As a B2B veterinary marketer, you know content planning works differently in our industry. We’ve got conferences, awareness days, and a few other industry-specific considerations.
So, let’s focus on how to be proactive and strategic with content planning. We’ll go step-by-step through your content creation and distribution plan. Plus, we’ll dig into the nuances of veterinary marketing and pull out how a content plan helps you focus on the initiatives that matter most.
Start with the Big Picture
Content planning can feel overwhelming, so it helps to start by looking at the big picture. This first step is where you can invite feedback from key stakeholders, such as sales leaders. To begin, map out product launches, conferences, industry awareness holidays, and other important events on an annual calendar.
For example:
| Priority #1 | Priority #2 | Priority #3 | |
| January | VMX | Product Launch 1 | |
| February | WVC | Product Launch 1 | Dental Health Month |
| March | Quarter End Sale | ||
| April | Customer Campaign | National Sales Meeting | |
| May | Chicago Vet | ||
| June | Quarter End Sale | AVMA | |
| July | Product Launch 2 | Seminar 1 | |
| August | Customer Campaign | ||
| September | Quarter End Sale | Animal Pain Awareness Month | |
| October | Seminar 2 | National Veterinary Technician Week | |
| November | Black Friday Sale | National Pet Cancer Awareness Month | |
| December | Year End Sale |
After mapping out the top 1-3 priorities for each month, invite feedback from the leadership team. Once you’ve ensured your initiatives are aligned with business needs, it’s time to get granular.
Don’t Forget Industry Awareness Events!
Download the 2024 Veterinary Marketer Calendar to stay current on live veterinary events, key industry happenings, and media booking deadlines. Veterinarians are very responsive to campaigns surrounding industry observance days. Use this calendar to inspire engaging lead-generation campaigns to boost your sales pipeline.
Create Your Content Plan
Based on your initiatives, create a sub-bullet list of the content you need prioritized by order of importance. Remember to audit your existing library for content you can reuse. You’ll save time and energy by refreshing old materials to support new campaigns.
Here are the key content types to consider when building out your plan:
- Sales Materials: This can include brochures, sell sheets, testimonials, case studies, and videos. These materials are needed to support product launches and field-driven sales campaigns.
- Clinic Marketing Materials: This includes materials delivered to the veterinarian to help them market directly to the pet owner. Learn more about the 6 Ways to Market to Pet Owners via the Veterinarian.
- Blog Content: Remember the blog articles! They’re great for providing education about your product or sharing how your product solves a problem veterinarians encounter. Learn more about the value of a blog in 10 Reasons Why Your Brand Needs a Blog.
- Educational Content: Educational content such as e-books, webinars, and articles can help veterinarians understand how your product or services can help them solve their day-to-day challenges. It becomes even more important for non-standard care veterinary products. Veterinarians are highly responsive to educational content, particularly when delivered by key opinion leaders (KOL). If budget allows, engage a KOL to add industry credibility to your educational content.
- Get Creative: Have fun when crafting your content plan. Veterinarians respond well to light-hearted content, and they enjoy quizzes and games. Even if your product doesn’t naturally lend itself to levity, the way you educate the market can still be engaging and entertaining.
Remember, at this point, we’ve only addressed our CONTENT needs. We still have the distribution plan (emails, social media, trade publications, etc.) to create. That will follow the finalization of the content plan.
Now, let’s build on our previous example by assigning each item a level of priority: high, medium, or low:
| Priority #1 | Priority #2 | Priority #3 | |
| January | VMX – Booth Video high – Lead Gen Promo high – Product Catalog high | Product Launch 1 – Sell Sheet high – Training Deck high – Print Ad high – Promo Video medium – Press Release medium – Case Study low | |
| February |
WVC – Reuse VMX Assets |
Product Launch 1 – Webinar high – Use Case Article medium – Customer Testimonial low |
Dental Health Month – Lead Gen Campaign high – Pet Owner Materials for Veterinarians to Share medium – Blog Post low |
| March | Quarter End Sale – Sales Flier high |
||
| April | Customer Campaign – Web Page high – Sales Flier high |
National Sales Meeting – Deck Template high – Marketing Review medium – New Product Catalog high |
|
| May | Chicago Vet – Lead Gen Promo high | ||
| June | Quarter End Sale – Sales Flier high |
AVMA – Lead Gen Promo high | |
| July | Product Launch 2 – Sell Sheet high – Training Deck high – Print Ad high – Promo Video medium – Press Release medium – Case Study low |
Seminar 1 – Web Page high – Agenda high | |
| August | Customer Campaign – Web Page high – Sales Flier high |
Product Launch 2 – Webinar high – Use Case Article medium – Customer Testimonial low | |
| September | Quarter End Sale – Sales Flier high |
Animal Pain Awareness Month – Lead Gen Promo high – eBook medium |
|
| October | Seminar 2 – Web Page high – Agenda high |
National Veterinary Technician Week – Lead Gen Promo high – eBook medium | |
| November | Black Friday Sale – Web Page high – Sales Flier high |
National Pet Cancer Awareness Month – Lead Gen Promo high – eBook medium |
|
| December | Year End Sale – Web Page high – Sales Flier high |
Need help creating your plan and content?
