Advertise Dog Walking

In order for your small business to stand out amongst the competition, you must learn how to market it effectively. An effective advertisement grabs customers' attention and has them contacting you for your business. While there are several different ways to get the word out about your dog walking business, it helps to utilize a variety of advertising techniques targeted towards different customers.

Steps

Using the Internet to Advertise

1. Post ads on the internet. You could try posting your advertisements on Craigslist or another website like MerchantCircle, GoogleMaps, or PetSitter.com. You can post ads by creating an online account, which allows you to revise or edit any online ads you post. If you post an ad without an account, it is more difficult to manage your personalized ads. Include a small paragraph of information about yourself to let new customers know your background and love for animals. State in your ad how long you have been doing this type of work, and why they should choose your services over another dog walking service.
   • Make your listing stand out from others. You can accomplish this in many different ways. One way is to capitalize important words and frame these words with asterisks. Use a catchy headline to grab the reader's attention. A good example would be, "New Customers RECEIVE 50 PERCENT off DOG WALKING Services."
   • Repost your ad every two days. Craigslist has rules and regulations to keep spam posts limited. This is why you are advised to post only once every two days.
   • If you are underage, you might want to have a parent or trusted adult answer the replies so that they can talk to the person and decide if it is safe for you or not.
2. Make variations of your ad. Change your advertisement up by adding different worded ads to attract different kinds of customers. Keep specific types of customers in mind as you design different ads targeted towards different people.
   • For example, make ads for new customers, different ads for returning customers, and ads for people with more than one dog.
   • Be sure to edit your ads for different target audiences. If you are writing an advertisement for PetSitter.com, you might want to emphasize your diverse pet watching skills, rather than just mentioning dog walking. If you are writing an advertisement for customers for with more than one pet, you should consider offering a discount.
3. Make yourself a website to advertise your services. The website is a great way to showcase your pet-loving nature and walking/pet care service. Describe yourself and let potential dog owners get to know you. You should also upload a picture of yourself and several of you with some furry companions to show how much you love animals.
   • Make sure to include some information about yourself like, “Hi, my name is Joe. I am 14 years old and I love taking care of my family’s black lab, Buddy. I have been taking care of Buddy and taking him on walks for several years. I would love to share my love for animals with you and your family by being hired to walk your dog.”
   • Do SEO. This Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be time consuming, but it guarantees that your website will be shown higher in the organic search results when someone searches for your targeted keywords.

Using Print Sources to Advertise

1. Call your local newspaper. Ask for the "classifieds" advertising department and place a classified ad in the services advertising section of the newspaper. Depending on how much money you want to spend on your ad, you can have a large or a small ad; however, the key component to attracting customers is to make your ad short, concise, and catchy in order to grab the attention of potential customers.
   • A good example of a successful ad would be, "Have a dog? Need your dog walked? Call xxx-xxxx for fast, reliable, low-cost dog walking services."
   • Run the ad for at least a few months. This is the length of time it usually takes to attract customers.
   • Depending on how large your newspaper ad is, the cost could get very expensive. However, if you choose a small ad size, you can probably spend less than $40 – depending on how widely distributed your newspaper is.
   • Switch your ads every couple of weeks. Run varying ads to attract different customers. Check to see when there is a correlation between ads and customers.
   • Once you determine which ad is more successful at attracting customers, use the remaining time you have left for the newspaper ad to post this particular ad.
2. Use your computer to create a flyer. Make a hand-bill or flyer as an ad that you will post, hand-out, and place around town. This is a great way to increase visibility and get new clients.
   • Include your name, your phone number or email address, and a brief introduction. You could even include a picture of yourself walking a dog.
   • Make different sized ads. Use bright colored paper to catch the attention of onlookers.
   • You can also create simple tear-off flyers that include your advertisement at the top, with your phone number on little strips at the bottom that people can rip off to take home with them.
3. Post your flyers around town. You can create small flyers and hang ads on street-light poles facing traffic. You can also post these ads on the windshield wiper blades of cars in parking lots, though this is intrusive and not allowed everywhere. In order to reach your target customer base, it might be a good idea to visit pet store parking lots and veterinarian offices.
   • Go inside these places of business and ask if they have a bulletin board for professional services. Place one of your ads on this bulletin board.
   • Keep in mind that not all places will allow you to post flyers. So be careful not to break any rules by checking ahead of time.
   • Try posting flyers near the mailboxes at apartment residences.

Using Word of Mouth to Advertise

1. Ask your parents to put the word out. Your parents can be a great asset for you in advertising your dog walking business. Ask them to tell their friends, colleagues, and acquaintances that you are trying to make money by walking dogs so that they can see if anyone is interested.
   • Ask your parents to say something like, “My daughter has started a dog walking business. I know that your family has a dog. Would you be interested in hiring her to walk your pet a few times a week?”
   • Your parents probably have a much bigger network than you have of people they know, so this is a great situation for you to take advantage of.
   • You should also ask other family members if they need their dog walked or if they know of anyone who might be interested in your dog walking services.
2. Tell your friends. Ask your friends if they would be interested in hiring you to walk their dog. Maybe their family or someone they know has a dog that needs walking too.
   • Working for your friends can be complicated sometimes, so make sure you establish clear guidelines about what you both expect from the situation – how much money they will pay you and how long or how frequently you will walk the dog.
3. Let your community know. There are people you interact with every day who would benefit from your services as a dog walker. You need to find them and let them know you are available. Network within your existing community because people are usually more willing to hire people they already know and trust.
   • This means talking to your teachers at school, members of your church, your neighbors, or even family friends.
4. Ask your veterinarian to recommend you. If you have a good relationship with your pet’s veterinarian (or a family friend who is a veterinarian), ask them to recommend you to their clients. This would be a great (and safer) way to get the word out to fellow pet owners.
   • You could even ask if you could hang one of your flyers in the vet’s office.

Tips

• You can also post dog-walking advertisements on a variety of websites targeted towards animal lovers. Many of these websites also offer free or low cost advertising for small businesses.

Related Articles

• Walk a Dog
• Walk Two Dogs at the Same Time on Leashes
• Become a Professional Dog Walker
• Walk Your Dog in Imaginative Ways

Sources and Citations

See also

• Dog‐Sit when You Have Your Own Dog
• Dog‐Sit when You Have a Cat
• Dog‐Sit when You Have a Small Pet
• Train Your Service Dog Without a Professional Trainer
• Start a Dog Walking Service
• Become a Professional Dog Walker

What links here

• Become a Professional Dog Walker