PEER REVIEWED
MARKETING IS NOT SIMPLY ADVERTISING; REVIEW
MARKETING STRATEGIES AND DETERMINE WHICH ONES
CAN BE APPLIED TO HELP YOUR PRACTICE SUCCEED.
Debra H. Boone, CCS, CVPM
2 Manage Vets Consulting M Gibsonville, North Carolina
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s with any business, veterinary practice owners and managers must know their clients to maintain and grow their practice.
Demographics can be found in several ways:
Visit the U.S. Census Bureau website for up-to-date information about the population near the practice.
Visit ESRI.com to review a report that describes the buying habits and life stages of people in close proximity to the practice.
Use the services of a professional demographer.
This information allows the practice to determine service offerings and understand the level of care the majority of the clients will accept. For example, holistic medicine and acupuncture would be more readily accepted in a well-educated population. More affluent clients tend to travel, so a boarding facility would be a logical investment.
However, although demographics are helpful, they do not tell the entire story. Practice owners must also know their competition, the neighborhood’s potential for growth or decline, and how to stand out.
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Marketing is often perceived as advertising; however, true marketing requires a cohesive internal and external approach. A well-trained, motivated veterinary team is the most powerful internal marketing tool; external marketing reaches outside the practice (eg, community involvement, social media posts, print or online advertising). Not everyone is the perfect client.
Identify the perfect client before creating a marketing strategy because all marketing should focus on that segment of the population.
As well as understanding the demographics, practice owners and managers must be able to segment their client population to customize their marketing effectively.
Because the management team understood that this practice’s many affluent clients were usually pressed for time, they marketed a drop-off service available before clients’ working hours and communicated examination outcomes by telephone.
! service that transported patients from their home to the practice for treatment. History and service needs were communicated by telephone, although clients often picked up their pet after work rather than scheduling a return limousine ride so they could speak to the veterinarian face-to-face.
The practice instituted playtime for pets in the boarding kennel. Clients paid extra fees for team members to take pets out to play ball or swim.
! The practice owner, managers, and associate veterinarians participated in business clubs (eg, Rotary International) and community art and theater events that clients would likely also attend.
This practice engaged a professional advertising agency to create a practice logo that personified and promoted its sophisticated brand. These services would not have been appropriate in an area with a different client base but were a necessity for the practice’s affluent clients.
January/February 2016 Veterinary Team Brief
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PEER REVIEWED
This mixed-animal practice opened in
1938 in a small, rural North Carolina town and grew with the area. Its client base included 3 segments that each required different marketing approaches:
Manufacturing workers, farm laborers, and local factory and business owners: This group of clients enjoyed coming to the practice and seeing their neighbors; they used preventive-care services but rarely invested in expensive procedures for their pets, which were often wellloved but considered expendable. The marketing strategy therefore focused on gaining their trust and establishing the practice as the local authority.
Veterinarians and managers gave radio and newspaper interviews, worked with local shelters to help reduce overpopulation, and promoted better pet care at area schools. The goal was to lay the groundwork of education about responsible pet care and to create familiarity that would drive business to the practice.
! The clients who owned livestock were most interested in animal husbandry, so the veterinarians focused on becoming recognized as the experts, lecturing in the community about herd health and working horse shows and National
Future Farmers of America (FFA)
Organization and 4-H events. Social media was used with the younger FFA and 4H clientele.
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Professional dog and cat breeders:
Marketing to the professional dog and cat breeders was the most interesting and challenging aspect and encompassed extreme pampering and over-the-top accommodation to the breeders’ schedules. The major focus was on networking with these show people, whose dogs and cats included many Westminster champions and Vogue models. Team members learned the do’s and don’ts of special grooming and hair coat protection. They also learned about the travel documents and recordkeeping required to transport animals nationally and internationally. They kept the products for artificial insemination services and other special tests that were routinely used stocked and ready. Flexibility was key because rarely was a single animal presented for an appointment. Once the breeders were confident of the team’s abilities and understanding of their world, their referrals drove even more breeders to the practice.
When marketing to clients, never focus on only one internal or external tool—create a well-rounded plan that supports both efforts. Also, always remember that one of a practice’s best marketing instruments is every team member’s laser concentration on outstanding customer service. Enthusiastic, devoted clients will drive new, quality clients to a practice more than will any formal marketing program. n
References
1. Veterinary Demographics Expert. Scott
McDonald & Associates. https://doctor demographics.com. Accessed November 2015.
2. Godin S. Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers
Veterinarians: Offer your expertise (via interviews, newspaper columns) to serve as a medical authority to the community.
Management Team: Become involved in community clubs and events to become acutely aware of local needs and act as ambassador of your practice.
Nursing Team: As you talk with clients, listen carefully; are there any clues that their sentiments or thoughts are indicative of a larger clientele base?
Talk about it!
Client Care Team: Pursue surveys or studies of the practice’s clients and share with team to identify and tailor services to their specific needs.
Into Friends and Friends Into Customers . New
York, NY: Simon & Schuster; 1999.
3. Godin S. Purple Cow —Transform Your Business By
Being Remarkable . London, UK: Portfolio; 2009.
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