Using Audio to Market Your Podiatry Business
💻 Podiatry clinic website & digital marketing services: https://podiatrygrowth.com/schedule-more-patients/
🤝 Podiatry business coaching: https://www.tysonfranklin.com/Coaching
In this episode of Podiatry Marketing, Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald, DPM, delve into the use of audio to enhance your podiatry business. Learn the history of audio, its impact on society, and the power of podcasts for marketing. Tyson and Jim discuss the benefits of audio over video, how to improve audio quality, and the potential for brand recognition.
They also provide practical tips on creating and editing audio content, selecting the right tools, and the benefits of podcasting for local business promotion. Tune in for valuable insights on how to leverage audio in your practice and beyond!
✉️ CONTACT
Jim McDannald, DPM:
You're listening to podiatry marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Welcome back to podiatry marketing. I'm your host, Jim McDannald. Joining as always my trusty cohost, Tyson Franklin. Tyson, how's it going today?
Tyson E. Franklin:
I'm fantastic today, Big Jim. How are you doing?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Doing well. Doing well. Excited to jump in today's topic. What are we gonna talk about today?
Tyson E. Franklin:
We're not gonna have any little banter or chat or any no. Okay. Let's just get straight into it. This will No.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. Let's do it.
Tyson E. Franklin:
No. No. Let's just we'll we'll surprise people with no banter this week. So we're gonna dive straight. We'll we'll banter halfway through it.
Tyson E. Franklin:
So today, we're gonna talk about a topic we have touched on before, but this one I wanna get into a little bit more detail, and it's using audio to build your podiatry business. And the reason I wanna touch on this is because audio is really just part of our life, and I I don't think a lot of people realize how ingrained audio is in society. It just it's it's always been with us. So if you go way back a little bit, like, commercial radio like, so radio was invented before the nineteen twenties, but commercial radio, far as even advertising and things like that, started in the nineteen twenties. So I'm gonna give a bit of a an audio history program here so people will people will leave this episode and go, even if I do not use audio in any way, I'm gonna use this in trivial pursuit or some as a trivia night.
Tyson E. Franklin:
So vinyl records were invented in the nineteen thirties, tapes in the nineteen sixties. This one, I think, is really interesting. And most people, if you I think if you just ask this question, they would give a completely different year, but audiobooks were started in the nineteen seventies.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Really?
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. And and when I first saw that, I went, really? But then you think back to when you used to get little golden books as a kid, and the golden books came with a cassette tape. Yeah. And you would put the cassette tape in, and you would listen to the cassette tape, and you'd hear ding, and you'd turn the page.
Tyson E. Franklin:
And then it would breathe through a little bit more and you go, ding, and you'd turn the page. So, yeah, so audiobooks have been around, what's that? You know, fifty something years. So it's not just the way that we we think of audiobooks today like on Audible, which is not a sponsor. So just let people know that.
Tyson E. Franklin:
So CDs kicked off in 1982. I do remember that well. It was it was a big moment.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
You forgot one really important one, though.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Oh, the eight tracks. No? Is that one? The eight track?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. Eight track.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. I didn't put that one in because that was sort of yeah, that's a little bit oh, I do remember. I remember getting in a friend's car once. He said, quickly, pass me another tape, and and I'm going, what the hell is this big thing? He goes, eight track.
Tyson E. Franklin:
And he he had an eight track player in his car. So it looked like a VHS for people that don't know, it looked like a VHS tape that you stuck in the dashboard of your car, and they melted really easily when you left them in the car. That's awesome. So m p threes started in the nineteen nineties, and podcasting kicked off in 02/2004. It's about when around when it started.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Nice. So there's a history on audio in case you you were wondering. What I'm gonna talk about is, like, the benefits of audio that most people don't actually think about. And this is why, like, as people don't, I'm a huge fan of audio. You love audio, Jim.
Tyson E. Franklin:
We love listening to our own voices on a regular basis. The thing with audio, there's less fear than doing video. I used to thought of putting a video camera in front of me. I used to pack my decks. I tell you, I would just my voice would I I found it really, really difficult.
Tyson E. Franklin:
However, put me in a room with a microphone and there was no one watching. I felt really, really comfortable with it. Didn't bother as much. It didn't like listening to my own voice, which most guests tell me on the podcast. But to actually just be able to produce it myself and in front of a microphone was was really easy.
