Why Story-First Marketing Attracts New Patients – Episode 299

People love stories. Stories are engaging and relatable. Is there a story you could tell about your practice that would connect with potential patients? On this episode of the Dentist Money™ Show, Ryan welcomes Joshua Scott whose agency, Studio 8E8, helps practices stand out using story-first marketing. Hear how to add energy to your marketing efforts as you build a powerful, personal brand.

Show Notes:

Instagram @Joshuascott
www.s8e8.com

 

 

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Podcast Transcript

Ryan Isaac:
Hey everybody, welcome back to another fabulous episode of the Dentist Money Show, brought to you by Dentist Advisors, a fiduciary, no commission, dental specific comprehensive financial advisor for dentists, just like you all over the country, check us out at dentistadvisors.com. Today we have a new friend of the show, many of you know and love him and his wife.

Ryan Isaac:
It’s Josh Scott from Studio 8E8, talking dental marketing, running a business in today’s environment, things that work things that don’t work. This was very candid, helpful, just such a great interview, tons of great information. Reach out to Josh’s team if you have any questions, and if you have any questions for us, go to dentistadvisors.com, click the book free consultation link, schedule a chat with one of our friendly dental specific advisors today. Thanks for being here, everyone. Thanks for the support. Enjoy the show.

Announcer:
Consult an advisor or conduct your own due diligence when making financial decisions. General principles discussed during this program do not constitute personal advice. This program is furnished by Dentist Advisors, a registered investment advisor. This is Dentist Money, now, here’s your host, Ryan Isaac.

Ryan Isaac:
Welcome to the Dentist Money Show where we help dentists make smart financial decisions and avoid the bad ones along the way. I’m your host, Ryan Isaac. And I’m joined here by a guy people know and love, I’m sure, but new to the show for us, so I’m excited. It’s a Joshua Scott of Studio 8E8. I’m just going to call you Josh. Josh, how you doing man? Welcome to the show.

Joshua Scott:
Good man. I know, gosh, we’ve talked. I know of you guys. It’s just been a while connecting, but, man, I’m so looking forward to this. And I was just telling you… I got you on my show coming up next month. It’ll be a good time.

Ryan Isaac:
It’ll be awesome, man. I do remember the first time I saw your crew and some of the stuff you guys do. I don’t know what year it was, a few years ago, it was at a DSI event and you were like doing full on newscaster mode. But everyone is coming up, and you’re interviewing, you had the coolest equipment. And I’m like, “What is going on? That is so cool.” So that’s the first time I saw you guys. In fact-

Joshua Scott:
Yeah, man, we just try to go into an event and make a splash, use our creative team-

Ryan Isaac:
Worked.

Joshua Scott:
… to kind of do what we can.

Ryan Isaac:
It worked man. Well, for anybody listening who doesn’t know Studio 8E8 or doesn’t know you guys personally, and I feel like, I mean, you’re just everywhere in the dental space, social media, and you’re not just everywhere, but you guys just come across really beloved by people. Genuinely, people just really dig you guys, and so that I’m super excited to have this kicking off a relationship with you guys too, and getting to know you. But explain for people who don’t know you or the company, who is Studio 8E8? What are you guys about?

Joshua Scott:
Yeah, man, we call ourselves a dentistry story-driven marketing agency. And what that means is we really get to know our clients and work with them, figure out what unique to them, their story, and then build that out in the digital space. And, for me, it’s actually better in marketing because it’s marketing that’s true. It’s authentic. I’m not trying to make something up to get clicks or this headline clicks better, or this site looks sexy. So it’s really about your reason for starting a practice, running a practice, patient care.

Joshua Scott:
And so, yeah, man, eight years ago launched into this. I’ve been around dentistry for 20 years, but at some point just realized dental marketing kind of sucked on the whole, and looked around and didn’t really understand why that was, because it’s a really innovative, inspiring, beautiful [crosstalk 00:03:24]-

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, yeah.

