YouTube Marketing for Podiatrists

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 am your cohost, Tyson Franklin. With me today is big Jim McDannald all the way over in Canada in Quebec, just to be a bit more accurate. So, Jim, how are doing today?

Tyson, I'm doing great. The the number of other people that are calling me big Jim now is getting a little bit out of control. But

Is that happening? People are people catching on to it. Big Jim Mc Big Jim Mac.

I I won't name names, but there's definitely been some people that I've had phone calls with or Zoom calls with who have referred to me as big Jim. So the the reputation is spreading thanks to you and the intro. So

I reckon there'll be people at conferences soon that love T shirts. And you'd be able to you'd be able to sell T shirts that has big Jim Mac on the front.

Yeah. Yeah. Schwag, get the hats, get the t shirts, get the mouse pads, maybe some coffee mugs. We'll we'll we'll stock up the store with that that merch probably.

Well, maybe we need to put that on the podiatrymarketing podiatry.marketing website because they're having merch on the Big Jim Mac hats and and mugs. It's got me thinking. It's really got me thinking. Since this is a marketing podcast and we like marketing, we should do this because okay, everyone. We we are.

Now we're going to. We're going to do this. We're we're gonna come up with something before the end be before or probably not before the end of this year because it's very close to the end of this year, but by mid next year, we're we're gonna have some merch.

Alright. That sounds like a plan.

Okay, Jim. What are we what are we talking about today?

Today, we're gonna talk about YouTube YouTube marketing for podiatrists.

Do you find YouTube hard to say sometimes?

Apparently. Apparently, I get a little tongue tied over saying YouTube, but no. It's definitely one of those platforms, those channels which has grown exponentially since my time on the Internet.

So going back a couple years ago, I would only ever go on YouTube if for some reason somebody had a link there and I clicked on it just to watch more information about what they were talking about. But the last two years, I've noticed I'm getting more and more into going to YouTube actually as a search option first before even going to Google to search for something.

No. I think that's a huge point. If you look at it by kind of search volume, YouTube is now the sec the second biggest search engine in the world. It's like you said, if someone wants to learn how to do something or see something, sometimes just a a quick video, like whether it's how to repair your washing machine or

How to put up festoon lights.

There you go.

That was something that my wife and I were doing for our daughter's eighteenth, and we really struggled with it. And so eventually, we said, let's go to the tube. We went to YouTube, and there was a video exactly on how to put up festoon lights on guttering, bang straight down to how best all got the stuff and the rest was history.

No. I mean, that's a perfect example. Instead of having to read it, you just have someone demonstrate it for you or do the how to there. And I think it does, not only does it work for festoon lighting, but also can work for, you know, different types of foot and ankle related things. I think people are searching there for answers about, you know, they have plantar fasciitis, how do they fix it at home?

Or what what can they do? What are their treatment options? And before they call a clinic or make an appointment with someone, that that YouTube is becoming one of those channels where they they search for answers, whether it be Google, now it's YouTube for the videos.

So when you're saying marketing on YouTube, are you talking about doing your own videos to put on YouTube to market your business or to actually do advertising on YouTube?

Yeah. So I think there's a different there's a couple different ways to utilize YouTube like in your

own

marketing. I think, you know, one way that can be a very successful use of it, and whether you decide to use it, you know, on your website or not, but is, you know, recording some of these helpful explainer videos. Right? So, you know, I've kind of written scripts in the past for some of my previous the clinics I've worked with, but what's a one minute or a ninety second explanation of a you know, something like plantar fasciitis, for example? What is that diagnosis?

You know, what causes it? What are potential options for treatment? And then what are next steps that people can do if they don't get better at home? So YouTube allows you to basically upload that video for free and host it. And then you can use it basically on your website to basically embed it on your website.

Sometimes people will use private or other paid versions of video hosting, but YouTube is maybe a good way for people just getting started to upload and have those videos on their website. And it can be that's kind of like the first step in marketing is, like I said, those how to videos are sometimes a video explainer of some of the care that you provide.

Yeah. And I know there's other programs that you can use to record video and put on your website. However, like you just said, YouTube is the second biggest search engine. So people that aren't rushing out going, I might go to Vimeo and find out about this. They'll go to YouTube first.

