Become a Niche Expert
"The forest would be a quiet place if only the best bird sang."
-- Henry Van Dyke
Leveraging Online Technology to Build Your Brand and Reputation
It used to be that only a limited number of veterinarians (usually researchers and professors) could get their ideas heard. Further, the channels (JAVMA, Veterinary Pathology, conferences) these “experts” accessed remained limited.
Worse, gatekeepers of the journals, conferences and magazines often made acceptance decisions based on trends, popularity, their own predilections and other bogus standards.
Dedicated professionals could pay to have their ideas circulated via the printing of self-published books or expensive websites, but the effort required to promote their creations often proved overwhelming.
Power to the People! (and the Veterinarians!)
Now that the internet has democratized the once-costly publishing and distribution process, anyone can present their ideas to the public at very little cost. Gatekeepers, be gone! At last, pet owners who are interested in subjects with a limited audience can find the information they need with a quick Google search.
More, search engines now bring those interested in your topics to you. You are no longer are stuck “pushing” your publications out to an audience; people come to the internet to find you. Talk about a “qualified lead!”
Where once only “top names” dominated any one field, now veterinarians with smaller practices can use low-cost online tools to build their own “platforms,” in other words, to promote their practices and ideas and become known.
The Drawback
These days, anyone can post anything and the overall quality can deteriorate. There is a lot of garbage on the internet.
Same As It Ever Was
This lack of professionalism is nothing new. My agent used to tell me that 99.9% of the written queries and proposals that came in to her via snail mail were dreadful as well, and they were written on torn notebook paper, napkins and with other completely unprofessional tools.
Rest assured. If you ideas are well-written and researched, you’ll distinguish yourself quickly.
Your blog posts, ezine articles, ebooks, Facebook and Twitter updates claim your rightful territory on the internet, particularly when they are integrated seamlessly.
Integration? That Sounds Hard!
The integration part is actually easy. The trick is to take a paragraph from your ebook or ezine article, change it up a bit and use it as a blog post. Then, publicize that blog post via Facebook and Twitter. Facebook usually requires one or two sentences and a link. With only 140 characters (letters) to work with on Twitter, complete sentences rarely appear! You can leverage the content you create, typically only creating the initial piece once.
Busy veterinarians often just get a blog post up. Still, the responses to that blog post can spark an ezine article or a Facebook update.
Journalists Find Experts Online Now: Put Yourself Out There So They Can Find You
Pet owners aren’t the only population you want to impress.
Online marketing options help you gain even more credibility by getting your name in front of journalists.
Journalists, constantly under deadline pressure, now look for experts via Google, Facebook and Twitter. When your name and niche subject populate the internet, they not only find you easily, they can contact you easily as well. The article How Journalists are Using Social Media for Real Results, goes into extensive detail about why journalists turn to social media first when researching sources.
Your Niche
Determining and broadcasting your specialty, even if you're not a specialist, brings you more of the clients you want and allows you to raise your rates among those who only want the best care for your pets. If you can do this using the low-cost online marketing tools for your veterinary practice, what are you waiting for?
