The Veterinary Marketing Podcast

Unless you're a full time marketer, you probably haven't thought too much about where you are getting traffic from, but you should be! There will always be new ad platforms, social media channels and websites to drive relatively cheap traffic from, but which site should you drive traffic from? Where are your best potential clients spending time right now? What are the best places to promote your veterinary practice's content and offers? These are all questions that we answer on this week's episode.  For those of you who don't know, traffic is just clicks to your veterinary practice's website. Traffic is mostly looked at as a commodity  but the truth is not all traffic is created equal. Putting ads on craigslist will definitely yield different kinds of clients than you would find on places like Linkedin. So where should you be advertising? First of all are you even advertising? I talk to lots of practices who aren't even advertising and I think this is a serious problem for a few reasons. The first reason, is if you want to grow your veterinary practice and create systematic predictable growth, you need a way to drive clients. The other reason you should be doing digital advertising is that if you are solely relying on organic traffic you are allowing someone else to be in control of your business. Organic traffic algorithms change all the and your site could be completely removed from the search results.   So now that you know you should be using digital advertising, the next step is to figure out who your best potential client is so you can find the best places to advertise on. Is your ideal potential client a successful business person, who is a college grad and makes 125,000 a year? You might want to consider linkedin. Once you define your potential client use sites like alexa.com to find the demographic data.  Now keeping line with the thinking that you don't want to have all of your eggs in one basket it is important to be testing and trying out a couple different traffic sources because even with paid traffic things change. Sure, Facebook marketing is great right now, but what if your ad accounts gets disabled or what if it becomes extremely expensive because competition grows stronger. Always be testing and trying new platforms that you feel would be a good fit for your content and your audience and you'll be able to create as many clients as  you would like! 

On this week's episode I have a special guest, Dr. Caitlin DeWilde, the founder of TheSocialDVM.com and we cover social media marketing for your veterinary practice.  Dr. DeWilde has great insight because she is a DVM as well as a social media expert and so she understands the time and financial constraints that practices face when they are trying to create social media marketing plans.  Dr. DeWilde holds her DVM degree from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, where she was the president of the Veterinary Business Management Association. Dr. DeWilde also holds a B.S. degree in Agribusiness and Animal Science from Southeast Missouri State University. She currently serves as Vice President for the Greater St. Louis Veterinary Medicine Association. In addition, she is also a member of the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association and the American Veterinary Medical Association. She currently practices part-time at a St. Louis animal hospital. Dr. DeWilde was also recently named as one of just 10 national veterinarians to the AVMA Future Leaders class of 2014-2015.   A lot of times I talk about some advanced marketing techniques that sound good in theory but when it comes to application it is difficult to find time to implement, and that is where Dr. DeWilde comes in. She really understands the difficulties that practices face and so she is all about creating creating solutions that are practical for practices. We also cover topics  ranging from what the most common mistakes practices are making to what the best social media platform is. She also explains what she thinks about boosting posts and paying for distribution of content.  Dr. DeWilde also has a special offer for listeners of the podcast. If you would like to get a free social media consultation visit TheSocialDVM.com and contact her to have her evaluate your social media efforts. Dr. Dewilde also does social media management for veterinary practices, which may be a good idea if you are having trouble managing your practice's social media. 

Any time that there is a new way to generate new clients at your veterinary practice is good news! This week, Facebook released their new lead generation ad type and I think this is big news for your veterinary practice's marketing.  In this week's episode I break down some new changes that Facebook has released with native lead generation and how to use them in your practice so that you can generate new clients. I'll show you how to set up these new ads, what steps to take to make sure you're collecting the right information and then how to download the leads once they start rolling in through this native lead gen platform. What is native lead generation you ask? Well whenever an app or social media platform allows you to collect information within the app or platform, this is native lead generation. What this does is allow the potential client to interact with your brand and opt in without having to leave the place you're at.  Engaging natively is really important because it makes the content or ads that you have far easier to consume. This is why I am SO SO against you using all of your social media channels in the same way. If you have your Twitter account linked to your Facebook account you're going to get really low engagement because people behave and consume content differently in these different places. Each space has its own tone and context, and so if you make it easy and appropriate for people to engage natively you'll have higher conversion rates.  So what is really exciting about Facebook's new ad type is that they let you collect your potential clients info without having to leave the Facebook app. I've been testing this ad type and the potential seems really big for these apps. Here is how they work, basically you create the ad in the power editor and then you create a web form to use along with the ad. You can customize the web for to collect as much info as you would like, but remember, the more info you collect, the lower the conversion rate usually.  The application of this new ad type will work really well with segmentation and creating specific offers for those segments. I'm really excited to see how veterinary practices use this, but remember that it is important to constantly be testing. A large benefit of this ad type is that it allows you to really easily measure how much a lead costs. 

