Joe Sanok 00:00:00 What are you doing? October 1st through third. I want to hang out with you just south of Nashville, Tennessee, down in Franklin. I’m going to be key noting the Mental Health Marketing Conference, and I would love for you to be there. We are also sponsoring the clinical track, where there are going to be tons of amazing trainings, all for you in private practice. This is the national gathering for marketers and clinicians in mental and behavioral health. You’re not going to want to miss this awesome conference. It’s the one conference I’m keynote this year and you can read more over at MH marketing. Org. Also, Steve over at Mental Health Marketing has given 25% off to any practice of the practice. Listeners that want to come to this, whether you’re coming in person or online, you’re going to want to use promo Code Joe at checkout to get 25% off. I would love for you to come in person for my closing keynote on Thursday, October 3rd at the Mental Health Marketing Conference, but if you can come online, that works as well. Joe Sanok 00:00:56 Can’t wait to hang out with you in Tennessee again. that’s MH marketing. Org and use promo code Joe at checkout to hang out with me. October 1st through third, 2024. This is the practice of the Practice podcast with Joe Sam. Session number 1027. I’m Joe Santos. You’re hosting welcome to the practice of the practice podcast. I am so excited to hang out with you today. Every day we’re helping people to build thriving private practices that they absolutely love. You know, when I first started my practice, it was actually titled the PLC when I was a 1099 contractor, working for a group practice, a friend of mine who was an accountant. he said, hey, file an LLC. Here’s how you can write things off. a lot of it was just who I knew. And that was a friend who was an accountant that I took out for lunch at Panera Bread Company, which seemed like just luxurious spending at the time. And, you know, over time started to build the practice and left that group practice. Joe Sanok 00:02:13 And so much of what I did was just trial and error. you know, I officially started the practice here in Northern Michigan in 2009 and then sold it ten years later, 2019, to one of my clinicians who she now has three offices and is just rocking out. I think she has 35 or so clinicians. She’s back working with me as one of our consultants now. but, you know, sometimes who, you know, helps you get to different places. And my friend Steve Turney, who it all started when I had him on the podcast a little over a year ago, we started talking about his mental health marketing conference that’s down by Nashville. takes place in late September, early October this year. Every year. It’s kind of that early October area And, he invited me to be one of his keynote speakers. And so I’m going to be hanging out at the Mental Health Marketing Conference keynote that also the clinical track is sponsored by Practice the Practice. And so that entire clinical track is the clinical track sponsored by practice is the practice. Joe Sanok 00:03:13 So if you want to hang out with other people that are doing good work in the clinical space that are thinking about marketing, would love for you to come join me down in the Nashville area in early October at the Mental Health Marketing Conference. can’t wait to hang out with Steve and all of the great podcast sponsors that I’m going to get to meet up with in person that are sponsors here, but maybe I haven’t met in person but are going to be at that conference. It’s going to be a really large conference that’s unlike any other. So make sure you check that out. We’d really love to hang out with you in person, down around the Nashville area. Well, today I am so excited to have my guest, who is Nick Niehaus, and Nick is a co-founder and CEO of Business Video School Nick’s taught Next thousands of business owners how to use video to grow their business and improve customer service. A sought after speaker on topics of both video and eye nicks quickly become a popular voice on these important topics, and recently he started a new project called everyday AI to offer AI lead magnets to small businesses. Joe Sanok 00:04:17 A brand new form of marketing he developed. Nick, welcome to the Practice the Practice podcast. Nick Niehaus 00:04:23 Yeah, thank you so much, Joe. Excited to be here. Joe Sanok 00:04:25 Yeah, well, I always like to kind of start with some origin story stuff. So were you always into video or is that something that kind of came about over time? Nick Niehaus 00:04:34 Yeah. No. You know, I think about it in some ways, I think, okay, I’ve been in video for about 8 to 9 years at this point, and that was all kind of very organic. You know, it just sort of started out as doing other kinds of marketing. We’re actually doing flyer delivery, putting flyers on doors, and we sort of recognize that localized video ads combined with that effort might be effective. But if I’m if I’m more honest, I think back when I was a kid, I actually used to make these movies with my cousin and some of our friends, and he’s in the movie business now, you know? So I guess in reality, I have been probably doing some amount of videos since I was about eight years old. Nick Niehaus 00:05:12 you know, that was more more for fun back then. But yeah, it’s been a lot of fun. And I love, you know, just learning more about how to how it affects the way we think, how people can build relationships through it. You know, the way it can be used for business. it’s a very vast, topic. So