Five trends in pet medical insuranceApril 3, 2019The human-animal bond is evolving, and pet parents want their canine and feline family members to live longer, healthier lives. As human life expectancy and quality increase, we want our loyal companions with us well into their/our senior years, because, let's face it, those years come far too soon. Veterinary medicine, in parallel with human medicine, has advanced leaps and bounds over the years. As a result, veterinarians can now routinely detect and treat disease before clinical signs of illness ever appear. Pet parents are expecting and demanding their pets are treated as family. But more often than not, budgeting is problematic. With human-quality medicine comes the cost of care for advanced, though, routinely available diagnostics, such as digital X-rays, ultrasound, and blood chemistry analysis. Yet, six out of 10 Americans don't have $500 in savings for an unplanned expense.1 The widespread budgeting challenge became even more evident for federal workers (including veterinarians) with the government shutdown earlier this year. Many pet owners and veterinarians are quickly realizing quality medical insurance can help fill the financial gap so their pets can have access to the treatments recommended by their trusted family veterinarian. Yet, just as the human-animal bond is evolving, …
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Americans spent $18.11 billion on veterinary care in 2018March 22, 2019The American Pet Products Association (APPA) says veterinary care remains the second highest source of spending in the pet care community. According to the association's annual industry-wide spending figures, money spent on veterinary care totaled $18.11 billion, surpassing growth in any other category at a rate of 6.1 percent. Figures in 2019 are expected to reach $18.98 billion, an increase of 4.8 percent over last year's figures. The APPA says the frequency of veterinary visits has likely increased due to lower prices, making pet care more available to a broader customer base. "Millennials continue to be the largest pet-owning demographic and this shows in the data," says APPA president and CEO, Bob Vetere. "We know this generation is willing to pay more for quality services to improve the health and well-being of their pets. Today more than ever, pet owners view their pets as irreplaceable members of their families and lives, and it's thanks to this that we continue to see such incredible growth within the pet care community."
Building trust with pet parents through digital marketingFebruary 5, 2019Pet parents come in all shapes and sizes, ages and genders, backgrounds and income levels. Yet, they all share a few common concerns that guide them as they choose a veterinarian. In addition to a convenient location and budget considerations, such as pricing and the availability of financing, pet parents put a high premium on finding a veterinarian they can trust. Why is trust so important to today's pet parents? Today's pet owners live in a world that tells them they shouldn't trust anybody. The combination of claims of "fake news," well-loved celebrities and politicians acting badly, or major corporations indulging in unethical behavior results in a public wary to take anything on faith. The benefit of the doubt has evaporated, leaving veterinarians forced to market themselves in an environment where customers do research before committing to even the smallest purchase. (Think sports drinks and snack foods.) Choosing to get health care for a pet is a high-consequence decision. Seventy-eight percent of pet owners agree a pet is a member of the family.1 In July 2018, a survey conducted by Pew Internet and American Life found more than one in five people research specific physicians and hospitals before seeking …
Are small-town clinics on the way out?July 6, 2018Veterinary practice ownership, like the continental drift, is gradually moving and shifting across our time. The trend now points toward increased corporate ownership and practice consolidators, whereas previously there were more private, solo-owned practices.
Mission: Possible?July 5, 2018In the U.S., roughly 179 million households include pets. With the addition of 2.05 million U.S. farming operations and the millions of livestock being raised, the growing demand for veterinary services is a no-brainer.
4 things veterinarians, pet marketers must know about Gen Z, millennialsMarch 13, 2018Pet ownership in the U.S. is trending younger and younger. The 57 million pet owners under age 40 account for 41 percent of all pet owning adults in the United States. Over the past decade Gen Z (18- to 24-year-olds) and millennials (25- to 39-year-olds) accounted for more than half of the growth in the pet owner population, according to Rockville, Md.-based market research firm Packaged Facts in the company's new report Gen Z and Millennials as Pet Market Consumers: Dogs, Cats, Other Pets. "Adult pet owners under age 40 are as much the present as they are the future of the industry," said David Sprinkle, research director for Packaged Facts. "These younger generations of pet market consumers are critical to the bottom line of pet product and service marketers because the vanguard of the baby boomer generation is reaching the age when pet ownership declines sharply. Moreover, boomers will be succeeded by members of Gen X, who spend heavily on pet products and services but are a relatively small population cohort." As to be expected, Gen Z and millennial pet owners are influencing the pet industry in unique ways that are quite different when compared to the …
Generational differences and veterinary marketingOctober 17, 2017How does marketing in veterinary medicine relate to the man best known for his contributions to the science of evolution? Well, one of Charles Darwin’s principles of natural selection is that “a population will change over time.”
Is your practice ready for millennial clients?September 6, 2017Half our world’s population is younger than 30. Millennials, age 18 to 34, grew up tethered to their smartphones, which they check 43 times per day. They now comprise the primary pet-owning demographic at 35 percent of U.S. pet owners, surpassing baby boomers’ 32 percent, according to the American Pet Products Association (APPA).
Got millennials? Why they're great in the vet practiceJuly 27, 2017Oh sigh ... we’re talking about those millennials again ... As you probably know, the subject tends to elicit more than just sighs in some veterinary circles. (Yes, expletives often are employed too.) Mostly this is because millennials, whether staff members or clients, are often perceived as entitled, self(ie)- obsessed and often just plain spoiled.
How millennials are changing the vet practiceSeptember 12, 2016As I talk to veterinary practices about how they engage with their clients or team members, I have heard a great deal of talk about the millennials. Who are they, anyway?
