APMA News - July/August 2020 - 14

graduate students who were spending many hours in front
of their devices. The Step into Podiatry webinar series
kicked off with a question-and-answer session between
then-fourth-year podiatry student Sriya Babu and APMA's
Director of Clinical Affairs, Dyane Tower, DPM, MPH, MS.
Since then, webinars have included live sessions with current residents, representatives from the American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine, and admissions representatives from the nine colleges-which proved
exceptionally useful given modifications to the application
cycle due to the pandemic. Hundreds of prospective students have participated in the Step into Podiatry webinars
and asked great questions about the profession, education
and training, and more.

Recovering and Reopening

Background
APMA began spearheading a profession-wide recruitment effort
in 2018 at the direction of the APMA House of Delegates. APMA
conducted a massive market research effort among current and
prospective students and developed a strategic recruitment plan
based on the outcomes of that research. As a direct result, in
January APMA launched StepIntoPodiatry.com. The brandneutral, informational website serves as a landing space for
students interested in learning more about a career in podiatry.
StepIntoPodiatry.com is also the new home of the Mentor
Network, where prospective students can connect with a
podiatrist for shadowing.
In conjunction with the website launch, APMA started an
Instagram account to support recruitment messaging, while
also embarking on a substantial advertising effort to drive
traffic to the site. Using the findings of the market research,
recruitment staff can home in on the ideal prospective student demographic and reach prospective students on the
platforms they use the most. The advertising campaign includes graphic/display ads, video ads curated from a professionally produced recruitment video featuring current students and residents, social media promotion, and search
engine marketing to drive StepIntoPodiatry.com to the first
page of search engine results based on searchable key words.
All of these advertising efforts have resulted in more than 3
million impressions, more than 68,000 visits to the website
since its launch in January, and more than 600 mentor searches in the Mentor Network.

Reacting to a Crisis
As the world reacted to a pandemic, APMA pulled its previous recruitment advertising to avoid wasting advertising dollars and alienating an audience focused almost exclusively on
the public health crisis. The Mentor Network was suspended
temporarily to restrict risky in-person shadowing encounters.
But as the weeks went on, staff realized there was an opportunity to innovate and engage high school and under14 APMA News July/August 2020

The Mentor Network has reopened, but APMA strongly encourages mentors and prospective students to consider virtual shadowing to help restrict the number of people in mentors' offices and avoid unnecessary exposure. Be sure to
follow local guidelines and consider APMA's reopening resources (www.apma.org/covid19reopen) when evaluating
any in-person shadowing encounters.
In the past, APMA has hosted in-person Step into Podiatry
events at The National. With The National canceled for 2020,
APMA is continuing its recruitment webinar series to engage
with prospective students and introduce them to the people
they want to hear from most: podiatrists.
The next phase of APMA's recruitment plan involves you.
Student recruitment may start with APMA, but it doesn't
end with the association. One of the strategic goals of APMA's recruitment plan is to empower each member of the
profession to be a grassroots ambassador for podiatric medicine and surgery. APMA has compiled a recruitment toolkit
(available at www.apma.org/recruitmenttoolkit) consisting
of a branded PowerPoint presentation template to use for
career day presentations, access to the Step into Podiatry
recruitment video to be played in office waiting rooms or
shared on practice websites, as well as a recruitment handout created from the key talking points that resonate the
most with prospective students. More resources will be added as the Step into Podiatry campaign progresses. Additionally, DPMs can sign up to serve as mentors in the Mentor
Network by following the instructions in the toolkit. Prospective students are looking for connection now more than
ever, and a simple Zoom or FaceTime call with a prospective
student may be all they need to learn that podiatry is the
right career path for them.
Over the course of the summer, as the initial phase of advertising efforts wraps up, recruitment staff will conduct a content
analysis to determine which advertising efforts were most effective. The Step into Podiatry site is updated frequently to include webinar recordings and future webinar events.
As we continue to evaluate and adapt to the changing circumstances of the pandemic, APMA remains committed to
maintaining the momentum of the Step into Podiatry campaign and meeting the challenges of student recruitment. n

http://www.apma.org/covid19reopen http://www.StepIntoPodiatry.com http://www.StepIntoPodiatry.com http://www.apma.org/recruitmenttoolkit http://www.StepIntoPodiatry.com

APMA News - July/August 2020

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