1.12 Local content in more detail

Locally based articles can be created in formats borrowed from a wide range of media. Copy can be pitched at audiences of various ages and with various levels of education and can carry serious messages as easily as light hearted pieces.

Local press
There are obvious parallels with local newspapers. Straightforward reportage is very flexible for newsy stories – a report about a client visiting your surgery or a piece about the results when you judged the pet show at the local fete – spelling peoples name right is much more important than correct grammar.

Specialist magazines
Take a leaf out of specialist magazines to create interest pieces about the equipment you use or the procedures you undertake. Reading a piece that has been written with enthusiasm for a subject gets through to people, even when they have no direct understanding of the bit of kit involved. They may gain some small understanding of the item you are writing about but will also get a vivid impression of how much you enjoy your subject and your work.

Diary
A diary format is effective – so long as entries are maintained – and has the added advantage that it encourages repeat visits. An ongoing account of any member of staffs' day or week will attract followers. It might even help keep your nurse trainees up to date with their portfolios!

Repeatable
Many of the articles you produce can be recycled. Todays article about a kitten being microchipped can be repeated in a few weeks time with a dog instead. Later in the year a rabbit, later still a llama. The subject of the article in each case is the animal rather than the microchipping so this won't be seen as repetition but each instance allows you to promote the service anew.

Report the Routine
Even the most routine of consultations can be turned into an article that will attract clients, can include an opportunity to promote animal care and offer a chance for product placement. Take a simple kitten vaccination. Kittens have built in "ahhh" factor to start with. A simple introduction of kitten and owner can be accompanied with a short paragraph about the advantages of vaccination or the perils of kitten ownership. Talk about the cost of vaccination or add a bit about kitten food.

Products and services
It is easy to find opportunities to promote new products and your more innovative services. It is just as easy to do the same for existing products and the services you have always offered. Write a brief piece showing a client taking advantage of the product – get a testimonial possibly – and link to a page with full information about the product or service.

Offering veterinary advice
Promoting improved animal care among your clients is much more effective when demonstrated through real examples than by way of page after page of advice. Suppose you are presented with a local rabbit with overgrown incisors. An article about the rabbit can include how this happens, why it happens, what you do and what other owners can do to recognise and minimise the problem. Later, with a new article about a different rabbit, you can repeat and reinforce the advice in a way that is impossible with straightforward advice pages.

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