How to Attract More Clients with Veterinary Advertising
Updated: Nov 25, 2023
If you want to attract more clients to your practice, then veterinary advertising is a great way to do it. By reaching out to potential customers through various channels, you can increase awareness of your business and attract new clients.
Veterinary advertising is a marketing strategy specifically targeted toward veterinary practices. It can take many different forms, from online ads to social media to print. The goal is to reach potential clients, increase awareness of the practice, and position the business as the best choice in the market.
Why Advertise your Veterinary Practice
Increase new clients
New clients are the oxygen that fuels veterinary practice growth and revenue. It's essential to attract new clients both for growth and to offset the natural attrition that every vet experiences.
By reaching out to potential customers in your community, you can let them know about your clinic and what services you offer. This can be a great way to attract new clients who may not have otherwise been aware of your business.
Increase brand awareness and name recognition
Advertising allows you to increase awareness of your practice and build name recognition. This is important because it helps establish you as an expert on pet health in the area and makes potential clients more likely to think of you when they need veterinary services.
Build trust with potential clients
Ads are an opportunity to provide a window into your veterinary clinic and position it as the best choice for the pet parent's furry friend and the best veterinarian in the market. When prospective clients see your ads, they'll be prompted to visit your website to learn more about your doctors, team, and services.
Increase revenue
By increasing the number of new clients that you attract and the number of products and services you sell, veterinary advertising can also lead to an increase in revenue.
Types of Advertising that Work Best for Vets
Pay Per Click (PPC)
Google Ads is a type of PPC advertising that allows you to place ads on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs). When someone searches for keywords related to your business, your ad may appear at the top of the SERP.
Google allows you to set a budget for how much you’re willing to pay per click on your ad. The amount you bid is a factor in determining your ad’s position on the SERP. The higher you bid, the more likely your ad is to appear at the top of the results page.
Google Ads can be an effective way to reach pet parents who are searching for veterinary services online.
Social media
Most veterinarians already have a presence on social media, with Facebook and Instagram being the most popular platforms. Paid ads on these channels can increase brand awareness and enable the clinic to attract more like-minded pet parents.
Social media ads can be used to target people based on interests, demographics, and even behaviors. For example, you can target people who live in your city, who have recently moved to your city, or who have shown an interest in animal health or other pet-related topics.
One popular and inexpensive way to test social media paid ads is by boosting a post on Facebook. Create a post on your business page that highlights a product, service, or community event, set a budget, and follow Facebook's step-by-step instructions to reach your target audience. Your post will appear in your target audience's News Feed.
Instagram Ads platform also offers the ability to boost a post, as well as the option to create a variety of ad types, including video ads, carousel ads, and stories ads.
Both Facebook and Instagram offer PPC options to businesses as well.
Be sure to include a Call to Action so ad viewers know how to take advantage of the offer. Examples of a Call to Action include:
Visiting your website;
Calling you on the telephone;
Scheduling an appointment online;
Filling out a form;
Showing an offer on their mobile device.
Direct mail
Direct mail may be one of the most underutilized strategies in vet marketing. With veterinary direct mail, clinics can send postcards, flyers, or even promotional items like calendars or magnets to your community. You can target people who live near your location, or reach a larger audience by targeting pet owners in a specific zip code.
Include a special offer to attract new clients to your practice. And make sure the logo, telephone number, and website URL are prominent and the colors and images reflect the overall tone for the practice.
Community event sponsorship
Getting the practice name out there in the community can be a great way to attract new clients and grow your practice. By sponsoring local events, such as 5K runs, pet adoption drives, or even sponsoring a little league team, you can get your name in front of a large number of people who may not be familiar with your business.
This can be a great way to generate new clients and increase brand awareness, and help establish your practice as a local expert in animal healthcare.
Referral program
Word-of-mouth marketing is another great way to attract new clients. A referral program can be as simple as giving existing customers a discount on their next visit for each new client they refer to you. By offering a discount or other incentive, you can encourage current customers to spread the word locally about your veterinary services and attract more awesome pet parents. Your best clients will be marketing for you!
Make sure the referral program is easy to understand and that you have a system in place to track referrals. And be sure to promote the program to current customers so they are aware of the opportunity to earn credit and help their friends and family also receive the top-notch veterinary care you provide.
Veterinary Marketing Tips for Creating an Effective Ad Campaign
Step 1: Define your goals
Is the goal to attract new clients, increase revenue from current clients, or brand awareness?
Step 2: Identify your target audience
Who are you trying to reach? What type of animals do they have? Do they live in a certain geographic area?
