May 21, 2025 • 22 mins
Join us as Marco Assanti, founder of HJR Creative, breaks down the most common pitfalls medical practices encounter in their online marketing efforts. Learn how to avoid wasted ad spend and ensure that every dollar you invest in marketing translates into patient appointments. Whether you're a seasoned marketer or new to the game, Marco will share actionable insights you can implement today.
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https://brainworkframework.podbean.com/
Connect with Marco Assanti :
Company Website: https://dataspeaks.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zekecamusio/
Connect with Chris Troka:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-troka-3a093058/
Website: https://focused-biz.com/
Website: https://christroka.com/ #brainwork #framework #business #entrepreneurship #marketing #medicalpractice #appointments
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
If you're a solo opener, I would stronglysuggest don't compete with the guys that
(00:04):
are charging eight to 10 grand a month.
You can do it at a fraction of whatthey're charging because you can use these
tools to reduce your costs, and by doingthat you can pass it on to the customer.
You are listening to Brainwork Framework,a Business and Marketing podcast,
brought to you by Focused-biz.com.
Welcome back to another episode.
With us today is the founder and digitalmarketer of HJR Creative, Marco Asante.
(00:28):
They help medical practices get morepatients without the marketing headache.
So excited to have him on today.
Marco, how are you doing?
Thanks for joining us.
I'm great.
Thanks for having me on here, Chris.
Much appreciated.
Absolutely.
So we always like to ask ourentrepreneurs, what were you
doing before that kind of ledyou into what you're doing today?
Okay.
So I'm from Sydney, Australia, ifyou haven't noticed my accent and
I grew up in a place just west ofSydney called the blue mountain.
(00:52):
It was a bit of a rural setting butmy father had an advertising business.
And back those days, I don't know ifyou have it in the States but when you go
shopping, you have that big long docket.
So he was the first one in Australiato be advertising on the back of
those dockets for all sorts of thingsbut mostly for holidays and travel.
So I grew up around that advertisingspace and it just sort of led me into a
(01:15):
career of business, some good, some badand it sort of ignited a bit of a passion
in me of what actually makes a businesstick not internally the workings but
actually what brings people in the door.
So that's what sparked mycuriosity in actually taking
a career within advertising.
Very nice.
So it sounds like you had someinfluence from family before a father
(01:36):
owning that advertising agency.
And did that kind of giveyou the entrepreneurial itch?
You learned some marketing, you said,I guess I'm kind of good at this stuff.
Let me take it to that next level.
When did you officially go intobusiness for yourself and then take
me through that growth period offirst starting to where you are now?
Great.
Yeah.
I had multiple businessesup until the age of 28.
(01:56):
Only one of them was successful.
It was a range in the foodbusiness, wholesale business,
we even did merchandise.
I've tried a lot of different thingsand then I went into the corporate
world and I worked for a big wholesalebrand as a national retail manager.
I think it was almost seven years.
I worked with them and actually they werebought out by an American company and
(02:16):
when I saw how that world works at scale.
It kind of deflated myspirit a little bit.
It just wasn't me.
I know it's okay for most butfor me, it deflated the energy
that I wanted to put into it.
So I moved into a wholesale businessand we were supplying Queensland,
New South Wales and Victoria.
So to give you an idea,Australia is massive.
(02:37):
We're almost that's kind of thesize of Europe, so it's a big place.
This is on the east coast ofAustralia where the weather's warm.
We hug the coast.
We don't have any borders.
The water's our border.
So it's not like they can go and getlots of this stuff from overseas.
So I had a nice unfair advantage andI did that for many years but then
COVID hit in 2020 and virtuallyeveryone sat at home and our
(03:02):
business pretty much ceased to exist.
So we closed the doors and that was a realexperience for me because we virtually had
to go through an administration process.
And so for me, thank God we didn't haveany debt but it's like a real blow to the
ego to go through bouncing off the bottom.
I'm 43 and this happened.
It was a really difficultscenario in my life.
(03:24):
I also just got married.
So for me, it was such a blow.
I never really wantedto do business again.
I just thought I quit.
I just don't even want to get back up.
That's the truth.
And then, slowly my wife encouragedme to, let's get back into it.
Let's do something and I think slowlyover the space of 12 months, we started
(03:45):
to see if we could turn it into abusiness, what we knew about advertising
and marketing and doing it online.
And slowly, we started doing it for afew people and they caught pretty good
results and then it gave us the confidenceto go and use them as testimonials and
ask other people for their business.
It just snowballed from there.
It's been a process of five and a halfyears now of growing this thing and I'm
(04:09):
really proud of where it got to today andI'm glad I got back into it and didn't
just hang up the boots and say, I'm done.
Absolutely.
But I think for many entrepreneurs,we have those successes and failures.
We've gone in and out of businessbefore but to get back in it,
get that success again, reallyfeeling like you're helping people.
It's a great accomplishment andit gives you passion and drive for
continuing forward but after thefive, six years of experience now.
(04:31):
You're doing what most people generallyrecommend is niche down, find your
ideal client, really develop that offermessaging that you're putting together.
So now you specifically help doctorstell me more about the client that you
serve, how you're helping them and thenhow that service kind of looks like.
Sure.
