VMP 257: Luria Petrucci Teaches How To Grow Your Practice Using The Power of Live Video

Brandon (00:00:00) - Welcome to the Veterinary Marketing podcast, where it's all about how to attract, engage and retain clients to your vendor hospital using digital marketing. My name is Brandon Breshears. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen or watch today. Today we have a special guest. It is Luria Petrucci from live streaming rose.com. This is going to be a fantastic episode if you're ever struggling with content creation, if you're ever struggling with what's to talk about on the content that you make, how to produce content in a way that connects with your ideal client better. This is going to be a fantastic episode for you. It is full of really good information. I think you're going to love the message that Luria has. Before we begin, just a few things. First, if you haven't done so already, be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts from. Also streaming these on YouTube as well. And I have a bunch of other videos coming out on YouTube, so be sure to head on over to YouTube.com Forward slash Veterinary Marketing podcast and subscribe there as well.

Brandon (00:01:01) - We have two sponsors for this episode and here's the this episode is being sponsored by the International Veterinary Dentistry Institute and Veterinary Dentistry dot net. If you're a veterinarian or you have veterinary that you work with, you struggle with dentistry. Or who'd like to be more confident when it comes to dental procedures, then you definitely should go to ivdi.org/vmp. That is ivdi.org/vmp to sign up for a free upcoming live training that's going to go far beyond your average dentistry seminar. This is the gateway to the Veterinary Dental Practitioner Program, an intensive master class program that is a comprehensive initiative designed to enrich veterinary associate skills while empowering practice managers, practice owners to take their practice to new heights. This live training is going to be conducted by board-certified veterinary dentist Dr. Brett Beckman. He's been on the podcast twice and is incredibly talented teacher and educator. He's going to dive deep into actual cases. He's going to dissect all the vital components of effective dentistry case management, and this is going to give you some really direct insight and a clear blueprint to improve your prowess in veterinary dentistry.

Brandon (00:02:20) - So if you're ready to elevate your practice and your professional skills, simply go to Ivy. Org Forward slash VMP. This is going to be the golden opportunity that helps you to make a significant impact in your practice. It's going to help to give your patients and your clients better care, and it's also going to improve the personal professional development that you have in your career. Go to ivdi.org Forward slash VMP. This episode is being sponsored by two websites by Brad Haven. We have used vet equipment and new vet equipment for over nine years now. Used vet equipment has been helping vets to buy and sell used equipment. You can save money when you buy used everything from cages, kennels, pumps, X-ray equipment, lasers, ultrasounds, dental equipment, surgery equipment, lab equipment from boxes and tables, tubs and sinks, vet trucks and vet boxes. What do you have to sell at used vet equipment? They bring the buyer and seller together. Also, if you're looking for a new vet equipment with amazing warranties, check out new vet equipment where they show you the price up front.

Brandon (00:03:26) - They have digital x ray equipment, dental X-ray equipment, ultrasound equipment, surgery, lighting, surgery, tables, autoclaves. When you go to new vet equipment, you'll clearly see the price on every single item for sale. And you'll also know what the warranty is so that you can buy without regret. I mentioned today we have Luria, Petrucci and Luria is a pioneer of live streaming and content creation. She has been creating videos from her own studios for over 17 years, and she's been focused on helping you grow your business by being more authentic, more personal with live videos. And over the last 15 years, Luria has created over 6000 videos with over a billion views, which is incredible. She's appeared on CNN, NBC, Fox, NBC, MSNBC, ABC and BBC, and she just does a fantastic job of breaking down how to use live video regardless of the kind of equipment that you have. She can teach you from just using your iPhone all the way up to how to create a professional studio and how to go about that.

Brandon (00:04:32) - So it's just a fantastic, fantastic conversation. And I'm so thankful that she came on and shared her expertise. So without further ado, here's Luria. So much for joining us on the podcast. Larry. I appreciate it. It's very exciting to have you here.

Luria (00:04:46) - I'm so excited to be back with you. Brandon It's been forever. You used to be in my community and I've always appreciated you and I've hired you and all the things. And so I think that that's been it's really. Good to be here. Thank you.

