Why Every Piece of Marketing Needs a Call-To-Action (CTA)

You're listening to podiatry marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim Mcdonald. Welcome back to podiatry marketing. I'm your host, Jim McDannald. Join us always with my trusty co host, Tyson Franklin. Tyson, what's going on today?

I've been looking forward to this episode, Jim. Been hanging around all morning. He's going, I'm looking forward to talking to big Jim this morning.

I feel special.

And so you should. There's not a lot of people I look forward to talking to, but you are one of them, so it's great.

So what are we gonna jump into today? What's what's the topic du jour?

Topic du jour is why every piece of marketing needs a call to action. And this sort of follows on back on episode two zero nine, which was know your patient avatar and call to action before you start using AI. But what I wanna focus on today is just why you should have a call to action. Any bit of any content, anything you're creating, there needs to be a needs to basically be a call of action. Otherwise, without a call of action, everything you're putting out there is just noise.

It's just another bit of noise just like what everybody else is doing. And we say that call to action is sort of that bridge between grabbing a patient's attention and actually getting that patient to take some action. If you don't have a call action, they they see your information and they go, yeah, that was that was really good. Now what? What am what am I supposed to do?

And it basically helps people take that next step. Because if you if you don't have a call to action there, even though you think patients gonna go, oh, they're read this article, and they're gonna bring my clinic because it's an awesome article. But most won't do it. It's just human nature. They need to be told what to do.

No. They definitely need that next step as far as it's it's great to have that information. And if you were like, if we're talking if you're a patient and I was the doctor and we're having a conversation, would always be, so what is the next step or what are we gonna do about it? So but when we're online, it's kind of a one way interaction. If there's no maybe there's just a ton of information about something, but there's no way to actually interact with it, then it's it's you're not you're not moving the relationship or the you're not making progress in a way.

So the call to action helps that progress be made or, like you said, the action being taken.

Yeah. And thing is patients want you to give them direction. I know when I've had any treatment from any health care provider, I'm in their hands, and I want them to tell me exactly what I need to do next. There can be some options on what it is that I need to do next, and that's what the call to action does. Because most people, they're overwhelmed with life choices.

Every day, they from the time they wake up in the morning, and this may some people might think this sounds silly. If it's deciding what you're gonna wear that day, actually creates friction. It burns up mental calories. I reckon that's why Steve Jobs used to wear the same outfit every single day. That's all he ever wore.

So it was one less thing he didn't have to think about. And your patients are the same. They've got all these decisions they're making it all that making all day. So if you can help them make their next decision and guide them a little bit, they're actually gonna thank you for it. So having a a button that says book now is not basically being pushy, it's actually helpful.

And the patients will go, alright. Okay. I can actually have to read it. No. I can just make an appointment right now.

That's fantastic. That's what they wanna know.

Yeah. Decision fatigue is real. Right?

Oh, yeah.

When you help kind of narrow down the different possibilities for people, they appreciate it. They can take action of their own choosing. So, yeah, when you do provide those options for people to move forward, it's hugely appreciated.

Yeah. And the other thing with having calls to action is it gives you a chance to, at least with your marketing, sort of measure part of it. Because when you have certain buttons or things that people can click, it actually provides data. She might have, did they click the book now button or did they not? Did they make an appointment?

Did they get the download? You know, you may have had a a brochure. It could have been a a free book. Did they actually click on that? So those articles and then it helps you refine your message.

If you've got a fantastic article, which you think is great, you've got a button there that might say book now or download this brochure. If nobody is clicking on that, then maybe there's something wrong in your message. Maybe what you're writing isn't actually resonating with people. So it gives you an opportunity to go back, refine it a little bit more. Maybe you need to retarget that article or that message or that piece of marketing to a different group of people.

So it it gives you better feedback than buying if you didn't have it there.

Yeah. And there's sometimes there's opportunities to AB test. Right? So Yeah. Whether it be the call the call to action, like on your website or maybe it's in a newsletter.

So you can just test some different things and see if a little bit of phrasing like book an appointment versus make an appointment or there's different ways to phrase different things and see what resonates most with your audience and with your patients.

Yeah. And the call to action also, like in 02/2009, I mentioned about the patient journey. Everybody from somebody who sort of knows about your clinic is someone who's already existing patient. You're gonna be talking to them differently. So not every call to action is about them making an appointment straight away.

You might have someone that the call to action you have in an article is really just to build trust, that you're giving really good information to go, wow. This person is really knowledgeable. You're not telling them to make an appointment, you're just building up trust over a period of time. You might just be trying to educate people, or it might just be nurturing. You might have some information where you're drip feeding information to them over a period of time, just providing.

But all of these are stepping stones to potentially making an appointment in the future.

Yeah. I like that stepping stone analogy because it's a little bit more visual. Some then I I will sometimes refer to as different patient touch points. Yeah. But I think when you think about stepping stones, know, going from some you're not gonna demand that they make an appointment, make an appointment right away.

