As a B2B veterinary marketer, you likely have a strong understanding of the marketing funnel. But are you fully leveraging each stage in your strategy? Is the drive to acquire new top-of-funnel leads consuming most of your time? Or perhaps the pressure to grow your database is pulling your attention away from equipping your sales team with essential tools for the purchase process.
With evolving strategies and constant market demands, veterinary marketers face many competing priorities. We understand—and VetMedux is here to support you. In this blog, we’ll step back to examine the entire marketing funnel, ensuring it aligns with your goals. We’ll also share solutions from VetMedux to help ease the full-funnel workload for your team.
First, let’s review the stages of the marketing funnel:
Awareness: This is where prospects first encounter your product or service.
Interest: Prospects begin engaging with your brand.
Consideration: Prospects evaluate which products or services best meet their needs.
Purchase: Prospects make a decision and complete a purchase.
Retention: Your brand fosters a meaningful relationship to encourage loyalty.
Advocacy: Satisfied customers become advocates, driving referrals and new prospects to your brand.
What Is a Full-Funnel Marketing Strategy?
A full-funnel marketing strategy addresses each stage of the marketing funnel, creating a holistic brand experience rather than a transactional sales interaction. It involves strategic efforts to attract, retain, and build relationships with customers over the long term, rather than focusing exclusively on sales.
Full-funnel strategies rely on a deep understanding of your buyer’s journey and internal data insights. For a refresher on mapping the buyer’s journey, check out our article: Meet Prospects Where They Are on Your Buyer’s Journey.
3 Obstacles to Implementing Full-Funnel Marketing Strategies
Obstacle #1: A heavy sales focus
Most companies prioritize sales to sustain growth. However, a full-funnel strategy that builds customer advocacy can also drive sales.
Did you know?
A full-funnel approach can reduce top-of-funnel pressure by improving sales conversion rates and generating more word-of-mouth referrals.
Obstacle #2: Limited data on your audience
Gaining a complete view of your customers can be challenging. Siloed data sources or limited resources for data analysis may prevent you from developing a comprehensive understanding of your audience. Start by performing A/B tests and tracking results to support your full-funnel strategy.
Poor data attribution can also skew your perception of your target audience. To improve data quality, consider creating internal SOPs or initiating a data cleanup project.
Did you know?
The VetMedux team can help you better understand your target audience with hundreds of data points to inform your marketing strategy. Contact us to learn more.
Obstacle #3: Resistance to change
The veterinary market is rapidly evolving. What worked in the past may no longer be effective today. Sticking to the status quo can prevent you from building stronger customer connections.
Did you know?
VetMedux closely monitors market changes and can help you adapt your strategy to meet the needs of today’s veterinary professionals.
Preparing for Your Full-Funnel Strategy
Before drafting a strategic approach to each funnel stage, take these 3 critical steps.
1. Set Measurable Goals
Align cross-functional teams on full-funnel objectives. Whether you aim to shorten the sales cycle, improve demo-to-close rates, or increase referrals, setting clear goals is essential. For ideas, read The Most Important KPIs for B2B Veterinary Marketers in 2024.
2. Create Buyer Personas
Establishing buyer personas will help you tailor content and messaging at each funnel stage to meet each buyer’s needs. Marketing automation can assist in deploying content tailored to specific personas.
3. Develop Quality Content
Content is the most resource-intensive part of a full-funnel strategy. Ensure that your team is committed to creating high-quality content to effectively execute this approach. If you need support, our team of in-house veterinarians and content experts can help you identify and create compelling clinical content for your audience.
After implementing your strategy, optimize the user experience by incorporating messaging specific to your buyer personas and behavior-based triggers. Marketing automation can streamline this process, helping you measure results and refine your approach.
Tactics for Each Funnel Stage
Full-funnel marketing requires delivering the right message to the right person at the right time on the right channel. There’s a lot of orchestration, but don’t get overwhelmed! Every strategy has to start somewhere. Instead of being paralyzed by perfection, start small, measure, and tweak.
Here’s a breakdown of effective tactics for each stage:
Awareness
- SEO
- Google CPC
- Organic Social
- Paid Social Ads
- Website
- Blog
- Introduction Videos
- Content Distribution via Media Partners (eg, banner ads, native ads, polls, podcasts)
Interest
- Webinars
- E-Books
- Explainer Videos
- Content Distribution via Media Partners (eg, webinars, e-books, CE content, articles)
Consideration
- Case Studies
- ROI Examples
- References
- Testimonial Videos
- Clinical Studies
- Content Distribution via Media Partners: (eg, KOL content, peer-reviewed studies, articles with high clinical authority)
Purchase
- Sales Tools
- Demo Presentations and Videos
- Post-Demo Nurture Content
- Sales Promotions
Retention
- Implementation Support
- Customer Support
- Ongoing Clinical Education
- Proactive Communication and Feedback Collection
- Relationship Building
Advocacy
- Referral Programs
- Ongoing Relationship Building Activities: Continuing education, proactive communication, two-way communication loop
Start Strong with Strategic Support
Looking for support with your marketing programs? The VetMedux team offers several turnkey programs to take the burden off your plate.
Turnkey Brand-Building and Lead Generation Programs
Check out our annual content pillar sponsorships to build your brand and earn leads in 2025. Our pillar sponsorships drive trust and preference while filling your pipeline with thousands of qualified professionals. Several pillars are still up for sponsorship in 2025—reach out today!
Our New Product Launch Pack is here to help you bring your next new product to market. Grab attention and market share with a robust mix of awareness media placements and custom educational content! Plans are available in 3 tiers.
No new products to tout? Our Product Education Power Pack can help you maintain market share and keep your brand top-of-mind. This Power Pack features a combination of our most popular educational content and media placements.
We’re Here to Help You Plan
With planning season in full swing, VetMedux can help you craft and execute a full-funnel campaign or fill in any gaps. Reach out to VetMedux today to get started.