Archive for the ‘viral marketing’ Category

Double Bay Vet Clinic Launches Social Media Site

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Today marked an historic day, the publication of my third generation vet website. A site that I hope will allow vets to benefit from the astonishing and rapid development of social media, arguably the most important communications advance in history.

Readers may not be aware, but this blogger has been researching and managing websites for over a decade. In fact if you have a website built by one of the largest mainstream vet website providers then you’ve probably been benefiting indirectly from my consulting input for years.

In the early days (1998-2002) the web was seen as something weird and techy for most vets. As a conservative profession, we failed to see the potential business benefits of being online. But a brave few did venture into cyberspace, which was largely a trip into indulgent ego land. But at least they were playing with a new idea.

Vetsite One – Promotional

Version one then was about turning the clinical and sales language around and learning to give useful, understandable information that clients found engaging and useful. It was about ‘stickiness’ and ‘eyeballs’ or, put another way, getting clients to come back for more.

We took things a step further and introduced email collection forms and an email newsletter. And it worked! New clients began to register with the practice and seemed happy to give out an email address. Though it was hard to measure an impact on the business the general feeling was that the site was a worthwhile investment.

Vetsite Two – Supporting

Parkvets.com 2008Three years down the line, version two was slicker but simpler. Better structured, this site was all about supporting the crucial roles of the business. From generating new clients, to handling feedback it complimented the core objectives. We even added ecommerce. This time we hired a designer to bring the plans to life. The advent of new technology allowed better monitoring of performance, so we could measure the impact and demonstrate a return on the investment. X new clients per month. Y additional product sales through the ecommerce site.

Vetsite Three – Being Connected

Double Bay Vet Clinic June 2010So what’s new? Two words – Social Media. (Yes they do deserve to be capitalised.) There are some out there who still doubt that the Internet is even useful to vets. They will either change that opinion or stop work soon (either through retirement or lack of business).

Most accept that the Internet is a normal part of life. Few, however, have yet noticed that the rules have changed again. But if you choose to investigate you’ll find that they’ve changed for the good.

How Social Media is Changing the Rules

Think about this. When could a practice ever have afforded to make its own videos? (Let alone broadcast them to the world for free.) When would it have taken ten minutes to send out a traceable newsletter to your clients without involving the mass printing and stuffing of envelopes? When was it possible at the click of one button to potentially engage millions of pet owners with images, sounds, videos – all for free?

The answer is never. The ability to connect with millions of people at zero cost has always been the promise of the Internet. Social media is simply the set of tools that has finally unlocked this power. It may be a source of irritation to find nurses and vets (even on occasions yourself) distracted by sites like Facebook. But what these huge networks of people are doing is talking with friends and colleagues about things that affect them.

They’re talking about holidays and eating out. They’re talking about pubs, clubs and sports events. They’re sharing clinical info. They’re collaborating, planning, building, even destroying…..all with the minimum effort taken to log on. And your vet business isn’t immune. Treat staff badly, it’ll be on Facebook. Treat your clients and pets well and they might just Tweet about it.

Like it or not, people are talking and if you want to have your say then you need to learn about social media.

Dave’s Tuppence-worth

Having a Facebook page or twitter account won’t make your practice cool or hip or better any at fixing pets. But it will help you engage with and deepen relationships with new and existing clients. In other words it will help bond your clients – more effectively in my opinion than any promotional or cost based gimmicks you attempt. Humans are programmed to seek out and interact with each other. Social media allows this without travel or expense.

The Double Bay Vet Clinic website is more than just our e-brochure, it’s our cyber handshake. It’s our Google pumping, client-engaging relationship machine. I’ll keep you posted. But in the meantime why not sign up as a friend either of Double Bay Vet Clinic (to get tips) or follow me (@dave_nicol) on twitter.

Learn More…

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Posted in Communicating, Facebook, Twitter, Website, social media, vet business, vet management, veterinary business, viral marketing | No Comments »

Six Ways To Run A Veterinary Practice Really, Really Badly

Thursday, May 27th, 2010
head for oblivion

Onward! To financial oblivion.

