How to create a marketing plan for dog daycare

Dog daycares (along with dog boarding and dog kennels) can thrive as a small business in many communities since so many people own pets today. But no business can survive without a good pet care marketing plan to help get the word out.

However, we understand that you may not have a lot of extra time or resources to devote to executing a pet care marketing plan for your dog daycare as a small business. This is why we created this guide to help you create a simple but effective pet care marketing plan for a dog daycare.

First, marketing is about promoting your product or service in the best way possible to gain more visibility with potential customers and convert them into paying clients.

So let’s start by covering what a pet care marketing plan is and what it can do for your business.

What is a marketing plan?

In simplest terms, a marketing plan is a document that details the goals you plan to achieve from marketing your business and the strategies you plan to use to achieve those goals. This is true whether you are a pet care business, doggy daycare, or any other kind of small business.

Accordingly, every company should have some basic information that helps them determine which marketing strategies are best for achieving their unique goals. This includes defining your target market, how your product/service serves that market, and your marketing budget.

For pet boarding owners and operators to create a marketing plan, these questions must be answered first:

• What are your business goals?
• What are your products/services?
• Who is your target market? (age, gender, occupation, yearly salary, etc.)

It might take a bit of market research, but having these foundational elements in place first will help you determine what marketing strategy you’ll need since not all tactics are a good fit for every demographic.

Once those foundational pieces are established, you can begin planning your marketing strategy. Your marketing plan should include:

• A description of your target audience and understanding what serves them best. For example, your audience might be pet owners in their 20s that are most likely to be found on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
• Clear marketing goals and how you’ll track them. For you, that might be a 30% increase in followers in social media and a 10% conversion rate for all leads that come from social media to become new customers.
• What marketing channels you’ll use. Print and digital marketing strategies will look different from business to business. Still, for dog daycares, we can confidently say that you should have a presence on social media channels such as Facebook and business review sites such as Yelp.

The next step, getting started, will be the hardest. With that being said, in the next section we’ve laid out some strategies to help you go forward and confidently market your small business.

How do you market a dog daycare business?

Once your marketing plan is in place, it’s time to put those strategies into action. Here are a few effective marketing strategies to consider for your dog daycare business and incorporate into your marketing plan. 

Create a website that showcases your dog daycare services

Websites provide information about your services. For example, you can share pictures and videos for dog owners of the fun your pooches and staff have at your daycare facilities. You could also share your business’s latest promotional offers with your customers. 

Your website should include photos of your boarding facilities, information about your services, rates, and policies, as well as an easy way for customers to book appointments online. You can also highlight customer reviews on your website to help build trust with potential clients.

Trust us, there are many benefits to having a website, and you need a home site where interested customers can come to learn more about your business.

Create helpful content to attract interested customers

You need helpful content to offer current and potential clients to help them learn more about your business and nurture them into loyal, lifelong customers.

This could be leave-behind flyers for local business tradeshows that detail your services and pricing. It could be a frequently asked questions (FAQ) blog post that goes through all of the most commonly asked questions you get from customers.

It could also be a downloadable pet care best practices guide that potential customers can download from your website (hopefully in exchange for their contact information).

Create profiles for your services on business listing sites

Entrepreneurs also need to make sure your business is listed anywhere potential customers look for businesses like yours. A few key examples include:

• Google My Business
• Facebook Business Page
• Yelp Business Profile

Ensure that your business information (your name, address, phone number, customer service email address, etc.) is accurate across all of your online profiles.

Leverage social media marketing

Social media marketing is all about building relationships with potential customers and followers. So be sure to use social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to promote your doggie daycare business.

You can share photos, stories, and information about your business and ask local community members and current customers to like and follow your page. You can also use social media as a place to ask for referrals.

For example, you could post a promotion to give customers a discount on a future service when they leave your business a review or refer a friend who books a service.

You could also use social media to network with other business owners willing to collaborate on an event or promotion. For example, you partner with a dog grooming service or dog walkers so you can promote each other’s businesses and gain access to each other’s audience online.

Market your business with broadly 

By using a variety of marketing tactics in your dog daycare business plan, you can help increase awareness for your business, bring in more customers, and leverage your existing customers to build positive reviews of your business.

The most important thing to keep in mind is having a clear system for responding to customers or potential customers that reach out to learn more about your business. 

If you miss this critical step, you’ll be throwing away the money, time, and effort that went into all those marketing efforts. If you’re strapped for resources as it is- Broadly can help!

With Broadly, you can attract the right customers, provide them with the best experience possible and keep them coming back. The Broadly platform can also help you increase online reviews to grow your business faster.

Want to see how Broadly can help you grow your online reputation and stand out from your competition?