One of my favorite things about Marketing is that you have the ability to choose who you work with and who you attract to your digital marketing pieces. I bet it isn't said too often but you can choose who you work with and what kind of clients come to your practice. I am sure that there will always be some difficult clients, but what if you just focused on attracting clients who were just like your the favorite clients you already have.  Now I definitely understand the difficulty that a lot of veterinary professionals have when they try and define who they want coming in to the practice. Obviously they want as many people as possible to bring their pets in and they want to provide high levels of service and care, but if you get to choose who you work with, what would that person look like? In today's episode we cover exactly that, and more by creating your ideal client's avatar.  If you think about your favorite clients you probably have a good idea what they look like, but we go way more in depth in creating your ideal client avatar. A client avatar is a marketing term that represents what your client is like, and we go so far as to create a name, demographic data, phrases expression that person uses and much more. Creating your client avatar really gets you to think in terms of your ideal client so that when they read your content or see your marketing they identify with it immediately and are drawn to your practice.  When you are thinking about the ideal client, think about several of your favorite clients and try and figure out what are some of the commonalities between them. What makes this person tick, what are some of their fears, what are some of their pain points or what is it that will really make this person feel like they are valued at your practice. Imagine what your practice could be like if the majority of your clients were exactly like your favorite clients.  Once you have gone through the process of thinking more about who your client is and what truly motivates them you'll be a far more effective marketer. Everything from the content that you create to the email you send will be created with better positioning and should connect with the potential client. This exercise will also help you to define the demographics you use to create and target your ads as well. 

Digital marketing is changing faster than ever! It is crazy, but also really exciting because I feel like we're in the golden age of marketing. Highly sophisticated marketing tools and techniques are available to everyone now, if you are able to keep up to date, which is what this week's episode is for. There have been some really big updates, and so this episode is about whats new and what you need to be keeping your eye out for.  The three areas that I'll be covering in today's episode are: Snapchat's update, The Facebook Business Manager and why I think it is time for you and your practice to switch over to that, and lastly Instagram ads! I've been really excited for Instagram ads, and I'll definitely be doing a full episode on Instagram here shortly. The release of Snapchat's new facial recognition animation is  a really big deal I think. Even though on the surface it might look pretty silly or not that important I think it is big for a few reasons. First let's talk about something that is important to think about when you're approaching social media, which is when should you start considering a platform/app/social media outlet so that you're not always chasing the next shiny object. Marketing is a pretty predictable pattern now, although it is unlike anything we've ever seen in history so far. Typically in the past, the established older generation would control the distribution of content, IE Radio/TV/Newspaper, but now the youth are driving what is cool and interesting with respect to content creation and consumption. So you'll get a platform like Facebook, where it is adopted by the younger generation, it comes to a point where it is adopted by older generations and finally you have days like for the first time last month there were a billion people logging in. Amazing!  Social networks work like that, you get youth going finding new things, they put their attention there, eventually more people adopt and integrate and when you have the attention of a large number of people you get advertisers. So in any social network you have the opportunity to grow your brand before all the advertisers migrate over and hopefully you can really engage and attract clients before advertising becomes really established. Facebook is definitely reaching maturity in its ad platform, but places like Snapchat are still in a way that you can be early to the game.  The latest update really shows me that Snapchat is doing a good job at innovating and staying relevant, so you need to be checking this out, even if it just from the standpoint of a consumer so that if your practice decides to start using it you'll know how it works and what works best. Be sure to follow my snapchat @VMPBrandon.  The next update that I think everyone needs to get on is the Facebook Business Manager, which you can find at Business.facebook.com. Here you can access a bunch of really cool features and you definitely get a different feel than just using the standard Facebook Ad Manager. The reason why I think it is great to use the business manager is because if you have mulitple people using and posting to the account you'll be able to easily manage them here. You'll also be able to access the custom audiences, the new pixels and most importantly add your Instagram account. If you hadn't heard, Instagram is rolling out ads, and this is HUGE! I've been waiting for Instagram ads forever, and they're finally here! In order to advertise on Instagram you need to add your Instagram account to your business manager. You can do this by going to settings and clicking on Instagram account.  Facebook continues to innovate and do an amazing job with their ad product, so it is so so so so so exciting to see the same demographic choices available within the power editor to create Instagram placements. I'll definitely be doing an Instagram episode here in the near future.  The definite theme of the episode this week is that you need to be working on becoming a practitioner of these digital marketing platforms. See how people are using the social networks, how they interact with brands,and how they engage and comment on ads. If you can see people who are having success, duplicate what they have and cut down the time on the learning curve. One thing to really take note of is what makes people angry so that you can avoid doing harm when you go to a new platform.  If you have any questions or comments be sure to let me know: brandon@veterinarymarketingpodcast.com

