Vet marketing is changing. In the old days you could read the handy ‘how to market my Vet clinic’ guidebook and you would know that all you need is an office, reliable staff and a yellow pages budget. 1-2-3, instant veterinarian practice.

Okay, it is not that easy and I don’t mean to belittle. Starting any business is extremely difficult. Long hours and self-doubt can creep in when you wonder if you have done the right thing by starting a practice.

But veterinarian marketing is different today. Today’s clients are not using the yellow pages to find their vet. That means that the vet marketing budget needs to change to keep up with the times. Specifically, a modern veterinarian marketing budget now needs to include different channels.

And, gasp, a modern vet marketing strategy will actually contemplate an eventual elimination of the yellow pages advertising budget. I know – Crazy talk. But really, that is the trend. And your yellow pages sales rep knows it. This is why they have been selling you space in their online directories. The yellow pages knows that their days as a fixture in your marketing budget are limited.

But there is a better way. You should be investing your marketing dollars into Internet marketing for your veterinary website. You can advertise yourself in the popular search engines like Google and you can also promote your website in the organic listings. For more on how to have a well-tuned veterinarian marketing strategy that is built for the modern Internet era, contact VetHubs today.

As the Internet became dominant many veterinary practices put up websites simply because they felt it was a nice to have. And in fact many vet clinic still don’t have a website today. Compared to many other segments of the marketplace, veterinarian practices are slower to adopt online marketing. But this is changing rapidly and soon there will be very few itinerary and hospitals without a website. In fact you can find many firms that specialize in veterinary websites alone.

The shift in marketing for vets has happened and many are now realizing that the channel to acquire new customers is online. Once the veterinarian understands this dynamic the idea of love that website as a nice to have changes rapidly. The veterinarian’s website becomes a critically important brochure to make a first impression for potential new clients and their pets. Once the doctor understands that a large percentage of prospective clients are searching for their vet practice online, new emphasis is placed on the website. And appropriately so.

In today’s modern Web 2.0 world, but you’re in websites are extremely attractive one designed well. There are numerous templates and design firms that make that websites in all shapes and sizes. And many vets believe that this is an expensive endeavor, which is no longer. For under $500 there are many places that a pet hospital can get aid and attractive looking veterinarian website. While it may not be fully functional at first it is at least an attractive starting point for the vet’s drive their online presence.

If you are a veterinarian doctor then you know that the marketing for your clinic has changed over the last decade. Or perhaps you’re one of those vets that has not figured out that there is a massive migration happening. Believe it or not there are some veterinarian clinics that have not moved to online marketing as a means to gain more clients. However the vast majority have started to engage some type of Internet-based marketing to bring pets and dog owners into their clinics.

The reality is that the veterinarian marketing strategies that worked 15 years ago are no longer viable. The steeple of the vet marketing approach was yellow page ads and word-of-mouth referrals. Having happy customers will never go out of style and word-of-mouth is always a great way to get business. There is nothing stronger than a recommendation from a trusted source of the friend or family member who has visited your vet clinic and recommends that their friends take their pets there too.

However, yellow page advertising is on the decline. This is simply because fewer people are using these phonebooks to find businesses. Particularly in the younger generations and habits are changing when you need to locate the vet for your pet. Specifically, 64% of American search online before they contact a local business to make an appointment. This means that when you have a sick dog or cat and you need to make a vet visit, you’re going to jump into Google and search for the veterinarian offices closest to you using Google.

This means that the marketing strategy for a veterinarian hospital needs to shift to match the new behaviors of the consumer. Whereas in the old days yellow page ads would bring in plenty of new clients per month, today’s veterinarian marketing plan needs to include an online presence and a strategy for getting in front of the prospective pet owners who are looking for bets online. This is a different set of items for your marketing plan that used to be.

Here is a shot of Chad and Adam in the VetHubs booth at the NAVC in Florida 2010. We had a fantastic time and talked to over 1,000 vets about vet marketing, veterinary websites, and the death of yellow pages.

It seems like most vets understand that the landscape for veterinary marketing has changed. Every time I said that the yellow pages were dead or near-dead, they always shook their heads. But when I asked them about how Google was fitting into their veterinary marketing strategy, many had no answer.

This is probably the first phase of understanding: Recognition that change is coming. But the next move is actually planning how your business can benefit from the changes. This is where online marketing emerges for veterinarians.

To date: People who sell veterinarian websites are focused only on the IT behind launching the website. They say the site is SEO optimized, but they don’t really know what that means. They don’t seem to be aware that there is intense competition for page 1 listings on veterinarian terms in most cities. They don’t seem to understand the importance of off-site SEO optimization. We believe they will.

VetHubs is an exciting new service that brings together the best of veterinarian website construction, marketing and SEO in one package. Many of the vets who stopped by to see us were excited about our entry into the space. They commented on how many of the talks were emphasizing the Internet and vet websites, but that the vendors to support those initiatives had yet to appear. We are excited to be joining the veterinarian community to meet this emerging demand and look forward to seeing our new friends again at many conferences to come.

We have our booth set up and are ready to roll. Last year we talked to over a thousand vets, we know this year will be even stronger. We saw all the other Vet sales teams getting psyched up, we’re doing the same.

Happy Sunday morning. All the sales teams are here and ready in the exhibit hall. Waiting for the 6,000 vets (14,000 total) to come through the NAVC 2011 Exhibitors Hall

Here is a sweet Greyhound Dog, rescue, that we saw this afternoon at the VetHubs booth.

Check out this dog in a t-shirt:

I’m on the scout for the coolest dog to be brought to the NAVC conference (2011). Here is an early contender. He’s awesome. If you have a great dog, bring him by the Gaylord booth 1135 and we’ll take a picture for you.

Another entry for Coolest Dog at 2011 NAVC