Tag: marketing

It’s Opening Day for Your Start-up Veterinary Clinic. How Do You Get the Word Out?

by easyDVM

The first few months of your new practice’s existence are a critical period, and many practices that flounder in this period fold later on. You’re a veterinarian, not a marketer — but if you don’t learn at least some marketing techniques, your start-up practice may not survive.

What’s more, starting a new veterinary practice poses a unique problem: You have to carve out a new niche for yourself and create an identity for yourself out of nothing (or almost nothing). Thankfully, many veterinarians have done it before you, and there are several tried-and-true techniques out there to promote your new business.

Get Listed on Business Listings

The first step as soon as you get a location picked out is to get listed on all the business listing directories.  Google is still the pack leader so make sure you start there.  Other directories include Bing, Yelp, and Yahoo.  Most of them require a way to authenticate that you are truly the owner of the business.  So you may need a way to receive mail at the location or have a business phone number already set up.

Write a Press Release

Writing a press release is one of the most time-honored ways of getting your message out. By sending a press release to TV and radio stations, newspapers and other news outlets in your area, you can drum up plenty of interest. But your press release won’t do much good if these outlets don’t run it. With that in mind, you need to make it as enticing to reporters as possible.

Your press release shouldn’t be an advertisement: Write it from a neutral point of view, in the same style as a newspaper article. Press releases are for news, not just information, so be sure to reference something new like an opening date or an announcement. Remember that reporters are busy people, and they’re much more likely to run your press release if they don’t have to edit it. If you have any questions about how to write the best possible press release, you might hire a professional writer.

Notably, you should put your name and contact information at the end of the press release. Even if a news outlet doesn’t run your press release, they may reach out to you for an interview.

Social Media

Social media has largely supplanted traditional advertising media, like radio and TV spots or newspaper ads, as a way of getting your message out. Making a social media account and posting to it is a free way of getting publicity, so you should consider having a social media presence on major platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Unfortunately, just making free posts won’t necessarily help you break into your target market. Most social media platforms won’t prioritize your posts on users’ feeds unless you spend money to run advertisements or promote posts.

The good news is that platforms like Facebook allow you to carefully craft advertisements to promote your practice. You can choose precisely the audience you want in terms of location, interests and demographic variables like pet ownership. What’s more, these kinds of ads generally aren’t too expensive.

Opening Specials and Other Deals

Opening specials, sales and other special deals will only work if potential customers already know about your practice. So be sure to use other techniques to build buzz, but bring customers in the door — and build word of mouth — by sweetening the proposition with an opening deal.

What, exactly, you’ll choose will depend on what you can afford and what you think your customers will be interested in. Maybe you’ll give them a discount on their next visit if they refer a friend. Maybe you’ll offer a hefty discount on services for their first visit or give them a discount if they book another appointment before they leave.

When you’re starting a new practice, you have many marketing techniques available to you to bring customers in the door. By using a combination of many approaches, you’ll reach a broad audience and increase your odds of a successful opening — and a thriving practice for many years to come.

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.

New Veterinary Clinic – Lease Retail Space or Own a Free-standing Facility?

by easyDVM

When starting a veterinary practice, reviewing all available options is wise — from deciding on a location and employees to which veterinary software to use. One of the biggest decisions is whether to own or lease your veterinary practice location, and the answer depends on quite a few variables. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each so you can make a well-informed decision.

Pros of Leasing A Retail Space

Many new veterinary practice owners opt to lease their space for a number of practical reasons:

  • Less upfront cash needed: As a new veterinary practice, and perhaps a new vet as well, money might be a little tight. New veterinarians are typically paying off student loans, which put a crimp in their cash flow, so leasing might be the more comfortable option.
  • Inclusive pricing: Typically, maintenance is included in a lease agreement. This means somebody else will handle cutting the grass and maintaining the parking lot. This type of pricing can make your operations budget easier to control.
  • Fewer issues with maintenance: When something unexpected happens, you will simply call the landlord and let them know so it can be handled. Depending on your lease agreement, you may not have to worry about paying for plumbing or electrical repairs, or even if the roof blows off in a storm.
  • Better location availability: Often, existing commercial buildings have better locations with great accessibility, which is something that might be difficult to duplicate when building a facility on your own location. It’s even better when there are complementary businesses nearby such as pet supply stores, groomers or doggie washes.

