If you want to launch a mobile website quickly and for minimal cost, there are very good resources available on the internet to help you do this. For less than you will spend on dinner tonight, you can create your new mobile website. It is as simple as a tool that will automatically optimize your current website for viewing on a cell phone. Some of these cost less than $10!

There are also other alternatives for creating a mobile website, such as templates that allow you to just plug in your custom information. If you are into doing things in a big way, there are certified mobile web developers available for hire. Award winning mobile websites have a few things in common. You can save yourself some aggravation by making sure they are built into your site from the beginning.

• Include an icon that allows a viewer to switch back and forth between your regular website and your mobile website. This contributes to the sense of being simple to use. If a client accidently goes to your regular site on their mobile phone, they can easily change over.
• Consider that most people will use the mobile web while they are on the go. This means that they need to find you fast, and they need to be able to instantly see the information they need. One fantastic way to do this is to make your telephone number a “click to call” link. That way they can effortlessly call your practice anytime.
• Remember the top things that people are looking for when using a mobile device: your practice address, phone number, business hours, and relevant information such as what you do and what products you sell.
• It is critical that you have a clear vision for what you want your mobile website to do. In general, it should do four things:
• Introduce your veterinary service and what you do
• Show them where you are
• Drive them to call you or come in
• Encourage them to sign up for your newsletter,  SMS, or MMS promotions if you have them

All of this should be accomplished in as few words as possible, often with less than 100. Mobile users simply do not take the time to read much of what is written. They are looking for specific information, and if you don’t give it to them, then they may decide it is easier.

Promotional Ideas:
Once you have your website up and running, don’t forget that you need to promote it. Here are some easy ways to do this:

• Advertise
• Promotional materials, such as brochures, handouts, and invoices
• List it on your regular website
• Print it on your business cards
• Consider telling the press; mobile marketing is still new enough that a small business launching a mobile site is considered newsworthy
• Promotional ideas
• Run a mobile only special. For example, give mobile users a secret code that entitles them to a 25% discount on an annual wellness plan for their dog.
• Hold a prize drawing that requires mobile users to enter their name or number for a chance to win.
• A contest is another great way to spread the word, like having the first ten users who can correctly answer a few pet health questions wins a free dental care kit. You could even tie this in with your other dental promotions, and double up on your educational message.
• Send out coupons to mobile users only. Again, you can create a special code that they use at checkout to receive a discount on their bill.

For a free consultation on how mobile marketing can help drive more clients to your practice, contact us at 866-724-0355 or fill out the contact form under the "free consultation" tab.

Have you been struggling to sell services and grow your practice? If so, you’re not alone. Veterinary visits and over all practice profits are declining. Bayer recently published a study to reveal what impact the economy has had on the veterinary profession. The findings showed that 55% of practices saw a decrease in the number of patient visits, and another 15% reported that growth was flat, with no movement in any direction at all.
In addition, Veterinarians have the lowest profit margins when compared to other professionals such as CPAs, dentists, chiropractors, and optometrists, and therapists. (Forbes.com, 2010). Less than 10% of the income that is generated translates into actual profit. 

This fact brings us full circle back to the effectiveness of marketing your veterinary practice. If your revenue is stagnant or declining, then it is more important than ever to re-evaluate your strategy. Do you need to do more marketing, or so you simply need better marketing? Well, that really depends on what you are already doing and whether or not you are seeing results. Sometimes it is beneficial to explore new avenues of promoting your practice, and take a fresh look at where your dollars are being spent. If you’re’ sitting their scratching your head and wondering what you could possibly do that hasn’t been done a thousand times already, here is a new platform worth considering: mobile web marketing. You may be thinking, “That’s great, but what the heck is it and how do I do it, and while we are on the subject, how much is it going to cost me?” Mobile web marketing is the process of marketing to clients through their cell phone. It uses both advertising and promotional techniques to generate business for your practice. The target is both new clientele and existing clientele, depending on the techniques that are used. Mobile web marketing can be simple and cost effective too.

Do you really need mobile web marketing?
Well, consider the fact that mobile web is poised to be bigger than desktop internet usage ever was. There are 4.8 billion mobile phone users, compared to just 1.7 billion desktop internet users. The implications of this massive reach mean that there is a larger base – almost four times larger, in fact- in which to actively market to.
Think about the business that you may use that have already begun to tap this market. Banks now offer mobile banking. Airlines offer mobile alerts and mobile check in. Other large companies use the mobile web for sending out news updates. Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, have also attracted a large numbers of mobile users.