it’s a lot of fun. Joe Sanok 00:05:26 You know, it’s funny, I hadn’t thought about this man in decades. Probably. But for my videography, merit badge and the Boy Scouts, I had my dad’s, like, camcorder, and I knew we couldn’t get good sound out of it. because, you know, it just, you know, it was a camcorder, and I had no idea how to get good sound. So I decided to make a silent movie, and we made this black and white silent movie where my brother played this, like, robber, and he kidnapped my sister. And it was just this, like, silent movie where in between scenes, we’d, like hold up this handwritten like script So I had totally forgot about that. Joe Sanok 00:05:58 But yes, sometimes these video and marketing things have, have long, roots, you know, into our childhood. So, so, so you got into video, take us through the last couple of years as you’ve been teaching people around video, like how did you get into that? And then I want to ask some actual kind of questions about like best practices with video and things. But how’d you get into doing video and teaching video as a career? Nick Niehaus 00:06:21 Yeah, I mean, it was, you know, so we started out we’re making videos for small businesses and our our angle initially was kind of recognizing that, you know, a lot of small businesses had this opportunity, but they just weren’t using it. You know, they weren’t they sort of didn’t realize they could be making video ads on social media or they were scared of the camera. So we started offering as a service and then got frustrated because it was like pulling teeth. You know, we had this amazing service. It was called the same day video ad. Nick Niehaus 00:06:45 I mean, you could literally come into our office and in two hours we would create a custom script. We would record your video on the spot, we would edit your video on the spot, and then we would at least set it up as a Facebook ad, the longest part of the process was the ad had to be approved by Facebook, right? So that was just amazing. People was kind of mind blowing experience for them. And we just couldn’t they would put these videos out. They get they get business and then they wouldn’t come back, you know, a few weeks later and we’re kind of wondering, you know, what’s going on? What’s the problem? Well, obviously since then we’ve sort of determined it’s because people are just intimidated by video. They’re scared to get on camera. It’s overwhelming. we had some people break down in the studio. I mean, literally crying, you know, so we realized, okay, we need to we need to teach them. Right? We need some sort of educational process here. Nick Niehaus 00:07:27 It’s going to be a good way to kind of get leads in the door. So we built a course and that was let’s think about this. That was the the fall kind of leading into December. We started piloting this course of 2019. Right. And so it was just a few months before the pandemic was coming. We had no idea, obviously. And that’s that’s what happened is we got to the pandemic and we realized, okay, we can’t we couldn’t. We got locked down, couldn’t meet with people, couldn’t make videos for months. but we had this course and we had some connections and we sort of made some some quick deals and, you know, got some people on board. And all of a sudden a few weeks later, we were selling this course and kind of a national level. We still have the video production business. So one of my partners took over and he runs it here in Saint Louis. But since then it’s been almost four and a half years now. It’s been pretty much full focus on this idea of teaching people to, to use this new form of communication. Nick Niehaus 00:08:16 I mean, we all got exposed to it definitely a lot during the pandemic because the zoom probably got a little burnt out on it as well, but it’s really opened up a huge opportunity, and I think it’s very quickly becoming something we’re sort of expected to do by our customers. So yeah, it’s a lot, a lot of fun to help people with. Joe Sanok 00:08:33 Yeah. Well, let’s, let’s think about therapists and private practice and what best practices you would recommend in regards to video. So we’d love to start with kind of videos that are going to be, say, on their website. But then maybe we can dig into social media how that looks different or how it has some overlap. So thinking about where a therapist should have video, let’s just start with kind of all the different categories of video they should be thinking about, and then maybe we can talk about best practices in each of those categories. Nick Niehaus 00:09:01 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think first and foremost the categories are almost limitless. Because really, you know, if you think a video is just a way to talk to people. Nick Niehaus 00:09:09 I mean, there’s so many categories where you can talk to people, right? So I think, you know, starting with the most obvious stuff, I mean, people want to get to know you through your content. That’s always been true. It’s why things like blogging worked and they still do, right? Because people read your thoughts and they feel like they’re getting to know you. And, you know, eventually they say, hey, this, this is the person for me. I’m ready to work with them. Well, video takes that to a whole new level. I mean, now they can see you. Your face is on the screen. That’s activating a part of our brain that really only kind of turns on. And we’re seeing someone in person. So we have this very similar experience to kind of having a face to face conversation. And