Veterinary marketing works when a pet owner can tell at a glance whether you take new patients, which visits you offer, what to bring, and where to go when you are closed. Write a short plan for each visit type, answer new-client questions before the first call, and send reminders only to owners whose consent you recorded. Then judge the result by booked visits, attended visits, and the next visit booked before the client leaves.
A visit-type plan is one written set of decisions for each kind of appointment you want to fill: who the visit is for, what a new client needs to know, how reminders are sent and what consent backs them, how the visit is booked, and which numbers you check afterward. Unlike a service list, it says who a dental visit is for and how you will know a promotion worked.
Pick the visit types you can actually fill
Start with visit types that have open capacity and a clear next step. For many general practices, that means:
- New pet exam: a first visit for a pet new to the practice, including a newly adopted animal.
- Vaccines and wellness: the recurring preventive visit for established patients.
- Dental: a scheduled procedure day with set drop-off and pickup times.
- Urgent or same-day sick: a problem that cannot wait for the next wellness slot but that your clinic can handle.
For each, write down the slots you can realistically offer next month. If new pet exams are booked weeks out, a post inviting new clients sends people into a wait they did not expect. Say when new-patient booking opens, or offer a waitlist.
Check your service wording, too. The AVMA's Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics reserve "specialist" for a veterinarian currently board-certified by a recognized specialty organization, and say a veterinarian who focuses on one species or area may use "practice limited to" but should not use "specialist" or "specializing in" (AVMA). A general practice can offer dental care without claiming a dental specialty. The AVMA code is professional ethics guidance, not state law, and your state veterinary board may have its own advertising rules.
Answer new-client questions before the first call
A pet owner choosing a new clinic usually starts with practical questions. Put the answers on your website, your Google Business Profile, and a pinned post on your main social account:
- Are you accepting new patients, and for which species?
- What are your hours, and what happens after hours?
- How do I get my pet's records to you?
- What should I bring to the first visit?
- How do I book, and how soon will someone confirm?
Records deserve their own line. The AVMA code says a veterinarian taking over a patient's care should ask the owner to obtain prior medical records, and that the previous veterinarian should provide the record to the new one once the client consents. Give new clients one line of instructions, for example: "Ask your previous clinic to email records to [records address] before your appointment."
The AVMA also encourages veterinarians to make their knowledge available to their communities. Short posts that answer common questions do that while showing how you work, such as what a new pet exam includes at your clinic. Keep general advice general; a specific pet's symptoms belong in a call or an exam. Customer Service on Facebook, Instagram and Threads covers who answers which message and when to move a conversation private.
Publish accurate hours and an after-hours route
For a vet clinic, hours are marketing content: a wrong listing can send a worried owner to a locked door. The AVMA code says that when a veterinarian is not available, they should make a good-faith effort to give clients readily accessible information for obtaining emergency services.
In practice, that means one sentence repeated wherever a client might look: "After hours, call [emergency hospital] at [phone] in [town]." Put it on your website footer and contact page, your voicemail greeting, your social bios, appointment confirmations, and the auto-reply on your social inboxes, since direct messages may not be read until morning.
On Google, set special hours for holidays and short closures so your regular schedule stays intact. Google says special hours are for temporary changes or a closure of up to six days in a row, and suggests confirming your hours for official holidays even when they match your regular hours (Google Business Profile help). Profile and listing basics are in Local SEO for Small Businesses: A Practical Checklist.
Send reminders only with recorded consent
Reminders keep preventive care on schedule, so treat reminder consent as a record, not an assumption. At intake, ask each client which channels they agree to (text, email, phone) and which message types (visit reminders only, or promotions too). Record the date, the channel, how consent was given, and who recorded it.
A visit reminder and a promotion deserve different consent boxes, and federal rules draw a similar line. Under the FCC rule at 47 CFR 64.1200, a non-emergency call made with an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice to a cell phone or certain other lines needs the called party's prior express consent. A call that includes an advertisement or constitutes telemarketing needs prior express written consent, with listed exceptions (eCFR). The rule defines telemarketing as a call or message meant to encourage the purchase of goods or services, so a recall text urging an owner to book a due visit may count.
For calls and texts sent under those consent rules, the same section says consent can be revoked by any reasonable method. A text reply such as "stop," "cancel," or "unsubscribe" counts. The sender may not designate one exclusive way to revoke and must honor the request within a reasonable time not exceeding ten business days.
Whether your reminder software and message wording fall under these rules is a legal question. This is not legal advice; ask counsel and check your state's rules. The habit is the same either way: send nothing without a consent record, and stop the same day someone asks.
Share pet photos and stories with permission
Ask before you post a client's pet. Add a separate marketing-photo checkbox to the intake form, and note limits such as the pet's first name only, no owner name, and no tagging.
Medical details need the most care. The AVMA code calls the information in veterinary medical records confidential and says it must not be released except as required or allowed by law, or with client consent. A recovery post about a named pet's surgery shares record information, so get the owner's consent to that specific post.
