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How To Increase Veterinary Sales with a Marketing Plan

Posted by Joe Gargiulo | Fri, Feb 19, 2016 @ 07:00 AM

Veterinarians who are owner-operators often lead a double life as they juggle the responsibilities of business management with their passion for helping pets. Some doctors embrace this dichotomy while others find the business side to be a chore, and there is a tendency to focus on medicine while putting out business fires if and when they get out of control. Even the best-made business plans can be placed on the back burner while focusing on caregiving. Adding office staff, outsourcing functions such as accounting services, or purchasing management software may free up some time, but nevertheless, some critical business activities remain untouched or unfinished for weeks, months or years on end.

increase veterinary sales with marketing plansOne such project, developing a marketing and public relations plan, is a likely candidate for neglect. Operating without a marketing plan could easily lead to flat revenue streams if potential customers are drawn to competing veterinarians with a “louder voice” in the marketplace. In this day and age, that voice is amplified by channels such as social media, search engine marketing, email marketing, blogging and guest writing. The annual revenue loss may be subtle at first, but even a decrease of 2% per year represents a drop of 20% over a 10-year period. Now, that’s serious.

Field of Dreams marketing — “if we build it, they will come” — has been obsolete since the 1940s, so it is imperative that all owner-operator vets develop a game plan for creating a public presence. The doctor may be able to wear the marketing director’s hat after reading a handful of how-to books and this article, but the time needed to launch and maintain such a campaign (15 ­– 20 hours per month) needs to be found, made, or bought.

Existing staff or independent contractors may be able to assume some of the marketing responsibilities. Alternatively, the entire process or portions of it could be outsourced to a marketing and PR consultant. Whatever the decision, vet owners will be expected to make decisions when projects need approval or ration time for activities such as writing, media interviews, or attending special events. Whether the marketing duties are outsourced (do it for me) or conducted in-house (do it yourself), familiarity with marketing and PR plans will help every owner-operator create more sales revenue. At the very least, the process will make the owner-operator a more proactive and engaged client for the outside marketing team.

Creating a Marketing Plan for a Veterinary Practice

Most marketing and public relations plan harness the content and formatting of creative briefs from the advertising world. (Public relations typically functions under the auspices of marketing, so it will be treated as such here.) The variations and length of marketing plans are infinite — and there is no wrong or right way to do them — but it is critical that these instruments paint a complete picture of the veterinary practice while offering solutions to generate more business activity.

Who are you?

increase veterinary sales with marketing plansThe first sections cover the past and present: company history and description, acknowledgment of past or current marketing plans, product and service descriptions, supply and demand of services, demographics of region, micro- and macro-economic influences, legal conditions and/or ramifications, profiles of existing clientele, profiles of targeted clientele if the change is needed, description of the consultant (if applicable), and other content depending on the scope of the plan.

A competitive analysis is next. Analyze the competitive advantages and disadvantages by applying the five W’s used in journalism: Who and where are the competitors? How do the hours of operation, fee structures and facilities stack up? How do the available services and specialties compare? What about specialty training or certifications for the vets or the staff?

A SWOT analysis is a good tool to use in this capacity, and can be included as a separate section if the information is not redundant.

The above information may be delineated into sections bearing titles such as Competitive Landscape, Challenges, Strengths and more depending on the needs and the author. The work could reach 20 pages in length, but anticipate generating at least two pages of meaningful content in this one area. Now it’s time to look at the future.

Where are you going?

Enter specific information in the Goals or Objectives section. Bulleted lists are often the best approach, but a one- or two-paragraph narrative works just fine.

  • Increase sales by 15% in one year, 20% in two years, 25% in three years
  • Add 50 new customers per year
  • Add 10% more Facebook followers in one year
  • Publish two newsletter in year one; quarterly beginning in year two
  • Send out one email blast per month in year one, etc
  • Hold one open house going forward
  • Hold one chamber mixer every two years

What is the plan?

