10 Veterinary Marketing Ideas You Have to Try
Sure, word-of-mouth advertising is great, but if you’re looking to grow your veterinary practice, it’s imperative to diversify your marketing strategy. Since most of your current and potential clients are online daily, why not start there?
Digital marketing offers you many ways to target local pet owners in your area to improve your practice’s online presence and book more appointments. Between your veterinary websites, social media pages, and business directory listings, your practice can have a multitude of avenues to get found online.
To get started, we have rounded up 10 of the most cost-effective veterinary marketing ideas to help you bring more pet owners and potential clients into your office with their furry family members! We’ll cover fundamental, long-term strategies, such as content marketing, as well as some that yield quicker results, like email campaigns. Let’s dive in.
1. Start a Blog for Your Practice
Content marketing uses the creation of online materials, such as articles, photos, or videos, to generate interest in a brand and create a community online. While content marketing may not provide instantaneous conversions, it is considered one of the most effective ways to build an online presence for your business.
This is because it has the power to:
- Improve your website’s search engine ranking
- Increase click-throughs to your site
- Build credibility online
A blog is a perfect strategy for improving search engine optimization (SEO). Firstly, a blog can attract more visitors to your website, meaning you will have more chances to convert clicks into clients. Second, this is an extremely affordable veterinary marketing strategy. All you need is an idea, a writer, and a page on your website to get started. Lastly, veterinary SEO is a long-term strategy that offers more consistent results over time.
We share some great tips to help you write your first blog post in this article.
Bonus Tip: Publish content on your site regularly and implement keywords to appeal to Google’s algorithm.
2. Claim Your Business Directory Listings
Your veterinary practice website isn’t the only thing that populates when a web user searches for a business like yours. Oftentimes, when your audience inputs a search for a local business on Google, the first things they see (after advertisements) are a series of business directory listings. These listings usually come complete with information like a phone number, address, and rating based on customer reviews.
Instead of filtering through pages of sites, consumers will often gravitate towards these listings to help them hone down on which local business they want to visit. To capture these potential leads, it’s important that you claim your listing on any sites that you believe your target audience might be using to find you. We always suggest that you start with a Google My Business Listing, as these always populate at the top of the first search engine results page (SERP) for a local Google search.
3. Feature Client Testimonials on Your Veterinary Website
This is sort of like word-of-mouth marketing, but even better because you will have more reach online! While your furry patients can’t sing your praises, their pet parents definitely can. Happy pet owners can be one of your more effective marketing tools. Reach out to your regular clients and ask them if they would be willing to write you a testimonial that you can feature on your website.
You could even take it a step further by including a photo of the animal you treated so that you can appeal to the animal lovers that visit your site. Seeing how you have helped animals like theirs could inspire them to make an appointment with you!
Bonus Tip: Online reviews carry so much weight these days. It’s worth looking into having reputation management to ensure your practice is ready to respond to both positive and negative reviews.
Learn More: A Quick How-To on Getting Client Testimonials
4. Email Discounts and Specials to Current Clients.
Veterinary marketing ideas worth exploring include email campaigns. Here’s why. A reported 80% of business professionals believe that email marketing increases customer retention. An email marketing campaign enables you to bring clients back into your practice by informing them of upcoming specials or events, such as flea and tick season.
Try creating a campaign centered around an offer you are running at your practice, like 25% off animal care products or reduced rates for micro-chipping. You can choose to just send a single email or schedule multiple throughout the month to maximize the chances that your clients will engage with your emails.
5. Create a Community on Your Social Media Channel
As a local business, you have the benefit of being able to establish genuine relationships with pet owners and their furry friends. Extend these relationships into the online world! Social media is an accessible way to connect with your clients outside the office and keep them updated on important industry news that can affect their furry (or scaly!) loved ones.
One way to appeal to your community is to also use client testimonials on your Facebook page. Ask for your client’s animal photos or snap one while they’re in the office to feature with the review so that potential clients can feel connected to your cause. Just add the post to your social media calendar and switch around which pets and reviews you feature!
Take your veterinary marketing efforts to the next level by having fun creating content for your social media accounts. After all these features in your marketing plan create a narrative that can resonate with your community.
6. Hold a Social Media Contest
Since we’re already on the topic of social media, let’s discuss more veterinarian marketing ideas you can add to your arsenal of strategies: social media contests!
The concept is simple. Choose a product or service you would like to promote and construct a contest around that item. For example, if you have just begun stocking a new line of all-natural pet treats, you can plan a giveaway that advertises this product.
Create original graphics to post on social media along with the contest rules so that your audience knows how to enter to win. Your contest could be something as simple as, “comment a video of pet’s reaction when the treats come out to win 5 bags of this-or-that dog biscuits!”
Be sure to generate interest in the product or service along with the content so that you can build value. You can do this by creating custom content promoting the item.
7. Start Using Video on Your Website and Social Channels
Video is the most popular content medium on the internet right now. In fact, it’s expected to drive about 80% of all web traffic by the end of this year! Get ahead of the curb by implementing video on your website and social channels as soon as possible.
Luckily, modern technology has made it pretty easy to create videos at your practice using your smartphone or a DSLR camera. You can even edit videos on your phone! More good news? People love content about animals, so you’re already at an advantage.
You can try documenting case studies of interesting or unusual cases you’ve seen at your practice, make compilation videos of all the cute patients you’ve had, or do a ‘Q&A With the Veterinarian’ series where you answer commonly asked questions!
8. Create Profiles on Your Staff Members
Pets are a part of the family, so your clients want to make sure that they are in good hands when they take them to the vet’s office.
Allow your clients to get to know your staff by creating a profile for each member, including everyone from the office manager to the veterinary surgeon. Give basic details about their experience and qualifications, but make it a little more personal by telling your audience fun facts about your staff.
Add a professional photo of your staff member to accompany the bio. They may even want to include their own pet in their photoshoot!
9. Give Back to Your Community
You can create an entire marketing campaign revolving around your veterinary practice’s efforts to give back. This veterinary marketing idea can make your vet practice stand out in your community. Practice social responsibility while promoting your brand by supporting local causes related to your business, such as your neighborhood animal shelter.
Creating connections with other local organizations can strengthen brand recognition as well as create grassroots marketing opportunities. Spread awareness about how to ensure a healthy lifestyle for pets and more. Plus, your staff will feel good about the work they are doing for their community.
10. Focus on Client Retention
New clients aren’t the only way to grow your revenue. On average, about 65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers. Many of the tactics we’ve gone over in this article can also boost client retention, but we have a couple more ideas up our sleeve.
Try implementing automated recall messaging to easily communicate with your clients and let them know when they have an upcoming appointment or their pet is due for a check-up. This will help you reduce no-shows and encourage existing clients to make an appointment with your pet owner’s veterinary practice grooming services call tracking digital advertising
Expand Your Veterinary Marketing Strategy with VetMatrix
We hope you’ve pinpointed a strategy or two in this article that you want to use at your practice. Don’t be afraid to think outside the litter box and get a little creative. Just make sure you are speaking to your ideal client when you create veterinary marketing content for your practice.
Are you interested in getting marketing expertise that can elevate your online presence? VetMatrix is a veterinary marketing company that can tailor a vet marketing plan to meet the needs of your practice. We have a team of veterinary marketing experts ready to offer the best digital solutions. Just click here or give us a call at 800.792.8384 today.