We niche down into medical services,which covers like a broad range.
I particularly work with nerves.
(04:53):
So anyone with nerve issues, there'sa range of them that are usually
being serviced by chiropractors.
Now this particular niche found me.
I didn't go and look for it.
I had a particular client that was achiropractor and had some different
services and we just kind of have abit of an unfair advantage because
(05:15):
over the process, I think probably 18months it's taken me to hone my skills
at these particular services but it'skind of new and it's really difficult
for doctors personally to trust thatthere's a process that can actually
work because there is an upfront cost.
And also the fact that they'regetting real qualified patients coming
(05:38):
through the door because I think alot of the time, They've kind of been
blasted with 50, 60, 70 leads comingin a week but they're just junk.
So it's how do we qualify them better?
And this is where I've been able to help.
And it's not just in actuallygetting the patient in the door.
We actually look at the salesprocess, who's answering the phone.
This is also another huge one, right?
(06:00):
So you can't have Mary.
That's the receptionist.
Taking your calls when itcould be 170 a lead and you've
got Mary answering the phone.
No, we've got to givethis to a professional.
So I'm a partner with Smith AI.
If you haven't heard of them,it's not an AI company, although
they're leading that way.
It's a call center in North Americaand we leave it to the professionals,
(06:22):
like when you're paying forleads, you want to close them.
You want to make surethey're highly qualified.
So I guess what I'm saying is I'vebeen able to work the process from
actually someone clicking on an adto what happens when they book in
the calendar to how do we follow up?
How do we reduce no show rates?
How do we actually get them onthe phone and then get them in
the office and showing to them, wecan actually solve your problem.
(06:44):
So that's what I've beenworking on particularly.
I love that because it really takes thatbeginning stage of the top of funnel.
How do we get more leads intohow do they actually become a
client and a patient for them?
And all those moments in between from thatmoment they click the ad, if they provide
information, what landing page, thecommunication or touch points that you're
having, all of those really factor into.
(07:06):
Is this person qualified and can theybe a good fit as a patient and a client?
And to find all those sticking pointsand the friction that was in that
process to remove it, that's hugebecause now you're improving results.
You're increasing conversions andyou're demonstrating, here's your actual
return on investment with marketing.
Hey, you got patient X, Y, and Zthrough this and they paid you how much?
(07:28):
Okay.
Now let's cross reference that.
That's just the part of doinggreat marketing, caring about your
clients, caring about the results.
So, kudos to you for doing that.
Now you mentioned a little bit aboutyour process but how do doctors actually
attract more well qualified patientswho can actually become clients?
Yeah, super good question.
First thing is I would probablynot advertise on Facebook.
(07:49):
It's really three main parts.
One, Facebook works as aretargeting tool in my experience
for particularly this nerve service.
So, usually in the States, it'swell trodden path that Cairo's
will just literally, yeah, let'sgo do Facebook leads, they're
cheap, let's get them in the door.
But for more niche services, youreally need to understand that the
(08:14):
position that someone in pain is inand you can't do that on Facebook
because essentially the people thatare there are Better be social.
So the intent level's different, right?
And if you're on social media, Idon't really want you to disrupt me
or I may not be ready in that moment.
The sales cycle's a lot longer.
Where with Google ads, you'reat the bottom of the funnel.
(08:35):
You know what I mean?
You're like, where is a pain doctor now?
Pain management?
I am like, seriously?
Want this fixed now.
So in a lot of cases, they've beenstruggling for years and they might
see an ad that resonates with themand they're just ready to go because
they want to solve this problem.
So intent is a big part of it.
The second thing is most people, I'membarrassed to say it but I'm just
(08:58):
going to say it because you guysin the US don't mind being forward.
Your website's a crap.
Like, you guys are the most sophisticateddoctors, you have so much experience,
so much knowledge and yet you presentyourself in a way that is so bad
and I say it all the time, I can'tuse your website and I'm not gonna
go and say spend 3, 6, 7, 8, 10,000 on a website, it's ridiculous.
(09:23):
So we build a landing pageand for me quite honestly,
I have an unfair advantage.
I have spent literally hundredsof thousands of dollars of sending
traffic to landing pages that I built.
I have an unfair advantage in this niche.
I know what works and I can tellyou like when you get it right,
you can be converting it almost 10%when you're sending traffic there.
(09:43):
So it really does work.
I skipped the whole your website's crapthing and I just build the landing page.
So that's stage two.
Stage three is actually not everyonethat gives you their details
are actually ready to make anappointment right there and then.
They can get distracted becausegenerally they're an older clientele.
What happens when they don't makea booking, you've paid for the
(10:05):
lead, it's come through, you haveto have some form of follow up.
So for me, the big part of encapsulatingthis lead machine is following
them up with email marketing.
So this is a really tailored approachand I know AI is playing a big
role but this has to be personal.
So when we're helping them, wereally go into the email that
(10:27):
these patients are getting andwe speak to them like the doctor.
It's from the doctor, so it's personal.
We're addressing the fact that weunderstand who they are and I think
this approach has really worked for me.
And in the last 18 months I've reallysort of dialed it in and I know
it works, so that's essentiallywhat we do for the the services.