Have you ever though about what actually matters when you are doing content marketing, or direct response marketing? I hear practices tell me all the time, "we've tried that (insert marketing platform) and it doesn't work", but what does that actually mean? In this week's episode I try and help you determine what kind of marketing results you should be focusing on and one type of result that you shouldn't be worrying about, which I call Vanity Metrics.  Vanity Metrics can be things like, impressions, reach sometimes "likes" or re-tweets, basically anything that on the surface seems impressive, but when you dive deeper you discover that it isn't really producing anything. When the metrics you are following are just activity based rather than results based is when you can get into difficulty with  your marketing. A lot of times too, these kinds of results seem impressive or exciting, but they don't help to drive clients in to your practice.  I will say that there is always difficulty in trying to figure out what the ROI of your marketing is or should be. I think that a lot of times in social media when you are building community, educating clients or creating engagement that it can be difficult to quantify the result in terms of ROI but you should be able to quantify the engagement and drill down into what meaningful engagement actually looks like. For example posting an educational article that you are doing solely for educational purposes and then to have no one like, comment share and you get a low click through rate would be pretty easy to identify as a loser.  Creating marketing with the end goal in mind will help you be a better marketer and allow you to generate better results. Instead of saying "This marketing doesn't work" you'll be able to find out what part isn't working, correct it and create success. 

One thing that I keep seeing over and over with the veterinary industry is that everyone has TONS on their plate. It shouldn't really be a suprise with as much work as a veterinary hospital sees that there simply isn't time for marketing activities like content creation. On this week's episode I go over how to use virtual assistants or freelancers to do marketing activities for your veterinary practice.  In case you don't know, virtual assistants or freelancers are people who are skilled at specific task that you are looking to achieve and will work for you on an as needed basis. Often times, virtual assistants are found in different parts of the world where the currency echange rates and costs of living help to create situations where you can find highly qualified workers for aa really reasonable rate. I've had lots of luck finding virtual assistants in India and the Philipines who do amazing work at really affordable rates.  When thinking about what kind of tasks you want to outsource think about these three questions: what Do I don't have time to do, what do I dislike doing and what am I bad at? These are things you can outsource. One thing you need to do for sure is define what the task description is, what is involved in the process and what the desired outcome is. This should be easily definable and measurable. Being able to measure the outcome is crucial because if you can't measure the outcome you won't be able to tell if it is worth outsourcing.  Once you've definied what you want to outsource, create a job description and go to a site like upwork.com or guru.com and post an ad. There you'll get dozens of applicants. You can see how many people have used the applicant, view reviews and see resumes. Often times you'll get people applying who are asking between $3-$20 per hour depending on skills and location. After having the job posting up for a few days I then select two or three applicants to test.  The test that you have applicants do is really important because you want virtual assistants or freelancers who will read the emails that you send, follow instructions and make your life easier. If they don't read the instructions or follow the instructions you give them explicitly you will have a difficult time getting work done the way you want it.  For example if I have a person who I want to create graphics for my content, I'll create a test where they have to read the article I've written, get an idea of what it is about create 3 graphics that convey the same idea but are in 3 specific sizes and then email the result to a specific email address. I'll make the graphic sizes a really specific size to make sure they read the email and follow all the instructions.  Creating a template along the way is very important as well because you'll likely have to re-use the process you create every once in a while. You don't want to have to reinvent the wheel every time you need someone to do some freelance work for your veterinary practice. 