Here is where the rubber meets the road. The Plan section should begin with an opening paragraph that sets the tone for the work ahead. Here’s one used in a recent project:

“Veterinary Hospital XYZ would greatly benefit from holistic promotional efforts that combine traditional media with new media. Marketing Company TFW will use all viable channels at its disposal and support the efforts of Veterinary Hospital XYZ to achieve the most beneficial results by promoting the organization with guerrilla marketing techniques (creativity, efficiency, tenacity and urgency) that produce an effective return on investment.”

increase veterinary sales with marketing plansTraditional public relations continues to form the backbone of modern promotional campaigns, so it should be addressed before new media. PR tools include press releases, media alerts and pitch letters; cause-marketing programs; interaction with trade organizations; cooperative marketing efforts; printed materials such as brochures, rack cards and postcards; advertising; and writing pet columns in local newspapers.

New media efforts entail inbound marketing, Google Ad Words campaigns, Wiki pages, blogging, social media, search engine marketing and email marketing. Never lose sight of the fact that a social media campaign should focus on interpersonal engagement rather than selling.

Planning and describing the details of traditional and new media endeavors could take several days to generate and fine-tune. Anticipate writing four or more pages for this portion, and be very specific.

Social media, for example, include a general approach as well as details such as which platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, etc) will be employed. Also, who is doing the postings, and what will be the themes? Also, include instructions and suggestions in a bulleted list:

  • Offer complimentary WiFi for pet parents.
  • Spread posts throughout the day and over multiple days (e.g. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday).
  • Ask visitors to tag the website in Facebook posts and “Like” the office in posts afterward.
  • Place “Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, or FourSquare” signs in the office.
  • Use analytics such as Statigram to track Instagram metrics.
  • Use bitly.com to post abbreviated links if necessary (especially on Twitter).

Other general considerations should include supportive activities such as photography (Who is taking the photos? Are they using the correct type of camera? Is there enough computer storage? Is a professional photographer needed?), graphic design, and writing.

Many people have adequate graphic design and writing skills, but these areas are best handled by professionals. When it comes to writing, even English majors often fall short of writing effectively in the specialized area of web copy, press releases, or blog articles. A great how-to book on this subject is The Process of Media Writing (ISBN-10: 0205156363).

Marketing books are ubiquitous, but focus on newer publications that address the demands of the digital age. Nevertheless, seminal ideas can be garnered from old titles such those written by Jan Conrad Levinson (his guerrilla marketing books) or Michael Levine (guerrilla PR).

Finally, most marketing plans include one or more appendixes to detail items such as sample media posts, graphics, ad layouts and more.

Fees and Budget

While some experts recommend spending 10% of net sales on marketing, a program can be launched with a modest budget of $1200 per month for 20 hours of professional services. Rates will vary per region, but for comparison, be aware that high-end marketing and PR agencies start at $400 per hour!

Also consider the services of application vendors like Hubspot or Hootsuite to help manage web content and social media. One in particular, LifeLearn, is specifically designed to help veterinarians curate and make social media posts on designated schedules. Fees start at $55 per month, but better plans cost $400 or more.

Measurable Results

Measuring marketing and PR’s return on investment is an age-old question, but metrics for gauging now exist. A great article on measuring the ROI of PR was published by Everything-PR: “10 Ways to Measure the ROI of Public Relations.”

Expect to wait six-to-eight months to see significant results while early results may be in the form of social media numbers such as 10% new Facebook followers after three months or 10 shares per LinkedIn post.

Summary

When all is said and done, an effective marketing plan becomes an integral part of a veterinary practice. Most plans create a cumulative effect and it may take years to pay substantial dividends. The plan could inspire that extra phone call the receptionist makes after a serious surgery or trimming nails for free. It could also be manifested in an important memo about a pet food recall on social media or in the good will created by the monthly newspaper column. Whatever the approach, always remember that you, the owner-operator, are really marketing yourself and your team and that the customer is thinking, “What’s in it for me?”

Ultimately, revenue is generated by either pet-parent retention or pet-parent attraction, and growth will understandably follow those same channels. A marketing plan may be an abrupt departure because change is often difficult to accept, but sometimes it’s the very thing that is needed to move forward.

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Topics: Veterinarians, Increase Sales

Written by Joe Gargiulo

Marketing Specialist Joe Gargiulo has 25-plus years in marketing, communications and copy writing. As a writer, he enjoys connecting story leads to all aspects of the human experience.