Cons of Leasing A Retail Space

However, there are also some drawbacks to leasing as well:

  • Less available space: Sometimes, leasing means not having the amount of space that you would like to have for your vet practice. Leasing commercial property is a function of price and size, and sometimes you have to make do with what you can afford.
  • Less control over the property: When you lease a retail space, you will be bound by the lease agreement and the terms you negotiate with the owner. Of course, these terms might preclude you from doing some of the things that you’d like, so be certain to read the agreement carefully to avoid unintended issues.
  • No equity: Just like when you rent a home instead of buying, you are putting money in the landlord’s pocket rather than your own. You aren’t building equity for your future when renting.

Pros of Owning A Free-standing Facility

Owning your veterinary facility might be the best choice for you.

  • More control: When you buy or build your own practice facility, you have control over the space and can do whatever you want or need with it. From configuring your offices to building kennels and an outdoor dog run, the sky’s the limit.
  • More space: When you build a veterinary facility, you can decide how big a lot you need and how large you want the building to be. Likewise, if you buy an existing building, you can retrofit it to suit your needs.
  • More flexibility: When you own your veterinary facility, you can do pretty much whatever you want with it, as long as it’s legal. Want to stay open until midnight? Put up a really ugly but attention-getting sign (within local regulations of course)? Go ahead and do it. Planning to board dogs and cats and create an outdoor space for them to get exercise? Not a problem.
  • More economical overall: Many practice owners are thrilled to realize that owning is actually more economical for them than leasing a commercial building.

Cons of Owning A Free-standing Facility

On the flip side, there are some negatives to building or buying your own space as well, depending on your situation.

  • Upfront cash needed: Diverting the funds needed to purchase a commercial building or pay a down payment can take away your ability to invest in technology and equipment.
  • Maintenance required: Somebody has to keep up with the maintenance required, and when you own the place, that somebody is you.
  • Not easy to move: When you have a veterinary building completed or retrofitted to your specifications, it limits the potential buyers. Most likely it will only appeal to other veterinarians, so it can be challenging to sell the space when needed, may take longer than expected and can sometimes net less money.

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.

Where Do I Get the Funds for My Start-Up Veterinary Practice?

by easyDVM

You have to spend money to make money. But where does that money come from?

If you’ve never started your own business, it can seem like businesses appear out of nowhere. Taking out a loan is perhaps the best-known way to get essential capital, but there are many other ways of getting together the money to open a new veterinary practice. Read on to learn some of the ways of getting your veterinary practice off the ground.

Your Savings

Maybe the most obvious way of getting the money for your new practice is by dipping into your personal funds. If you’re considering opening a practice, you’ve probably been working for someone else’s practice or a veterinary hospital for a while. Along the way, you’ve likely saved up some money.

These funds will most obviously include a savings account. They may also consist of less liquid assets like stocks, bonds or even a retirement account — but be aware that liquidating these assets may carry hefty fees or tax penalties.

In general, you don’t want to drain your entire savings to open a new business. You want to leave yourself a financial cushion to rely on in case the business fails or doesn’t pick up like you’re hoping. So unless you’re very flush, you should probably supplement your own funds with another source.

Grants

Grants are an often-overlooked way to get the capital you need to start a new business. These will be particularly useful if you’re servicing an underprivileged or underserved area or population, because government agencies and charities will often earmark grant money to go toward these communities.

The downside of applying for grants is that you have to apply for them, and assembling the grant application takes time and potentially money (if you hire a grant writer). There’s no guarantee that you’ll get the grant, either, so you shouldn’t plan your opening date around a grant you’ve just applied for! But with a well-written application and a good vision for your practice, you’ll greatly improve your chances of receiving a grant.

Bank and Private Loans

Banks and private companies both offer loans to businesses looking to get off the ground, and this is how many (if not most) practices get established. However, unlike many of these loan types, you’ll owe interest on your loan. The more you take out, and the more time it takes you to pay it back, the more you’ll owe.

What’s more, the interest rate will depend on your credit. If you’ve had trouble paying your bills, or if you have a bankruptcy in your record, you’ll end up paying far more back to the bank over time. For these reasons, it’s a good idea to explore other options first and only borrow what you need (and can pay back).

Friends, Family and Crowdfunding

If your friends or family are affluent, you might try asking them for money to get your practice started. In these scenarios, it’s good to treat these loans like a bank or private loan. Don’t just take the money — pay it back over time. Set out the terms in advance, including the payments you’ll make, and any interest that will accrue.

