Ep. 11 - Personal Branding Beats Big Brands

In our latest chat, Oli emphasized the importance of not advertising like big businesses. Instead, focus on who you're talking to. It's about connecting with your audience on a personal level, not just broadcasting to the masses. By understanding your ideal patients and tailoring your message to them, you create a more meaningful impact. It's not about being the loudest; it's about being the most relevant. Shift your focus from trying to be the biggest to being the best for your audience. That's where true growth happens.

Ready to take your audiology practice to the next level? Comment your email below to book a discovery call with the Orange & Gray Marketing team and learn how they help practices generate more leads, increase patient appointments, and accelerate growth.

#MarketingWisdom #PatientConnection #LocalBiz #OrangeAndGray #PersonalBranding #EntrepreneurMindset #BusinessTruths #HustleAndFlow #CapitalizeOnYourWork #OwnYourJourney #marketing

Today's Spirit: Michter's Small Batch Bourbon ( Didn't get to review it on this one but it was amazing)

Keywords

audiology, hearing aids, bourbon, business ownership, patient stories, technology, healthcare, insurance, social media, personal journey, social media marketing, imposter syndrome, content creation, lead generation, bourbon tasting, Wax and Whiskey, entrepreneurship, authenticity, marketing tips

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Alright, alright. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Wax and Whiskey Podcast. I am fully clocked out of Altamont Family Hearing. We're gonna talk about entrepreneurship, hearing healthcare in general, crazy patient stories. And if you're into that and you're clocked out, grab a drink. Let's dive in. I hope you guys enjoy the show. Let me not hit that mute button. And we did it. Alright. I'll kick off. Thank you for your patience through tech support. This is funny because this is like my first time. Hold on, let me it's my first time having um a virtual guest. So usually I'm trying to do this um on my podcast. It's just myself speaking and doing my thing and talking about the good and bad. I don't know if you've seen any of the content, but it's usually me talking about entrepreneurship, like the good, bad, ugly, like kind of going through things.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

So I think it's so funny because I actually set, believe it or not, I set this up the night before, set up like my camera. That when I got here, it said my battery was exhausted on the camera and I left it charging. It's literally in position charging. And I think that's what just happened right now. Like I think it just went out. So thank you. Let's um let's kick off. So I'll I'll do like my little intro. Um, so yeah, this is our Wax and Whiskey podcast. My name's JC Soto. I own Altamont Family Hearing. I go by the bald hearing guy on social media, and I'm having a lot of fun doing that, um, a lot of content. And usually what I do on here is talk about the entrepreneurial journey, what my experience has been like in my office, the good, bad, and ugly. And my goal is to talk to other practice owners, talk to other people that are in the industry, and hopefully provide value content either for there's a lot of people on this journey and people that hit me up on like LinkedIn and here and there, and like trying to get resources. So, you know, hopefully give them some value. And for people that are looking, this is all over our YouTube and everything like that too. So if patients are looking for, you know, what it is that I do, what we do differently, there's there's hopefully a lot of content for them to go through. On this show, I am clocked out as you guys see. Normally in my in my footage, I'm wearing a shirt and tie, like and everything that you'll see as JC Soto, but I'm clocked out, I'm not seeing any other patients. This is it for the end of the day. And in this journey, the wax part of waxing whiskey is I'm having some bourbon. But before I crack this thing open, I want to introduce our first guest. So we have Ollie, tell me about yourself. And I'm actually excited that we're doing this. We have not really spoken, like nothing, he has no idea. So, I mean, we we have not spoken about like a template, a subject, or anything. We've kind of been connected, like different people have been like, you guys should talk to each other, and this is our first time talking to each other. And I was like, we both do content, let's just do it on camera. So tell me about yourself.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

This is fun that our first conversation, apart from me saying test, test, test to see if the microphones working is documented and recorded. This is gonna be fun. But yeah, bit of context on me. Um been in business for nearly 15 years now. First business as a teenager, quickly learned this thing called marketing that was pretty important, and then had some marketing businesses in the UK, and then accidentally met the hearing care industry in 2017. And then it's got a way of sucking you in. It's kind of taken over my life since. So we're eight, nine years into working so heavily in this industry. And I think I'm at a stage where I'm very happy for my career to see this industry. This is the next 30 years of my life, is I just want to help hearing care clinics. It's uh it's a fun place to be.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Cool, cool. So wait, but what actually got you into like audiology? Like what what what was it connecting into this industry? Like what got you in here?

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Yeah, I by accident, like so I had a marketing agency in the UK and I helped a guy called Phil M. Jones with his book launch. He was writing a book called Exactly What to Say. He was a client of mine at the time for a UK agency that I had. And his book went on to do really, really well after the book launch. And I was sat having a beer with him, not a whiskey, unfortunately. And I was like, Well, what does the next few weeks look like? What are you up to? And he said, Oh, I'm going speaking to some hearing care clinics in uh Texas. And I was like, Oh, that's that's weird. Tell me about it. And he was like, Oh yeah, um, they do this, they do this, they do this. And I was like, Well, how do they get customers? How do they get patients? And he was like, Ah, newspaper, they'll drop a mailer to a zip code, and I was like, Oh, geez, crazy. So we just had one of those curious conversations, and then a few months passed, and he uh dropped me a note and said, Um, we're hosting this mastermind group in Houston, Texas, with a bunch of Texan practices. Do you want to come along and talk marketing? And at first I said no. So I was like, ah, telling doctors how to do anything. I was like, I'm just this kid from a small market town in the north of England. Uh I'm not qualified. Secondly, I'd only been to the US once before, and it was Cleveland, Ohio. And I was like, man, I've been. It's not that good. It's like the I've been missold on what the what you the United States of America is. But eventually, after I found out the bar bill was going to be covered, I I attended. Yeah, just shared ideas with a few years.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

That sounds enticing. I would have been enticed too.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

