Until relatively recently, strict rules governing the promotion of veterinary practices prohibited advertising. The rules have now been relaxed, and practices may now advertise to increase awareness of their services and recruit new clients.

Benefits
Executed effectively, advertising can:

• Increase awareness of the practice
   
• Maintain custom and attract new clients
   
• Reinforce or change existing attitudes to the practice
   
• Highlight particular services available
   
• Produce quantifiable results if you include a 'call to action' in your advertisement

Where to advertise?
To be successful, your message must be clear, and placed in the media that is most seen by your target audience. The most obvious place for small practices to advertise is in the local newspaper, which will probably be read by a broad spectrum of pet owners in the local community. But there are many other options available, some of which might be more precisely targetted:

• The local park - Anything from sponsored waste bins to public noticeboards.
   
• Billboards - A 48-sheet poster for two weeks in a regional town will cost around £300, and you should allow the same again for production. Worth considering if you can secure a site in a high pet footfall area (i.e. by the entrance to a park).
   
• Other outdoor sites - The local dog training facilities, the bus route that runs past your practice, the bus route that runs past the park. The local boarding kennels.
   
• Other publications - The local agility club, or dog training club newsletter. Local 'family' magazines. Local freesheets may be cheaper than the local paper, but are often less widely read due to their high advertising content.
   
• Websites - There may be a 'local listings' website serving your area, or websites run by groups with a high incidence of pet ownership, such as those above.

Magazines and newspapers should be able to offer you a media pack which will include details of circulation, audience breakdown, and a rate card with costs. Ask about special rates for running a series of ads. Haggle. Also ask whether the ad might appear at the same time as something else relevant to pet owners (such as a pet column in the local newspaper, or an open day at the dog training facility).

The content of your advertisement
Rgeardless of where it is placed, or precisely what you are advertising (ie the practice as a whole, or a particular service), a good advertisement should always do the following things:

• Create awareness
• Generate interest
• Instil desire
• Instigate action

A few pointers for design:

• The headline should attract immediate attention
   
• Expand on the headline with facts, if possible and appropriate
   
• The benefits to the client should be obvious
   
• Clearly state location, date, time and contact details as appropriate
   
• Photography should be used in support of the key message, and not distract attention from it
   
• Keep it concise

Advertising or Advertorial?
Advertorial is simply advertising that is made to look more like the editorial within a publication. The idea is to 'fool' the reader into believing that it was written by the publication, thereby confering a level of editorial endorsement. In reality, though, few people are fooled! Nevertheless, an advertorial also offers the opportunity for you to explain a complex subject in more detail than you could in a straight advertisement. Publications usually charge more for an advertorial.

Production
Some media outlets will help you with the production of your advertisement, but you will have to supply them with copy and photographs as needed. A local advertising agency will probably design an advert with a more professional look, but this may cost a bit more.

If you are planning on an advertising campaign to highlight clinics for older pets, do contact Novartis Animal Health. The company has pre-prepared advertisements that can be adapted for use by individual practices.

Evaluate
Always measure the response to an advertisement. Always. If you are advertising in more than one media outlet for the first time, include a call to action in your advertisement, and see which generates the best response. Otherwise you have no real way of telling which outlet is offering the best value for money.