No. A %. That's the thing too is and like you can have those procedure or diagnosis specific videos on your website. That's one option. But the other option too is let's say you've run some local advertising and you had a thirty second spot.

Maybe it's like you know, Tyson Franklin, like, you know, Karen's like favorite podiatrist. So, like, within the title of that YouTube video, it says like, Tyson Franklin's podiatrist, Karen. And it's it's another way for you to rank in Google search because not only does Google show up with websites and podcasts. I mean, if you type in podiatry marketing, you might see a or see a podcast you know of, but it also pulls in YouTube videos. So if you have your your name, podiatrist or foot doctor, and the name of where you live at, there's a high probability that you're you'll show up on the first page in Google if no one else in your local area or you have the most viewed video in your local area about being a podiatrist.

So there can be some benefits of either, you know, when you do video advertising or you just decide you wanna do some videos and video testimonials to have those keyword those local keywords in the video because that can be additional visibility on Google for people looking for your services.

Well, it's true. Recently, there's been a lot of things I've been searching for. I may have just searched in Google, but when I do the search and it comes down, all of sudden, there'll be three videos, three YouTube videos that's sitting there at the top. And, yeah, sometimes you look through and you go, oh, yeah. That's exactly what I'm after.

But I'm noticing that more and more that the the YouTube videos are actually turning up more just in your general search on Google as well. And that would be based on the words that you're using.

No. A %. And the reason why those show up is that video is more engaging than text. Right? So if they can get you to click on a video, you know, like maybe it's gonna be a ninety second video about podiatry, but obviously Google owns YouTube.

So, like, it's kind of staying in the family if you go over to YouTube, and then you get sucked down the rabbit hole of watching cat videos or Australian rules football or, you know, the Olympics or something. And then all of sudden, like, you're forty five minutes later, you're looking for a podiatrist initially. And then now, like, you just watched the Olympic final of the 10,000 meters or something. So, I mean, you have to be very deliberate, I would say, when you're when you're jumping into YouTube because it can be a bit more distracting and kind of

Just a

little. Engaging than other platforms. But but that's the local aspect of you showing up in those local searches can be can be a huge marketing advantage for your practice.

So where should somebody start? Podiatrist is going, okay, I haven't really shot too many videos at the moment. What do they need to do to sort of get this started?

Yeah, I mean I think the first step is kind of knowing those five or 10 different procedures or diagnoses you want to treat. And whether you or someone in your staff has the ability to kind of like write a script, I think writing a script and kind of filming, whether it be with a with a with a smartphone or a decent maybe hire someone to film for a half day, film some of these these descriptions of these procedures or you treating a mock up patient with a ninety second kind of voice over regarding that. I think that's that's somewhere that can be started. I think also there's different ways of going about doing it. We'll talk about it maybe a little bit easier later on, like we talked about.

You jumped in and said a little bit something about advertising. We'll get into there in a little bit. The advertising is a little bit lower left. It doesn't require any kind of video production from yourself or somebody But that's something that we'll talk about kind of as we kind of come down here. But I think one option along with being local and kind of that can be very beneficial is displaying that subspecialty niche.

I think we've talked a lot about that in the past, you and I, about, you know, what what type of patients you wanna treat and what you wanna be seen as the expert in. So, you know, maybe a hybrid of, like, maybe you're the sports medicine podiatrist in Melbourne or the sports medicine podiatrist in Chicago or the diabetic foot specialist in Las Vegas. That's another opportunity. So it's not just even local. It's it's also showing this this subspecialty.

So you show up both in YouTube search and in Google search. But, yeah, I think the getting back to what your your question was, within, Google's advertising platform, there are ways to show up, whether it be text only or a motion video advertisement that can be shown, kinda geo fenced to your local area about you know, if you haven't filmed a lot of video, there are ways that Google does make these almost like text motion video creators that that do show kind of an advertisement. But, you know, the more you can have your face treating the patients you wanna treat on video, it doesn't have to be long videos, but, that that's, you know, being being open to the idea of being on camera, either you doing it yourself or have somebody to help you is kind of the first step.

