Nine Marketing Methods That Will Get You More Business and Satisfy Your Current Clientele
Pet owners have a wide variety of options when it comes to choosing a veterinary hospital or clinic. That’s why it’s so important to make that initial and subsequent connection with clients in the most optimal method possible. Proven marketing strategies that successfully attract new clients while satisfying the needs of established ones are mandatory.
The Benefits of an Efficient Advertising Strategy for a Practice
If you want to attract new consumers or retain the ones you already have, you need a marketing strategy that works. The greater the exposure your veterinary clinic receives, the more likely clients are to remember it when they have a need for your services, and the more likely they are to choose your clinic over others that provide them.
Important parts of a successful advertising strategy include:
Planning
Before diving in, it’s important to map out a plan of attack. Think about the results you want your business to achieve and the actions you will take to get there. Your strategy should detail not only when you want to put it into action but also how much it will cost, who from your practice will be engaged, what kind of material or channels you will employ, and how you will know whether or not it was successful.
Consistency
Maintain uniformity across all of your promotional activities to maximize their success. Establishing a consistent tone, voice, and style that appeals to the intended demographic is crucial while working to build a brand’s recognition (consider the logos, fonts, colors, and images you use in your marketing). In order to keep people interested in your blog or social media page, you need to publish on a regular schedule. It could take a month, three months, or six months of consistent effort to learn if a new marketing plan is successful. If you continually altering up your marketing approaches, you’ll never know what’s working.
KPIs or Key Performance Indicators
The key to effective marketing of your veterinarian practice is to track the results of your campaigns. Establish the criteria by which success will be judged. You can measure success by how many people are exposed to your content online, whether that’s through website visits, blog reads, phone calls, or new patient registrations. Knowing the results of your marketing efforts will help you better manage resources and prepare for future projects.
Easy Ways to Advertise Your Business
There are pricey ways to communicate with your population, but there are also many low-cost alternatives. The following are some ideas to think about if you are a veterinarian trying to increase your clientele.
Networking Sites
Your intended audience is likely already active on social media. You may meet more people in your area and increase your consumer base by using social media to spread the word. Spending time here is an excellent opportunity to give back to the neighborhood and make genuine connections with people you might not have met otherwise. Instead of providing promotional content, consider sharing updates about your practice, such as policy changes or special offers, as well as your blogs and suggestions for pet care, as well as highlighting your veterinary team and/or the pets you care for (with the owner’s consent, of course) (which people will see as spam and ignore).
Affiliate Referral Scheme
You can find potential new consumers among your current audience. Remember that happy customers are your best form of advertising. Two strategies to entice people to come to your clinic from their own networks are to offer discounts to new patients who are referred by current patients, and incentives to patients who suggest friends or family members.
Sponsor Events
One wonderful method to get your name out there and win over locals is to sponsor pet-related events in the neighborhood. For instance, you and a local groomer could organize a free nail-clipping day or you could sponsor a festival at a dog park with the proceeds going to a shelter. The benefits of sponsoring an event include increased brand awareness, access to a new audience, and the opportunity to meet potential clients face-to-face.
Promotional Email
As business owners, we know from experience that it is more expensive to acquire a new customer than to maintain an existing one. Email is a great way to keep in touch with current customers between scheduled visits. Appointment reminders, company updates, month – to – month newsletters, and exclusive deals are just some of the many uses for email marketing.
Blogging
Blogging is a great tool for building relationships with readers, spreading relevant information, and attracting more visitors to your site. You may provide value to the lives of your blog readers by showing your vets as knowledgeable and helpful experts in their industry. Writing blog entries on trending pet-related topics might increase your website’s exposure on search engines and bring in new readers. In your blog, talk about the highs and lows of pet ownership, covering topics like seasonal changes and anything else that seems pertinent.
It’s hard to fathom the breadth of possibilities. If your veterinary clinic caters to a specific demographic, such as owners of exotic or large animals, then a blog is a great way to spread the word about what you have to offer.
Collaborating
Your ideal customers are also likely to frequent pet-related establishments including pet boutiques, grooming parlors, kennels, and training centers. Connect with local businesses by putting promotional items (fliers, business cards, pens) in their waiting area or at the register (with their permission), and requesting them to do the same for you at your clinic.
Online Reputation Management
Your internet reputation is a crucial part of your marketing strategy since it affects how potential clients view your company and whether or not they decide to work with you. Because choosing a veterinarian entails such a huge leap of faith, pet owners will often do research on the internet before making an appointment. To establish a good impression in cyberspace, you need to clean up your act. It’s impossible to please all of your customers all of the time, but if you consistently deliver above-and-beyond service, your happy clients will far outnumber your unhappy ones. The idea is to make those positive experiences part of your online reputation. Get in touch with satisfied consumers and ask if they would mind leaving you an online review. After each consultation, have them fill out your survey on the go by sending them a link to it via text message.
Make sure your business is listed
Many people who are looking for a business much like yours online will initially look at directory results. Make sure that Google, Yelp, and Bing all have accurate information about your business. Your company’s name, address, website, phone number, and operation hours should all be listed.
Make an effort to expand your online presence
The great majority of pet owners will do some form of online research before making a major purchase or choosing a veterinarian. Clients that are on the fence about working with you will form their initial impression of you based on your website, therefore it is crucial to establish a decent one. Include information on your website about the unique services you offer or anything else that makes your practice stand out from the competition.
Your medical practice website should serve as an electronic resume. Can you please explain how this reflects on the caliber of your company and its employees? Is the information needed easily available? You should revamp or upgrade your website today if you haven’t done so recently.
The success of a veterinarian’s practice depends on having a website that is modern, easy to navigate, and presents a professional image. Pretend you’re a consumer and have a look around your site. Is there anything broken or missing, or does everything function as it should? They may be looking for your company’s physical location and contact information, as well as information about the veterinarians and other employees that work there. It is crucial that this information is accurate and up-to-date, especially if you have recently made changes to your hours or added new doctors to your staff. You should also inform your clients of any health and safety policies or COVID-19 rules that they should be aware of.
You should also think about whether or not you can schedule appointments and pay payments electronically. Online appointment scheduling allows customers to avoid calling during office hours or leaving voicemails and waiting for return calls. In addition, providing online booking could set you apart from rivals. When compared to the competition, a more user-friendly scheduling system is sure to bring in more consumers and patients.
Keep in mind the importance of closing with a call to action. If you want users to contact you by phone or schedule an appointment, you should use inviting language and place your contact information in a prominent location.