| Animals, Veterinarians and VNN Members in the News This Week |  Congratulations to Dr. Tony Kremer, one of our long time VNN members in Illinois. Dr. Tony not only scored a gig on ABC's Good Morning America recently, but he is also doing his own radio call in show on WJOL (1340 AM) AND has had another TV appearance on Windy City Live. You can see his segment from Windy City here. Dr. Tony not only does a great job on camera, but he used our VNN resources to help him with each segment and his media training to reach out and approach the media. Nice job, Dr. Kremer!
One of the most repeated stories this week originally came from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. An article discussing the competition for pet medications has been re-purposed and copied throughout the web. Not only are on-line pet pharmacies and traditional brick-and-mortar stores mentioned, but the article also delves into the Fairness to Pet Owner's Act. VNN members, Dr. Lowell Ackerman and Ms. Elizabeth Choate of the Texas VMA are quoted in this story. If you are approached by your local media about this type of story, remember we have multiple resources for you: Online Pharmacies story, Fairness to Pet Owners' Act Messaging and even our Veterinary Costs Q & A messaging could be helpful.
On an interesting side note, a heated discussion has ensued over at the North American Veterinary Conference FB page over the inclusion and subsequent withdrawal of PetMedsExpress as an exhibitor. Dr. Susanne Heartsill did a nice job of trying to hold a civil discussion with one upset person, but, you will see that he simply didn't want to listen to any reason. We are also discussing this at our VNN LinkedIn Group.
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Protecting Your Online Reputation or "Reputation Management"...Part 2 of 4.
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 James P. Humphries, BS, DVM, CVJ
Veterinary News Network
www.MyVNN.com
American Society of Veterinary Journalists
www.ASVJ.org
The second step in dealing with reputation management is to report any negative reviews that could either be offensive or possibly falsified. Here are a series of steps to find these reviews and how to report them as either offensive or falsified.
Before laying out the details, it's important to understand the difference between offensive reviews and falsified reviews. An offensive review is something that would contain harsh language, a harsh overtone or hatred comments. For example: "This company is a joke", "The technician was an idiot", "This company will screw you", "The salesperson was so stupid", etc.
A falsified review is tougher to prove sometimes but if you have a past employee or competitor that is posting negative reviews and you are determined that these reviews are made up and not from actual customers then you can dispute most of them. Usually a clear indicator is anonymous reviews or reviewer accounts that don't have any history of other reviews throughout that website.
So here would be a series of steps to try to effectively remove those negative reviews:
Find the Reviews
a. Perform a search on the major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) for the following keywords: Company Name, Company Domain Name.
b. Then navigate to at least the first 3 page results to discover any review/directory website that has negative reviews about your company.
c. Then through a word processing software or data collection software like Microsoft Word or Excel - keep a log of the website and how many negative reviews each one has.
Report the Malicious or False Reviews
 Most review websites have an option to flag a review so that you may report the review as falsified or offensive. When flagging a review make sure your flag message is as detailed as possible and give the reason of why it is falsified or offensive. Also make sure you spread out over time the reviews you flag - do not flag them all at once within one review site. It also helps to have other partners/employees use their accounts to do this and not just one account flag them all. Here are some common review sites with instructions on flagging a review:
YELP
i. Log into your Yelp account (https://www.yelp.com/login) or create a new account (https://www.yelp.com/signup)
ii. Look up your company to see the reviews and find the negative reviews.
iii. If you are logged in you will see a red flag near the bottom right side of each review.
Google Places
i. Google does not require you to have a Google account to label reviews as inappropriate but it would be preferred that you have an account to do this (https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount).
ii. Search company under through Google by typing company name along with what city you are located in. Google places account will come up in results - click on the review links within that result.
iii. Under each review on the bottom right is a link labeled "Flag as inappropriate"
City Search
i. Log into your City Search account or create a new account
ii. Look up your company to see the reviews and find the negative reviews.
iii. If you are logged in you will see a flag near the bottom right side of each review labeled "report abuse"
Other Review Sites
The process is pretty similar on many other review type websites. Login or create new account and find the negative review and 90% of the time there is an option to flag the review as inappropriate.
 If requesting for the review to be removed is unsuccessful then as a final step you can contact the review site through a legal notification. Either by email or letter have a reputable lawyer or lawyer firm draft a letter of requiring removal of the negative reviews. Only request the ones that are offensive or that you know to be falsified. Further research on the review company's website is needed to discover how to contact their legal department or customer service.
Following the steps above can prove to be very successful in removing many of your negative reviews. The key in this process is integrity. Make sure you are only requesting removal of reviews that are offensive or falsified. These companies will see right through you if you request to remove every single negative review. If there is a review that stems from an actual customer and it is not falsified then please do not attempt to get it removed.
VNN is working closely with a professional reputation management company, LeftLane Technologies, in order to bring you the most up to date and accurate information about this subject. It's our goal, along with LeftLane, to make sure that you have the tools you need to combat erroneous or slanderous negative reviews. And, always remember that the entire VNN team and many of your fellow VNN members will also lend a virtual hand in situations like this.
Till next time...