The economy is on the mend. And we can’t have that – what will all the journalists and bloggers like me have to write about? So it’s time to do your bit and push the world back towards financial oblivion.

Since credit has largely dried up you can’t possibly get into more personal debt. And since the government has largely removed any responsibility from the big boys, it’s time for us small and medium enterprises to enter the fray. It’s time to ensure that your practice contributes absolutely nothing to GDP this year.

Be strong people. Do your bit and follow these tips on how to run your practice so badly that it won’t ever make a penny, cent or peso ever again.

Step 1 – Don’t make any attempts to get customers through the door.

Don’t advertise. Don’t train your staff on phone techniques. Don’t maintain your buildings or appearance. And under no circumstances engage in any ‘high-falutin’ social media marketing activity. Dangerous stuff that.

Step 2 – Try not to find any problems with pets.

Don’t employ the best vets – go for the cheapest. New grads all the way! Do not waste money on continuing education courses for staff.  Actively discourage using new skills or individual development in your practice.

When your vets are using vaccine consults as ‘catch-ups’ take no action. After all the pet’s teeth will still be bad next year and that niggling lameness will probably get better on it’s own. Found a lump? Probably just a lipoma – no need for a time consuming aspirate.

Step 3 – Stop selling them solutions.

If your vets (pesky lot) absolutely insist on looking for medical problems, all is not lost. Since most of them haven’t a clue how to effectively persuade a client to take the right action this doesn’t represent a big issue. To keep it this way, do not try to teach them communication skills or sales techniques. That would be disastrous in your efforts at avoiding profit.

Step 4 – Sink yourself with pricing.

Ah-ha! Double opportunity to fail here. Firstly, make sure your prices are so low that there is no way you could ever make a profit. Secondly, don’t tell your staff what’s expected of them when it comes to billing. They’ll make it up as they go along and almost certainly lose you a fortune. Good job!

Step 5 – Try not to collect money.

OK, healthy cash flow is not the same as profit but it does mean your business keeps trading. This in itself means you are a risk to economic meltdown. Therefore, try not to worry too much about asking clients for cash. It only makes the vets feel awkward and annoys clients. Everyone will be happier if you just ignore this bit and let clients wander out the door before paying.

Step 6 – Don’t pay bills.

Now you wouldn’t be doing your bit unless you helped pass the pain up the supply chain. So, to make sure no-one else has any money to pay bills or encourage growth keep all of your bills in a pot on the shelf, wait until they are all final demands, then (and only then) select one randomly and pay it.

And while you’re at it, make sure you’re paying top whack for all of your stock, can’t have the margins creeping up now.

Dave’s Tuppence-worth

If you follow these tips folks then within a few months you’ll be guaranteed to be lining up….at the job centre, claiming back some of that money you gave the government in last year’s tax bill. Now, job done…doesn’t that feel better?

Or there is another way…. ;-)

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Posted in Uncategorized, global financial crisis, recession, social media, training, vet HR, vet business, vet management, vet practice management, veterinary business, viral marketing | 1 Comment »

Veterinary Rounds – Woolly Communication, Viral Benefits & Rita in Sydney

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

Woolly Communications

A friend recently sent me the following joke about a kiwi sheep farmer. You may have read it, but I thought it was worth repeating:

1. Because it’s funny.
2. It highlights a communication problem that is probably damaging your business right now (which is not funny).

A Kiwi buys several sheep, hoping to breed them for wool. After several weeks, he notices that none of the sheep are getting pregnant, and phones a vet for help. The vet tells him that he should try artificial insemination.

The farmer doesn’t have the slightest idea what this means but, not wanting to display his ignorance, only asks the vet how he will know when the sheep are pregnant. The vet tells him that they will stop standing around and instead will lie down and wallow in the grass when they are pregnant.

The man hangs up and gives it some thought. He comes to the conclusion that artificial insemination means he has to impregnate the sheep himself.

So, he loads the sheep into his Land Rover, drives them out into the woods, has sex with them all, brings them back then goes to bed.

Next morning, he wakes and looks out at the sheep. Seeing that they are all still standing around, he deduces that the first go didn’t take, and loads them in the Land Rover again. He drives them out to the woods, bangs each sheep twice for good measure, brings them back, and goes to bed exhausted.

