The Veterinary Marketing Podcast

Disney is one of my favorite brands because they have some of the most amazing marketing out there. Not only is their marketing amazing but they consistently put out the amazing content. In today's episode, I break down how you can apply some of the same principles that they use in their content and their theme parks to help market your veterinary practice.  I am a huge advocate for content marketing at your veterinary practice and I really think that it should be the center of your marketing efforts because it helps your practice's brand in so many ways. Content marketing allows you to educate, entertain and stay in front of current and potential clients. Content marketing is what solves the problem of Dr. Google and it helps to provide more transparency on the value that you provide.  Without the content, which was Mickey Mouse cartoons, there never would have been a Disneyland. Walt Disney Built his brand by being a content creator. One factor that makes their content so great is that they are amazing story tellers.  If you struggle with creating interesting stories, I found a great list called The 22 Rules for Storytelling According To Pixar, check that out because they've really figured out a way to tell stories.  Disney is a master of telling stories but they are also a mastere at repurposing their content and this is something that I think every veterinary practice can really learn from. Repurposing is where you take a piece of content, let's say a blog post or something and you turn it into something else. Maybe you write an amazing blog post that shows step by step how to potty train a puppy, you could repurpose that into graphics, videos and other native social media posts. Rupurpose your content and you'll be able to re-use your best stuff and not have to constantly come up with new ideas.  The last piece that I cover in today's episode is segmentation. Disney allows their clients to identify themselves as interested in specific pieces of their content and then sells them stuff. It is pretty amazing and you have probably never realised that this is what they are doing. 

Consumers in general are getting to expect more instant gratification. People want access now! From Uber to Amazon's same day delivery service the way that clients are interacting with brands and companies is becoming ever more on demand. Vet24Seven ads a level of on demand interaction that I think clients are going to be looking for. Here is how Vet24Seven describes their app:  "Vet24seven provides animal owners with veterinary consultations via their mobile device from veterinary practices in the Vet24seven Network. Vet24seven brings veterinarians directly to clients via the more than 1.5 Billion smart devices worldwide. Today's pet owner is busier than ever and the convenience of Vet24seven virtual consulations fits in perfectly with their active lifestyle.  When an animal owner sees a behavior or sympton that concerns them, they can now connect via video and chat with a licensed veterinarian from their mobile device to get fast answers and peace of mind. Vet24seven is an excellent resource for pet care questions, emergency triage, routine assessment, post-surgery follow-up, rehab follow-up, chronic care, or hospice care." In today's episode I interview Dr. Edward Blach DVM, MS, MBA, on their app and cover everything from how it works, to what uses it could have for helping to market your practice. Dr. Edward Blach, co-founder of Vet24seven,  is an avid entrepreneur who serves as a business and market specialist in veterinary medicine, often assisting companies in developing a vision for the future of the industry. His unique background combines veterinary medicine, market research, business development, and management. Dr. Blach is the former Chief Executive Officer of Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, Lexington, KY, one of the oldest and largest equine veterinary practices in the world, which includes more than 50 veterinarians. Some of the really interesting ideas that Ed gave us on this episode for marketing uses include new client acquisition, some hospice care uses, emergency uses and much more. I think that the team at Vet24Seven is really impressive and they've thought of everything you could imagine, they actually gave me a look at how their entire platform works and it is really easy to use.   One of the things that I really liked about Vet24Seven is that they don't charge practices to get set up, so I really think that this is a great idea for any practice to try out, especially with some of their best clients. 

