I had the good sense and excellent fortune to hire this week's Entrepreneurial MD Podcast guest back when I was a medical director at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center.

Dr. Marc Bard is the founder and CEO of The Bard Group, a distinguished healthcare consulting firm in Boston MA. The Bard Group "specializes in helping healthcare organizations achieve extraordinary results" (from their website).

And how true it was. Marc flew out from the East coast once a month to our hospital to provide an evening of physician leadership development. And you can sense how good he was when I tell you that we had a full house each month on a Monday evening for eight months. And the doctors were not coming for the food!

Marc is a trained internist who began post-residency life at Harvard Community Health Plan and fell in love with business, leadership and management. He transitioned into his consulting practice, and subsequent business, by accident.

What is intriguing about Marc's business is how slowly it evolved out of his clinical practice over a long time span. He had no vision or intention of being a consultant and business owner at the outset!

Listen to Marc's delightfully self-deprecating and humorous interview (it's about 27 minutes long) and pay attention to how he describes his growing awareness of what it means to be in business. His is truly an evolutionary and inspirational tale!

I'm a huge fan of learning new things - in fact, one of my core values is Education and Learning. This is probably best evidenced by my peculiar iPod habits.

How many iPod owners do you know who've hardly ever listened to a note of music on their iPod? Yup, that's me, and yet I listen to my iPod almost daily.

I have over 120 hours of recorded lectures, classes, interviews and audiobooks available to me in my purse whenever I have to kill time driving or waiting in line.

While I might be somewhat extreme in this behavior, I do know that others value access to reliable expert knowledge as well. You only have to walk past our local Borders or Barnes and Noble bookstores on a weekend to see the hordes of browsers in the magazine section, scouring the magazine pages to figure out How to Do It -- lose weight, capture the mate of your dreams, buy the best car, create a beautiful garden.

Being a sucker for these things, I signed up last week for a new self-paced e-learning course called Teaching Sells, created by one of the smarter bloggers I have followed for a while, Brian Clark of Copyblogger, and Tony Clark (?his brother).

The premise is simple - you have expertise that others want, and are willing to pay for. You package your knowledge into an educational format and sell it. Grateful learners buy it from you. And, naturally, the authors of this program are modeling what they are teaching!

What is appealing about this program is that it is being developed even as it is being rolled out. The Clarks make the point again of modeling what they preach (and vice versa) - you don't have to have your program be all perfect and ready to go before you can offer it. You can start with some core content, and a great outline, and then develop your program as you go along, hopefully with the valued input and feedback of your "students". And be up front about it.

This approach allows you to get started (not a procrastinator's ideal!) and deliver right away, while unfolding the program elements over time. Here's what they say:

Creating an information “product” is like talking at someone, rather than with them. And the development time involved often means your information is no longer current by the time you’re done, assuming you get past the procrastination that keeps you from getting it done at all.

But the real advantage of teaching-as-you-go is the ability to develop content that’s better suited for students. By listening to feedback, observing conversations between the learners and collecting assessment data, you’ll be able to adapt your content to the needs of the people paying you for knowledge, rather than blindly guessing and hoping for the best.

This is one reason why it’s better to sell access to a learning environment than it is to sell a static product. Subscribers get a much better experience for their money, and you get to beat the main enemy of the information entrepreneur—the failure to get the “product” done.

Let me translate this with an example.

Let's imagine you are knowledgeable about helping your patients lose weight, because you've been studying this yourself for years, and you were successful in your own weight loss efforts. So you decide to create a self-taught distance-learning product (or teaching environment, as they say above) that you can sell through your office website, or the site that you can quickly and inexpensively put up with a little help.

You begin by brainstorming your program components (maybe a self-assessment, a brief introduction, some good stories to illustrate your points, and then Steps 1 through 7 of the actual program). Using what you learned from Teaching Sells about how to actually create the program - Instructional Design, road map for the student, putting the technology pieces together, writing and producing enough content to get going -- you are now ready to deliver your program.

Obviously you will have to have a marketing plan to get word out about your program (that is for another post!), and you begin to attract buyers because you have priced your "beta model" competitively.

Your online program has a discussion board associated with it and you monitor the conversations, using them as fodder to help shape the next program component that you are getting ready to deliver.

By following these steps, within 3 or 6 months, you will have a full-blown program, with a beginning, a middle and an end. And if you are really smart about it, you will have gotten ready your higher-priced personal support package (time with YOU, on the phone or in person, one on one or in a group a la WeightWatchers) to sell for that customer who cannot go it alone, despite his or her best intentions!

Now that is being an entrepreneurial physician!

I encourage you to look at and sign up for Teaching Sells - the reasonable introductory price of $97 for 3 months (12 learning modules) is available until October 31st, tomorrow (although these deadlines are often extended).

Study how this program is being delivered to you, and use that as your model. Pithy articles, some fun graphics (haven't quite figured out how to do that myself but I know Craigslist, Elance, Rentacoder or Guru could help!), audio, short video clips to match all the learning styles. I'm eagerly awaiting the new modules as they are being released so that I can discover their secrets.

And I'm working on creating The Entrepreneurial MD's teaching environment - just don't let me procrastinate!

I had a conversation earlier this week with Suzanne Falter-Barnes, the terrific media and branding expert of Get Known Now, who helped me establish my identity as The Entrepreneurial MD. Our chat reminded me of the power of having a well-thought out and consistent brand.

I figured it was time to write about branding again, as I am on a kick to help all my readers with businesses stand out in your (likely) crowded marketplace. This week's podcast was a part of this effort.

