75% of Pet Sitters and Dog Walkers DREAD marketing!
That’s what I found when I recently polled my audience.
It was a bit of a shock, but after 5 + years coaching Pet Sitters and Dog Walkers I know that so many struggle with marketing.
AND I know I can help!
When we started our Pet Sitting business over 12 years ago, I threw myself into Blogging and Social Media.
And I’m so glad I did – honestly? If I hadn’t I’m not sure we’d have a business today.
Online Marketing is a massive free opportunity for your business and can absolutely MAKE your business if you harness it properly and with a few pointers, it’s not nearly as overwhelming as it can seem with so many options these days!
When I asked my audience WHAT they dread about online marketing the 2 main answers were loud and clear;
- Knowing what to post
- Finding the time
And those are 2 of the things I’ve helped hundreds of clients with over the years – so I know I can help you too!
And the good news is when you KNOW what to post it really doesn’t take long – especially when you make use of free apps and built in features in Social Media platforms!
What to post on Social Media?
Before answering that question, let’s take a moment to get clear what you’re trying to achieve by posting on social media…
To get more clients – obvious, right?
But people come to Social Media to connect, be entertained and to learn new and interesting things.
And when we entertain and connect with them, we build relationships and that’s when they’ll actually be interested in hearing about our services!
So you want to post things that’ll create connection, entertain and educate your ideal customers.
And the good news is you already KNOW the things that interest them!
Why? Because it’s what interests YOU.
Pets!
This is such a great industry to be in on social media – SO much opportunity for cute pet pics and stories!
And Pet Owners LOVE to share about their pets!
So a simple post like ‘Share a Selfie Saturday’ can get LOADS of engagement.
And you don’t have to be a marketing expert to know that Social Media algorithms LOVE engagement.
And you can do it every week and people don’t get bored! There’s always more cute pets to see. And you can give it a seasonal theme to keep it interesting.
And there are so many other ways to engage.
By asking fun simple questions that people want to share their opinion on like;
- ‘Do your dogs sleep on your bed? Yes! I love snuggling with them / No! Never’
- ‘Tell me you have a pet without telling me you have a pet’ – you can start the interaction by sharing your example (Mine would be a photo of all my shoes on top of fridges and wardrobes so the dog can’t chew them!
You get the idea.
It’s easy to create a few engagement posts every week and don’t forget to like and comment on the responses.
But it’s not JUST about engagement.
Educational Posts
Your audience are interested in caring for their pets and you can share helpful information that they love and establishes you as a trustworthy expert that they’d want to hire.
And finding topics is easy- just Answer Their Questions
Questions you get from customers all the time – keep a notebook to jot these down!
And questions people type into Google about Pet Sitting and Dog Walking.
These are the questions people looking to HIRE Pet Sitters ask – and if you answer them? There’s a good chance they’ll hire you.
This is the foundation of how I grew my blog to attract 1000’s of visits a week and my social media to over a combined 50k followers.
So you’re not just gaining social media engagement that disappears down your timeline.
You’re building a blog that becomes the lead-generating engine of your business.
And don’t worry if a Blog feels too much for you right now!
You can start with Social Media – you can still use the principle of answering your customers questions for posts.
And when you’re ready you can start your Blog! Or Vlog or Podcast – whatever is most fun and easy for you!
Promotional Posts
Now you’re engaging and educating your audience, you can easily put promotional posts in the mix without seeming spammy or salesy.
You’ve built the relationship and given them something before offering your services.
Make sure you don’t forget to promote or shy away from it!
Engagement is great but the promotional posts will give your audience the prompt and the information they need to book with you.
How to Find the Time For Marketing
As I said, now you know WHAT to post it doesn’t take long!
You can sit down for an hour each week and plan out 3-5 of each of these types of posts and schedule them straight into your Social Media or using one of the many free apps available.
Then all you have to do is check in a couple of times a day and engage with the comments.
And don’t worry if engagement is massive overnight – it doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong! Just commit to the process and give it time to grow.
I really hope this post has helped you see that marketing doesn’t have to be something to dread!
If you’d like even more of my help, you’ll want to know about my Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Marketing Planner 2023!
The planner is in it’s 5th year and it’s where I share the actual social media posts I use to keep my business fully booked.
As well as Blog topics for every week and competition ideas.
AND I include a full calendar of Pet Awareness days and other popular awareness days you can use to get engagement, shares and even go a bit viral!
All ready for you to copy, paste and get on with growing your Pet Sitting or Dog Walking Business!
Sign up for the waitlist to be the first to get details AND $100 off.
