Tag: veterinary practice social media

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.

Worried about the transition from Paper-based to Paper-less Veterinary Practice Software?

by Sam D Meisler DVM

Worried about the cost and expense of a transition from paper to paperless?  This is a very valid concern and there are many things to consider.  First, how will the transition take place.  In going from paper-based medical rAnxietyecords to paper records, we recommend proceeding slowly.

Once you have decided on a veterinary practice management software provider, the first thing to do in the initial set up after getting your basic business information in (ie. name, address, logo, sales tax percentage, etc) is to load up your prices for services and products.  Most providers will allow you to put all of your prices onto a spreadsheet like Excel and they will then
load them into their software database.  Or you can enter them in one by one.

Next, take a good hard look at all those shelves or filing cabinets full of paper medical records.  Converting them to your new veterinary practice management software system is a daunting task.  Yes, you could pay a third party to come onsite and scan in all the thousands of patient records into i
ndividual pdf files for an exorbitant fee.  Then you could upload them all one-by-one into the software wasting hours and hours of your staff’s time.  Instead, we suggest that this is a great time to clean house.  Instead of converting every medical record, take this opportunity to purge records.
The best way to do this is when you are ready to start using your new system, enter client and pet information into the computer only as those particular clients come in for services.  You could also save time, if you have scheduledappointments, by entering client and pet information into the system the night before.  Scan the old paper records into a pdf file at the same time.  Many veterinary practice management software systems have a client registration screen where the client can do all the work for you by entering their current information directly into an iPad.  When the client comes in, give them the iPad to enter their information.  After a year of doing this, you can slowly purge that huge mess of paper medical records.  And in time, you can slowly move the old paper records of clients no longer using your services to the back room for storage.

Above all, make the transition super easy on you and your staff.  And use a veterinary practice management software system that is as easy to use as ordering something from Amazon.

Veterinary Practices and Social Media: It’s Not All About the Followers

by Hunter Little

Social media – from Facebook, to Twitter, to Instagram and beyond – can be a complex and seemingly unnavigable landscape. And I’m certainly not going to pretend to know all the answers or possess the keys to unlocking the secrets to social media success; however, particularly within the veterinary industry, there are a few rules[1] of the road that can help guide your practice’s social media experience and make it a more effectual one.

If you haven’t noticed by now, customer service and the client experience are central to creating a great veterinary practice. We always want to make our clients happy, and although that may not happen every time, we still strive to provide that excellent level of care. This approach to customer service can translate to your social media presence, as well. Practices sometimes make the mistake of only generating social media content when they have a sale going on or want their clients to buy something, whether that be a service or new product, etc. Instead, generate content that engages with your clients. Engaging with your clients can mean posting tips on how to prepare their pets for colder weather, or sharing an article from AVMA on a health warning for a certain medication, or even simply sharing a funny pet video. Remember, your clients are human, they always have questions, concerns, or even doubts about their pets every day. And they also love their pets unconditionally. So, when you are generating social media content that engages your followers, you are ultimately engaging their humanity and connecting with them on a personal level that transcends the practice-client relationship. Don’t be afraid to post or share content that you connect with, because chances are your followers will connect with that content, too.

Speaking of followers, DO NOT stress about the number of followers your practice has on Facebook, Twitter, etc. As far back as 2010, the Harvard Business Review was posting articles challenging the impact and importance of follower numbers on Twitter. It is important to keep in mind that, as a veterinary practice, you should ultimately be concerned with reaching your clients first, and potential new clients second. The number of followers you have may not necessarily generate similar levels of engagement and exposure. What is more important in engaging with your existing followers and maximizing the number of likes, comments, and shares you generate from your actual followers. A practice may have 5,000 followers on Facebook, but only generate 1-5 shares and 20-30 likes per post. Another practice may have 450 followers, but is generating 10-20 shares and 100-200 likes per post. The practice with 450 followers is ultimately the more effective of the two, because they are connecting with and engaging more of their followers, and their followers are responding in greater numbers. So, don’t stress if your follower numbers aren’t where you think they should be. The emphasis should be on engaging with your existing followers with the maximum effect, generating likes, comments and shares. Remember, if a client likes, comments, or shares your post, that client’s friends will be able to see your post (and therein you find the very nature of social media).

PRO TIP: Do not be afraid to invest a little extra and ‘Boost’ your posts on Facebook. Practice owners are often wary of spending that extra dollar or two on ‘Boosting’ their post because they don’t feel it will actually work. But, ‘boosting’ your post will help it appear more frequently on your existing followers’ News Feeds and the News Feeds of potential clients in your area, allowing for more views and more frequent engagement with your posts. (This can be especially helpful if you generate a particularly engaging post that you want to have greater viewership to promote your practice. Selectively ‘Boosting’ certain posts is a great way to test the feature and see if helps your social media engagement)

So, if there’s one thing to take away from all of this, it is a message I have been returning to a number of times throughout this blog: customer service. You can never do enough to engage with your clients and strengthen the bond between practitioner and client. Social media, when used correctly, can extend your customer service platform beyond the brick and mortar of your practice and help to connect your with your clients on a more personal and human level. The key, I believe, is not being afraid to give your practice a distinctly human quality when it comes to social media and generating content. Don’t be afraid to celebrate holidays, share laughs, and provide a little extra service or help beyond the confines of a scheduled appointment. Your clients might just love you a little more for it.

Additional Resources:

Here’s that Harvard Business Review article back in 2010, a fascinating read on how to potentially impact your Twitter presence: https://hbr.org/2010/05/influence-and-twitter

[1] I know it says “rules” here, but think of them more as guidelines, rather than steadfast and unbendable truths