That was it. That was it. So I I shared uh just some ideas with a few practices there, and then a bunch of them just said, can you help us to implement this? So we said yes, and that evening, I suppose me and Phil co-founded Orange and Grey, which is kind of the group now where we support a number of practices. So it was one of those accidental, beautiful moments that occurs. It's easy to connect the docs backwards.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Cool, cool, cool. I asked because there's there's a lot of times that people ask, like how I got into this journey. I'm not, by the way, I'm not an audiologist, I'm a hearing aid specialist. Um and for me, it was sort of like I was never really looking into healthcare at all. I was working for a company and it was scheduling appointments. They're today, they're here USA, they're they're like a big corporate chain. But I was scheduling appointments with them, and then like one thing led to another. I there was an opportunity for them to like go into the office and through conversations were like, oh, you know, would you like to do this? And I'm like, I've never seen a hearing aid. I've not, you know, this is not a lot of people have a story about like, you know, they have someone in the family that had hearing loss or they experience hearing loss, and that was a motivator, and it was um, this was not the path that I would say my life was going on, and then, you know, and one thing led to another. That was the best decision I ever made was to like go and and work for this company when I went into the office and I was like, wait, I can do this. And I'm a nerd. I'm into tech, I'm into all things tech, and and um being intrigued by like the hearing devices and then helping people, like it just kind of one thing led to another. And and I opened Altamont Family Hearing six years ago, and I wear a lot of hats now. We have two providers now in the office. I would say like the main provider. Um, our other provider just became full time in April. And through that, I'm doing more than just like helping patients hear and doing what we do like with fitting the hearing instruments. Um, it's now a marketing hat, which is kind of how, you know, how how you've hit my radar. Marketing hat, doing things like the podcast, doing the videos, doing Instagram, doing all these things. And yeah, there's just, there's just just so much to this. And then trying to find out how do we get, how do we attract like our target audience, which for the most part, that I say anyone that has hearing loss, no matter the age, is a, you know, is a is a patient, is is our target demographic, is someone with hearing loss. But predominantly it's it's seniors. It's for the most part, we do see more seniors that have hearing loss than young adults. And um, that is something that I haven't quite cracked the code yet. And, you know, I'm intrigued as to what it is that you do differently. I am gonna pour. Hold on. I'm gonna I'm gonna kickstart with my we're doing the Micters. Oop, I'm hitting the microphone. We're doing the Micters small batch Kentucky straight bourbon today. I wish I could cheers you. I've seen, I've seen your content and I thought it was so cool that you're at a pub and I'm waxing whiskey, having bourbon like that. If I was over there with you, I'd be having a nice pint there, which by the way is like my favorite. I I got to visit London once and the pub culture was awesome. Like that, I had such a good time. This was before having kids. My wife and I went around, we had a good time. Um, yeah, no, I thought that was so cool. Everyone was so friendly. I was just sitting down. It's just it was the friendliness of the people and like just the whole like sit down and have a pint after like that was that was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Yeah, the community, the pub. Like I'm I'm up in Manchester on the outskirts of Manchester, which is what a couple of hundred miles north of London. But yeah, the the the pub is it's the community hall. It's like where everyone goes. It's uh it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

How how is it that you shoot? Like I've seen your I've seen your setup. Are there other people? Like how are I'm very curious. Yeah, yeah. I'm not trying to ruin your magic, but I'm curious as to like how you um how do you separate the noise? Because I've seen your content. I actually love what's the name of the podcast again? It's School of Business of Audiology. Business of hearing, business of hearing. So I saw some of your content and I was seeing the shorts, which I think is awesome. Like I need to do a better job of getting, you know, I was getting inspired, like seeing that like I need to do more shorts and hook just because attention spans and not everyone wants to sit down for like a 10-15, you know, 30-minute video. So the I was seeing the shorts, and before I knew it, I was like, man, I've seen a whole lot of shorts. Like I just I went down the rabbit hole, but I just kept thinking of like, how are you shooting this? Cause normally there'd be people talking, or like, are you scheduling certain time of days or a little quiet corner that you're going into? How are you doing that?

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yeah, so fortunately I play football or soccer with uh the guy who owns the pub. So I'm there in the morning. That's a Friday morning job for me before the pub opens. So we go and find a little place, bring a guy in who brings all the equipment, a two-camera setup. And then my job is just to turn up, sit there, sometimes drink a pint at 10 a.m. in the morning, which is a great way to start your day and an awful way to start your day simultaneously.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

And then just kind of share a few topics, start riffing about ideas and concepts and things I've seen work.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Yeah. Yeah. No, I think it's cool. I think it's cool, but I was curious. I was like, obviously doing this at night when there's other people, like how it's out there.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

I yeah, that's how long confidence, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Yeah, most of most of the things that I'm doing here, like with the with the wax and whiskey and my content, it has to be at night. I have two daughters, they're in school right now. So that's why I'm able to do this in my house, in my living room, you know, like just tonight. Uh but normally it'd have to be at night whenever the girls were asleep and there's no noise. And what's happened to me is I really enjoy talking about the things that we get to talk about on the podcast or the other videos and the things that I do. But by the time my daughters are asleep, I am burnt out. Like I'm dead, I'm tired, and that energy doesn't come. I don't want to have a drink. I don't like I'll have all this energy and idea in the day. Like, and that's one of my biggest frustrations is, you know, around lunchtime, I'm like, man, I want to talk about this, I want to talk about that. There's so many stories that happen in our office, like whether things that are happening with competition or people that are being misled some type of way or whatever. Like I'm fueled, but I can't do it then because I'm with patients. And then I have to wait until the nighttime and try to find that like drive. I'd say that's like my biggest marketing obstacle right now is like making time, like purposely making time to do this. Even today, like we had this set for 330. I had a time. It took 15 minutes of my tech support. So by the way, um, I normally say on on the podcast or I try to inspire others to like start their content. I gotta get this will happen to you guys. I gotta tell you the story. Camera was set up, lights were set up, mic was set up. I did a test drive yesterday, and then I go to this call, my camera, the batteries that it was like 15 minutes of me doing tech support. In the end, you're watching, like if you're seeing this right now, because this is gonna be a podcast, a video podcast and audio. But if you're watching, this is on a webcam that I pulled out of a drawer at the last second because I could my camera died out of nowhere. Like this stuff happens, and there was a point in my head that I was like, okay, do I reschedule this? What do I do? No, shoot the content anyways, do it anyways, like roll through it because we're gonna have a conversation. I'm gonna get to learn more about you, have some questions that I'm curious about. If you just say, no, I'll wait for the perfect lighting, perfect day, perfect, you'll never do it. You'll never do it. Like even if just do it. Just even if it's on your cell phone, which I was about to do. I was like, you know, I I you could attest to this. I was like, I'm just gonna do it on my phone. I was like, wait, I have this webcam. It doesn't matter what you do it on, just do it. I'd say audio is better than video. Maybe, maybe have good audio, you know, have a have a little pin, like even the the cheap, like little remote mics or control, like you're in a sound control place, you know, you don't want to do this where there's a bunch of things going on that are distracting, but shoot it. Like do your content, start small and then let that snowball into something else. So from there you'll get your your confidence and get into the other things. But I got questions for you. I got questions for you. Talk to me about you don't have to tell me all of your secret sauce, but what is you what is part of the secret sauce with orange, gray, orange and gray? Because every time, so I've been doing homework about marketing. I want to optimize my marketing. I want to walk, I as you know, like I do, I would say that I do more than most of the people that I see in our industry as far as content. There are people that I absolutely look up to that I want to have content like there. Let's say like the Dr. Cliffs that have so much, you know, that so much attention. Like whenever he does videos and stuff, patients come to my office saying they're seeing these videos. So people are are becoming much more informed than before. I started doing this in 2013, and the amount of like patients that I'm seeing coming in that are informed, that have done some homework, that they're not just coming in for a hearing evaluation. Like they'll come in and saying, like, I read that the phone act this and that, or the Otacom, this and that. And some people will specifically say, like, I want best practices. I'm seeing Dr. Cliff. I'm actually on his network. What's the other channel? Dr. Matthew Alsop. I don't know what is a hearing tracker.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

