Whether you’re marketing a brand new dog business or are looking to remarket an existing one, doing so successfully all comes down to one key thing: marketing. 

The coronavirus pandemic has hit everyone incredibly hard, after all, so without utilising the right marketing techniques, you could be missing out on customers, traffic and – most importantly – revenue. 

As such, we thought we’d compile a brief guide highlighting the key areas to think about when trying to market a dog business – from utilising the neurological impact of print media to developing the ideal content strategy. Let’s get started.

Utilise social media

With so many people currently stuck at home awaiting updates on the lifting of the lockdown restrictions, consumers are spending more and more time on the internet than ever before. 

Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or a combination of all five, people all around the globe have become reliant on social media as a source of news and entertainment – an outlet to keep up to date with the goings-on in the world. 

 However, when it comes to marketing your dog business, you can use this knowledge to your advantage, by developing a content strategy that puts social media at its centre. 

Here are a few social media content ideas you could think about: 

  • Videos: Posting live videos of any dog walks or dog sits you go on with your existing client’s pooches can offer a more detailed insight into your work, demonstrating what you can do. 
  • Polls: Social media can be a great tool to source answers to pet-related questions and gather feedback from your ideal target audience, making it easier to devise strategies and make decisions.
  • Blogs: Posting fresh blog content (as we do) is a must-do as it will significantly help improve your level of online authority, making your business appear more trustworthy to consumers.
  • Photos: Who doesn’t love seeing photos of cute pups? Utilise their adorableness to not only draw the eye of consumers but also to showcase your love and passion for the work you do.

Advertise both digitally & physically

 While on the topic of social media, investing in a social media advertising campaign could also offer a great return on investment. 

Since it’s highly likely your business will only be targeting local customers in the early stages, these forms of digital advertising campaigns will enable you to focus your time, money, and energy on the audience that matter most. 

In a similar way, running a paid search campaign on Google can also be a highly effective way of moving further up the search rankings, utilising specialist search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques to jump ahead of your competitors. 

In doing so, this kind of campaign will allow your business to appear at the top of search results, increasing the likelihood of a potential consumer seeing – and engaging – with your business’s site. 

 However, it isn’t just the digital side to advertising you’ll need to think about – physical advertising can also be a great way of getting new clients on board. 

 Whether it be an advert in a local magazine, a flyer through the door, a poster at the bus station, or a business card to network with, printed materials like these can make a big difference to the numbers of people who actually hear about your company and the services you provide. 

Design a good website

Having a good website available for interested people to navigate to is imperative. Without one, your consumers may quickly lose interest in what it is you do and opt to take their business elsewhere instead. 

So, to stop this from happening, it could be worth consulting a professional web designer or digital marketing consultant to identify how to get the best out of your website. 

Depending on the exact nature of your dog business, for instance, the way you layout your website could have a big impact on the number of conversions you make. Fundamentally, a good website comes down to ease and convenience, ensuring it’s as streamlined as possible for consumers to use.

Here are a few must-dos to consider for your website:

  • Services: Your services page should be clear and well-structured, ideally with price points and clearly defined calls to action for consumers to follow through on.
  • Reviews/Testimonials: Show your clients what you can do by asking some of your existing clients to provide you with a review or testimonial. This, in turn, could improve your website’s trustworthiness.
  • Colours: Your website’s colour scheme shouldn’t be overly garish or off-putting – it should utilise consumer-focused research to give you the best chance of keeping people on the page.
  • Content: Your content should be obvious, easily accessible and varied – a good mix of written blog content with clear social media links, heartfelt stories, engaging videos, and high-resolution photos.
  • Site-Builder: Do your research before deciding which site-builder to create your website with as certain types have slow load speeds and a poor UX experience, which could put consumers off. 

Final Thoughts... 

While the coronavirus pandemic may have brought with it a plethora of uncertainty, it has also brought a unique challenge for dog business owners to change their approach to bring in fresh clients both now and in the future.

As the above points should now prove, running a successful dog business all comes down to patience, perseverance, and good marketing. Have that, and you’ll rake in the enquiries, traffic and revenue in no time at all.