Every touchpoint in your practice either builds trust or erodes it - including your hold music and the clipboard at your front desk.
Joshua Altman was a multimedia journalist at The Hill before founding beltway.media, where he works as a fractional chief communications officer. Instead of hiring an agency or a full-time comms team, practices bring him in to run the whole function - branding, PR, website, reviews, marketing.
He joins Jakub Grajcar to break down how a practice earns trust and actually gets found.
We dig into:
🏥 Joshua's #1 tip for growing a practice - make every communication useful, and never run an ad just to run an ad
📋 Clipboards and hold music - two touchpoints most practices hand over to drug brands and phone providers instead of using them
🔍 How to get found now that patients ask AI instead of Google
😄 Humor and white coat syndrome - where the line is, and how to check what your state medical board actually allows
🎥 The nephew effect - why a provider looking slightly uncomfortable on camera outperforms polished production
📅 Two hours on Thursday - the time-blocking system for practices with no marketing budget, plus his four languages model: read, see, hear, experience
🧩 Story vs. narrative vs. brand - the pyramid most practices only build the top of
Resources mentioned
👤 Guest: Joshua Altman - Managing Director, beltway.media
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaialtman/Website:
https://beltway.mediaSocial: @thecommschief
🏢 Platforms & tools
Substack - his pick for practice content: writing, video, audio, live Q&A in one place
Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic - accessible vs. clinical, well-balanced content
🎥 See how Talkie.ai works - AI medical receptionist demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiJ3ITTrLY&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoBqm-Dx-8lIwWLuU-CHXSg