We Need Better Marketing
Marketing an Animal Hospital
Marketing an animal hospital can be a daunting task for new entrepreneurs. But with consumer demand on the rise, marketing skills are becoming increasingly important for animal hospital owners and managers.
A single characteristic divides today's best animal hospitals from companies at the bottom of the food chain.
Still trying to figure out what differentiates animal hospitals from the competition? Most of the time it's not the quality of their product offerings -- it's their ability to communicate granular marketing messages to their customer base.
Promotional Calendars
Sloppy marketing programs have no place in growing animal hospitals. A strategy chocked full of time-sensitive ad placements and other tactics can devolve into a tangled mess of overlapping deliverables unless it is coordinated in a promotional calendar. Good calendars include not only tactical deadlines, but also schedules for the inputs (e.g. staff assets, vendors, etc.) that are required to execute strategic objectives. Many list vendors appreciate promotional calendars because they are useful for timing the delivery of the resources your business needs to meet strategic objectives.
Loss Leaders
The majority of animal hospitals understand that more customers will walk through the door if a few products are priced at less than full retail value. Although you may lose money on one product, you can make up for it buy selling a higher volume of other products. But to be effective, loss leader marketing requires planning, especially in product selection and price points. For the majority of animal hospitals, the real benefits of loss leaders emerge through the careful marketing of other products, usually offered at a much higher margin. With adequate preparation, a loss leader promotion can be publicized through all of your company's marketing channels, including the company website.
Why Branding Matters
Branding isn't just a marketing buzzword. It's a core concept for businesses trying to entrench themselves in consumer consciousness. Any and every animal hospital has brand characteristics. Some brands struggle to achieve recognition with consumers while others seem to be quickly embraced by the marketplace. Companies that incorporate brand positioning into their normal marketing routines gradually accumulate higher brand values and are rewarded by consumers.
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