Pet care professionals - it is that time of year again…

Fun and candy for all little ghosts and goblins. But what about our four legged friends? Shouldn’t this holiday be special for the souls who bring us unconditional love, joy and wet noses?

Many pet care businesses promote the holidays as a way to generate income and we are going to suggest adding a candy cane twist. This Halloween, why not do something for the less fortunate pup in your community.

Imagine having to watch all the other neighborhood dogs don their capes and fancy costumes and have no where to go and no one to play with on this very spooky night. What if our local doggy day care opened its spooky doors to the canine community - all would be welcome, even those without the resourceful parents to make goolish costumes.

Have a bobbing for critters bowl and hobo hats to give out to the dogs without costumes. No dog should spend Paw-olleen alone. Take this opportunity, where treats and goodies are the topic of the day to talk about Canine Cavities and Dental Hygiene. You could hold a “how to brush your dogs teeth” clinic. Let’s face it - Halloween is just too spooky to be left alone with ghosts and goblins roaming the streets.

Keep our communities dogs safe and secure this Halloween. Make sure you promote dog safe treats and dog safety during the “haunting hours”.

Have a panting good time!

Waggles,

Fran

fran@dogbusinessdaily.com

You don’t have to be a marketing genius or spend hours every day reading marketing journals to figure out how to capitalize on market trends.

Take a look at your own behavior and then observe your friends, neighborhood and community for similar trends.

How for example have your behaviors changed with the rise in gas prices?

Have you limited your driving? Do you tend to consolidate your trips more now than ever? If you need to run to the grocery store, do you take the opportunity to stop at the bank and dry cleaners on the same trip?

If you notice these behaviors in yourself, your friends, neighbors and community there is a good chance it is happening in a wider arena. How do you translate this trend into marketing ROI (return on investment)?

Consider your ideal client. Consider where they spend their time, what they do all day? Most of our pet care clients have jobs. Most spend around 60% of their time traveling to and from and working at their job.

If your observed trend is translatable to your ideal clients - that means your clients are consolidating their drive time to and from work and on lunch breaks handling their daily spending chores.

As a business owner you should consider how to reach the consumer at the point of decision. As a subscriber and reader of this blog, you should consider how you might serve the clients needs through your services and products.

First consider how you might assist the client in their effort to consolidate their driving activities. Second, consider how you might reach new prospects where they are making buying decisions.

Accomplish both of these goals in the same marketing campaign and you have a prescription for success.

The relevant marketing point of this particular trend is you will want to market to the prospect while they are at work. One strategy to market to the prospect at work is to partner with the business or building management. Offer on site doggy day care, on site grooming or dog walking. Provide pick up and drop off services for your most common services like doggy day care, boarding and grooming.

If you are a pet sitter, try a unique marketing strategy like baking doggy biscuits with your phone # and business name on the wrapper. Get permission to leave the biscuits in a prominent place in the business - maybe with a receptionist.

Even if you don’t have a retail shop or ordinarily offer other services you could sponsor an on site doggy bathing day to promote your pet sitting business.

The point is get to the prospect where they are spending their time and making their buying decisions. Offer something of value in a unique way to maximize your marketing ROI.

Warm Waggles,
Fran
fran@dogbusinessdaily.com

No doubt the number one concern we hear this time of year is that business tapers off dramatically. Clients are traveling less, needing less sitting and boarding services.

Hopefully you benefited from the Holiday spending on man’s best friend…from treats, to sweaters and toys….now how do you keep profitable in the slow months of the New Year?

With Holiday bills and a sense that Fido has had enough for a while – what is a Doggy Day Care or Pet Sitting Business to do?

Below we recap the top 5 Ways to keep the money flowing in the first few months of the New Year and beyond. You can keep this list handy for next year and profit even more by pre-planning and marketing.

*Please adapt these ideas to benefit Your Pet Care Business - use these ideas as a spring board to get the creative juices flowing.

Implementing these strategies will have a lasting impact on your year end profits. Not only will revenue increase at a normally slow time of year but your efforts now will ripple in profits throughout the entire year and beyond.

1. Creative Marketing adds profits now and in the months to come.
2. What do all new pet owners need?
3. People are not the only ones with resolutions!
4. Its Cold Outside – hmmm, how can I profit from the Weather?
5. Surveys are Magical Money Makers.

Creative Marketing means implementing strategies that work for you like a full time referral machine. The creative part comes when you start considering how your marketing efforts can be combined with other businesses or modalities to help others as well as your own business.

• Thinking this way about marketing is not new but it is very rare in small to mid size businesses. The ones who grasp the concept and utilize it are almost always more successful than their competitors and are always significantly more profitable than without the strategies.

• One example of creative marketing partnerships would be to partner with a local Housekeeping company. You both exchange gift certificates for each others’ services to clients for example purchase $100 in your store or their new clients or for existing clients who get a “New Year Cleaning” service. You give away a free grooming or pet sitting; they give away a upgrade like window washing with a regular housekeeping service

The Holidays are full of new pet owners who may be getting a bit overwhelmed with their sweet puppies’ behavior. Getting creative to help out new pet owners ensures you a place in their hearts and probably a long term client.

• While the puppies may not be ready for obedience classes – of course we have to protect them until they have had all their puppy shots – and we may not need pet sitting since most puppies will be crate trained…there are plenty of ways we can help make the first months with a new puppy happier for the new Pet Owner.

