Veterinary marketing: how to get more clients for your practice

1. 1Make your Google profile and website answer what new owners want to know: prices, hours, out-of-hours care and how to register.
2. 2Offer health plans that are simple to explain and honest about savings.
3. 3Keep clients coming back with reminders they've agreed to receive.
4. 4Build reviews steadily.
5. 5Answer every call from a new client, including when the desk is busy.

Chapter 23 of the RCVS supporting guidance, Protection of title, advertising and endorsement (updated 8 October 2025), sets the expectations. The main points for marketing:

• All advertising should be accurate and truthful, and give factual, balanced information so owners can make informed choices (23.15).
• Your practice name counts as advertising, and "Veterinary Hospital" together is considered misleading unless the practice is accredited as one (23.16, 23.18).
• Only vets on the RCVS Specialist List can use the title "specialist", and only those on the Advanced Practitioner list can use "advanced practitioner". Others can say "having a particular interest in", "experienced in" or "practice limited to", but not "specialising in" (23.21 to 23.26). The GDC sets almost the same rule for dentists, covered in our dental marketing guide.
• Avoid terms such as "consultant" or "referral surgeon" that suggest qualifications someone doesn't hold (23.33).
• If you use "Dr", don't suggest a human medical qualification or a PhD the vet doesn't hold (23.29, 23.30).
• Advertising should comply with the CAP Code, and claims of superiority over competitors, including in a practice name, must not mislead (23.44, 23.45).

Medicines have their own rules. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate's guidance on advertising veterinary medicines legally says prescription-only medicines (POM-V and POM-VPS) must not be advertised to the general public. Market your service, such as a parasite control plan or a vaccination clinic, not a named prescription product.

Health plans spread the cost of preventive care for owners and bring clients back regularly. They're also where the CMA's Order changes what you publish. Under the CMA's guidance for small veterinary businesses, practices that offer pet care plans must publish, online and in the practice, from the next working day after 22 March 2027:

• every product and service included, how many times each can be used and over what period
• the total price as a monthly and an annual figure
• the standalone price of each service included
• the cancellation terms

If you say owners could save money with a plan, extra requirements apply to how you work out and show the saving, set out in the Explanatory Note to the Order. That guidance is for vet businesses with 14 or fewer practices; larger groups have their own guide.

Treat this as marketing, not just compliance. A plan page that shows clearly what's included, and what it would cost to buy separately, is easier to sell at the desk and on the phone.

From the same date, small practices must publish a price list on their website and at the practice, and practice information such as staff qualifications, any Practice Standards Scheme accreditation and how out-of-hours care is provided. Our guide to what a vet front desk costs covers what this means for calls about prices.

Use the work twice. A clear, current price list and out-of-hours page answer questions new owners would otherwise ring about, and give your Google profile something useful to link to.

Reminders bring clients back, but the RCVS guidance treats some of them as marketing. It says email marketing includes vaccination reminders and promotions, but not appointment reminders or information about 24-hour emergency first aid and pain relief (23.51). So:

• For email marketing, including vaccination reminders, you need the owner's consent or the soft opt-in (23.51 to 23.53).
• The soft opt-in can apply where you got the email address while providing veterinary services, the message is about similar services, and the client was given a clear chance to opt out when the address was collected and in every email. The RCVS gives vaccination reminders to clients who've paid for vaccinations before as an example (23.53).
• Don't email clients to ask for consent: the guidance says that may itself be direct marketing without consent (23.51).
• Keep a record of the consent wording, and act promptly when someone opts out (23.51, 23.52).

The ICO's electronic marketing guidance has the general rules for emails and texts.

Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. Ask every client after an appointment with a review link, and don't offer anything in return or pick only the happy ones: Google's policy and the CMA's fake reviews guidance both rule those out. When replying, don't discuss an animal's treatment in public. Thank the owner, and invite anyone unhappy to call the practice manager. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews has the full rules.

• Whether you're registering new clients, and how: a form, a phone number or both.
• Prices, in line with the CMA's price list requirements once they apply.
• Opening hours and your out-of-hours arrangements, in words an owner can follow at 2am.
• Your team, with accurate RCVS titles.
• Your health plans, with the information listed above.
• A way to book that works on a phone.

Owners looking for a new vet, or with a worried pet, ring and often ring more than one practice. Calls come in while the desk is checking in, taking payment or already on the phone.

• Answer or pick up every call, including lunchtime and the end of the day.
• Capture the essentials: owner's name and number, pet's name and species, whether they're registered and what they need.
• Give out-of-hours callers your emergency arrangements clearly. Our guide to vet front desk costs sets out what the RCVS says about this.
• Book routine appointments on the first call where you can.

To put a number on missed calls, use our missed call calculator: missed new client calls a week × the share who would register × what a new client is worth in a year × 52. An example with made-up figures: 5 missed new client calls a week, 2 in 5 of whom would register, each worth £250 in their first year, is £500 a week, or £26,000 a year.