I think it's hearing tracker, but I'm not sure. But but these two names are the ones that I would say that I see. Oh, in zone one hearing out of, I think he's in London. Those three I would say are the ones that I see the most content on, and people are watching that. And I aspire to have like valuable content like that for for patients or clients or viewers to see. But, you know, that that takes a lot of time. And as I'm looking at how do I how do I get my message across to our target audience? Like that's kind of that's where struggles have come in and and you know, optimization. So and every marketing company that I'll look at, or you know, like a TikTok thing or like whatever, like everyone says that they are the best. Everyone says that their system is unflawed. Let's say direct mail, like, yeah, you're gonna do X amount, you're gonna have this much return on investment, TV, radio, newspaper. What is you don't have to tell me the whole formula, but what's part of your secret sauce? What is it you guys are doing differently? Because it seems I I did do a little homework on some of the practices that you're with. Reviews were through the roof. And um, the reviews were through the roof, the website looked good. I'm forgetting the name of I had it written down. I don't know where my clipboard is, but I did a little homework and I can see you guys are you guys are doing some cool things. So what what is your approach? What is different?

SPEAKER_00 15:18

Yeah, look, first of all, your content game is so strong. I was showing some of our team your your Disney World video. It's like, oh man, like this this guy's good. Like, thank you. I feel like if I had to buy stock in a business where I feel like you've like your content is so good. I think you're gonna do a lot with it. And I know you're relatively new to to creating of like some of the videos I'm seeing are are not years old, like these are the last few months. Very, very good. So yeah, I'm excited to see where you're gonna get to with this. I I suppose context on on our view when it comes to marketing is this was one of the things that appealed to us when we first seen the industry is everybody's chasing the tactic. It's like, what's the way I'm gonna get my next number of patients? And it's always this one move. It's what's the mailer? Should I do a Facebook ad? Should I start a TikTok? It's it's what's the thing. But underpinning all of that is is always strategy. And the way I look at it is like advertising is like asking somebody on a date, and marketing is all the reasons they will say yes. You've got to get the marketing right. It's how do people talk about you when you're not in the room? What do people say about you that isn't what you do? What's your local reputation like? How do you show up? How do you position yourself correctly? And I suppose over the last eight years, we've kind of built a bit of a framework that we take practices through that isn't tactic-based. It's not you've got to run this mailer at this time. It's more get the foundations right. And fundamentally, it's work out who are you for? Because right now in 2026, you can't say everybody because the market's getting wider and wider, right? For the last two decades.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

I'm feeling that. I'm feeling that in our office. So you're you're saying that I'm it started with yeah, like we could help anyone in our area with hearing loss, and we're getting more into like a niche of like best practices for the people that are looking for the best in hearing healthcare, like real your measurement, fine-tuning. So my I could see I did I did start doing videos like six years ago when I opened, and it was it was so boring, it was so bad. It was like very just dry, like just like generic. Like I'm just doing the we have the cygnia hearing aid, and it helps because it has the split process. I'm just saying one brand name, whatever. But and then now my conversation for the most part's starting to switch more into if you're looking for the best in hearing healthcare, not just like a quick fit, if you're looking for this. So I'm kind of like you're saying that, and I'm unintentionally like doing part of that because I'm realizing like this is also the patient that I'm wanting to attract is the one that is looking for the best. Also, because there it's it's a different mentality. Like if I'm looking for the best service in whatever it is that I need, if I know that I'm looking for the best, like yes, I also know that there's gonna be a cost associated to it, but there's gonna be an expectation, you know. Like, I'm gonna hold this person accountable. I'm gonna make sure, like, are you do they have the reviews? Do they have this and that? I'm gonna be checking a lot of boxes. So I'm always like I try to put myself in my patient's shoes of like there is going to be what is the cheapest hearing aid on what is the cheapest hearing aid on the market? And like I that that is, you know, that is a market. And for the most part, I was like, we want to see them and we want to see who is the best, but those two are not the same people. Um they you know, they may want the same thing, but it it's unrealistic for the person that is wanting the absolute best to also expect that that is the most affordable in anything that you do.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

