Marketing Pillar #5 - Verbal Marketing

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 Mcdonald here with Tyson Franklin. Tyson, how are things going today?

Oh, fantastic today. Jim, great to catch up again for another episode of the Podiatry Marketing Podcast. Getting some great feedback from people who are listening to it, which is why we decided to put our heads together and do this thing.

Yeah. It's been nice. I've been getting some messages on LinkedIn and Facebook. People really enjoying the show and some of the topics we're gonna talk about today, I think will also be of interest. Know, we've kind of been doing this podi the pillars of podiatry marketing.

What are we gonna be getting into today with with pillar number five?

Pillar number five is what I call verbal marketing. And verbal marketing to me is any time you actually open your mouth and you are talking to another person, whether it's an individual or a group of people, that is verbal marketing. So it's a very, very broad sort of topic.

No. Think that's that makes a lot of sense. Like, there's different you know, you're opening your mouth in different places, different times, different locations. Think a lot of people gotten used to, you know, over the over the course of the last couple of years, a lot of online Oh, yeah. More probably more time than they have ever wanted.

But, you know, with live events going on now, when you're when you're kind of in that position of the speaker or even in your community, in your profession, it's a great opportunity to get your name out there and be seen as an expert in your niche or in the profession. So, yeah, that that that's I I'm really excited to dive into that with you today.

Well, I think what you touched on then about Zoom too, I think it's really it's opened up the world a little bit more to to most of us. So yeah. Like, I was on Zoom a lot anyway because of podcasting and because of business coaching, but I had the opportunity number of times over the last two years to speak for groups in Ireland, to speak to people in Canada, to speak to people in Arizona, purely just because I could do it online, didn't have to jump on a plane and actually be there. So I think Zoom opened up a lot of opportunities. And also I think when people think verbal marketing, a lot of times they're thinking public speaking is verbal marketing, and that's just one aspect of verbal marketing.

That's a great point. Think, to be honest, I'm not sure if this podcast would have happened if it weren't for, you know, the COVID nineteen experience, like us getting together, be able to speak on a weekly basis about these topics we're sharing with folks, and then some other topics we don't always share after the we we we hit stop record. So so, yeah, definitely, there's been a huge opportunity. Like you said, there's many different types of verbal marketing for sure.

Yeah. Well, when I think verbal marketing, first thing a lot of people say, oh, do you mean public speaking? And and like I said, that's one part of verbal marketing. But and a lot of people say, oh, I don't like public speaking. Yeah.

I get really, really nervous. And there's a great quote by Mark Twain, and it said there's two types of people that do public speaking. Those who get nervous and liars. And so basically, he's saying everybody gets nervous doing public speaking. And another quote I read somewhere and it said, if you don't get nervous before doing a a a presentation or a talk, it means you don't care.

And I've been to talks where the speaker's gotten up there and you can just tell they just get they've been paid. They're just going through the motions. They're a bit of a celebrity. They're telling the same story they've told 250 times over the last two years, and you can tell they're bored and they don't care. And they probably have no nerves.

So I think anyone who's listening to this, if you sort of go, oh, I'm nervous about public speaking, that is that is perfectly normal. I I recall my first I'd managed to get through primary school, high school, university without ever getting up and doing a public presentation. I just just wouldn't do it. So I didn't get up in front of anyone and do my first talk. I think I was 26 when I did the first one.

Yeah, shit my pants. Wow. Yeah, it was terrible.

More than two and a half decades before you got up in front of a crowd or a small audience to discuss things.

It was horrible. This doctor contacted me and said, oh, we had someone who's gonna do this sports medicine module. I know you know this topic really well. Can you come and do the talk? And for some reason, I said, yeah, not a problem.

And after I hung up the phone, went, what were you thinking? So I managed to take a forty five minute presentation, and I think I brought it down to about four and a half minutes. And I umbed and ahed, and I I was sweating everywhere, and then I pretty much finished, and I just walked out of the room. And I sat down and went, my god. That was the worst thing I've ever experienced in my life.