Next morning, he wakes to find the sheep still just standing around.

“Try again.” he tells himself, and proceeds to load them up, and drive them out to the woods. He spends all day shagging the sheep and upon returning home, falls knackered into bed.

The next morning, he cannot even raise himself from the bed to look out of the window. He asks his wife to look, and tell him if the sheep are lying in the grass.

“No,” she says, “They’re all in the Land Rover, and one of them is beeping the horn.”

Funny? Well perhaps not, and a recent consultation with a pet owner shows why.

This client I had been pre-warned was “difficult” and struggled to follow advice. In fact she was coming to the practice to have her aged pet that suffered advanced heart disease put down.

I spent a lot of time just listening to her and it was clear she was confused and felt she hadn’t been listened to. After an examination we chatted about her options. I made it clear that her pet was not going to live for long, but I felt we still had one or two tricks up our sleeve to significantly help his quality of life.

A week later she returned, delighted as for the first time in weeks her dog was back up and going for walks in the park. She was amazed and her friends were amazed – they came to the practice to tell us so.. “Johno” was the talk the park.

Of course the improvement didn’t last forever and Johno was eventually put to sleep. But his owner had had a few more weeks of quality time and when the end came, she felt she had done everything she could for her beloved companion.

Our ‘difficult’ client was transformed. She took the time to buy us all a lovely gift and write one of the most moving thank you cards I have ever read. In it, among other things, she wrote, “Thank you for listening to me”. The same thing she said in the consult room to me when I first met her.

So what’s the lesson? Communication is the most important skill in business. Are your vets good communicators? Do you really, really know? Do they talk more or listen more? Do they use lots of jargon? Are they reading a client’s body language? Are they selling effectively? You can’t possibly know any of this from a distance and you don’t need to be a vet to assess it.

There’s a pretty good chance that a high percentage of those clients perceived as being ‘difficult’ are only being so because they either don’t understand what is being asked of them, or they don’t feel that they are being listened to. Get into consults with your vets or follow up your complaints with a personal phone call to find out.

Vets Go Viral – Novel Approaches to Practice Marketing

No not a story about the horrific Hendra virus here in Australia. Instead we see the creative talents of Village Vet Marketing director Ashley Grey and his clinical team at their Hampstead hospital. A highly amusing and innovative video remake of Michael Jackson’s Thriller created to celebrate Halloween, whilst promoting the practice.

And just to prove it can be done by any of you, I knocked up a little piece of my own to promote a kitten adoption service operating from one of my client’s practices. This video was published on a Sunday and by Wednesday more than 100 people had watched it. Click here to view it.

The advantage of this is it is relatively easy to do, looks professional and if you insert it into your social media network, it will spread around and beyond it quickly – providing you with some cheap and effective practice promotion.

What can you produce? Send me your video and success stories and I’ll tell everyone about them here.

VPMA Dinner in Sydney

OK, not an official event but it was fantastic to meet up with the VPMA ex-president and previous winner of the practice manager of the year award, Rita Dingwall. Rita’s passion for veterinary practice is utterly infectious, so it was a real treat to catch up with her and her legendary husband John on a balmy evening in Sydney.

If you are in Sydney and want some tips or to catch up for a beer then let me know and back in the UK, if you’re not already a member of the VPMA, then I’d strongly recommend joining. Their annual congress is coming up soon from the 28th – 30th January 2010. It was a terrific learning and net working experience last year – expect this year to be no different.

Meanwhile…

Double Bay Veterinary Clinic (my current project) goes from strength to strength. The marketing plan is done and sales are up by an impressive amount for the quarter, in a largely flat market. We installed digital X-ray this week to add to our already impressive diagnostics array. Next up is our new website (the current one www.doublebayvet.com.au, I think you’ll agree, needs a little work), but do check out our twitter and Face book sites to get a feel for how you can use this media to good effect.

Next Week
We’ll take a look at how the global financial crisis might affect your business in 2010 in my article ‘New Year Party Pooper – Are We Heading for A Painful Comedown in 2010?’

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Posted in Communicating, Michael Jackson, VPMA, vet practice management, viral marketing | No Comments »