(10:48):
That is a fantastic wayto position yourself.
With this example, it's like,let's not redo the entire website.
Let me just take the specific trafficthat I know I'm going to be getting for
you and let's put them into a more highconverting funnel that I know is going
to work and convert because we can'ttrust the lead information to go to
this website and you can't trust Mary,although she does a fantastic job at
everything else just following up andappointment setting is not their expertise
(11:12):
and it's just that speed to lead that alot of people need for going from that
interest to let me make a commitmentand let me follow through with it.
And you've really dialed in that processto get better results and be able to
copy paste this into other businesses,other medical practices showing,
Hey, do you want results like this?
Well, let's set this up and getstarted with you being in business.
(11:32):
What's been the best way foryou as your own business to
capture and nurture your leads?
Cause obviously medical professionsare like B2C you're B2B.
So you're probably either you'reeither running ads or building
relationships or speaking doing podcasts.
What's been most effective for you?
All of the above.
I'm only new to advertising our business,which sounds kind of counterintuitive
(11:56):
because we're in advertising but mostof my business has come from referrals.
So that has always been where the leadflow has come from and quite honestly, I
haven't wanted to grow at a rapid rate.
I really wanted to hone my skills andI think that's what I've always done
in business and it's strange because Iguess the result of it is that you get
(12:16):
a good business but for me taking a longtime to really understand what I'm doing.
So I'm leading with trust because Ireally feel like, not just medical,
although it's a lot of sharks inmedical and they charge a lot of money.
I certainly don't do that but I thinkyou have to make things very transparent.
(12:37):
So whether that's an ad for myselfgetting more doctors in the nerve
space or whether it's giving outa free piece of content on the
website, I want to build trust.
And so how do I build trust?
I'm really transparent.
We had one case now which I've got onthe website where we actually fully walked
down exactly what we did for this onedoctor and just with a couple of things,
(12:57):
man, he went from a very small amountof money to doing six figures a month.
And it's life changing, right?
So for me, referrals have been the bestway to get business in but I also don't
want to lean on my clients and say,can you send me some more business?
It's a bit weird and somewhat contrived.
So I do run ads and it's taken afew iterations to get it right.
(13:22):
Mainly I'm able to do advertising becauseI've got some testimonials from real
world cases that have actually helpedand so from that, again, you're building
trust through transparency and I'mjust putting that message out there.
Traditionally that'sactually how I'm doing it.
It's pretty much the same wayI'm doing it for the doctors.
No, that's fantastic because one, I likethat you take the multi channel approach.
(13:44):
You can't really rely on just one channelbecause you never know when that is going
to change in the quantity or quality ofthe referrals coming in for any channel
as well and just a testament to thework that you do, the fact that you get
more and more referrals and that a largemajority of your business is referrals.
It's a testament to the workthat you're delivering on the
results and you're communicating.
They love working with you.
(14:05):
So it's a huge testament toeverything that you're doing.
Where can people find out more aboutyou, get connected with you online?
Sure.
The best spot to get me is atDr. Marketing, which is drmarket.
Ing.
And there's some videos on there of me.
You can get an idea.
I'm also able to do an audit for youvia the website and I think that's the
best way because you can book in a 15minute call with me on the website or
(14:29):
you can purchase an audit but I'm goingto do something at the end for listeners
or someone that might benefit from it.
But essentially that's the best way.
You don't have to do business with me butI think most people could really benefit
from just understanding what's going on.
Again, it's this transparency thingand it shouldn't be this very specific
(14:50):
jargon and hard to understand language.
There's only four or five metricsthat they need to understand and
as soon as they get it, they'llrealize, Oh, that makes so much sense.
Okay.
That's clear.
I understand.
That's how much it leads work.
That's how much I've been payingto get impressions, so once they
understand a few of those metrics, itbecomes part of the business, it's
(15:12):
part of their weekly agenda to check.
So again, straight on thewebsite is the easiest place to
book in a call and I'm doing noobligation, 15 minute call on there.
Very nice.
We'll have those links availabledown in the description and show
notes for everyone to get connected.
And you mentioned before alittle bit about AI and just the
changing of technology and tools.
(15:33):
Are you utilizing any AI eitherin your business or your personal
life or maybe for some of theclient work that you're doing?
I am ashamed to say that I don'tremember life before ChatGBT.
None of us can rememberwhat that was like.
I cannot understand how life progressed.
I don't remember a pre ChatGPT time.
So I think if I talk about my practiceand then sort of our business and then
(15:55):
for doctors, it's too much to process.
There's too much change and if I gothrough any of those details and the
application it can have for them.
It's just too hard.
But the thing that it can have aneffect on their business is that
it actually, for us as marketers,it actually reduces our head count.
(16:16):
So I'm actually going to try andscale the business to a point where
I actually don't need any employees.
We had employees and I actuallyuse AI to virtually get most of
this stuff done automatically.
Now it's not saying that it's less carebut the person with the knowledge and
the time in the seat of understandinghow it works is overseeing it.
(16:40):
So for me, the benefit of AI isthe fact that I'm able to basically
scale my business as a solopreneur.
I can get to a number of clients thatworks for me, works for them without
dropping quality which is traditionallywhat happens as an agency grows, right?
