct?

Yep. Just send it to jim@podiatrygrowth.com, and happy to answer any and all questions sent my way.

Yep. That is fantastic. So any you got anything any closing comments, or is this a wrap?

I think it's a wrap for today, Tyson.

Okay. That is fantastic. Look forward to talking again next week, Jim.

Sounds great, Tyson. Okay. Bye. Bye now.

Thanks for listening to Podiatry Marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDaniel. Subscribe and learn more at Podiatry Marketing.

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