Brandon (00:05:00) - Thank you so much. Well, I think you're one of the people that I've learned a tremendous amount of about both video creation and then just content creation. And I thought we could talk about, well, first, give us the rundown of who you are. And I mean, you've done so many things. So how about like the 62nd version of who you are?

Luria (00:05:20) - Sure. I've been doing video and live streaming for 17 years, which makes me sound very old. You can see the gray hairs, but.

Luria (00:05:31) - And I just love, love, love to support people like your audience really hone in on content that is engaging, that holds retention, that builds loyalty and customer and a customer base that is going to be with them for a very long time. You know, and that's kind of where I focus on right now. I've been I've done all the things when it comes to live streaming, including like big, big, big multimillion TV productions and things like that. But I really love helping individual entrepreneurs is really hone in on their content strategy.

Brandon (00:06:13) - Definitely. And you've worked with, I think I would say, all the well-known marketers in the space, but I don't think maybe veterinary people know about the Mark. True. But yeah, you worked with everybody and I think I really like your approach to creating live content for a few reasons because like number one, it creates, I think it takes less production time as far as post-production, which is great. It forces you to make something even if it's not 100% perfect.

Brandon (00:06:43) - And there's just a whole bunch of, I think, really good benefits to producing live. Yeah. I mean.

Luria (00:06:48) - I think, you know, when it comes to live, it is the most powerful form of video or content that you can create. You've got blog posts which is which are great for, you know, SEO and Google and all of that, but it's not going to build trust the way, you know, video does that. You've got audio podcasting and then you've got video and then you've got live. And as you kind of go down that path, it's it gets more and more and more trust building, right of an exercise. And you're right, you get to like create and you don't get to worry about perfection because live is live. And it's not if something's going to go wrong, it's when. And that is why it builds trust. That is why it is so powerful of a communication tool. And in fact, it's actually made me a better business owner. It's made me a better entrepreneur.

Luria (00:07:40) - It's made me a better human being communicator. So because live is so you just got to like do it right and you can't worry about retakes or anything like that. It makes you a lot more, um, able to pivot, able to adapt, able to think on your feet. It's a really powerful tool.

Brandon (00:08:05) - 100% agree, and I think that makes you better at all types of content creation. Exactly. And so it just has a tremendous amount of benefits. Well, I guess, what would you say the main difference is between going live and doing live content versus pre-recorded content As far as like a prepping from a prepping standpoint, maybe we can talk about that. What do you think? Is number one necessary from a tech standpoint? Maybe we'll dive more into that. But when somebody's considering like, why should I do live versus just recording a video, what do you what do you think beyond what you just said?

Luria (00:08:36) - Well, the truth is you should do both, especially depending on the platform that you're using.

Luria (00:08:42) - You know, if you rely solely on live, you're likely to hit a little bit of a slower growth process, even though it sounds contrary to what was happening in a couple of years ago where like every platform was pushing live. Um, now it's really focused on the right kind of content for the right viewer at the right time. And so you kind of need to play with both worlds. Recorded video and live recorded video can be really, really good because it's shorter at bringing in a very new audience, right? Discovery of a new audience and live can also help discover for sure. But you also really want to use that to kind of build a deeper connection with the existing audience that has found you through recorded video. If you're going to use it. And you really have to know what the intention of your live streams are. For example, I have Q and A's that I do every week. Um, I'm not expecting new audience members out of that. And if, if I do get them, I have to capture their attention really fast and get them to trust me really fast.

Luria (00:09:59) - Because, you know, live people come and go. And so the intention of the Shaz is really focused on building community. I'm super laid back in that we just goof off. We have fun, we provide value. But then I have value driven live streams that are more educational or supportive of the content that my audience wants, and that is a totally different intention. And when you're thinking about the intention, you have to prep just like you would with a recorded video in terms of thinking about what that value proposition is or whether you have an engaged audience and you just want to build community. So prep that in advance. But the I also don't want you to like over prep or think that you have to like do all of the things right. You know, if you're on YouTube, I focus on having a good if I'm doing a value driven live stream, I'm going to prep a thumbnail, I'm going to prep the title, I'm going to make sure that it's findable by an audience and. But it's also much more relaxed in terms of your not scripting your and please don't script alive.

