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CLIENT CARE & MARKETING
CASE STUDY Andrew Prentis, from Hyde Park Vets on his media career and learning to adapt to the internet
I
t all started way back in 1988 or thereabouts, when as a junior vet at the RSPCA Animal Hospital in Putney I received a call from Headquarters: would I go along and do a short piece on Blue Peter about spaying cats? Live in front of 8 million people and weirdly transported back into the living room of my childhood but on the wrong side of the screen, I was utterly terrified and there’s a part of me that remains humiliated by the experience to this day. I sat there in my best brightly coloured knitted-by-mother jersey (alongside a middle-aged man who also appeared to be wearing a brightly coloured knittedby-mother jersey), and gibbered on fairly incoherently about stitches and post
operative discomfort whilst trying not to mention the word sex. But I survived it, and later on realised that I had actually quite enjoyed it, so when other requests for comments or appearances came along, I generally said yes. I did a short media training course which was well worth the time and effort, and soon enough appeared to have the beginnings of a media career, based on the fact that if you ask someone questions about a subject they know about and enjoy, there’s a reasonable chance they’ll have something interesting to say. No more than that. Years on, with my own practice, the internet revolution has happened and we have to embrace it. Apart from anything else, we know – because we ask – that most of our new clients find us on the net, so it makes sense to be out there as much as we can. We signed up to Facebook and Twitter. Being old and grey, I still can’t really get a handle on Facebook but all the young things in the clinic manage that for me and look on pityingly as I dither helplessly over walls and timelines. We Tweet because we’re told we should. I remain unconvinced of its genuine value to the business, as most
of our input is focused on Tweeting and looking around for other people to follow in the hope that they will also follow us, rather than actually reading what anyone else Tweets. And I suspect it might be the same for other Tweeters. But it’s quickly done, it can be fun and it engages members of staff easily. It may have some benefit. We blog but nowhere near as often as we should, mainly because we’re so busy running a veterinary clinic. We try to make changes to our website regularly, we send out Press Releases (using a commercial service) when we need to and we email our clients as and when we feel we have something interesting or useful to say, also using an external commercial service. If someone asks for a comment or article, we write it, even if it’s done at the last minute. We come up with ideas for items on the pet friendly local radio and offer to go along for a chat and we write letters to the press when we have enough time or bile. I figure it’s all worth it, and if it sprinkles a little stardust on the everyday of spaying cats, that’s a plus for all of us. Plus Ronnie Corbett turned up to our annual Dog Show, and I found out how small he really is.
Andrew has considerable media experience on television (BBC News, ITV, Sky, Disney Channel, Channel 4 The Big Breakfast), Radio London and writes every week on veterinary matters in the Sunday Times.
JUMP RIGHT IN! The BVA runs media training courses to help practices get to grips with the necessary skills to make the most of any media opportunities. Two courses are confirmed for 2014 on the 12th March and 8th September. For more information see www.bva.co.uk
Practice Life z December 2013 z www.practicelife.biz