so anywhere that that would be beneficial to building trust, that should be a video. Right. So I think, you know, any of your FAQs. Nick Niehaus 00:09:49 Can you record a video? I mean, you can have a text based answer as well. And just for sort of accessibility reasons but you should have, you know, a video answer to those. You should have probably kind of a brand video to explain sort of the ethos of your practice and the kinds of people you tend to be able to help effectively. I always think being upfront about your ideal customer helps you find a much better match. So, so kind of helping the person who’s watching, I identify, hey, is this the right person to work with me or not? and then outside of that, I mean, you can have fun with video and it can be something where, you know, I think that showing people that you’re a part of their community is a huge opportunity. So this gets a little bit outside of your, your website type content. But when you’re on social, I mean talking about localized news, you know, events, the community highlights that you’re a big fan of your favorite restaurant, things like that. Nick Niehaus 00:10:37 again, though, all of this has to come from the lens of your ideal customer, right? So who is that person you’re really trying to attract? Only talking about things that really matter to them is probably a good idea. Right? So that’s where we get kind of outside of being able to give you a generic advice. You can immediately apply. But really diving in and figuring out, you know, what are those parts of your community? What are those pain points? What are the interests? What are the things that you might be able to to help them with that? Yes, might be part of what you offer as a service, but also could be outside of that. Maybe you have a hobby or something you can use as a way to kind of bond with people. And that’s that’s where I think video is, is is more hard or is more complicated. You know, it’s the reality is it’s just because it is so powerful, because people who watch your content and watch several videos in a row, I mean, they really do feel that they’re getting to know you. Nick Niehaus 00:11:26 I think that’s where a lot of the intimidation comes from. You know, we get scared because we are putting ourselves out there in a way that we really haven’t before. But that’s the flip, right? That’s the other side is that that’s the power of it. So the more we’re willing to kind of kind of put ourselves out there, take some chances. You can always take videos down if they don’t perform well or people don’t like them. but sort of putting yourself out there is, is majorly beneficial because people are going to feel like they know you better. They’re going to feel much more comfortable with you They’re going to build that trust faster. that’s really what you want to dial in on. Joe Sanok 00:11:58 yeah. Now, when you think about, say, website videos or, compared to like social media videos, how do you think differently in regards to strategy for those? Nick Niehaus 00:12:09 Well, first of all, website videos are going to last a lot longer, right? So a lot of social videos, you know, YouTube’s a little different. Nick Niehaus 00:12:16 Like you can certainly put a video on YouTube and it won’t do anything for a year. And all of a sudden it kind of pops off. But most other social platforms, your content has like a few days shelf life, right? So you put something out there. Hopefully it gets a bunch of views in the first 48 hours or so, and if it doesn’t, you know, it’s probably not going to go anywhere. And that’s okay. You can always post it again later, but that means that a lot of times social stuff is, you know, trendy. It’s going to be about, you know, current events or it’s going to be something that’s, you know, less polished. You just kind of getting it out there and being done with it, social. So that, that, that social and websites. That’s more permanent. Right? It doesn’t have to be fully permanent. I mean, obviously you can change things, but you do have to think about that as kind of your storefront in some ways. Nick Niehaus 00:12:57 You know, this is the thing that anybody that’s going to be serious, I mean, right, you got to think about who sees you on social versus the website. I mean, the website. These are probably people that are a lot more, further down your funnel. Right? They’re they’re they’re really considering you. They’re probably looking at things like reviews, which is why it’s a good idea to have testimonial videos on that website so they can find those and watch them. And so I think from that perspective, that kind of content, you’re probably going to want to come across as more professional. you’re going to want it to be closer to, to what it sort of feels like to be in your office actually working with you. So, you know, social can be more casual. Website stuff’s going to be more sort of official. And you’re again thinking more bottom of the funnel. So you’re thinking, you know, what kinds of questions do people have as they’re about to sign up to work with me? You know, like things like, you know, how do you take payments? What does the fee structure look like? like I said before, testimonials from prior customers, That kind of stuff is going to help sort of shift them over that final step. Nick Niehaus 00:13:56 And then I think a part of it that’s really important is that the website needs to be set up to then capture that customer. Right? So just because there’s videos, there needs to be some other action they can take. And