It tastes like chicken

I have just returned from the Australian Veterinary Conference where my lectures on veterinary brand marketing were received with much enthusiasm. The Australians are open and warm and generous in praise. Their cuisine is heavy on protein but light on vegetables. I tried all the local delicacies I could lay my hands on:

Kangaroo––tastes almost like beef with the grainy muscle texture of venison. Crocodile––tastes like chicken (what else is new?) but with a rubbery texture like raw squid. Mud crab––tastes like crab. Not as delicate and sweet as local dungeness crab and with shells tough as nails. Darwin bugs are not bugs but tiny lobsters or big crawfish––tastes like small lobsters.The local fish, Barramundi, which is now farmed is a must and makes absolutely great fish and chips. 

The local meat pies are also a must experience. I had a braised lamb shank pie complete with bone and it was good, indeed, though they seem to have a fondness for small gristly bits swimming about in it that I could do without. In a Sydney Irish pub I had lamb shank that had been slowly and darkly braised in Guiness Stout that was to do for. Vegemite is a dark brown goo that is made from the spent brewer's yeast. I was given a bottle and will open it tomorrow. You are supposed to spread a little on a piece of warm, buttered toast. What the heck, I've put worse things in my mouth.

Did not have a Darwin Stubbie (1.25 liters of beer!). They used to measure the distance from Darwin to destinations in the Outback by the number of stubbies it took to get there. I find the Australian red wines fat and jammy with fruit which is not to my palate's preferences but the crisp, metallic Sauvignon Blanc chilled whites are great on a hot Darwin day!

They really do say "G'day, mate" but would prefer that you speak American or whatever. Instead of "You're welcome" they say "No worries, mate."

It looks like I will be returning for more lectures and to meet with new clients down under so I will be able to give an even fuller report in the future.

G'day, Mate!

Soon I leave for a week of teaching in Darwin, Australia. I am looking forward to the response of the hospital owners there. Judging from their websites (those who have a website), I can see that they struggle with message as much as veterinarians here. It seems to be almost impossible for veterinarians to avoid certain defaults: "quality", "friendly", "treat your pet as family". A popular word in Australia is "professional"––like, you have to tell us, Doctor, that you are a professional? And that you are friendly and do good work? Really?

The last generation of branding was product benefit based and very simple at its best: Volvo=safety,  Crest=cavities, Prego=thick, Obama=change. As branding shifted from product benefit to client lifestyle, so did the branding messages: Nike=just do it, Oprah=go for it, Martha Stewart=be true to your nature. While lifestyle marketing is still king, the tide seems to be shifting to experience marketing, where the marketing itself is part of the experience and directs the client to new experiences: iPhone=experience the difference. 

For my lectures in Australia, I spent considerable time learning about the language, slang and Aussie lifestyle so I could speak to them in a meaningful way. Information that has no meaning is mental garbage. Client communication that has no meaning to the client, is garbage. It may have meaning for you the doctor, but it must have meaning for the client.

In the spirit of Nike or Oprah, for instance, "Yes you can!" has meaning for the client. It is an encouragement and an affirmation. It makes her feel good. Now that is meaning at the deepest level! It touches on the experience of living itself.

As you reach out to communicate with clients and potential clients, reach out and touch her, her life, her emotions, her hopes and aspirations, her needs, her fears etc.

Harder to do that mouthing meaningless phrases about yourself like quality, friendly and family. Harder, yes, but not impossible: just do it! Go for it! Yes you can! Or, as they say down under, 'Av a go, mate!

Tweet, twitter, twuffer

Social, network marketing is part of the future and the future is here. Veterinary owners should consider trying to develop a twitter following. You don't have to twitter mindless nonsense all day long and stay glued to your computer or ipod. Major agencies are helping clients learn to twitter effectively. My friend and owner of Grady-Britton Advertising and his firm have developed a piece of open source software called Twuffer that will allow you to write a bunch of tweets at the same time and program them for sending out later in a prearranged time frame.

The internet offers unparalleled opportunity for communication with clients and potential clients and a lot of it is absolutely free. 

Don't underestimate the power of connectivity. It is a powerful way to help build brand.

By the Way: my kudos to blog follower Jeff Logas who actually seems to follow this blog and to share his hospital experiences with others. I hope more of you will jump in with your experiences and stories.

We all love a good story

Every veterinarian has wonderful stories to tell that are revealing of technical medical skill orare  just downright fun and funny. Think of James Herriot's books that spawned many a young person's commitment to veterinary school.

