Before you flip that switch...

Today I was thumbing through a consumer dog magazine and found an ad for a product that I thought was interesting...maybe something for my dog, Johann.

First thing I did was type in the url for the website I found in the advertisement. Then clicked on the product that I was interested in.

Guess what I found. "Error: page not found."

Very discouraging. Would I save that url and go back another time to see if the page was working? Would I press the contact button and let the company personnel know their website page wasn't working? Would I come back and maybe purchase that product another time?

Nope...just too busy, have to move on. And it's such a shame, isn't it? I'm sure the company paid a lot of money to advertise their product in this high-gloss, high circulation dog magazine.

Remember: You only have one shot, one opportunity to grab your audience and sell them with any marketing tactic you undertake. Sad to say they missed this opportunity, and probably many others that saw the ad.

Moral of the story? Before you flip that switch on a new advertising or marketing campaign, check and make sure everything is in place for the best opportunity for potential customers to see, and hopefully buy, your product or service.

What are your expectations for your pet business this Holiday season?

All indicators show this will be a good holiday season for retailers and other businesses, especially for the pet industry. Tell us...what are your expectations for your pet business this holiday season?

Get the most out of your Holiday season!

Now is the time for Holiday sales!!! Are you ready?

"The majority of online retailers expect strong sales this holiday season,"according to a recent survey by the National Retail Federation’s Digital Division, Shop.org.

In another recent article, a USA Today analyst indicated, "purchases of TVs, jewelry, recreational vehicles and pet supplies are growing robustly, government data show."

"Organic dog food, timed cat food dispensers and other high-end pet items are driving healthy increases in spending, says Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Products Association. "People are cutting back on themselves more than they're cutting back on pets."

"Pet products illustrate how some consumers are going high end and others low end. Cheap pet food is selling briskly, reflecting the weak economy, at the same time costly items are thriving," he says. "It's the middle of the market that's shrinking," he Vetere.

All very good news for our industry!

Hopefully you've prepared all your Holiday products in the stores, you've worked with retailers on product displays and promotions, you've lined up all your clients, and more...so how do you get the most of your Holiday season? Make it work! (as Tim Gunn would say). But how?

The Holidays are all about grabbing attention, getting noticed above the noise, and deals, deals, deals...especially in this down economy. Here are my favorite Holiday promotion tips for retailers, service providers and manufacturers:

• Promote, promote, promote! Whatever you are offering, make sure people know about it. Remember that it takes many touches for someone to actually even notice you. Don't be shy, but don't overdo your promotion either. Walk the fine line.
• Hold a contest or event to draw people to your store or product. Photo contests are very overdone at Holiday time. Come up with a creative, fun and enticing contest or event to drive traffic. Start with a Holiday theme promotion that will carry you through the entire holiday season and help you market utilizing all the tactics in your arsenal.
• Don't forget the less fortunate this holiday season. Work in a charitable element to your promotions or events if you are a retailer or service provider, it will help the pets in need and get you noticed as well. And if you're a manufacturer, work with your retailers in helping raise funds for unfortunate pets within their area or community!
• Work with brick 'n mortar retailers if you are a manufacturer to offer coupons and deals to their customers....build that loyalty that will last over time.
• If you're online, offer free shipping. Free shipping will be 'the deal' all pet lovers will be looking for to save them time and money during the busy Holiday season.
• Use Facebook to promote a contest, event, coupon deal or special offer! Incorporate them 'liking' your page to build a strong base of long term followers.
• Offer deals on Twitter. A short sweet coupon code will draw attention and drive traffic and sales.
• Don't forget your email list...use it to offer special deals, offers and promotions to past and future customers.
• Work your social media sites together to take full advantage of getting the word out. Start with your blog or Facebook to announce your deal, special offer, contest or event. Then promote though your other sites. Remember to drive them to your website to purchase!
• Cross promote your Holiday promotions through all types of online and offline marketing tactics to further your reach.
• Don't forget the "would you like fries with that" upsell marketing tactic that can increase the incremental individual sale.
• Limit your deals and promotions to convince potential customers to act and buy now.
• Make your website a special holiday door that opens to amazing deals, offers, education and fun! Create a holiday destination just for pets and draw people back time and time again though the Holiday season.
• Promote your events and contests through the local and online media. Ask a media celebrity to be a judge, and/or work with your local media to do an onsite broadcast.
• Set up a calendar to organize your promotions throughout the Holiday season, it will keep you on target, organized and make promoting easier during this busy time.

Now, get busy and make this Holiday season your best in years!

If you need assistance, we're here to help you create a last minute, all conclusive, holiday plan that will help you maximize your sales for the best potential holiday season possible. Just send us an email to get started.