Tyson E. Franklin:
But if you do like video, if you love shooting videos, good audio will make your videos even better. So if you think it's okay just to have your phone there and do a video, that's that's alright under certain circumstances. But if you wanna increase the the quality of the video, you just gotta work on, one, your lighting, but also the sound. And it's less complicated video too. So it's easy to hook up a few things even with your phone, hook a microphone up to it, and talk.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Whereas video, you worry about the lighting, you know, the shine on your head, what shirt am I wearing, is my makeup right? This is more for you, Jim, than me, but but there's so there's so many other things. Now how many times have we gone to do the podcast? And because we do video as well, but if people wanna go and check it out, go to YouTube and look up podiatry marketing, and you will actually get to watch the videos of us. And the videos aren't edited as much as I edit the audio, I don't think.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. They're not edited as much. And definitely the first, I would say, what, couple months we're doing the podcast. I think I was using a microphone that wasn't that great. The the audio quality has definitely improved since we've gotten these these my microphones.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
So there's definitely ways to improve the the sound, and it also helps, you know, with the video as well.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. But I always say to people, if you go to to the podiatry marketing YouTube channel or mine, Tyson e Franklin, you gotta look at the earliest videos I ever shot. I look at them now and I go, I was on some form of drug or something when I did that. They were just the everything about them is terrible. But that's what stops people doing them is the how sometimes video is so complicated, whereas audio is just really, really simple.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Audio also reaches people while they're doing other things. This is the power of it. So you could be going for a run like I was at the gym this morning doing weights. As you can tell by the video, I'm a beast. And but while I was doing my I had to audio play.
Tyson E. Franklin:
I was listening to a podcast and listening to recordings. You can drive and listen to audio. Quite it's more difficult to watch a video while you're driving. Not that I haven't done it, but it's more difficult, and I don't recommend that to anybody. Audio also brings people together.
Tyson E. Franklin:
This is something people don't realize that there'll be people who, from the time we started this podcast, who listen to us every single week. There'll be some that only ever listen to us once and never come back. But there'll be people that listen they're regular listeners. They they actually have a connection with us, and I know and you've experienced this too, Jim. When we go somewhere and we'll bump into people and they'll say, oh, yeah.
Tyson E. Franklin:
I love the way yeah. I love the band here you and Jim have. I love how you give Jim a lot of trouble sometimes on the podcast.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
I deserve it. I deserve it for sure.
Tyson E. Franklin:
But it it is. It's one of those things people listen to on a regular basis, and they get to know you. They get to know a little bit about your personality, little stories that you're telling. And over a period of time, they they get to know you more than you than you actually realize. And audio is also a fantastic way to train your team.
Tyson E. Franklin:
So if you want them to learn something or know something, record it. Sometimes it's just as easy for them to listen to it, maybe while they're running or or driving or doing something else that and we used use this with our our patients a lot. So I sold my clinic nine years ago, but prior to that, we were still using CDs. I would say to patients, do have a CD player? They go, yeah.
Tyson E. Franklin:
In the car. Okay. Here, here's a CD with the authority constructions I've just told you, but I want you to put it in your car and listen to it again. And, okay, they cost me a dollar. I don't care if you throw it away.
Tyson E. Franklin:
If you wanna bring it back at the review, by all means, bring it back for review. But there's a few extra special things on there that you're gonna wanna listen to. And and that was so easy to produce, so easy to get made. Now these days, people don't have I don't have a CD player in my car, I think. Have you got one?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. I don't.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. So that is an idea that worked many years ago. Won't work so much now. This is the other part. Oh, do you wanna comment on anything before I go any further?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. That's those are good points. Don't need anything to comment on right now.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. So the other part you'll realize too is audio can create an emotion. If you're using it, you can combine it with some different sounds to make people feel a certain way. Rain will actually make people feel relaxed. So if you had a bit of noise of rain, that will actually make people feel relaxed.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Thunder actually creates anxiety. So it's it's just being aware. If you're going to use sound in the background of what it is that you're actually producing your audio your audio, be aware of what emotion it may actually cause. So fireworks is like nostalgia, and but even some audio, you can create brand recognition. So it's like McDonald's.
Tyson E. Franklin:
For example, I've done this at some of my marketing workshops. I've just gone, okay. See if anyone recognizes this and they go, and everyone knows it's McDonald's. It doesn't matter how you do it. Even if you do the whistle, knows that that is McDonald's.
Tyson E. Franklin:
You can actually create a brand recognition with a sound. And we did this with my podiatry clinic. We had our own jingle that was done. I won't sing it right now even though I do know it word for word. But if people ever wanna request it from me if we meet in person, just ask.
