Posts Tagged: Veterinary Marketing

NextDoor is a local social network platform that is limited to “neighborhoods” based on your home or business address. It is designed for local people to post questions, ask for recommendations, and give/get general updates for their area. In fact, many of the posts start with ISO or “in search of.” 

Compliance is an important issue for veterinary practices, but the past few years have been a whirlwind and time has been in extremely short supply. Many of us have had no chance to take a step back to see the health of our animal population as a whole. How do you get all your clients back into compliance with checkups and vaccinations? To keep it simple (and quick to read), here are five ways to assist in this endeavor: 

Know Thy Data

It is almost impossible to accurately know the compliance rate of your pet population without reviewing data. Gut-feeling guesses can only take you so far, but hard data wins the day. There are a few places to collect data–the invoices for the last 12 months, and reports from your PIMs system. Here at Beyond Indigo Pets, we use our Marketing Dashboard powered by VetSuccess to gather data. 

VetSuccess excels at standardizing data from a hospital’s PIMS system and making it understandable. We want to be able to see exactly the number of compliant pets by species and compare that data to the benchmark of other hospitals in the area. This gives us a baseline from which we can begin veterinary marketing campaigns. For example, looking at this chart, we can see this hospital has 127 pets vaccinated for Lyme disease, which is 3% of their entire active pet population. Compared to the rest of the veterinary hospitals in the state, they are 8 percentage points lower in vaccinating for this disease. Since spring is upon us, and they are in a state known for Lyme disease, it would be an excellent marketing initiative to encourage people to get their pet’s vaccinations up to date. While the animal is at the hospital, it would be a great time to get a wellness exam, per the data below—two-for-one, so to speak! 

Demographics

Because of how targeting works in marketing on social media, Google, and other platforms, it is helpful to define what demographics you want to target before setting up any marketing campaign. Think about which age group your desired client base fits into. Consider the characteristics of your ideal or “best” client. In the new age of practicing medicine, who do you, as a team, want to see? Who adds quality to your day instead of taking it away? I would suggest you and the team write out a description of your ideal client and all the characteristics of said client. That is where you direct your marketing efforts instead of just hoping for the best. 

Bandwidth (This is very important!)

Bandwidth is a super duper important consideration when looking at marketing campaigns to increase compliance. The biggest bottlenecks involve the team’s ability to see the pets, budget constraints, and supply chain. For example, taking an inventory of what vaccines you have on hand, or that you can easily obtain, is the first step. It would be a waste to do a marketing push for something that you cannot complete due to supply restrictions. Also, what does the team like doing? Most hospitals do not have a shortage of clients so, instead of randomly pushing any topic, if the team had a choice, which area of compliance would they appreciate doing the most? Finally, set a budget for your marketing push to cover pay-per-click advertising and someone’s time to accomplish it. 

Time to Make the Push

Data in hand, demographics known, budget defined, and you are set to go. Now, where, how, and when do you market for compliance? Please be realistic regarding your personal time or staff’s time when marketing. If you have only five minutes to post a blurb/meme about the importance of getting a Lyme vaccination, look toward a post on Facebook and/or Instagram. Throw in Nextdoor too if you have a few extra spare minutes. If you have more time or work with a marketing company, focus on creating a blog about the what, where, and why of Lyme disease. Make sure to include a call to action (CTA) that is easy for people to do—think, “Click here to schedule an appointment.” Then, promote the heck out of that blog on social media, website, and newsletters. 

Time to Measure

Regardless of the marketing message and push, it is important to measure the success of the campaign weekly, or when the platforms allow. (Social media gives you marketing success data sooner than Google). Because the first step is to collect data, that is the starting point for your measurement. Compare that point to the new data after the campaign has been running a week or two. Is the needle moving? If not, it is time to switch up the marketing message and/or platform. 

Consider using us to move the needle on compliance (or any marketing push). Because we understand the value of your time, we created the Marketing Dashboard powered by VetSuccess, which allows us to see your data without you calling us, sending us reports, or squeezing in conversations. We can identify compliance issues, run them past you for your approval, and then roll up our sleeves and get to work. Reach out to us by clicking here https://www.beyondindigopets.com/#contact. 

Veterinary hospitals have experienced unprecedented amounts of client visits over the last few years. Because of the strain on their staff and the increased wait times for appointments, multiple practices have decided either to pause accepting new clients or to slow down the numbers of new pet owners walking through their doors. Some people think that means that marketing is no longer needed—because isn’t marketing just for bringing new tails through the door? 

If you blink, 25 years will pass! That is how we feel at Beyond Indigo Pets! And what a quarter century it has been. When we started in 1997, things looked a little different on the web than they do now—and our product offering was just websites. Our founder and CEO Kelly Baltzell learned to code our very first website in HTML with a book propped up next to her computer. Many people still had servers in their basements, hooked into the phone line through the basement window. Yahoo was coding their websites by hand, and Google was in its infancy after launching in 1998.

So, what does that mean, exactly? It means that every single word that is exchanged between you and a client is marketing. As a veterinarian, you might not realize that your marketing efforts extend beyond a colorful logo, an engaging website, and high-quality Google and Facebook ads. Even the slightest verbal or written communication can impact how your clients think of your business. 

These days, turning on the news can be disheartening. We are all doing our best to navigate this new world and it is very easy to get caught up in the fear of the unknown.  In between all of the scary and ever-changing headlines, though, it is important to remember that good things are still happening, especially when it comes to marketing. Here are some marketing techniques that are definitely still working for our clients: 

Digital marketing has become increasingly pertinent to the veterinary industry. If your practice is to be successful and relevant in the digital marketplace, you must seek out a veterinary marketing agency that can deliver more than Doggo memes and cat videos.

Finding a marketing partner who understands that there is more to digital marketing than a Facebook page and a simple website is key. More important still? Finding an agency that has a proven track record of bringing tails in the door, and the results to prove it.

You don’t have to be a Seinfeld fan to celebrate feline Festivus. A made-up holiday celebrated on December 23, Festivus has three main components: the pole, the airing of grievances (only during/after a tasty, meaty meal), and feats of strength. What’s not to love for a curious, clever cat?

Whatever ways you choose to celebrate, your cat probably wants a front row seat and we’ve got the best ways you can make the most out of this grand event.

Online marketing is on the move. With our phones in hand, we swipe and click our way across the web in search of what speaks to us. Love, food, travel, events… And yes, even pet care.

Consumers – that is your clients and could-be clients – spend over 71% of their online time on their mobile devices. This means that simply being online isn’t enough any more; you need to be mobile ready.

As an essential part of a veterinary business’s marketing strategy, keeping your digital footprint responsive to mobile it key. But, how do you differentiate between traditional digital marketing and being mobile ready? And how can you ensure that your marketing channels are performing at their best for an increasingly mobile client-base?