We often hear about differentiation, outperforming your competitor and gaining competitive advantage. Most of the corporate veterinary groups have spent time conceptualizing their brand, uncovering core competencies and figuring out ways to best communicate their value proposition to their existing and potential clients. But how can you refine your strategy and attract the right client to your practice – without having that first consultation? You guessed it – go online!
I know that online presence does not come naturally to everyone and you also expose yourself if you put content out there. What if your competitors see what you are offering and copy that? Well, let them! Social Media and Google Reviews are modern day word-of-mouth and often clients will Google you before they decide whether they will trust you with their pet’s life. What would you like them to see?
Be Authentic
The last thing you want are the Instagram vs Reality moments when a client walks into your hospital. The images that they may see on your social media pages are all stock images and then they come to the back and see a disorganised hospital and cages not in tip-top shape.
Clients sense when you care for them and their pets and when you are trying to push products unnecessarily. By being 100% who you are, you will attract the right type of client to your practice. The ones whose beliefs are in line with your own.
Be Unique
Why should a client choose your practice over the one down the road? Why should they drive an extra couple of minutes to come and see you? What does your practice offer that is more desirable to them, compared to everyone else? How should a potential client know these things if you do not share it online?
As a practice, decide what you want to be known for – uncover your niche – and then tell people about it! If you want to be the best rabbit hospital, start sharing educational tips, Fun Facts, great toys, behavioral interventions, deworming advice, care tips, etc. for rabbit owners. If you specialize in orthopedic surgery, share success stories, explain common injuries, take videos of rehabilitation programs post-op and explain why your surgeons should be trusted.
Tell a Story
Pet owners find it easier to relate to you if you tell a story. You can do that either in one single post – or better yet, take your audience with you by sharing a sequence. From getting sick to recovery – let them walk the path with you.
If you are not a great storyteller – look for someone in your practice who is. Ask your nurses or receptionists to help you with this as stories are better received by pet owners when you do not use technical terms.
Educate!
Clients are overloaded by inaccurate information and often it is ignorance rather than arrogance that will prohibit clients from taking your advice or following your treatment plan. Be the source of credible, interesting and up-to-date information for your clients. Let them come to you to get help rather than scroll through blogs with thousands of followers but no credible resources.
Make education fun (sometimes a little disgusting) but not too graphic. Clients still want to believe in sunshine and happiness – don’t completely burst their bubble. As they learn from what you share, they will also be more inclined to share your content. Show them what the impact will be if they feed sharp bones instead of simply telling them not to do it.
Show Behind The Scenes
It is important for clients to understand what happens from the time they drop their pet off to what the pet is picked up. Share photos of your staff members with a cute pet, take a photo of your nurse drawing blood for blood donation and use that to educate your clients and to call them to bring their pets in to be typed.
Take a walk through the hospital and make use of live videos to introduce yourself and help potential clients build a rapport with you. They will see your personality, how you treat the pets in hospital and feel more at ease.
Encourage Engagement
Use call to actions – share a selfie! Ask your clients to write a review. We were always taught how to handle bad publicity – but how do you handle good publicity? If a client complains, we write a comment and apologize but often we give positive comments no more than a like. Use positive reinforcement principles and start rewarding great behaviour in your clients. Learn to say thank you for good reviews, apologize if you are late for a consultation (they do not know that you just lost a patient and performed CPR for 15 minutes and that is why you were delayed). Say thank you for being patient, pose for the selfie that they want to post on Instagram and learn to be thankful for the clients who help you be the veterinarian or vet nurse that you want to be.
Mix-it-up
Do not be monotonous! The best is to have a content calendar so that you can plan posts – alternate between stories (with real photos), products, giveaway hampers from pet food or pharmaceutical companies, run dental month, weight focus month, focus on nurses’ clinics, offer free nurse consultations to help get the people into the door, do a client seminar afternoon where you invite everyone with senior pets to educate them in changing needs of senior pets (you can even do it via Zoom or on Facebook Live) and you can promote the event beforehand. Tell them about products you sell and explain why you believe in them, discuss common disease conditions, explain laboratory tests – how and why you perform them and explain the significance of the results in general.
The most important thing about your online presence is that it should be a true reflection of your practice. Do not offer free check-ups if you do not have everyone in the practice onboard! Get buy-in from the staff and start playing with your social media pages – look at the insights and reports: what performed well, what did not work and readjust.
There is no perfect formula – you just need to show up, be authentic and do better every week.
