Facebook Post by our opposition.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Braden Collins — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 12:02:22 GMT

When the Bunbury Vet Clinic opened, it was the only vet in town. The closest one was 180km away. That was before I was born so I reckon the name is fair enough. When we took over the Eaton Vet Clinic, it was the only one in that suburb. I think location based names are fine (and are the norm in Western Australia), but it comes with the understanding that other clinics in Bunbury can call themselves a Bunbury vet clinic in their ads and I just need to suck it up.

Location based names probably have less benefit now that google is so good at business locations and relies less on keywords in the name.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Bob Russell — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 09:51:29 GMT

Around here we have 'The Vet' and 'The Community Pet Clinic'.

Clearly far from being the vet and the community clinic does a few hours a week of vaccinations and is based in the Midlands I believe! States it is an affordable veterinary service (two hours a week?)

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 21:30:30 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]I'm not saying I don't believe you, but is this written down anywhere? How can the younger end of the profession follow these secret rules. I can't find anything on the RCVS site about this.[/quote]

It certainly used to be in the Guide to Professional Conduct. It was probably dropped when the Great Principle-ist Revolution occurred and the Guide suddenly went to Weight Watchers. (It did not last, the Prescriptionists slowly and irresistiibly wormed their way back into power).

Whether it's in the Code or not, it seems a fair professional principle to me. If I were to call my practice The Bangor Veterinary Surgery the implication would be that it was the only practice in Bangor. Of course, "in the modern competitive veterinary environment" (not my own words, as you may guess, but taken from one of the many bits of junk mail that foul my doormat) it would probably be considered acceptable, enterprising and praiseworthy.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Bob Russell — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 17:34:30 GMT

The most I get about the RC is the feeling that they are a bit too grand to deal with the riff raff. Too busy worrying about how we reflect on our CPD and promoting the PSS pretty ineffectively IMO.

I think they should proudly promote the profession for all the good it does. Perhaps it could look into the way some non-vet run businesses behave towards the vets working for them. Doing something to improve the lot of younger colleagues, before they hit the buffers and leave the profession or develop mental health problems.

Ain't going to happen though!

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Clare Tapsfield-Wright — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 16:54:41 GMT

[quote user="J G Wray"]

[quote user="Clare Tapsfield-Wright"]I wish more were done collectively by vets to increase the number of animals actually visiting the vet rather than just trying to nab the existing vet visiting clients off each other [/quote]

Choked on my cornflakes reading this. There are organisations which act collectively in respect of the profession. BVA have initiatives under way to promote the value of vets to the public, but I'm not so sure what the other organisation is doing to push the public our way. It looks to me like their every endeavour is to do the opposite, without resistance or initiative from those elected to it.

It must be frustrating for those who have been there to see an ambition unrealised.

[/quote] I am glad you didn't choke on your cornflakes , what a waste that would have been . I assume you mean the RCVS and I agree that I do regret that during my time on council my suggestion that the RCVS should coordinate with the BVA and other organisations such as pet food companies, specifically in the area of informing the general public about their obligations to their pets in cases of emergency were not taken up. The other council members did not consider it a priority at that time and that is how council works.

I disagree as usual with your opinion of the college. I can't see any evidence that their "every endeavour" is the opposite of pushing the public towards vets but there is no point in revisiting this old debate . We will never agree and it would be so boring for all concerned.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Virginia Campbell — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 15:24:07 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]

This really is a mind numbingly tedious thread, storms and teacups come to mind.

[/quote]

There's an icon near the top right of this website with 3 horizontal lines labelled "Menu". It works kind of like a menu in a restaurant- you can choose what you want to read and avoid other stuff. Nifty eh?

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

J G Wray — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 12:50:21 GMT

It must be frustrating for those who have been there to see an ambition unrealised.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Martin Atkinson — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 10:43:48 GMT

This really is a mind numbingly tedious thread, storms and teacups come to mind.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Aine Seavers — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 00:32:41 GMT

Agree totally about better care for each pet. Here however a significant number of folks up and move every 7years, often to an area where they don't initially know anyone to ask for a trusted opinion so location is King as is Google. Equally if someone is unhappy with a clinic, they google to find an alternative.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Clare Tapsfield-Wright — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 17:06:48 GMT

[quote user="Aine Seavers"]

The vast majority google-to the point that the big corporate practices no longer advertise in yellow pages. We had the same problem here about 10 yrs ago with the huge full page ads- when vets stopped doing that then nothing really changed except they kept their money for advertising for other media rather than yellow pages

[/quote] I need a new optician , mine has retired. I have asked my friends who they use and I will then google to check opening hours etc but not make the initial choice from the Internet.

