How Pet Parents Are Choosing A Veterinarian In 2023

Host: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Veterinary Business Podcast. Your ultimate resource for developing a successful Veterinary Practice and Career. I'm Dr. Mark Rosen, one of the co-hosts of the Veterinary Business Podcast. On this podcast, we will bring you insights and expertise from the industry leading doctors, experts and thought leaders. We cover a wide range of topics including practice management, marketing strategies, leadership development, each our best practices and much more. Whether you're practicing Veterinary, a practice owner, practice manager, or a student studying to be a Veterinary. This podcast is tailored to help you navigate the unique challenges and opportunities in the business of Veterinary Medicine. Every listener of this podcast is welcome to visit www.verinarybusinessinstitute.com

Host: for additional resources and tools to support your growth. Remember, you can subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, and other popular podcast platforms. To that idea, I'm excited to talk to Naran, Arugia, the founder of Veterinary Business Podcast and CEO of VKWA Marketing about how pet parents are choosing a Veterinary in 2023. Let's jump in. Before we get started, Naran, why don't you take a minute to tell us about yourself? Who you are? Just tell us your story. Absolutely. Like you said, my name is Naran Arugraja. I'm the founder of the Veterinary Business Institute and Equal Marketing, which is EKWA Marketing. EKWA Marketing Equal Marketing is a full service done for you digital marketing agency. We have a total of 250 people in our team. So we do subternats, helping practice owners with marketing. So that's a CEO

Host: website, social media. Pretty much we make the phone ring. We track everything and then be even provide intelligence around how they are doing and answering the phone. So we are a full service organic marketing company focused on driving patients through Google and internet. So that's who we are. And as the founder, I guess I've been working as a CEO of KWA from 2007. So I guess now I'm going on my 16th year as the CEO of KWA Marketing. But I also like to give back and what we're doing with the Veterinary Business Institute is just us trying to do that. It's trying to find a way to make a difference in the lives of the Veterinary Practice on us. That was great. That was great. Well, let's get started with our conversation today. The topic today is how pet parents choosing a veterinarian in 2023. Today, when pet owners are looking for veterinary 92% of the time they start on Google by typing in their specific pet health needs. For example,

Host: if they're looking for a veterinarian for dental care or vaccinations for their pet, they go to Google for former search. So the veterinary practice owner has to do one of two things. Buy Google ads or dominate Google SEO and show up for free. Can you talk more about these two choices? Absolutely. You are 100% correct. Today, we don't ask our brain for a referral. We use Google to learn about things to make decisions about what we need and where we're going to go to get what we need. So it's finding a restaurant where it's finding a dentist, but it's finding somebody to take care of your pet. Most people, 90% of them start their research on Google. When they're researching on Google, they're trying to do two things. One is they're trying to educate them themselves about the particular topic. For example, you know, vaccinations. I want to learn about pet vaccinations and you know, let's say, I have a pet dog and, you know, he's, you know, a few

Host: months old and I don't want to know what I need to do. So I use Google to research and learn about that. But at the same time, I'm also using Google to decide which veterinary doctor is going to help me with my needs. So I go to Google. I do my research. So when I do my research, you as the practitioner has two choices. One is you show up for SEO, which means you don't pay any money. Rather, you organically show up at the top of Google search results for any and every search term related to veterinary medicine. That's option A. Option B is you pay Google money in terms of Google ads. So every time somebody clicks on it, you're giving Google $2, $3, you know, they charge per click and the higher you bet the more chances you're going to show up. So those are your two options. And I think it's nice to understand, look at things behind the curtain. So Google is a very profitable company. It's one of the most valued companies in the world. They're what I think

Host: a trillion and a half, if I'm not mistaken. And the way Google makes that money, most of the money is Google ads. So last year, Google made $224 billion. Most of us cannot comprehend, you know, $224 billion in revenue in a single year just from Google ads. So just to put this in context of Google ads, what a country, Google will be like the 53rd creatures country in the world. Meaning Google ads will make more money than 150 other countries in the world. They're that successful. So so if I'm Google, I want that money to continue to grow. And if you look at historically how much money Google makes for Google ads, every single year they made more money than they did in the prior years. They started with $17 million or almost 20 years ago and today, you know, they're making $224 billion. How does Google do that? Google does that by making most of us pay money in terms of Google ads. So they make a CEO or a free traffic really art

