Cost Effective Online Marketing Strategies for Veterinarians

Standard advertising practices are so important; having an ad in the yellow pages of your phone book or newspaper does a tremendous amount to bring in new business. However, what do you do to differentiate yourself from all the other veterinarians listed in the same yellow pages? A pretty ad does not tell potential clients that you are better then the next guy with a DVM after his name.

These days more pet owners are researching their pet’s health information online. Internet marketing should be a part of your overall marketing campaign, and can be done successfully for little or no money. Make the most of this medium by following a few easy steps:

Your Website

You do have a website don’t you? If you don’t, you should. A website can tell potential clients about your practice, your staff, your standards of care, and so much more. This is where the potential client can really get to know your veterinary practice in a way the ad in the yellow pages just can’t do. You don’t have to spend a great deal of money to build your website. If you don’t want to hire a website development firm, talk to your staff members – chances are one of them has some web developing skills and can produce quite a nice and effective website for you. There are also many website templates online that have beautiful animal and veterinary themes, which allow you to simply add your content, without a bunch of coding.

Become An Expert

Yes, you are already a professional, and by all means, an expert in veterinary medicine, but so is that next guy with the DVM. Therefore, you need to show potential clients that you are more of an expert then that next guy. How do you do that? It’s quite easy actually, and costs nothing, you simply write articles. Writing articles and submitting them to online animal health websites is the best way to become an “expert” at any subject and it costs nothing but your time. Many of the “expert” veterinarians got that way by writing for the journals and the trade publications but potential clients do not read these veterinary trade publications and journals. You need to become an “expert” to the pet owners by writing articles for the consumer.

Take Dr. Alice Villalobos for example, writing an oncology column for one specific veterinary trade magazine. Dr Villalobos is well known in the veterinary community, but what you may not know is she is very well known in the pet owner population also. She has taken many of her articles and adapted them for pet owners, and has authorized these articles for reprint on consumer websites such as AnimalHelp.Com. Pet owners from around the United States contact AnimalHelp.Com requesting her contact information because they are willing to cross country for a chance for her to treat their pet’s cancer.

While you may not be looking for cross-country clients, your local clientele will grow considerably when you become well known as a veterinary “expert”. Whether you practice in a small town or a big city, the local pet owners are undoubtedly online and researching you, your practice, and your competitors. When they find well-written veterinary medical articles by you on one of the large national animal health websites, your reputation will grow, you can ethically attract the cases you want by narrowing your article subjects to specific topics, you will become an “expert” in the eyes of your current and potential clients, and you will have differentiated yourself from that next guy with the DVM.

Tying It All Together

Now you have a website and are writing articles for electronic publication on your favorite animal health website. You will want to make sure your author’s bio includes a link to your website and your practice contact information. When your article is published on the animal health website, this direct link will increase your website’s search engine listing rank. Your name will also get higher rankings in the search engines. When you “Google” yourself, how many results are returned? Are they the results you want? Having multiple articles published on a leading animal health website will result in relevant, quality results from the search engines. Add a link from your website to each of your articles published on the consumer animal health website. This directs your potential clients to your articles and let’s them see your “expertise” at work.

For little to no money, you have just established yourself as an “expert” and - even better, more of an “expert” then that next guy with the DVM. Your reputation, your practice, and your clientele will grow, and you didn’t have to take out a loan to do it!

About the Author: Jodi Beck Witte is CEO and President of AnimalHelp.Com, an animal health website that has been online since 1997. Ms Witte is a veterinary technician with extensive training and experience in online marketing. AnimalHelp.Com accepts quality articles from veterinary professionals for the purpose of educating the public on animal health, care, and training.

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