Today's Veterinary Practice

JUL-AUG 2012

Today's Veterinary Practice provides comprehensive information to keep every small animal practitioner up to date on companion animal medicine and surgery as well as practice building and management.

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| PRACTICE STEP BY STEP Table 1. Five Benefits of Social Media Marketing 1. Social media allows you to build a network of core supporters. This loyal group of followers will keep bringing your practice business and re- ferring it to others if they are pleased with their pets' care and the quality of information provided through your practice and social media. 2. The more traffic your website continual- ly receives, the higher ranking it gains among search engines. This ranking gives your website better visibility and online exposure, and keeps new customers coming. 3. Marketing via social media is the most cost efficient and ecofriendly method of advertising. 4. Creating exclusive, interesting content on a social media site attracts more attention than the often used banner ads that are all over the Internet. Banner ads are not nearly as effective as social media marketing. 5. Once you have established, well-reputed so- cial media, you can use it for launching cam- paigns that will build interest and bring you business, such as announcing new products, promotions, sales, and contests. However, cam- paign with caution because people can become immune to this marketing technique. lengthy text. Change/add pictures often; you will be surprised at how much this simple step affects the impact of your online presence. However, make sure you receive owner permission prior to using pictures of (or stories about) their pets. r Check out the competition: Spend some time looking at other websites; evaluate what you like versus what you want to avoid. Use your "first impression" instinct to build your list of dos and don'ts. Ask five trusted clients to provide their impressions of your online sites. r Manage your sites: Decide if you want to handle site maintenance in-house or hire outside help. Assess your team and see if this is a project that can be divided among them. If site management is not appealing to you or your team due to lack of time or experience, outside sourcing should be a consideration. Visit todaysveterinarypractice. com (Resources) for an example social media coordinator job description. 64 Today's Veterinary Practice July/August 2012 2 BRAND IT Branding is the way you communicate your ser- vices, ideas, and products in a consistent manner. Your brand is your promise to your customer—it is what the customer can expect from you as well as your prod- ucts and services. Over the years, it's likely your brand has been defined by others if you have not clearly defined your business personality. Your logo, tagline, and motto need (see Branding De- fined) to prominently appear on all of your social web- sites. Review all your sites and, while you are at it, look at your handouts, brochures, products, and communica- tion tools. Write a description that outlines what your brand should achieve online. Make sure this description is shared with the team; then follow up regularly to as- sure compliance. An example of branding statements is Zappo's "Core Values" webpage: about.zappos.com/ our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values. You must be consistently committed to communicat- ing your brand and unmistakably know who your audi- ence is in your community and online. BRANDING DEFINED Logo: Symbol used to identify a company and that appears on its products Motto: Short sentence or phrase that expresses a rule guiding the behavior of a person or group Tagline: Memorable phrase or sentence that is closely associated with a person, product, etc 3 MARKETING Your online strategy (Tables 1 and 2) determines how you will engage online users. Do you know what pet owners are doing online? Shopping, gaining education, interacting with other pet owners, and look- ing for answers to their questions are among the list. Do some research and check out pet-oriented sites. This site will give you some ideas: vetlearn.com/prac- tice-management/its-the-webdo-you-know-where- your-clients-are. Here are ten proven ways to market your practice online: 1. Update your Google Maps listing (tinyurl.com/ GooglePlacesforBusiness); make sure it's accu- rate and that they verify ownership. Mobile tech- nology is a primary way potential clients search for veterinary care, and Google Maps (as well as Bing Local) is the common search tool. 2. Share local business links on your sites, and ask that they return the favor by sharing your link(s) on their sites. 3. Collect and update client email addresses; this is mission critical to your success. Encourage clients to

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