I have heard so many times from people, "I've tried Facebook ads for my practice, and the don't work, so I'm not going to waste money there". But if I asked them why it didn't work they wouldn't be certain what wasn't working. One thing you can be certain of is that if you're going to be doing advertising you're going to be creating ads that don't perform very well more often than they do, especially if you're starting out. Advertising can take lots of testing and measuring to get the kind of response rates and return on investment that you're looking for. In this episode I talk about what can go wrong and how to fix it. In digital marketing you have huge amount of data that you can process and see what isn't working, if you know where to look. When you create an ad there are really three components that can have problems. The first component is your traffic. Who you're showing the ad to, who you're targeting is important because if you aren't matching the message and the offer with the right group of people you could have the best ad and landing page ever but never convert. Imagine you were showing ads about cat dental month procedures to people who only were alergic to cats. That would be a bad idea, and you would almost certainly get no conversion at all. If you show an ad about puppy plans to people who just bought puppies, you'll have a lot better of a shot. The second item that comes into play is the actual ad itself. Did you really create an ad or did you just boost an informational post? Is there an interesting headline an interesting picture that compels people to click or take the action that you're looking for. Is there a clear call to action? All of these elements are really important factors that help to get people to actually click. The last item that I cover in today's episode is the landing page. This piece is critical because often times advertising companies will send traffic directly to a services page. Expecting or assuming that the person clicking will know what action to take will set you up for failure, which is why having a clear concise landing page is really important. I cover in depth what each of these important elements should have, and specifically what veterinary practices should focus on in their marketing and advertising. 

Creating content that moves people to take action might be the most valuable skill anyone could have, and in this week's episode I'll be covering the basics of copywriting so that you can help turn more of your traffic into actual paying clients. Copywriting is the art and science of writing copy (words used on web pages, ads, promotional materials, etc.) that sells your product or service and convinces prospective customers to take action. This is important to understand if you are going to be creating any content online whether it is blog posts, social media posts, as well as advertisements.  When thinking about how to convince someone to take action, it is important to think about what actually motivates people, how to grab attention and then how to inform clients of what is important so that they move forward in the direction that you're hoping they go. In this episode I go over the main elements you need to consider when creating content or an advertisement so that you can convert at the highest rate possible.  Ultimately, the better that you can write copy for your content and ads, the more successful you're going to be at helping pets. Good copywriting doesn't only help you sell things, it actually helps you improve compliance and provide better care for your clients. If you can help educate in a way that creates a desire to take action then you'll be able to provide better care. If you're tired of hearing what misinformed clients thing about certain procedures or care then you'll want to be sure to listen so that you can more easily win over your clients with your copy. 

Have you ever wanted to hire an advertising company, or maybe you’ve gotten phone calls from someone claiming to be a local advertising specialist and wondered if you should hire them? Deciding who to hire to do your digital marketing can be very difficult, especially if you not even sure what they’ll be doing. In this week’s episode I walk you through what you need to consider before hiring a company to do your advertising.   The first step to getting your ad company is deciding what goals you want to achieve. Do you want more clients for a basic exam, are you wanting to run a dental promotion? What is going to be your goal for the ad campaign? One thing that I really think you need to do though before you begin is set a goal that will actually generate revenue by driving clients into your practice. Likes, clicks and impressions are great, but unless they turn into actual clients then they aren’t worth very much. Going one step further, having a way to actually measure the marketing you are doing is also really important. How will you know if your marketing is actually working unless you can measure it. In addition to talking about the qualities that advertising companies should have I discuss a list of red flag items that should immediately raise concerns about whether or not you should hire a company. Hopefully with this list you should have enough info to go out and test a marketing company. I do really think though that anyone who wants to hire a company should at least test out and try some ads on their own, even if it is just 5-10 dollars because the act of running the ads will give you some insight into what goes into this

Helping clients feel like they know your brand or veterinary practice can be a difficult task and what can help create a brand that is personal and interactive is good storytelling. On today's episode I talk with Jane Dawkins on the show today who is Marketing Communications Officer, Ontario Veterinary College University of Guelph and one of the reasons that I wanted her on the show is that I’m a huge fan of her work. She is constantly producing awesome content on the OVC’s social media platforms and so I wanted to get her take on marketing. What I think she is doing a great job at is that she is consistently producing great content and creating a brand around her storytelling. I think there are some great applications in that for veterinary practices, first she is taking something tends to be kind of impersonal and making it personal. This is a problem that every veterinary hospital faces and is something that good storytelling can solve. She also is working with students who are doing a great job at creating personal brands as well. So we get in to a bunch of really interesting topics and it was really fun to have her on. There is something for everyone on today's podcast, whether you are a practice owner, an employee or even are still in Vet School. Items Mentioned in Today's Episode: Jane Dawkins on Linkedin OVC on Twitter OVC on Instagram OVC Snapchat: @ontvetcollege Shannon Finn's Blog on How To Use Social Media While In Vet School  