so then we want to tie that together. Right. So we want to have, you know, maybe there’s a button on the site that they can click to look at a available appointment options, or schedule a call to be onboarded or whatever your sales process looks like. You want to make sure that’s clear, and then you want to reference it in the video, right? So you want to say, okay, here’s my my FAQ about pricing or whatever. Oh, by the way, if you would like to have a conversation with us, you know, look at our available appointments, make sure you click the button on the bottom of the page and get signed up. that kind of thing has has a major impact, because when people watch a video, there is a sort of satisfaction that comes from that. Nick Niehaus 00:14:41 They got the answer to their question, and it can sometimes be a little tricky to get them to then take that next step immediately. So we just tell them to do it in the video, wherever it makes sense to do so. And then that’ll get them to to sort of take that final step. But I think that’s the way to think about it. Right. What does somebody have. What do they want to see. What do they want to know when they’re very close to being ready to sign up with you? Joe Sanok 00:15:01 Yeah. So how important would you say is it for general content. So thinking about the average therapist, you know, they might help people with depression or couples issues or anxiety or maybe behavior management for kids. How important is it to be creating content that is just good content? Like, you know, maybe your focus is play therapy on elementary students, talking about trauma or talking about, you know, engaging with your kids, having those kind of training type of videos. How important is that compared to just the straight, hey, schedule an appointment with me if you’re looking for counseling, for you and your child. Nick Niehaus 00:15:37 Well, you know, I think you want to start with the most call to action type stuff just because there’s there’s always gonna be some people in your market that are already thinking about you. They just need that final push. So I do tend to, to recommend, you know, if you are comfortable making those videos because those tend to be a little more kind of ad like, right, you know, kind of aggressive telling people to sign up. Some people don’t like that. They don’t feel comfortable there. So if you are, go ahead and make those. And then the other stuff you’re mentioning, you know, the stuff that’s that’s more kind of geared towards, I would say top of funnel, right awareness. You’re helping people sort of discover you in the first place. It is very important. Right? I mean, they just serve different functions. And I think that’s that’s the part that, it’s, you know, you get into marketing theory and you get into sort of funnel design and awareness, consideration, conversion stages of all that. Nick Niehaus 00:16:21 You want to have content on all those levels. I do think what I will say is, is it’s really strategically helpful to have these videos where maybe you’re given advice, you know, like you said, the play therapy stuff you’re giving them, you know, techniques they can try, examples of things that have worked, you know, all that kind of fun stuff. I think it’s very helpful to tie that to then something you can give away that’s valuable. Right. Because that gets them into your system. It’s an additional step. They’re not necessarily ready to sign up and hire you to to deliver your service. But they are they’re going to pay more attention. Right. So if you do have some some sort of email marketing or text marketing that you’re able to incorporate here, maybe you have a guide on on three types of play to to explore, right. Three activities to try with your kids. You know, things like that. That’s going to allow people to take those natural steps. Right. Nick Niehaus 00:17:09 And they’re getting just that much closer to to working with you. So I do think, you know, I’m a big believer in video, but I think that it it tends to be great for building relationships. And then it’s very helpful to have some other elements that that sort of captures their contact information. and so yeah, I think they’re all very important. Right. It’s really it just comes down to I don’t I hate to tell people that too much, because then it feels like I’m making this big list of videos I have to go make. I like to really encourage people to think of it as one video at a time. You know, it’s just just one, one piece of that conversation that you’re having with that future customer. That’s all it is. and then come back and make the next one and all of a sudden, you know, six months later, you look up and you’ve made 20 or 30 videos and you can kind of repurpose them and move them around and use them in different places. Nick Niehaus 00:17:55 But I also find if you try to think too much about all the different places, you’re going to use them at first, that can kind of dig this hole that’s a little bit harder to get out of. So yeah, just just focus on the consistency. I think that’s what it is, right? Let’s just show up on a regular basis. You know, if you can do one a week start there. It’s one a month start there. But be consistent. First show up on a on a regular basis, whatever you can do. And then you’ll start to figure out, you know, which of these videos resonates the most. Which of these people is responding to it? Do I need to make adjustments to that? But in a way that’s not overwhelming, which I think is the hardest part about video is very easy to get