Win Free Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook and Cookie Cutters

Filed Under Pet Business Marketing | 8 Comments

This week I used my birthday gift voucher at Amazon.com to order a new Dog Biscuit cookbook and set of dog cookie cutters.  When the box arrived in the mail today - there were two of the books in the box!  Ooops - I must have put it in my cart twice and not realized :) Ever done that?  It’s not the first time for me unfortunately…

So - rather than send it back, I want to gift it (with a couple of cute bone shaped cutters)  to one of my readers. 

Here is the Amazon product info:

“When it comes to dog biscuits, there’s a lot out there, but not one as concerned with your pet’s health and happiness as ours! While most of the competition goes for novelty, the Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook stands alone in featuring tail-waggingly tasty 100% organic ingredients. Written by an expert who runs the Bubba Rose Biscuit Company, it contains more than 100 all-natural recipes—double what most other dog cookbooks have. That’s sure to appeal to owners eager to feed their dog homemade after the recent commercial pet food scare. The wholesome doggie dishes (all tried, true and taste tested) include a “Luck of the Irish Wolfhound” dog treat with such ingredients as oat flour and spinach leaves, and a beef-based “Grillin’ and Chillin” hot dog!”"

View Cover of Book

All you need to do to win the book and cutters is to post a great tip, on this blog post or on my Facebook wall, that tells me about how you have used dog biscuits as a promotional tool for your pet business.  I’ll put the names of everyone who submits a tip into a hat (or bowl!) and draw a winner next Monday.

Go ahead and tell me your tip!

P.S. If you haven’t used doggie biscuits to promote your business yet - you can also tell me your ideas for using them in the future!

Promote Your Pet Sitting Business Using Giveaways at Local Pet Friendly Restaurants

Filed Under Pet Business Marketing, Pet Sitting Business Tips | 2 Comments

My step-daughter Lindsey is studying at junior college and working part time at a restaurant as a waitress. We were eating dinner there last week (it’s one of the few times that we get to see her!) and I noticed that she had an array of multi-colored pens tucked into her apron that she gives to customers to sign their tickets.  When I asked her about them she told me she just went out and bought them at Walmart because most of the time customer don’t give them back, they take them home.

I guess it came as a shock to me -  I hadn’t realized that waitresses actually have to supply their own pens (perhaps this is not the case everywhere). It also reminded me that I have a box of pens imprinted with my business name Protecting Max Your Pet Sitting Parners and my phone number and website at home that I ordered to give away at an event last year but had a lot of left overs.  I’ve been carrying the pens around with me in my purse and usually I leave them for clients after I write their visit diary notes.  I whipped out 5 of the pens from my purse and gave them to Lindsey to use instead of buying pens.  We struck up a deal that I will supply all her pens in future - and hopefully people will take them home, read them and maybe pass them around when they use them at other places where others will read them - and so spread around word about my business.

I got to thinking that this marketing strategy would be even more likely to be effective if you could get your pens into the hands of wait staff at a pet friendly restaurant or coffee shop where many clients actually bring their pets.  I wish we had more of these places in Dallas TX but unfortunately it hasn’t caught on here like it has in other places I’ve visited like Maine or Australia where more people eat outside at street side tables.

Another way to catch these customers attention is to offer to supply pet friendly restaurants with place mats or fun napkins imprinted with your business name and contact details.  You could even supply doggie water bowls or other useful items that enhance the pet friendliness of the venue and would be a win-win for you and the venue owners. If you have have these types of places in your area - why not try this out?

Anyone already tried it and had success? Leave a comment and tell us about it!

How to Use Pet Events to Market Your Pet Sitting Business

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One of the 8 low cost ways I recommend that you market your pet sitting business is with community pet events.  You can either organize your own community event (or partner with another pet sitter or local pet business owner - groomer, poop scooper, trainer - to hold a joint event) or have a booth or demonstration at a locally held pet event.