Client stories are advertising too. The AVMA code treats testimonials and endorsements as advertising and says a veterinarian should limit their use and permit only representations that are readily subject to verification. It calls advertising ethical when it contains no false, deceptive, or misleading statements or claims, including a material omission meant to leave a false impression. It also says veterinarians should comply with applicable law and guidelines, such as those the Federal Trade Commission issues on endorsements and testimonials. In practice: no invented reviews, no staff posing as clients, and no single good outcome presented as what every pet can expect.
Before-and-after grooming photos test that last point if your clinic grooms pets too, and pet grooming advertising shows how to caption a matted dog that was brushed out so viewers learn what usually happens to coats that arrive matted.
When you ask satisfied clients for a Google review, use the wording and timing in How to Ask for Google Reviews: Copyable Messages.
Measure booked, attended, and next visit booked
Count each visit type separately, because a dental promotion and a new-client post bring in different demand. For each one, over a fixed window, track requests to book, booked visits, attended visits (with no-shows and cancellations), and the next visit booked before the client left.
Each count answers a different question: did the post create interest (requests), did the front desk hold a slot (booked), was care delivered (attended), and is the preventive schedule working (next visit booked at checkout). Ask the source question on the new-client form with the options in How Did You Hear About Us? Useful Answer Options, and follow each request to its outcome with How to Track Leads From Social Media. Introductions from existing clients deserve their own log; Build a Small Business Referral Program Around Useful Introductions keeps them apart from review requests.
Visit-type plan worksheet
Copy one worksheet per visit type. The filled column is a hypothetical example, not a real clinic or a measured result.
VISIT-TYPE PLAN EXAMPLE (hypothetical)
Visit type: ______________________ New pet exam
Who it is for: ___________________ Dogs and cats new to the
practice, incl. adoptions
Accepting now? [ ] yes [ ] waitlist Yes, weekday mornings
NEW CLIENTS NEED TO KNOW
Records: _________________________ Prior clinic emails records
before the visit
What to bring: ___________________ Medications, food name,
leash or carrier
Hours and after-hours route: _____ Same hours everywhere; after
hours: Ridge Park emergency vet
Price wording: ___________________ Exam $___; tests quoted later
REMINDERS
Method: [ ] text [ ] email [ ] phone Text and email
Consent recorded (date, channel, Intake form, two boxes:
how given, message types): _______ reminders yes, promos no
Opt-out owner: ___________________ Front desk lead, same day
BOOKING
Booking route (one only): ________ Online request, confirmed
by phone in open hours
MEASURE Window: ________ to ________
Requests ____ Booked ____ Attended ____ No-shows ____
Next visit booked at checkout ____
Decision and reason: _____________
A short grid keeps all four visit types in view. These rows are a hypothetical example for a clinic serving Northfield and Lakeview.
| Visit type | Who it is for | Clients need to know | Reminder and consent | Booking route | Measure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New pet exam | Pets new to the practice | Records, what to bring | Intake form box | Online request | Booked, attended, next visit booked |
| Wellness | Established patients | Due date | Text if box checked | Reply or call | Reminded, booked, attended |
| Dental | Patients flagged at an exam | Drop-off time, your instructions | Staff call; phone box checked | Phone | Booked, attended |
| Urgent | Established patients | Call first; after-hours route | None | Phone | Requests, seen, referred out |
Before you publish
- [ ] Each visit type you promote has open slots in the next month
- [ ] "Specialist" appears only for currently board-certified veterinarians
- [ ] Hours and the after-hours route match on the website, Google profile, voicemail, and bios
- [ ] New clients can see how to send prior records and what to bring
- [ ] Reminder consent and promotion consent are separate, each with date and channel
- [ ] Opt-out requests have one owner and are handled the same day
- [ ] Every pet photo or story has recorded owner permission for that use
- [ ] Requests, booked, attended, and next visit booked are counted per visit type
Frequently asked questions
How do I get more clients for my veterinary practice?
Start with the visit type you can fill soonest and make the practical answers easy to find: new patients accepted, species seen, hours, records, and the booking route. Then promote that one visit type in one channel for a fixed window and count booked and attended visits.
Do I need consent to text appointment reminders?
Record consent before any text reminder, and keep promotional texts on a separate opt-in. Under the FCC rule at 47 CFR 64.1200, non-emergency texts to a cell phone sent with an autodialer need prior express consent, and marketing texts need prior express written consent. A "stop" reply revokes consent. Whether the rule covers your system and messages is a question for counsel.
Can a vet clinic post patient photos on social media?
Ask the owner first and record the answer with any limits. Treat medical details as confidential record information that needs the owner's consent for that specific post.
Should we answer medical questions in comments or DMs?
Answer general questions with general information, and move anything about a specific pet to a call or visit. The AVMA's definition of the veterinarian-client-patient relationship expects the veterinarian to know the patient through a timely in-person exam or timely visits to where the animal is kept. Your state's practice act may define the relationship differently. Include the after-hours route in every reply about a sick pet.
Start with one visit type this month
Pick the visit type with the most open slots, fill in one worksheet, and fix the hours, records, and after-hours lines first. Promote it for a fixed window, then keep what produced attended visits and next visits booked.
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