And, you know, the doctor came out, put his hand on my shoulder, and I thought, oh, he's gonna give some encouragement. I wasn't as bad as I thought, obviously. And he said, that was the worst presentation I have ever seen in my life. Because if anybody ever asks you to do public speaking again, just say no. Don't do it.

Don't do that to them. Don't do it to the crowd. Don't do it to yourself. And he walked away, and I should have actually just given up at that point, but for some reason, this thing went off in my head and went, you could never be that bad again. So I we did it again, and I was awful.

And I did it again, and I was just bad. And then the more I did it, all of sudden, I slowly started going up until I'm the magnificent speaker I am today, to be

No. I I I can totally understand that. I think that when you're staring at either at a crowd or a camera, it can be very disarming. You know? And you you feel like you're just like a huge spotlight is on you, you feel nervous.

But, you know and honestly, like, I remember going to conferences as a student, as a podiatry resident, even in practice, and things like, I'm just in the audience. I'm just here for the CMEs and the medical education. Like, that would never like, that will never be me. But it wasn't till one of my clients said, hey. Like, you're giving me a lot of value and a lot of information that's really helpful.

I have a state association meeting I'm a part of. Like, you should come and talk at this meeting. And, like like, I I can see the value of it, obviously, as someone that is a podiatrist providing these services. They wanna hear from a source they trust. So I said yes, and it wasn't perfect, but definitely it was something where, you know, I kinda overcame that fear, put my name out there, also provided some value to the people that were in the audience.

Think especially the the whole reason I'm a podiatry market to begin with is because I feel like it there you know, podiatrists can sometimes be easy marks for nefarious, you know, agencies. Not everyone's bad out there, but

Marketing shots.

There's yeah. Well, there's just, a sense of, like, that it needs to be done, but you don't know how to do it. And then who do you trust to do it for you, or how do you do it in a way that's cost effective? And, you know, so by, you know, giving talks and, you know, providing, you know, educational materials like we're talking today to help people build that confidence that these channels and these things do work, I think is a huge value add. And, you know, each podiatrist listening to this podcast right now has their own area of expertise expertise or or or messages that are important to them.

They would they'd like to share with either their patients or their colleagues. And, you know, using utilizing verbal marketing or getting out there and talking about it is really, really important. But you don't just automatically become a great speaker. It takes time and practice and lots of embarrassing moments.

Well, two really good tips that were given to me. First one was the people you were talking to, nobody is sitting in the crowd hoping you crash and burn. Nobody sits there, sees a speaker come up on stage and goes, jeez, I hope they really stuff up today. I need a laugh. Nobody does it.

They they are there wanting you to succeed. So there's no no nasty people in the room usually. And then the other part was if you're talking to a group of people that are not podiatrists, for example, which is a great place to start your public speaking, two, rotary, you know, different clubs and organizations, Realize that you are the smartest person in the room when it comes to the topic you're about to talk about. Even if there's another there's a there could be a surgeon in the room. There there may be another type of doctor.

There could be a physio. It doesn't matter. If you're talking about a podiatry top topic, and as a podiatrist, you know that topic better than anybody else in the room. You should walk in there with all this confidence like, I am the smartest person in the room here on this particular subject that I'm going to talk about. And then add that to, and nobody in the crowd wants to see you crash and burn.

Even if you got a bit nervous, if you just take your time and pause, they're fine with it. They just want you to get through and share the information just like you were talking about.

No. It's a perfect point. I think, you know, taking time to pause and reflect and just, you know sometimes you get so nervous. Right? You just, like, you don't realize how fast you're talking.

You're not enunciating. It's just there's so many little details that go into, you know, speaking in a podcast or speaking in public. It just takes practice and time.

Well, I remember my I remember the my first podcast is No Secret with Doctor T. And I remember the first guest I had on there, and I may have told the story before. It was the first person I did not know, complete stranger. He was an author, asked him to come on the podcast. And And I remember doing my introduction, and my throat was so dry.

