“Dumb down” marketing for vets?

Connecting with pet owners is essential.  To do this, practices have to speak their language – and make services and information meaningful and relevant to pet owners.
When I talk about this, the reaction I sometimes get is, “Oh, we have to 'dumb it down'.” My response:  “No. There is no party here that is dumber or smarter.  This is about UNDERSTANDING YOUR AUDIENCE and what will resonate with them.”
For example, as a marketing professional, I could say to practices:

• Would you like to try a market assessment today? 
• How about letting me conduct an external analysis followed by a content analysis of your front desk telephone interactions? 
• Or, I would like to conduct experiential study of your staff’s interaction with pet owners exercising a set of predetermined pet owner variables.

Ready to sign on?
Probably not.  Because the above list of marketing practices doesn't mean a thing to most practices.  But I would NEVER suggest that we need to “dumb down” marketing for veterinarians.  I wouldn't do this any more than I would suggest that we need to “dumb down” veterinary medicine for pet owners.
Instead, let’s be mindful that different disciplines have their own language and buzzwords.  The smart marketing pro and the smart veterinarian know that the first rule of any type of meaningful interaction is to KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE and ADAPT your MESSAGE to THEM.
Instead of “dumbing down”, let’s smarten UP – by reaching out to our audience in a way that they can understand us. 

To schedule your FREE one-hour marketing consultation, contact Linda Wasche at LindaW@LWmarketworks.com or 248-253-0300.

Do you have a particular marketing question or dilemma that you would to see addressed in  a future blog?  Email LindaW@LWmarketworks.com.