Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know something about—or have heard of—social media and online marketing. You probably also know new tools are launched all the time that might help … [Read more...]

Dog businesses do better when they band together. Our most successful dog pro clients tend to view their competition as colleagues and allies rather than enemies. Their greater success is due partly … [Read more...]

Running a business without proper marketing is like running an engine without oil. But running a car with the wrong kind of oil will get you into trouble, too, just as there’s no point spending time … [Read more...]

Word of mouth is a highly prized and sought-after commodity. Often misunderstood as the ticket to success, the truth is you can’t start a business with word of mouth. You need a lot of people … [Read more...]

Take a moment to think about your audience. Really think about who it is you’d like to call you for your services. If your answer is simply “dog people with enough income” you may be missing … [Read more...]

Having a website doesn’t do you much good if no one sees it. Collecting links—having other sites add links to yours—is one sure-fire way to increase traffic to your site. … [Read more...]

We’ve noticed a steep rise in the launch of directory and referral websites focused on helping people to find local dog pros—are you taking advantage? … [Read more...]

We get a lot of questions about social media marketing. The most common two questions are some form of “Should I?” or “Do I have to?” and “Does it work?” … [Read more...]

Email marketing gets overshadowed by social media a lot these days, which is a great shame because email is a terrific marketing workhorse—free or low-cost, targeted, and much less time-intensive … [Read more...]

Veterinarians have long been a trainer’s most coveted referral source. In the past, bringing by a basket of cookies from time to time and asking to keep some cards or brochures on the counter could … [Read more...]

Diversify and Conquer There comes a time in the life of every business, whatever its size, when the question of growth arises and decisions have to be made. Most business owners in this situation … [Read more...]

Working with hundreds of trainers across the country each year affords me the opportunity to notice trends, patterns, and peculiarities in the way we and our industry operate. One phenomenon I’ve … [Read more...]

What makes you special? One of the most common marketing mistakes trainers make is to generalize. If you’re the only game in town, it makes sense to tell potential clients you do it all. But if … [Read more...]

The number one rule of marketing is to do it. You can’t expect word of mouth if you don’t build it. But you needn’t take out a loan or pawn your grandmother’s jewelry to market your business. … [Read more...]