The Veterinary Marketing Podcast

Happy New Year! With the new year here we can expect some changes in the digital marketing world and 2019 is going to be a great year for marketing for your veterinary practice. I go over the 3 marketing trends that will help the growth of your veterinary practice this year. I also share some predictions of what could possibly happen this year with social media platforms and how that could affect your marketing. Digital marketing is changing faster than ever before, and if last year was any indication, 2019 is going to be CRAZY! I think that there will be a massive opportunity for veterinary practices who keep up to date with the changes that come out. Privacy issues and public perception will play a huge role in how Facebook and other tech giants handle their product updates, ad guidelines and user guidelines in general. For my predictions of what we can possibly see in 2019, I think we will see an increase in the usage of Instagram for ads. Instagram will become a very popular platform to not only use as a social media platform for your veterinary practice to help build a sense of community by engaging with your followers but as a platform to use to advertise your marketing to get new clients through yoacur doors.  Expect Facebook to become more competitive as Instagram starts to become more of a place to show your ads. Facebook ads will also go up and expect to see some bigger brands popping up on your newsfeeds  As we talked about a little last week, Email marketing will be another great tool for you to use for your practice. Email marketing is one way you can reach even more people to get to know your practice and become more engaged with your clients. Be sure to listen and let me know if you have any questions, comments or need help with anything!

2018 was a really crazy year for marketing! There was so much volatility, loss of engagement on platforms and crazy changes that took place.  In total, I managed just over 240,000 in ad spend on Facebook and just of 260,000 in ad spend on AdWords, and quite a bit of that being veterinary practice's ad budget.  I share some of the most important lessons that I learned and talk about what I think you should do to improve your veterinary practice's marketing in 2019 and beyond.  2018 started off with a huge shift in Facebook distribution for business pages on January 19th 2018 algorithm change. This change really set the stage for the whole year and reminded me how important it was to be a multi-channel marketer.  Changes will only continue to come down the pipeline from our big ad network providers. Social media channels are becoming increasingly more crowded as more and more advertisers fight for the same set of eyeballs.  If you don't have an email list, it is time to start! Email will continue to be one of the most effective marketing tools that you get to own and control.  Be sure to listen and let me know if you have any questions, comments or need help with anything!

In today's mini episode of the veterinary marketing podcast, we cover setting up standard conversions on Facebook to increase conversions. Standard conversion events are really simple to use and you benefit from Facebook's algorithms to optimize your campaigns.  Smart "machine learning algorithms are becoming more and more useful in digital marketing, and because of this, it is important to use the tools that help you get more out of your marketing. 

Ads are difficult for a lot of veterinary practices, and it makes sense. Ad platforms can be confusing, and often when you're working in a practice, you're really close to the offers and content, so it can be hard to figure out the best ways to reach and target your clients or prospective clients.  In today's episode, I cover some really simple and practical tools to help you with your paid ads. I cover how to see if they're working and what to do if they aren't.  If you've ever run ads before, then more than likely you've had some results that weren't what you were hoping for. It happens to everyone who runs paid traffic to try and get new clients, but it doesn't mean that ads don't work. Ads can be just like when a patient comes into your practice, they can't tell you what's wrong, but you take a look at the symptoms and start to diagnose what it could be.  I cover a framework to help you identify the problems you're experiencing and how to turn around ad campaigns that aren't working. To begin this process it is important to break down your end goals into macro and micro conversions.  Macro conversions are the big goals you have, like getting people in the practice, while micro conversions are the small steps in between first seeing an ad and then coming in. The most common micro conversion problems that we talk about today are: Getting Impressions Getting clicks getting opt-ins Getting email opens generating clear calls to action, like booking appointments or getting calls If we can identify the micro conversions that aren't working, from there we can make small changes to improve campaign performance and turn the ads around. You don't have to scrap an entire campaign just because one piece isn't working.  If you have any questions or need help with anything be sure to reach out!

In this in-between episode, I cover why it is time to get started with business manager for your veterinary practice instead of normal ads manager.  Business manager now helps you use custom audience tools that make your Facebook marketing more effective.  For more on how to create and manage your Facebook Business Manager account go here: Click Here

If you listened to episode 140, you might have gotten the feeling that I was a bit down on Facebook or Instagram.  While I do think that it is BEYOND important to diversify your traffic streams and have different methods of generating clients online, Facebook and Instagram have been doing amazing work to update their products.  It is no accident that Facebook and Instagram continue to be a powerhouse of ad revenue generation. They are still the best when it comes to targeting in my opinion, and the new ad types that they are releasing are AMAZING.  In today's episode, we cover what happened to some of the targeting options, specifically the targeting that was provided by 3rd party data sources, due to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Along with targeting changes that have come out, we also cover some new formatting changes that work well in our favor to cover more real estate in the news feed.  One of the most exciting things we dive into are Facebook's new instant experience. These are really dynamic, native content types that used to be called canvas. Facebook Canvas were ad/content types that looked cool but kind of fell flat, until they were updated and now called instant experiences.  Load times are extremely, insanely important and these instant experiences are named this for a reason, they load really quickly. They also look really nice too. You can think of instant experiences like native landing pages. You can sell products directly here if you have catalogs uploaded, collected data with lead forms and also capture retargeting audiences of people who engage with these instant experience.  The last thing we cover in today's episode is that it is time to upgrade to business manager. If you have been holding off, like many of the practices I work with have, then it is time to get moved over. If you want to use custom audiences from uploadlistss, you can no longer do this without agreeing to terms of service only available in Business manager.  Here's how to change over to business manager: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1612355968988019