And as I'm getting the words out, nobody else reckons I can hear it, but I can hear my voice go. So just starting to get squeaky and high towards the end. Once I got through that and we started talking, then it was all fine. But that first first part was really hard. And we and this leads me on to an easier form of verbal marketing is like going to to networking events.

And a lot of people are also they're afraid to say what they do or say what they do with confidence. And that's why I reckon it's really important. Really sit down and think about this question. Pretend, and this this may shock people, but someone may come up to you and say, by the way, Jim, what do you do? Exactly.

Yeah. And people sort of go, oh, well, yeah. They they and and they and I'm thinking, you didn't think somebody was going to ask you What do you do? Have a really precise, well thought out response that's ten or fifteen seconds that makes them say, oh, that's interesting. Tell me more.

And then go on from there.

Yeah. I think you bring up a great point there is, you know, having that short description of what you do, what you work on, and kind of like finding ways to engage that person as well. Obviously, like, once you say what you do, make sure you return the favor and ask them about their profession or kind of, you know, what brought them to the meeting Yeah. And just start that kind of, like, organic conversation. And once you start getting over that initial ice or that initial, like, you know, friction or just, like, you know, like you talked about, if you're on stage and everyone's staring at you, that's one thing.

Right? That's a different type of pressure. So if you imagine that that is, like, kind of, like, the high level pressure. Going to one of these, like, mixers or networking meetings, like, it's low pressure. Just have something to say and just be engaging with other people and, like, you know, that's all you really have to do.

Yeah. And don't be that person when you go to a network go this way. To me, networking events are a a long game marketing strategy. So I remember when I came to Cairns, some of the people I met at the first networking events I ever went to, you know, twenty eight years ago were some of my best patients in my clinic over that period of time that I actually owned the business. Because I met them at different networking events.

I said who I was. I told them what I did. I didn't ram a business card straight into the hand straight away unless they asked me for one. But then the next month, I'd see them again. And then the next year, I'd see them again.

And over time, you were starting to have these these small conversations and they're they'd seen some of your other marketing. They would ask more questions. You would ask more questions. Eventually, you'd say, hey, Tyson. By the way, do you have a business card on you?

Yeah. I do, actually. And I give him a business card. To me, networking is definitely a long game marketing strategy. Don't use don't be that person that you see running around the room trying to stick a business card in everybody's hand and then everyone sees them coming and they're like, oh my god, to them again.

Then everyone goes the the opposite direction.

Yeah. It just takes a long time to build trust with people. Right? And it's it's kinda like that dating versus marriage analogy. Right?

You wouldn't just run up to some person you just met and ask them to marry you. Right? So you just have to like

Yeah. If they said yes, how weird would it be?

It kinda depends on what they're like, I guess. No. Yeah. True. But but but, like, yeah, you just have to build up trust.

You have to build up some understanding. And like you like I talked about this, being interested in what they're doing as well is hugely important. Right? If you're just like you said, if you're just handing out business cards, you're being very transactional, it's all about me, me, me. Like, people are gonna see right through that.

Right? They wanna have these kind of long term build a long term network of people, you know, instead of just, like, these short term transactional relationships. I don't think that's beneficial to anyone, you know, unless you're needing, like, some some something very specific. But, you know, for these professional organizations or these local networks, you're gonna run into these people all the time. Right?

So that that first impression is hugely important to show that, you know, you're just not self serving and that you do care about what they're up to as well.

Yeah. And to me, it's also, you know, with networking. It's just other tips when it comes to networking a bit. You know, what you're wearing and and, you know, it should match your brand and what you do, it should also match the the crowd that you're actually gonna be meeting with. Some networking events are free.

