What makes your practice unique –
and how to communicate it
Every practice is unique.
Let’s get that established to start.
I’ve spoken to so many people in practice over the years who think that what they do is no different to any other practice, and that that collective effort isn’t anything special.
Every time I’ve told them that they’re wrong on both counts.
What practice teams do is special – that’s why pet owners admire, trust and respect you. That pile of thank you cards in the team room is a testament to that. Don’t let any amount of grouching about prices get in the way.
What makes practices unique? People.
The clinical details of performing a spay or running an ultrasound scan might be the same from practice to practice, but the character, personality, empathy and values of the team in the building are truly unique.
If you’ve been following our blog recently you’ll remember me recently talking about the concept of show not tell.
When telling the story of your practice, the skill is in understanding the particular blend of characters in your team, and in communicating what that amounts to for clients to understand.
It's about capturing the feeling that clients get when they walk through your door and speak to your team.
This isn’t always easy. But we’re here to help. Read on to get a feel for how we go about understanding and communicating the practices we work with.
What kind of practice are you?
Now, when I ask what kind of practice you are, I don’t mean out of hours, referral or first opinion – although all of those things can feed into the answer.
I mean how do you define the mission of what you do.
Let’s look at some examples.
Many practices want to be the practice of a place, defined by their connection to their community. How do you do this? Talk about your history and heritage, the local links of team members and the work you do to give back to and support your neighbours.
If you want to be defined by the connections you form with clients and pets, explain why you believe that leads to a better service and what you do to achieve it. Tell your clients what pets your team members have and make it as easy as possible for clients to come in to see you.
Or it might be your clinical standards that make you stand out. So lean into that. Use more clinical language and don’t be afraid to brag about the qualifications and facilities that set you apart.
The through line here regardless of your practice personality is this – don't assume that because something isn't special to you, it isn't special to your clients.
Who’s the face of your practice?
There’s no right or wrong way to look at this – and there may be no answer to it at all.
If you’re a one-site, independent practice, the odds are that the vet who founded the business is also the driving force pushing it forward with a strong relationship with clients.
In a bigger practice, it might be longstanding, charismatic members of the front of house team.
If you have multiple branches each team may have a different answer.
The point of this is to work out who is best to tell the story of your practice, and who is most likely to resonate with your clients.
If there is an individual in practice who you want to hang the story from, let them speak directly to your clients. Use videos and social media to build their brand. Work on that connection.
A nice trick we like to use is doing photoshoots of practice owners or key people of interest walking their pets around recognisable landmarks close to the practice – rooting that person, and hence the practice, in the community.
Who are your clients?
A lot of these themes are linked, but if you have a sense of who your clients are then you can work out what story to tell them.
Because part of what makes you unique is the people you serve and the place in which you do it.
Reflect their values back at them by speaking their language – whether that’s by addressing issues that are important to them or simply using localised phrases. We’ve had fun weaving in the mention of a dram of whisky for one of our Scottish clients in the past!
It’s important to know what matters to your clients. For example, we want to tell clients that we’re independent because we’re proud of it – and because it’s important to us, especially in the background of the CMA investigation.
But that information on its own doesn’t move the needle for clients, it doesn’t really mean anything substantial.
So we have to explain what being independent allows us to do for our clients that otherwise wouldn’t be an option, something which is intrinsically linked with why you’re unique.
The choices you make as an independent practice are derived from the values of the people making those choices. By communicating that thought process you’re drawing your clients into your world and earning their loyalty.
Not many people enjoy talking about themselves, it’s uncomfortable – and veterinary professionals tend to be a modest lot.
But what you do is special, and the proof is that thousands of clients trust you to care for their family members in sickness and in health.
If you’d like to talk to us about your practice story and how to communicate it to your clients, we’d love to help.
Vet practice marketing
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If you’re eager to improve your practice’s marketing but you’re unsure where to start, I’m taking on new clients for the next quarter! Book an initial discovery below!