Marketing Timeframes

You're listening to podiatry marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald Welcome back to podiatry marketing podcast. I'm your host, Jim McDannald. As always, Tyson Franklin, big t, what's shaking there in Australia?

Well, big Jim, it's always awesome over here in Australia as it is in your part of the world as well. And I like it when we start the podcast, and we're never always perfect. We will we will do we'll do the introduction, and and one of us will just give each other a really blank look where our mind has gone somewhere else. And unfortunately, today, that was me. So I do apologize.

I mean, that that makes up for like the seven or eight times that I've, you know, umed or odd or said something kind of a off off color, you know, all those, you know, after all those great intros you've given me. So it's totally understandable. You're forgiven. Just don't let it happen again because I don't know what's gonna happen to our show.

I shot a video the other day, and it took me seven it was only a two minute video that I ended up up uploading. And somebody commented afterwards and just said, you make your videos look so easy. How do you do it? And if they had to seen the seven takes I did before that, I reckon if I put them together, the amount of me yelling at the camera and getting upset with myself and going, come on, saying the occasional thing, I reckon people get an absolute laugh out of it, but it's it's not always easy. But at least with audio, I find audio so much so much easier because you plug in and we're ready to rock and roll.

So we should get on to today's topic before I keep rambling on.

That's okay. I mean, I wanna see that that blooper reel on Facebook at some point. If you could if you could post that, that'd be appreciated. But beyond that

Facebook had banned it, I think, with some of the things I've said.

Well, on that note, what what's the what's the topic for today? What do I get a grilly about today?

Today's topic is marketing time frames, which I think is super important and probably people don't really give it enough thought on on time frames of when they're doing marketing.

Now that that that'll be great to kinda touch base. You know, we're kind of kinda nearing the end of the year and it's it's time to get those juices flowing as far as like planning and, you know, for the future for 2023. Previously, we talked a little bit about this. Do you wanna kinda go into, like, what we talked about? I think it was back on episode 33.

Yeah. Well, back in 30 episode 33, we spoke about having a yearly marketing plan, which, like you said, as we're heading towards the end of the year, even though a lot of people will start, you know, guess, October, November, and they start really starting to slow down, but to me, that's when you really should be trying to ramp up and think about what you're gonna be doing next year, really planning ahead. So episode 33 was developing a marketing planner and creating a roadmap for the next twelve months. And if you wait until the January 1 or the January 2 to start planning what you're gonna be doing that year, you probably probably already too late. You should be thinking well ahead.

So the marketing planner was based around that. And the idea is the idea of having yearly marketing plan was just to give you some direction on where do you think you're gonna be heading over the next twelve months. But everything is set in sand. You can make changes whenever you feel like it. You it's not set in concrete.

And what I always say, the only thing set in concrete is Jimmy Hoffa. Certain people will find that funny. Other people will have no idea what I'm talking about. And you smile, Jim, so you you know the joke.

Yeah. I'm aware of the the mafioso connection there with Jimmy Hoffa and how he's maybe buried under a stadium somewhere in New York, New Jersey. But for the rest of the the world, they probably don't get that one. That's okay.

Yeah. Look up Jimmy Hoffa on Google. Have a bit of a read of it. Come back to listen to this episode again, and you'll find that joke really funny. So within your yearly marketing planner, there's certain things you need to think about, and it might be a specific topic, for example.

So it could be fungal toenails. It might be heel pain you might wanna talk about. It could be running problems. So what you wanna do is find specific topics. Now it's great to have these topics, but what you don't wanna do is have 52 different topics over fifty two weeks because it will confuse your patients' downwind.

If you're talking about fungal nails one week, wherever you happen to be doing your marketing, and then the next week you're talking about running injuries, patients are gonna go, hang hang on. I thought last week you were talking about something else, and then next week it's something again. There's no consistency in the message that you're doing. The time frames is really about setting a set amount of time that you're gonna pick a particular topic, subject, a problem, and you're gonna hone in on that over a number of weeks. So it could be four weeks, it could be six weeks, it could be eight weeks.