Another newer option is crowdfunding. Using GoFundMe, Indiegogo or Kickstarter can help you raise capital for a business by distributing the costs across a community of interested people who want to see you succeed. Of course, you’ll need to advertise the crowdfunding campaign to make it successful, and you might need to find a way — even something small — to show your donors your appreciation.

Starting a private veterinary practice takes a lot of capital. But with these methods in hand, you’ll be well on your way to raising the funds you need, so you can serve your community and fulfill your dreams.

How to Increase Compliance With Veterinary Dentals

by easyDVM

Just like humans, dogs and cats benefit from regular dental cleanings. Unfortunately, many clients tend to balk at the price and the fact that the pet needs to undergo anesthesia, which means that their pets don’t get the dental cleanings they need. Convincing clients of the importance of dental cleanings is a tough job for any veterinarian, but it can be crucial to the oral health of the animals you serve. Here are some tips to help you be more assertive with clients when recommending a dental cleaning.

Clarify the Consequences of Skipping Cleanings

Many dentists try to persuade clients to schedule a dental cleaning by pointing out the tartar build-up on the pet’s teeth. However, clients don’t always understand the dangers tartar can pose. Instead of simply telling a client that their dog’s mouth has a lot of build up, you need to explain the consequences of letting the tartar go untreated. Let clients know that dogs and cats can develop painful infections due to poor dental hygiene.

Focus on the Benefits

Clients generally do not like hearing about the health risks their pets face. Although words like “pain” and “infection” may spur some people to schedule a cleaning right away, others may react to hearing about the health consequences of skipping dental cleanings by refusing to talk or think about the issue. For these clients, it is important to focus on the potential benefits of teeth cleaning. These include fresher breath and healthier, whiter teeth. Talk positively about the procedure itself, reassuring the client that the pet can be safely anesthetized so they don’t feel any pain or distress.

Use Assertive Language

The language you use to talk about a dental cleaning matters. Confidently stating “let’s schedule the dental cleaning” is more likely to improve compliance than asking “do you want to do a dental cleaning?” This approach emphasizes that dental cleanings are an important part of pets’ oral care, rather than an optional add-on.

Follow Up

Clients aren’t always able to commit to a dental cleaning right away. If your client doesn’t want to schedule a cleaning at checkout, be sure to follow up a few days later. Remind them of the pet’s need for a dental cleaning and ask them to choose a convenient time. Remember to use assertive language to prompt the client into scheduling an appointment.

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Pictures often speak louder than words. Take a photo of the pet’s teeth so the client can clearly see the tartar build up. It is often easier to point out areas of particularly bad build up on an enlarged photo than on the teeth of a squirming pet. Give the photo to the client so they can take it home with them as a reminder of how badly the teeth need cleaning. This may help to remind the client to schedule a cleaning soon. You can also provide a picture of the pet’s teeth after the cleaning so the client can see the dramatic difference in cleanliness for themselves.

Conclusion

Veterinary dental cleanings are vital for protecting the oral health of cats and dogs. By using these tips in your practice, you can reduce client compliance problems and focus on caring for your animal patients.

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.

Getting Veterinary Clients in the Door (A Few Reminders…)

by easyDVM

Content marketing can seem like a complicated endeavour. But, just like anything in business, content marketing is only as daunting as you make it. I understand that may sound a little naive, but there is certainly a grain of truth to the notion that we can over-complicate any task when we lose sight of that task’s guiding principles. Content marketing is a multi-step process, but the strategies that surround content marketing are based on largely common sense and practical principles and guidelines. If nothing else, I am here to remind you of a few of those guidelines and hopefully relieve some stress surrounding content marketing strategies and applications.

Take time to think about your practice and your clients

Before you can generate actual content, take a deep breath and brainstorm about what your practice means to you and your clients. If you don’t clearly define the terms of your practice ( i.e. how you want it to be perceived, what you want it to accomplish, and how you want it to impact your clients), how can you expect to define the terms of your marketing strategy? When you are generating content, it can become very clear very quickly whether your content is being guided by a clear and concise vision. Constructing that clear practice vision can help define your goals and construct a holistic marketing strategy. In essence, treat this brainstorm time like a scientific case study; before you can conduct the study, you must define the terms and variables that will guide your study. Content marketing is no different.

