One of the biggest mistakes made with most websites today is that they offer no value when it comes to educating the client or customer. Veterinarians are just as guilty when marketing their own practice on the web. They give general information about hours, location, the staff but when it comes to to offering useful information that can benefit their clients, they come up short. 

So what do I mean by useful information? Well, for starters information that educates your clients such as nutrition tips, grooming tips, or advice on helping your dog or cat overcome certain negative behaviors. Whatever the information is, it needs to be short, concise and to the point. One of the best ways to do this is to have a blog on your website that you and your staff post to on a regular basis.

Short blog posts tend to be easier to read than lengthy articles and reports. If you don't like to write, purchase a quality HD camcorder with an external lapel mic and have your staff record some short videos of you giving a veterinary "tip of the week". You can then take this video, upload it to YouTube and then post then simply post the video on your blog page. 

Not only is this a great idea for educating your clients and keeping them well informed, but it's also a great way to keep them coming back to your site on a regular basis. 

People tend to think about taking their pets to the veterinarian only on "special" occasions. Obviously, if a pet is sick or injured you will receive a call for an appointment. Or in the case of an injury or serious illness, an emergency visit. Vaccinations call for an annual visit but what about other times your clients should be bringing their pets in? For example, do they know about the importance of oral health? How often do clients come in to make a purchase? More visits mean more revenue and more profit. So how do you create more visits?

It's easy to see that clients only come in occasionally – probably because they think about you only occasionally. If they knew more more about what you can provide between "regular" visits and they thought about you more often, you would see clients more often. Common sense, right?

So, how do you get people to think about you? Here are just a few ways you can stay in front of your clients and and create more "touch points."

Some Old School Contacts Still Work
Good old US mail still works to get your message in front of clients. It takes a bit of work but sending out post cards still works. Most vets use post cards as reminders for vaccinations and such. This is a good idea since almost everybody checks their mail daily. But have you considered using post cards and "snail mail" for other promotions? Keeping your name in front of clients (and potential clients!) is the name of the game. A great resource for using the mail is Send-Out-Cards. Everything is automated so you don't have to handle the actual mail. Just input your data online and the printing and mailing will be handled for you. Check them out at https://www.sendoutcards.com/ezcards/

Electronic Media Is A Must

Email
While you need to use regular mail for those people who aren't electronically connected, it is equally as important to use electronic means of touching clients for those who are. Many people prefer to be contacted through email and other electronic media. You get the added benefit of multiple exposures too; if somebody gets a postcard and an email, they are less likely to forget to set an appointment. Remember – you want to stay in front of your clients as much as possible. Do you have your clients email address? You need to start collecting them NOW. Email can be utilized to stay in front of your clients inexpensively and effectively. They will appreciate frequent updates and by sending non-marketing messages to educate, you gain an extra level of credibility in their minds. Plus, this makes it easier to send the occasional marketing message without worrying about over-selling your customers.

Social Media
Do you have a FanPage on Facebook. While it's true that everybody doesn't use Facebook, by ignoring those that do puts you at a disadvantage. Facebook users are CONNECTED. And you need to be connected with them. Use the same approach here that you use with email. Stay in touch to educate, and maybe even entertain. Then the occasional marketing message is well received.

Twitter is similar. Keep in mind the idea is to stay in front of your clients so they are thinking of you. They are more likely to come in for a visit if they think about you. Use some of the software tools available for Twitter to schedule "tweets." Here is one more way to stay in front of clients – and don't forget, potential clients.

Mobile Marketing
The mobile phone is changing the way people interact with each other and with the people they do business with. According to Google, one third of mobile searches are tied to local intent. Yet, only 4,8% of U.S. retailers have a mobile specific website. Mobile devices will pass PCs as the access device of choice by 2013. Like it or not, people will be looking for you (or a competing vet) on their mobile device. Be ready for that touch point by having your web site optimized for mobile devices

Phones provide another way to touch your clients – SMS or what we commonly call texting. Consider that 72 percent of mobile subscribers send or receive 664 texts per month vs. making or receiving only 176 phone calls. Almost 70 million mobile coupons worth $2.4 billion are expected to be redeemed in 2013, up from only 200,000 coupons in 2009. Think you need to be texting your clients? You better believe it! Now, throw this into the mix: according to Facebook’s own research over 40 percent or 200 million of its users access FB via mobile devices and those users are twice as active as non-mobile users. Yes, all this electronic stuff works together to create a real synergy.

What does all this mean? Touch you clients in as many ways as possible. Send mail. Use email. Create a facebook fan page. Optimize your website for mobile. Use mobile texting. OK, maybe that sounds like a lot but it doesn't have to be. Just tackle a little bit at a time and you will find more clients more often in your clinic!

Electronic marketing. Internet marketing. Online promotion. What exactly do all these terms mean and do they really apply to veterinary practices? Well, considering that even print publications (remember the newspaper?) are moving toward electronic publishing perhaps we should take a closer look. While it's hard enough to keep up with continuing education in animal care, keeping up with all the "new media" can be intimidating. But it doesn't have to be.

The basics of any type of promotion boil down to one simple concept. Communication. Think about it. Even the oldest types of advertising involve getting a message across to a target market. The sign that simply says, "Ye Olde Inn" is a comforting message to a weary traveler who is tired and thirsty. Fast forward to the family gathered around the radio, immersed in the adventures of The Lone Ranger. Mom probably bought some Ovaltine at the grocery the next day. Upon closer examination, we see how the early electronic ad was able to reach more people than the simple sign.

Now, take a look at the internet. People are actually searching for goods and services to buy. Yes, even veterinary services. Just like the weary traveler, people are searching for a particular service. Like the radio show of old, the internet reaches a lot of peole. A lot of people. However, now we have the added kicker of search engines. Your target market is looking specifically for you – or at least the best vet in their area. That is you, right?