Yeah. And I think if you if you're scared about being in front of the camera, like, you're like, I I don't like being in front of the camera. I look stupid. Don't worry. Everyone looks stupid on camera, but you just get used to it after a period of time.

But you can start by doing a video, and you don't necessarily have to be in it. You can shoot some footage, and you can narrate over the top and just put it together. Or like I've done some for some online courses where it's really a a PowerPoint presentation that I'm doing. The whole thing's being recorded. I'm just narrating over the top.

And if you want, you can sort of flash in and flash out without having to be on the video constantly for the whole time. So there's there's a number of ways of doing it. And if in doubt, I I can do a video course. I went and did a one day video course beginning of COVID because it was something I I wanted to know more about.

I think that that you bring up a good point, you know, whether it's Microsoft PowerPoint or it's Apple Keynote. If you have, you know, maybe six to eight slides of, you know, your company's logo, Maybe it's you treating specific type maybe just photos of you treating specific type of patients, like, in a slideshow format that's relatively engaging. Yeah. That that can be a substitute for, you know, a few thousand you know, maybe you don't have to get that production crew or incur, you know, a few thousand dollars of video production. But that is that is a good way to start as well along with you filming your own videos is like you said, maybe your staff is just, like, taking some almost what they call b roll of you treating kind of a mock up patient or, you know, showing an orthotic how you're molding an orthotic or something.

So I think there's a lot of different ways to kinda get started in video. But, yeah, that that's kind of the the way to kind of, I would say, the most common way that podiatrists are using video. The next one we'll talk about here in a little bit. It's a little bit different, and it kinda requires more in-depth knowledge about different types of marketing and affiliate type of relationships.

Yeah. Well, one one thing that's interesting about some of the videos is one of the videos I shot just before I saw my clinic in I shot it in 02/2015, but it's had over 84,000 views. And it was it goes for ninety seconds how to strap your heel oh, do you yeah. How to strap your heels for heel pain. And I'm in the video, but you don't see my head.

You only really see me from the shoulders down and the patient's foot showing them how to do the strapping. The audio is terrible. The lighting isn't the best, but it said 84,000 views on it. And I have not even promoted that video. It's just turned up when people have been doing searches.

So like you said, these short little information videos are are what people are actually searching for.

And and I think this other type of video, I guess, I didn't touch on, but probably the most powerful type of video that you can have recorded, and obviously you have to have the patient's permission, are patient and I don't I know that in Australia, some of these are not allowed, but at least in The US, in some states in The US, these are allowed. But these are these patient testimonial videos. They kind of do Yeah. If you're if you're treating, you know, people with, you know, ingrown toenail, or you wanna do surgery, you wanna do orthotics, having someone speak for you is is a way to really endear patients and really show they explain the value proposition and the kind of the goodwill and the great care you provided them. So I'm sorry, Australian podiatrists, that you can't partake in this, but for the podiatrist in The US where it's it's legal in your state, these are very powerful videos and something that can be used in a lot of different ways, whether it's on your website, on your YouTube channel, with advertising.

There's a lot of different opportunities there.

Check the rules in your area. If it's just no, you can't do it, then don't do it because it's not worth getting in trouble over.

No. For sure.

But I know America you can and UK you can as well, I think. The rules will change.

One day.

They always change. They always change. They just and I I understand, like, I'm not a huge fan myself of testimonials that may I am a reviews, but testimonials not so much. Because you never get a bad testimonial.

True. That's true. I mean, like but I think I think seeing the experience from the patient's perspective can be valuable for people. Obviously, never going to see a negative testimonial. But at the same time, I think people want to know what it's like to be treated by someone.

And yeah, I think they can be powerful. But like you said, there are, you know, there are not that people are skeptical, but I definitely know there's no negative testimonials out there.

Yeah. I think the only thing is because you see these videos sometimes, they'll have some guys got some power cruncher, and he's he's absolutely ripped. And, yes, I recommend using the if you wanna get abs like me, you need this power cruncher. And I'm like, yeah, I'd have to like that before you even started using that thing. So they they it's those sort of things.