You put on a head count.
You don't talk to the clientsanymore and that's the reason why
(17:01):
I have a business because they getsick of it and they call me and go,
Hey, John's not calling me anymore.
Okay, easy.
No worries.
I'm here.
So the idea for me is I want touse AI to scale the business while
still interacting with the clientand looking at kind of a helicopter
view of how the business is goingand that's how I'm using AI to scale.
Love that AI is just another toolin our toolbox, like other software
(17:23):
applications that we had access toand I always compare it to mechanics
where they used to hand turn wrenchesand then they had more pneumatic
and then they had air compression.
So it's like just as evolutionand tools, it can allow you to
complete tasks and jobs a lot fasterwithout sacrificing that quality.
You're still having a human inspectand test everything and now it's
just allowing you to do a lot more.
(17:44):
But AI is a fantastic tool.
I'm using it for myself as well.
Hard to remember what lifewas like before AI existed.
It's crazy.
It's crazy and the one tip I would say,
if you're a marketer out there,you're probably already doing
it but if you're not, you shouldtake advantage of ChatGPT tasks.
So at the moment, this is the one bigtip that's been able to help me scale.
(18:05):
It's how do you stay relevant?
Like we all know that prettysoon search is going to be done
through perplexity or ChatGPT.
But you can start seeing the hockey stick.
Puck moved to virtually searchnow being on these AI platforms.
So what does that actually mean?
I think you need to really staysuper current with how Google ads
(18:27):
is changing and the way that I dothat is I just set up a task with
a engineered prompt for Google ads.
I want ChatGPT to send me every daya highly advanced Google ad tactic.
So currently looking at how it'schanging and sending it to me.
So I do this and I implementit in the business daily.
(18:48):
I also take those tasks and I'mable to turn them into a guide,
a very complex guide that youcouldn't give to anyone else.
But I can then give that to an agent.
I can train the agent withthis highly skill set of Google
ads and also in stream stuff.
I also do YouTube and it's certainlywhere the money's going in 2025 and then
(19:12):
that agent can then now start deployingsome of the optimizations and strategies
that I would have to train someone.
Like, it would take more than 12 monthseasily to get to that skill set level.
I can train someone now probably inless than five minutes with this piece
of content, so that's actually how I'musing it to scale, but tasks are amazing.
(19:33):
Absolutely.
I'm really excited to see whereAI is going to take us and just
using it in our everyday lives.
It's cool because it's now giving thesolopreneurs and small businesses access
to these tools that the big chains andthe real big box companies had access to
or the resources to be able to afford.
Now we're able to grow andscale a lot smarter using AI.
And also the flow on effect is that itshould reduce the costs of marketing.
(19:56):
If you're a solopreneur, I would stronglysuggest don't compete with the guys that
are charging eight to 10 grand a month.
You can do it at a fraction of whatthey're charging because you can use these
tools to reduce your costs and by doingthat, you can pass it on to the customer.
You're getting more good will andyou're staying in the front seat of
the most important thing the client.
(20:16):
Yep.
That is exactly right.
Absolutely.
Now, before we ask our lastquestion to Marco here about
what he is looking forward to in2025, a word from our sponsors.
If you're looking to double yourorganic leads and nurture and
book them on autopilot using AI,make sure you visit focus biz.
com to learn more.
Now, Marco, 2025 is coming around.
You've got a lot of thingsworking and cooking and you're
(20:37):
putting yourself out there more.
What are you most excited aboutwith going into 2025 here?
I think coming to America.
We're actually gearing up my wife and Ito spend some time in the States and meet
some clients and attend some conferencesaround the niche that we're in.
But I'm really excited to spend sometime where most of the news in the
(20:58):
world is coming out of at the momentand just understand a little bit
more about the sentiment to business.
So it's very different to Australia.
We don't have a sentiment for business.
We have a sentiment for get agood job and never leave it and
basically do as little as possible.
So I really love the culturein America, how you've got
this, like, let's just do it.
(21:19):
Let's smash it.
Let's make it work and thatreally resonates with me.
So I'm actually really looking forwardto spending some time there this year.
Well, the USA is going to welcome youwith open arms, Marco, we would love
your energy here and everything thatyou're bringing out to the world.
If we can be of any positive ornegative influence on you the USA
would be happy to contribute to that.
Thank you very much.
Absolutely.
Marco, we appreciate you comingon and sharing your tips and
(21:40):
tricks and wisdom with us.
One last thing we want to offer you thefloor, anything we haven't touched on
yet, anything you're really passionateabout or excited for that we haven't
mentioned here yet on the show.
If there is someone out there lookingfor any services, we have this website
where you've got some great informationthere about how everything we've
spoken about today is available andexactly how we scaled these clinics.
(22:04):
So if it's something you thinkyou might be interested in,
feel free to download it.
In that download, there'sactually a free audit link.
So you can actually get the auditfor free which is like pretty chunky.
We go through a video auditand that's yours forever.
You get to keep it and we really sort ofunpack everything that's going on even
if you're not in the medical field andthere's another region that you're in
(22:26):
or another niche, feel free to use it.
It's for your listeners.
I love that.
And make sure everyone out therego check out the case studies here
cause these are real life examplesof clients of theirs where they
weren't where they want it to be.
