Andrew Morton

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

As a specialized business discipline, marketing has grown in importance over the years. This chapter identifies and discusses some of the most important marketing concepts and frameworks that have been used to build long-term successful businesses and practices. Considerable attention is paid in the chapter to the marketing planning process, with the key elements of a successful marketing plan discussed. The value of some of the more recent digital developments is explored, and consideration is given to how veterinary practice managers and owners may wish to incorporate these into their overall marketing mix. This includes specific digital marketing strategies and tools.

One of the most important elements of any marketing plan is measuring and monitoring its overall effectiveness. By continually measuring activity, the overall effectiveness of your marketing efforts can be improved over time. This chapter will discuss ways in which a practice may do this.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After reading this chapter, students will be able to:

Introduction

While marketing is often misunderstood by business owners and managers, it remains one of the most powerful business disciplines. Unfortunately, for many vets, marketing is often seen as the process of organizing some ‘advertising’ or simply producing some ‘leaflets’ – processes that are often detached from the operational side of the organization. This may be a somewhat naïve view, and one that will surely limit the long-term success of the organization.

In most cases, successful veterinary practices appreciate the view that if they are to succeed in an ever-changing and increasingly competitive economic climate then they must start to consider their customers and what they are looking for. This might sound fairly straightforward, but in many instances the needs and wants of the customers are overlooked by internal issues and rivalries, all of which undermine the potential of the veterinary practice.

In its truest form marketing could be seen as the strategy and process of putting the customer at the heart of the organization and developing the business around their needs. The Chartered Institute of Marketing (www.cim.co.uk) defines marketing as

By dissecting this statement it becomes quite clear that ‘marketing’ should be more than simply a functional role within an organization. Essentially, it is the responsibility of the whole practice from top to bottom, and without that commitment and understanding the potential is severely weakened.

For any organization wishing to adopt a strong ‘marketing orientation’ the implications are substantial. This might, for example, include the range of services you offer, whether or not you offer an out-of-hours emergency service, or an online service, an in-house laboratory or even separate cat and dog wards. It may even extend to the recruitment of specialist staff and to other products and services such as Pet Plans and small-animal food products. It may seem obvious, but by adapting your business to suit your market you will make it more appealing to customers.

This chapter discusses the essentials of marketing planning, the setting of marketing objectives and the importance of understanding consumer buying behaviour. The value of branding along with the growth and opportunities of digital marketing, including social media, are also explored. This chapter will therefore provide a flavour of marketing strategy and tactics that can help build a long-term sustainable business.

Marketing for all

Whether you are a larger national organization, a small local practice or a new practice with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, there is always a need for well-thought-out marketing. Many small veterinary practices suffer from a lack of finance, so embarking on an expensive advertising campaign might be out of the question. Likewise, you might have serious resource limitations, so starting a time-consuming social media campaign might be too much of a burden for already busy staff, or you might be too busy caring for clients, dealing with suppliers or worrying about the more mundane issues of managing a team of people to take time out to develop an effective marketing campaign. However, by investing in a well-balanced and detailed marketing programme your chances of reaching your goals will be increased considerably. Irrespective of the size of your practice or your ambitions, the core principles of any effective marketing campaign alter little.

Marketing and sales

The marketing and sales functions are often confused and sometimes assumed to be one and the same. Both functions have similar objectives and work synergistically through interrelated techniques, although the timescales do differ. However, over the past century, marketing has evolved. Its focus has moved from the short-term, transactional level to the long-term, relationship level. These days, when it comes to ‘satisfying customer requirements profitably’ most marketers think over the long term and consider the ‘life time value’ (LTV) of a customer as one of the main measurement tools. Understanding and measuring the LTV of a customer is important, and we will be discussing how you might go about this later in the chapter. The reality is that building long-term relationships with the ‘right sort’ of customers will always be more effective than attracting customers who only buy once and never return. So, how do we ensure that our marketing activity is effective? It should start with the development and agreement on what you are trying to achieve. The business should have an over-arching business plan that might include a ‘mission statement’, financial analysis and targets, including relevant information on other management disciplines such as IT (information technology), HR (human resources) or operations. The important thing is that for your marketing to be successful it should be based on the mission and objectives of the business plan and relate to the plans for the other parts of the organization. A marketing plan that is developed in isolation is likely to fail.

Consumer buying behaviour

Over the years there has been a lot of research exploring the process that individuals go through when in the ‘buying process’. While the scale varies considerably depending on whether it is a ‘big-ticket’ item such as agreeing terms on a new practice, or smaller everyday products such as worm, flea and parasite treatments, as consumers we all follow a process. For marketers, understanding this process, and adapting marketing and communications activity accordingly, can increase the number of new customers as well as improving customer retention and loyalty. Figure 7.1 illustrates this process and identifies some key marketing tactics that need to be considered.

Often marketing campaigns focus on one or two aspects of the buying process, so it might be worth considering what strategies and tactics are available to you to ensure that you do not lose potential customers along the way. Most organizations are limited in their marketing communications activity at some stage through a lack of resources such as finance, skills, staff and time. It is worth analysing your available resources before making any serious commitments.

Positioning your products and services

For your marketing activity to really succeed you need not only to appreciate what your target market looks like, but also how you are viewed by that audience compared to your competitors. While you might think that what you are offering is unique, your target audience might simply see your company/veterinary practice as just the same as any other. In this case it is vital to develop your competitive advantage and demonstrate how and why you are different. This differentiation can be made for all sorts of reasons but it must be appealing and relevant. There is no point in offering a 24/7 emergency service if your target market is not the least bit interested. Furthermore, your potential customers may tell you that ‘low price’ is important and that your competitors are cheaper than you. This may be true, but be wary; it may be that ‘value for money’ is what really counts to them, so check before entering a potential price war. Thus, how you differentiate yourself from the competition needs careful consideration. Whatever your choice, it has to be appealing and sustainable. It may also have implications for the whole practice, not just for the promotional messages you put out.

In his book, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors, Harvard University’s Michael Porter (2004) suggests that an organization has three options with regard to marketing strategy: cost leadership, product differentiation and focus (on specific target audiences). Unfortunately many organizations, and small businesses/practices in particular, lack clear direction and tend to fall into ‘no man’s land’, resulting in a weak and sometimes confusing ‘competitive advantage’. While there is a certain amount of flexibility in these options, having a clear and long-term view of the adopted strategy will help define the actual marketing activities you eventually select.

Defining your competitive advantage

Marketers suggest that to be successful you need to decode what your competitive advantage is and select your ‘unique selling proposition’ (USP) in the belief that having one advantage is better than having lots. However, as customers become more selective and markets become more fragmented, it is often wiser to develop more than one USP relevant to the different segments and micro markets. Unfortunately, taking this approach can sometimes lead to confusion. For example, if you identify five key points of difference, the issue then becomes: which one do you promote? Developing new promotional campaigns can be beneficial but can also be costly. So it may be worth researching which point resonates most with your target audience.

Your USP does not have to be related to specific features; it could relate to how you promote yourself/your practice, the levels of service and support you provide and the way you communicate with your customers and stakeholders. Whatever you decide, it must be appealing to your target customers; it is they who will decide whether or not it is of real interest.

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