overwhelmed by it. Joe Sanok 00:18:39 I am so excited about alma. When I had my private practice, I struggled building my caseload, attracting the right clients, managing the business side and honestly, one of the reasons I didn’t take insurance was it was so difficult to navigate. Joe Sanok 00:18:54 So many of my consulting clients deal with these problems as well, and almost supports clinicians in building rewarding private practices with simplified insurance credentialing in under 45 days, enhanced reimbursement rates, and guaranteed two week payback, plus a free profile in their searchable filter directory, making it easy for clients where the right fit for your practice to find you. Learn more about how alma could support your private practice at hello alma.com/joe that’s hello alma.com/joe to learn more. What are you doing October 1st through third, I want to hang out with you just south of Nashville, Tennessee. Down in Franklin. I’m going to be key noting the mental health Marketing conference. And I would love for you to be there. We are also sponsoring the clinical track, where there are going to be tons of amazing trainings, all for you in private practice. This is the national gathering for marketers and clinicians in mental and behavioral health. You’re not going to want to miss this awesome conference. It’s the one conference I’m keynote this year and you can read more over at MH marketing. Joe Sanok 00:20:03 Org. Also, Steve over at Mental Health Marketing has given 25% off to any practice of the practice listeners that want to come to this. Whether you’re coming in person or online, you’re going to want to use promo code Jo at checkout to get 25% off. I would love for you to come in person for my closing keynote on Thursday, October 3rd at the Mental Health Marketing Conference, but if you can come online, that works as well. Can’t wait to hang out with you in Tennessee. Again, that’s MH marketing. Org and use promo code Joe at checkout to hang out with me October 1st through third 2024. Now, in regards to having opt ins or things like that, some people have said, you know, by the time someone gets to a counseling website. you know, the lifetime value of that therapy client, you know, say they’re $150 a session and come ten times it’s, you know, $1,500. you know, and then if they refer people in other ways, you can look at lifetime value that, you know, one argument is that if you have all these opt ins, you know, to email or to downloads that, then the person forgets the main reason they’re there, and that’s to get therapy. Joe Sanok 00:21:10 And that by getting their email address or getting, you know, their phone number for, say, a text course or something like that, you actually have the potential of turning off a $1,500 client. Like, how do you think through? Because I know you have courses and different things you sell, and I’m sure there’s certain pages. You have opt ins in there, certain pages that it’s just like the product itself is the main focus. How do you think through how a therapist should be thinking about when they have an opt in and when they have just a call to action to sign up for an intake appointment? Nick Niehaus 00:21:39 Well, I think, you know, that’s a great point. I do think you want to make it, you definitely don’t want buried on your website where people sign up right? So, for example, with our school, it’s very clear on the very homepage it just says enroll now you click a button, it takes you to our checkout page. Right. So I think you got to have that in there. Nick Niehaus 00:21:55 I think every I always like to think of it as like 1 in 5. If I’m thinking sort of social media wise, 1 in 5 pieces of content is an ad of some kind. That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily an ad to to call us and sign up immediately, but sometimes it should be right. Like we try to make an effort to consistently offer direct access to our school without any bells and whistles. No discounts, just sort of. Here’s where you sign up. Right? So I think you want to make sure that that is always available. You’re constantly calling people to do that, while also recognizing that there are other steps that some people need to take. Right? So every business is different. I don’t know, you know, I think if you have a marketing strategy that uses email, you mean email, you have to be consistent with two, right? So it’s just another category of stuff you got to do. If you have that and you are doing it, then it makes sense to capture emails, right? If you’re not doing it already. Nick Niehaus 00:22:47 It may make more sense just to tell people to reach out and sign up to work with you. Right. So I think that’s that’s the first consideration kind of. Where are you at? and then yeah, it’s it’s got to be a balance between the two, I think, giving like for example, on our website, like we have a tab that has like free offers, right? Well, if you come to our site and you’re the kind of person that’s not really ready to sign up with our school, you’re probably looking for things like that, right? So there’s the tab. You can go to it. And we promote that, several ways, you know, sort of outside of the website. however, the rest of the website is definitely designed for, hey, sign up now, right click here. Get yourself enrolled, get yourself into the school. We’ll take it from there. there’s definitely a balance. So that is you know, there’s no perfect answer. Unfortunately. I do think it really depends on the practice. Nick Niehaus 00:23:33 It depends on the