They needed to get to this next level.
They were struggling andMarco got them there.
So check out the case study, get the freeaudit because this is going to help you.
All the recommendations thereare going to be from a real life
(22:49):
experience and examples here.
Marco, we appreciate all of your time.
So excited to watch you grow and forall of your future business endeavors.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
If you're a solo opener, I would stronglysuggest don't compete with the guys that
(00:04):
are charging eight to 10 grand a month.
You can do it at a fraction of whatthey're charging because you can use these
tools to reduce your costs, and by doingthat you can pass it on to the customer.
You are listening to Brainwork Framework,a Business and Marketing podcast,
brought to you by Focused-biz.com.
Welcome back to another episode.
With us today is the founder and digitalmarketer of HJR Creative, Marco Asante.
(00:28):
They help medical practices get morepatients without the marketing headache.
So excited to have him on today.
Marco, how are you doing?
Thanks for joining us.
I'm great.
Thanks for having me on here, Chris.
Much appreciated.
Absolutely.
So we always like to ask ourentrepreneurs, what were you
doing before that kind of ledyou into what you're doing today?
Okay.
So I'm from Sydney, Australia, ifyou haven't noticed my accent and
I grew up in a place just west ofSydney called the blue mountain.
(00:52):
It was a bit of a rural setting butmy father had an advertising business.
And back those days, I don't know ifyou have it in the States but when you go
shopping, you have that big long docket.
So he was the first one in Australiato be advertising on the back of
those dockets for all sorts of thingsbut mostly for holidays and travel.
So I grew up around that advertisingspace and it just sort of led me into a
(01:15):
career of business, some good, some badand it sort of ignited a bit of a passion
in me of what actually makes a businesstick not internally the workings but
actually what brings people in the door.
So that's what sparked mycuriosity in actually taking
a career within advertising.
Very nice.
So it sounds like you had someinfluence from family before a father
(01:36):
owning that advertising agency.
And did that kind of giveyou the entrepreneurial itch?
You learned some marketing, you said,I guess I'm kind of good at this stuff.
Let me take it to that next level.
When did you officially go intobusiness for yourself and then take
me through that growth period offirst starting to where you are now?
Great.
Yeah.
I had multiple businessesup until the age of 28.
(01:56):
Only one of them was successful.
It was a range in the foodbusiness, wholesale business,
we even did merchandise.
I've tried a lot of different thingsand then I went into the corporate
world and I worked for a big wholesalebrand as a national retail manager.
I think it was almost seven years.
I worked with them and actually they werebought out by an American company and
(02:16):
when I saw how that world works at scale.
It kind of deflated myspirit a little bit.
It just wasn't me.
I know it's okay for most butfor me, it deflated the energy
that I wanted to put into it.
So I moved into a wholesale businessand we were supplying Queensland,
New South Wales and Victoria.
So to give you an idea,Australia is massive.
(02:37):
We're almost that's kind of thesize of Europe, so it's a big place.
This is on the east coast ofAustralia where the weather's warm.
We hug the coast.
We don't have any borders.
The water's our border.
So it's not like they can go and getlots of this stuff from overseas.
So I had a nice unfair advantage andI did that for many years but then
COVID hit in 2020 and virtuallyeveryone sat at home and our
(03:02):
business pretty much ceased to exist.
So we closed the doors and that was a realexperience for me because we virtually had
to go through an administration process.
And so for me, thank God we didn't haveany debt but it's like a real blow to the
ego to go through bouncing off the bottom.
I'm 43 and this happened.
It was a really difficultscenario in my life.
(03:24):
I also just got married.
So for me, it was such a blow.
I never really wantedto do business again.
I just thought I quit.
I just don't even want to get back up.
That's the truth.
And then, slowly my wife encouragedme to, let's get back into it.
Let's do something and I think slowlyover the space of 12 months, we started
(03:45):
to see if we could turn it into abusiness, what we knew about advertising
and marketing and doing it online.
And slowly, we started doing it for afew people and they caught pretty good
results and then it gave us the confidenceto go and use them as testimonials and
ask other people for their business.
It just snowballed from there.
It's been a process of five and a halfyears now of growing this thing and I'm
(04:09):
really proud of where it got to today andI'm glad I got back into it and didn't
just hang up the boots and say, I'm done.
Absolutely.
But I think for many entrepreneurs,we have those successes and failures.
We've gone in and out of businessbefore but to get back in it,
get that success again, reallyfeeling like you're helping people.
It's a great accomplishment andit gives you passion and drive for
continuing forward but after thefive, six years of experience now.
(04:31):
You're doing what most people generallyrecommend is niche down, find your
ideal client, really develop that offermessaging that you're putting together.
So now you specifically help doctorstell me more about the client that you
serve, how you're helping them and thenhow that service kind of looks like.
Sure.
We niche down into medical services,which covers like a broad range.
I particularly work with nerves.
(04:53):
So anyone with nerve issues, there'sa range of them that are usually
being serviced by chiropractors.
Now this particular niche found me.
I didn't go and look for it.