Joshua Scott:
So that was what started it. It was like, well, can we tell a better story around dentistry? And I honestly, man, it’s so much better for the profession as a whole, reframing dentistry in the eyes of consumers, but also just locally at a practice level. It’s just such a good approach to marketing.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s awesome. We’ll get into that in more detail. Sticking with the story theme, I mean, you guys are, I don’t know, maybe your Fortune 500, I don’t know, but I was going to say you’re a small business, like most people listening. Let’s stick with the story theme, what’s the story of Studio 8E8? And I love to hear these, because, I mean, you’re doing what a lot of dentists do. You find a path or a passion and you go through the necessary… whether it’s education or training or set up process, but you get some money or you get a loan and you start a business and you buy some stuff and you hire some people and you try stuff and you fail and you succeed. And so what was your story and journey? Eight years ago puts you guys, what, like-

Joshua Scott:
2014, long [crosstalk 00:04:24]-

Ryan Isaac:
… ’14. Yeah. So walk us through that, I think that’s an interesting storyline.

Joshua Scott:
Yeah, man, I came out of a practice management group was there for 12 years, that’s how I landed in dentistry. So what was really cool is I learned like the profitability side of it, like helping practices train their teams, putting on CE events, being more profitable. I was always on the marketing side, so I was their marketing director, helping them grow. We grew a ton.

Ryan Isaac:
Cool.

Joshua Scott:
At some point, the owner of the company said, “Hey, I think we ought to probably start a marketing division of the company, which I loved. And so we went down that road for about 18 months and we ended up, one morning him and I were out, and we were in Indianapolis at an event, we were walking out one morning, because he was on this like 6:00 AM walk [crosstalk 00:05:10]-

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Right.

Joshua Scott:
So he would [crosstalk 00:05:12]-

Ryan Isaac:
Just not in the winter.

Joshua Scott:
Yeah. So he would always like pull us, like, “Hey, let’s work while I’m walking.” I’m like, “Okay, let’s go.” We go out and he just says, “Hey, I think this is too distracting. I want to focus on our core service and products.”

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, yeah.

Joshua Scott:
And I actually completely agreed with him, but I was also like, “I love this, so where does that leave us?” And he was kind of like, “You know man, do it on the side with your friends, make it a hobby. Just don’t let it get too distracting.” And I was like, “Okay.” And that-

Ryan Isaac:
That’s cool though.

Joshua Scott:
It was cool. It gave me permission, and that lasted about six months.

Ryan Isaac:
Because then it was way more than a hobby after six months.

Joshua Scott:
Right. And we landed a couple of clients, and we kind of jumped up to about six figures of revenue pretty quick. And I was like, “Oh, oh, this is…” And then we had to make a hire, and then he’s kind of seeing that and he’s putting pressure on me. And then had asked me to do all this above and beyond, and it got a little tenuous there at the ends. And I tell people, I’m like, “Look, separations are tough, even when you have the best intentions.” But we got through that time and, and we launched out on her own, and him and I were great after that. And-

Ryan Isaac:
Cool.

Joshua Scott:
… man, it’s just been keeping up with it ever since.

Ryan Isaac:
So what’s in the name?

Joshua Scott:
Oh, if I told you the truth, man, it’s really nothing, to be honest.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, well, I liked that. I used to have hair and I used to be young and I used to be cool and I was in a band and our band was a three letter acronym that stood for nothing, but it was the coolest thing to pretend to set for something, and then never tell it, so I can relate. That’s all right.

Joshua Scott:
It’s funny, it just, somehow we landed… we didn’t want like bestdentalmarketing.com or whatever.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, sure.

Joshua Scott:
We were trying to be different, trying to take a different approach. And somehow like, even the domain S8E8 came up, spelling, 88, we spell it different. So it’s like eight, the letter E, the number eight, our designers kind of went crazy. Like, oh, we can… just visually eights and that little E worked really well. And honestly, we needed something to start a checking account under.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh yeah. Okay.