Host: for you as the practice on it. So 95% of you have no choice but to give Google ad money. But the better way in my opinion is a CEO. In other words, when you're typing in any one of these hundreds of search terms related to you and me, the pet that we need, you might have as a pet on you want your practice to show up because if then these better owners are typing all kinds of the keywords, you show up. But free you have an unfair advantage. It's like getting into Stanford, getting into the top veterinary school. The reason is, if you get into the top veterinary school, then more than likely you're going to have a great education, you're going to have a pretty decent career. You're going to be okay. So say and thinking here. How do I get into the, you know, the top for free? Now there is a method to the madness. Google is very transparent. They'll tell you what you need to do to be in the top five percent. But the trick is it's a lot

Host: of hard work and it takes a lot of discipline. So if you don't have the expertise and the discipline then you're not willing to put in the hard work, you're now going to get into the top five percent for free which means you have to now put money into Google ads. I of course recommend getting into the top five percent for free to a CEO so you don't have to pay for Google ads. But that's, that's those are the choices you have as a practice on it. All right. Well, let's say for example, a lot of Ivy League material. Let's assume that I'm in the top five percent of websites that get 95 percent of the free traffic from Google. And someone lands on my website from Google. Now what? How much time will they spend on my website? And typically, what do I need to do as a practice owner to get the pet parents to call and book an appointment with my office? That's a great great question. And typically, if they come through Google ads,

Host: meaning they click on an ad, they will spend 15 seconds on your website. If they click on organic results, meaning you shut up for free at the very top without paying for ads, they will spend 90 seconds. So a CEO, you, you get them to spend 90 seconds, Google ads, you get them to spend 15 seconds. If I divide 90 by 15, there is a six-sex difference. So that means you need at least six times more people to make up for one SEO person. And the reason for this difference is when I click on an ad, I have doubt, but this is the real thing. Because nobody goes to Google to read the ad, they go to Google to look for the organic product free results. So that doubt in the back of our mind makes us look for reasons to leave that website, which is why the average person is spending 15 seconds when they come through ads versus when they come to Google organic bills spend 90 seconds. Now, let's assume you're dominating,

Host: like you said, I believe material didn't really value and the top five percent of websites getting 95 percent of the free traffic, let's assume you're in that bucket, then what should you do? So you're 90 seconds, right? Which is definitely less than 15 seconds. So what can you do with that 90 seconds? Typically, the parents are asking three questions when they are making a decision around which veterinarian to go see. The first question is, are you an expert? Like for example, recently, we had some issues with our pet, he's 10 years old and we didn't know what to do and eventually we figured out the questions you see. So let's say I'm interested in pushing disease in dark, dark, right? So I'm starting to research and you show up as an expert who has specific knowledge and expertise in this particular topic. All you could be able to go travel back to whatever I'm researching, step one is to establish that you are an expert. How

Host: do you do that? I'll get into more of that but pretty much, you know, perhaps you can educate me about cushions disease and when it happens and what types of dogs. So perhaps you could do a video as a practice owner and add it to that page that talks about cushions disease and dogs. So when I go to that page, I learn and I see you as the expert because you've taught me something, you are sharing with me your experience and knowledge in a very simple way using a video. So that's number one. How do you position yourself as an expert? There are other ways to position yourself as an expert, like having reviews from other doctors talking about your specific expertise. You know, winning awards, because a lot of times when you win awards, people think you are an expert. So that's the first question. So you have to very quickly convince me that you are an expert in the topic I'm interested in. The second question I'm asking as a pet parent slash buyer of a

Host: veterinary service is, and I like, you know, can I trust you? Because if I don't trust you, there's a good chance I'm not going to come to you. Why? Because AIDS, expensive and be perhaps I important to pet parents, right? They don't want to take a chance with their pet slides. So if they don't feel like they can trust you, if they don't feel like you're really caught at what you do, they don't want to come to you. So we'll touch more about this sister. How do you get people to trust you? And last but not least, liking. Because you know, I mean, the word pet parent says it out, right? I mean, these are not animals. These are children from most people. So they don't want to take their child to adopt their own life, right? They need to feel comfortable with you. So we'll get into more of like, you know, how do you get people to, you know, be comfortable with you and how do you get them to like you? So if these three

