What High-Growth Vet Techs Do Differently: A Customer Journey Lens
Part 3 of our Marketing Hourglass series.
If you’re just joining, start with:
Part 1: Why Veterinary Startups Struggle to Build Trust
Part 2: Time to Evolve—Trading Your Marketing Funnel for an Hourglass
Summary
High-growth veterinary and technology brands don’t just market, they design customer journeys that turn awareness into advocacy.
In this Thavma Insights edition, we look at how the Marketing Hourglass™ reframes growth beyond the funnel, mapping seven stages of how clinics actually decide: Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Repeat, and Refer.
You’ll learn how strategy-first planning, customer insight, and aligned execution turn slow traction into scalable adoption.
If adoption is slow, it’s not a funnel problem. It’s a journey problem.
You’ve built a strong product. The funding is in place. The team is capable. Yet adoption lags. Clinics hesitate. Momentum stalls.
Meanwhile, a few competitors grow faster, win better clients, and dominate attention.
Their advantage?
They design every stage of the customer journey, from first touch to advocacy, around how clinics actually evaluate, buy, and adopt solutions.
This is what strategy-first marketing looks like in practice.
Why the Funnel is Obsolete
Funnels end at the sale. But in veterinary SaaS, the sale is only the start. Real growth comes from adoption, retention, and advocacy.
The Marketing Hourglass™ captures this reality, seven stages that mirror how trust builds in the real world:
Know → Like → Trust → Try → Buy → Repeat → Refer.
High-growth companies design actions for each stage not just awareness or acquisition.
Strategy First: Designing the Hourglass from the Inside Out
Before you map the journey, understand who’s on it.
High-growth vet techs start with strategy, not campaigns. They invest the time to uncover:
Who their customers are. Real motivations, not just titles.
How they evaluate risk. What builds or breaks trust.
Where they fit. Defining clear positioning and whitespace.
This foundation transforms the Hourglass from a framework into a growth engine.
At Thavma, this begins inside the Thavma Strategy Blueprint:
Personas built from direct customer interviews.
Positioning tested against competitors.
A mapped journey that reflects real buying behavior, not assumptions.
When you build your Hourglass on insight, not instinct, every stage works harder to earn trust and drive adoption.
Stage 1: KNOW Get on the Radar Without the Hype
Clinic Mindset: “I have a problem. Is there a solution?”
Common Mistake: Talking about innovation instead of solving pain points.
What High-Growth Techs Do Differently: They lead with relevance. Instead of pushing features, they publish content that mirrors clinical search intent, like “5 Signs Your Inventory System Is Costing You Money.” Their SEO strategy is built on the phrases practice managers actually use.
Action: Publish one search-led article that answers a real clinical question.
Stage 2: LIKE Build Rapport Through Authenticity
Clinic Mindset: “This company gets my world.”
Common Mistake: Corporate tone and generic visuals.
What High-Growth Techs Do Differently: They showcase empathy, real clinics, real voices, real stories. They feature users in videos, photos, and testimonials that reflect the daily rhythm of clinical life.
Action: Replace stock images with real clinic photos or user stories that show you understand their reality.
In our work with emerging vet tech brands, adoption often stalls not because clinics don’t see value, but because they don’t feel seen.
THAVMA INSIGHT: In our work with emerging vet tech brands, we’ve seen that early-stage adoption often stalls not because clinics don’t see the value, but because they don’t feel seen. Brand affinity begins when you reflect their world back to them.
Stage 3: TRUST Replace Claims with Credibility
Clinic Mindset: “Can I rely on this company?”
Common Mistake: Leading with investor news or specs that don’t translate to clinic workflows.
What High-Growth Techs Do Differently: They let peers speak for them. Case studies feature practice managers. Testimonials include real results (“15% fewer no-shows”). Validation comes from experience, not explanation.
Action: Add one short case study that shows measurable outcomes. “Clinics reduced no-shows by 15%.”
Stage 4: TRY Lower the Barrier to Experience Value
Clinic Mindset: “I need to see if this works for us.”
Common Mistake: Hiding the experience behind “contact sales.”
What High-Growth Techs Do Differently: They make trying effortless, interactive demos, free trials, or short videos that solve micro-problems. They help clinics envision success before committing.
Action: Offer a self-guided demo or quick “Try It in 10 Minutes” experience that delivers instant value. A frictionless Try stage is your hidden growth lever , where interest turns into adoption.
