Google vs. Facebook Ads for Veterinary Clinics

If you’re looking to grow your veterinary practice and want to increase the number of clients coming into your practice, you’ve probably considered running advertisements on Google or Facebook. Most small veterinary practice owners we’ve spoken with wonder where they should be running ads. What should their budget be? Should they be spending more of their advertising budget on Facebook or Google?

The answer depends on what your goals are and what you’re looking to accomplish in your clinic. As much as we wish there were an exact formula that we could prescribe to every practice, it is based on your goals and needs. Just as you wouldn’t prescribe medication without diagnosing the issue first, you shouldn’t ever work with a creative agency that doesn’t first understand what you’re trying to accomplish in your clinic.

To understand where you should be running ads, it is essential to get a quick grasp of what each of these platforms does and who is using them.

Google Ads for Veterinary Practices

Google is one of our favorite advertising platforms because you have nearly instant access to potentially hundreds of millions of people across the globe. Plus, Google Ads was the pioneer in making digital ads commonplace.

The platform is more established and stable than other platforms like Facebook, which experiences volatility in pricing, especially as we approach election season, holiday shopping seasons, and other times where competition increases.

The placements that Google has available gives advertisers a massive potential reach. Placements are possible locations you can run ads, and the targeting you can use will vary on each placement. Google ad placements include:

• Google Search
• Google Search on partner sites
• YouTube pre-roll video
• YouTube search
• Display campaigns
• Google Gmail campaigns
• Smart campaigns that include map placements

Many of the placements that Google has don’t make sense for the average veterinary practice, but Google’s targeting options have made it our favorite ad network.

We love Google most for its targeting capabilities—allowing you to choose the people you’ll be showing your ads to based on several factors and keywords. This is where Google can shine. You can target search keywords for their search placements, and then you also have contextual targeting similar to ad networks like Facebook. You can choose to target based on people’s demographic data, psychographic data, and the user’s behavior. An example of this is on YouTube ads, where you can choose to show your ads to people who recently added a puppy to their household.

The significant difference between Google Search and other placements is the intent that you can target. When a pet owner hops on Google and searches for “vet near me,” they’re actively looking for a solution. Our goal is to ensure that your ads come up when that search term is entered—we call this low-hanging fruit.

We target these pet owners with transactional-based keywords that include decision-making intent. With ads that target people who are actively looking for your services, we’re able to provide them a solution—you.

Google is an extremely effective way to drive high-quality clients who need and want your services. With so many placement and targeting options, the ad platform isn’t user friendly for beginners, which is where WhiskerCloud comes in. We manage all facets of Google Ads for you (search terms, ads, daily budget, targeting, placements) so that you don’t have to worry about learning the ins and outs of the complex platform.

Facebook Ads for Veterinary Hospitals

Nearly every practice has a Facebook page, and most practices have “boosted” posts, but many practices aren’t sure what you can do with Facebook Ads.

Facebook is what is called a contextual display network. This means you can target people based on demographics and psychographics with a display or video advertisements. The targeting options for interests, locations, and user data are incredibly detailed and extremely useful. Facebook’s placements include:

Feeds

• Facebook News Feed
• Instagram Feed
• Facebook Marketplace
• Facebook Video Feeds
• Facebook Right Column
• Instagram Explore
• Messenger Inbox

Stories

• Facebook Stories
• Instagram Stories
• Messenger Stories

In-Stream

• Facebook In-Stream Videos

Search

• Facebook search results

In-Article

• Facebook Instant Articles

Apps and Sites

• Audience Network native, banner, and interstitial
• Audience Network rewarded videos
• Audience Network in-stream videos

Facebook is frequently adding new placements to give advertisers more opportunities to reach their users.

The primary differentiator between Facebook and Google is the way users engage and use the social platform. You’re able to reach your clients and potential clients who are spending time hanging out on the network instead of reaching people who have a need and are searching for a solution.

Since many users are “hanging out” on the social network, you’ll need to create content or offers that will appeal to them. Running ads trying to attract new clients are far more successful on Facebook if there is a new client special or a dental special because you have to motivate people to take action who weren’t considering it.

What Kind of Advertising Is Right for You?

The plan that we help to create is based on your budget, the services that you’re trying to promote, and the offers that you have running now or in the future. Since many practices are on a limited budget, we target the lowest hanging fruit—meaning people actively searching for your product—to get the highest potential return based on your goals.

For example, emergency veterinary practices are often more successful when they use search ads because they’re looking for clients who desperately need and want their services right now.

You need first to understand who you want to come into your practice, what services you’re looking to promote, and the most effective way to get those in front of the right target prospects. Once you have that in place, the next step is to provide an offer or incentive, which can be as simple as “appointments available now.” If you would like help figuring out the best ways to get the right kinds of clients coming into your practice, book a time to discuss our advertising packages and how we can help you. You can start today with a no-risk 30-day trial of our advertising platform.