Joshua Scott:
And at some point it was like, do we have anything better? No, let’s run with this. We’ll figure it out later, and it just kind of stuck.

Ryan Isaac:
Dude, that is so cool. That’s how we named our band. We were recording a CD and we had to put a name on it for the guy recording it, because it was done. And remember DC Shoe Co, remember DC Shoes?

Joshua Scott:
Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
My friend had a pair and he just looked at the end where it said ECO, and that was our band name, ECO.

Joshua Scott:
Nice.

Ryan Isaac:
And that was it.

Joshua Scott:
[crosstalk 00:07:44] necessity is like [crosstalk 00:07:47]-

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. It is. You’re like, let’s go with that, and then we’ll build it into something that actually has a reputation, so that’s super cool. So, all right, and you and your wife do this together, you’ve been involved from the beginning together. Everyone knows both of you, so it’s Joanna, right? Shout out.

Joshua Scott:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Joanna’s part of it, man, she’s our Business Development Director. She’s great at what she does. So many of the friendships and relationships we have are just her and getting out there and making it happen. And I think I’m really good relationally with people. I’m probably more like a longer term, it takes a couple-

Ryan Isaac:
Sure.

Joshua Scott:
… of interactions. She can quickly start relationships-

Ryan Isaac:
Immediately.

Joshua Scott:
Yeah, so fast, and so it’s awesome working together.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s really cool. And team members, you have a big team? How many are you guys today?

Joshua Scott:
Well, we just hired 18, 19, and 20-

Ryan Isaac:
Oh geez.

Joshua Scott:
… in the last two months, so that was kind of quick. I think we’re going to be good for a bit, but I swear every time I say that, it’s like, oh, we need another person.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Just don’t say it out loud, because it won’t be, yeah, good for a bit. That’s for sure, man. So let’s talk about something everyone can relate to as well, running a business through the last 18 months. What was it like for you guys?

Joshua Scott:
Gosh, yeah, man. I mean, you probably relate to this too, but I think I grew up. I was always at other people’s businesses when we saw recession. So even like the great recession of ’08, ’09, I was an employee, and I saw my boss really trying to navigate that. And I think there was something in the back of my head, it was like, when a recession hits, what’s going to happen?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, you don’t know.

Joshua Scott:
It’s going to be freaky and you’re a business owner and you’ve worked for all of this. And so, it was tense there for a bit. But I think what I realized is, the really good businesses, healthy, solid ones, came out of that and probably outperformed, even from the year before. The good businesses came out better. The ones that were shaky, are typically the ones that really struggled through that. AndI think of like restaurants, and so many, even here in New Albany, so restaurants closed through that, the ones that did, man, they’re probably like two years behind on their taxes. And like 90 days to six months behind on supply relationships, those were the ones that shut down. It wasn’t necessarily COVID. It was like they were right on the edge to begin with.

Ryan Isaac:
It was the thing that tipped it.

Joshua Scott:
Yeah. So I don’t know, man, and sometimes it’s that one degree of separation, when you go through a time like that, it’s like just one degree of separation over time, so now we’re sitting-

Ryan Isaac:
It’s huge.

Joshua Scott:
… in a spot where I feel so good about it. We’ve got so much momentum. We’re so much of a stronger company because of it.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s really awesome, man. Okay. So let’s talk about something you were saying earlier. I used to think this too, which was, I guess, I don’t know the whole scene of dental marketing is just not always… I think it’s better than it used to be for sure. There’s more people who care about it now, but it always hasn’t been that great. I used to think this… our business started about the same time, in the recession, ’07, ’08, and early on, I remember, I would Google websites of potential clients or clients that we had.

Ryan Isaac:
And I would just think, man, this is a legitimate business with significant seven figure revenue. And these are smart people running it. These are big teams. And it’s completely reliant on a local reputation, and there’s sometimes not even a website. And I know it’s so much more than a website. But go back to that comment, dental marketing was just not in good shape, what particular things did you notice then? And what do you notice now that’s still not working well?