It just depends what you wanna do. And a perfect example was we used to every January, February, we would do a campaign. The party's over, and it's time to exercise. That was our our campaign. So for an eight week period, all through January, all through February, we based it around most people have set New Year's resolutions.

I'm gonna get fit this year. This is it. This is the year that I'm going to lose, I suppose, say 10 kilos. We'll go with 20 pounds. Everyone knows what 20 pounds looks like.

But a couple of weeks in, it starts yeah. The New Year's resolutions are gone, and that's why we came up with the campaign. Party's over. It's it's time to exercise. But a sore feet, yeah, a sore feet stopping it.

And we had this whole campaign. We did it in print. We did it online. We wrote blog articles. We really gave it an enormous amount of focus for an eight week period.

And every time we did that, it it just did so well for us because of the consistency.

Yeah. I think that consistency piece is huge. We've talked about this in the past and even off, you know, off the podcast a bit. Know, think when people are close to their own marketing messages, I think it's exactly like you're saying. You know all the different channels you're putting these messages out and sometimes to you it feels very repetitive.

Yeah. If you're running a Facebook campaign or Google Ads or changing things on your website or you have a blog post or you're doing other things, you've seen those pieces of marketing materials multiple times. So in your own mind, it may feel like, yeah, I should change it every week or every two weeks because like I'm repeating myself. But when you're so close to it, you're not seeing it from the kind of the vantage point of your audience or your potential patients. Know, they're they're living busy lives you know unless you have some amazing marketing tool or advertising reach that you know, that is unlike any other person I've ever heard before.

You need to repeat those messages consistently consistently over time in order to have a consistent message be delivered. Otherwise, like you said, you're kind of schizophrenic, you're kind of all over the place, kind of like a jack of all trades and you're leaving your potential patients confused and not just kind of doubling down on consistent messaging. I think that eight week time frame, you know, I think the least it should be is four weeks, I think that eight week, not only does it give you time to hammer home those messages to really make an impact, but also it allows you to like focus on a few topics every year or every half year. So you're not just like running ragged trying to think of new ideas all the time.

When we focused on say fungal nails for example, we knew in the summer months was when a lot of women were starting to wear more, yeah, open toed shoes, wanna get their feet out there, and they looked down at their toenails and they see these manky looking things on the end of their feet, And it began, oh my god. Cover them up with nail polish. So we had this ad that we would run through October, November, December, yeah, leading into January before we did parties over and it's time to exercise. And the ads sort of went along the lines. This was an audio ad that we did, and then we also did video as well.

And it said, hear that? That's fungus eating your toenails. And because of that silence, and we were doing this on the radio, whenever you got silence on the radio, people go, like, did the radio just stop? And I remember walking down the street one day, and all a sudden, this car went past and the person knew me. And the window came down, and they said, hey, Tyson.

You hear that? I went, what? That's fungus eating your toenails. And they cracked up laughing and kept driving. So I knew the message was getting across.

Give you two examples of consistency, though. Well, I think I'll go back a step. Don't be pressured by marketing people to tell you when you should be changing your marketing message. I think that's really important. I had a a radio rep that I got on with really, really well, and we had another campaign that we used to run, and it was it was called it was the God campaign.

It was it took God seven days to create the universe. But at ProArch, it only takes one day to make your orthotics. So that was sort of and we went along the whole lines like, it's a miracle. And what was good about that is that ad went so well for us. We did it in so many different places, but I had this marketing rep come on and say, when are you gonna change your ad?

It is so boring. I'll change it when it stops working. And we actually ran that one for for a long period of time. You would recommend consistency with your own clients when you do, Jim?

No. Consistency is key. Think you have to you just have to keep hammering on those messages to folks to make sure that they understand exactly what you're, you know, you're providing. I think there are two examples that are also reflect something that, you know, as podiatrists and as clinic owners, there is a seasonality to certain aspects Yeah. Of of this of the care and the services provided.

