The 5 Things Missing From Your Veterinary Marketing Strategy
Your veterinary marketing strategy is not a fixed concept, it is an ever-changing idea that should successfully communicate who you are as a business and what you provide to your clients. Marketing strategies can change for a variety of reasons. Maybe you aren’t generating the revenue you expected to, or maybe you are not properly targeting your ideal audience.
Whatever the reason may be, there is always an opportunity to improve and produce the results you would like to see. We’re providing you with the help you need to create an effective marketing plan. Here are 5 veterinary marketing strategies that you may be missing and what you can change in order to push you one step closer to your goals.
Personalized images ideas: can we use this image even though it’s horizontal? If not I can source another one.
Number 1: Advertising on Google
Are you familiar with pay-per-click ads? A pay-per-click ad, or PPC, is a paid online advertisement. Businesses pay a fee, you guessed it, per click for their ad on search engines like Google.
There are two ways that you can direct traffic to your website:
- Organic Search – whenever someone makes a search query, the unpaid results that appear under the ads are organic results that have earned that spot through search engine optimization, or SEO, on their website. This includes using keywords on the website, as well as getting backlinks from other sites, domain authority, how mobile-friendly a site is, and other factors that affect SEO.
- Paid Search – this includes businesses that have paid to appear at the top of the search engine results pages versus those that earned the spot naturally.
PPC offers many benefits, including quick entry to one of the top spots on Google, detailed targeting options, and measurability. You’ll know exactly how many people are clicking on your ad along with the conversion rate from those clicks.
When potential clients in your local area make searches like “vets near me” or “vet clinics in {city}” PPC ads can help your practice show up in those searches. Paid ads can help you produce excellent results while also bringing the right clients to your veterinary office.
Number 2: Email Marketing
If you’re not emailing your clients on a regular basis, you’re missing out on the chance to increase retention, improve website traffic, and encourage more appointment bookings.
Collecting your clients’ email is the first and most important rule of email marketing because recipients cannot receive any information about your practice if you don’t have a method to contact them, right? So, the first step is to acquire their email address!
You can do so by asking them when they want to subscribe to practice updates, when they want to learn more information about your services or products, or when they book an appointment. These are all opportunities to get their contact information. You can then start sending welcome emails and begin engaging with your new subscribers!
Some examples of content that you can email your clients in order to keep you fresh in their minds and produce successful open rates are:
- Monthly newsletters
- Videos
- Testimonials
- Infographics
- Blog posts
- Ebooks
- Checklists
- Tip sheets
In order to generate the best open rates for your email marketing efforts, you should also be testing to see which subject lines, email copy, and images perform the best among your recipients, as well as which day of the week and hour you should send them.
Number 3: Connecting on Social Media
If you own a business in 2020 and aren’t active on social media, you’re missing out on the chance to build an online presence and relationships with your social media followers.
When people search for businesses online, the first site that they turn to is Google, but many users are turning to social media as well. Being active on the most popular social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram can help build trust with those people who are looking for a veterinary clinic.
If they look up the name of your business and cannot find any social pages or see that you do have a page but never post any updates, they may lose trust. But, when you are active on your pages, they get a glimpse of the culture of your business along with becoming more familiar with your brand.
Interacting with people on social media will also:
- Diversify your marketing efforts – never rely on just one form of marketing to get your business’s name out there.
- Better your conversion rates – when you post on social media, whether it involves any special offers or discounts, new content, information about appointments, etc., you can always direct that traffic to your website. When followers are directed to your website, there is a chance that they will schedule a visit to your practice.
- Build client loyalty – social media allows you to show off your personality to prospects who follow you. If they continue to like, share, or comment on your updates, this is evidence that they like your business!
Read On: 5 Ways to Master Veterinary Social Media Marketing
Number 4: Managing Your Online Reputation
Do you know what clients are saying about your veterinary practice online? In our hyper-connected world, we have not moved past word-of-mouth marketing but instead have coupled it with online reputation management.
Directory listing sites like Yelp and Google give users the opportunity to voice their opinions and rate the experiences they had at businesses. This can either encourage or deter others from coming to your vet clinic.
Claiming your business on Google My Business (GMB) gives you the ability to gain more visibility online and advertise your practice to those that are searching for services like yours. GMB also displays reviews from existing clients, your daily hours, phone number, address, and website.
Managing your online reputation can be as simple as monitoring what people are saying about you online and being transparent. Practice honest communication with prospects and existing clients so they know they can trust you.
If you receive a bad review, be timely in your response back to the person. Be polite and professional so that you can resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Online reviews a free and powerful tool to manage your online reputation as well as attract new clients.
Number 5: Producing Video Content
We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again, but video content is a necessary component of your marketing strategy. Video is not only a great way to engage with your audience on social media, but on your veterinary website as well. You can utilize video to teach your viewers as it is easier to consume compared to text.
People want to see your services in action and what you do in your day-to-day work. Video can give them the transparency that they are looking for to decide whether or not they may want to come to your practice.
A few more benefits to producing video content are:
- Social platforms love videos and typically receive more engagement than other types of posts.
- People on mobile love videos as well. According to JWPlayer, more than 75 percent of worldwide video viewing is mobile. This means that video is the most effective way to reach your targeted mobile audience.
- Video can help to build an emotional connection with your audience. You can showcase all the wonderful pets that come into your office every day and how the work that you do changes their lives as well all the lives of their owners.
Tell a story through video that will resonate with viewers so they can see how passionate and committed you are to your business, clients, and their pets.
Learn More: Fundamental Video Marketing Tips for Your Veterinary Practice
Why You Should Focus Your Efforts on Veterinary Marketing
We know that as a veterinary professional, taking care of fleas on a dog or helping a cat with a broken leg is no problem for you, but marketing your practice may be a little different and something you’re not well-versed on or readily equipped to handle.
That’s where we come in. We’re dedicated to providing you with marketing services that will generate more revenue and get your ideal clients through the front door. Are you interested in seeing great results from your marketing efforts? Click here to learn more or give us a call at 800.792.8384 today.