Joshua Scott:
Gosh, and I love that you said that too, because I’ve been on this kick lately where it makes no sense for a multimillion dollar business to be trying to put up a website for 4,000, $5,000, like templated stock website-

Ryan Isaac:
Have a team member try to do it on their breaks or something.

Joshua Scott:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, totally.

Joshua Scott:
And I think that’s kind of what’s been pushing dentistry, is like, we’re in that phase where it’s still kind of small business, but-

Ryan Isaac:
Sure.

Joshua Scott:
… I mean a lot of practices, even if you’re one and a half million, technically, you’re multi-million, and just framing it like that though, I think makes us think differently about it. And whether or not you’re priced three, five, 10 million, those types of companies, in Fortune 5,000, they’re spending way more, if not like even six figures on [crosstalk 00:12:19]-

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, yeah.

Joshua Scott:
… development. So back then, honestly, a lot of it, when I looked around, was a lot of stock photos, even seeing the same female, girl smiling. I could, probably, at the time, I pulled up like six sites-

Ryan Isaac:
You know it when you see it too. Oh, yeah. She’s everywhere.

Joshua Scott:
Or like there was an older senior couple on a lot of sites, and so I think that just really cold clinical writing and messaging. And, for me, it was like, there’s humans on the other side of this that are making emotional healthcare decisions. And so when we talk like that and we approach it like that, we’re not connecting. And I think dentistry was in a spot where patients were just looking for somebody to raise their hand and go, “Hey, choose us.” And it was so easy to do that just with your web presence.

Ryan Isaac:
Well, that’s how it ran for a long time. I mean, previously, even the internet, it was, pick a location, put up a sign, and you just stayed in that spot and your sign. And that was like, “Oh, that’s old Bill down the street, man. You go to Bill, he’ll fix your teeth. And it’s got the sign there and the parking lot, he’s been there for 30 years.”

Joshua Scott:
Yeah. Yeah. My gosh, so, now, today, I think probably one of the things we’re battling the most, and so much of it’s great, but just like automation, high tech coming into, even the marketing side. And, look, I think so much of it’s great. Dentistry is a really high tech profession, but it doesn’t mean technology has to be applied to everything, necessarily. Just because we can automate something on the marketing side, doesn’t mean we should. And it’s that conversation of, how do we still connect with humans? How do we speak human? So like an AI chat bot, I mean, they’re going up everywhere right now. And I’m like, but you know, when you’re interacting with that thing that it’s not quite human.

Ryan Isaac:
You know immediately, as soon as I start typing in an AI chat, I’m like, “You’re not real. Just stop asking me if I have any questions. No, you can’t help me.”

Joshua Scott:
Right. We’re trying to apply that whole sales funnel to your dentistry and locking people into this never-ending funnel or sales emails and communication. And so some of that, I think the higher tech environment, we also need to think through like high touch along with that. So it’s a combination of kind of bringing both together.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s awesome. So is that the issue you would flag today is maybe where dental marketing is still struggling? Or is there anything else that you would point to where… I mean, what are some common mistakes that you’re seeing right now that are still perpetuated, either old ones or new ones that are happening?

Joshua Scott:
Yeah. That’s a great question. Honestly, I would probably say budget. And look, I’m not trying to sell anybody, right now, but I think overall, what I typically run into is practices, I get on the phone, and there’s just not a marketing budget. Never has been, it’s all been word of mouth. And now, the corporate groups are coming in. Now, they’ve got two startups down the street and they’re going, “I need the market.” And marketing is always a function, I tell people there’s always a force behind it, it’s either money or it’s energy. So you either have to have money behind it that’s pushing it. Or like if you go out and hustle, this is why startups work so well is because the owner is out, it’s ground marketing, it’s hustle-

Ryan Isaac:
They’re desperate.

