Industry awareness holidays are full of marketing potential. Haven’t you noticed that your post about #NationalPuppyDay outperforms everything else on your social media pages? You’re not alone. Industry awareness holidays, such as National Veterinary Technician Week, are popular with veterinary professionals. So, are you ready to start celebrating? Use these tips to expand your reach on your special days.
1. Know your key holidays
Create a list of holidays relevant to your brand and drop them into your annual campaign plans. The AVMA maintains a list of pet health and veterinary awareness events that will keep you on track, or download our 2024 Veterinary Marketer Calendar.
2. Make a campaign plan
A campaign plan? For this? Yes! You will want to build a campaign for each industry awareness day or month you celebrate. Important awareness events include Dental Health Month in February, Telehealth Awareness Week in September, and Pet Cancer Awareness Month in November.
Treat these campaigns like everything else you do. In other words, go beyond the one-and-done organic social media post to establish your campaign goals and align your tactics accordingly.
Use the COPE approach (Create Once, Publish Everywhere) like these marketers to get the most out of your existing content.
You can use awareness holidays to foster goodwill, create a sense of community, generate brand awareness, and generate leads.
Campaign Ideas
Try out these ideas when you’re building your campaign plan.
- Contests: Host targeted giveaways during awareness holidays to collect leads.
- Team Highlights: Highlight employee pets during days like National Cat Day or celebrate on-staff veterinary technicians during National Veterinary Technician Week. Share pictures and personal interest stories.
- Customer Stories: Share customer stories in alignment with the awareness theme. These are especially powerful when delivered in video format. Just make sure to get permission first!
Create a cross-channel marketing plan for essential holidays that includes social media and email and engages your employees. These days are often fun and can foster a positive culture at your organization.
3. Leverage social media—paid and organic
Remember to go beyond the one-and-done organic posts, especially for month-long observances. Unless your brand has a large organic social media following, you’ll need paid posts to boost your message’s exposure. Consider the following types of Facebook/Instagram ads:
- Traffic: Use ads for broad awareness that drives visitors to your campaign landing page.
- Lead Generation: If you’re hosting a contest, consider using native lead gen forms to collect sign-ups natively from Facebook/Instagram.
4. Use hashtags wisely
Tag other organizations where appropriate and use a hashtag for the holiday name and related keywords.
5. Sponsor holidays with Clinician’s Brief
We know it’s hard to keep up with all the live events, key industry events, and media booking deadlines–so we made a 2024 Veterinary Marketer Calendar to help. Download the calendar now.
For turnkey awareness holiday marketing solutions as well as opportunities to align with Clinician’s Brief editorial content, consider partnering with us! We have a festive line-up of virtual challenges, social and interactive campaigns, and content sponsorships available. Don’t see a holiday on the list that you want to sponsor? Reach out to the VetMedux team for a brainstorm.
- January: One Health Awareness Month
- Other days to keep an eye on:
- January 6: National Cuddle Up Day
- January 24: Change a Pet’s Life Day
- February: Pet Dental Health Month
- Other days to keep an eye on:
- February 20: National Love Your Pet Day
- February 20: National Love Your Pet Day
- March: Feline Asthma Focus Month
- Other days to keep an eye on:
- March 17-23: Poison Prevention Week
- March 23: National Puppy Day
- April: Heartworm Awareness Month
- Other days to keep an eye on:
- April 11: National Pet Day
- April 27: World Veterinary Day
- April 30: National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day
- May: Arthritis Awareness Month
- Other days to keep an eye on:
- May 5-11: National Be Kind to Animals Week
- May 5-11: National Be Kind to Animals Week
- June: Adopt-A-Cat Month
- Other days to keep an eye on:
- June 2-8: Pet Appreciation Week
- June 23: Take Your Dog to Work Day
- July: National Lost Pet Prevention Month
- Other days to keep an eye on:
- July 31: National Mutt Day
- July 31: National Mutt Day
- August: Itchy Pet Awareness Month
- Other days to keep an eye on:
- August 22: National Take Your Cat to the Vet Day
- September: Animal Pain Awareness Month
- Other days to keep an eye on:
- September 28: World Rabies Day
- September 28: World Rabies Day
- October: National Pet Wellness Month
- Other days to keep an eye on:
- October 13-19: National Veterinary Technician Week
- October 29: National Cat Day
- November: Pet Cancer & Diabetes Awareness Month
- Other days to keep an eye on:
- November 8: International Human-Animal Bond Day
- November 12-18: Practice Managers Appreciation Week
- December 2: National Mutt Day
Partner with VetMedux to create an engaging campaign around these key industry awareness events. Our team can help you create a virtual challenge or align your brand with a content sponsorship that corresponds to the awareness month theme. For example:
- In observance of Dental Health Month in February 2024, we can develop a virtual challenge that educates veterinarians and pet owners about the importance of dental health. The Clinician’s Brief team will create daily social media posts, polls, and image quizzes that veterinarians can use to earn points to redeem sponsor-branded prizes.
- For Pet Cancer Awareness Month in November 2024, we can help you empower veterinarians to have confident conversations covering cancer diagnosis and treatment. Sponsor a podcast episode and two pieces of content. Choose between a pre-screening checklist, an article covering myths about cancer, or a top 5 article on what to do before a cancer referral.