I had a particular client that was achiropractor and had some different
services and we just kind of have abit of an unfair advantage because
(05:15):
over the process, I think probably 18months it's taken me to hone my skills
at these particular services but it'skind of new and it's really difficult
for doctors personally to trust thatthere's a process that can actually
work because there is an upfront cost.
And also the fact that they'regetting real qualified patients coming
(05:38):
through the door because I think alot of the time, They've kind of been
blasted with 50, 60, 70 leads comingin a week but they're just junk.
So it's how do we qualify them better?
And this is where I've been able to help.
And it's not just in actuallygetting the patient in the door.
We actually look at the salesprocess, who's answering the phone.
This is also another huge one, right?
(06:00):
So you can't have Mary.
That's the receptionist.
Taking your calls when itcould be 170 a lead and you've
got Mary answering the phone.
No, we've got to givethis to a professional.
So I'm a partner with Smith AI.
If you haven't heard of them,it's not an AI company, although
they're leading that way.
It's a call center in North Americaand we leave it to the professionals,
(06:22):
like when you're paying forleads, you want to close them.
You want to make surethey're highly qualified.
So I guess what I'm saying is I'vebeen able to work the process from
actually someone clicking on an adto what happens when they book in
the calendar to how do we follow up?
How do we reduce no show rates?
How do we actually get them onthe phone and then get them in
the office and showing to them, wecan actually solve your problem.
(06:44):
So that's what I've beenworking on particularly.
I love that because it really takes thatbeginning stage of the top of funnel.
How do we get more leads intohow do they actually become a
client and a patient for them?
And all those moments in between from thatmoment they click the ad, if they provide
information, what landing page, thecommunication or touch points that you're
having, all of those really factor into.
(07:06):
Is this person qualified and can theybe a good fit as a patient and a client?
And to find all those sticking pointsand the friction that was in that
process to remove it, that's hugebecause now you're improving results.
You're increasing conversions andyou're demonstrating, here's your actual
return on investment with marketing.
Hey, you got patient X, Y, and Zthrough this and they paid you how much?
(07:28):
Okay.
Now let's cross reference that.
That's just the part of doinggreat marketing, caring about your
clients, caring about the results.
So, kudos to you for doing that.
Now you mentioned a little bit aboutyour process but how do doctors actually
attract more well qualified patientswho can actually become clients?
Yeah, super good question.
First thing is I would probablynot advertise on Facebook.
(07:49):
It's really three main parts.
One, Facebook works as aretargeting tool in my experience
for particularly this nerve service.
So, usually in the States, it'swell trodden path that Cairo's
will just literally, yeah, let'sgo do Facebook leads, they're
cheap, let's get them in the door.
But for more niche services, youreally need to understand that the
(08:14):
position that someone in pain is inand you can't do that on Facebook
because essentially the people thatare there are Better be social.
So the intent level's different, right?
And if you're on social media, Idon't really want you to disrupt me
or I may not be ready in that moment.
The sales cycle's a lot longer.
Where with Google ads, you'reat the bottom of the funnel.
(08:35):
You know what I mean?
You're like, where is a pain doctor now?
Pain management?
I am like, seriously?
Want this fixed now.
So in a lot of cases, they've beenstruggling for years and they might
see an ad that resonates with themand they're just ready to go because
they want to solve this problem.
So intent is a big part of it.
The second thing is most people, I'membarrassed to say it but I'm just
(08:58):
going to say it because you guysin the US don't mind being forward.
Your website's a crap.
Like, you guys are the most sophisticateddoctors, you have so much experience,
so much knowledge and yet you presentyourself in a way that is so bad
and I say it all the time, I can'tuse your website and I'm not gonna
go and say spend 3, 6, 7, 8, 10,000 on a website, it's ridiculous.
(09:23):
So we build a landing pageand for me quite honestly,
I have an unfair advantage.
I have spent literally hundredsof thousands of dollars of sending
traffic to landing pages that I built.
I have an unfair advantage in this niche.
I know what works and I can tellyou like when you get it right,
you can be converting it almost 10%when you're sending traffic there.
(09:43):
So it really does work.
I skipped the whole your website's crapthing and I just build the landing page.
So that's stage two.
Stage three is actually not everyonethat gives you their details
are actually ready to make anappointment right there and then.
They can get distracted becausegenerally they're an older clientele.
What happens when they don't makea booking, you've paid for the
(10:05):
lead, it's come through, you haveto have some form of follow up.
So for me, the big part of encapsulatingthis lead machine is following
them up with email marketing.
So this is a really tailored approachand I know AI is playing a big
role but this has to be personal.
So when we're helping them, wereally go into the email that
(10:27):
these patients are getting andwe speak to them like the doctor.
It's from the doctor, so it's personal.
We're addressing the fact that weunderstand who they are and I think
this approach has really worked for me.
And in the last 18 months I've reallysort of dialed it in and I know
it works, so that's essentiallywhat we do for the the services.
(10:48):
That is a fantastic wayto position yourself.
With this example, it's like,let's not redo the entire website.
Let me just take the specific trafficthat I know I'm going to be getting for
you and let's put them into a more highconverting funnel that I know is going
to work and convert because we can'ttrust the lead information to go to
this website and you can't trust Mary,although she does a fantastic job at
everything else just following up andappointment setting is not their expertise
(11:12):
and it's just that speed to lead that alot of people need for going from that
interest to let me make a commitmentand let me follow through with it.