I agree. And I I think you need to start with who. Everything comes down to who are you for. And this has always been difficult to do in our industry, predominantly for the reason that the number of people typically in the market was small. We've had to the silent generation for the past two decades, people born between 1923 and 1945. And if we really analyze that generation, there was around 19 million, one nine million of them born in the US. The Great Depression kicked off in October 1929. Um, the US got pulled into World War II in 1941. If we really analyze that generation, their first 10, 20 years, like the the the years that form many of the ways that we build belief systems in the first seven years of our life was through some of the most torrid times that we've seen in the past decade. Now you look at that, and it's no surprise that that generation are one of the most financially frugal, they respect authority, they want to look somebody in the eye before making any form of decision. It's it's a very, very unique generation. They want to buy it, they want to hold it as long as possible, and they want to maximize the value. Like Warren Buffett is worth $160 billion and he drives an 11-year-old car. Like he summarized that generation up. But now we've got the boomers, right? 2025 was the first year where there was more 70 plus year old boomers than the silent generation. Boomers are very different, born between 46 and 64. The US dollar became the world currency reserve in 1945. Economy boomed, 70 million babies born in the US during that boomer phase. So it's uh it's a very exciting time now that by 2030, one in five Americans will be over the age of 70. Which is crazy, crazy. And that journey is Yeah, and that generation is just so different, right? They're the wealthiest generation on the planet, they own so much of all the wealth that exists. They're the biggest spender on premium travel, health and wellness is their number one category of spend. And they use the internet as often as you and I. They want to make well-researched buying decisions, they're looking for preference over proximity when it comes to choosing who to work with. So, like, it's a really exciting time for practices that are willing to go. I don't want to try and fight that big mass market and compete with Costco. Let me form who is my niche, let me be boutique and unique and go for patients that expect this or for patients that want this. I just want to be the logical choice for them. So a lot of our like the biggest probably piece initially that we do with practices is get clear on that. Who is your who? And then what are all the reasons they should choose you over all other options available? And get a really, really clear value proposition that ensures that when they find you, you just are the logical option for them and stand out. Like if you get those bits right, everything else is downhill from there. If you get those bits wrong, then it's very difficult.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

How do you get that messaging to the patient? Like what how what is so let's say most people find us on. I'm trying to think like how people find us. It's either Google or it's social media things. So, you know, Instagram or not really Instagram, Facebook. I would say Facebook is is the only thing that people have come in and said, like, I saw your video. Like if I boosted a video, like I saw your video, which I had like a 90 something year old man come in two months ago. He came from further, so I I've opened like where we market to. It used to be like seven miles, just because I had this thing of like seniors won't. Travel far. And we're in Orlando. There's a I have a lot of competition here. And I've had this, you know, predisposed notion that like seniors will not do anything that's further than this. Like they're gonna find they want it to be as close and as convenient. Yet I've still as I've started to do more of the marketing, I'm seeing people are coming from further away, which is contradicting what I, you know, the like our preconceived notions of like of it. And this is where when you're when you're saying that, like it's things are changing. Seniors are changing, they are doing more homework, they are doing tracking their steps on their smart watches and looking at their health. And and this is changing, and this is like what's tricky of like I'm trying to crack the I'm trying to crack this code of like how do I get there? So how does like what is how do how do we get that messaging over to the patient? Like, what is the best avenue, let's say, um, for them to see it? Is it just your website? Is it like what what is the how do you get that branding across? Um as the expert. Because that's the toughest thing for us is is getting like if they knew if they knew the difference between what it is that we do and our competitors, I am confident that they would choose us, but they don't always see us. And like I don't know how to get them to see us. And I'm sure everyone that is trying to market is on this same boat of like, I just need them to to, you know, to to see who we are. And then from there, they're like, once they're in our office, like we're gonna win, but we gotta get them in our office.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

And that's it, right? And what we've got to get better at is having people understand how great you are before they meet you. Because I speak to a lot of practices, and if you ask them what makes you different, they're they're stuck. It's like our service is better, we're nice, we're independent. It all ends up being fluffy. So getting really sharp on that is is so so important. In terms of where do you want to sit that messaging? The website always sits as the center. It's like that's where everything's always gonna push back to. That's where Google traffic's gonna find its way to. It's it's what ChatGPT or Claude or or Gemini is gonna uh I'm so happy you're you're mentioning those three.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

I had a question about that, but Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