Some networking events are gonna be paid. You'll normally find the paid events will normally have a speaker, and it might be more targeted towards something you wanna learn, and the group may be more targeted to you. Whereas a free just networking event could be a lot more broad sort of people there, so it may not suit suit what you're doing, but you won't know until you go. And and don't make the mistake of I've seen network events where I've gone along and I see the same people in the same little groups hidden in the same corner at every event. And you go, what are you learning or who you're meeting by standing over there in the shadows?

You the idea of networking is to network and have fun with it.

I think that's great point. You have to kinda step out of your comfort zone a little bit. That's why you're going to these things in the first place. If you're just gonna go there to let's say, I I I come down to Australia and we're just hanging out like every single week at the networking event, just you and I, you know, drinking some rum and Cokes in the corner. Like like, that's I mean, it was it'd be fun hanging out with you and doing that, but we're not really build building our business or building our network there when we're doing those kind of things.

You have to it's you gotta be a little bit uncomfortable in life in order to, like, really make some changes and make some progress.

Yeah. I think people sometimes get networking events and conferences mixed up. So a lot of times, you'll go to a conference because you wanna catch up with friends, colleagues that you haven't seen for a few years, and and you do. You you get your little clicky groups together who've got the same interests and but and sometimes, think people take that habit of doing that at a conference, and they translate that into a networking event, thinking, oh, networking is where I'm catching up with friends that I know and and colleagues. But no.

It's really to meet other people. And and a a good example of when you do meet someone for the first time is is what they call an elevator speech. Picture, you hop into an elevator and the person's getting off at the Tenth Floor and it's going all the way through. That's the amount of time you've got to tell someone what you do and have them say, oh, that sound oh, that's interesting. Tell me more.

So the the period you don't have two minutes. So if you time yourself and you're taking two minutes, this is the easiest thing. You meet someone, you start chatting to them, you see them look over your shoulder and you go, oh, I'll just come back. And they say, I just saw someone that I was supposed to catch up with. That means you blew it.

That's a good sign.

A little bit too long a little too long or not interesting enough. Yeah.

Yeah. You see them raising their eyebrows going, wow. Yeah. That's great. Or they look at someone going, save me.

And then somebody, a third person will actually come over. But I think this getting used to talking to people, it's such a valuable skill because one, it it makes you better communicator with your patients. But also, if you get the opportunity to be at a a a trade show or an expo and you're standing behind a table and you're displaying whatever it is you're displaying, you need to be able to communicate with people doing that. And I I've been at network events. Perfect example would be Cairns Business Women's Club.

They do a great networking lunch every month. I'll be sitting there I remember sitting there once and what they would do, they would call out to the crowd and go, is there anybody here who would like to come up and do a sixty second power speech on your business? And you'd see all these people slowly just slumping down into their chairs. And all of sudden, a couple of people put their hand up. They'd go up there for free, and we give a sixty it was one or two minute little talk about their business, and three people get the opportunity to do that at each session.

And it was always the same three people because you see the rest of it. As soon as they ask, you'd see people just slumping down, like, because then they would sometimes go, sure there is an email, they'd be start looking around the room. Volunteers? What a what an awesome opportunity to talk about your business in front of 250 people, but because of fear, people won't do it.

Yeah. It's like we talked about, you gotta gotta get comfortable feeling a little bit uncomfortable sometimes to make progress and to to get your name out there.

Definitely. And I think that the the more modern verbal marketing is more like what we're doing now, podcasting. Whether you're doing your own podcast or whether it's get guest podcasting, this is a really great platform for getting yourself out there, getting known. If there's a particular subject in podiatry that you are really passionate about and you think you're as good as anybody else on that subject, get on podcast and talk about it. Share share it share it with the world.

No. For sure. I think there's huge opportunities. I think, you know, it used to be a lot of, I would say, guest writing was kind of the big thing. Right?

Like, write for podiatry management or podiatry today or some kind of written publication. But a lot of these organizations now also have podcasts, and they have, you know, roundtables with, like, three or four different podiatrists talking about different subjects, surgery, diabetic care, all these different things. There there's definitely an episode about your niche. So, you know, contacting these these folks definitely could be a way for you to gain more visibility in that niche. But then also, there's a local layer.