I google everything else other than dentists and possibly restaurants. I might be an old fart but I'm fairly computer savvy. I agree that once the choice is narrowed down the Internet certainly helps advertise your services but by that time I am actively searching for a specific website not just " vets in Halifax" .

I wish more were done collectively by vets to increase the number of animals actually visiting the vet rather than just trying to nab the existing vet visiting clients off each other

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Bob Russell — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 13:40:31 GMT

Absolutely no idea which practice is which but I would be put off a practice that used the term award winning so many times in a couple of paragraphs yet states it is a humble practice. How often do you have to be award winning for it to be 'consistently winning industry and local awards'!

If I was in this situation I would be looking at a rebrand to increase the individuality of the practice. A good logo to make everything look very different? Also lose the Bunbury/Australind Vet.

A shame things ever get to this stage but you sometimes have to accept that opposition is not going to play nice!

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Aine Seavers — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 13:32:15 GMT

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Aine Seavers — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 13:26:36 GMT

Who was there first? Did the second clinic then 'squat' set up? Who posted the first ad into the other's area?

It would be good to know the timeline as currently both clinic so alike and posting similar posts then heaven help the client trying to figure who is whom and where

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Bob Russell — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 09:44:16 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]in the UK it is still considered unprofessional to use a geographical name for a practice[/quote]

Since when? We do our best to behave as professionally as possible, but the practice name contains the village name........

[/quote]

It was clearly stated in the Guide to Professional Conduct. It also stated it was unprofessional to use any title that suggested you might be the only vet in an area. 'The Vet', 'The Pet Vet' and similar titles would have received a very frosty reception.

Clearly not nowadays!

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Arlo Guthrie — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 09:20:16 GMT

[quote user="Clare Tapsfield-Wright"]Does anyone actually choose their vet by googling anyway?[/quote]

Well, choice of vet is going to be multifactorial, and different for different people. But no doubt there will be some pet owners who arrive in a new area, google for a local vet and just pick the first one that appears in Google. Others come by word of mouth, or from other marketing efforts, but I would expect most of them to do further research online, where your google ranking/presence and website quality will still influence their decision.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Arlo Guthrie — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 09:09:17 GMT

[quote user="Braden Collins"]As you can see from the following link, he's certainly not worried about using our name on his website, so at best he's being quite hypocritical. http://www.australindvet.com.au/contact-us/bunbury-veterinary-clinic-australind-vet[/quote]

Crikey, talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

How about you email him something like this, explaining that you propose to post it on your facebook page to highlight the hypocrisy of their facebook announcement:

A CURTEOUS ANNOUNCEMENT TO OUR CLIENTS

A few of our clients are being confused by a misleading web page belonging to an Australind Vet Clinic which is calling itself Bunbury Veterinary Clinic. See photo attached.

Some of our clients may be finding this page when searching Google and may be misled into thinking it belongs to us.

We just wanted to bring it to your attention to prevent any confusion.

(I wouldn't actually suggest you post it on your FB page, it may just serve to give them unnecessary publicity).

That aside, shouldn't there be some professional guidelines about what is or is not acceptable in terms of online marketing? What he is doing is aggressively targeting Bunbury residents by trying to make that page rank as highly as possible for bunbury vet search terms on Google. In itself, that is reasonable enough. I think where it crosses the line is when the copy actually implies that they actually have a clinic in Bunbury, or even verges on passing themselves off as you.

In other words: 'Name of clinic - serving pet owners in location, location, location', or 'Name of Clinic, providing the veterinary care in location, location, location' is fine. But actually calling oneself '[location] vet clinic' or 'Vet Clinic [location] is misleading (the latter slightly less so) if you don't actually have a clinic there.

I wonder if it is very effective anyway. Aren't most owners looking for the nearest clinic first?