So the challenge becomes communicating with new clients and existing clients alike – with the help of tools that can reach those people at lightning speed. Your internet presence (and pretty soon your smart phone presence) needs to communicate, sure. But more than that, you need to connect! Even with the cold impersonal nature of bits and bytes, you must use them because your target market now uses electronics to form personal connections. The meteoric rise of Facebook is proof. So, don't just throw a brochure up on the internet. Mix the old with the new and make a connection!

Do you Tweet? Twitter and Facebook are all the rage today, but the biggest question on most business owners minds, is "Can sites like Twitter actually benefit my business?". The answer is a resounding "Yes!" if they are used as a part of your overall marketing strategy.

The primary advantage of Twitter is that it allows you to Tweet via your mobile phone, so you do not have to be in front of a computer. Messages are limited to 140 characters. Here are a few suggestions for using Twitter to promote your Veterinary Practice.

1. Promote your Brand. When you use a social networking site to promote your brand, your clients will perceive you as approachable. Stay in touch with your followers and tweet often to reach as many clients and potential clients as possible. Share important pet care tips and facts that are relevant to your client’s interests.
2. Consider receiving customer complaints. Although this may seem like a crazy idea, by receiving customer complaints in an open forum, you are able to shut them down before they can damage your reputation. Address them immediately and show everyone how great you customer service is by your attempts at reconciliation with the complainer.
3. Run your special deals and promotions. This is highly effective, especially when combined with a short informative article about the service you are promoting. Try to create a pet health alert bulletin that you use to educate clients about why your services are beneficial.
4. Use it to communicate with your employees. By discussing cases and ongoing patient care with your employees on Twitter, it will allow all of your followers to learn more about what you do.
5. Create credibility by sharing your expertise. If you hold workshops or educational seminars you can Tweet about those to increase awareness. By demonstrating your knowledge, you will build credibility in the eyes of your online community.

Make sure your twitter page address is located on your all of your other marketing materials – website, brochures, business cards and yellow page ads. If used consistently, Twitter can be a great tool for building a loyal group of followers; and the best part is, it can all be done from your mobile phone. 

Most veterinarians don't consider the importance of a good USP when starting their own practice. If you look at the Yellow Pages, you'll find that most all the ads look the same – the name of the clinic, phone number, address and hours of operation. I occasionally see an ad with a tag line of "When your Pet Deserves the Best" or other empty slogans like that. Anyone can say this; and when you look like all the rest, there's nothing separating your practice from the pack. You have to think USP. USP means Unique Sales Positioning.

When you think of USP, think of Domino's pizza. When Domino's pizza first started up, there were other pizza deliveries in business. They had to find a way to compete; to separate their business from the pack. So how did they do it? They came up with a unique slogan – "30 minutes or less… or your pizza is Free". By creating this simple positioning statement, they completely separated themselves from so many other pizza deliveries.

Now apply this to your own veterinary practice. What do you offer that's different? How can you make your service unique? How can you offer better value? You don't have to do something completely different. Sometimes, it's just of matter of positioning your services in a better way. As a veterinarian, you could create a YouTube channel that provides weekly tips on taking care of your dog or cat.

Think of a show each week that offers advice on treating simple ailments like tics, fleas, hotspots, etc. the videos could be short, maybe 5 to 10 min. in length. All you need is a Kodak Zi8 camcorder. Have your office assistant record you in front of the camera offering your weekly tip. After they've recorded your segment, have them do some basic editing to video by adding a simple caption at the end that has your website address.

By implementing this one simple marketing strategy into your practice, you have separated yourself from the pack of other local veterinarians. Fewer people are searching the Yellow Pages today for veterinarians. Instead, they are going to Google and typing in "their city + veterinarians". By tagging your YouTube videos with local geographic keywords, you'll get ranked very high in the search engines for veterinarians in your town. By offering these weekly video tips, you'll be known as the local Gary Vaynerchuk of veterinarians. In case you've never heard of Gary Vaynerchuk, he's the guy who's dominated the wine industry by branding his wine store with simple wine tasting video tips. You can see them at Wine Library TV.

There's a lot of retailers that sell wine, but there's only one guy who's known as the wine expert. He's created a powerful USP in his industry and you can certainly do the same in your industry as a local veterinarian.

Online video has exploded in popularity. How many times recently has a friend forwarded you an email with a link to a video of something that caught their attention; often times it's a funny pet video that someone's decided to share with the world. The fact is anyone can create an online audience in today's world of YouTube and Ustream. 

If you've not thought seriously about incorporating video on a regular basis into your online marketing, you are missing out on a tremendous opportunity to spread the word about your veterinary clinic locally. All you need is a small HD camcorder like the Kodak Zi8, and of course a computer with an online connection. 

What Kind of Video Do You Need? 

Start shooting video of your own practice. Video your staff, talk about what a typical day is like at your clinic. Video some of your recent patients, and get testimonials from their owners, especially those clients who've been with you a long time. Video testimonials are a powerful tool in marketing your veterinary practice. Also Google likes video, so if you create a YouTube channel and post that video online, Google is likely to rank it very high in the search engines if you have the right targeted keywords. 

Most businesses think that it's necessary to have professional video done for their business, but that's really not necessary. In fact, people tend to be more attracted to non scripted video that doesn't sound like a typical commercial on television. 

So if you haven't already, go out a grab a Kodak Zi8 (I personally like this one because of the external MIC port and it's inexpensive) and get one of your staff members to start recording video around the clinic each week; then have them upload them upload the videos to YouTube. The is one little marketing tip that will cost you less than $100 to implement (The Zi8 is $99 on Amazon).