The Vet Set After generating total industry revenues of $28 billion for the year ending August 2014, veterinarians posted a gain of 7.1% in revenue for the year ending August 2015, to $30 billion. According to the American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA), there were 102,583 active members as of December 31, 2014, compared to 99,720 as of December 31, 2013. Of the total 2014 veterinarians, 44,258 were men and 58,148 were women. The total number of AVMA members in private clinical practice increased slightly from 2013 to 2014, at 64,719 and 65,066, respectively, while there was a miniscule decline in the total of public and corporate employment, 15,683 to 15,634, respectively.

More Pets, More Vets Although the percentage of US households that owned a pet decreased from 82.5 million during 2014 to 79.7 million for 2015, the AVMA forecasts at 18.8% increase in the pet population from 2015 through 2025. The AMVA also estimates that the supply of small animal veterinarians will increase 9.7% during this same period. The improving economy is expected to reverse the decade-long decline in the percentage of pets’ visits to veterinary practices. The American Pet Products Association (APPA) reported that Americans spent $15.08 billion for veterinary care during 2014 and forecasts it will increase 4.3% during 2015, to $15.73 billion.

Practice Attractions and Distractions Despite a median professional income of $94,000 before taxes during 2013 for private-practice veterinarians, job dissatisfaction in the amount of money earned, on-the-job stress, opportunities for promotion and work recognition declined from 2005 to 2015. During 2015, however, 66% of veterinarians said their primary reason for choosing veterinary medicine was a “desire to work with and care for animals,” which is a 6-percentage-point increase from 2005’s 59%. A 2015 AMVA study reported that today’s starting salary of $67,000 for new veterinarians in private practice would increase to $92,000 by 2024. Salaries for equine veterinarians will increase from 2014’s $42,000 to $52,000 by 2024.

Next-Generation Pet Owners According to the APPA, the slightly fewer pet-owning households, as reported in its 2015–2016 National Pet Owners Survey, is attributable to fewer Baby Boomers owning pets, which are currently 37% of all pet owners. The APPA has expected this generational shift, as the new survey found that more than 10% of all pet owners were new pet owners, or just shy of 8 million, and most of them were Generation Y and Generation X households. Not only do Generation Y members, or Millennials, spend more to purchase their pets and buy more toys, gifts, etc. than other generational groups, but also schedule more appointments with veterinarians.

Digital Media Mix According to the 2015 Veterinary Online Marketing Report from LifeLearn, 92% of veterinarians said that Facebook is their most popular social media platform, with 55% of veterinarians with 100 to 500 Facebook followers. Google+ was the #1 social media platform that veterinarians visited daily, at 45%; followed by YouTube, 41%; Pinterest, 24%; Twitter, 21%; LinkedIn, 20%; and Instagram, 16%. As with many small-business owners, veterinarians spend very little time utilizing social media for marketing, with 34 percent on Facebook 1 to 2 hours per week and 78 percent spending less than 1 hour per week writing and posting to their blogs.

Advertising Strategies Look for veterinary practices that are adding new services as listed on the page-2 table of the Profiler and recommend television as the best medium to reach a broad audience of pet owners whose pets will benefit from these new services. Veterinary practices located in neighborhoods with an above-average population of young adults should use television to build their brand with Millennials since they are the fastest-growing group of new pet owners. Suggest a co-branded TV campaign with the local animal shelter to promote the adoption of pets. The veterinarian offers a free checkup, immunization or other basic service for the first 50 pet adoptions during a specific weekend.

Social Media Strategies Veterinarians clearly want to learn about the use of digital media, which provides you an opportunity to share your library of New Media Insights Reports from THE MEDIACENTER since there is one or more reports on each of the topics listed in the profiler’s page-3 chart. Veterinarians are also not fully benefiting from an active blog, so provide them with a copy of the 2014 Special Report on blogging from THE MEDIACENTER. Schedule a half-hour to help the vet create a list of blog topics, so he or she views you as a true media advisor. People love to read stories on social media; so recommend that veterinarians invite every customer to post the story of his or her pet on the vet’s social media page, and then invite everyone to vote for the best story. Provide the winner with an appropriate pet gift.