approach you’re taking. if you do not have those other systems in place, then don’t go that direction, right? I think we’re very tempted to hear new things and shiny objects and pursue them. A lot of businesses, if most of how you get your business currently is things like referrals or people just sort of discovering you organically and you want to add video to that and then just tell them as your call to action every time that they need to reach out to you and schedule an appointment, that’s great. I think that’s going to make a huge difference in your business because again, most people I mean, there’s there’s a trigger, right? I mean, this is this a lot of businesses are like this, right? There’s a moment in time something happens. you know, with with therapy, we know there’s all kinds of different sort of triggers. And all of a sudden that person that’s been maybe thinking for six months, a year, a couple of years that maybe they should talk to a therapist but has not made that action. Nick Niehaus 00:24:25 I haven’t taken action on it yet. Something happens and now they’re ready to take action. Right. And I think the key there is that that moment they need to think of you right then you think of it used to be this this is kind of why we developed brands many years ago, is because a brand is a little bit easier to remember than just a name, right? A logo is a little bit easier to remember than than just the name of the business Well, a face is even easier to remember. It’s probably the easiest thing that a human brain can recall, because we have a part of our brain dedicated to doing so. And I think that’s the key to video, right, is that when they have that problem, when they go, oh man, I can’t believe we’re having this fight again, I think it’s time we got to go see that therapist, which is the therapist that pops into their head. Right? That’s the one they’re almost certainly going to call. That’s the power of video. Nick Niehaus 00:25:09 That sort of sort of hands down. Right. So when I talk about these other things, I’m definitely kind of getting outside to, you know, just sort of standard video marketing. But that’s the place to start, right? Just letting people get to really get to know, you sort of have that sense of what it’s going to be like to work with you so that they think of you first when they need you and then anything else. Right? Because again, with what we do, like email marketing is still just there to do that. Right? I mean, a lot of the stuff we work a lot of real estate agents in our business. So it’s similar for them, right? You can’t make somebody move. They’re going to move when they’re ready to move for whatever reason in their life. And then you just have to be the one they think of, right? So, now that I say that, I guess maybe you could find a way to make somebody need a therapist, but that’s probably not very ethical. Nick Niehaus 00:25:52 We don’t want to be doing that. so with that in mind, your goal is just to be top of mind, to be the first person that pops in their head. And I don’t think anything does that better than video. Joe Sanok 00:26:03 love that. Now, I know that AI is a big part of the work that you’re doing now. tell me about that and how you see therapists being able to use AI more, in regards to getting new clients into their practice? Nick Niehaus 00:26:15 Sure. Yeah. I mean, AI is, you know, it’s controversial, and I think it should be I think it’s, you know, one of the most powerful technologies we as a species have ever created. And it could be a really bad thing. Could be a really good thing. It’ll probably be both. You know, knowing how things have gone in the past with powerful tools that we’ve invented. I do think a lot of businesses right now are thinking about AI in a way that’s not really customer centric. You know, they’re sort of thinking, hey, how can I cut costs? How can I, save myself time? You know, those are fair questions. Nick Niehaus 00:26:44 We ask those questions as business owners constantly. I think there’s opportunity here to to really wow customers, you know, to give them an experience that is completely different than anything they’ve ever seen before. So what we’ve done, and this is just one very narrow way to use AI, but I’ve started building intentionally very simple AI based tools. Right. So the idea here is these tools will only do one thing, right. So for example, and I can send you the link to this if you’re listening, you want it. But we built a tool that comes up with 48 ideas for videos, but they’re based on the company and its ideal customer. So you go in and explain what your business does, and then you explain the kind of customer you’re trying to attract as much detail as you want, and then it’s going to give you an entire year’s worth of video ideas that are based on that information. So every single user gets a completely customized response that only does that right. So they’re going to come use the tool once or twice. Nick Niehaus 00:27:40 They’re going to get their list. They’re going to be like wow Because this is a lot of work that I wouldn’t have known how to do, and that takes about five minutes for them. Right? So it’s a huge benefit. it doesn’t cost me much because they only use the tool a couple times. There is a small cost every time they use it and they’re wowed. You know, they’re impressed by it because they’re getting something completely personalized. The customization that I allows for that is I think the wow factor. And so that’s where, you know, instead a lot of businesses are using