And you've really dialed in that processto get better results and be able to
copy paste this into other businesses,other medical practices showing,
Hey, do you want results like this?
Well, let's set this up and getstarted with you being in business.
(11:32):
What's been the best way foryou as your own business to
capture and nurture your leads?
Cause obviously medical professionsare like B2C you're B2B.
So you're probably either you'reeither running ads or building
relationships or speaking doing podcasts.
What's been most effective for you?
All of the above.
I'm only new to advertising our business,which sounds kind of counterintuitive
(11:56):
because we're in advertising but mostof my business has come from referrals.
So that has always been where the leadflow has come from and quite honestly, I
haven't wanted to grow at a rapid rate.
I really wanted to hone my skills andI think that's what I've always done
in business and it's strange because Iguess the result of it is that you get
(12:16):
a good business but for me taking a longtime to really understand what I'm doing.
So I'm leading with trust because Ireally feel like, not just medical,
although it's a lot of sharks inmedical and they charge a lot of money.
I certainly don't do that but I thinkyou have to make things very transparent.
(12:37):
So whether that's an ad for myselfgetting more doctors in the nerve
space or whether it's giving outa free piece of content on the
website, I want to build trust.
And so how do I build trust?
I'm really transparent.
We had one case now which I've got onthe website where we actually fully walked
down exactly what we did for this onedoctor and just with a couple of things,
(12:57):
man, he went from a very small amountof money to doing six figures a month.
And it's life changing, right?
So for me, referrals have been the bestway to get business in but I also don't
want to lean on my clients and say,can you send me some more business?
It's a bit weird and somewhat contrived.
So I do run ads and it's taken afew iterations to get it right.
(13:22):
Mainly I'm able to do advertising becauseI've got some testimonials from real
world cases that have actually helpedand so from that, again, you're building
trust through transparency and I'mjust putting that message out there.
Traditionally that'sactually how I'm doing it.
It's pretty much the same wayI'm doing it for the doctors.
No, that's fantastic because one, I likethat you take the multi channel approach.
(13:44):
You can't really rely on just one channelbecause you never know when that is going
to change in the quantity or quality ofthe referrals coming in for any channel
as well and just a testament to thework that you do, the fact that you get
more and more referrals and that a largemajority of your business is referrals.
It's a testament to the workthat you're delivering on the
results and you're communicating.
They love working with you.
(14:05):
So it's a huge testament toeverything that you're doing.
Where can people find out more aboutyou, get connected with you online?
Sure.
The best spot to get me is atDr. Marketing, which is drmarket.
Ing.
And there's some videos on there of me.
You can get an idea.
I'm also able to do an audit for youvia the website and I think that's the
best way because you can book in a 15minute call with me on the website or
(14:29):
you can purchase an audit but I'm goingto do something at the end for listeners
or someone that might benefit from it.
But essentially that's the best way.
You don't have to do business with me butI think most people could really benefit
from just understanding what's going on.
Again, it's this transparency thingand it shouldn't be this very specific
(14:50):
jargon and hard to understand language.
There's only four or five metricsthat they need to understand and
as soon as they get it, they'llrealize, Oh, that makes so much sense.
Okay.
That's clear.
I understand.
That's how much it leads work.
That's how much I've been payingto get impressions, so once they
understand a few of those metrics, itbecomes part of the business, it's
(15:12):
part of their weekly agenda to check.
So again, straight on thewebsite is the easiest place to
book in a call and I'm doing noobligation, 15 minute call on there.
Very nice.
We'll have those links availabledown in the description and show
notes for everyone to get connected.
And you mentioned before alittle bit about AI and just the
changing of technology and tools.
(15:33):
Are you utilizing any AI eitherin your business or your personal
life or maybe for some of theclient work that you're doing?
I am ashamed to say that I don'tremember life before ChatGBT.
None of us can rememberwhat that was like.
I cannot understand how life progressed.
I don't remember a pre ChatGPT time.
So I think if I talk about my practiceand then sort of our business and then
(15:55):
for doctors, it's too much to process.
There's too much change and if I gothrough any of those details and the
application it can have for them.
It's just too hard.
But the thing that it can have aneffect on their business is that
it actually, for us as marketers,it actually reduces our head count.
(16:16):
So I'm actually going to try andscale the business to a point where
I actually don't need any employees.
We had employees and I actuallyuse AI to virtually get most of
this stuff done automatically.
Now it's not saying that it's less carebut the person with the knowledge and
the time in the seat of understandinghow it works is overseeing it.
(16:40):
So for me, the benefit of AI isthe fact that I'm able to basically
scale my business as a solopreneur.
I can get to a number of clients thatworks for me, works for them without
dropping quality which is traditionallywhat happens as an agency grows, right?
You put on a head count.
You don't talk to the clientsanymore and that's the reason why
(17:01):
I have a business because they getsick of it and they call me and go,
Hey, John's not calling me anymore.
Okay, easy.
No worries.
I'm here.
So the idea for me is I want touse AI to scale the business while
still interacting with the clientand looking at kind of a helicopter
view of how the business is goingand that's how I'm using AI to scale.