Host: questions are answered, yes, yes, yes, there's a good chance they're calling your office and booking an appointment. Yes, you are an expert. Yes, they trust you. Yes, they like you. And the mistake that a lot of practice owners make is they don't understand this methodology that I'm describing. They don't understand. They need to first do well on Google or by Google ads because that's where everything starts. And then two, once that's done, they need to do a good job in convincing people to like them, trust them and see them as an expert. So this is the secret. If you master these two steps and you really focus on it and you don't worry about anything else and just do this, you're going to do it really well. You know, I have seen practice is bringing next up to 200 new patients, you know, a month just using this technique. So it's not about how how do you work. It's about how smart you work. Well, let's dig a little deeper because you mentioned

Host: the three questions that that parents are trying to answer and going back to that second question, can I trust you? I do better than I answer, establish that trust with these potential clients with them just a few seconds of visiting the website. Great question. So of course, you know, trust is the best way to establish trust is by using an influence principle called social proof. And what that means is I will do something because somebody else is doing the same thing. Like for example, many of us have taken over, right? And the first thing we'll be shows us as soon as we find the right is how many particular trips as a space person taken, why how many stars do they have? So 2,700 trips, they have 4.9 stars. We don't need to be going to read 2,900, you know, reviews from all those 2,900 trips. We just noticed the 4.9 stars and we might read one or two reviews at the very top. And like within seconds, we start trusting

Host: them. We are almost programmed to use these reviews to trust things. So same thing is happening on your website. So the key here is can you grab reviews specifically from Google and incorporated inside your website in the relevant pages. So for example, if it's about vaccinations, perhaps highlights some reviews where people talk about vaccinations. Perhaps get a happy patient, happy parent to write a, you know, leave an audio or a video testimonial for you. And then highlight those. So when I see those kind of proof saying that other people just like me trust you, then I'm going to trust you. Another thing you can do with regards to trust is you could, you know, you could have pictures of pets you treat. So when I see a pet that looks like my pet, then I'm going to trust you because I feel like you have specific expertise treating, you know, pet like mine. So these are little things. So the way to do that is to have a, you know,

Host: page call, a happy patient or, you know, happy pets or something like that. And take a picture of all kinds of pets you treat, you know, different braids, different ages and so forth and just showcased them. So when I see some kind of like mine being treated, then I'm going to feel like you have expertise treating my pet. So so those are some ideas to get people to trust you. Remember, the mistake people do is instead of focusing on these three questions, they do lots of other things. They get caught up on the orange design of the website, then, you know, certain graphics they wanted and certain things they wanted. All things, nothing to do with these three questions. The ones that when the ones that have the massive success, they don't waste their time on and everything else, they just focus on these three things, you know, and like we talked about, how do you get people to trust you? How do you get people to like you? And then, of course,

Host: how do you get them to see you as an expert? It has certainly changed that these three questions are quite important. But let's focus on this last question. Do I like your practice? I mean, would it, would it like ability? How important is that the veterinary care, what strategies can better use to make pet owners like their practice during this short online interaction? That's a great great question. We do business with people. We like just the nature of human beings. If you have to choose between a doctor you like and a doctor you go on, you're going to choose the one you like. What does lighting means? Liking means typically we like people for few reasons. One is we have something in common. We like people who we are similar to. Second reason we like people is we, you know, the person cares about us. A person who's all about me, me, me, me, I'm smart. I have this qualification, I have that qualification,

Host: so forth versus the person who says hello, my name is John. How can I help you today? I'm Dr. John Smith. How can I help you today? I'm glad you are in my website. I would love to show you around. How do you get people to like you? There's lots of ideas. I'm going to name a few, especially in the context of you only have a few seconds to do that on the website. I'm on that page, whatever key where I typed in, I'm on the right page. When I go to that page, imagine the memory touched on that video or the educational video, imagine that video being really short, like one minute or less, really down toward an easy to understand, where there's no jargon, just simple language that someone did zero knowledge about pet care or pet health, can understand. Somebody, the way I try to describe to somebody with fifth grade education, in width, width, and that which is no educational, no knowledge can understand. And even the

Host: way you say this, you're relaxed, you're calm, if you're just easy going, all those things will get people to like you, because they feel like they can talk to you. They feel like they can understand you. As opposed to somebody who doesn't have that powerful video, that video that gets people feel comfortable with their humor, that other doctor has a disadvantage. He hasn't made me like it. Therefore, if I have to choose between two doctors, one I like and one I don't, I'm only choose the one I like. A few other things you can do to get people to like you is, on the about the doctor page, every single pet donor before they come into your office will go to the humor of the doctor page. Not just include your qualification, which we all will do, because, you know, that's something we are talk to do from day one, but perhaps humanize yourself, perhaps you have pets, perhaps you have a family. Remember I said we like people who are similar to us.