Hosting your own pet event is a great way to create community buzz and get your name known and also raise money for a great cause like a rescue group or shelter or an animal service organization.  I asked my Facebook friends a few weeks ago to tell me about the types of events that they have organized and they gave me these great ideas:

Community charity dog wash

Community dog walk

Open House

Community Dog Show

You could also hold an event based on an annual pet month or day such as Pet First Aid Awareness Month (April), or National Dog Day (Aug 26th), or for a holiday such as Valentines day or Halloween.  Dog parks and dog day care facilities are great places to hold a pet party.

If you want to hear how other pet sitters have used pet events to promote their business then join me on my Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence member call on Tuesday February 23rd.  I’ll be interviewing Lisa Sellman from Aloha Pet Care of Minnesota and Marcia Breithaupt from Liberty Home and Pet Services in Naples Florida.  Lisa and Marcia have both held successful local pet events and will share with you their tips for organizing and holding a great event.

To join us on the call just sign up for the Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence membership. The membership is $9.95 per month (this comes with my money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the benefits within the first 30 days - and you can cancel your membership at anytime).  You’ll get immediate access to over 12 months of call recordings and transcripts plus special reports and articles. To take a look visit http://www.petbusinesssuccesscircle.com.

Use a Warm Introduction Letter to Generate Pet Sitting Referrals

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One of the easiest ways to meet new people is to have your current friends, family or colleagues give you a warm introduction by giving you a referral. However, before they can recommend you they have to know that you provide pet sitting services and should be aware of the details and benefits of your service.

A great way to educate them is to send them a warm letter of introduction.  Put together a very personal letter to let them know that you have a pet sitting business and tell them what value you provide to your clients. In the letter politely ask them that if they know people who may need your service that they pass on your information to them and also let them know that they can get more information at your website.  Make sure you continue to send out this warm letter to new friends as you meet them.

Here is an example of a warm letter of introduction:

Hello <first name>,

I’m writing this quick letter to ask you for a small favor.
You see, I have just started my own pet sitting business.
We offer an in-home pet care service for people when they travel for vacation or business.  The pets stay in the comfort of their own home and we can make up to four visits per day to feed, exercise, and play with the pets.  We can also administer medications.

Our service is an alternative to boarding that is less stressful for pets, and more convenient for pet owners as they do not have to drop off and pick up pets from a boarding facility.  Having someone visiting the home regularly while owners are away offers enhanced security.  As part of our service we pick up mail and packages and can rotate lights and window shades to give the home a lived in appearance.

At our free initial interview the person that will be caring for the pets visits the clients home to meet them and their pets, collect pet care, vet, and emergency contact information and collect keys.
We need a small favor, will you help us out? If you have friends with pets that will be travelling and are looking for help with pet care, can you please let them know about our new service?

We really appreciate any help you can give us to spread the word and we know your friends and family and their pets will thank you too!

Thank you for your help!
<your name>
<your phone number>

Try sending these out to everyone you know who doesn’t know what you do in your business.  Follow up with a phone call to see if they have any questions.

Anyone tried this method to encourage word of mouth advertising of their pet sitting business?

 

Marketing Excellence 6 Week Coaching Program for Pet Sitters

Filed Under Pet Business Marketing, Pet Sitting Business Tips | 2 Comments

I’m excited to announce the launch of my new coaching program - Marketing Excellence.  At the start of the new year it is the perfect time to do some planning and set yourself up for success in 2010.  My Marketing Excellence coaching will set you up with your own personalized marketing plan and marketing systems that ensure you put your plan into action to achieve big results!

Here are all the details:

No matter whether you are just starting your pet sitting business or have an existing business that you want to grow - to attract new clients consistently you must consistently be marketing your business.

