Vet Marketing: Pet Perfect Tips To Market Your Veterinary Practice for Success!
Marketing any business to attract and retain new customers is a challenge. But marketing a veterinary practice to create a successful, thriving business can be a special challenge.
Unlike other businesses, a veterinarian and his or her practice are in constant contact with customers and their most cherished companions…their pets! A pet is like a member of the family to a lot of people. They bring joy, companionship, unconditional love, comfort, and in the cases of service animals for visually challenged individuals, valuable protection and guidance.
Promoting a vet clinic can be a complex proposition. You need to capture pet owners who are very choosy about where they bring their pet for care. Pet owners are often very methodical in researching a vet for the kind of care they need for their pets. They frequently ask friends and relatives for information and recommendations, and may even visit a location to check out the facility and staff prior to making an appointment.
So it may seem like marketing your practice is as much a full-time job as treating the pets that come through your door! It’s as vital to the success of your business as having a high standard of service, highly-skilled and knowledgeable staff, and a state-of-the-art facility to treat all kinds of pets. You probably have your practice’s website, Yelp, and some promotional flyers to scatter around town, but you also need some strong ideas to take your practice to the next level that can drive more furry friends to your door.
Here are some ideas to consider to help you market your practice to current and new clients :
Offer a bundled service package and special pricing to celebrate pet holidays.
The entire calendar year includes special days that honor our furry, feathered, and scaly friends. Capitalize on pet holidays like these by offering special services and/or exams to coincide with the holiday offered at a special discount or package price. Here are some of the many pet-oriented holidays that occur throughout the year:
- Walk Your Pet Month
- Adopt a Rescued Bird Month
- National Dress Up Your Pet Day
- National Answer Your Cat’s Question Day
- Pet Dental Health Month
- National Cat Health Month
- Responsible Pet Owners Month
- Hedgehog Day
- Love Your Pet Day
- Spay Day USA/World Spay Day
- National Puppy Day; Cuddly Kitten Day
- K-9 Veterans Day
- Take a Walk in the Park Day
- Heartworm Awareness Month
- Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month
- National Frog Month
- National Guide Dog Day
- World Veterinary Day
- Adopt a Shelter Pet Day
There are many more throughout the entire year!
Join forces with a local pet charity.
Somewhere near you is a pet rescue group or charity that specializes in providing safe harbor for abandoned and displaced pets. Usually these organizations are in need of supplies to help them provide the services they offer to pets and people looking to adopt a pet.
Promote your clinic as a location to drop-off donations. It will both increase your brand awareness as a veterinary clinic with a charitable heart, and deliver potential new business and customers to your door. Produce promotional materials to share with your clients and post the event on your website.
Hold special pet-focused events at your clinic.
A great way to support your existing clients and attract new ones to your practice is to host special pet care events at your clinic. Pick a day or weekend to offer pet care workshops or classes, a day camp play day for pets, a pet spa day, etc.
Be sure to include contests, giveaways, and other incentives to draw interest. Pet owners like to mix and mingle with fellow pet owners and feel part of a collective community of pet lovers!
Start a Loyalty Program for your clients.
Everybody likes to be rewarded for their loyalty and support of businesses they frequent. So create a loyalty program that rewards your clients who spend a lot with your business with discounts for pet merchandise, coupons for pet food specials, and other essential pet needs. And the loyalty program can also extend to goods and services that customers would enjoy, too!
Leverage your social media options.
One thing that people enjoy reading and engaging with are infographics! So consider creating one that illustrates what pets needs are through the various stages of their lives. The infographic can include useful information on healthcare and nutrition, as well as helpful statistical information. Post the infographic on your veterinary clinic website and other social media pages and let the engagement roll in!
You should also create photo galleries that you can share on sites like Instagram and Pinterest of pets that you’ve cared for, client pets interacting with their owners and clinic staff and other emotionally moving images. It will help create empathy among your customers and foster a deeper feeling of trust between you and your clients. It can also help show other potential customers how you care for pets.
And, obviously, Paid Search through Google Ads!
Everyone uses Google to find the resources they need to help guide their decision making process. With paid search campaigns, also known as pay-per-click advertising, you can target keywords your potential customers are looking for…right when they’re looking!
In particular, you can leverage your capability to target customers at the right place and time through effective search and display network advertising on Google Ads. In Search Network campaigns, you can access customers in search of your services with text ads that feature keywords that lead them to your site when they search online for veterinary services using words such as “Pet Vaccines,” “Cat Spaying,” or “Vet Near Me.” The Keywords related to the products and services you offer help your business appear at the top of Google searches.
In Display Network, ads with rich media content (images, videos, apps, etc.), are matched to websites, mobile apps, or YouTube content and related to the products and services you have to offer. When your ad content is related to your veterinary practice and needs of your customers, you can leverage your ads to have the greatest chance of viewership by the customers you wish to reach and attract who are using Google or other third-party websites and apps.
With both, you can use conversion and call tracking to get an accurate count of how your ad dollars are being spent, and what type of clients they’re delivering. It’s never been easier to generate new patients!
There are many ways to improve your clinic and practice to get a reputation for the best and most popular vet clinic in your community, and no doubt every other competitor is vying for the same title! But, when you market yourself well you can stand out and offer more to your customers and their pets, and draw in new clients in the process. Building a loyal following takes time and trust, but with many of the suggestions you see here and some steady perseverance, you can become the cat’s meow and top dog of veterinary practices in your area!
Many of the ideas on this list aren’t novel, but it all comes down to finding the time to get them all done. Luckily, when it comes to pay-per-click advertising campaigns, like what we mentioned through Google Ads, the experienced team at PPC Guru can help manage and optimize your online marketing campaigns to reach and capture the right people for your business at the optimal place and time. We focus on getting results that you can measure and count on every month. If you’re interested in a free consultation, just use the form on the right and we’ll be in touch!
Happy Pet Care!