It's where they're gonna refer to in order to pull information and make recommendations based on preferences of users. So it's really ensure you've got all that foundation correct and then ensure you market to physicians correctly, market your existing patients correctly so referrals can grow. And then in my view, it's two ways. It's either the content game or the ads game. Like you've got to dominate Google Ads and ensure you're pulling people in and play that game. My belief, if I've got to look at future proofing, would be content. It's like, how do you just put great content out that speaks directly to your people to the point that as soon as they start to start the research phase of looking for services like yours or start to realise their hearing isn't what it was? You are just omnipresent to them. Dr. Cliff's done a great job of this, but yeah, that that that's the way I'd be playing. But no magic tricks, no. Um I I think it's really become very clear on who you're for and then double down on that to ensure that when those people go looking, you're the only option that stands out to them.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Okay. Who would you say is your best customer or um lead? Like when when you look at a practice like mine, and I'm sure you looked at me just like I looked at you. Like, what what are what are the areas of opportunity that you're most looking at? Of like, okay, this person is really going to shine or thrive under our system, or this person's already there, or you know, there's gotta be a a sort of level of like who's who's doing enough. And the the reason I'm asking this question is there's times. So I'm gonna give you the whole the whole thing. I'm like being direct and transparent and also tell you like the part the reason we're having this conversation is because I'm curious about your services. And you know, this also has the opportunity of anyone else that's been curious about your services and and and point of view, um, they're gonna be able to see it. But um, one thing that I struggle with whenever I'm looking at marketing or marketing ideas is I I'm not where I wanna be in our marketing, but I whenever I compare, and I shouldn't do that, but whenever I'm looking at other practices, I see that our views are following, and and like there are there are things that I'm checking that from the outside looking in, I think. And and I have so many people on LinkedIn that they give me kudos and thank you guys for all you guys that take the time and tell me things like it fuels for me to keep doing these initiatives. But I have so many people that will look at our business, or even when I look at my business from the outside, and it's like, oh man, this guy's killing it, like I'm doing all this and that, and I'm working so hard. And in my community, the joke is that I'm running for mayor because I go to like every networking event, I'm doing the online, I'm doing all this, but it is it's exhausting. And although I love it, there is, I don't know how sustainable putting this much energy out is is for well, I have I have the stride, but for other people that are trying to do it, let's say like it's it's not easy, is what I'm what I'm trying to say. So then I am not, although on the outside it looks like I'm doing all these things, I can tell you like I'm still a business that is needing to optimize, not, you know, I am I am still in growth mode, I'm in hunger mode, like we added a provider. We need to have enough traffic and opportunities to fuel two people, and that's not really happening. It happens here and there where we're we're ebbs and flows of of when it comes to our revenue and our things and like what marketing tactics, like a direct mail and things are hitting. But I I would say like it's what's frustrating is that there are other times whenever whenever I'm saying on on comparison that I'll look at other practices that have less Google reviews than I do or have less traction, let's say, on social media. And if I if I'm in this position and I have this much, let's say, viewership, how is that practice doing? Like that practice cannot be doing, in my opinion, cannot be doing better than we are, and we're not in a place that I want to be right now. I I know that's that's like a loaded question, but um, but yeah, it's it's how do how do you pick who's the person that that most could benefit from that if they already have had some success with content and marketing and online presence or exposure.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Yeah, I I see the so I I'll take you I'll I'll answer this question the long way around. The framework that we take practices through is number one, get clear on your who. Number two, look like the logical option for those patients, i.e., for your through your site, for your positioning. Number three, collect as much obnoxious evidence as possible. Like trust is probably the one of the most valued things in the market right now, especially with AI search. How do we become obnoxious that if those people go looking at you, they see that you've helped many, many people like them to achieve the outcomes they're looking for? Number four is get your pricing right, like how's it packaged, how's it positioned, ensuring it's not about the device, it's about the service and the expertise behind the device to ensure you're very difficult to price shop. Number five, how do you communicate with all key partners, whether how do you communicate with patients regularly, how do you communicate with physicians, what's your internal referral program, etc. Then it's how do you become locally iconic in your community? How do you become the name on people's tongues when hearing loss, hearing health, hearing care, hearing aids comes up in conversation? Then basics to a gold standard consistently, how do you keep running that system effectively? And then it's what we call grow the moat. And grow the moat is okay, you've got all the foundations as solid as possible. You're maximizing ASP, you're maximizing help rate, you are the logical option in your marketplace. One of the biggest moats that I see is either paid traffic or content. So there's a lot of people out there who have phenomenal content, but then the business behind it isn't good, right? Look at a lot of YouTubers. They're getting millions of subscribers, but they haven't really got a went a way to monetize it outside of YouTube ads. So some of the metrics externally are difficult. Some of the most followed people in the industry or in many industries on social media aren't always the ones who have the most successful business behind it. So it's it's hard to look and kind of give a prescription without fully checking the symptoms for you.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

I'd be looking what what are the internal things like? From from where I'm sat right now, being very, very direct. I see a lot of the good ingredients and I'm like, that that could be rebeked from the website and story you tell about yourself to I don't know what you do from a physician perspective, I don't know what you do from an existing patient comms perspective. You've got the hard bit which not many practices have, which is a huge amount of charisma and the ability to create great content. Um some of the things that may be the easy things that we roll out for a lot of practices are the things that make the biggest difference.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

Okay. Okay. So what is your what are your next steps? I'm assuming there's like a whenever you're speaking to somebody, like what the is it that you guys like take time to break down, like have a deep interview conversation. I'm assuming to know all these questions would be more than what we can do here on this video. But uh is that is is it to dig deep and like look at everything that they're doing and and find out what all the ins and outs are?

SPEAKER_00 30:42

Yeah, 100%. It's it's it's looking what you're doing right now. Like we've got to make a prescription on the things and we have a framework, and sometimes it's like you, you're great at that bit, but my God, like you've got three big gaps here that we need to fill, where currently money's being left on the table or you're not getting the attention you deserve. So it's it's really like I I wouldn't call it an audit, I'd call it one of those conversations where it's you're you're getting peppered with questions, and we're really trying to find where the gold sits.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Okay. The um I wanted to touch on AI, because this is it, you mentioned AI a second ago. Yeah. And for someone that's always looking at like the bleeding edge, I mean, for anything, we're using so much AI. By the way, you sound like Claude. Your accent, I don't know if other people have told you that, but I've been using Claude recently. I switched over and he's got a British accent. And then um I just I just started work with him like two days ago. So Claude, by the way, is an AI agent for those that don't know what it is. But the accent is um, yeah, I have a British accent and I don't know why. Like started talking, and then you said you said Claude. I'm like, are you his cousin? Um when it comes, when it comes to the AI thing, like I'm always looking at how do I integrate AI into my process and and try to capitalize, like how do I get the most out of it? So have you, as a marketing expert and and business owner or co-founder, have you had objections of people using AI versus marketing services, like versus hiring you and hiring you guys for help? Because this is, you know, I would say AI is threatening so many jobs and so many things. That has that happened to you? And if so, like how do you guys think how do you how do you respond to that?

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Yeah, look, AI is coming for all of us in one way or the other. And I think as a marketing agency, like I I've not really told anyone this because it's so raw. Like we're intentionally breaking our own business right now to rebuild it. We're innovating from within because trying to run the same business model whilst the world is changing so quick is a very dangerous way to be compromised. So uh we're we're building a lot of tools and ensuring we can be so much more thorough internally and then helping our members do the same. My view on AI right now is it's a helpful sparring partner. It's helpful to streamline operations. It just lacks context. Like I wouldn't want AI to run my marketing, but I'd want somebody smart who understands my business to use AI tools in order to help my marketing. And I think that's the big differentiation right now. Will there be a time in the future where you can fully rely on AI, where you could give it your website, give it your brand, and then it'll build a marketing plan, implement it, and everything else? I don't know. I think it'll be closer. I think you could do it. Will it be perfect? Probably not. Will it have its gaps? Will it miss context? Probably. But I think that's probably where we're gonna end up. I've said to my business partners, like, we will be an AI business with good expertise and great account management. That's probably what the future will look like for any marketing agency that wants to be around. So it's it's an interesting time. I think what we're going through as an industry right now, as marketing agencies, you'll probably have the same in hearing care in the next several years of you know, many of your operations, your front desk won't be required.

