The Value of Your Medical Podcast

Even though I’m a ‘boomer,’ that is, a geezer, and grew up in the analog era – including medical training with paper charts! – I am an advocate of digital media for healthcare. And I’m an advocate for using a medical podcast to better connect with your patients, your future patients, and to grow your practice.

Those familiar with my blog here have already been bludgeoned with my not-so-humble-opinion about how to use your online footprint to better-connect with your patients (and future patients!). Let’s face it: we all live in a digital world, now. That includes your patients. That includes the other clinical practices that refer patients to you. This is your professional audience. And I have stressed that your website – specifically your blog articles – are ground-zero for attracting an audience to your practice. But don’t overlook other digital channels to connect with your audience in the digital world. I’m here to suggest that you consider producing a medical podcast to grow your practice. [Note that Dr. Randall Wong and I (Russell Faust) have now been publishing a podcast (the Russ&Randy Podcast) for a year now – free on iTunes and also now syndicated (also FREE) on ReachMD!]

If you’re considering starting your own medical podcast,
be sure to scroll to the bottom of this page for a course launch-offer!

Who is Your Audience?

I mentioned them in the first paragraph, above.

Two Potential Audiences for Your Online Content:

Your patients (and potential patients)
Your referring practices – that is, other clinicians

What Are They Looking For?

Those two audiences are looking for different, though related, things:

Patients are looking for answers. Where to they go when they have a symptom, or are looking for medical answers for a loved-one? They go online, of course. Answer those questions through articles on your professional blog, and you will be the go-to resource in your practice niche.
Other clinicians are looking for something similar – answers to health questions – but they also have another question attached: “Is there a nearby expert to whom I can refer my patients?”

Thanks to the miracle of SEO, your articles that are designed to answer patient questions will also be found by those clinicians. And if you have made the extra effort of adding a “for clinicians” section to your website, they will also find your articles written just for them: articles that detail the differential diagnosis, the diagnostic considerations, and therapeutic options on your site, too.

**What Content Format do They Prefer?**

Not everyone likes text. Personally, I’m a speed-reader, and I love reading. But in this age of data overload (and decreasing attention spans), people increasingly prefer video or audio (podcasts) to consume their content.

That means you should provide your content in different formats for different “learner-types.” Each learner-type prefers to consume their content in a particular content format.

Content Formats

Text
Video
Audio
Graphic

Four content formats!? Really?

Does that mean you need to create FOUR TIMES the content?! Does that mean you need to invest four times the time for content creation that you invest to produce a simple blog post?

Short answer: NO!

Create Different Content Formats Painlessly

On the Russ & Randy Podcast (FREE on iTunes), we’ve generally discussed the notion of different learning styles and content format preferences. And we’ve discussed how to Repurpose Your Blog Content to Video; and what to do if you simply can’t stand to write at all: How to Produce Healthcare Blog Content Even if You Hate to Write!

Those podcast episodes review how you can produce different content types efficiently, with minimal added effort or time. Take a listen: each episode is only about 10 minutes of your time.

Why You Should Produce Your Own Medical Practice Podcast

You should also consider producing your own Medical Podcast to grow your practice!

Why? For some of you, producing a podcast will be the easiest form of content that you ever create. It’s just talking! It can also be hugely engaging for your audience!

Your Medical Podcast … 10 Reasons

First, podcasts are popular: listening to podcasts grew nearly a quarter last year (2016) alone! That’s huge. One in three Americans listen to at least one podcast; some of us listen to many more (raises hand).
Podcasts are easy: That is, listening to podcasts is easy. You can listen to a podcast while doing some other menial task – walking the dog; running on the treadmill; commuting to work. Even if you don’t prefer audio, audio is convenient in situations where reading or watching video is simply not safe.
Podcasts satisfy those in your audience who do prefer to consume their content as audio.
Podcasting is a time-efficient form of communication.
Your Medical Podcast can add personality to your content – your audience can connect a voice to your content; you can share your opinions, humor, and personality. Podcasts provide an easy way to make your professional persona more human and approachable.
Podcasts are more engaging than text; audio is more persuasive than other content formats. Use your Medical Podcast to connect with your audience!
Your Medical Podcast can easily be used to answer patient’s questions, or to provide a resource for your referring clinicians.
Podcasting is easy! That is, producing a podcast is easy. For those of us who struggle with writing, or who are too camera-shy to produce videos, podcasting is just talking!
You will provide a service! As a clinician, you are the expert in your area of practice. You can balance-out all of the garbage on the internet that is designed as click-bait to sell products or drive traffic for pay-per-click. Do the world a favor and provide people with helpful, accurate health info! And do yourself a favor … grow your practice.
Finally, it will grow your practice!

Interested? Curious? Thinking about it?

Take a listen to the Russ & Randy Podcast episode, Quick Tips to Start Your Podcast.

Russ & Randy Podcast, FREE on iTunes and ReachMD:

Start YOUR Medical Podcast

Podcasting is not rocket surgery!

It doesn’t take much to become a Podcasting GENIUS.

Let’s be honest: if Randy and I can do it, anyone can do it!

Since we started our Russ & Randy Podcast a year ago, we’ve made many mistakes (many); driven into most of the pot-holes along the way; wasted money on equipment that we didn’t need, and some that simply didn’t do the job; wasted time figuring out what software to use for recording and editing.

And, frankly, I couldn’t find any good tutorials designed for a busy physician – a course that just cut to the essentials and provided a simple-to-follow, step-by-step guide to setting up my podcast. It would have been so great to avoid all that wasted time setting up our podcast. It took us nearly TWO YEARS (!!) to get it right!

So I designed my own step-by-step blueprint to help you avoid those pot-holes by following this Podcast Blueprint: The Course. Come learn how to set up your medical podcast and grow your practice.

For anyone serious about starting their own medical podcast to grow their practice, be sure to check out our course on Teachable, Podcasting Blueprint: Everything You Need to Become a Podcasting Genius!

Thanks for visiting and sharing. Questions? Leave me a comment below (I always answer!).

Medical Podcast to Grow Your Practice