• There are alternatives to pet sitting and day care you can offer depending on how much you are willing to do for a new client and how far from your “standard” offering you are willing to stray.

• First, you need to find a way to reach the new pet owners… of course the local shelter and veterinarian offices are the best places for this. You can put up flyers and again – get creative – be the business owner that is concerned about others. What’s in it for the vet to put up your flyer or give away your coupons?

• Making an offer to help the vet is the best way to ensure your promotion is accepted.

• Ask the vet to hand out your coupons in exchange for sponsoring a dog wash at the vets if they don’t offer bathing & grooming; or give the vet a discount coupon he can give to all of his clients for a free pet sit or boarding or anything that doesn’t directly compete with the vet’s services.

• What you are offering the new pet owner is really up to you…it could be something as simple as a free evaluation of the pet and early training tips in their home. It could simply be a congratulations on the new addition to your family packet you hand deliver – with some free goodies. You could offer one free yard clean up (promoting the fact that your business does pooper scooper services…if you don’t, hey, why not?)

Pet owners often make resolutions that involve their dogs…how can you help them keep their resolutions?

• Many resolutions will revolve around exercising with their dog. Most people don’t need much to deter them before an exercise resolution gets put on the shelf for yet another year.

• If a pet owner is not able to have a relaxing walk with their dog it is likely this resolution won’t see week #2 in the New Year.

• Help your clients learn to walk their dogs and you’ve helped both keep their exercise resolution.

• You can sponsor a dog walking event in a local park where you and your staff offer free dog walking tips and training techniques. Of course you can also sell your latest and greatest leashes to make the walk a breeze.

• Again, be creative – give your dogs a certificate of completion and a “doggy bag” with treats and …what’s this – a coupon for one free grooming with any pet sitting or boarding service. WOW Thanks Doggie Day Care Owner – YOU ARE THE BEST!

It is cold outside in most parts of the country and that brings opportunities for new services and products to offer.

• Provide your clients with cold weather tips for keeping their beloved dogs safe, healthy and happy and then kindly offer the products and services that you are recommending at a discount.

• It is rainy, cold and muddy here in the south…My 4 indoor dogs (Patti, Winnie, Bailey and Lucy) are about to wear me out cleaning up paws and floors…boy, I wish I had some doggie booties or a great mat that absorbed water and dirt….do you know where I can get anything like that?

• Think outside the litter box….if you know your clients’ homes at all from pet sitting – think about how you can help your clients on an individual basis…

  • maybe one could use a pen to let their new little puppy or small dog out to potty in-that way the owner can keep a small area free of salt, snow and if applicable even mud if they put down some straw

  • while another might consider putting stepping stones down for their big dogs to go from the door to the area that they go potty

  • how about a canopy for those fussy pups that just won’t go out in the icky weather

  • Salt alternatives are a great suggestion for pet owners in snowy areas. You can carry the products or just as a service to your clients offer them information and provide sources (you can research online or call your local hardware store).

Wow, referring your customers to the local hardware store…hmm, I wonder if there is an opportunity to develop some creative marketing with this business?

Don’t be afraid to make suggestions for products or services that are outside of your expertise and/or offering. You don’t have to do everything but you do know how to take care of pets – and that is what you are offering – your expertise!

Don’t limit your thinking to only suggesting items and services you can provide – you will be showing your clients how much you care about their pets and that good will goes farther than any $10 sale you could make on booties. Partnering with another business owner also provides long term referrals. Don’t be short sighted. (if you need more convincing about the importance of this marketing strategy read my post: What is the #1 Purpose of Your Marketing? Get it Wrong and you Will Never Benefit from the Work once - Get Paid Forever Strategy all Truly Successful Entrepreneurs Utilize!).

The absolute best way to know what direction to take your business or what marketing campaign you should invest your time and money in is to ask your existing clients.

• If you aren’t communicating with your customers on a regular basis via direct mail and e-mail – you are making a huge mistake that could ultimately cost you your business.

• Your clients will tell you exactly what they want you to sell them and even how much they would be willing to pay. You don’t have to blindly go from one marketing campaign to the next guessing what is going to work and what isn’t.

• Survey your clients – you can offer them a discount for completing the survey or simply ask them to do you a favor…many will gladly help you out since you take such good care of their babies.

• Once you’ve received the results of the survey – you can then refine the survey even more and send it again (to a different set of clients of course).

• Now you have your next marketing campaign already created for you with a service or product you already know there is a demand for. Nothing better than selling something people are hungry to buy!

You can get more detail on how to implement All these tips and more in my upcoming book: How To Recession Proof Your Pet Care Business. Get on the pre-notification list now at our home page: www.dogbusinessdaily.com.

Waggles,

Fran

Welcome to Dog Business Daily.

This site is dedicated to help pet care business owners start, build and prosper their businesses. 

Our motivation comes from a love of animals and a mission to eliminate kill shelters.  By empowering the Pet Care Business Owner, we empower the pet owner and more animals are welcomed into loving homes.

Ultimately reducing the number of abandoned animals - so that no animal is killed because of lack of loving pet owners willing and able to adopt. 

Our goal is to help you, As a Pet Care Business Owner, to fulfill your role so powerfully the pet owner’s experience is so positive they lovingly and easily bring multiple animals into their home.

Kind of a Pay it Forward for Puppies!