unknown 33:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Many of things are kind of it's kind of it's exciting and scary at the same time. I'm comfortable with using the tools. You know, I I see it as a tool. I think that today most businesses, most people are using it. And I I kind of see it a a little foolish not to to I say it's like the calculator from before of like, you know, oh no, you gotta know how to do this in your head, or when it comes to grade school and stuff, and like you don't ever have a calculator, and our cell phone is a calculator in a computer and all these other things. So I kind of see AI as like it is a tool that is being used everywhere, whether you like it or not. So it's like you can't, like there's a part of like you have to embrace. You can't be like, oh no, that stuff just doesn't work at all. And it's like, no, no, no, no, it's pretty effective for some things, it's not for everything. A weird tangent, but but it kind of goes, it doesn't have anything to do with hearing healthcare. But like I I see it as like personal training. Like I go to the gym. Yeah, it doesn't look like it right now. I have two kids, and it's and I've been eating and I'm a business owner and I'm stressed, and I've been, you know, all these other things. But normally I actually go to the gym four or five days a week to take care of my health. And um recently I had hired a coach, and it's like I had buddies that were like, you could just tell AI like what your BMI is, what this is and that, and it's gonna give you a meal plan and it's gonna give you a workout. And it's like, yeah, but where's the accountability? Like that's just gonna give me everything that I need to do. Like I could, I'm sure that right now I could look up, tell Claude, hey Claude, how do I perfect my marketing? Da-da-da-da, whatever. Like, this is what I do, this is my page, how can I make it better? And it's gonna give me a million prompts. And it's like, okay, now are you gonna implement it or not? You know, and I'm sure that some people are going to follow it to the T and do that and see a change. But I I kind of see where I was going with the question on the marketing is that I I could also see someone being like, well, I'm just gonna follow whatever Chat GPT tells me that I need to do through a T and that's gonna make a change. And it's like, well, there's the other side of like, are you gonna take the time to look at did this work, did this not? Did you do it? Did you not? And and I would imagine I've not had a marketing team. I've never, I've actually never like contracted a marketing team other than um I'm with a buying group and they give me some marketing. And I'm not gonna say their name here because when it comes to the when it comes to the marketing side, I feel like I am doing way more than they know to. Like this is not their for their forte at all. Like when it comes to business coaching and like just looking at my numbers and revenues and areas of opportunity, I actually think they're very valuable. It's almost like a personal trainer, but for my business to look at, hey, you gotta look at this. You need this many opportunities if you want to hit your goals. How many people come in? Did they bring a third part? Did they bring a companion? Like all these other things and taking the time to sit down and look at your business, I find that very valuable. And I tell people that are starting with like a business from zero and they have no, like they've never had an audiology practice or a hearing aid store. I think it's great to have someone that's gonna just just guide you through that. But when it comes to the marketing, no. Like they they just have like templates and stuff that I'm like, I could do like my my four-year-old daughter could probably do this with Chat GBT or or like put in the prompts. Like the things are so simple, which maybe if someone's older and uncomfortable with tech, it's more valuable. But I've I've asked for like, how can you help me? Like, I want the bald hearing guy to be, I want to be more than Altamont family hearing. I don't want to have like a ton of practices and stuff because I want quality of life too. Like I would like to have two or three practices, but I want to dominate Central Florida, Orlando. And honestly, when it comes to our care, and I'm sure every provider, this is kind of going to like everyone says that they're the best and they are the most companion, you know, they have the most um sympathy and and they um and then they care for their people and they take the time and and all of these things. The we I'm doing so many things that trying to be the best choice in in Central Florida, and a big, but a big part of my focus is also growing the bald hearing guy. And um and trying to do that. So I asked for help, like, hey guys, what would you do? But it's like, no, your content's great, keep it up. And it's like, like, no, that's not what I want to hear. Like, I don't know anything about marketing. I didn't go to school for marketing. I didn't do, I am an extrovert that I would probably talk to anybody, anywhere in any room. And I turn on the camera and I started saying things, and I am starting to care less and less about what people think about me. And I think that that's helping me. I try not to go unstructured, like I had a few things like for this, and and that's sort of where I tell people everyone's different. Some people do well with um with like a teleprompter and reading it off. I've done that and I sound like a robot. I hate how you may see it and perceive it as like, oh, that was good, but I don't like it, doesn't it doesn't feel like me. So I'd rather this version of me, but I'm trying to grow this, and I don't know what I don't know when it comes to like what is the best pathway. And I'm all in YouTube and I'm doing all these things of like, how do you grow? How do you do this? Get the lighting, get the, you know, check all the things, all the tech support issues that I had earlier, of too much equipment. Anyways, so whenever I'm reaching out to this group, which is the only experience that I have as a practice owner, for like help, it's like, no, you're doing great, man. Like, keep it up. And it's like, ah, that's not what I want. You know, I want, I want to be pushed. I would like, I want to take this to a new level that I know that I can. I know with full confidence within myself that I can, and I'm willing to put in the work, but there is a structure that I don't, that I did that there's a little more. There's the secret sauce that I don't know why secret sauce has been the theme of my day today, but there is there is a thing that I don't know that I, you know, that that I think could take this to another level. Part of it, and and thank you for the for the kudos on the Disney video. That was like the beginning of a new chapter for me that I'm doing. Um, I have two more videos of that caliber, which for those that didn't see it, I went around Disney test driving a hearing aid. It was Phonac's latest AI-powered hearing aid. You know, we had a videographer, we it wasn't just on a cell phone, it wasn't just a vlog, it was a little more on production and it took a little more and it cost a little more. And but my goal is to bring the video, not all the time, but bring the videos up to that, to that level so that hopefully we have more recognition, more collaboration with the manufacturers as well, even if it's not financially like for marketing, but cost of goods, things like things, things that just help my business be more, a little more healthy. Because the healthier we are, you know, then the more I can invest in the thing that I really want to do, which is bring the bald hearing guy, videos and concepts and those things like bring more value and yeah, and reach more people.

