Marketing Tips:

 

Animal Shelters & Charities give them a FREE Coupon rather than a percentage (%) off.

     - When you give a percentage (%) off charities are less likely to promote you (you aren't being charitable).

     - 50% off and Free are two very different things, even though they may be less than $5.00 apart, it might be the difference of losing a customer and gaining one for years! It's worth the label of FREE to get them in the door!

TRY: One free bath with every adoption (no strings)! You will find that the first bath is at your shop for free and then next bath is in their home again, but after cleaning up the mess and breaking their backs, they will come back to your shop for a lifetime!

 

Promotional give-aways should be useful to dogs or people.

     - When you give a an item like a pen with your name/phone on it immediately gets lost.

     - New pet customers don't value items they can not use and/or see easily. A pet name tag is a great example, if you print up a free pet id tag (with your shop address or phone number on it), it definitely gets used, BUT is not remembered, because it is something that is referred to at a later date (out of sight = out of mind).

TRY: Printing poop bags and refilling or stocking the local dog park. See if the park will let you also provide a trash can (you must empty it) that has your name and logo on it.

TRY: Printing your name and logo on a Frisbee (we added $1 off a bath for a whole year - no matter how much of the Frisbee came in). The Frisbee's were given out at the fair and left at the local dog park. It was quite a funny sight at the chewed up coupons that came in! We even gave an extra free bath for the last Frisbee we saw that year.

Try: Printing your name on tennis balls or toys that are donated in an auction. Make your promotional items useful and something your customer will play with!

Try: Printing your name on dog toys and just leave them in baskets where dog people are like parks, dog training facilities, doggie daycare's or at a shelter!

 

Get other businesses to help promote you.

     - You know a lot of pet owners, but I assure you that you don't know enough!

     - New customers to you are old and dear friends of someone else ... if that someone else promoted you - you may get that new customer to come in.

TRY: Supplying dog treats to all the near by coffee stands - they get "free" gifts and you get promoted. Make sure you provide a basket that has your name and info on it .... or better yet put the dog biscuits in a baggy with your name on it!

TIP: If you can't afford pre-printed bags ... use a standard address label in your own printer (maybe in silver or gold).

 

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