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Having a marketing strategy is vital to growing your pet sitting and dog walking business! In this video, I go over the blanket marketing strategy that I used to grow my pet business to over 1,000 repeat clients. I talk about the seven touches marketing principle, social media tactics, Google My Business, the importance of having a website, pay per click ads, networking with competitors, and old school marketing techniques like business cards and branded t-shirts.
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There are so many things that you can do To grow your pet sitting and dog walking Business and i’m going to talk about a Lot of different things in this video But i’m going to say right off the Beginning that my biggest suggestion is To combine everything that i talk about In this video into what i would call a Blanket marketing strategy I say this for two different reasons One is that there is a basic marketing Principle called the rule of seven and What this means is that on average a Potential client will need seven Interactions with your company before They decide to sign up with you So if you know that going in what you Should be doing is giving your potential Clients plenty of opportunities to have These interactions with your company And then the other reason that i say This is that this is how i grew my Business even before i knew about that Marketing principle to over a thousand Different clients across northeast and Central florida so i am proof that this Stuff works For those of you that don’t know i’m Doug the dog guy i’m the owner and Founder of bad to the bone pet care this Is my puppy turkey we’re out on a nature Trail today And i have built an award-winning team Of pet sitters and dog walkers servicing
Northeast and central florida and i post Videos here on the bad of the mom Petcare youtube channel almost weekly Sharing my knowledge and my experience With the hope of helping other pet Sitters succeed Now this should go without being said But by far the best and easiest way to Grow any business is through word of Mouth and referrals and of course this Starts with offering an amazing service That your clients want to talk about but It doesn’t stop there because we have to Get our clients to actually talk with This is something we have to be Proactive about and this is something i See a lot of pet sitters and dog walkers Not doing and what i mean by being Proactive Is you need to be actually asking these People to go on to google and leave you A five-star review and you should also Be offering incentives for booked Referrals i’ve offered all kinds of Different incentives over the years what I found to work best for my business and My clientele is to offer a free dog walk Or a free drop-in visit in exchange for A booked referral but there are a lot of Different things you can do The point here is to just be proactive And don’t just trust that your clients Will talk you need to give them a true Reason to talk
And on the note of reviews and referrals You need to have a google my business Page A this is going to make it easier for People to find your business on google And b this gives your clients a place to Go leave you Reviews which is super important And On on that note also you need to have a Facebook page and you should really be On instagram As well Remember that seven touches principle When people look you up online they need To see you on social media they need to See that you have a website that you’re Uh on google my business all of these Things kind of come together to paint This picture of your business on Line and one of the great things about Social media is when you’re posting uh Beautiful pictures of your clients pets Your clients will want to share those Pictures with their own audience they’ll Comment on those uh pictures and create Interactions that will lead to other Clients You know again it all goes hand in hand And it also leads to a lot of trust when You can Show what you are doing and how you do It through the social media post clients And potential clients will see that and
Start to figure out who you are and Where your values are and then they will Trust you more because of it I’m going to create a whole other video About social media tactics but what i Will mention here is that on facebook You should really be in your community And neighborhood groups There will be a lot of families in there Posting looking for pet sitters and dog Walkers and you can hop into the Comments on those posts and a lot of These neighborhood groups will also have Designated days of the week that you can Make promotional posts for your business And on instagram you can look people up By the location you can use the location Geofilter to find people in your area That have pets and then comment on their Post and follow their pages Like i said i’m going to create a whole Other video about these social media Tactics but those are two really useful Tactics right there And while we’re talking about the online Side of things we have to mention the Importance of having a website and i Know a lot of people balk at the idea of Paying to have a website built or trying To figure out how to build one yourself But as 2022 people i mean you can’t have A business without a website in today’s World And we’re only going more and more
Towards that side of things so Even if you just start with a basic Landing page which anyone can make with One of the plug-and-play Website builders you know that’s better Than nothing Once you have that up and running you Know you can add more pages more Information then you can start focusing On your seo which is super important and Once you have this page and Your google my business Page up also then you can start running Google Ads pay-per-click ads to your website But you definitely have to have a Website and this is where i will mention That if you Have questions about anything that i’m Talking about in this video or if you Want help with anything that i’m talking About feel free to follow the link in The description of this video to Send me an email and we can schedule a Strategy session via zoom and i can talk You through any of this stuff or we can Use that time for me to set up a Landing page for your business or Whatever you need so follow that link Down in the description And something else that i want to Mention while we’re talking about the Online stuff is to be on the next door App