This is a special episode of the podcast because it is the first anniversary of starting the podcast! I can't believe a year has gone by already! In this episode I talk about what I think has been the most important things that have happened in marketing and where it is going for your veterinary practice. I also answer some questions submitted via email by listeners. Thanks to everyone who responded to my email request last week for questions! It has been an amazing experience developing a podcast and growing it and I want to thank everyone who has listened and contributed along the way! I love connecting with listeners and I love doing the podcast, it has definitely made me a better marketer. When I started I never would have imagined that so many people would listen and that I'd be able to meet so many awesome people through the show. I'm definitely going to continue doing the show so long as I feel I'm able to provide value and create good content.  I've been amazed at all the people who have reached out and one of my favorite things to see is when a practice starts trying and testing new marketing at their practice. Most practices and people won't take the time to learn and execute new marketing ideas, so if you're willing to test out new ideas you'll likely be successful because there just isn't that much competition out there.  In this episode I cover topics on everything from what you should focus on in the next year and also cover some great questions as well. Topics on the questions ranged from what would be the top 5 things you would do if a practice only had a website and a yellow pages ad to what is the biggest mistake you see veterinary practices making.  Thanks again to everyone who listens and be sure to reach out if you ever need anything! 

Content creation and consumption continues to change as people and technology change. Remember when people never thought that they would ever purchase something online? Remember when people used to be private and not share every detail of their lives online like they do now with social media? I think that live-streaming is that next step of content consumption and creation that people will be adopting and that is why I'm so excited to have Dr. Cody Creelman on the podcast again to talk about how to take advantage of this new way to engage with clients. Dr. Cody Creelman is a beef cattle veterinarian and practice owner of  Veterinary Agri-Health Services in Alberta, Canada. His veterinary interests include bovine pathology, large animal surgery, cow/calf and feedlot production medicine. Cody is also very passionate about veterinary mobile technology. This includes consulting on veterinary application design projects, as well as digital marketing and social media platforms. Check him out on his website, Twitter(you can see him post his live streams here), Instagram, Snapchat (creelmancody), Vine, or YouTube…… he is active on them all! How people interact with brands is pretty interesting to think about and smart marketers are always seeing where the new way to engage and attract attention are. Live streaming is a great utility(for now) that you can use in conjunction with your current social media channels to give you a greater depth of relationship and create content that is hopefully really engaging and  educating.  Dr. Creelman shares with us the basics on Meerkat and Periscope, the two most popular live-streaming apps, and gives us some best practices for using them. He also shares how he uses live-streaming for his practice as well gives examples on other uses that it could have for in practice marketing.  This episode is full of awesome advice from a vet who is actually doing it and using it, so be sure to listen to the entire episode.   

People who work inside the veterinary industry are some of the most knowledgeable and passionate people I have ever encountered. They spend years getting trained to do their job, but one area of training that veterinarians don't receive is how to run their veterinary practice from a business standpoint. This industry is unique because the people working in practices have to provide care to several different species and have to treat everything from emergencies to standard preventative care. Often times this causes practice owners to get so tied up being a technician in their business that they don't have time to work on growing an actual business, and this is what the E-Myth tries to help with.  This week's episode I have Dr. Peter Weinstein as a guest to talk about his new book, The E-Myth Veterinarian. Dr. Peter Weinstein is the executive director of the SCVMA, a speaker, and consultant.He explains how veterinarians spend so much time in vet school to become a really good practitioner or technician, but what is really lacking is business training. So often I hear people in the industry say, if you provide good care then that's all that matters, but the truth is that along with great service and care you need to spend time running the business and being the business owner.  It is true that you have to do good work to retain clients, but the thing is, the practice down the street is likely filled with veterinary professionals who love animals just as much as you do. Caring more than the other practice won't cut it, you need strategies and systems to help grow your practice.  In this podcast I usually just cover marketing, but in this episode, Dr. Weinstein shares his insight from years of working in practices that are really powerful. Marketing and branding needs to take place not just in your advertising or social media but you need to have consistency once someone makes it into the practice as well. We also cover how much you should actually know about marketing and advertising to be effective, the benefits of being pro active VS reacting to everything that comes up and how to often you should be thinking about marketing in your practice. 