• Keep it client focused. When you are thinking about what you want to include, remember that it has to based on the desires of your clients. Include the things that are useful to pet owners. For example, they probably won’t care about how many square feet your building is, or that you have a Super-Tech 3000 Ultrasonic Scaler, but they will care if you offer them ½ off on $25 gift certificates during the month of November… just in time for Christmas.
• Keep it simple. Write text that is short, simple, and to the point. Be direct so that clients don’t have to wade through a river of words to find out what they need to know. Simply state who you are, what you do, and what your competitive advantage is. Avoid long or complicated forms, as people are not likely to take the time to fill them out.
• Keep it fast. The key to mobile web is that it is easy to use and FAST. It is a mistake to include complicated graphics, animations, or videos. While you may think that the little dog running around on the screen is cute, many users will find it annoying, and it slows down the flow of information.
• Don’t forget to test it out. Whether you have an ad or mobile website, test it on different cell phones to see how it looks. Since different phones have different graphic displays, your media might not look right on some devices. If you discover a problem, you can address it correctly.
• Track your mobile website traffic. Google analytics is a free tool that tells you exactly how many people are viewing your mobile website and what they are clicking on. The information is useful because it will allow you to tweak things in order to increase traffic.
• Choose simple domain names for your mobile website. The shorter and more relevant it is, the easier it is to remember and navigate to.
  
  

Don’t be afraid to reach out and try in new and innovative ways. As the economic world of the veterinary industry is changing, you may find it easier to be flexible and adapt. The great thing about marketing is that if you decide that you don’t like what you are doing, it is easy to move on to something else.

For a free consultation on how mobile marketing can help drive more clients to your practice, contact us at 866-724-0355 or fill out the contact form under the "free consultation" tab.

• Step 1: The first thing that you need to know is how much income was derived as a result of your Yellow Page ad. Using the information from your receptionists, or new client forms; add up the total that all clients referred from the yellow pages spent at your practice in a given period. As an example, let’s say that you generated $40,000 in six months.
• Step 2: The second thing that you need to know is how much you spent on Yellow Page advertising for the same period of time that you calculated your income for. In our example, we are going to say that if you spend $1,500 per month on your ad, then the total for six months would be $9,000.00, with no expenses for design).
• Step 3: Now you can write your equation: ROI = ($40,000 – $9,000) divided by $9,000 multiplied by 100
• Step 4: Once you perform the calculation, you will see that in our example your hospital would have a 344% return on investment.

If you accept the fact that Veterinary Hospitals are selling services, and that the ability to sell is an important factor in creating a successful practice, then consider how vital referrals are to professional sales people. Studies have demonstrated that sales people who focus on generating high quality referrals will earn four to five times the industry standard. Imagine how healthy your veterinary practice would be if it could increase its revenue on the same scale.

Now that you understand that generating referrals is not the same thing as asking your clients to say nice things about you, it should become easier to create a clear vision for success.
The single, most important factor to developing a successful system is that you have to change the way that you think about referrals. In reality, you most likely know that referrals will not materialize out of thin air and you have to ask for them. In a Veterinary Practice, the opportunity to do that presents itself with every member of the staff. From the receptionists, technicians, and Veterinarians, create a detailed plan for who will be responsible for this.

You must commit to training yourself and your staff to ask consistently for referrals. Not occasionally, not when everyone feels like it or is having a good day, not when the technician thinks that the client like them, but ask every single time a client comes through your doors.
Are you wondering just how to request that referral? While there are many different ways to ask for a referral, they all have one thing in common: phrasing. The way that a question is phrased can have a tremendous impact on the response.

“All good things in life are the fruits of originality” – John Stuart Mill

It doesn’t matter how strong your internal medicine is, or what a talented surgeon you are. If no one chooses to buy your service then you are out of business. In order to create a successful practice, you have to offer an absolute advantage over other practices.
In 2009, the American Veterinary Medical Association reported that there were over 93,000 practicing veterinarians in the United States. Almost 90% of them are companion animal exclusive. What makes you different from the guy down the street?

Step 1: Determining your differential benefit: an exercise in individualism
Your differential benefit is the sum of the traits that make you better, faster, or distinctive. It is the reason why people gain a clear advantage when they choose you. It is not enough that you are providing the same basic services as other practices, or that you practice according to industry stand. That will not motivate people to choose you.

You can start by making a list of all of the ways that your patients benefit from your care. Perhaps the American Animal Hospital Association certifies your facility. Your definite benefit is that only the top 15% of Animal Hospitals in the Unites States and Canada are able to claim that distinction. Or, if your examinations are exceptionally thorough, then your benefit is that you “leave no stone unturned”.
Once you understand what you do well, think about why those things would be important to someone who loves their animals.