it to like automate their customer service. So I call up and I talk to a robot, you know, and sometimes that goes just fine or even better maybe than a person, but sometimes it doesn’t. And then that really upsets people. And then they feel like they’re getting terrible customer service. And that’s, you know, that’s not good. So I think this other approach I call them I lead magnets, you know, so the idea is I’m going to give you this, this access to this tool for free. Nick Niehaus 00:28:31 you’re just going to give me your contact information, right. So again, this is based on if you’re doing email marketing, you have a way of following up and all that. Right? now in the industry we’re talking about here, I mean, this this is one where, you know, any time you get into to sort of medical related stuff, you got to be much careful, much more careful, because, you know, you obviously are dealing with AI and you’re never really sure what it’s going to say. however, again, the more you know your customer, the better you can make these kinds of tools, right? So so you might think about, okay, back to your example from earlier. You know, some of it’s this working with, you know, families or children and play therapy and things like that. maybe you have a tool on your website that gives people a creative ideas for activities you can do with your kids, to keep them busy. Right? You know, every parent’s got those situations where their kids are just going crazy and they need something for them to do for an hour so they can go get some work done around the house or whatever it is. Nick Niehaus 00:29:22 those are the kinds of things that maybe it’s not an immediate indicator that person, again, need your service, but it might be, and it’s the kind of thing that’s going to get them onto your website. Right. So now they’re checking out what else you do. They’re looking for poking around. They’re looking at your testimonials. They’re starting to realize maybe they do need your service. You know, those sorts of things. but that’s I mean, these are these are all new. I mean, that’s the thing. I mean, I’ll tell you right now, not I can’t get all the technical aspects of how you make these tools, but I wrote all the code to build these tools using ChatGPT. Like ChatGPT wrote the code. I didn’t write it at all. I just sort of talked to it. I used some templates. I mean, there’s certainly a process there, but that’s what that’s the most mind blowing part is that we’re at a point now with AI where just by talking to this computer, we can have it create completely new technology for us. Nick Niehaus 00:30:12 it’s very scary in some ways when you think about what that means. But it’s also incredibly empowering. And I think that we’re going to see a sort of explosion here over the next few years of businesses that that are, that are finding ways to do these sorts of things, you know, giving the customer a better experience, making their website more of a meaningful destination that’s full of these completely specific tools. I mean, you can even get to the point where you can incorporate some of your own expertise into the tools, right? It’s a little more Are complicated. But the sky’s the limit there. And I think that that’s what we’re going to start to see, is we’re going to find that the companies that have these websites that are interactive, chock full of these tools, that are helping people in a completely customized manner, they’re going to just become magnets, right? That’s a that’s a better experience. People are always going to be drawn to better experiences. I will say last, last comment on it is just combine video with AI, right? And this is where we kind of get the best of both worlds. Nick Niehaus 00:31:06 So if you go to to, to some of our web pages, you’ll see you’ve got the AI tool, you got a video where we explain how to use it, we explain what kind of benefits you’re going to get from it, and then we say, hey, look, if this was helpful and you want to look into more of what we do and the other tools and trainings and everything else we have available, you know, click that button and sign up to come to our free training next week or whatever it is we’re promoting at the time. Right. What that does is now the AI is not a replacement for you. It’s something that’s valuable that you as a human are providing to that user. Right. So that kind of makes the experience that much more intimate. Builds the relationship. and now it’s not, you know, an AI tool that’s that’s becoming a hindrance to the user. It’s entirely a benefit. And they see that benefit is coming directly from you as the business owner. Right. Nick Niehaus 00:31:52 So there’s there’s ways to kind of work these together. there’s also ways to take yourself turn yourself into an AI avatar and never make a video from scratch ever again. Right. So you can go that route. I have a couple friends that have had a lot of success with that. so there’s there’s so many ways to go. Right? I mean, I’m not personally a big fan of that. I want my, my, my face on camera to be me. You know, the real me. but keep an eye on it because this is it’s going to explode the amount of content that people are putting out. And don’t be surprised if you’re dealing with competitors that are putting out AI avatars here soon. Joe Sanok 00:32:24 so. Joe Sanok 00:32:25 Interesting and awesome. the last question I always ask is if every private practitioner in the world were listening right now, what would you want them to know? Nick Niehaus 00:32:34 I think the big thing