Be brutally honest with yourself

When generating content, you must be brutally honest with yourself. If writing was never your strong-suit, it may not be the worst idea to look elsewhere for content generation. This might mean looking in-house for people on your team that could generate engaging content or be trained to do so, or even outsourcing your marketing to a professional in the marketing field. Either path with require some investment, but if you’re serious of generating engaging content that will bring people in the door (or are reading this post), then I’m sure you understand that. If you decide to remove yourself from the direct marketing process, do not feel that you must exclude yourself entirely. Do not discount your knowledge as a veterinary professional. Whether you decide to stay in-house or outsource your content marketing, utilize your expertise and insight.

Rough draft versus final draft

It’s like you never left college! This might seem like common sense, but the editing and optimization process is vital once you’ve generated content. Check for spelling errors, the presence and placement of keywords, content organization, plagiarism, etc. Treat your marketing content like you would the final draft of a college assignment. Glaring grammatical errors or incorrect data presentation can really detract from the strength of your content, so be sure that your content generation process includes an editing step. Bonus tip: When generating content, particularly when it relates to veterinary medicine, make sure that what you’re saying is client-friendly. More specifically, make sure that what you’re saying isn’t too bogged down in technical jargon or only accessible to other medical professionals. Your focus is on engaging clients in some form or another, so always double check that your tone and content are customer-centric.

SEO. SEO. SEO!

Search engine optimization. This is an imperative aspect to content marketing and entails a variety of aspects involved in optimizing not only the performance of your content but your website, as well. SEO entails things like optimizing your site/content through a responsive design (which can incorporate clean coding, faster load times, etc.), complying with existing web standards, strong backlinks and inbound links through promotion, meta information, as well as mobile search compatability. This last aspect – mobile search – could be argued to be the most important, if for no other reason than the ever-growing prominence of mobile usage by consumers. Search engine optimization also entails integrating your content and website with your existing social media presence. Don’t be afraid of cross-promoting your site and content across different platforms, and always including links and streams from one to the other.
The keys listed above are certainly not the end-all be-all when it comes to content marketing, but they do highlight a few of the major points and pit-stops along the way to successful content generation and marketing. If you’re ever in doubt about the success of your content marketing strategy or just want to stay on top of your marketing efforts, utilizing tools like Google Analytics or the analytics tools on Facebook and Instagram are great options. They can provide a wealth of data on your website or social media platforms, and even track the performance of individual pieces of content. They are meant to be user-friendly, so do not be intimidated by what may seem like a bunch of analytical IT jargon. Such analytical tools ultimately give you greater control and understanding of your marketing strategy, and can even help you better understand what potential and existing clients are engaging with. If you would like to go more in-depth, I have posted some links below to sites and articles that delve into topics like content generation and marketing, as well as SEO. These links are not endorsements of specific companies or entities. Rather, they are simply meant to encourage further learning and understanding.

Content Marketing:
http://www.vmdtoday.com/journals/vmd/2017/august2017/the-five-pillars-of-content-marketing
SEO:
https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.

Top 5 SEO Tips for Veterinary Practices

by easyDVM

According to a 2017 survey, eight out of 10 people have used search engines to find a local service or product within the last week. As a veterinary practice owner, you need to ensure your business is highly visible in search engine results pages if you want customers to find out about the service you offer. Here are five SEO tips that can help your veterinary practice stand out online.

1. Choose Your Keywords Carefully

Use a keyword research tool, such as Google Keyword Planner, to find out which keywords people use when searching for veterinarians online. Consider local keywords, such as “veterinarian in [your city],” as well as service-specific keywords such as “spay and neuter.” Long-tail keywords, such as “cat spaying in [your city],” contain several words. Although they have a smaller search volume than general single-word keywords, such as “vet,” long-tail keywords usually have less competition and can attract customers who are looking for the specific services you offer. Be sure to include long-tail keywords in your SEO strategy.

2. Publish Fresh Content Regularly

Adding a blog to your website can strongly boost your search rankings. Search engines love fresh, original content. Once you have chosen your target keywords, create content around those keywords and publish it on a regular schedule. For example, you could add one post per week to your blog.

3. Provide Value to Readers

Your content must provide value for your readers. Use services like Quora to find out what questions people are asking online, and then use your veterinary expertise to create posts that answer these kinds of questions. You can also source blog topics from the questions clients ask in your veterinary practice. For example, if clients regularly express concern about putting their pet under anesthesia for surgery or dental cleanings, you could write a blog post about the anesthetic options for pets and how vets minimize the risks.