Right? There's these local podcasts or, you know, local informational, know, broadcast that that go on as well. So when you can be, you know, kinda talk about the value you provide to your local community as well, it doesn't necessarily have only have to be podiatry specific. You can talk more generally about, you know, foot foot and ankle wellness in your local area, living active lifestyles, kind of whatever you feel like you're bringing value to your local community.

I I just think there's there's so much opportunity out there. I think if you're letting fear and this is my final tip. If you're letting fear hold you back, you're missing in on so many opportunities. I I look at the amount of opportunities I had to speak that I said no to, and I look back now and I go, that that those doors were open to you and you just totally missed it. I remember when even though I I was 26 when I got up the first time I spoke, didn't mean that I didn't enjoy it at all, as I mentioned.

And it wasn't that two years later, all of sudden, I was good. I remember at 32, I think it was. It was the last year I was playing rugby union. I won the award for best back. And I was also the captain of the oh, not the captain.

I was the president of the rugby club. I wouldn't go to the presentation because I didn't wanna have to get the trophy and do a do a speech. So I just didn't go. I was the only sports captain at school that I loved being out there in the sports field. I loved getting the crowd going, getting everyone fired up, But I didn't wanna have to go up there and do a speech in front of the school, so I just wouldn't turn up for the sports night.

And I was the sports captain of the school. I I missed out on a lot purely out of fear.

I think sometimes we're our own worst critics. Right? Like we kinda hold ourselves to a high level and we don't. Even when I listen to this podcast sometimes, to be honest, or other times that I've been on video or the ways I look on video

Yeah.

It's very easy to be self critical.

Yeah. Big

one. All the ums all the ums I say, all the things that I, you know, notice about that's not not perfect in the the way that I talk on a podcast or in a video. But it's one of those things where it does take the reps and the consistency, and you'll get better at it. I think it can be daunting to look at a microphone or stare into a camera and try to look professional and, you know, look presentable to folks. But the more you do it, the more you do public speaking, the more you talk on a podcast, the more you do online video, the more comfortable you become with it.

But there's no shortcut or magic way to, like, bypass the hard work or the reps. Just like anything else, like, you have to put in the time and the effort and really wanna succeed in order for it to happen. Because it's not gonna just I mean, we're not all like Tyson Franklin where you just show up, you know, and just like flip on the microphone and the camera, and it's just super easy. Right? Some of us have to work at this, and that that includes me.

It's funny. Now now I don't have a problem. Like, I still when I get up on stage, I'm nervous as hell, always am. When I spoke at Osgo in Liverpool, Thousand people up there, I'm walking up on stage and this little voice in my head is going, oh, shit. Oh, shit.

Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. But as soon as I got up there, got through that first sixty seconds, told the joke, crowd laughed, then it was fine after that. So the only time I do not get nervous in front of people is if I'm in costume because then it's not me.

Because you've got like a mask on, it's not you. You're playing a character, so it's it's not as nerve racking. But when it's just you there yeah. I remember hearing my voice on the podcast, I go, oh, you sound like a dick. I'd watch myself on video and I go, oh my god, everyone must think you're an idiot.

But now I can turn the video camera on, I just do the recording, I jump on a podcast, I feel really comfortable and relaxed when I'm doing it only because including this podcast, I've probably done over and the ones I've been a guest of, probably done over 600 podcasts now. I've shot hundreds of videos. So it's just practice. It's that's all it really is. It's just practicing your art.

It's no better you wanna be a better podiatrist? You can become a better podiatrist by practicing your art and video, verbal marketing is no different.

I think that's a great place to leave it, Tyson. Think we touch on a lot of great stuff. Touch on a lot of great things in this verbal marketing segment and the pillars. So so thanks for all of the the examples and the knowledge you shared here with us today.

No. This has been fantastic, Jim. So I will talk to you again next week. See you later.

See you, Tyson. 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.