Okay so i said earlier that the number One way of getting new clients for your Pet sitting and dog walking business is Word of mouth and referrals but really The number two way of getting clients For your business is word of mouth and Referrals from other pet businesses this Has been huge for my own business and i Know for a lot of other pet sitting and Dog walking businesses as well and uh I’ve had people gasp when i said this Before You want me to network with my Competitors Yeah i do and i don’t want you to think About these people as competition There are way more pets and way more Families that need pet sitters and dog Walkers than there will ever be Pet sitters and dog walkers it’s all About figuring out who your ideal Clientele is and working with them And you know there’s just so much that You can benefit from networking with Other pet businesses in your area you Can learn from each other you can share Clients you can refer back and forth There’s just so much benefit from it So now let’s talk about some old school Stuff You have to have business cards flyers Branded t-shirts that you wear Everywhere You should have a magnet on your car
All of that good old-school stuff that a Lot of people don’t think about anymore It works and it all comes back down to That seven touches principle you know Let’s say for example that A neighbor looks out their window and Sees your car driving down their street With your logo on it they say hmm that’s Interesting and then later that day they See you walking down the street with a Dog wearing your branded t-shirt and They go okay okay Then they quickly look you up on Instagram they see you there then they Follow that page to your facebook they Follow your facebook page and then the Next week they see you post a picture of A dog that looks just like their dog now Their wheels are really turning so now They go to your google my business and Read the reviews and then they follow That to the to your actual website where They can see All about your company And eventually after all of these Different steps they’ll sign up for your Services Or maybe they see your uh flyer on the Counter at their local veterinarian they See your business card uh on the table At their groomer You know all of these things go hand in Hand and you’re really just trying to Enhance the interactions that potential
Clients can have with your company And i can tell you From experience literally just happened As i was getting out of the car with Turkey at this nature trail Someone saw the uh branding on my car And they saw turkey and they came Running over and they said oh my god I have a golden retriever too I would love for you to walk my golden Retriever with your golden retriever if I didn’t have branding on my car that Interaction would have never happened Just in those types of interactions are Constant so don’t forget about that old School marketing stuff it works Another Good old school method That has been great for my business and A lot of other businesses is setting up A booth at different local events Now this is something that i will say With a word of caution that Some events um will not bring you The right kind of clientele and some Events can be very expensive so you need To be very picky about what kinds of Events you go to to promote your Business but if you can get into the Right events at the right time for the Right price Which is possible It can be super beneficial Something else that i’ll throw in here
At the end is an email newsletter we Send out monthly emails to everyone That’s ever signed up on our website Whether we were able to service them or Not just making sure that we are front Of mind with all of these people uh for When they need a pet sitter or dog Walker or maybe someone asks them about A pets that are in dog walker and even If they haven’t used us they’ve seen Those emails every month And in those emails you can talk about Your referral program and those Incentives and you can talk about uh how You network with other businesses and Just really highlight all of these other Things And then another thing i wanted to Mention here at the end of the video is Um you know there are a lot of like Local magazines that will try to sell You really expensive ad space Sometimes like local newspapers will try To sell you ad space On their websites or on in their papers I generally advise against all of that Kind of stuff i’ve tried it i’ve done it I know many other businesses that have Tried it and done it and while it does Help uh lend to that seven touches Principle that i keep mentioning Those are not high return Investments And you would be much better off
Focusing on all of this other stuff that I’m talking about And then another thing that i want to Mention here at the end this will be the Last thing that i talk about in this Video Is just the importance of getting off Your butt and doing it um so many people Will just throw up a quick website or They’ll throw up a facebook page and say Oh i’m not getting any clients of course You’re not getting any clients you have To go walk the streets with your flyers And when you see somebody walking down The street with a dog go put a flyer in Their hand and introduce yourself Yes it’s awkward yes it’s out of my Comfort zone and a lot of other people’s Comfort zones too but that is how i Built my business and that is how Business is done Especially as pet sitters and dog Walkers you know we are forming Relationships with these people we are Vital to our local communities and just Getting off your butt and talking to People is the best thing that you can do I’m really barely even scraping the Surface with these ideas but i hope These ideas are helpful to you and get Your wheels turning about the right Things and like i said i post videos Here on the bad to the bone youtube Channel almost weekly so please smash
The subscribe button to stay up to date With that content and leave any ideas And strategies that you have for growing Your business down in the comments below And again if you need help picking apart An issue in your business or putting Together a marketing uh Plan or any of this kind of stuff follow The link in the description and send me An email and we’ll get you scheduled for A strategy session via zoom I’m doug the dog guy from bat of the bun Petcare reminding you to stay positive