Number one, like you said, like early in the year, it's about people, you know, overdoing it, you know, during the the COVID times and people were, you know, in their houses and stuff. People wanted to get out and exercise and overdid it. But that that's a normal repetitive thing that happens with the wintertime, you know. New Year's resolutions, January and February, people just are gonna overdo it. And then like you said, that late spring into summer, it's almost sandal season and people don't wanna walk out with you know funky fungal toenails wearing those sandals.

So these are things that can be rinsed and repeated in a very you know, you can update them, you can make little changes to them but it's if you once you get that that kind of allotment or those those campaigns that are working well for you, you don't have to like reinvent the wheel every single year. Sometimes it's you know two or three years to kind of lock in those times or you have times when you experiment. But I think you touch on a great aspect of seasonality and consistency, which are super helpful to anyone trying to make an impact and really gain visibility for their services locally.

Yeah. And that's why this particular topic with time frames fits in with the yearly marketing plan. Because like you said, once you run through somebody, if it was a really successful campaign, you remember that. So the next year, you start planning for the next year. So we already knew if it was the end towards the end of 2022 now, I would have 2023 pretty much already mapped out based on what went well this year.

And sometimes not every campaign goes well. You'll do something. You go, you know what? Didn't get the same response we got last year when we did a different topic. So you can choose, do we change it slightly and tweak it to try and make it better, or do we drop it and go back to something that worked really well?

And that's what we used to do a lot of the times is if we had something that worked, we go, why mess with something if it's working really well? The other example I just wanna share, there was a a company up here in Cairns called Golden Drop Winery. They only ever advertised on TV. It's the only place they advertised. The only time they advertised on TV was pretty much after 11PM at night because it was, like, $10 a spot on TV.

And they would advertise on all the different channels. There wouldn't be a person in Cairns that didn't know about Golden Drop Winery because everybody, at some stage, in their wild youth and into adulthood would be awake after 11PM watching TV at some stage, and they were on all the time. And I could ask anybody again, have ever seen the the Golden Drop Winery ad? And they go, oh, yeah. And that, to me, that was a really good example of consistency, but their time frame was pretty much week in, week out.

And I'm not sure. Maybe maybe they did do it in, you know, like, eight week blocks and then had a break, but I I used to see it all the time. I think if you've got a great message and nothing's saying you can't run something for fifty two weeks if it's going really, really well, which is what we did with our our God campaign because it it works so well.

That's another great aspect of consistency. I think you're bringing up here and you're you're not saying it directly but you're kinda hinting at it and that is if you're just doing things sporadically, you're never gonna have a consistent source of data or information in order to make wise decisions about where you spend your money, what's working, what you should double down on. When you're just you know jumping from either marketing campaign or marketing campaign or like you stay with a certain provider for three months and then switch out Yeah. That that consistency and that data you gather about what's working and what's not working, it it's almost like compound interest in a way. So it's like that information compounds and then you can see like if you've done three years of marketing or in your fourth year, you can go back and look at, oh what is that first of the year campaign?

How did we tweak that that you know in 2021 or 2020 and what worked? What were the situation? What was happening then? It just gives you more information to make solid decisions as opposed to like you said just just being consistent jumping around and you're never gonna make good decisions when you don't have good information or that consistent messaging kind of in place. It doesn't have to be perfect right away but you can you can make up for a lot of imperfections with that consistency.

Yeah. And it definitely doesn't need to be perfect. I've said it multiple times. 80% out the door is better than a % in your drawer. If you've got an idea and you think it, oh, I should be run this for four weeks, six weeks, or eight weeks.

Start with four weeks and see what happens. If you're getting really good results because you've been looking at the data, the feedback, the type of patients that are coming in and that's why it's really important to just stick with something for a certain time frame and just keep running with it. Even if initially in the first week, you're going, oh, I'm not really getting the response we wanted, well, maybe the second week is where you'll get the response or it could be the third week. But if you if you pull the pin on it too early, you will never know because sometimes people need to see the message. I think I read somewhere seven or 11 times before they feel comfortable to make a decision on it.