Luria (00:11:19) - That can go wrong really fast. But you know your stuff, right? So get in there and have like some bullet points or a three part planned, you know, show flow. And again, planning. I don't want that word to scare you. It. It can take, you know, 15 minutes to prep. It doesn't have to be a huge ordeal. But you do want to be intentional about the type of content that you're creating.

Brandon (00:11:48) - Absolutely. Yeah. Prepared message is better than a prepared person. Right. So talk about stuff that you know. Yeah, you're expert in like so our audience here is veterinarians. And so, I mean, there's a million things that they could talk about that they wouldn't have to do research on.

Luria (00:12:04) - And exactly and honestly, getting getting out from, you know, from a technical standpoint, like you have everything you need your phone. Right? So like when you have things that are especially veterinarians, get out there and, you know, use the animals your disposal to attract the audience.

Luria (00:12:29) - Storytelling, props. These are powerful methods of attracting attention and your right audience. And so, you know, I'm going to be more much more attracted to something that is visually appealing, aka animals in order rather than a talking head like I do in my videos. And so think about that perspective. It can actually make it way easier for you to create content because maybe you're telling a story about that animal or maybe you are showing how demoing, how you do something you don't. You already know that you don't have to prep that You just need to know what that value is.

Brandon (00:13:14) - Yeah, imagine imagine for a second that your industry was animals like.

Luria (00:13:20) - You would be all over that.

Brandon (00:13:23) - I mean, you incorporate Abby into your videos, your your Chihuahua, which is cute. Yeah, but I mean, it's like the dream content industry, and they always have a hard time creating content.

Luria (00:13:35) - Was I just. Okay? I was. I was having. I was having drinks and dinner with my friend last night, actually.

Luria (00:13:45) - And out comes this person with a tiny little ten month corgi, super beautiful, super cute. And like we spent 30 minutes talking to this person about their corgi like, that's so true. I didn't know them. Right.

Brandon (00:14:02) - Bump into strangers and talk about their pets and it's like, yes, 30 minute conversation. Seriously. That's that's a good point. So yeah, for veterans, they're not super heavy on YouTube just because that hyper local focus is difficult, I think, for them. Right. So it seems like most veterinary hospitals don't use YouTube as much, but definitely Facebook and Instagram were kind of the primary cornerstones for content, which I think makes sense for local business. With with live video in particular. Do you think that there's a. Well, first off, I guess the question would be I think more so the focus is on Instagram. I'd say primarily from content standpoint. And they kind of pushed to Facebook. Now just because it seems like that's where the audiences are more so would you be creating lives in vertical video for Instagram or would you be doing more Facebook that's like horizontal or landscape video that you could then push to other platforms? Or what would your kind of take be on something like that?

Luria (00:15:04) - I think all of it is valuable.

Luria (00:15:06) - I don't want to say like do all of the things, but experimenting with your particular audience is always a positive thing to do, right? The vertical lives on Instagram right now in this moment, we're seeing a little bit of a dip in terms of viewers on them. Um, I think that that'll change. I think there's something going on with the algorithm right now. And it didn't always it wasn't always that way. I think it won't always be that way. So testing that a little bit is valuable. And also know that right here and now you may see less traffic. And so also doing vertical lives or landscape lives on Facebook. You know what I love about that? Both Instagram and Facebook, obviously, we can run local ads, right, once the content is done. So having an organic strategy where you're creating that content, getting the comments, getting engagement, giving it 24 to 48 hours, then turning that into an ad can really be a powerful way to or like, you know like to to gain viewers can really be a powerful way to kind of hack the system, if you will.

Luria (00:16:25) - Yeah, absolutely.

Brandon (00:16:27) - I think there's a lot a lot of value. I didn't even think about that. But I think live gets more engagement, generally speaking, than prerecorded. Definitely. And so you could kind of hack the. So there's a new kind of it's not new, but it's been past two years or so where your creative is, you're targeting right, with from the paid side. And so if you can get engagement of your best clients and your customers and kind of the community that you already have, that's going to give Facebook Instagram signals for who to show it to you and attract more of those people. Yeah. So what kind of things do you suggest for getting more engagement on live videos?

Luria (00:17:03) - Like you said, this is the perfect industry for it. There are three things that is that are universal, that get attention and engagement, and that is animals, children and food. So combine any 2 or 3 of those things and you have hit gold. So, you know, like I said before, getting visual with your animals, as many as much as you can tap into emotion as possible.

