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Benefits of Digital Marketing Are Invisibly Great
The inevitability that marketing will continue to evolve into a much more sophisticated practice should cause business owners to feel a bit concerned. Why? Many business owners know of the typical marketing practices. You know, the traditional ones such as newspaper ads and local TV spot ads. Not many, however, know or understand about the advancements in digital marketing; and because of that, many business owners protect themselves by being skeptical and demanding the number of return on investment.
It is quite impossible to come up with a number on ROI, let alone guarantee it, when it comes to the many aspects of digital marketing. One can hardly measure ROI with social media other than offering theoretical formulas. And SEO? Same ordeal. So why is digital marketing trumping and contributing to millions of dollars in various industries when no one exactly knows the exact contributions to ROI?
In 1776, a brilliant historical figure wrote “Every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it … He intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention … I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.” If you knew who the person is as you were reading that quote, hats off to you, otherwise you may know this person as Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations book.
Smith’s argument was that intentionally, or unintentionally, the individual resulted in contributing to the economy because he sought to promote what was best for him personally. In other words, without the forced assistance of an entity, society would improve overall by individuals; thus, this being called the “invisible hand”.
Think of digital marketing as the invisible hand. Can you measure ROI on Facebook if your business page received 100 likes last week? No; however, they still contribute to making your business grow by either taking action and becoming customers, or persuading a person to feel assured to do business with you because 100 more people appeared to have approved of your business.
Google has become a major influence for businesses when it comes to local search and putting significant emphasis on placement in the search results page.
Review websites such as Yelp make a contribution to a consumer’s purchasing decision and even influencing other consumers’ purchasing decisions.
We cannot know the intentions of individuals, and in this case of consumers. What we can know, though, is that consumers want what is best when purchasing a necessity or a luxury. Executing the correct and effective digital marketing campaign will drive that invisible hand as individuals will respond to it and contribute to your business’s growth.
Why We Avoid Saying the “S” Word
Well, maybe not a word exactly, but an acronym as in “SEO” meaning search engine optimization. SEO has come a long way over the past decade and continues to gain more importance and power in the marketing realm. The more consumers use the Internet to search for products and services the more competitive SEO becomes; and, with competitiveness comes a higher demand in SEO.
In the SEO blogosphere, the topic is popular and many tutorials are available with brainiacs like Rand Fishkin from Moz. The amount of free information about SEO is plentiful on the Internet, which is why as a professor I recommend the school to avoid searching for expensive textbooks that may become obsolete and outdated in a year.
So what could be so bad about the “S” word? This SEO realm of endless information and experts that are highly knowledgeable of HTML coding does not coincide with the business realm. Business people want a return whenever their money is invested, and rightfully so. Most business people do not comprehend the behind the scenes of SEO, and this as well is rightfully so. Time is money and there is no time to learn and perform SEO for many businesses. Their solution is to then hire an SEO expert or company. With so many SEO companies there is no surprise that many of them have taken the advantage of the lack of knowledge regarding SEO from their clients, which are businesses. This has created an unfortunate reputation for SEO and we found ourselves speaking to business owners that tell us that SEO was a rip off; or, basically “I got screwed”. So all of the sudden saying the word “SEO” returns a likely chance that a potential client immediately looks away, hence why we are avoiding saying the “S” word.
I will give you an excellent example of what is wrong with SEO today that you must read. Part of this company’s disclaimer states the following:
“Clients utilizing our services more often than not do not report increases in sales, leads, or profits, and many report losses. Clients utilizing our services more often than not do not report positive results in health, influence, relationships, or any positive results of any kind.”
This is an embarrassment. Many report losses? Then what is the purpose!? This is basically a confession that you have a good chance of losing money, but since they know you probably won’t read the lengthy disclaimer you can’t do a thing about it; but hey, they thank you for your money.
This is just one SEO company out of the many that do this. The reputation of SEO in the business world is diminishing because of companies that are deceitful in their selling point, but protect themselves behind the scenes trying to wash their hands of any losses you may gain. There is a reason why the term “black hat SEO” exists, which is the malpractice of SEO through the uses that are disavowed by search engines like Google.
Business owners are responsible for finding the right company that won’t deceive them. The business relationship offered is important. We are a digital marketing agency at Who Can I Hire, Inc. and its sister companies, that work with traditional and modern SEO techniques as well as other means of digital media consulting to help a business’s brand value, image, and enhancing its online positioning. We truly value the relationship we form with our clients. Getting to know a client’s business is important to our marketing strategies because one strategy in SEO cannot apply to all businesses. If all SEO companies worked with clients that way then the term SEO would be championed, not be shied away from and looking at it as that “S” word.
Numbers Say Digital Marketing is a Priority
This recent survey released in January further paves the way for businesses to concentrate on the most valuable marketing methods. As word of mouth remains the most important, it should also be noted that word of mouth is also integrated within the online category. Be it social media or review websites.