Rather than using newsletters and hospital notices to talk about your quality medical care and your friendliness, why not tell some of your stories? We humans are hard-wired to respond to stories: think of the wonderful stories in the Old Testament––Jonah and Whale, the walls of Jericho, and, of course, Noah and the great flood. 

Stories are particularly useful in reaching women because women shop with their imagination. They run scenarios of how products and services will fit into their lives and how they'll interact with them. Marketing expert Tom Peters writes: "Men want the headlines, the top line points," but women "require immersion in the whole experience of that product. She needs a real sense of context."

Client stories that come to mind are the x-ray of the parrot that swallowed a beaded light chain, the dog with blocked bowel that had swallowed the female owner's panties, dogs that escaped the kennel yard and was later found at home. Dig out the old stories and share them with your clients. It's a great way to tell the bigger stories of your hospital's philosophy and skills. 

If I market to women, what about the men?

Many of my clients have been concerned that when they market specifically to women, that men will somehow be turned off or uninterested. This is not the case. Focus group studies have shown that men share the same concerns as women. An interesting example showed up in women's and men's magazines. Cosmopolitan shows you how to get a flat stomach in 1o days, while Men's Health promises to reveal the secret of killer abs in 10 days!

All the research shows that while women are vocal about their desire for good service, men like it too but just don't like to talk about it.

The woman is a tough customer, demanding more information about a product or service and demanding higher quality and better service.

By appealing to women, you will not drive men away. Quite the opposite is true. Meet the needs of your most demanding customer and you will appeal to men also.

Rule of Thumb

To get through life without getting bogged down in decision making details, all of use have learned to use rules of thumb. Ancient rules of thumb actually used the thumb for calculations.

In Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift wrote of the Lilliputian tailors: " Then they measured my right thumb, and desired no more: for by a mathematical computation, that twice round the thumb is equal to once around the wrist, and so on to the neck and waist..."

In home etiquette: In a formal place setting, the silverware and the dinner plate should be set back from the edge of the table a length equal to the distal phalanx of the thumb.

In brewing: before reliable thermometers were readily available, the brewer tested the wort by placing his thumb in it. When he could place his thumb in the wort without having to remove it because of the heat, the wort was cool enough to pitch the yeast.

They may not measure results with their thumbs, but your clients use a rule of thumb in a lot of their decision making when it comes to their purchasing decisions. The British philosopher Alfred North White maintained that "civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them." Your clients want a simple life where they don't have to spend a lot of time measuring and thinking. You can help.

Here are a few of the key rules of thumb used by your clients. Help your clients by helping use the rule of thumb.

"You get what you pay for." People believe that more expensive cars are better cars, that is, that the high priced product or service is the better product or service. If you preach quality medical care and then discount your fees, you are unwittingly telling the client that your service is inferior. The client, using a time-tested rule of thumb, is going to believe that the high-priced provider is offering superior medical care.

Reciprocity. People also believe that we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us. As a rule for gaining compliance, this is a powerful tool. Give a gift and clients will want to balance the scales by giving something back to you. This is why companies give away samples, pens and other gifts. In one store, just be letting customers slice off samples of their cheese, one salesman sold a thousand pounds of cheese in several hours. Giving small gifts to your clients, such as pet food samples, complimentary coffee and soft drinks, pens, tote bags etc, will help them return the favor with increased compliance to your recommendations.

Authority. People tend to believe and obey authority whether that authority is civil (police), religious (ministers) or medical (doctors). Part of practicing good medicine is giving good advice. Don't be afraid to use your authority to help pets receive the best medical care by making strong recommendations to your clients. Clients will believe you and will try to do what you recommend. By the way, part of a persons authority comes from his/her uniform (think policeman or Catholic priest in his Roman collar). The "uniform" of the doctor––lab coat and stethoscope will increase your perceived authority.

Liking. We prefer to buy things from people that we like. Why do we like some people more than others? We tend to like people who:

•  Listen to us

•  Smile

•  Look us in the eye

•  Pay us compliments

•  Are well groomed

•  Are good looking

It sounds harsh but it is not a good idea to hire a receptionist who is not good looking, is poorly groomed and frowns a lot while ignoring your clients.

Remember, the rules of thumb may or may not conform to your idea of the way the world ought to behave. The point is that these are locked-in human behaviors. If you want greater success, accept the way people are, not the way you think they should be. 

Here is a good rule of thumb: Don't fight human nature.