Are you a dog trainer? If so, you know how difficult it can be to find new clients.
While you may have a lot of experience and you may be great at working with dogs, finding new dogs to work with can be tough. This is especially so if you are just starting a training business, or if you have moved to a new area.
If you want to meet more dog owners, close more clients, and build up your reputation, you are going to need to learn what marketing techniques you can take advantage of as a dog trainer. Below are some of the best ways that you can market your dog training business…
Social Media Marketing
Every company, big and small, should be leveraging the power of social media to build their business. The process of getting your social media up and running is pretty simple. You simply need to create a business account with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms. From there, you can set your profile photo to your logo, create a banner, write a description for your company, and post the rest of your business information.
Creating the account is the easy part. It’s driving and maintaining traffic that is hard.
Once you’ve created your social media account, you need to get people to actually follow the account and read your posts. The easiest place to start is with friends and family. Some of them may not even know you have a dog training business! Even if they don’t need your services, they may have friends that do. Not only may you get some clients by inviting friends and family, but you also create social proof. When potential clients visit your social media and see followers, interactions, and reviews, they’ll be more likely to book you.
Once you’ve got your social media up and running, it’s time to run ads. This is a skill in and of itself. You may want to hire a company to help you out with this part. If not, there are a few things to keep in mind…
- Target demographic. You need to understand who it is you are marketing to. Of course, dog owners. But what is their income level? Gender? Age? These are things you need to consider.
- Location. Be sure to target your specific area when running ads. While this seems obvious, some people forget this step. Then they start getting post likes from India…
- Test. Test your ads. Run an ad with one photo. Then an ad with another. Run an ad with one sales pitch. Then a different one. Keep testing!
Ads can be helpful for getting someone to your social media platform, but they may be that much more efficient if you can send your potential clients somewhere…namely your website.
Branding
Your dog training business is just that—a business. Because of this, you need to create a brand. This consists of more than a logo (even though this is a part of your brand). Consider what you stand for, and what you want to express to the customer. Consider the vibe you are going for, and what your target demographic will respond to. Choose colors, text, a logo design, and a tagline built around your specific brand. The more cohesive your brand is, the better.
Create a Website
It’s important for any company to have a great website. The good news is these days it is easier than ever to create a website. You can go the more professional route and hire a web design company to build your site for you. Fair warning, though, this is very expensive.
You also have the option of building the site yourself. Platforms like Squarespace and WordPress make it very easy to set up your website. You can generally pull it together in an afternoon.
Once you have the design out of the way, you need to consider the content. This means web copy, photos, and so on. It should all be consistent with the brand we discussed earlier. If you need photos, consider either snapping a few photos of local dogs (with permission from the owners) or checking out some stock photo websites. You can find some excellent, free stock photos.
For the web copy, consider hiring a copywriter. If you need to save money, you can write the copy yourself—but you should still have an editor look over the copy to make sure it looks good.
It’s important that your web copy drives sales. Always have a call-to-action. When potential clients land on your page, they should know how to reach you and should be encouraged to do so. This little thing can increase your bookings.
Blog
The other place you’ll want to send your potential clients is your blog. This will be a section of the website you build. Your blog should be filled with useful training tips and catchy titles. This will encourage potential clients to actually click through to your blogs and read them. Throughout your blogs (or at least at the end), you can pitch your services. Make sure you end with a call-to-action!
Consider running ads both to your website and blog. See which ones convert. Consider how many bookings you are getting based on each. The best approach is the one that costs the least and gets you the most customers.
SEO
When you are writing your blogs, you’ll want to consider SEO. This way you’ll be able to get traffic from people searching for dog training companies in your area. You also need to make sure your website is optimized for SEO.
You may not know what SEO is. That’s okay! SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” Essentially, this involves optimizing your blog and website to get better results through search engines like Google and Bing. There are a few ways that you can do this…
- Keywords. One of the most important parts of your SEO campaign is keywords and keyword phrases. You’ll need to find the most popular keywords in your niche and for your local area. From there, you can add them to your website and blog.
- Keyword Density. There is a sweet spot when it comes to keywords. You want enough to where search engines notice you, but not so many that search engines think you are spamming.
- Meta tags. Your meta tags include things like the titles of the pages as they appear in search engines, the descriptions, and so on. These should be optimized with keywords.
Work with a Training Company as a Freelancer
One easy way to cut through all of the noise and get yourself in front of clients quickly is to work with a dog training company as a freelancer. While you will be a representative of their brand, you’ll still be your own boss. This opens you up to work with current clients, while also getting some steady work.
Stayyy hires freelance dog trainers! Ask us about how we work with freelancers to create the perfect dog training team. We offer great pay, flexible hours, and a built-in client base. Skip the marketing costs and all the difficulties that come with building your clientele from the ground up by working with Stayyy.
Word-of-Mouth
Word-of-mouth is an old-school way of doing things, but it still has its merits. There is a good chance in your day-to-day life that you’ll run into people that have dogs that need to be trained. What better opportunity to mention your dog training services?
In order to increase your sales, have business cards printed and ready. Make sure they are with you at all times. You can put them in your wallet or—if you want to get fancy—in a business card holder. Don’t clumsily try to give them your cell phone info or email address. Have everything prepped ahead of time and printed on a business card.
As your reputation grows, people will likely start recommending you to their friends and family. With that said, always encourage your customers to do so. Also, encourage them to leave you a review on Google and Facebook. This creates social proof, which will increase the chances of you closing clients in the future.
Bulk Orders
Booking as you go can be a pain for everyone involved. You don’t want to chase down clients, and they don’t want to constantly have to figure out your schedule to book trainings. In order to avoid this, consider bulk orders.
With bulk orders, you offer your services at a slight discount when you are paid upfront. From there, you can book exact times with the client for training services. You’ll have a more organized schedule and a guaranteed income.
Contact Stayyy
If you are looking for additional work as a dog trainer and you have a strong passion for dog training, reach out to Stayyy! We hire only the best trainers. You must love dogs!
If you have experience, flexibility, and a friendly attitude, you may be the team member we are looking for…
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about working with Stayyy as a freelancer, reach out today!