Design & Content for your Veterinary Hospital Email Newsletter

Part 2 in a 4 Part Series
on Veterinary Hospital Email Newsletters

Your website, newsletter, logo and brochure are all members of one family – your veterinary marketing family. They describe who you are and are part of your overall image. Each one needs to tell its own story; however, they all need to tie-in together. The colors you have chosen for your visual brand need to be incorporated in all your veterinary hospital marketing pieces. The header of your vet email newsletter should be similar to the header of your vet website. Your veterinary hospital’s logo should be consistent throughout all your veterinary marketing items and if possible, located in the same general area on all pieces. While it might be tempting to use many colors in your vet practice marketing items, you need to resist. Your marketing family should be represented by your veterinary hospital’s colors and colors outside your brand should be used for emphasis.

A maximum of 2 fonts should be used in your veterinary email newsletter and they should be simple. Arial, Times New Roman or Verdana are the best. These fonts are easy to read and most computers have them pre-installed.

Adding photos to your veterinary email newsletter makes it more attractive and helps enforce your message. Only use excellent quality images and make sure that they support your message. Images that don’t communicate your message only take away from your content.

Keep your vet email newsletter simple and use lots of white space. White space is a resting place for your readers’ eyes and it is used to separate articles, headlines and images.

Content for your Veterinary Email Newsletter

Now that you have a good design for your veterinary email newsletter, what should you write about? Your custom vet hospital email newsletter provides the perfect opportunity to promote your veterinary practice to existing clients and to potential clients. By sharing your knowledge and expertise in your newsletter, you build your credibility as the expert while spreading the word about your services.

Below is a list of ideas for articles that you might want to include in your vet newsletters.

• The Latest Pet News – Have you learned something new that you might want to share with your clients? This could be a pet food recall or a local Rabies epidemic. Any article that would be informative or helpful would fall into this category.
• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions – Think of the questions that are asked most often on the phone and by your clients. When responding, keep your answers brief and to the point.
• New Services – Have you recently started offering ultrasound or digital radiology? Instead of focusing on the technology, make sure your articles focus on advantages for the client and the pet. (When airlines purchase new planes, they advertise on-time arrivals and comfortable flights. They never talk about engine or radar technology)
• Interviews – Interview a new associate or your head technician. You don’t have to go far to make your newsletter interesting. If you don’t want to conduct an actual interview, just email them a questionnaire.
• Case Studies – Keep them simple and interesting. Since skin problems are common to most pets, this would be a good topic to cover. You need to keep the medical jargon to a minimum and save the autoimmune cases for veterinary conferences.
• Pet Care Tips – Most people don’t want to spend time reading lengthy articles. Short snippets of information that can be digested quickly are great items for a newsletter.
• Recommend Books or Magazines – You can even write a short review.
• Seasonal Issues– Hot and cold weather pet care tips draw the reader’s attention. If heartworms or fleas are seasonal problems in your area, write about them.
• Introduce Products– Write about common medications that are regularly dispensed to your patients. Write an article about your most popular flea or heartworm product. If it’s a seasonal product, make sure it’s introduced at the start of the season.

When writing articles for your veterinary email newsletter, think about your target audience and imagine what kind of information they would like to read. Huge amounts of text turn people off. Either they won’t bother reading it at all or they will save it for later – which usually means the same thing. Don’t be afraid to include new vet hospital services you offer and the renovations that have recently been completed in your reception area and in your kennel. Your newsletter; however, should not be perceived as a thinly disguised sales pitch.

By keeping pet owners up-to-date with the latest news and information, they will think of you first whenever they need veterinary-related services.

VetNetwork has the knowledge and technology to manage all aspects of your veterinary hospital’s email newsletter. We can design your newsletter, write your articles and send it to your database of subscribers. We also offer a full range of web design, development, and management options for your veterinary website: learn more.

Call VetNetwork today (603-743-4321) for a price quote and for additional information.
VetNetwork – We do it all for you!  It’s that simple.

Written and Copyright ©
Mark Feltz, DVM
VetNetwork, LLC 2010
www.vetnetwork.com