SPEAKER_00 40:11

Yeah. And nobody's really doing what you're doing with the videos, which is good. The one little tip I would give you, by the way, is just drop like the first five to ten seconds of the video is your logo coming in and then breaking. Like that is that is the I lost people.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

I lost people before I even got them because it was just my.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

Thank you for being I thought it when it was done. The video, um the person that pr that edited the video, by the way, video editing is a lot. Sometimes I do it on my own. Sometimes I actually had a videographer do that. And when it came in, I was like, man, it looks good. And I was excited. And I had the thought. What you just said, I swear. I had it in my mind. And I was like, oh, that might, that might be an off, like right off the bat. Um I ran through it. But for future shorts, I'm gonna make shorts out of that. I will take that feedback and and remove it. Uh it's not like no one in the world knows who Altamont Family Hearing is. Like I'm I'm showcasing it like wow, like people in Altamont Springs, Central Florida, 1050. I promise you that every competitor of mine in our area knows who I am because I'm very loud everywhere, social media and like in local events. But nobody anywhere else knows what Altamont Family Hearing is yet. So you guys will. Yet. So yeah. So I'm like, I'm showcasing this like I'm phonak, which is all over the world, you know? And it's like, no. So, anyways, thank you for that feedback and being honest on that.

SPEAKER_00 41:34

Cause yeah, no, I I I dropped that. And then um use shorts a lot better. Like that's where discovery exists. If you want people just to discover you and then go and find your videos, they'll be hard to get that long form content. There's a tool we use, like all the videos you'll see of mine is a tool called Opus, O P-U S.

SPEAKER_01 41:50

I've seen it. I've seen the ads. I don't use it, but I've seen I've seen the ads.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

20 bucks a month, give it your video, it'll find the hook, it'll clip it. Before you know it, you've got 10 shorts. Now it is it amazing, like, is it as good as as somebody sat there cutting? No.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

But it's who has time? Who has time to do that? I so that's what I'm saying. I saw so many of your videos. Um, and I I I will tell you, I copied something. What was it? It was I copied something from you recently. What was the video that I did? It was something along the lines of like, because we're oh oh, here it is. I I just did a short. I don't know if you saw this, and maybe a light bulb went off or not. I had a patient cancel and he was referred two or three people to us, and this man's become my cheerleader overnight. He wasn't feeling good. He ate something, he was supposed to come in for a follow-up. We had bought him a cake. Every now and then we'll do like a referral thing. My wife was like, ah, like a gift card's kind of like it's not always like, yes, it's money, but it's not always like the best referral gift. So we got him a cake. And he calls, he he canceled the appointment that morning saying, Hey, my stomach's not okay. I gotta go. Long story short, I go take him the cake. And this man's like, I don't know, like 10 miles from me. Um, so I go to take him the cake. And in the video that I did, I did it, of course, I was gonna record that moment. And I'm like, your Costco's not gonna do this. You're here, USA, you're hearing life, you're whoever. I I name like a few like big retailers. Like, they are not gonna take the time. They might send you a thank you card, but they're not gonna get you a cake and go deliver it to your home when you're not feeling well. And the I got that from you because you said something like, your differentiator is like you are a big business, don't advertise yourself as if you are, you know, the manufacturer. And that resonated with me so much. And it's literally what you just said about the Altamont family hearing intro. It's like, who do you think you are? I mean, that's how I perceive it. Like, who do you think you are with this five-second intro? Like, no one, it's not gonna make anyone go, oh, I need to see this video because Altamont family hearing delivers a good like, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 43:47

So that that's um part of the 35 most valuable seconds right now. It's it's yeah. Put a hook in there with the content, fine. Um, but yeah, I I think on that Point on that clip is I think so many practices are trying to look like they're way bigger than they are. Patients don't want it. The types of patients that want to work with an independent want to work with an independent. Feel real, feel personal, use your personal brand and flex the things that the big groups can't do. A Goliath can't have a personality. They've got to hide behind a logo or have a mascot or have some celebrity who's saying nice things on a camera in a very canned way. Like just use your competitive advantages as a small independent. We've got so many of them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

Yeah. No, awesome. I hear that. And a lot of times when people look up, let's say I'll say Miracle Ear nearby, um, because we have one nearby, and some of the providers do a very good job. So I'm not, I won't say anything negative about the people that are employed by those practices. But when you look them up, you do not see JC Soto. You do not see, you see the brand and what we do and our tenure we've been around since whatever, whatever. But people want, myself included, like people want to do business with people. I do not care. Like if I have a um, I don't know, service. Like I'm I will be having a discovery call with you, by the way. Outside of this, I do want to dig deeper than than than what we can do on this call because I I do acknowledge that there's areas of opportunity in my marketing. And like I'm saying, I'm hungry to grow and I don't think that I can do that on my own without another set of eyes and guidance. I do need guidance and I'm open to it. I don't know it all. I'm I don't, I I don't on this journey on my own, and I think a little bit more help will get me across the finish line that I want to get to. But whenever I'm doing business with anyone, it is the person. I am connecting. I've honestly not connected with you because of orange and gray marketing. I've connected with you because two different people have said, go speak with Ollie with Orange and Gray Marketing. Then I looked you up, then I looked up the site and I saw other practices and people that are connected to you. But two people mentioned your name and then I looked you up, and then the videos that I'm seeing are your face and it's you. And then like I've now with this is the first time we're having a conversation, but I I know I feel like I know you or I've been intrigued to speak to you, and that going back to like the miracle ear thing, like seeing the brand miracle ear, and we have 300 locations nationwide, this and that. Like, honestly, that doesn't that doesn't that doesn't resonate with me. It may resonate with somebody else, but I'd I care more to do business with people. I do so much local business in our community anytime that I can. I don't go to like, I I tell my wife, my wife buys things in her office, and sometimes she's like, oh, let me order these pens on VistaPrint. And I'm like, no, I want to buy them from Yesha with platinum signs because she's down the road and I see her all the time and she's in our community. And if it's 20 cents more expensive or cheaper or whatever, like if it's here there, if it's a night and day difference, and I mean you gotta you gotta do things. But if it's within it, like I'd rather give that I don't want to give that money to VistaPrint or whoever, like, you know, nothing I don't. I don't care about a brand. I care about people. So, and I think if other people think the way that I do, then it's what you're saying. People care about people, they want to know about you, not you know, not the big old brand.