Luria (00:17:34) - And with when it comes to animals, everyone likes to talk about their own animals. And so you're remember, your customers are people with animals. Get them to tell you what you know, like share a photo of their their pet as a kid. As a kid. You know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. As a baby. Um, you know, do contests around the cutest or the funniest costume or I mean, literally, it does not have like when you think about getting engagement, it's about getting other people to talk about themselves and that you're in gold territory for this. So it's actually very easy. I think that what happens is people get in their own head about like, Oh no, I have to educate or I have to, you know, be professional. Otherwise I won't build trust and they won't come, you know, use our services. They're a couple of things. One, yes, you know, you're going to educate or help people take care of their pets better or whatever the niche is that you're trying to fulfill within your content.

Luria (00:18:52) - But also people just want to connect to humans and people, people I if I knew my vet outside of. Outside of taking my dog in, you know, like I would trust them more. I would like booking that appointment more. I would be willing to listen to their advice inside of the office or, you know, side of that visit. You know, sometimes I have a little bit of, um, I personally have a little bit of like. Distrust of like, are you just trying to get me to spend more money, right? Do I? Does my pet really need this? But I also really want to take care of them. I'm going to do everything for my princess. So there's that conversation that is happening with your customers in their own head. When you build on that human level and that know, like and trust, you're going to be able to overcome a lot of that inside the the visit itself. And so that's something to consider. And then also take a stance.

Luria (00:19:59) - You get engagement when you take a stand on an issue one way or another. Pet insurance, um, food, right? Dry versus like homemade grain, less versus grain. I mean, there are so many issues that you can take a stand on and attract the right audience that is going to want to buy your services.

Brandon (00:20:27) - Absolutely. And also kind of showing how the sausage is made. Right? Like where people they don't know what's included in any of the services. But because you're in it so often, it's just like, of course we include this. It makes sense. But I with no training, I have no idea, right? I've never worked in a practice. I only market for them. So I'm next to the industry and I don't know what is like standard for wellness exam, right? Yeah.

Luria (00:20:50) - So totally. And you know, I there's a, there's a, there's a vet on TikTok. I meant to pull that name up but I'll send you a link who I follow and he literally just takes the camera inside of the, the office and when he's doing a visit, when he's trying to, you know, he's got a deal with an aggressive dog or he is dealing with a scared one or waking up from surgery like literally the one I watched just yesterday was him waking up.

Luria (00:21:27) - The like a patient after surgery and saying this is actually a normal wake up, this is a good wake up from anesthesia. And I was like, oh, like, that's not what I would have expected. You know, it's interesting and it's informative at the same time. And it's very visual, too.

Brandon (00:21:46) - Yeah, I can't overstate. I think showing instead of just telling and so many times they just tell, Yeah. And you don't really get the same. I mean most people take in, I think like 80% of the information is visual. And so if you can show, I think it makes it so much better.

Luria (00:22:04) - And total selfish note here, please. I'm sure there's something out there that I haven't found, but somebody create something on how I can brush my freaking teeth.

Brandon (00:22:15) - I'm sure there is, right?

Luria (00:22:17) - I'm sure there is. But that's the perfect kind of thing. Yeah.

Brandon (00:22:21) - I actually worked with this doctor named Dr. Brett Beckman, and he's the only person who's boarded in pain management and also in dentistry for I don't know if that's still true, but he's one of the best at dentistry, so I'll have to make him make a video for you.

Luria (00:22:34) - Yes, please. Definitely. Like she will not open her mouth. And I'm like, I've got to get in there. Yeah, but they are all my point being, there are all these pain points that we face as your customers that is vital to touch on and vital to just. Give us someone to trust in that environment.

Brandon (00:22:58) - Definitely. And I think I think that's that's so, so good when when it comes to creating content, if you think about most practices, right, which they have typically pretty small exam rooms from like a practical standpoint, what do you think would be kind of like an ideal setup? Just phone initially, obviously to start out with, but it's like surprisingly, I hope that a lot of people who listen to this, who are thinking about building and launching practices actually integrate you into their build process because it would be so cool to have somebody build a studio into their practice.

