Over our years supporting dog pros, we’ve noticed certain sticking or stress points common to many of our clients. Choosing the perfect business name ranks high among those. We’ve been thinking a … [Read more...]

Increase the human-canine bond. Improve relationships. Keep dogs in their forever homes. Spread the R+ word. Help as many dogs as possible. These are common goal refrains from the trainers we help … [Read more...]

Newsletters can be powerful marketing tools. Done well, they provide ongoing connection to and brand loyalty from current clients. They let past clients know about new services to come back for, and … [Read more...]

Press releases are an easy—and free—way to draw attention to your business. A good press release gives local news outlets the chance to see what you’re up to and possibly cover your story, providing … [Read more...]

Newsletters can be powerful marketing tools. Done well, they provide ongoing connection to and brand loyalty from current clients. They let past clients know about new services to come back for, and … [Read more...]

We talk and write a lot about content or community marketing— using your expertise as dog trainers to educate your audience while subtly promoting your business. It’s an excellent strategy. While … [Read more...]

Think of a three-legged stool. It stands—and supports your weight—only because each leg has been built to do its part; it’s perfectly balanced. Remove, or even shorten, just one leg and the stool … [Read more...]

If you’re a typical class trainer you’d rather think about what you’re going to do with students once you have them in your classroom than what you’re going to do to get them there. For most of us, … [Read more...]

Less is more. Simple is better. Back to basics. All familiar refrains. But sometimes cliches carry meaning. In the case of communicating with potential clients, less is more and simple is better are … [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 than … [Read more...]

Your website’s primary job is to encourage people to use your services. How you invite them to do so matters—a lot. We see several common mistakes in this area of dog business sites. Fortunately … [Read more...]

So much goes into the building of a business: The name, the logo, the website, the marketing—just for starters. That’s a lot of effort aimed at gaining clients and referral sources. And as businesses … [Read more...]

Making guarantees is a tricky business. Domino’s Pizza discovered this back in the early 90’s after its 30-minute-delivery-or-your-pizza-is-free guarantee led to a series of car accidents and … [Read more...]

When it comes to productivity, few places are as treacherous as the Internet. Between Facebook, celebrity gossip, and cat videos, it’s a wonder any work gets done at all. But for gathering information … [Read more...]

When you run a small business there are days when it feels like the world’s got you beat. Days lost juggling business plans, start-up costs, emails, phone calls, piles of paperwork, excessively … [Read more...]

We’re all drawn to stories. People remember stories and anecdotes long after any recollection of advertisements is gone—and case studies are particularly compelling because they highlight a problem … [Read more...]

Let's face it – marketing may never make the list of your favorite activities. We know there are several dozen things you'd rather be doing: visiting in-laws, maybe. Or working with dogs. Still, you … [Read more...]

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 grow … [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 talking … [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 some … [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 than … [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 been … [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 there … [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. In fact, … [Read more...]