Tyson E. Franklin:
But it did start with, if sore feet are a problem, that was that was the words for it. But we had a certain beat that eventually we could be playing something or create another audio. We would just have that playing in the background, and patients would say we knew straight away that that was your podiatry clinic just by the the brand recognition from the sound.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. It's crazy how that can happen. You know, just a few notes and you just have something pop into your mind because of the the audio cues.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. Well, imagine if you're anywhere and especially if you're swimming in the ocean, and someone goes boom boom boom boom boom straight away. Everyone knows. Getting
Jim McDannald, DPM:
out of the water.
Tyson E. Franklin:
You're getting out of the water. I'm actually a side note, side story. I remember when we went and saw Jaws when it first came out, it's straight after seeing Jaws. We're at the Gold Coast at Service Paradise. We all went in the surf, and I think we all lasted about forty five seconds before we had to get out.
Tyson E. Franklin:
It was just all it took was one person to get boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and we just said it. No more swimming today.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. For sure.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Where to start with all this really comes down depends what you're planning to use audio for. That's the important part. You don't just go, oh, I'm gonna do the audio. Think about where you may wanna use audio in your business. If it's just for you you could use it for team training, You could put it into social media.
Tyson E. Franklin:
But to do that, you need to create, like, an audiogram if you wanna post it because you can't just post an audio file into social media. It doesn't work that way. You could add it to your website, which is what I used to do. I used to write blog articles and I still do it on my Tyson Franklin website. There's still a few blog articles there way down if you can find them.
Tyson E. Franklin:
But I would write the blog article, and then I would just record the audio as well, and I would just put that in there. It was more of a test run just to see if it would work. Or you could actually start a podcast. Somebody asked me once, Tyson, if you were starting a podiatry clinic tomorrow, what's your number one marketing tool? What would you do?
Tyson E. Franklin:
And one of my first things that I would put the time and effort into would be creating a podcast in my local town. I'd do a small business podcast sponsored by x y zed podiatry because that would be the business I owned, And I would interview business people, short twenty minute podcast, and I'll be putting it out there whether it was once a month or once a once a week.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
I think it's a great idea. I think if if you get to be I think there's different reasons why people do podcast. Obviously, we're trying to do the dietary marketing podcast to be, you know, world famous, you know, because there's just so many people who wanna listen about dietary marketing.
Tyson E. Franklin:
That's why we
Jim McDannald, DPM:
did it. But I really like your I I like your idea though because, you know, it just helps you get to know people in your local community. You build trust with people. You know about their business. They know about yours.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
It's just a real networking tool and a way to connect you with, you know, potential referral sources, but just a way to, you know, build trust in the local community and provide value to other people. So I really like that idea.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. The thing with it and this comes back to what I said before where where you connect with people on on an emotional level and and you have regular listeners. If you did a podcast in your local town, and like I said, it it could be like, you could do a health podcast or or something like that if you wanted to, but I don't think as many people are gonna listen to it. Because if my dentist is doing well on teeth and and gum disease, I'm going I'm not interested. But if my dentist was interviewing other business people in town, I'd be going, oh, actually, I might tune in there and see what I think.
Tyson E. Franklin:
And if I liked it, I would keep coming back and listening to it. But where it has a benefit is once people listen to it on a regular basis in your local town, if you then went to a networking event and and you you just said, hi. I'm Tyson Franklin. They go, oh, do you have the, you know, the Can Small Business podcast? You go, yes.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Straight away, they've got this connection with you. They wanna know more about your podiatry business. They are gonna refer people to you because they know who you are because they've got to know, like, and trust you over a period of time.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Absolutely.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Audio is so sexy if you ask me. So anyway, the important part is what do you need? And we on episode 39, we actually did a podcast episode about hardware and software. But just to review it quickly, you can record just using your smartphone if that's what you wanna do. But you just need to make sure you have a microphone attached to it.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Don't just use the phone. It's a little bit echoey. Can record just using your computer. And there's free software like GarageBand, Audacity. I use paid software from Adobe.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Just gives you a lot more buttons that can confuse you that you can play around with. But I recommend start with the free ones and see what you think. And if you're getting in and you go, I'm actually really enjoying this, then move to the move to the paid one. With your smartphone too, there's the app that I used to use a lot was called Voice Record. And I think it was a free app as well, and it does some great recordings.
Tyson E. Franklin:
The next thing is you want a good microphone. So if you're going to do an awesome podcast like Jim and I, then you wanna have a good microphone. We both now have a Shure MV seven. I think we have the same one, don't we?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
We do.