Step 3: Create messages that resonate
Use eye-catching images and videos of cute dogs and cats and test different messages and strategies to see what works best. Always convey that your veterinary practice is the best choice for the service or product in your community, and don't forget the call to action.
Step 4: Choose the right platform
Which platform or platforms will allow you to reach your target audience most effectively?
Step 5: Set a budget
How much are you willing to spend on your campaigns?
Measuring the Success of your Advertising Efforts
Now that you've run some ad campaigns, how do you know what's effective? The best way to measure the success of your advertising is to track key metrics such as:
Number of new clients;
Increase in revenue;
Website Traffic;
Engagement (likes, shares, comments);
Appointment requests.
By tracking these metrics, you'll understand what's working and what's not, and know where to focus your marketing dollars. Let's expand on a few popular metrics:
New Clients
Each month, generate a report from your Practice Management Software to sum the number of new accounts. Compare this report to the same month of the previous year, to account for seasonality. This will give you a good idea if your advertising efforts are generating new clients and growth.
Website Visits
If you're driving website traffic with your veterinary advertising ideas, make sure you have Google Analytics installed on your site. Google Analytics is a free tool that allows you to track how many people visit your site, where they come from, and what pages they view. This information can be very valuable in understanding the effectiveness of your advertising efforts.
Google Analytics Academy is a great way to learn about these measurement tools for free.
Appointment Requests
If you offer appointment booking on your website or Facebook page, track the number of appointment requests to see if there is a correlation with your veterinary advertising campaigns. You can also track the number of appointment requests or people that call the practice to inquire about services. One veterinary marketing tip is simply to ask "how did you hear about us?" and track the responses to see how it lines up with current advertising efforts.
Paid Advertising Metrics
CTR (Click-Through Rate)
A popular metric to track for paid advertising is the CTR, or click-through rate. This is the number of people who see your ad and then click on it. The higher the CTR, the more successful your ad campaign is.
You can track the CTR by looking at the number of clicks that your ad receives divided by the number of impressions (the number of times your ad is seen). In general, a CTR of 2% or higher is considered good but most veterinarians can achieve a significantly higher return with well-structured ad campaigns.
Cost per Click (CPC)
Another metric to track is the CPC or cost per click. This is the amount that you pay each time someone clicks on your ad.
You can track the CPC by looking at your veterinary advertising budget divided by the number of clicks that your ad receives.
Social Media Metrics
Depending on the goal of your social media advertising campaign, you can track success by monitoring engagement. Engagement is the number of likes, shares and comments.
Paid ads on social media channels can also be measured by the CTR and CPC.
By tracking the metrics, you can get a good idea of how successful your campaign is and make adjustments if necessary.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should I budget for veterinary advertising?
Your budget will depend on several factors, including your business goals, your target audience, and the type of advertising you plan to use. A Gartner Survey in 2022 revealed that advertising budgets on average are 9.5% of overall company revenue.
What are some good veterinary marketing ideas to promote?
Some good offers to promote include free or discounted exams, discounts on products or services, or packages of goods and services. Some offer ideas include:
Meet our team! Free Exam for New Patients;
20% Off Dental Services when you Schedule this Month;
Receive Free Shipping on orders from our Online Store;
Refer-a-friend and receive a $25 credit!
10% Off All Dog and Cat Treats.
By giving pet parents an incentive to choose your hospital or clinic, you can increase the chances of them becoming regular customers.
Should I advertise in the yellow pages?
The short answer is no. The yellow pages are becoming less and less popular as people turn to the internet to find businesses. Veterinarians should focus their advertising efforts online, where they’re most likely to reach their target audience. You should, however, claim your listing on yellowpages.com.
Is veterinary marketing and veterinary advertising the same thing?
No, they are not the same thing. Veterinary marketing is a broad term that encompasses all the activities that you do to promote your business. This includes everything from your website design to the way your team answers the phone.
Veterinary advertising is just one piece of your overall marketing strategy. It refers to the paid promotion of the business, through channels like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or print ads.
By using a combination of marketing strategy and advertising techniques, you can efficiently reach your target audience and grow your business.
Conclusion
With so many different options available, practice owners can create an effective veterinary advertising campaign that meets your specific goals and budget. By taking the time to plan and execute a well-thought-out veterinary advertising strategy, you can attract new clients and grow your veterinary practice.
Use a combination of these ideas to reach potential clients where they are and attract them to your veterinary practice. No matter what type of veterinary advertising you choose, the most important thing is to make sure your ads are creative and attention-grabbing. If you can do that, you'll be well on your way to attracting more new clients.
Looking for more veterinary marketing ideas to attract more new clients? DVM Elite can create a custom vet marketing plan to achieve your goals. Schedule a 1-1 consultation today!