I run across helpful tools every now and then and in this week's episode I share with you my favorite tools that I use in marketing. The tools that I mention in this episode help you to either market more efficiently, engage better or make your life easier. I'm constantly amazed at the really high quality free tools that get put out there that you can use whenever you want, you just need to know what tools are out there! Veterinary Marketing Tools That I talk about in this week's episode:   Tool number 1: Follow.net Follow allows you to see a high-level overview about any site, across a variety of sources. Data that you can view quickly includes: Traffic Estimates, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Display Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Contextual Advertising, Twitter Mentions, Web Mentions, Blog Posts, Whois, Reverse IPs. This tool lets you do a bunch of research really quickly and lets you keep tabs on any competitors, especially in paid advertising. Tool number 2: Snip.ly Snip.ly is a URL link shortener that when clicked offers a customized call-to-action snippet at the bottom. What it lets you do is curate content really quickly. Curation is when you find something that would be beneficial to your audience that is from a source that isn't  your own. By adding a call to action to this content you can potentially convert clients.  Tool number 3 Overvideo App Video is getting increasingly more important because your clients love consuming video. Overvideo is an iPhone app you can use to create visual calls to action when you post video to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. It is very simple to use on your mobile device  Tool number 4: Semrush.com  This is a great resource that tells you competition levels for keywords, as well as search volumes of keywords, who is ranking for what. I especially like this tool when I'm checking out competition especially for  Tool number 5: Lower Third for Hangouts on Air Branding If you ever do hangouts you'll want to check out this tool called Lower Third. Lower Third lets you easily add a graphic banner or overlay anywhere on the screen of your hangout so that you can brand it. It makes it look a lot more professional. I think hangouts are great for educating clients live, plus it drives clients to your Youtube and Google Plus page.  Tool number 6: SumoMe.com   Sumome.com is a suite of 10 tools created by Noah Kagan and Appsumo.com that help you to convert more of your traffic into opt ins. They have tools that range from opt- in pop ups to heat maps and a bunch of really amazing products.  Tool number 7: Portent Idea Generator for Writer’s Block If you ever have trouble coming up with ideas to write about this is a great tool. Oh by the way be sure to get my 31 Veterinary Blog Post Ideas (that's free too) Tool number 8: Swayy.co This logs in to your social accounts and sees and suggests things that would be beneficial to post bast on your community. IT is super cool For example it gave me an article that I could post about which was the dog eating festival. This tool combined with Snip.ly is a really great content curation strategy. Tool number 9: Google Analytics This is the staple for measuring marketing at your veterinary practice. If you aren't on Google Analytics please get this on  your site. Even if you have an analytics suite through your web developer you need to be tracking what is happening!!! Tool number 10: Mail Chimp I choose this one just because it is free up to 2,000 contacts Tool number 11: Canva for Social Media Image Design   Canva is basically like a really easy to use version of photoshop for creating images. If you want to easily create native image sizes for content then this is a great tool! Tool number 12: EMV Headline Analyzer for Headlines   Ever wonder if you're writing a good headline? Headlines are so important for your open rates and really help with engagement as well, and this gives you an emotional marketing value, check it out here: http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/ Tool number 13: Quicksprout.com For SEO Analysis If you go here and put your website in, it will give you a SEO overview on things you need to work on and things you are doing well. It is pretty cool because it gives you a really broad overview, so you can use it to see if you have any large problems. Be warned you will be pitched SEO services! Bonus Tool:  Google’s Mobile Website Tester Is your site mobile friendly? Make sure you aren't being penalized! https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/