Luria (00:23:32) - Wouldn't it? Oh my gosh, yeah.

Brandon (00:23:35) - One of my clients, his name is Michael Shurley.

Brandon (00:23:37) - He just I mean, he thought about everything when he was designing his practice, and he built a podcast studio in there. I'm pretty sure. I'm sorry, Michael, if that's not true, but I think this is like something that people need to think about when they're building practices because they are starting to actually think about this kind of thing. So from like, let's say your practice already built though, what kind of just a general setup do you think is kind of like ideal? Because number one, it's typically bad echos. There's also barking in the background all the time.

Luria (00:24:07) - Yeah.

Brandon (00:24:07) - Like, do you think that they should just go for it? And it's like just part of the real like this is it or what are you in.

Luria (00:24:15) - This particular case? Yeah, like I'm a big, big, big fan of professional quality video because it builds credibility. There's a time and a place for that and there's a time and a place for raw video as well. And if you're going to be in the exam room, yes, we could get you miked up.

Luria (00:24:34) - Yes, we could add some tech into that in. And if you're going to go all out and build like a studio in there so that everything looks great, sounds great, etcetera, etcetera, that's awesome. Or you go raw video. Don't worry about the mic because you need to. We need to hear you and the animal if they're whining or anything like that. And so adding an additional mic could actually harm that. So you have to think about that. I wouldn't go anywhere in the middle, is my point, right. For this particular use case, I want to either see real raw or I want to see real professional. And now the way in the middle that I would go would be an AI camera, a webcam and a webcam that follows the movement around. So that could be a good option. And those are fairly low cost compared to like a professional professional studio. Um, but. Then then the audio gets to be an issue. You could you could test it and see.

Luria (00:25:40) - You might want to add in like a lav mic or something at that point. But the AI cameras are pretty cool for this scenario because they can just follow and track the movement.

Brandon (00:25:50) - Definitely. And I'll do a quick pitch here. I think you have a workshop coming up. But the thing that I love about the the content that you produce is you teach people how to do basically every level of I mean, like the ultimate professional studio at one end, like for the Pat Flynns and I think Amy Porterhouse and.

Luria (00:26:11) - Eric Porterfield and Michael Hyatt. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Brandon (00:26:15) - And everybody in between. And so like that at the high end and then like your phone at the low end, which is easy to start. So I suggest you have before we pivot to the next thing that I want to talk about. What is that workshop coming up?

Luria (00:26:28) - Yeah, that workshop is less about the tech and more about the strategy and really honing in on the things that we're talking about here. How do you be intentional? How do you really create and craft a content strategy that's actually going to drive your business forward? Once you understand that you can spend less time spent on content because you have a business to run and patients to see, and you can be less stressed because like so for example, I have a student who has 250 subscribers, not much, and she's making thousands of dollars a month from creating the right content that leads to business growth and revenue, right? And so when you get strategic, you can really focus on the right things at the right time to drive bigger results.

Luria (00:27:25) - And that's what I want to see for everybody, especially you guys. Like I would love, love, love, love, love to have you in there so that I can see all the animals. One But, but, you know, like it's such a for me, it's such an easy industry to be like, This is how you do it, let's do this, this and that. And I want to see all the animals and, and have all of the fun and build all of the trust.

Brandon (00:27:53) - Definitely. Well, so I think that's a kind of a good pivot into the question I was going to ask is a lot of these people don't have massive audiences. And so when they're thinking about starting something, I think consistency is really, really important to building up an audience. How long would you suggest people like, give it a shot? Obviously, they need to have the right strategy. If you're doing the wrong thing, you do the wrong thing long enough. It's still going to be the wrong thing, right?

Luria (00:28:19) - Yeah.

Brandon (00:28:20) - Let's assume that you have an understanding of okay, you need to be intentional with the type of content that we're putting out and the purpose of it and things. But like if you do live stream and nobody shows up, how many of those do you suggest people get through before they start saying, Oh, you should pivot a little bit?

Luria (00:28:38) - You know, there's a balance. Let's just be totally real, totally honest here. There is a bit of a balance of like tweaking to make sure that you're making adjustments along the way so that it gets better and better and better. And most people quit before the results start working. Six months to a year is what I ask people to give it, of commitment and consistency and doing doing the right things right and really making those fine tuned adjustments to push it along the way. But most people, the outliers or the people who, you know, have a million subscribers and, you know, three months, that's so rare like and you don't need as a local business especially, you don't need a huge audience.