To attract new pet sitting clients to your business you must:

1) Know exactly who your ideal pet sitting clients are and the best ways to make sure that they know about your business
2) Have a balanced marketing plan that gathers new client leads and follows up to educate and build a relationship with potential clients to build trust and credibility

3) Create your own marketing systems that take the guesswork out of your marketing by showing you exactly what you need to do every week to market your business and keep you focused

4) Know how to track your marketing efforts to ensure you are getting the results that you desire

In the first few years of growing my own pet sitting business I jumped from project to project looking for the right strategies, spent too much money on advertising with little results, and constantly worried that I should be doing more. When I started to get clear about what was working and set up my own marketing systems to make sure I stayed focused I found that I started to attract more clients both with more ease and less expense. That meant I enjoyed my business more and enjoyed higher business profits!

The Marketing Excellence program is a 6 week one-on-one coaching experience designed to prepare you for a year of phenomenal growth. At the end of the six weeks you will be clear about your marketing strategy and have your own written business marketing plan that you can refer back to all year.

Here is exactly what we will cover during the six week program :

Week 1 - Business Assessment and Goal Setting - 60 minute telephone call.
At enrollment I will email you an assessment questionnaire so that during our first call we can discuss your current marketing efforts and your pet sitting business goals. You will also receive a copy of my special workbook “How to Define Your Market Profile”.

Week 2 - Pet Sitting Website Review - 30 minute telephone call.
We will use a checklist to review your current pet sitting website (or set up your new website) and I will give you suggestions to ensure that you website is client friendly and ranks well in the major search engines so that clients can find you.

Week 3 - Planning Your Marketing Mix - 30 minute telephone call.
Together we will use “The Pet Sitting Marketing Pie” to ensure that you are using the most effective mix of marketing methods. We will brainstorm ideas to fill each piece of your personalized marketing pie.

Week 4 - Creating Marketing Systesms - 30 minute telephone call.
We will put together your own set of marketing systems to ensure that you consistently put into action all of the marketing methods in your marketing pie.

Week 5 - How To Track Your Marketing - 30 minute telephone call.
We will discuss how to track your marketing efforts and make adjustments to keep you aligned with your business goals.

Week 6 - Question and Follow-Up Call - 30 minute telephone call.
Follow up call to clarify and answer questions about implementation of your marketing and tracking systems.

Between each of our phone coaching sessions I will give you a worksheet to complete before our next call. You should be able to dedicate between 1-3 hours per week on these projects to ensure that our calls each week are productive.

During these six weeks you will also have unlimited email access between calls so that you can ask me questions about your current projects.

When I contacted Danielle I was at a crossroads in my business. The vision that I always had for my pet sitting business seemed impossible; I was looking for guidance as to whether or not I should continue to pursue my dream or if it was time to walk away. Danielle called me one evening and we talked for over an hour about what it was that I really wanted and how I could achieve that. She definately seemed to understand my concerns. She gave me lots of very valuable tips and advice that I was able to begin to apply immediately on everything from marketing to hiring helpers. Our converstation never felt “salesy” or like she was pushing her own agenda. Within four days of speaking to Danielle and implementing some of the ideas we discussed, I already had a new client inquiry! I would definitely recommend Danielle to anyone looking for help with their business or anyone starting out.

Carrie Trimmer - Who Let the Dogs Out? Pet Sitting

The price of all worksheets, checklists, and our 6 one-on-one calls with 6 weeks of unlimited email access is just $450.00. This investment will set you up for many years of business growth and provide a reference that you can return to any time you need to update your personalized marketing plan.

Join me now to set up our first call :

Click Here to Sign up Now!

I look forward to working with you this year to create a pet sitting business that is uniquely yours,

Danielle Chonody
The Pet Sitting Excellence Coach

P.S. When you are clear about your marketing plan and have your own marketing systems in place you won’t waste your energy worrying that you need to market more or differently or be distracted by the latest fancy marketing tools. A plan will keep you on track and ensure you use your time effectively - your guarantee to big results this year! Start the new year right with a plan - join me now today to get started.

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