If you've been watching any financial news at all you've probably been feeling pretty nervous. Financial Pundits are saying that we're in a buble or that we're heading for a correction. Well if you remember the last time this happened in 2008 you probably recall that things slowed down a lot. From what I've been able to tell from practices is that the last recession really hurt their practices. I'm not saying we're going into a recession, but I do think that there are things you can do to be prepared should any downturn happen.  Whether you are a veterinary practice owner, or an employee at a veterinary practice, there are lots of things that you can do to help secure your veterinary practices' marketing. Creating stability and making sure that you have the skills and resources in place is what is really important. So in this episode I go over the things you should focus on when the economy is good and then what to do when the economy is not so good.  The main concepts that I think can really help your practice are growing and building when times are good like they have been for most practices. Many of the practices that I've spoken to have been enjoying 6-8% growth and while this is awesome it is important to take as much advantage of this market driven growth as possible. Make sure that you are building your email lists, that you are growing your social media audience and that you are connecting and establishing a relationship with your clients.  If the economy gets bad it is important to already have the marketing skills you would need to drive clients in to your practice. It is far better to have ads and marketing figured out now when times are good and you can afford to test than in the future when you don't have funds coming in to supplement your marketing tests. I go into depth about things you can do when the economy isn't so good as well.  I'm definitely not an economist, but I think it is important to take notice of where the economy is heading so that you can create growth no matter what the economy does. 

I've had Danielle on the podcast now 4 times, and I always enjoy our interviews because Danielle is a great practitioner of what she preaches. She has the unique perspective of being a practice manager as well as an amazing marketer so she is able to share some great insight. In this week's episode we go into what she is doing with social media marketing in her veterinary practice as well as what she is doing to help her clients with their social media efforts.  Danielle K. Lambert is a social media coach and veterinary practice manager. She’s the founder of SnoutSchool.com, the only social media tutorial site created by a veterinary professional, for veterinary professionals. Danielle bases her coaching on experience gathered as a veterinary practice manager at Quinebaug Valley Veterinary Hospital in Danielson, CT. In her spare time, she enjoys taking too many iPhone photos of her Brussels Griffon, Archer, and screaming at Tom Brady every Sunday during football season. In this episode I catch up with Danielle to see what she thinks about Facebook, and if it is still where she thinks there is a huge opportunity. We cover also cover what kind of ads she is running these days on Facebook as well as some of the major changes Facebook has made to profiles. Along with a few other topics on Facebook, we cover Instagram as well as Snapchat too.  Be sure to check out this full episode and be sure to subscribe get Danielle's FREE guide, the 5 MUST-HAVE social media tools for your veterinary hospital. Click Here For The Guide. Also Be Sure to Check Out Danielle's Facebook Marketing Group, it is epic! Click Here for the Snout School Facebook Group

In this week's episode, I talk with Dr. Mark Olcott, co founder and CEO of Vitus Vet. Dr. Olcott has a really unique background in veterinary medicine and has worked in all kinds of practices. We discuss content marketing, using segmentation in content marketing to how to use mobile apps in your veterinary practice. Dr. Olcott definitely has a great background in marketing and he shares a bunch of great info with us this week.  One thing that Vitus Vet does that I think is really cool is it allows for your clients to get really useful and potentially life saving info be made available to them. Having your pet's medical records available after hours can really help, and I think this will help you and your practice if you choose to use Vitus Vet. Giving your clients this info via the app that they offer also creates a great incentive for pet owners to actually download your app. Having an app for your practice is great except you have to compel your clients to download it, and I think that Vitus Vet has a great way to offer value so your clients will download it.  Another way to be sure to add value is through segmentation. Segmentation is where you divide your client list up into different parts so that you can deliver really relevant content. The more relevant the content the better, that way your clients will want to consume your content. Vitus Vet lets you get info and distribute highly relevant info, which allows you to educate and stay in front of your clients. When you're able to stay in front of your clients more you won't have to deal with Dr. Google as much and you'll have better client retention as well.  Be sure to listen to this whole interview because it is full of great info that I'm sure will help you  and your practice. Also head on over to VitusVet.com to check out their app, they have a free version to try out.