Step 2: Know what your competition is doing… and what they are not.
Look past what everyone else is doing. Identifying the gaps in service that your competitors are not filling can be a way to expand your repertoire. Listening to people’s frustrations about the care they receive from other veterinarians is a key way to recognize potential openings.

Step 3: Create a Unique Selling Proposition, or “USP”
This short statement announces to the world how your differential benefit solves a problem. The objective is to develop the statement into something that grabs people’s attention and incorporate it into your advertising campaigns. An example of a highly successful USP is “M&M’s melt in your mouth and not in your hands!”
Since you know that your customers are motivated by emotional needs, it can be helpful to incorporate that into your USP. Don’t be afraid to highlight the negative consequences of not using your service. This is often a great way to get your point across quickly and clearly. Home Again microchips are an example of how effective this is. Their message, “It’s a fact: pets get lost. Prevent them from becoming an unfortunate statistic”, targets an owners fear of losing their pet.

One of the most common reasons why businesses fail is because they do not have an effective marketing plan. This is because these individuals are not planners, but tend to take a more hands on approach to their business. This is particularly common in the veterinarian industry, as every vet has gone to school for years and is now simply wanting to help animals in need and use the skills that has or she received in university. The problem is that without a marketing plan, no one will even know that you exist, which makes it next to impossible to attract customers. The good news is that developing a marketing plan does not require a business degree, but rather a few hours per week taking the proper steps to improve the visibility of your veterinarian office.

The first thing that you must do is understand what those in the market are looking for and evaluating your competition. Many people in the medical field do not understand how much competition is out there, but it is everywhere. In order to develop your plan, you must first look at how many other people are in the veterinarian business in your area to see if there is a significant lack in that service. If you find that the other veterinarian offices in your area are constantly overbooked and are unable to efficiently service the community, you will definitely not have much trouble attracting customers. Your competitors will also likely have weaknesses that you can capitalize on, so make sure that you know as much about each of these others offices as possible.

Next, you must learn to understand what your customer wants, as pet owners are a very distinct group of people. Identifying who your customers are is simple in this industry, as you will be serving people who own pets. Most of your business will probably come from people with dogs and cats, as these are two of the more popular pets that require veterinarian care. You must also be able to identify what these people want from you, which will be simple as well. These people want good care at an affordable price, while having their pets cared for in a way that allows them live happy lives. Many people would also appreciate things like reminders in the mail when a checkup or shot is needed and even a follow up to a previous appointment to ensure that everything is running smoothly. Remember that an individual's love for his or her pet is what drives your business, so you must be prepared to show that you care just as much.

Since you already know who your customers will be, you have to learn how to identify where these people search for information. There are countless places to advertise, but one of the most effective might be at a pet store. Many pet stores will grant you some sort of advertising space and it is even possible to ask about giving customers of a certain pet store a discount at your office. Remember that you want to offer your customers something different than other veterinarians are offering, so giving a discount to first time visitors might be a good way to drive repeat business. If a pet owner has a good experience at a veterinarian, he or she will be very likely to return time after time, so the key is making it worth the customer's while to visit your office in the first place.

Your marketing message will take care of much of this, as in this message you will be able to explain to your customer exactly what you have to offer. Your message must explain why you believe you are the best person to solve the pet's problems and the benefits that the pet and the pet owner will receive by choosing you. Testimonials from other satisfied customers work wonders, especially in the medical field and you must also provide a guarantee that everything will work out for the best. Including some pricing information is also a must, especially if you know that your prices are lower than your competitors.

As far as the mediums go, a veterinarian office does not need to have as aggressive of an advertising campaign as other businesses. This is because people will generally be looking for your services, so you just have to make your advertising visible enough for these people to find. Placing ads in the Yellow Pages and on the internet are very effective because it allows for people to identify your office as an option when someone is looking for a veterinarian service. In addition, flyers and posters in areas where pet owners frequent could be good at attracting those who are already using one of your competitors.

Once you have developed your campaign, you will want to set sales and marketing goals in relation to the campaign. Your goals should definitely be realistic, but also do not sell yourself short. Make sure that you make both financial and non-financial goals, as this will ensure that you can find success in a number of different areas of the business. Implementing an advertising budget is also a great idea because you do not want to invest more into marketing than you can afford. The basic calculation that you will use is how much you are willing to spend to attract each customer, which will give you a solid idea of what your goals should be and whether or not your advertising is helping you to reach them.

Marketing a small office is definitely not all that difficult, as long as you take the time to set up a proper plan. While there are no guarantees that things will work out in your area, there is a good chance that they will if the other veterinarian offices are now following an efficient marketing plan. Realizing how consumers work is the key here and it will definitely drive your overall success.