Digital Marketing Channels used for Customer Acquisition
Technically, the top three marketing channels stand on the same digital marketing platform. How so? Online local directories are used for completing a strong SEO (search engine optimization) campaign, so it really is a sub-category for SEO, and with SEO naturally comes word of mouth where consumers share a business’s reviews with each other online or offline. By combining these three marketing channels the potential number is a staggering 63% of the businesses surveyed that focus on digital marketing.
In relation to veterinary practices and pet care businesses in general, it must be accepted that as the millennial generation grows, and will soon grow to have families and pets, the culture of doing business changes.
I, your humble author, belong in the older section of the millennial generation, which means, and if you belong in that section you will understand, that I have experienced the growth of technology from teenager to post graduate, and how it has affected society. As a professor, I see students enter my classroom early, sit down, and the first thing that they do is look at their mobile devices (cell phone or tablet). There is no interaction! Whereas I in my college days I would enter a classroom, with a small Sony Ericsson cell phone, and talk to classmates. Over ten years ago, having moved to the area and owning a dog, my only way of finding a veterinarian was through a family friend. Now, speed forward in the future. Nowadays if I moved to the area of my university, and owning a dog, my best way of finding a veterinarian would be through an online search. For the readers that are not working in an animal hospital, but have a pet related business? Same thing! Pet groomer? Ten years ago I would have asked around. Today, I would be searching. Pet sitter? Dog walker? You name it. Anything that can relate to that scenario is applied to your business.
All you have to do is apply your business to digital marketing.
Digital Marketing For Pet Care Professionals & Veterinary Practices
For as low as $250 a month PawPrintSEO will give you digital marketing done right with results!
Don’t Lose Your Identity in Digital Marketing
Welcome to 2015; another year of technological advancements and new beginnings. The two worst mistakes to make for your veterinary practice is to not embrace 2015 as a continuous movement of digital marketing strategies, and to keep the status quo within your practice. When it comes to digital marketing, do not think that there is nothing you need to do this year because you have already done some digital marketing in 2014.
While some technicalities have changed in terms of updates to Google algorithms, the first task to address in your new year is your practice’s digital identity. What do I mean by that? A lot of digital marketing strategies nowadays carry similar, if not equal, traits to the traditional marketing strategies that most of us grew up on. The main differences are how they are applied (i.e. mobile devices). The same thing is applied in terms of the identity of a veterinary practice.
As a potential client, I go through a decision making process to judge whether or not I should trust an animal clinic with my pet(s) and how that animal clinic is better than the other one. This is where your practice’s identity comes in to play. What makes your animal clinic better than others? You offer the same main service, but there are things that you can do better, or do more of, and that is how you differentiate yourself.
The same applies with your practice’s digital identity. I am sure that many of you know of website marketing service companies such as VetStreet or VetMatrix. Your veterinary practice’s website may already be a VetMatrix product. Your 
Facebook and other social media channels may also be run by VetMatrix. These are good services and the website design from VetMatrix usually look great.
So what is the problem? With a company like VetMatrix creating your website and running your show on social media there is the loss of your digital identity. Why? Because you are not the only veterinary practice using that service. The animal hospital located in the same town as yours, which is using VetMatrix, would have the same good looking website and the same Facebook content as yours. Where is the differentiation? Where is your identity? When clients search for an animal hospital in your town and see two nearly identical websites and the same Facebook content, what will be the person’s reaction? Firstly, you are not in control of your practice online. Secondly, it is automated content that is not even yours. Thirdly, another animal clinic that is ranked well on Google, has its own managed social media pages, and has content that interacts with clients, will most likely attract more interest. Why? Because it’s not a product of VetMatrix as they own their pages and social media content.
Veterinary practices that use such services from the same company, and this applies to general businesses as well, lose their digital identity and the ability to show potential clients the differentiation at a glance.
It is critical that you are engaging with your audience with a majority of original content to achieve a quality ranking in local search. A quality ranking in local search will dramatically increase your access to new clients.
In my next column, I will provide you with some pointers on how to retain, or regain, your digital identity, and differentiate yourself from the competition.
By combining PawPrintSEO’s marketing strategies and content along with your customer relationships we can raise your practice to a position online that will allow you to grow and gain the new clients you seek. Our veterinary partners gain as many as 80 new clients a month while decreasing their client acquisition cost by 75% on average.
Call us at 888-700-8290!
How Office and Practice Managers Can Give More Value to a Veterinary Practice
What are the exact roles of an office manager and a practice manager in a veterinarian clinic? According to the Wisconsin Veterinary Practice Managers Association, an office manager is responsible for “daily accounting, accounts receivables, banking, schedule coordinator, purchasing, accounts payable, training, directing the front office staff, and client relations” and the practice manager is responsible for “managing the business activities and practice internal promotions, possesses all the knowledge of an office manager plus has direct authority and decision-making responsibilities over all business aspects of the practice.”