Brief Studio, VetMedux’s performance marketing agency, can help!
Create Your Content Distribution Plan
Your great content is only as good as your distribution strategy, so how you share it can be the most critical part of your plan. ( If you don’t have a sufficient database of veterinary email addresses or a substantial organic following of prospective veterinarians, it’s time to consider working with an industry media partner like Clinician’s Brief. )
The channels to consider when building out your plan:
- Trade Publications: Industry media companies such as Clinician’s Brief can give your content the exposure it deserves through its print and digital channels. Clinician’s Brief can also help you tailor your message to your target audiences.
- Email: Consider both emails to your house database and those sent through industry partners for your content distribution strategy. Promoting lead generation content (such as eBooks and webinars) through media partners like Clinician’s Brief can effectively convert new leads into your database. Ensure your plan also includes email nurturing programs to prepare newly converted leads for sales.
- Organic Social Media: With a large organic following, your social channels can be an excellent avenue for sharing videos, quizzes, and other social-friendly content. If you don’t have a large following, you can partner with Clinician’s Brief to share your message across their social channels.
- Paid Social Media Advertising: Social media advertising is ideal for reaching a large audience at a low cost per impression, making it a viable option for every brand regardless of their budget or the size of their organic social following.
- Print: Placement in the Clinician’s Brief print publication lets you share critical information with a large audience of highly engaged veterinarians. Since many veterinarians still rely heavily on the print edition, a print placement is a practical, effective option for articles and sponsored content.
Let’s build on our example again, adding promotional channels for content type:
| Priority #1 | Priority #2 | Priority #3 | |
| January | VMX, Lead Gen Promo – Internal email – Social ad – Organic social post – At-show SMS – Email through VMX – Native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief – Banner ads on cliniciansbrief.com |
Product Launch 1 – Internal email- Social ad – Organic social post – Native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief – Banner ads on cliniciansbrief.com – Press releases through trade publications – Print ad in Clinician’s Brief | |
| February | WVC – Internal email – Social ad- Organic social post – At-show SMS – Email through WVC – Native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief – Banner ads on cliniciansbrief.com |
Product Launch 1 – Webinar email, internal – Webinar email through Clinician’s Brief – Webinar organic social post – Webinar promotion via native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief |
Dental Health Month – Lead gen, internal – Lead gen email through Clinician’s Brief – Lead gen organic social post – Lead gen promotion via native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief – Pet owner handouts social ad – Pet owner handouts email through Clinician’s Brief – Pet owner handouts internal email – Blog post internal email – Blog post included in monthly newsletter – Blog post on organic social |
| March | Quarter End Sale – Internal email – Email through Clinician’s Brief |
||
| April | Customer Campaign – Internal email |
National Sales Meeting – N/A |
|
| May | Chicago Vet – Internal email – Social ad – Organic social post – At-show SMS – Email through Chicago Vet – Native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief – Banner ads on cliniciansbrief.com | ||
| June | Quarter End Sale – Internal email – Email through Clinician’s Brief |
AVMA – Internal email – Social ad – Organic social post – At-show SMS- Email through AVMA – Native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief – Banner ads on cliniciansbrief.com |
|
| July | Product Launch 2 – Internal email – Social ad – Organic social post – Native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief – Banner ads on cliniciansbrief.com – Press releases through trade publications – Print ad in Clinician’s Brief |
Seminar 1 – Internal email – Social ad – Organic social post – Email through Clinician’s Brief – Native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief – Banner ads on cliniciansbrief.com |
|
| August | Customer Campaign – Internal email |
Product Launch 2 – Webinar email, internal – Webinar email through Clinician’s Brief – Webinar organic social post – Webinar promotion via native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief |
|
| September | Quarter End Sale – Internal email – Email through Clinician’s Brief |
Animal Pain Awareness Month – Lead gen, internal – Lead gen email through Clinician’s Brief – Lead gen organic social post – Lead gen promotion via native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief – eBook social ad – eBook email through Clinician’s Brief – eBook handouts internal email |
|
| October | Seminar 2 – Internal email – Social ad – Organic social post – Email through Clinician’s Brief – Native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief – Banner ads on cliniciansbrief.com |
National Veterinary Technician Week – Lead gen, internal – Lead gen email through Clinician’s Brief – Lead gen organic social post – Lead gen promotion via native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief – eBook social ad- eBook email through Clinician’s Brief  – eBook handouts internal email |
|
| November | Black Friday Sale – Internal email – Email through Clinician’s Brief |
National Pet Cancer Awareness Month – Lead gen, internal – Lead gen email through Clinician’s Brief – Lead gen organic social post – Lead gen promotion via native newsletter with Clinician’s Brief – eBook social ad – eBook email through Clinician’s Brief – eBook handouts internal email |
|
| December | Year End Sale – Internal email – Email through Clinician’s Brief |
Activate Your Plan
Now that your content plan and distribution strategy are in place, let’s work together to make your vision a reality. Contact the VetMedux team today to get started!