is just you got to know that video is a form of communication. You know, I think I’ve said that a little bit already here. Nick Niehaus 00:32:40 But that to me is I think the most important thing is just recognizing we didn’t. One of the kinds of video we didn’t talk about too much is video messages sending a video to a single person. You know, it’s it’s not a performance. Think about wishing somebody a happy birthday through a video, you know, for 10s. Right. It’s very, very simple. If you start there, you start with those really, really easy approaches that are not public performances. You’ll start to realize, like, this is not hard. You’re completely capable of doing it and it’ll just start to build from there. So I think that’s the thing, right? Just remember, video is just a form of communication. I’m just talking to the people that are going to become my customers here over the next few months or years, and I’m just giving them a chance to get to know me a little bit first. That’s a lot less pressure, right? So focus on it that way. Slow and steady, but get started. Nick Niehaus 00:33:25 You can’t wait any longer. You got to start talking to people this way. Joe Sanok 00:33:30 So awesome. Well, Nick, if people want to connect with you, if they want to follow your work, where should we send them? Nick Niehaus 00:33:35 So yeah, I think one, one great way to do that. I’m going to give you a phone number and a word to text. I mentioned that 48 Video Ideas tool. This is how you can get access for free if you want to try. It works for any business. The phone number is (314) 756-9959. So (314) 756-9959. But that into your text message app. And then just text the word calendar. So you just type out the word calendar hit send. It’s going to reply and it’s going to send you a link where you can access the 48 Video Ideas tool. from there, the other thing that’ll do is it’ll get you onto our website where you can check out our social media accounts, you can learn more about our program, and then I’ll also mention, you know, if you just look up Nick Niehaus Niehaus on Facebook or LinkedIn, you’ll find me there as well. Nick Niehaus 00:34:23 And I’d be happy to connect. Joe Sanok 00:34:25 so awesome. Thank you so much for being on the practice of the practice podcast. Nick Niehaus 00:34:30 Of course. Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. Thanks for having me So awesome. Joe Sanok 00:34:42 you know, I think, you know, keeping up with these kinds of tools is so important. I was just, communicating with the consulting client, and she’s going to be leaving insurances and, just doing private pay. and had no idea where to start in regards to writing a good quality letter to her. her clients and I used AI to think like an HR professional, to think like an attorney, think like a therapist. and then think like a human that is receiving this, from their therapist. And the letter was perfect, and I shared it with this consulting client, and her mind was blown. Now, I do try to train people, you know, when they’re doing consulting on how to do this on their own, but also just being a value to one of my consulting clients and just saying, hey, I just quickly wrote this letter for you. Joe Sanok 00:35:29 You know, with the help of I obviously make sure you’re on attorney reviews it, but finding these tools to just offer more value to people, is where we’re at in the world and, you know, figuring out that marketing, figuring out how you can think through things differently is so important. And that’s why I want to hang out with you down in Franklin, Tennessee, right around Nashville, October 1st through third. That’s the mental health Marketing conference. You can head on over to marketing org. There’s going to be people that are in the industry that are doing marketing to therapists and helping therapists with their marketing. There’s going to be about half the people will be therapists. And I am doing the closing keynote on Thursday, so I’m really excited about that. I’ll be talking about Thursday is the new Friday. also, my new Harvard Business Review book came out as well. that’s the work. Smarter boundaries, priorities, and finding work life balance so you can pick that up in airports or wherever you get your books. Joe Sanok 00:36:22 so, you know, a lot around marketing our practices that’s coming up. And if you use promo code Joe at checkout for the Mental health Marketing conference, they’re going to give you a discount on top of their already low prices. So can’t wait to hang out with you down in Tennessee in October. Also, we couldn’t do the this show without our amazing sponsors. Today’s show is brought to you by alma. Alma supports therapists in building rewarding private practices with simplified insurance credentialing in under 45 days. They help you also get enhanced reimbursement rates and guaranteed two week payback. Plus, you get a free profile in their searchable directory, which makes it so easy for clients to find you. You can learn more over at hello alma.com/show again that’s hello alma.com/joe, thank you so much for letting me into your ears and into your brain. Have an amazing day. I’ll talk to you soon. Special thanks to the band silence sexy for that intro music. And this podcast is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. Joe Sanok 00:37:22 It is given with the understanding that neither the host, the producers, the publishers or guests are rendering legal, accounting, clinical or other professional information. If you want a professional, you should find one.