Right? So that first step like you talked about is building trust and then just knowing those different stepping stones along the path, Not only to someone being a patient in your clinic, but then being that patient that clinic advocate. Someone who's willing to spread, you know, both digital and you know, like lots of great word-of-mouth about you and your clinic, or writing reviews, or telling people about you. So yeah, I think I love the stepping stone analogy.

You know what it is? Like you just said, you can visually see that. If if you want somebody to get from point a to point b, you have those stepping stones. This is here. This is the path that you actually follow.

And this is what you wanna think of with your patients when you're providing them information. Here's the first step. This is what you do next. This is what you do next. I'm just gonna jump ahead because I've got some notes here, but that's why I always wanna jump in this thing called a a bifurcated offer, then I'll come back to some something else.

And a bifurcated offer is when you give the patient a choice. Let's do it. There's something everyone needs to know about. For for example, at the end of a blog article, you might have book now. That's one call to action.

Or the second call to action could be learn more by clicking here or download this video or download this brochure or download this free book. So say, for example, it moves you. Bottom my heels hurt when I get out of bed in the morning. It might be the blog article you've written. Someone reads through, they go, if this sounds like you and you wanna get this fixed now, book now.

Click. Or it might go, if you'd like more information, here's a a video that we've created or here's a free book on, you know, why do my heels hurt? So they've got the option they can book now or they download the brochure or book. But by doing that, they then end up in your funnel, which that's when you start doing that nurturing that leads onto a future appointment. So I just thought I'd throw that ahead in my notes.

No. It's a great concept. I think it's a very valid spot to even though you jumped ahead. It's it's a really important aspect of things is that sometimes you can when you have these bifurcated offers, you're you know, maybe you're skipping down a couple stones or maybe there's just one that's right in front of you, but maybe someone is ready to take a bigger leap than others. So there's no harm in sometimes offering that opportunity.

Yeah. And, yeah, if you if you I think the other power of the bifurcated offer is they they may not be ready to book now. So if you get to the end of the article and it's just book now, and they go, oh, but I'm not sure yet. You haven't actually convinced me. By having something else here, it might be here's a link to a video, here's a link to a similar article.

They click on that, and the idea too, you want them to just stay on your website longer. The more they're on your website, the more chance they've got to see other things that you've done and, yeah, build that trust up over a period of time. But the next thing I wanna talk to you about is your call to actions increase your return on investment. So you spend a lot of time, a lot of money, and a lot of energy producing content. Yeah.

You and I both know this, Jim. We create a lot of content, even just creating this podcast. This this takes time by the time we record it, do the editing, put it out in different places. So having a call to action basically ensures that every bit of content that you produce has a potential payoff in the end. That somebody will get to the end of that and go, yes.

I'm gonna take action. So if they needed some assistance with some of their online marketing or online presence, they're gonna reach out to you, Jim, on podiatrygrowth.com. If they're considering a business coach here's the bifurcated offer. If they're considering a business coach in 2026, and you're like, should I go with a bigger coaching company where they're just pumping out the same beige stuff to everybody, or would you like a more personalized approach? You go to my website, tysonfranklin.com.

There we go. There's a little there's a call to action. Got it in early. The thing is, even a soft call to action, which one I just did then wasn't soft. It was it was quite firm.

But it turns a a passive viewer into maybe an engaged follower. And remember, content without a call to action, like I said before, is just noise. If all you're doing is putting stuff out there, and I see this on Instagram a lot, There's a lot of podiatrists out there doing these really some of them actually really, really good videos. The information they're putting out there, but there's no call to action at the end of it. There's nothing that says, and if this is you, do this.

Or if you'd like to get more information, go to this website. They just they put it out there. And and I must admit, I have been guilty of doing that myself in the past. I haven't always done a call to action. We haven't always had a call to action at the end of each of our episodes either.

No. For sure. I think it's sometimes it's a matter of, you know, you don't have to do it on the end of every episode or end of every piece of content, but the ones that you know that are are gonna be seen, you definitely want to make sure. Like you said, you're giving those patients opportunities to engage with you or to kind of to benefit from your expertise.

Yeah. And so that I'm gonna be really transparent here for everyone listening to this. You might be going, oh, how am supposed to remember how to do all this sort of stuff? You have to remember make sure there's a call of action. Well, to give you a proof, I have a post it note that sits up on my window here.

If people can read that, if they're watching the video, read. And on my post it note, it actually says, I do this at the end of some of the videos that I'd shoot. And I I the call action, remember to share this video, and I'll do the podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, share it with your podiatry friends, unless you have don't have any. Then share it with somebody else.

If you're watching the video, give it a thumbs up. I will remember so there's different options on here. I'll I might mention my email address. Also, go to my website. If you're looking for business coaching, go to my website.