4. Add Your Veterinary Practice to Directories

Adding your business to online directories makes it more visible online, as well as providing backlinks to your website that can improve your search rank. Add your veterinary practice to Google Maps, Yelp and any local directories that serve your city or region. Be sure to keep these listings up to date with accurate opening hours and contact details. Encourage your customers to review your business on these directory sites to improve its visibility and reputation.

5. Use Social Media

Using social media can strengthen your relationships with customers. Having a strong social media presence may also bring SEO benefits, as people who interact with your practice on social media may post links to your website from their own sites and blogs. The more links you have pointing to your website, the higher your search rank is likely to be. Set up profile pages for your veterinary practice on Facebook, Twitter and any other social media networks popular with your customers. First, fill out your profile pages with accurate information. Next, begin sharing interesting and engaging content, such as links to your blog posts, pictures of your veterinary team, and questions that encourage people to talk about their pets.

Keep It Up!

Search engine optimization isn’t a “set and forget” process. To stay at the top of the search engine results pages, you need to keep using these tips. By continually working on your SEO strategy, you can make it easy for customers to find you online.

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.

Veterinary Wellness Plans in Veterinary Practice – Pros and Cons

by easyDVM

Woman out running along a grassy track with her two dogs. Rear view if get legs with both dogs in view. Early morning light creates shadows at atmosphere. Shot on iPhone 6If you are in the field of veterinary medicine, you have heard about wellness plans.  You may be asking yourself if these plans would be profitable for your practice. Here are some pros and cons that wellness plans can bring to your business.

Pro: Increased Vet Visits

Clients have been known to increase the amount of times they bring their pets to the vet by two to three times when they have wellness plans. When a client can pay for services at a discounted price monthly, or even annually, they will be inclined to utilize these services more often. This leads to better care for pets, improved bond between the veterinary team and the client, and increased revenue for your practice.

Pro: Wellness Plans Tailored Towards Specific Practice Needs

Do you need to draw more revenue towards a specific service, such as dental cleanings or spay/neuter surgery? Create a wellness plan that includes items associated with only these services.  This can drive clients to providing yearly bloodwork and dental cleanings for their pets, or even spay/neuter services with a new puppy/kitten vaccine package. Ultimately, again, this improves pet care and the bond with your clients, as well as increased revenue.

Con: Wellness Plans Can Be a Sensitive Matter

There are many things that can make wellness plans fall apart. As a veterinarian, you must pay close attention to what is best for your clients and their pets. Communication between yourself, your team, and your clients is essential to the success of wellness plans.  Clients need to understand which wellness plan is best for their pet at various times throughout their care.  Therefore, you cannot implement a successful wellness plan without thorough research to provide appropriate options and excellent communication to your clients, as well as your team.  Everyone must be on board to make it work.

Con: As With Everything, Things Can Take a Terrible Turn

It happens.  Clients cannot pay their wellness plan fees.  A pet dies with months of unused services.  As part of implementing wellness plans, veterinarians have to at least attempt to prepare themselves for the inevitable. Know what you are going to do; maybe your practice will offer a refund of services not used or have a clause that protects the plan, and your practice, if a client defaults on payments. If you have covered your bases beforehand, and communicate this with your team and clients, it will not be as difficult to deal with, should the time come.

Summary

This information merely grazes the surface of wellness plans in private practice.  In conclusion, the most important thing is to do your research as a veterinarian and include your team and clients in the implementation of your pricing strategy.  Find out what is best for your clients and roll with it. Wellness plans may not be the answer for you and your practice, but they are worth a shot.

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.

Indirect Veterinary Customer Service: Technology and the Employee-Customer Dynamic

by Hunter Little

I’ve got to say, I am really proud of the title of this blog. If nothing else, I’ve managed to make something that is, at its core, a very simple concept and transform it into a seemingly complicated theory (there is always something humorous about over-complicating simple ideas). When I say “Indirect Customer Service”, what I’m really referring to is the notion of improving customer service by improving other aspects of your business that do not directly deal with customer service. That is to say, addressing customer service indirectly by addressing other areas of your business. Also included in the title is this notion of the employee-customer dynamic, or more specifically, the daily interactions that occur between employees and customers (we can even include employee-to-employee and customer-to-customer interactions).