Tyson E. Franklin:
I used to have Audio Technica two ten or something, and then I've got microphone envy. When Jim switched over to the short m v seven, and we we did that episode, next thing, Jim was just sounding so smooth. And I went, my god, Jim. What have you done there? He goes, I have a new microphone.
Tyson E. Franklin:
How good do I sound? You sound like trash. And I must admit that. Yeah. That was awful.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Loud. But I've gone back to some of the original ones when I thought my Audio Technica microphone was great, and I'll listen back to them now and I go, wow. You can really hear the difference. But at the time, it it is what it is. So if you don't have a Shure m b seven microphone, then don't worry about it.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Just use whatever you've got. I also use DJI microphones on different occasions when I'm out and about traveling. The main part is just get a good quality recording. You can then play around with the noise a little bit when you're doing the doing the editing.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Absolutely.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Other hardware that you and I use, I well, I use a external recorder, a PodTrak p four, which is a a Zoom product. So the next thing you need to know, though, is so what you need, your hardware and your software, which I've just covered. If you're going to record something, it's always good to have a script that you're going to follow or at least some dot points to keep you on track. Nothing worse than listening to a recording, and there's just too much rambling on. You don't know what you're actually going to say next.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Even though Jim and I do that occasionally, but you may have we may have that scripted, now we don't.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. But I think that's a great point. There's a kind of a happy medium between being overscripted where it sounds like you're just reading. You know? You're just it sounds very, you know, tight.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
And and it maybe you just need to do that to kinda on the first couple just to feel comfortable on the microphone. But after a while, having an outline where you have some license, you kind of have a bit of a some guardrails. You're not gonna go off into left field or just kinda completely go off the side of the cliff, but, you know, you can kinda add a little bit of something. But the outline and having some point by points that you wanna make can be a great way to kind of help guide you through a conversation or guide you through maybe a point or an audio file you wanna create.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. Whenever I've done an a solo episode on podiatry legends, most of the almost the whole script is written out. Sometimes I just have dot points in certain areas, but majority of the script is followed, and I'm I'm reading it. But I don't just I don't read it word for word. I sorta know what I've got there, and I try and just get it to flow.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Mhmm. But like you said, if you need to just read the script, continue, it, record it, and then listen back to it. And if it sounds like you're reading, just go and rerecord it. Nobody will know that you've done it 10 times. See, some of the scripts when I do videos, it's I don't I do videos every week, but I still the amount of mistakes that I make is just incredible.
Tyson E. Franklin:
And you have to redo it because all of sudden, your arms are thrown up in the air, which
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Curse words, yell with the dog, that kind
Tyson E. Franklin:
of stuff. The curse words are just unbelievable. The other thing you need, editing software, which sometimes can be the same stuff you use for recording. So Adobe Audition that I edit this podcast on, I used to use to record. When I do a solo show, I actually record directly into that particular program.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Then you no matter what you record, it's then saved as an m p three, and then from there, that's how you then upload it. And when I'm talking upload, if you're gonna post it into social media to you need what they call a media host. You can't just grab that m p three and go and dump it onto Facebook. Facebook will go, no. Thank you.
Tyson E. Franklin:
I don't want that. So you must have a media host. I use Libsyn, which is a paid one, but every media host usually has a free version that you can use. So Podbean, for example, when I was talking before that I used to upload some audio onto my website, I used to just use the free Podbean version. It lets you record 50 megabyte or something per month at no charge.
Tyson E. Franklin:
So if you're doing any small three, four minute little audio things, it doesn't show up as base. For this podcast, we use Transistor.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yep. That's what you use.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. Be great if they're a sponsor.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Maybe someday.
Tyson E. Franklin:
So then once you have your media host and you've uploaded your m p three, the media host will actually give you is what they call an embedded audio link. And that's where that's what you post into the social media platform. So if you're on Facebook and you've seen somebody post just an audio file, then you'll to it. That's all it's basically coming from is one of those media hosts. You can then post it into your website.
Tyson E. Franklin:
You can then create an audiogram, which we spoke about on episode 45. And that's where you'll take the audio, an image, and you just put the two things together, and you create a video. So if you're not comfortable in front of a video camera, but you might wanna talk about heel pain, you might have three or four different images of heel pain. You put those images together, put the audio over the top, and just create like an audio room. Create create a video without you necessarily being in it.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Absolutely.