In this week's short episode I cover how to help veterinary practices get more out of your email marketing. In this short episode here's what I suggest you think about before you send out that email:   What do you want the reader's call to action be? What is the action you're looking to compel the reader to take? Figure this out and once you've figured this out, then you need to do step 2. What is the easiest way for the reader to take action? Make that call to action clear and concise. If it is a button to schedule an appointment, make it easy. If it is a phone call, make it easy. Eliminate friction and increase conversion. 

Social media is INSANELY important, I love it, but it isn't the only way to get new clients.  With the fast changing landscape of digital marketing, social media has become one of the easiest ways to generate new clients, but I see some really big changes coming to that.  In today's episode, we talk about how you should be diversifying your veterinary practice's traffic and client generation by becoming a multi-channel marketer. What is a multi-channel marketer? Simply put it is someone who understands and can use more than a single marketing channel. So if you've been working on and mastering Facebook, you should also have Adwords, email marketing or other media channels to help generate clients.  What is prompting this discussion today is that I've been seeing Facebook get much more difficult from the paid ads department, especially over the past year. It makes total sense and here's why, Facebook's growth is slowing when it comes to new user growth and younger segments are actually using Facebook less. Despite this lack of user growth, Facebook's ad revenue is higher than ever and this is because there are more advertisers than ever. Both Facebook and Instagram are seeing more ads and advertisers and it's only getting more crowded.  It is simply a matter of supply and demand. Demand is up and supply is limited so prices go up. This doesn't mean that Facebook isn't still a fantastic, amazing and effective platform, it just means the gravy train is over. I'm seeing higher cost per clicks and more expensive leads. We're still around the 8-15 dollars per lead area right now for most veterinary practices, but be prepared for that number to go up. As long as you're good at retaining clients, Facebook will continue to be a valuable way to attract new people to your veterinary practice.  You're also going to want to make sure that you are tracking your marketing so that you can know what your ROI is.  So let's talk how to protect yourself from overexposure in one area by diversifying where your clients come from in this episode of the veterinary marketing podcast.  

This is the first in-between episode where I give you a quick, easy and effective marketing tip to use to help market your veterinary practice.  In this first episode, I cover a copywriting formula that can help you with your social media posts, emails or anywhere else that you're trying to write persuasive copy to drive clients to act.  Let me know what you think about these short in-between episodes, send me a message or leave a note on the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theveterinarymarketingnerds

There are only a few things that I know without a doubt are going on in your veterinary practice. First, you are almost certainly understaffed or at the very least, extremely busy. Time is at a premium and this makes it difficult to think about running marketing campaigns, setting up email autoresponders or get to other stuff that will help your practice grow. Second, any marketing budget that is available (if one is available) is not unlimited so you need to find creative ways to pull from certain areas without taking too much. I get it. Running a business is tough, and when you add all the chaos that comes with running a veterinary hospital, it makes things even more difficult, which is why I have today's guest on.  On this episode, I interview Dr. Joy Fuhrman, from Shepherd Practice Management Software on how to use your veterinary practice management so help to hlep you grow your practice, spend less time updating records and help you to stop missing charges. For those of you who don't know Dr. Fuhrman, she is originally from South Africa and has more than a decade of experience in financial consulting and corporate accounting. A graduate of Colorado State University’s combined MBA/DVM program, she brings with her a combination of veterinary practice management, financial analysis, business valuation, professional development and leadership training skills. We dive into why Shepherd was started, and how their software really helps you to be more effective and efficient in your practice. Some of the most impressive things I think we cover include how many charges are simply missed, and as a result, your practice loses money. When you're running a practice where your clients are price sensitive, simply stopping missed charges is one easy way to get more revenue without having to raise prices.  Another really important strategy that you're probably not using is not showing the value of the services that you are discounting or giving away. If you want to give the client a service for free, many times that isn't reflected in the billing, which completely misses the opportunity to show on their receipt how much you've given. Perceived value is a massive factor to help your clients feel like they're getting a good deal and are being well cared for.  If you want to hear more about Shepherd, you can reach out to Dr. Fuhrman or any of the Shepherd team at http://www.shepherdapp.com and even request a free 14-day trial.