8 Practical Pet Store Marketing Strategies

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To truly be successful, your pet store needs to stand out.

A greater number of pet owners has led to more pet stores in the U.S. But while demand for pet products is high, this also means you have more competition. To earn the business of customers, pet store owners need to do more than just sell great products — they need to dedicate themselves to effective pet store marketing.

You may be worried you don’t have the expertise to market your pet store. With so many options to choose from, the task can seem overwhelming. In this blog, we’ll give you eight practical pet store marketing strategies you can start working on today.

1. Host Community and In-Store Events

Hosting events is a great way to generate awareness of your pet store, get potential customers through the door, and build a sense of community.

Organize events that your ideal customers want to attend and invite their friends to. Plan activities that allow customers to see your products and services, and during an event, try to talk to as many people as possible. The more familiar people are with you and your pet store, the more likely they are to make a purchase.

Here are a few ideas of events you can host in your store:

Pet workshops for grooming and training
Pet adoption days
Pet shows with challenges and awards
Fundraisers for pet-related charities

Attending events out in the community is another great way to increase awareness for your pet store. Attend farmer’s markets, community carnivals, and other local events, and set up a booth. Start up conversations with members of your community. Ask them if they have pets, and if so, what products they use to take care of their pets. This helps you understand your customers’ needs and how your store can best serve them.

2. Put Your Pet Store on Social Media

Using popular social media platforms to showcase your pet store is a no-cost way to gain attention for your business. Create posts that communicate the personality of your store and give customers a glimpse of your products — then, connect with your customers by asking and answering questions and responding to comments.

Here are a few ideas for social media posts:

Showcase your pet products.
Share photos and videos of your customers’ pets.
Advertise deals, special offers, and giveaways.
Ask questions about pet-related topics to generate discussion.
Post customer reviews and testimonials.

As customers see your posts on social media, they’ll become more engaged with your brand. By creating high-quality content and posting often, you can create a loyal community of pet owners who turn to your store for all of their needs.

3. Roll Out Email Marketing

Email marketing campaigns help you build relationships with customers. After making an initial purchase, receiving emails gives customers repeated exposure to your business and makes them more likely to come back into your pet store.

You can even personalize emails. Send emails with offers based on a customer’s buying habits, with a discount after a big purchase, or on their birthday. These emails are more likely to gain customers’ attention.

Here are some ideas of content to send in emails to customers:

Store event information
New products
Discounts and offers
Pet care tips
Personalized offers and messages

Send enough emails to keep your customers interested and engaged, but avoid spamming them with too many emails. It may take time to find this balance, but you’ll soon find a consistent rhythm that works for your business.

4. Set Up Your Website

Your website will be many customers’ first impression of your business, so it should be clear, easy to navigate, and visually appealing. It should also be mobile-friendly, as more and more internet users surf the web on phones, rather than desktop computers.

Search engine optimization (SEO) helps your website gain more traffic. By using commonly-searched words and phrases from your industry, you can make your website rank higher on search engines. Key phrases like “pet store near me” or “pet store [your city’s name]” may help your store be more visible to local internet users.

You can also gain website traffic through content marketing — creating content that’s helpful to your ideal customers. Create blogs or videos with insights about pet care and pet products. You can even use the content you create to advertise your products.

5. Collaborate With Other Organizations

Collaborating with other organizations and individuals helps expand your business’ audience. You can partner with local veterinarians, groomers, trainers, and influencers.

Collaborations are more effective when you have something to promote together. You might join with another organization to host an event, for example. You could invite a veterinarian or trainer to host an event in your pet store. This promotes their services, while also promoting your store.

To promote collaborative events like this one, use social media. Each organization can tag the other in social posts, so each following can see and become aware of the other organization.

As social media evolves, influencer product promotion is becoming more and more common. You can pay an influencer to showcase, demonstrate, and promote your pet products to their followers.

In all collaborative efforts, make sure to pick organizations and individuals that match your brand. If their brand image or brand values are drastically different from your own, the audiences may not match up. If the partner brand is somewhat similar to your own, their audience is more likely to be interested in your store.

6. Implement Loyalty and Referral Programs

Loyalty programs allow customers to earn rewards by making repeat purchases, encouraging them to make a habit of visiting your pet store. Loyalty programs are often based on point values — customers earn points each time they make a purchase and can redeem their points for a free or discounted item. For example, a customer might be given a free dog tag or leash after earning a certain number of points.

Be sure to offer significant rewards to keep customers interested, and make the loyalty program easy to use. When customers can easily check their point total, they’re more likely to make purchases to get closer to their reward.

You can also introduce referral incentives to encourage customers to refer their friends. If a customer’s referred friend makes a purchase, the customer can be sent a discount. This motivates your customers to spread the word about your store.

7. Utilize Digital Ads

Digital ads can help you reach a wider audience. As digital advertising becomes more sophisticated, ads can be more sharply targeted at customers who are most likely to be interested in your pet store. You can target certain age demographics, geographic locations, and people who are more likely to own a pet.

When selecting which platforms to use to run ads, consider where your target audience is likely to be. Popular platforms include Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Google. Different platforms have different audiences. You want to target pet owners, but you can do research to determine what platforms to use to target other potential customers based on age, location, and other categories.

When you run digital ads, it helps to have something special to promote. Advertise sales and promotions, new products, or in-store events to generate interest and excitement about your pet store.

8. Distribute Samples to Related Businesses

People love free gifts. Giving out free samples of pet food, toys, or accessories to local pet-related businesses generates buzz and awareness for your pet store. Those who receive these gifts will test out your products on their pets, and they can see for themselves how great your products are. Hopefully, they’ll want to visit your store and make purchases.

You can give out samples to local veterinary clinics, grooming salons, and pet trainers. If these business owners and their pets like your products, they will recommend them to their customers, which will send more customers your way.

Find Your Pet Store Marketing Strategy With eTailPet

Strategic pet store marketing gets people talking about your business, visiting your store, and making purchases. Your pet store is unique, and your marketing strategy should also be unique.

Choose methods you believe will resonate with your customers, and pay attention to metrics from each method. If a certain marketing channel yields great results, increase your efforts in that area. If another comes up dry, take a break and try something new. Over time, you’ll determine which marketing channels suit your business best.

You can get a solid start with these eight pet store marketing strategies:

Host community and in-store events.
Put your store on social media.
Roll out email marketing.
Set up your website.
Collaborate with other organizations.
Implement loyalty and referral programs.
Utilize digital ads.
Distribute samples to related businesses.

Using a point of sale (POS) system with marketing features gives you a head start on your marketing journey. eTailPet is an all-in-one, cloud-based marketing solution designed specifically for pet stores. With tools for website development, social media, email marketing, and more, eTailPet will help you put your store on the map.