SPEAKER_00 46:55

And I think that's a growing movement as well, is you give money to big Goliaths out of typically out of convenience. It's like we'd all prefer to work for a local independent business. And if you think about your favorite restaurant, it's very rarely a big chain. It's usually like family-run, there's big hat there. They know your name when you walk in the door. Like it's what we all want, but you've got to know your length. You can't fight the Goliaths trying to sell hearing aids. You've got to be positioned for the people that want the right hearing care provider. And that's the battle that's easy to win because they can't fight in that space.

SPEAKER_01 47:26

I agree. I agree. Thank you so much for taking time to sit down with me. Like this is I I appreciate it that because it, you know, it's hard to take time on anyone, to take time out of their schedule. I feel like I have a million things on my calendar at any time. And I'm still a small little officer. People that are, you know, the i I I I respect time now as a business owner more than ever in my life because every, every minute, every time that I every meeting that I allocate is like it's it's intentional. I don't, I won't just do things for like just have a call with someone if I have absolutely no interest in in speaking with them and learning about them. So the same way the other way around, I I appreciate your time. I am, I know you work with and I've seen some of the people that are that are working with orange and gray. And a lot of them are large practices, multi-provider practices. And as a small one, you know, now two provider, very small one location business, for someone like you to take time and sit down and talk to me, like I I genuinely appreciate it. And it's why also uh outside of our conversation, like why I'm flattered so much when people like on LinkedIn or whatever, whenever they send me kudos or they send me things in it's like, you know, I'm this little, I'm this tiny little office in Altamont Springs, Florida, you know? Um, and I I'm growing this thing. And anyways, I I want to grow it even more. I'm very ambitious in what I want to do, but at the same time, I have to take a moment to say like every single time, like I'm flattered, flattered that people are even recognizing what it is that we're doing. Like I love what I get to do every single day. For my patients that do see this, like I I mean they know it when they come in. Like I I am nerd, I do everything that I can for people to hear better. But these are our patients when what we're doing on social media, it's like for them to see the passion that I have and they're not actually working with me. That's that's like a different lens, different version. Um I appreciate it. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00 49:12

You've As I said, like you it may be quite a small practice right now as you're you're building, but it feels like you're you've now got clarity on all right, here's here's what we're building, here's who we're for. We can't be for everyone. We want to be for people who expect more and want all that kind of passion and love and care and taking them a cake because they're not feeling great. So it feels like you're on that path. And as I said at the beginning, like if I've got a if I had to buy stock right now in something that I think is appropriate in value, I think the work you're doing from a content perspective is uh is is great. So I'm not gonna say what you said before of just keep doing it. There's definitely improvements that can be made, but nobody's bringing the charisma and looking at content differently than just answering FAQs on con on YouTube. I just see it.

SPEAKER_01 49:54

I don't want that. I don't want that. And and I'm sure that I'll do a video of like, this is the best hearing aid or or this is what you should look for in best practices and do the checklist because like that is a content that someone is looking for that too. Like, but it does not feel like me. It feels like that is just what everyone does because it's what you have to do. This, and not necessarily just in wax and whiskey for those who are watching this. Let's say it's the first time that you see a video of me. I am trying to have more of a casual conversation about a thing, also because like we're we're reaching younger people. We're breaking down the stigma of hearing loss and hearing aids, we didn't even get into that, but like hearing aids are so cool now with the AI and the tech and all these other things. It doesn't just have to be this like overly produced video that is, you know, you can just tell when things are kind of like addy or like it's an ad, and and those things turn you get triggers of like, oh, this is just a commercial. And I don't want to do that. I don't, I do want to speak about the pros and cons about things, but keep my casual hat on and tell you, like, when something sucks, be, you know, say, like, you know, this is hearing it is not that great. Like it's great for this, but it's not that great there. And not just like telling you all the good and about everything, because then you're like a sellout, a sort of like you could tell that the person's not really being genuine with them. And that's not what I want to do in any way of my content. So um, thank you. I have a question for you, real quick before we sign out. What is the best way for you for people to reach you? And when people are, let's say someone's watching this and they've opened a practice like, man, I want to take it to the next level. What is the easiest way for them to have that discovery call with you?

SPEAKER_00 51:28

Yeah. And the world's small, right? If you search Oli Luke, there isn't many of us. So if you search that on Google, then find me on LinkedIn, find me on you'll find me somewhere, whether it's through orangeandgray, orangegray.com, or hit me up on LinkedIn, my WhatsApp's on there, just just ping me and we'll talk.

SPEAKER_01 51:45

That is cool. See, like just that, like just that. My WhatsApp is on there. Like, who does that? You know what I'm saying? Like that's the sort I I don't even I don't even have that. Maybe I need to do that. You know what I'm saying? Like that that is cool. And and if you've not watched, guys, the business of hearing. Absolutely. Yeah, I mean the shorts, you'll get stuck on the short. If if you're a practice owner, then you're gonna get stuck on on those shorts or or an entrepreneur in any in any way. I think I think a lot of the things you touch on would apply to at so many things outside of audiology, but go down that rabbit hole because I was like watching short after short after short. That's why I gotta I gotta get on more shorts. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:21

Absolutely. No, I appreciate your time. And I'm I'm annoyed I can't sit and have a bourbon with you. I I should have, I would have had to sit here with a bottle of whiskey in a hotel room on my own all evening. It would have been a dangerous evening.

SPEAKER_01 52:32

I think it was funny when you were like, I didn't know where you were, and you're like, we have a six-hour difference. I'm like, oh, we you do the pint of beer, I do the the bourbon, let's we can make it happen. You're like, yeah, but about that six hour difference, and I'm like, oh well, I didn't even account for this. He's by the way, he's he's in Canada right now at a whole town to do this because just because it happened to like line up and time zones were better. And yeah, because my 9 p.m. would have been what was it, like your 4 a.m.? That would have been it would have been a good start in the day with a bourbon. Yeah. Thank you so much, Ali. With pleasure. Good to see you. Have a good one. Thank you guys for watching. Alrighty, dude, that was cool.