Joshua Scott:
Right. And that energy drives that marketing. But then as they get busy and they’re doing clinical dentistry, they don’t give as much energy to it. Well, now you’re going to probably have to replace that with a financial investment to power that marketing. So if you had been doing that for 10 years, even a modest investment, 20, 30,000 a year, well, now you’re spent 250, 300, $500,000 over a 10 year period in marketing. Good luck to the Aspens and the Heartlands and the startups to catch up with you, because you’ve just been investing over time. When it’s a knee-jerk reaction, there’s that like Chinese proverb or something, I’m going to completely mess this up, but it’s like-

Ryan Isaac:
We’ll say it’s a Chinese proper, but it probably, it was probably, on a cartoon from your childhood. We don’t know.

Joshua Scott:
It probably is. But it’s like, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is tomorrow. So it’s like, that’s the same thing with marketing, man. The best time was 10 years ago, however, let’s start now.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Same principles with like investing too, in anything, whether it’s a business, real estate, stocks, bonds, mutual funds. It’s you got to start yesterday and you got to let this thing run for years in order to make any kind of momentum. Yeah. That’s really interesting. So going back to your story, you were in kind of the practice consulting side of things, or you saw a lot of that world, any suggestions for people who are listening to this going, “All right. Well, I’m one of the people that I don’t have a budget. There’s no money budgeted to it.” How have you seen people work that going from like no budget to working into the budget, making it happen? Any tips for those people?

Joshua Scott:
Yeah. I don’t think that the average budget out there, if we were to put some parameters on it, most practices spend between three to five percent of revenue, of collections on marketing. So usually the fluctuation there is two things, how aggressive you want to be. So if you’re like, “I want to go out, I want to get way aggressive.” I’m like, “All right, four percent.” And how competitive your area is. So if you’re in a competitive area and you want to be aggressive, I’m like, “Five percent.” If not, it can be more towards three. Now, if you’re going from zero let’s say you have a million dollar practice, you’re at zero marketing budget. I’m not going to tell you, you got to spend 30 grand next year. Let’s put it at one and a half percent. Let’s put it at two. Let’s start to work up to that.

Joshua Scott:
But so much of marketing, it’s reverse thinking. If you wait until you need marketing to invest in it, you’re always too late, but if you make it a function of the budget, this is a multi-million dollar business, [crosstalk 00:18:13]-

Ryan Isaac:
Yep.

Joshua Scott:
… one point five percent on marketing every year, no matter what, regardless. Now, that’s a whole different approach to it because now it’s like, “Well, where do we want to spend the 15,000?” And that’s where I can come in as an advisor and go, “If I were you, I would put it here, here,” or triage and figure out the best strategy. But if you’re doing that every year, man, year one, you’re going to go, “Kind of feel like it’s working. I mean, I don’t know. I feel good about it.” Year two, you’re like, “Nah, this is starting to pick up.” By year three, now, you’re like, “Oh, we got momentum. I can feel this now.” But it’s that patience. It’s making it a function of a budget. It’s a business system. It happens no matter what, it takes a little bit to build momentum, but man, at some point you’re like, “Yeah. I’m feeling it.”

Ryan Isaac:
You feel it. You can see the progress. It’s probably so individualized and specific, but are there any common starting places when someone’s going from no marketing to a little marketing? What they actually do? What they implement? Where they begin?

Joshua Scott:
Yeah. I’m a big brand first guy, so-

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, cool.

Joshua Scott:
… I think we underestimate brands for sure. I think dentistry is, we’re coming around to it, we’re building the value of it. But we often forget that the biggest companies in the world are brand companies. The Cokes, the Nikes, the Apples and the Amazons, they’ve all built their empires on brand and story. And so, when we look at dentistry, if it’s step one, build the brand right. Which, for me, would be logo, I mean, really we could back up like name, logo, photography, video, website, it’s all those things that really communicate you, your story.