Dr.Jim@MyVNN.com
719-495-2100
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| Upcoming Events and Reminders |
 Today, our second installment of Holiday Safety for Pets was released online. "Holiday Decorations and Plants Could Cause a Pet Emergency" looks at some of the traditional ornamentation people use this year and how it might affect our pets. You will appreciate the real life stories provided by many of our VNN members. This is a "print only" story with no video resources.
As mentioned online, we have updated our messaging about Holiday Gifts for Pets and Pet Owners this year AND we have just posted a new set of Message Points about New Year's Resolutions for Pets.
If you missed either one of our recent webinars with Kevin Knebl (Facebook on Oct 17th or LinkedIn or December 6th), you can catch archived versions of the webinars at our VNN Media Training Page.
Over at our VNN Animal and Veterinary Related Events Calendar, a quick peek will show that there aren't a lot of "special" animal days for January. BUT..you can use the National Thyroid Awareness program to discuss thyroid issues in pets and, of course, start looking forward to National Pet Dental Health month. If you need help with press releases or ideas on blogs/marketing this sort of topic, please let us know. We are here to assist YOU!
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Sincerely,
 Thomas Dock, CVJ
Managing Editor
tomdock@MyVNN.com
719-445-7065
Dr. Jim Humphries
President/News Director
dr.jim@MyVNN.com
719-495-2100
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Our Next VNN Webinar!
|  | In the last two months, we have had some very informative webinars on social media. If you missed either or both of them, you can find links to the videos on our Media Training page.
Our next topic, though, will be one that EVERYONE needs to see! How do you protect your online reputation?
With the ease of technology and the pervasiveness of social sites, it is now easy than ever for an angry or upset client to reach out and tell people. Whereas we were all taught that one upset person tells 20 people about their experience at your business, those same people might now be able to reach hundreds or even thousands of interested listeners. AND..once posted, bad reviews have the potential to stay there forever!
If you have been following Dr. Jim's columns recently, you know that this is a topic that interests us greatly. We are happy to announce that on Wednesday, Jan 4th at 2:00 PM EST, we have invited Mr. Rob Smither of Leftlane Technologies to spend some time teaching you how to deal with negative reviews online. This webinar promises to be powerful and helpful.
Click here to register for this important webinar!
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VNN MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
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Over the next 2 and 1/2 months, VNN memberships will be up for renewal for a large majority of our members. To see when your anniversary date is, simply login to MyVNN.com and click the My Profile tab. Scroll down to the bottom and you will see Membership Information with your renewal date and, if your renewal is within 45 days of being due, links for credit card or check payments.
I am also sending out reminders about 45 days ahead of time to help keep you updated.
If you have any questions about your VNN membership, please feel free to contact either Dr. Jim or me with your thoughts or concerns. | |
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BIG RETAIL SETS SIGHTS ON PET MEDS!
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(This blog excerpt originally appeared and can be seen in it's entirety at VetNetwork.com. Thanks to Dr. Mark Feltz for allowing us to use it here)Despite weakness in the overall economy, spending on pets, veterinary services, and related products remains strong and at record levels compared to ten or even five years ago. However, despite this good news, veterinarians face a number of new competitors seeking to peel away significant amounts of revenue from areas that had once been the exclusive terrain of animal hospitals. In particular, veterinary pharmacy sales, the biggest revenue generator for most veterinary hospitals, are under attack by big box stores operating under low-cost/high-volume sales models. Even online retailers such as PetMeds are feeling the heat. The ProblemMaking money on pharmacy sales and related products-flea and tick control, prescription diets, etc.-has been a no-brainer for most veterinarians. Many of the most commonly prescribed medications can be bought for low cost from manufacturers and then sold at a markup of 100 percent or more. The challenges to veterinarians are: * Clients will not continue to pay significantly more for medications from veterinarians * Consumers will listen to advertising telling them they are paying too much for medications from veterinarians. Lastly, all commenters agree that if clients view the prices a veterinarian charges for medications and other products as excessively high, clients will also perceive other services offered by that veterinarian as being significantly overpriced. All is not lost, however. There are strategies veterinarians can employ to mitigate the advantages of the big box stores while charging a modest premium for medications and other products. The SolutionBefore getting into what will work, let's take a look at a false prophet, pardon the pun. Some veterinarians believe they can compete against big box and online retailers based on price by selling cheaply priced human generics that are basically the same as veterinary labeled drugs. This won't work. The bottom line is that if veterinarians think they can compete on price, they are sadly mistaken. Veterinarians have zero competitive advantages in that area. What will work-again, according to a survey of the writing on this subject-is leveraging the natural advantages veterinarians have. This will help clients see their veterinarian as a convenient and helpful source of medications worth the extra price. ConclusionThe fact is big box retailers are going to syphon off veterinary pharmacy sales from veterinary hospitals. However, veterinarians are not powerless to fight back. By recognizing the reality of the situation and competitively pricing their pharmacy products and effectively advertising their benefits, veterinarians can maintain and perhaps grow their sales of medications. They may even see improved utilization and outcomes, which means better medicine and greater veterinary client loyalty.
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