Luria (00:29:34) - You need a loyal audience. And as you build up, there are a couple of things on my brain here on this. There are as you build up an audience, other revenue online opportunities will present themselves and being open to maybe not just thinking of yourself as a local business could be a very powerful way to go about this. I want you to look up the singing dentist. He is. Have you heard about him?

Brandon (00:30:05) - Have not heard of me?

Luria (00:30:08) - Yeah, he's in the UK and he's a dentist. He has a local business and he just started like creating these little ditties on, you know, live video and videos and just sings about dentistry and in a fun educational way. And he can't sing like, I mean, I'm sorry if you're listening, but. Like he doesn't have the best voice in the world, right? He's not perfect a singer. He's just human and he's just fun. And he blew up. And now, you know, the opportunities that exist for him are massive, that have nothing to do with his local business.

Luria (00:30:55) - So there might you might want to have a shift, right? You can build that local business, but you also could be open to opportunities as they start to present themselves.

Brandon (00:31:06) - Absolutely. There's one of the clients that I have that I run ads for. Her name is Ariel Potter, and she runs a TikTok for her uncle and aunts vet hospital. And she's gone viral on TikTok so many times. And now she has like, I think, 25 million likes or something content. And I was like, you know, this is like an actual business. You could like, yes, it's wild the opportunities that exist once you build that audience. Yeah, well, that's, that's super, super interesting. Well, I think when it comes to, I guess, producing and and putting out the lives, I think that six months to year is fantastic. I thought you were going to say shorter than that, but I think that is a really good time.

Luria (00:31:48) - That is reality. That's just a reality check.

Brandon (00:31:51) - I think so. I think I started two years before I actually got any decent traction.

Luria (00:31:56) - And Mr. Beast, the number one or number two, I think he's still number one. Okay. Like his channel is number one on YouTube. Doesn't matter if you know who he is. He spent ten years creating content before he blew up, quote unquote, or became an overnight success, quote unquote. Right. So, like, this stuff can take time. I'm not telling you it's going to take ten years by any means, but it can take a few months of really staying committed. And I think the most important lesson here or thing to consider is getting your ego out of the way. And that's why people quit is because they don't see the numbers. They don't see the traction when it is building in the background. And sometimes this thing is like a snowball effect where it's like it just becomes something and it's not necessarily you're not necessarily seeing it as it's building. And really the core of that is getting your ego out of the way.

Brandon (00:33:00) - Yeah, I think the skills stack on top of like it compounds because it does grow and it also helps to communicate outside in the real world too, if you're able to communicate better. I mean, just the level of communication skills that you can learn, especially with live. I think live is so unique, right?

Luria (00:33:17) - Where it's totally.

Brandon (00:33:19) - On the go and on the fly. So I think that makes a lot of sense. And I think honestly, every practice should be doing lives as part of their content strategy.

Luria (00:33:28) - I totally agree. And when the dog poops on camera on the floor of the exam room, it's okay. It's actually great. Yeah, it's wonderful. Go with it.

Brandon (00:33:41) - Absolutely. Well, can you give us the details on your workshop where people will go to find it if they're listening in the future? I'm sure you have something coming up. You've been at this for years. I know it always.

Luria (00:33:52) - Always something.

Brandon (00:33:53) - Workshop or something cool coming up. Yeah. What are the details for that live stream?

Luria (00:33:59) - Procom slash master masterclass.

Luria (00:34:02) - We'll get you there. And we've we've got a couple of them the week that that we're releasing this and I would just love to have you join in if you have any questions, hit me up on social like I am totally. I love to answer questions. I love to support you. I'm live every Friday at 10 a.m. Pacific as well. If you just want to come in and see how live is done as a casual community builder so that you can start to integrate yourself into a community of people who are supportive as well.

Brandon (00:34:35) - Absolutely. Well, I thank you so much and just thank you again for all of your wisdom that you drop with us and and live streaming growth.

Luria (00:34:45) - Thank you so much for having me.

Brandon (00:34:47) - Thank you.