Ryan Isaac:
Can I stop you really fast, jump in there? How often are you renaming practices? Because it’s pretty typical to just go last name, family dental. I mean, is that fine anymore, by the way? And how often are people changing the names of their practices as part of rebranding?

Joshua Scott:
We don’t see a lot of people change their names, but we work with a lot of startups, who are in the process-

Ryan Isaac:
Okay, you’re helping them formulate it. Yeah.

Joshua Scott:
Yeah. And honestly, I can’t even remember the last time we did like a first and last name DDS. I think everybody realizes now there’s just limitations to that. Even from bringing in associates or growing or selling at some point down the road, then somebody has got to rebrand and rename at that point. But here’s my take on it is, you could call me and say, “I need new patients tomorrow. I want to do a Google digital ad campaign.” And I’m like, “Okay,” all those ads are going to drive back to your website. If your website’s not awesome, it’s stock photography-

Ryan Isaac:
Don’t send people there.

Joshua Scott:
Right. It’s clinical language, it’s stock photography, you’re going to get some patients, you’re going to get calls. There is a portion of that investment you’re going to waste. And I would argue, even the patients that do get through that and get into you, may not be the ideal fit. And as I’m saying that, it’s going to make sense to a lot of people, they’re like, “Yeah.”

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, they’ve been there, yep.

Joshua Scott:
Right. So my deal is, hey, year one, invest in getting the brand right. Let’s build a great site. Let’s actually communicate who you are. Let’s let you and the team feel proud of what… it accurately represents the practice.

Ryan Isaac:
Cool.

Joshua Scott:
And build a brand. And then, if you want to start digital ads, now, that’s a whole different story, because we know the website looks amazing. Even direct mail, you want to do that, great. It’s all going to point back to a website that we know will convert, that connects with humans, that perpetuates your values.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. And you’re like, “What story do you want to tell about yourself when people are…” And you just said it to, even the people who come through might not be the types of patients you even want in the practice long-term. They might be the stragglers who don’t care about how crappy a website is because they just need something, and that might just not be the person you want to be serving right now.

Joshua Scott:
Right. And when it’s knee-jerk reaction, “I don’t know why we’re declining. I need to be at 35 new patients instead of 22. What can we do to get 13 more next month?” I’m like, “Yeah, we can throw money at it. That’s just not always a solution. Better is the backup and go, ‘Where do I want to be at five years from now?’ And let’s chart a path to actually get there and tell a great story along the way.”

Ryan Isaac:
That’s cool. I love the branding process. It’s so cool to see a brand emerge. And when it’s done and it’s well thought through and crafted right, you can see, you’re like, “Oh, I can see your personality reflected in this thing, you’re trying to convey to the public.” And it’s really, really cool.

Joshua Scott:
That’s why, even with logos, we tend to stay away from like the extracted tooth as a logo, happy, dancing molar-

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, sure.

Joshua Scott:
… type logo, because it’s like, people know you’re a dental practice, your logo is exactly what you said, it’s a chance to start that story differently, to showcase your personality, bring your values into it, match the area of the community you’re in, the way the community is growing. It’s even that visual is a narrative piece that begins that conversation.

Ryan Isaac:
Matt, it’s time.

Matt Mulcock:
Time for what Ryan?

Ryan Isaac:
It’s time to book a free consultation at dentistadvisors.com. Just click on the big book free consultation button on the homepage and talk to one of our friendly advisors today.

Ryan Isaac:
What are some of the common pitfalls of knee-jerk? What are the things that get into, “Oh my gosh, we need to spend some money, here’s 25 grand”? What do they throw it at as a knee-jerk, usually, that’s probably not the best place to start?