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Clare Tapsfield-Wright — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 08:50:45 GMT

Does anyone actually choose their vet by googling anyway? I cringe when I think how much money we paid to yellow pages over the years when word of mouth, or seeing a practice near your home as you drive around, is the usual way new clients select a practice. The local practices in Halifax got to the stage when we were vying with one another for the biggest ad in the directory and the only people gaining were the yellow pages sales. We called a halt, made ours minimal and saw no change in new client numbers. Eventually all the other practices did the same and we all saved a lot of money.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Aine Seavers — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 03:30:08 GMT

The Red Cross is sacrosanct- if you have ever been in a war zone you would know that-so the legality and the ethics two different things -I am glad you have stopped using it. Whatever you now do to identify yourself as different from the other clinic can only be good-I am a vet and even I am getting confused with the 2 sets of ads from both clinics as to who is whom and who is where so god help the clients. Which clinic existed first and how long ago was that? that ould help the natives figure out which clinic is which as currently so much content in the ads they are getting lost figuring it out.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Braden Collins — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 03:09:33 GMT

We used the red cross in a way that is fully compliant with all legislation. We ran it past a trademark lawyer early on to check it was OK the way we used it. After discussion with the red cross, we're ging to transition everything to a blue background whenever it is used so it gives clearer differentiation.

As I said before, the plan wasn't to get his clients calling us by mistake. At around $5/click, it's too expensive to have people click on our ad only to realise we're not the ones they're looking for. I very deliberately avoid using their name in the ads to try to avoid this.

As you can see from the following link, he's certainly not worried about using our name on his website, so at best he's being quite hypocritical. http://www.australindvet.com.au/contact-us/bunbury-veterinary-clinic-australind-vet

I'm just going to use it as a good chance to clean up our google ads and ensure there is a "near" or similar in them to create greater clarity. It'll be good for our adword budget anyway.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Aine Seavers — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 01:34:14 GMT

If you used the Red Cross and were caught -why be upset-best not to have used it-it is a globally protected image for a bloody good humanitarian reason.

If you want to advertise in an area, you can but do so under your own name and not a paid ad under google tagged so that clients go to click on clinic A but because of your ad they end up contacting clinic X. One local vet did that here, at least he didnt pretend any innocence, he knew he was going to get a huge number of confused folks unintentionally ringing his clinic, it got him on the outer with everyone else-I am fed up hearing clients clicked on our site or anothers only to be taken to the clinic X embedded in the line below and for that clinic not to then advise the client that they had rung the wrong clinic, they had not rung Albion Park say but were now ringing Clinic X or a client with an emergency to ring to say they are on their way with a seriously ill or injured animal and will the vet be there-Sure, Vet here-only Vet s 'here at clinic X-not at my clinic and in they arrive expecting all stations and I may be out on house call! Not good for the animal, not good for my staff and not good for the profession overall. If you want to advertise in an area-do it under Location guide etc

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Virginia Campbell — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 01:12:50 GMT

Well, polishing your brass plate at any time after you'd put it up probably used to be seen as shameless marketing dragging the profession into disrepute ;-)

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Michael Woodhouse — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 00:10:57 GMT

I'm not saying I don't believe you, but is this written down anywhere? How can the younger end of the profession follow these secret rules. I can't find anything on the RCVS site about this.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 00:06:40 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]in the UK it is still considered unprofessional to use a geographical name for a practice[/quote]

Since when? We do our best to behave as professionally as possible, but the practice name contains the village name........

[/quote]

Since a very long time ago.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Virginia Campbell — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 23:43:53 GMT

Look on the bright side - glancing at the ad my eye fell on "Friendly staff Great Advice" first then "Bunbury vets".

His own clientele are going to be the ones reading his FB page so they're either going to think:

"What a dastardly marketing trick, I will stay with the real Australind vets" - neutral for you as they are very unlikely to feel so strongly about this that they will bother telling any of their friends that they disapprove of the marketing of some vet clinic that they don't use

or:

"Another vet near Australind, you say? I thought Australind vets as the only one. Look here it says friendly staff, great advice. I wonder if Fido would like those nice friendly staff at Bunbury vets..." and it's a win for you.

I think it's unlikely that any floating voters browsing through the social media of all the vet practices they are considering going to would be ultra wound up by this and think that you're dreadful scoundrels or anything. If I was a new client to the Australind area I'd think ah well, marketing, whatever, not that big a deal.... Friendly.... Great Advice.... Bunbury...and maybe type "Bunbury vet" into google.

RE: Facebook Post by our opposition.

Michael Woodhouse — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 23:41:23 GMT

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]in the UK it is still considered unprofessional to use a geographical name for a practice[/quote]

Since when? We do our best to behave as professionally as possible, but the practice name contains the village name........