My theory is quite simple, and is ultimately based on a few basic observations within the workplace. By implementing a few key technological improvements into the lives of employees (with the idea being that these technological installments are meant to make the employees’ work easier), the employees would ultimately be happier and more productive (I promise, this is not some kind of pseudo-communist plot). This direct influence on employees has indirect benefits for customer service. A happier employee is bound to have a pleasant interaction with the customer. If you have ever been introduced to any kind of behavioral-based psychology, then you know that people oftentimes direct emotions at outlets other than the source of their emotions. Thus, an employee that is, for example, stressed out about the complicated process for inputing a new client’s medical history into the medical records database may be more likely to imbue that employee-client interaction with their negative emotions regarding their practice software. The client ends up being the recipient of an employee’s frustration, and thus has a negative customer service experience. Yet, this negative experience had nothing to do with the client. Thus, because we failed to directly address a problem or inefficiency within the workflow dynamic (or the workplace as it applies to the employees), we have indirectly influenced our customer service.

This notion of indirect customer service was one of the driving factors behind the creation of EasyDVM veterinary practice software in the first place. We wanted to create something that was entirely based on a customer-centric model, emphasizing the importance of customer service before anything else. This means that, when we began designing the software, we designed it through trial and error, utilizing the input of our employees throughout the creation process. It is easy to design a software platform that is aesthetically pleasing and loaded with tons of features. but none of that matters if your employees can’t use it. Functionality and ease-of-use became imperative to the creative process behind EasyDVM veterinary practice management software. What I ultimately found was how this indirectly affected customer service. If employees are happy, then clients are happy. It may sound simple or a little overreaching, but I challenge you to try it. Like I have done before, I challenge you to put customer service at the forefront of your business, and see what changes come with that new approach.

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.

Diamond in the Rough: Making Your Veterinary Practice Stand Out

by easyDVM

Veterinary practices today operate in a highly competitive market. To attract new clients to your practice and retain existing ones, you not only have to provide a good service, but also convince clients that your practice offers greater value than all the others in your local area. If you are struggling to get enough business while other practices in town hog the limelight, use these tips to polish your practice’s marketing until it shines like a diamond.

Upgrade Your Website

When pet owners look for a local veterinary practice, they often turn to search engines to find out what their options are. If your website sits low in the rankings for key search terms, such as “vet [your local area],” people may not know your business exists at all. In this case, adding keyword-rich content to your site in the form of a blog could help to raise your site’s search ranking.

What if your website ranks highly, but still fails to bring in much business? In that case, you need to consider whether the content on your site is doing its job correctly. Does your website clearly state your location, opening hours and the services you offer? Most importantly, does it provide easy ways for clients to get in touch, such as a contact form, phone number and email address? Making communication as easy as possible could help to ensure your business is the practice of choice for pet owners who are new to the area.

Network Online and Offline

Building connections with the local pet-owning community can help you attract and keep customers. You can stay in touch with clients by inviting them to connect with your practice on social media, where you can share tips on pet care, pictures of your team and updates on the latest services your practice offers. However, even in today’s digital age, it is important not to underestimate the importance of real-world interactions. Increase your community presence by attending community events or giving talks about pet care and veterinary careers at local schools.

Partner With Local Businesses

Local businesses that cater to pet owners, such as pet stores, professional dog walkers and grooming services, can put you in touch with new clients. Research the pet-related businesses in your local area and approach the most popular ones with an offer to partner up. For example, your practice could hand out discount vouchers for a local pet store, encouraging your customers to buy their pet food and accessories from that business. In exchange, the store may allow you to place advertising materials for your practice in their store. Building relationships with businesses that pet owners already rely on is a great way to boost your brand’s reputation and attract new clients to your practice.

Deliver Outstanding Service

All the marketing tricks in the world won’t help you build a loyal client base if you can’t deliver a good service. Be sure to schedule plenty of time for appointments, so your veterinarians can take the time to make pets comfortable and build a rapport with owners. Use veterinary software programs to eliminate billing errors and other admin-related issues. Finally, always ask clients for feedback, as this can help you to identify problems with your service and address them to ensure your practice is truly outstanding.

EasyDVM Practice Software is a cloud-based veterinary practice management software system. We pride ourselves in offering a system that is user-friendly, easy to learn for new team members, full-featured and elegant in its simplicity. Best of all, all devices, multiple users, all your clients and patients, always affordable.