THAVMA INSIGHT: A frictionless “Try” stage is your hidden growth lever. It’s where most vet techs lose momentum, but where leaders quietly create it.
Stage 5: BUY Make Saying Yes Easy
Clinic Mindset: “How do I get this approved and implemented?”
Common Mistake: Complex pricing or vague onboarding.
What High-Growth Techs Do Differently: They sell the experience, not just the product transparent pricing, strong onboarding, and internal buy-in tools that make champions look good.
Action: Create one-page clarity, transparent pricing, onboarding steps, and ROI by role.
Stage 6: REPEAT Turn Adoption into Retention
Clinic Mindset: “Are we getting the value we expected?”
Common Mistake: Going silent post-sale.
What High-Growth Techs Do Differently: They treat customer success as marketing. From proactive check-ins to training content, they keep engagement and satisfaction high.
Action: Send a short “First 7 Days” success sequence that helps clinics see quick wins.
Retention isn’t a department. It’s proof of alignment between marketing, product, and customer success.
THAVMA CONSULTING: Retention isn’t a department, it’s the product of aligned teams. When customer success and marketing collaborate, retention becomes your most cost-effective growth channel.
Stage 7: REFER Turn Success into Scale
Clinic Mindset: “I’d tell others about this.”
Common Mistake: Assuming referrals happen automatically.
What High-Growth Techs Do Differently: They engineer advocacy. From referral programs to co-marketing partnerships, they turn happy users into active champions.
Action: Identify one champion clinic and feature their success story, make advocacy visible and rewarding.
The Strategic Takeaway: Align, Don’t Just Execute
High-growth brands don’t treat marketing, product, and sales as silos.
They align every touchpoint across the Hourglass:
Marketing builds Know–Like–Trust through relevance.
Sales drives Try–Buy through clarity and support.
Customer Success fuels Repeat–Refer through engagement and outcomes.
The brands that grow fastest aren’t just louder, they’re more aligned. When every stage earns trust, growth stops feeling forced and starts feeling inevitable.
What to Do Now
Map your journey using the Hourglass Journey Map.
Audit your touchpoints with the Content by Journey Stage Worksheet.
Prioritize quick wins from the Marketing Quick Wins Checklist.
Build your foundation with the Thavma Strategy Blueprint.
Because in this market, traction follows trust and trust is earned one stage at a time.
In Case You Missed It
Part 1: Why Veterinary Startups Struggle to Build Trust
Part 2: Time to Evolve—Trading Your Marketing Funnel for an Hourglass
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the Marketing Hourglass™ and how is it different from a marketing funnel?
The Marketing Hourglass™ is a strategy framework that expands the traditional funnel beyond awareness and conversion. Instead of ending at the sale, it maps the entire customer journey through seven stages, Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Repeat, and Refer reflecting how real veterinary customers build trust and loyalty.
Read more in Part 2: Time to Evolve—Trading Your Marketing Funnel for an Hourglass.
2. How does the Marketing Hourglass™ apply to veterinary and technology brands?
For vet tech and innovation-driven brands, the sale is only the beginning. Adoption, retention, and advocacy are what drive long-term growth. The Hourglass helps align marketing, sales, and customer success around these stages, ensuring that clinics not only try your solution but fully integrate it into their workflows.
3. Why is strategy so important before building the Marketing Hourglass™?
Without strategy, your Hourglass is just a diagram. Through the Thavma Strategy Blueprint, brands clarify their ideal customer personas, validate positioning through competitive research, and listen directly to the voice of their market. This foundation ensures every stage of the journey, from awareness to advocacy, reflects how customers actually buy and adopt.
4. What quick wins can I implement right now to improve my customer journey?
Start small but strategic. Update your Google Business Profile, publish one educational blog focused on a clinic pain point, and refresh your homepage messaging for clarity. From there, focus on social proof, testimonials, reviews, and case studies, to start building trust and traction fast. Download the Thavma Quick Wins Checklist for more tactical ideas.
5. How can my team get started building a Marketing Hourglass™?
Begin by mapping your current customer journey using our Content by Journey Stage Worksheet, then identify gaps where customers drop off or fail to move from “Try” to “Buy.” From there, we recommend starting with a Strategy Blueprint session to align your positioning, personas, and content strategy before scaling campaigns.
Ready to sharpen your strategy? Start here! Learn how Strategy First helps early-stage founders build momentum that lasts: Explore Services
Access our free strategy resources and learn more about Thavma Consulting.
Let’s connect on LinkedIn: Fotine A Sotiropoulos