Host: So if I see you with a family and I have a family that I'm not a like you more, if I see you have a couple of pets and I have pets, I'm not a like you more. So humanize yourself, it's sharp pictures, and this doesn't have to just be only to the doctor, but it could also help, you know, people like your team, perhaps they have pets too, perhaps they could show up pictures, or even if they don't have pets at home, maybe they're so fond of the pets, they treat, so maybe pets that you treat, show up pictures with those pets. So anything that shows people that you have something in common with them, anything that shows people you are easy going, easy to work with, those are the things that will help people like you. These are just two tips. I know there's a science behind it. I'm trying to kind of take the science and help you apply it in a way that's going to, you know, benefit you. So hopefully you can take some of these tips and apply it, you know,

Host: it's one of rather than later. Well, Mara and that's some great information, and I understand the importance of the pet owner's journey. Let me be clear. The key takeaway for me is that if I'm building a very, very website, there are two big things I need to do, dominate Google SEO as the first, and this way I can save tens of thousands in Google or other digital ads, and the second is to have a great landing page that convinced that parents to look to book an appointment with my office. Nick, am I correct? You are 100% correct. You use summarized it really really well. Yes. Step one, dominate Google will say you are in that 5% that's getting 95% of the free traffic. That's in give you an unfair advantage. Your costs of marketing will be a fraction of the cost of marketing for others, which means you have now more money to invest in your practice or perhaps even, you know, increase your profits. Step two, once they go to those landing pages,

Host: using these and by answering these three questions, help people choose you. Remember when they come through a series of 90 seconds or you're more time to use that 90 seconds wisely by just focusing on these three questions. And if anyone is interested, you know, we can, you know, show some examples and so forth, and be child talk about more later. Bill Marin, you seem to be an expert. I trust you. You're kind of a like a bug guy. It's a veterinarian. It's interested in assessing how well they're doing in terms of attracting and converting that parents into new clients. As we've discussed today, is there any specific action they can take? Absolutely. I think the first action they have to take is to find out where they stand with regards to digital marketing. I gave you a framework at a conceptual level on how to think about marketing by these two stamps. Now, you need to know

Host: the context of these two stamps. Are you doing really, really well? Meaning you are already getting an 8 plus plus? Or you are not? So one of the things I would recommend is what we call a marketing strategy meeting. It's a $9 dollar value. We spend six hours researching your digital marketing prior to the meeting. And then we spend 90 minutes with you, kind of sharing our finding. So we've to dominate Google. There are six things you have to really pay attention to really analyze those six things. And we'll tell you are you getting an A in those six things of B or C in each one of those. So you get a report card almost. And also we'll look at the landing page from the perspective I just shared and saying, are you doing really well? Are you enough? And finally, we'll give you a blueprint. So regardless of where you are, how do you within 12 months get to the top 5% with regards to Google? So you're getting 95% of the free traffic.

Host: And how do you within 12 months start converting these people into patients or into appointments by implementing some of these, by answering these three questions I just talked about. So that's that's how it gives to you. It's veterinarybusinessinstitute.com slash MSMSM. veterinarybusinessinstitute.com slash MSMSM. I believe you'll put this in the show notes. So you can go there and click on it. It's how I give to you. We just book the meeting. Find out about you, stat. And whether you work with us or somebody else, you need to know where you stand. And you need to know what you need to do to get it at the top 5% and of course get really good at implementing people to book an appointment once they're on those landing pages. Well, that sounds great. I sure appreciate all this information that you give to me. It really is quite enlightening, so to speak. I also want to take a moment to thank our listeners.

Host: We appreciate each and every one of you. We cannot do what we do without you. If you like our podcast, kindly share it with your colleagues and friends on social media. Also, please don't forget to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your reviews will help other doctors and practitioners find us. Until next time, keep striving for excellence and making a positive impact in the lives of your patients and pet parents. Wishing all of you an amazing week ahead.