Joshua Scott:
Yeah. They probably overspend to begin with, because now it’s urgent. And then you have some company that comes along and is like, “Hey…” I was just on the phone with one today and it’s $5,000 a month to fix whatever the problem is. And I’m kind of like looking at it all. And I was like, “Can you send me the service terms?” And I’m just kind of looking through it, and I’m like, “This is entirely too much. But it’s also like, they’re probably taking advantage of them, because it was a urgent-

Ryan Isaac:
Desperate.

Joshua Scott:
… problem. So, A, you probably over spent. B, you’re probably really paying for magic to happen. And I don’t know that that’s always the best business strategies. If we’re going to try to throw a magic dust at something and get 13 new patients to show up next month, it might happen. Again, there’s also these factors, are they the best patients? I don’t know. They’re all insurance patients. Well, I mean, so marketing’s never this hammer that hits a plate of glass and it shatters in one event. It’s the power of a thousand little drips.

Ryan Isaac:
Yep, all over time.

Joshua Scott:
Yeah. And so, I think these kind of desperate, bail us out campaigns, and then you’re going to give it three months because, A, you’re spending a lot of money, and you’re desperate, and if that three months it doesn’t work, you’re pulling it. And you end up start and stopping all these campaigns with all these companies. And then it’s nothing ever works.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Right. It’s rigged. Marketing, yeah, it doesn’t work.

Joshua Scott:
And then we get the Facebook groups and the don’t give your money to marketers, because they’ll take it all. When really when we think about marketing a business, I get we’re in this like 24 months sprint, and everybody wants to scale and flip, recap and expand and all this, but I’m like the best businesses, you got to have a 10 year-

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. They build. They build and humans are so impatient. The way you describe the knee-jerk in and out of marketing is the way that most humans behave with investing. It’s the same stuff. They panic. They throw money at stuff. They give it three months. They get frustrated. They move on to the next thing that’s magic dust. And then it’s just like this repeated pattern, until what you said happens, they just get so disillusioned that nothing works. And then they won’t ever be on the right track, because they don’t believe in any of the system at all. And you’re like, “Gee, we could have [crosstalk 00:26:17]-

Joshua Scott:
We’re not seeing that with crypto right now at all.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Not at all, man. What kinds of-

Joshua Scott:
The magic beanstalk man.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, geez, we could talk forever. How do you tell stories? What are some of the mediums you guys are using that you’re finding effective with people?

Joshua Scott:
I mean, we’re a marketing agency and we’re a digital marketing agency, so in that respect, everything comes back to, from our end, the hub of your digital presence, which is a website. So I think, as we sit here in 2021, I think websites play a even more important role than they ever have in a local business. But I mean your reviews tell a story. So I think that hooking up with somebody like Swell or service like that is just probably one of the least expensive marketing investments you can make-

Ryan Isaac:
Cool.

Joshua Scott:
… to tell your story. Obviously, this is where Facebook and social media is. And I know the dental profession dismissed social media for a long time, we’re coming around to it. But in this conversation, that’s what it is, it’s storytelling. It’s putting your values out there, connecting with people. Why are you practicing? How are you doing things different? So those are the main digital platforms, but you know this, man, it’s everything. It’s how you hire and train your team. It’s the scrubs you’re wearing. It’s the smell when you walk into the waiting room. It’s the parking lot when you pull in, the landscaping. It’s all a story.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Man, it is all a story, that is such a good thing to kind of wrap up with. Two questions-

Joshua Scott:
Can I tell you one story real quick?

Ryan Isaac:
Please? Yeah, I love it. Yeah.

Joshua Scott:
I remember this was probably like when we first started, so about eight years ago, but I was with a cosmetic dentist. I go over to their practice and he’s like… And the phone calls, like, “I’m top cosmetic dentist,” all the things. So I go over and I’m walking into this practice and it hasn’t been painted in probably like 15 years. There was no like mulch down, for the Midwest, you’ve got to have mulch in the flower beds to make it look nice.

Ryan Isaac:
Good mulch. Everyone needs a good mulch.

