At R&Co, we’ve been providing veterinary PR services for more than two decades, placing our clients on the front pages of newspapers, and at the top of news websites, with frightening frequency.
However, the amazing results we’ve achieved – in 2023 a staggering 4,356 media hits for our veterinary clients – is no accident.
The success for our veterinary marketing clients started before we began producing content for them, as it was vital to put in place the building blocks for a PR strategy that would elevate our clients above the competition.
After all, great PR doesn’t happen by itself. A valuable PR strategy designed to manage and shape the public perception of an individual or organisation in a positive manner will prove its weight in gold.
Where to start with developing a PR strategy?
It sounds simple (but then again most of the best ideas are!) but set goals and stick to them. Don’t try to do too much, focus on one or two activities, and give your all.
Having a range of key performance indicators (KPIs) will also provide a clear set of refined goals which can be assessed at regular intervals.
KPIs will obviously depend on individual circumstances and could include targets such as number of media articles achieved, quality of media coverage, number of visitors to website and social media engagement.
Understand your target audience
From the outset, it is vital that you know your target audience. It is probably the most important element of a PR strategy.
Time spent researching and identifying the demographics of the target audience will pay dividends in the long term.
Target audiences for vets
For example, as veterinary PR experts, much of our work focuses on referral centres, which have two distinct audiences and target publications.
Firstly, a B2B audience comprising other vets who might need to refer patients to a referral animal hospital, plus a B2C audience of pet owners to raise awareness of referral centres, should they need their own vet to use such a service.
Learn how we make veterinary PR suitable for a consumer audience.
What’s the message?
A central part of veterinary PR is developing the correct educational message to go the right target audiences.
As a nation of animal lovers, we love reading about the exploits of pets and how they resonate with our own beloved animals.
For example, interesting veterinary case studies provide two bites of the PR cherry.
On the one hand, they demonstrate real life triumphs that we can all relate to. They also provide the opportunity to highlight the skills, expertise and services the animal hospitals provide.
Put more simply, a straightforward press release just highlighting which services are available at an animal hospital would stand little chance of seeing the light of day. However, tie these services in with a real-life story that intrigues and informs and you’re in a whole new ball park.
Measuring the success of your PR strategy
As previously mentioned, a clear set of KPIs provides a framework to work towards.
Measuring success in PR has fundamentally changed in recent years. Gone are the days of judging earned articles against advertising value equivalency, as clients need tangible examples such as how many organic backlinks have been generated, how many people have viewed it and so on.
Read more about measuring PR success.
Next steps
R&Co is proud that it has successfully implemented PR strategies for a wide range of clients, inside and outside the veterinary sphere.
We take the time to develop and implement the ideal PR strategy to meet your objectives – and the results speak for themselves.
Here you can view examples of our work in veterinary PR, along with example campaigns across many other sectors, and learn more about our veterinary PR and marketing services.
Alternatively, if your PR activity needs a refresh, check out our tips for spring cleaning your communications campaigns.