If you run something for a week and a week and a half, you go, oh, we're not getting the response, and you just pull the pin, you you may have just missed out. But if you run it four weeks and you're getting no response, probably doesn't work. You may need you definitely need to change it.

Yeah. It's either just the messaging is wrong or it's just not going to the right person in the right channel.

Or wrong time. It could be the wrong time. You know, To talk about fungal toenails in the middle of winter, if you're in a cold climate where people wearing clothes and boots and no one here is ever seeing them, it's probably not gonna be as effective as if you show some really good looking feet at summer and go, do your feet look like this? Or then show some manky foot. And they go, oh, yeah.

This is mine look. It's really embarrassing. And you drive that pain point home at the right time. It could be the same campaign, but if it's at the wrong wrong time it's like here in Cairns, we laugh because it really gets cold here, but because we have certain national companies that have shops right across the whole country, and next to me, they're selling big woolly coats in some of the department stores. You just laugh and go, unless you're going down south, no one's gonna buy it.

And then they're doing promotions on TV up here about some big woolly coat, and you go, it doesn't get cold here. We don't need that. It it it's timing. It's placement, but really comes I I think the time frame is is just is the key to it all. Don't just keep chopping and changing and being inconsistent with your message.

No. I couldn't agree more. I think having that, you know, kind of for our audience that's, you know, looking forward to 2023 now is the time to consider those timeframes, consider those topics, know, look and see what's important to you and your practice and to your patients. And yeah, definitely utilize some of those sage some sage advice that Tyson has provided here today. And how how about how to get there and make that progress?

Yeah. And don't just look at what your competition is doing either. If you think of other businesses outside of podiatry, think of the businesses that have had the most impact on you or the products that you've purchased from them, sit down and think, wow. Did did did I just see their ad once somewhere, Their marketing once? And they went, yeah.

Yeah. I'm gonna go and buy that car. Or does a new model come out, say, with the motor vehicle, and they push that ad, that marketing over a long period of time because you need to see it multiple times before you make a decision. Now that's a big ticket item. You definitely need to see that more often, but just think of some of the things you purchased recently.

Did you see it once ago? Need to buy that. Or the company that was promoting it promoted it long enough for you to see it multiple times in different areas as well, And then it may be something you even you talk to a friend about, hey, I saw this. Okay. I saw that as well.

Now if you only do it for a short period of time, your friends may not see it. You do it long enough, your friends will see it. I I think you can learn a lot from what other successful companies do outside of our particular industry.

No. For sure. And also like you mentioned previously, like, this is just setting the direction for your practice. Right? Everyone has ideas about what's gonna bring them kind of professional satisfaction, what gets them excited to go to work each day.

And by being kind of intentional and deliberate about setting the course for what you want your practice to be, you know, setting these kind of developing a strategy and setting this direction with these time frames in mind will help you get there.

If anyone has any questions on this topic or just please send Jim or I an email. And and if you're thinking about like, I'm gonna look this way. If somebody's got a bit of a a campaign, they're not sure whether this is a good campaign or not, flick it through to us. Tell us your tell us your ideas, and I'll give you feedback pretty quickly. I'm sure Jim will as well whether it's a good idea.

But the final thing I wanna say to people, no matter what campaign you're putting together, regardless what time of year it is or what time frame you're gonna do it for, make sure you're targeting it towards the type of patient you wanna see more of in your clinic. Yeah. If you don't wanna see fungal toenails, please do not talk about fungal toenails. If you don't wanna see more routine care, don't even mention it. Talk about the type of patient you wanna see more of, and then you're gonna be so much happier.

For sure. Totally agree. Okay, Jim. I'm gonna talk to you again next week.

Alright, Tyson. Sounds like a plan.

Oh, before we go, give us a hint. What are we gonna be talking about next

I think we're gonna be talking about every person over 40 five's favorite social media platform.

Oh, okay. I'm looking forward to that one. I I think I know what it is, but I'm not gonna say anything. Okay. I'll talk to you next week.

You, Tyson. Okay. Bye.

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