Tyson E. Franklin:
So the last thing I just wanna touch on is just on podcasting again. And in episode 38, I spoke about podcast marketing. It's using a podcast to market your podiatry clinic. And but also, episode 48 talked about podcast guesting. So you can have your own podcast or you can be a guest on other people's podcast.
Tyson E. Franklin:
And this is where if you really think about audio and you don't do anything else other than you might go, I just wanna be a guest on other people's podcast, which is a fantastic thing to do. It's it's really good for your social proof. You need a good microphone. Majority of the guests that I have on Podiatry Legends, majority of the sound is okay. I have some that are exceptional, but some most are okay.
Tyson E. Franklin:
And I've had some of them say to me, oh, you always sound so good on the microphone on podcast, and I sound a bit tinny. Okay. It's because you were tinny. And I've tried to make you sound better by adjusting a few things. So if you wanna be on podcasts on a regular basis, just spend some money and get a decent microphone.
Tyson E. Franklin:
I think this one, the Shure m b 7, $300 or something. Thought 300 Australian, which is almost free in American dollars.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. Just think it's down to because it's a couple $100 now.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. So you think about being a guest, one, you need a good microphone. Choose the right shows that you're gonna go on to. So if you if you wanna build your profile and build your brand, just choose really good shows. And like I said, every time you're on a podcast and it's put out there into the big online world, it does build your social proof.
Tyson E. Franklin:
I think, and I mentioned it before, that podcasting is the cheapest marketing tool you will ever ever create because once you do that podcast, there's just so many things you can actually do with it. Having your own podcast, I think early adopters will dominate. Even though podcasting's been around since 02/2004, you know, twenty one years, There's still so much room there for people to have their own podcast in their local area and create something that is really gonna build your your podiatry brand.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
And I think it's a huge opportunity. Like like you talked about the, you know, the the local podcast with other local businesses. It's such a huge opportunity for someone to to get into a market and get to be known in a way that just other clinics or other providers aren't willing to do. So I think there like you said, there's a first mover advantage for for someone that's willing to to do something like a local podcast.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. And it's it's not complicated. Creating a podcast is not complicated at all, and it's far less expensive than what you think. Just comes down to whether you're doing a a solo show, whether you're doing a duo, one like Jim and I, or if you can have podcast guests on. That will just determine how complicated it gets and what you need, but it's still not overly expensive.
Tyson E. Franklin:
But it is one of those things that's not for everyone. Not everyone's good. I'd say majority of people listening to this will never have their own podcast, but you should be thinking about where you can use audio because I think it is a fantastic tool. And the other part is all the audio you create creates part of your your IP. There's actually value.
Tyson E. Franklin:
It adds value to your podiatry business. So even if you have a lot of your training manuals and you got them recorded them so that people could listen back to them at certain times, just adds value to your clinic. If down the track, you get everyone to sell your business, imagine selling your business, but you're also the, you know, number one small business podcast, for example, in your area. It just adds value to what it is that you're doing. That's all I have to say on this subject, Jim.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. I I love all the the technical stuff. Right? I love the toys and the tools and that kind of stuff. But like you said, audio is super important.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
It's it's obviously the most it does it seems kinda counterintuitive, but it's the most important part of any video. If you ever watched a video on YouTube and it's crappy audio, you're probably moving on to the next video. So, you know, having this like you said, having kind of a system, having good tools, and knowing how to use it appropriately can be a huge benefit to any practice.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. And if anybody wants to know or wants to talk about this further, please reach out to Jim or I and just say, hey. Can you give me some more information on improving my audio? Because it is one of the things I did a I've trained a couple of podiatrists to have their own pod their podcast shows. Had one particular podiatrist flew to Cannes and spent the day with me, and we created the whole podcast, did everything in all in that one day.
Tyson E. Franklin:
And then they went off and did something with it, and had another podiatrist that we were both at an airport together for six hours. And he said, always wanted to have my own podcast. What are you doing for the next six hours? So we sat in we sat in the Qantas lounge bar and and had a few drinks while while we set up his the whole platform of what he was actually gonna do, what he needed to record, I showed him the equipment that I had because I had my stuff with me. And yeah.
Tyson E. Franklin:
So yeah. Just reach out to us if you need help.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Absolutely.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. Big Jim, that is it for me this week. I look forward to talking again next week.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Sounds great, Tyson.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. Talk to you later. Bye.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Bye now.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Thanks for listening to Podiatry Marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDanald. Subscribe and learn more at Podiatry Marketing. That's the website address, podiatry.marketing.
