Pet marketing: The top three strategies our experts recommend

When marketing your pet business, it can be hard to know the best way to spend both your time and your hard-earned money. There are so many techniques that you could use to promote yourself, but we’ve selected the top three that will give you the best bang for your buck. Let’s explore each of these in turn and how they can really help give your pet marketing a boost.

1. Search engine optimisation and your website

When using a search engine such as Google, most people go straight for the sites that are at the top of the results. So, if the website for your pet business doesn’t appear on the first page of results, then that’s a real problem. But how do you get your website to appear at the top of this list? The answer is search engine optimisation (SEO).

Your SEO can be improved by spending time honing your website. First impressions count, so make sure your website looks professional, is easy to navigate and is not suffering from any technical problems. Spelling and grammar are also important if you want to look professional.

Keywords and SEO

The next thing to concentrate on is keywords. A bit of research into the most common words or terms that pet owners are searching for is helpful here.

By featuring these keywords or terms on your website you will be more likely to appear higher in those search engine results, which will turn into more clicks for you. A regularly updated blog on your website is very useful for doing this. The right blog pieces will generate interest and attract owners who are searching for information or advice on their animals, drawing them towards your business.  

If you are locally-run, then don’t forget that featuring the name of your town or region will help greatly when people are searching for a pet business in their area. You should also actively monitor and respond to reviews left about your business, as well as ensure that information on business directories (like Yelp) is accurate.  

Paid Search

While getting your website to the top of the search results organically can take time, it is also possible to pay for an advert on some search engine sites like Google. This creates a link to your website which appears higher on the result list than other competitors, making it more visible. You shouldn’t neglect to put some effort into your SEO in favour of this, but it can give your pet marketing a boost.

2. Social media presence

Social media is vital for pet marketing these days. With most of your customers (and potential customers) scrolling their chosen social media sites daily, this is an opportunity that cannot be missed.

Social media allows you to interact directly with your existing customers as well as showcase yourself to new ones. The best social media pages are updated regularly with engaging, cute or funny posts to get people liking and sharing them. However, you can intersperse these with more informative topics too. Depending on what social media site you decide to go with, a mixture of media such as videos, photos and text can be posted allowing you to communicate instantly with your customers.

The more interest you generate in your social media profile, the more likely you are to increase traffic to the website of your pet business.

If you’re not sure where to start with social media or what site would suit your business best, then check out some of our guides here.

3. Email marketing

You’ve worked hard on your SEO and raised your social media presence which has generated some new customers, so that’s it right? No!!

You need to constantly be engaging with your existing clients, otherwise, it is easy for them to lose interest in your pet business and stray elsewhere. By recognising and communicating regularly with your loyal customers you can keep them coming back through your door or onto your website.

Email campaigns are a great way of doing this. It is best to run campaigns that target specific customer groups, rather than sending out too many generic emails though. The latter runs the risk of people getting bored with ‘spam’ and unsubscribing from you altogether. For example, if you are promoting your new range of cat food, then emailing only your cat owners is the key here rather than sending a message out to everyone. Campaigns can also be great for engaging with customers who are registered with your business but haven’t been active lately (send them a special offer to draw them back in!) or raising awareness of certain things your business wants to promote.

The good news about email marketing campaigns is that they also work out much cheaper than some of the more traditional marketing techniques (e.g. postal services or leaflet drops). So, one of the most important things you and your team must do is to ask customers if you can have their email addresses, but also ask for their consent for marketing emails. These emails are a great way of encouraging clients to keep coming back to you, time and time again. 

Summary

There are many strategies you can employ in pet marketing, but if you get these top three right then your business will really benefit. It can be a bit daunting when embarking on a marketing campaign, but hopefully, our guide has helped point you in the right direction.

Our team of qualified veterinary writers are also here to help you and your pet business. We understand that many business owners are time-poor, so let us help you to launch that new website blog or help you to create some bespoke social media posts. Contact us for an informal chat and more information today.