So what is a Brand?

From Wikipedia:

A brand includes a name, logo, slogan, and/or design scheme associated with a product or service. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the use of the product or service and through the influence of advertising, design and media commentary. A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to the product and serves to create associations and expectations around it (italics are mine).

In a nutshell, your brand creates your recognizable presence in the marketplace, and shapes your identity as an expert. If you select and nurture your brand carefully, you will also communicate your key benefits to your target market.

Just think of a car .... such as BMW ("The Ultimate Driving Machine"), Volvo ("for life" -- we automatically think safety, longevity of a car) or PT Cruiser ("Refuel your Soul" - fun, retro). Each of these cars generates an almost automatic mental image for us - we have a sense of what the car stands for.

That succinct little tag line or slogan that accompanies the name is one of your branding tools - it's an "in a blink of an eye" communication about your product or service that, when effective, evokes an emotion, a visual image, or a giggle. And it very often embodies the company's core Mission. Or your USP - marketing language for your Unique Selling Proposition (a special take on your offer, that makes your business stand out as different!)

As Suzanne reminded me, a good brand is memorable, has energy, is clear and simple and/or offers obvious benefit.

And if you are struggling to come up with a strong name and a worthy USP, here is a handy Business Name & Tag Line Generator tool offered by marketing expert Marcia Yudkin. Let your creative juices flow!

Once you have a short list on 3 to 5 names and USPs, don't forget to test them out -- on your target market, rather than family, neighbors and friends if possible.

Who wants to be famous?

Okay .... perhaps a more relevant question is: Who wants to be even slightly famous - recognized as an expert in your field and acknowledged as the go-to person on your topic of expertise?

My bet is that many of you would. I certainly would!

Last year, I participated in an excellent teleclass with two experts on "Growing your Business with Google". At its core, the class was centered on understanding how search engines work, and discovering how, using some inexpensive and easily available tools both online and offline, you can position yourself as a subject matter guru within a relatively short period of time.

One of the class teachers was Steven Van Yoder, author of "Get Slightly Famous: Become a Celebrity in Your Field and Attract More Business with Less Effort", which has recently been released in its second edition.

I was privileged to interview Steve for a podcast this week, and was able to explore on your behalf how, with a little strategic and creative thinking, you too can begin to craft your plan for getting your good name out, and attracting the attention you need to drive new business in through your front door.

The steps he outlines are available to both the small boutique or solo business person or practitioner as well as the large organization.

Listen carefully to Steve's podcast interview (it's a little over 23 minutes) as he shares his wisdom and expertise about "thought leadership marketing", "cause marketing" and taking advantage of Web 2.0.

Hear how he makes this kind of marketing and PR accessible to even the smallest "shoestring" marketing budget. NO MORE NEED for $25,000 consultants with fancy marketing plans and expensive websites!!

And then order his practical and immensely readable book right away - it will take you gently and firmly by the hand, and guide you through the simple, realistic steps needed to get going.

Increasingly, web searchers and surfers are accessing videos as a means of finding the information they want.

An article titled Medicine on Demand in USA Today reveals how lay people are using video. But even more revealing are the current stats from the Pew Internet & American Life Project that are highlighted in a side column:

• 74% of all adults and 51% of people who have chronic health problems are Internet users.

• 79% of all adult users and 86% of those with chronic conditions seek health information online.

• 69% of all adult users and 65% of those with chronic conditions have high-speed service, which is essential for easy video viewing.

• 57% of adult users have watched or downloaded videos; 22% have chosen educational videos, and 3% do so on a typical day.

Putting the facts together, it's logical to predict that our generation of future clients or patients raised on a steady diet of TV (and YouTube!) will be increasingly drawn to visually-presented information. Especially with our rising rates of illiteracy!

Here's my interpretation of this knowledge:

• To educate, you will have the edge over traditional businesses or practices if you use video to convey your ideas and concepts. For example, present a short video on how to use an asthma inhaler, inspect the feet of diabetics, control food portions, assemble a "rainbow colored" healthy meal, prepare for a mammogram or colonoscopy etc.
• To market your business or practice, you will set yourself apart using informative videos that specifically address the needs of your potential clients or patients. An example for practitioners might be showing how to fill out paperwork before coming to your office, what your office looks like, an introduction to your staff etc. For other businesses, it might be a "talking head" of you addressing some of the biggest headaches your prospective clients are facing, and then hinting at the solution you provide (followed as always by a specific call to action - tell the viewer what the next step is they should take!).
  You might even go so far as to video the short testimonials of your company's "raving fans" if they are willing to speak up about you.
  (PS: Imagine creating videos in another language for your multicultural audience that struggles to read your pamphlets written in English)

Creating and sharing the videos is not as complicated as it sounds.

1. You can shoot a video using a webcam, a digital video camera and now days even a regular digital camera that should give you 5-10 minutes of video.
2. Pay attention to background, lighting, and your own appearance. Having that "home-made look" is okay as long as it isn't really shaky or tacky-looking.
3. Don't forget Craigslist or a similar community bulletin board if you want to find a local videographer - get prices as well as references. This does NOT have to be an expensive proposition!
4. Upload the video from your computer to a video-sharing site such as YouTube or Veoh. I see there is a new health-related video-sharing site called Icyou.com that looks interesting as well!
5. Copy the little piece of code that you are given on the video-sharing site (ask your kid to do it for you if this is unfamiliar!) and paste it to your website - your webmaster can do this easily if you are not comfortable working on your website. This will appear to "host" the video on your site.

In what creative ways are you using video in your business or practice?

And what do you think of this idea?