But I do agree when when patients if a patient was talking about an experience somewhere at a podiatry clinic and other patients can see the patient go, oh, I relate to them. That's me. That's my problem. They look like me. They sound like me.

They're doing the same activities. I can see I can see how it can be powerful.

But like you talked about, people have good bullshit detectors. Right? Like Yeah. It's not it's not that that you want the patient to say that, like, you walk on water and that you're a god

Unless you do unless you do walk on water and you are a bit of a demigod.

But you know what I'm saying though. Like there there's there's genuine people that are giving reviews. It's like the grandma who's, you know, who's, you know, bunnying your fix or something. Like, that this that when they come across as very genuine, you know, people can tell and not tell. But I guess we'll move on to the the last Yes.

Small caveat around YouTube marketing. And this is maybe a hidden area of a potential revenue source that not a lot of podiatrists maybe know about. So maybe we're giving away like a big secret in the profession.

Oh, here we go. One big Should we whisper this one?

Maybe she whispers a little bit.

Yeah. You're But

I'm I'm gonna yell from the rooftops. I'm I'm not afraid to talk about it. But this is what's known as affiliate marketing. So for those of you aren't those podiatrists that are busy in clinic and don't have time to know, what this is, this is basically, selling some products through your YouTube videos or through your website, and you're basically getting a small cut from Amazon or from some different provider. So what I've seen recently is there's some podiatrists out there that have very, very large either social media or YouTube followings.

Maybe they get a 50,000 views on a ingrown toenail video or a plantar fasciitis video. And, basically, somewhere in that description, there'll be a link out to Amazon. And it's usually you have to just you know, there's a disclaimer. There it's people realize that you're getting paid a small portion, a commission on a sale of whatever they would were to buy on Amazon. But, you know, if you get a YouTube channel or you're making content on a consistent basis that's high quality and it's getting a lot of views, There's a few different examples out there that you can even you can find on YouTube yourself of podiatrists who probably making a decent side income with some of this affiliate business they have.

So I've spoken to a few podiatrists who are making well in excess of a hundred thousand US a year just through not not just affiliate marketing, but just ads on their YouTube channel because it's so popular now. Yep. And this is just this is just extra money they're getting as a so they they could stop working tomorrow, and they could just keep adding videos on, and they've got this extra hundred k American, you know, which hundred and 40,000 Australian coming in on the side. It's not a bad not a bad thing.

No. Not a bad thing. I think when I was maybe I'm old school, and I'm obviously I do digital marketing now, so it's it's funny to, like, kind of admit this on the air. But I could never have imagined, like, taking out my my camera or my my iPhone and having my assistant, like, record an ingrown tone out. Like, just it seemed to me like what I like I said, I'm old school.

I'm I'm a boomer as some of the kids like to say these days. But, like, that relate that relationship between you and the patient, you know, if if they give you permission, I guess it's totally okay. But like, I was never one big on, you know, filming those kinds of things or I never did when I was in practice. But not not to slam the folks that do that, but

I reckon good on Like I wish I had I wish exactly the same thing. But you look at the the only difference between if we had to started doing it ourselves fifteen years ago, Jim, the quality of the videos would have been so bad. I mean, that would have just been so bad that no one would have watched them anyway.

That's true.

Things have improved. Like, your your iPhone now is so powerful when it comes to video that people don't have an excuse not to do short videos and be posting them somewhere. Unless they're just too lazy and they don't wanna do it.

No. For sure. I think that's it can be a powerful way to like we talked about, like, show show patients all the all the care that you provide. So I think there's so many different tools out there. Like I said, YouTube is a really kind of overlooked platform, I think, by a lot of podiatrists because, oh, it's just that video place where people go waste time and and do those things.

But whether it's, you know, something that you embed on your own embed on your own website, it's a it's a way to kind of begin, you know, becoming more locally relevant in video form or, know, one of these affiliate business or advertising. It's definitely a platform I think that more podiatrists should should learn more about.

I know. I agree. Agree a %. So this has been fantastic, Jim. So I look forward to talking to you again next week.

Sounds like a plan, Tyson.

Okay. Talk to you later.

Bye now. 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.