Joshua Scott:
Everybody needs a good mulch. And that hardwood, triple shredded [crosstalk 00:28:22]-

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. You’d smell.

Joshua Scott:
Yeah. And you can tell landscaping, nothing has happened for years. So I go in and I’m sitting with him and his leadership team, and we’re talking, and through it all, and again, this theme comes up cosmetic, high-end, top dentists in the area. And I’m like, “Hey, let’s go take a little field trip.” And they’re like, “Okay.” And he grabbed his keys. I’m like-

Ryan Isaac:
Brutal.

Joshua Scott:
… you don’t need your keys, just follow me. And we go out, we go in the parking lot. We turn around, we look at the building and I go, “So you are the top cosmetic dentist in this area.”

Ryan Isaac:
And high end.

Joshua Scott:
Right. And I start kind of saying these things and he started getting it and he’s like, “We should probably paint.” And I’m like, “Look, I’m not telling you, you need to. I’m telling you, if that’s your story, even pulling into the parking lot, begins that story, and it has to be congruent the entire way.”

Ryan Isaac:
Wow, man, ladies and gentlemen, just buy some mulch today and some paint buckets, just to begin with. Two questions for you, how do people find you? How do they engage? How do they connect? And then the second one, everyone’s listening to this, so no one can see, you’re sitting in front of a gorgeous bookshelf. It’s so beautiful, I thought it was a fake backdrop image on Zoom. Give us a few top marketing or business book recommendations that’s got to be sitting behind you somewhere. So how do they find you? Favorite books.

Joshua Scott:
Awesome. So best place to connect with me, personally, go over on Instagram @JoshuaScott. Tell me you heard this. Give me a shout out. Ask me questions. I mean, advice from me is free. So don’t [crosstalk 00:29:52]-

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah.

Joshua Scott:
… just shoot it out there.

Ryan Isaac:
Slide in the DMs.

Joshua Scott:
Yep. Slide in the DMs. And then you know more information about Studio 8E8, go to s8e8.com, that’s the letter S, the number eight, the letter E, the number eight.com. Find out more about what we do there, see our work. Yeah, man, let me, I’m going to grab two, hang on.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay. He’s grabbing a couple of books. I wish everyone could see this bookshelf. It’s pretty amazing. I’m actually noticing something, you have a skull, is it a mug or a vase, yep, over your left shoulder?

Joshua Scott:
It’s actually tequila.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, it’s tequila. Yeah. I love that whole theme. That’s great. [crosstalk 00:30:34] That’s amazing, man. I got a mug that looks like that.

Joshua Scott:
Tequila bottles are the most artistic.

Ryan Isaac:
Yes.

Joshua Scott:
And so sometimes-

Ryan Isaac:
Talk about a story.

Joshua Scott:
Yeah. Sometimes I buy them, just, I’m like, that’s really cool.

Ryan Isaac:
It’s so cool. Awesome man. Okay, what’d you grab off the shelf?

Joshua Scott:
So, This is Marketing by Seth Godin. He’s kind of the godfather of marketing, such a good book. It just will reframe your thoughts around marketing. And then Mark Schaefer, Marketing Rebellion, again, super good, The Most Human Company Wins. I love that concept.

Ryan Isaac:
Cool.

Joshua Scott:
I think at the end of this, it’s like, yeah, you can automate something all you want. We can drop hundreds of thousands of direct mail pieces, but at the end of this, the best sales funnel, the best automated marketing mail system is not going to win, it’s going to be the most human company that wins it.

Ryan Isaac:
I like, we’ll just end it there, man, the most human company wins. Love it. Josh, thanks for joining us. Josh from Studio 8E8, check them out folks, if you don’t know them already. Go give him a shout out, say hello, ask some free questions at Josh’s DMs on Instagram, just do that. Josh, thanks for being with us, man. We’ll talk to you soon. We’ll see you guys around soon and thanks for being here. Have a great one.

Joshua Scott:
My pleasure, man.

 

Practice Management