There’s no denying just how essential veterinary clinics and hospitals are, providing vital medical attention to animals in need and saving patients every single shift. So why then is veterinary marketing so important? We caught up with Animal Emergency Australia’s Marketing Manager, Jacqui Brandwood, to find out what it takes to get paws through the doors and share her insights into the exciting field of veterinary marketing.
Did you think your career would lead you into the veterinary profession?
Honestly, I didn’t. My background is very much in systems and data areas, My previous marketing role was in graphic design and also a heating company. So not really in the veterinary industry. But in saying that, I am super happy that I am part of the veterinary industry – the profession and the people are just amazing to work with. So I do love working in the veterinary industry now. And the animals, of course.
In terms of effective marketing, how does this support a vet hospital and most of all the patients?
Effective marketing helps raise awareness of the services that we offer in the hospitals, which also is our people in the hospital. So making sure we market our own people – that is the biggest thing.
That all helps with patient care, making sure that we are marketing effectively to understand that the clients and patients have the services that are available to them, where we are, and making sure that we help people, help animals.
And what do you enjoy most about being part of the marketing team at AEA?
Within AEA, it has to be the people. The people are amazing. Being able to speak with everyone in the hospitals, from the Business Development Managers to the Hospital Directors, to the vets. Being able to have such an amazing and supportive marketing team as well.
It’s a great little community that we have where we can all reach out to each other. If we need some veterinary expertise in our marketing, we have a vet that we can reach out to. It really allows us to all collaborate and work together as a team.
And what about veterinary marketing in general?
It’s fun! But what really drew me to AEA as well is the purpose behind it. Being able to actually market something that makes a difference in people’s lives. Like I said before, I was marketing for heating spares, having heat in the UK is definitely important, but it’s not that fun. It’s not that interesting.
The thing about veterinary care is that we’re saving patients. I’m personally not saving patients’ lives, but I’m contributing to saving patients. I’m marketing to make sure that clients are aware that we have such a great team as well who are able to save patient’s lives. It’s exciting!
What do you think are some of the biggest challenges when it comes to veterinary marketing?
For someone who doesn’t have a veterinary background, that can be challenging. Making sure that the terminology we use is correct and making sure if we’re writing content, it’s to the very standard of the procedures. So that’s a bit of a challenge.
in saying that, we do have a great team. We’ve got Dr Ben Schuster on our team as well, who is an ex-veterinarian now marketer, to check all the content and make sure it is the right terminology we’re using and the right guidance that we’re offering. We always want to make sure that the advice that we’re giving is accurate and correct.
You’ve recently become the AEA marketing manager. What are some of your goals in this new role?
I love the fact that I have had a few different roles now within AEA. I’ve worked as a marketing coordinator and I worked as the performance marketer as well. So I do feel like I have a good understanding of each role in the marketing team. The main goal, and that’s within all of the marketing positions I’ve been in, is brand awareness of our veterinary services.
Our priorities are making sure that veterinary services are accessible to everyone, that we get paws through the doors, and that clients whose pets need our veterinary care and veterinary attention. Most of our hospitals are after hours or 24 hours, so making sure that people are aware that our service is available, and that they don’t have to wait until their GP vet is open.
A big part of our marketing is giving clients information that they should be aware of. We have information on Easter dangers, making sure that they’re aware of what things they shouldn’t be feeding their dog, what to feed, what plants to keep them away from. All that information is super important to make sure that they don’t have to come to the hospital as well. There are so many blogs that we’ve got on our AES blog and PVE websites to give guidance.
Of course, we’ve all got the common goal of helping people help animals. That’s what it comes back to – everyone’s here for the patients.
Do you have any exciting marketing updates to share?
The accessibility of veterinary care is also one of the biggest things. We’re opening new hospitals and we’ve got our new location, Animal Emergency Service Hawthorne East, opening in May. Having that new service is going to be great for Hawthorne East.
It’s also been super exciting getting the updates on the build. It’s so exciting to see from the mock-ups that we have to now seeing the hospital for real – getting these little updates. If you follow our socials, we’ll put some pictures on there for you to watch the build!
What’s one piece of advice that you’d give to veterinary professionals wanting to get the most out of their marketing?
With marketing in general, keeping on top of the latest trends, the latest changes, Google’s latest algorithm updates – just making sure you’re on top of all of these different updates. Facebook and Google like to change everything all the time! So make sure you’re up to date with all of those.
Obviously, the biggest thing at the minute in marketing is AI, so make sure you know how to utilise that to your best advantage. There’s so much that you can use, like ChatGPT to help you with your marketing tactics. It’s not here to take your jobs, it’s here to help you be the best you can be in your role, so may as well use it.
