Theme up for new opportunities

3 mins

Several times a year, large national veterinary companies run themed campaigns to increase awareness of a product range. The topics can vary by region, but for example, February is commonly ‘dental month’, with other topics ranging from ‘microchip month’, ‘immunisation awareness month’, ‘pet health insurance month’, and ‘National senior pet month’.

Monthly themes offer opportunities

During these themed months, you’ll probably have noticed that there is a lot of talk about the theme during these periods – whether it’s social media, other veterinarians or companies talking about it in local or national media, or perhaps your pet shop runs a related special offer.

Veterinary practices, pet stores, and other veterinary companies often put a lot of time, energy, and money into developing and maintaining these large national campaigns, and because the theme gets a lot of national attention, it will also create awareness among your customers. So it can be quite smart to “hitch a ride” on the back of the awareness which others are creating.

Provide information and background

When running a promotion in parallel with a themed month, it is always a good idea to inform owners early, and with plenty of information – after all, these customers have not opted for this product, so probably need more information on why they need the product before they make a decision – offering a discount is not enough. Fortunately, during these themed months, companies will happily provide texts, images and information for you you use in letters and e-mails free of charge.

Tip: If you choose to re-use materials provided by another company, check you have permissions to use it, and take some time to put the materials in your own practices style of design, or writing.

Tip: With the help of online booking, customers can easily book an appointment at your practice from the comfort of their home or work – all via a website. Customers simply choose what time suits them, and the reason for the appointment, click a button, and the appointment is booked – all synchronised live with your Animana diary!

Discover opportunities with Animana

Of course, the themed months won’t always fit in with your practice, and you may want to run campaigns outside of this industry calendar – for example, you don’t want to perform dental checks only in February. Fortunately, Animana can help you find a wealth of information about your customers, and is an invaluable tool to help you to identify where to spend your marketing efforts – the trick is knowing how to use it!

For example, in a few clicks, you can see how many pets do not have a microchip, with a few more clicks you can then send a reminder to these owners to get a microchip, and perhaps include an enticing incentive. Once you have the owner in your practice – don’t forget it’s a great opportunity for a check-up, and to check vaccinations and antiparasite medications are up to date.

Here’s how to find this information in Animana:

1. Go to the menu Extra>Mailing>Mailing filter Patients
2. Check the “call” box to display the list for viewing or export, then fill in the filter as desired (e.g. by species, age or weight), and select the option “without microchip only“.
3. Click “Show Selection“
4. You will see all pets (depending on the filter set) that do not have a microchip. These are the owners who may be interested in having their pet microchipped.

Tip: With a few more clicks, you can select to send an email, or text message to these customers, for more information on reports, check out the Knowledge Base articles listed below.

Related articles

• How do I send marketing messages based on product data?
• How do I send marketing messages based on patient data?
• How do I send marketing messages based on client data?
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