Love that AI is just another toolin our toolbox, like other software
(17:23):
applications that we had access toand I always compare it to mechanics
where they used to hand turn wrenchesand then they had more pneumatic
and then they had air compression.
So it's like just as evolutionand tools, it can allow you to
complete tasks and jobs a lot fasterwithout sacrificing that quality.
You're still having a human inspectand test everything and now it's
just allowing you to do a lot more.
(17:44):
But AI is a fantastic tool.
I'm using it for myself as well.
Hard to remember what lifewas like before AI existed.
It's crazy.
It's crazy and the one tip I would say,
if you're a marketer out there,you're probably already doing
it but if you're not, you shouldtake advantage of ChatGPT tasks.
So at the moment, this is the one bigtip that's been able to help me scale.
(18:05):
It's how do you stay relevant?
Like we all know that prettysoon search is going to be done
through perplexity or ChatGPT.
But you can start seeing the hockey stick.
Puck moved to virtually searchnow being on these AI platforms.
So what does that actually mean?
I think you need to really staysuper current with how Google ads
(18:27):
is changing and the way that I dothat is I just set up a task with
a engineered prompt for Google ads.
I want ChatGPT to send me every daya highly advanced Google ad tactic.
So currently looking at how it'schanging and sending it to me.
So I do this and I implementit in the business daily.
(18:48):
I also take those tasks and I'mable to turn them into a guide,
a very complex guide that youcouldn't give to anyone else.
But I can then give that to an agent.
I can train the agent withthis highly skill set of Google
ads and also in stream stuff.
I also do YouTube and it's certainlywhere the money's going in 2025 and then
(19:12):
that agent can then now start deployingsome of the optimizations and strategies
that I would have to train someone.
Like, it would take more than 12 monthseasily to get to that skill set level.
I can train someone now probably inless than five minutes with this piece
of content, so that's actually how I'musing it to scale, but tasks are amazing.
(19:33):
Absolutely.
I'm really excited to see whereAI is going to take us and just
using it in our everyday lives.
It's cool because it's now giving thesolopreneurs and small businesses access
to these tools that the big chains andthe real big box companies had access to
or the resources to be able to afford.
Now we're able to grow andscale a lot smarter using AI.
And also the flow on effect is that itshould reduce the costs of marketing.
(19:56):
If you're a solopreneur, I would stronglysuggest don't compete with the guys that
are charging eight to 10 grand a month.
You can do it at a fraction of whatthey're charging because you can use these
tools to reduce your costs and by doingthat, you can pass it on to the customer.
You're getting more good will andyou're staying in the front seat of
the most important thing the client.
(20:16):
Yep.
That is exactly right.
Absolutely.
Now, before we ask our lastquestion to Marco here about
what he is looking forward to in2025, a word from our sponsors.
If you're looking to double yourorganic leads and nurture and
book them on autopilot using AI,make sure you visit focus biz.
com to learn more.
Now, Marco, 2025 is coming around.
You've got a lot of thingsworking and cooking and you're
(20:37):
putting yourself out there more.
What are you most excited aboutwith going into 2025 here?
I think coming to America.
We're actually gearing up my wife and Ito spend some time in the States and meet
some clients and attend some conferencesaround the niche that we're in.
But I'm really excited to spend sometime where most of the news in the
(20:58):
world is coming out of at the momentand just understand a little bit
more about the sentiment to business.
So it's very different to Australia.
We don't have a sentiment for business.
We have a sentiment for get agood job and never leave it and
basically do as little as possible.
So I really love the culturein America, how you've got
this, like, let's just do it.
(21:19):
Let's smash it.
Let's make it work and thatreally resonates with me.
So I'm actually really looking forwardto spending some time there this year.
Well, the USA is going to welcome youwith open arms, Marco, we would love
your energy here and everything thatyou're bringing out to the world.
If we can be of any positive ornegative influence on you the USA
would be happy to contribute to that.
Thank you very much.
Absolutely.
Marco, we appreciate you comingon and sharing your tips and
(21:40):
tricks and wisdom with us.
One last thing we want to offer you thefloor, anything we haven't touched on
yet, anything you're really passionateabout or excited for that we haven't
mentioned here yet on the show.
If there is someone out there lookingfor any services, we have this website
where you've got some great informationthere about how everything we've
spoken about today is available andexactly how we scaled these clinics.
(22:04):
So if it's something you thinkyou might be interested in,
feel free to download it.
In that download, there'sactually a free audit link.
So you can actually get the auditfor free which is like pretty chunky.
We go through a video auditand that's yours forever.
You get to keep it and we really sort ofunpack everything that's going on even
if you're not in the medical field andthere's another region that you're in
(22:26):
or another niche, feel free to use it.
It's for your listeners.
I love that.
And make sure everyone out therego check out the case studies here
cause these are real life examplesof clients of theirs where they
weren't where they want it to be.
They needed to get to this next level.
They were struggling andMarco got them there.
So check out the case study, get the freeaudit because this is going to help you.
All the recommendations thereare going to be from a real life
(22:49):
experience and examples here.
Marco, we appreciate all of your time.
So excited to watch you grow and forall of your future business endeavors.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
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