Both roles require decision making processes that must result in efficiency and effectiveness for the good of the practice. Thus, it is imperative that the office and practice manager secure the practice’s outlook for years to follow.
How can that be done? All of the responsibilities assigned to both staff roles will most likely not change, at least not significantly, over the next years. Accounting will still have the same methods as do scheduling and client relations. But, what about marketing? Will that remain the same down the road? The answer to that is no. No it will not. What is crucial to understand is how digital marketing as a whole is vital to a veterinary practice. There is always the opportunity to gain a new client. Pet owners may be first time pet owners, or they may move to a different location, or they may even be upset with their current DVM and are looking for a new veterinary clinic. So how can veterinary office, or practice, managers take advantage of digital marketing and the opportunity of gaining a client? Hiring a digital marketing agency is the most efficient decision a manager can make.
Why?
The responsibilities are plenty for both staff roles and time is precious. If a water pipe burst in the restroom, would a practice manager have the knowledge and time (can’t do it without both of them) to fix it? If the air conditioning unit encountered issues, would the office manager have the knowledge and time to fix it? Obviously the answers are no.
Leave it to the digital marketing agency to do the work for you.
How to pick the right digital marketing agency? Make sure you vet digital marketing agencies. Many SEO (search engine optimization) companies involve bright tech minds, but without any business experience. Find an agency that has business experience. The agency should also have experience with pet care professionals, or simply better with veterinarians as their clients. And, make sure that you become their client with a name and place and not just with an account ID number. Digital marketing agencies should get to know your profession and have good communication with you. And lastly, there is never a shortcut to a successful digital marketing campaign. You know the saying. What you pay is what you get. Do not find the cheapest deal, but also do not look to be overcharged. Anything promised to you that states that your veterinary practice will be number one on Google is only a flat out lie.
If you are an office/practice manager reading this then you must realize that it is an obligation for you to find a digital marketing agency and market your practice competitively. You have an obligation to do what is best for the practice and its future.
Businesses Don’t Let Businesses Spend On Printed Ads
As a business owner, do you anxiously wait to see your advertisement on the next edition of a local newspaper or magazine? You spent time comparing prices, looking at prices for which page your ad would be on, and the prices for each size of the ad, and quite possibly if the ad will be in black and white ink or in color ink. You go through all that decision process, run the numbers, and then you find the right ad to run on a printed page. The end result? Your expectations are much different than the reality. Your expectations, and you may not know so, are based on the hope that a reader sees your ad and takes action. The reality in truth is that you should place your hope not on a reader seeing your ad but on a person actually picking up the newspaper, or magazine.
According to the Association of Business Information & Media Companies, the growth in revenue for printed media has decreased 9.9% at the end of 2014’s second quarter, which means that a printed ad that you would spend on is represented by that negative growth. So let me ask you another question. Would you invest in a company where its revenue growth decreased by nearly ten per cent in just two quarters? Also, for how long are you running that ad for; a month or more? Generally you can expect a locally placed printed ad to cost between $700 to over $2,000 and after the duration of the ad expires then your ad is gone, or you renew and you keep spending thousands of dollars.
According to the same association that conducted the research, the growth in revenue for digital media is up 12.6% in Q2. This is not a matter of you personally not liking social media and digital marketing because it all sounds like silly gibberish, and that you still think that printed marketing is visibly more appealing and feels more authentic. The marketing data does not really care what you like and don’t like and neither does the customer. The data is telling you what you should be doing and the distinction here is investing in either a shrinking industry or a growing industry.
So what values do the digital media give you? People spend hours online whether they are at home, at work, or taking a walk using their mobile device. Automatically, your marketing is already placed in an infinite landscape of data, users, transactions, etc… Your marketing is not limited as it would be in a newspaper or magazine, and on a page. Your marketing is technically turned on 24/7 online. A newspaper is mostly a onetime read and afterwards it is thrown in the trash.
Or let’s be more eco friendly and say recycle bin to please environmentalists that may be reading this. There is the value of your money spent; literally in a bin if you were to choose printed ads. That point alone should already lead you to allocate your marketing budget funds from printed marketing to digital marketing the moment that you are done reading this article.
Another aspect that you need to consider is establishing brand continuity. As mentioned earlier, a printed ad has an expiration date unless you keep paying the thousands of dollars for it. In digital marketing you have the power to continuously market your business and establish a following, or a connection between you and customers to build a relationship for as long as you may wish even after you are done working with a digital marketing firm.
So empower yourself with a digital marketer that will work with you to construct a strategy and launch an effective digital marketing campaign. Invest in your business the way it needs to be invested as the marketing data shows.
Share this information if you know business owners that are still stuck in the printing phases. Help them move on!
I am the Director of Client Relations and Partner of Who Can I Hire, Inc., a digital marketing firm. I gather the most recently released marketing data to analyze and to write in relation to businesses adapting to the latest marketing trends.
Who Can I Hire, Inc. 