So I have that in my post it note, and it sits up here above my computer. Why? To remind me to do the call to action. So if you can't remember to do this, put it on a post it note. Just put it somewhere to keep keep reminding yourself.

That's a great tip. I think the more it's in your face, the more it's hard it's harder to ignore and the more likely you're gonna do it. So

Yeah. I I think some people look at what other people do and go, oh, they just do it so naturally. Everything just falls into place for them. They always do everything right. You probably find they've got post it notes around the place as well reminding them to do certain things just so it runs runs smoothly.

And this is another point. Your competitors are probably using call to actions. So and patients will gravitate towards businesses that show direction and also show confidence. If there's other websites out there telling people exactly what to do and yours is just giving them good information and not telling them what to do, you could be losing out big time. You probably are losing out.

Yeah. You definitely want to be confident in your expertise and skills. And then when you do that and provide those CTAs, those call to actions for people, they're more likely to take them. If you're just kinda like not appearing confident or just a little passive, that that's when you run into problems. People question are more likely to question you and your abilities, and that's not something that's gonna be successful for a for a practice.

Now I'm gonna just discuss a couple of different types of call to actions or where you can actually put it. First one is like appointment based call to action. You might be saying book now or schedule a consultation today. So that's appointment based. They've read something, they've watched a video, and this is what you're pretty much telling them to do.

The next one is education based call to action. So download our free book on plantar heel pain. Watch our two minute video on orthotics. Yeah. Read our blog.

Yeah. Why do my ankles keep rolling in? They're education based. You could just think of as many of them as you want, but people are clicking on that because they wanna be educated further. Any comments on that, Jim, before I can mention a few more?

No. Those are solid. I I have no notes on those.

Okay. So the next one is it like engagement focused call to action? It might be like, comment below about your biggest foot issues. This is where you you want them. So this might be on so if you're doing more of a social media post or send us a direct message if you're not sure which appointment type you need.

So you want them to sort of engage with you. Yep. Here's the information. You've got a question. Now reach out to us.

Or follow us for our weekly foot tips. You want them to just keep following. The next one is what we call practice growth call to action. And this might be just as simple as join a monthly newsletter for foot care insights. So you may do an article.

It might might be a bifurcated book now or get on our newsletters to learn more about this and other forms of foot problems. And we see a lot of people, patients that we just sign up to our newsletters purely through our website.

It's a great way to attract like you said build trust over time. Maybe we just bifurcated they can choose they want to book now but if they're not ready for you just gaining more information about you building trust understanding the different types of care you provide can really build a potential patient down the road or you know they have friends and family that might need your services. By them being engaged and understanding what you do and who you are, it's a great opportunity.

Yeah. And then the last one is just in clinic called action. See, you could have whether it's, you know, billboards or posters or signs in your clinic area that are basically getting people to ask questions like, ask us today about how orthotics stop heel pain. I remember we used to have one in the toilet in the bathroom when people were sitting there and they go, now that you see it, we have your attention. And whisky paste go, oh, ho, That was quite funny.

But you can just think about some things that you could do. Like, I used to love, but I used to go to the dentist. The one I go to now, you go there and you recline back, and they would have, like, funny signs on the roof of the the dental clinic. So while you're there, you'd be re and they used to mix them up and change them around for a bit of fun. But another in clinic thing is to be, yeah, ask your podiatrist about shockwave treatment package, or do you know what shockwave therapy is?

Straight away. If not, ask ask the, yeah, ask the podiatrist. So that's where you're in the clinic, and that is still a call to action. You're telling people to do something. And I'm gonna finish on so the final tip.

If your marketing doesn't tell people what to do, your marketing is leaving money on the table, pretty much. So if you're putting all that effort in, creating written content, could be audio content, might be video, could be a combination. It's on your website, social media page. If you're putting all the stuff out there and there isn't something that is saying to people, hey, this is what you need to do next, you're leaving money on the table. You don't wanna do that.

Someone will steal it.

No. You have to be direct, kind, caring, but direct to get what you want. So I think it's it's great advice.

And what's funny, it's even when we do these episodes ourselves. When we put the episodes together, we don't just sort of go, oh, here's the topic. Top a few things, and bang, we put it out there. When we're actually putting these topics together, it actually gets me thinking as well. You'll go through all this information, and as you're doing your research and you're putting it all together, you go, am I doing that in this area?

Am I doing that on all my videos? No. That's why I have this Post it note. But on some of my blog articles, am I putting something there for options on what to do? Am I putting too many options?

It could be the other thing. Confused mind says no. And when I think of my own website and someone thinks it gets to the end, and there's there's a lot of different things there. So maybe I need to eat my own dog food.

Never hurts. It may not taste very good, but it never hurts.

Yes. I know. Okay. Big Jim, that's all I was gonna talk about on this particular subject.

Alright. Sounds good, Tyson.

I look forward to talking to you again next week.

Alright. Let's do that. Okay. See you later. Bye now.

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.