Here are a few things we can specifically help you with:

• Learn how you can effectively communicate with your individual audience through the holiday season and drive more sales.
• Get a great list of creative, fun, traffic building promotions and suggestions for your individual business.
• Receive a review of your currently holiday plan and learn how you can improve to maximize your sales and services; and get the most of the holidays.
• Get unique and individualized marketing tips and ideas to focus your holiday plan specifically to your audience and build traffic to your site, your product and your store.

Measuring your pet business social media program

You blog, you post, you comment, you tweet, you stumble, you Facebook...you've been using it.

The real question is....is it working?

"How do I measure my social media investment?," is one of the most asked questions from my clients...as it should be! Social media may not be as expensive as other forms of marketing, but it does take time and time is money.

I've been measuring marketing programs for over 20 years; everything from advertising, direct mail, pr, to trade shows, events and more. It's a must for any marketer to determine a marketing activities' value and worth in increasing the bottom line of their company.

So how do you measure your social media program? We've put together a presentation to help you understand the elements of determining the goals of your social media program, how and what to track, and how to trend, evaluate and analyze your program in relation to your goals and objectives.

Measuring your pet business social media program on Prezi

The most difficult part of social media measurement is interpreting and evaluating the data. Once you have gathered all the data, input it into a bar chart or graph and correlate it to your objective. For instance, if you want to track increased sales, determine your quantitative markers, i.e., fans, followers, traffic, comments, interactions, etc., in relation to your sales.

Do you see trends? If so, you will be able to tell in some relation what brought upon that up-tick in sales...was it Facebook? Twitter? Blogging? Then by taking this information you can best

revise and refine your social media program accordingly to increase it's effectiveness.

This is the key to measuring ROI (return on investment) and ROE (return

on engagement).

Successes and disappointments in conducting a social media program may not be immediately visible when measuring your social media. You need to evaluate both quantitative and qualitative data (see presentation) and evaluate it based on the present, to help you act on the future.

If you're not seeing the results you expect, evaluate and be sure to ask yourself:

Are you targeting the right people?

Are your messages speaking to them?

Are you engaging your audience?

The companies with the most successful social media programs are those that answer yes to these questions and act accordingly and with vigor.

Visit these sites to learn more about measuring your social media program:

Marketing Analysis tools for download

Social media measuring article repository

A Wiki of Social Media Monitoring Solutions

The 10 Social Media Metrics Your Company Should Monitor

Pawsible Marketing at BarkWorld Expo 2010

Two weekends ago I had the extreme pleasure of attending BarkWorld Expo and speaking to the attendees of the event.

What a great group of pet business professionals, pet owners and of course, pet lovers. I really enjoyed meeting everyone and talking pets throughout the weekend. And especially enjoyed listening to all the speakers talk about various aspects of social media - from Twitter, Facebook and blogging to social media etiquette, how to most effectively engage clients and prospects through social media, and how to build a great social media program.

My presentation was on Friday and entitled "Utilizing Social Media to Market your PetBusiness.' The talk was geared toward pet business owners, non-profits utilizing social media to further their cause, and pet lovers looking to utilize social media to share the love of their pet with the World. The room was standing room only, and there were a lot of questions following the event. What a great group to speak with! Here is a copy of my presentation to the group, outlining the highlights of my discussion:


I took my two dogs, Johann (YoYo) and Gracie to the event. They were fortunate enough to have two wonderful companies sponsor their attendance, allowing us to showcase the great products both companies provide to dogs (and cats).

Special thanks to Cranimals for allowing us to share their great Cranimal supplements and ZenDog Treats with the attendees, and The Company of Animals who allowed us to share their great line of Nina Ottosson Interactive and Intelligent dog toys, their Haltis, Clix Car Harness, Clix Multi-Clicker and other products with all the pet parents at the event.

JoJo posed with all the great gear from The Company of Animals in the green room, before sharing it with the attendees at the event...

Niqqi, one of the dog blogging attendees and speakers, had a great time trying out the Cranimals ZenDog treats...

And Cosmo, another Tweeting, Facebooking and blogging dog, really had a great time with The Company of Animals Dog Pyramid and Dog Tornado...

JoJo got to show off his enthusiasm for the Dog Pyramid before we shared it with all the dogs at the event...


Gracie, since she's the quietest one of the family, got to attend a few of the sessions with me...although I think naturally she was more interested in playing with the other dogs attending the sessions...

It was a great event, one I hope to be able to attend and participate with again in the future. If you'd like to catch up on a lot of what went on at BarkWorld Expo, go to Twitter's search page and type in #BarkWorld...you'll see the entire stream of Tweets before, during and after the event as all the dogs, participants, attendees and speakers were tweeting away about BarkWorld Expo.

BarkWorld Expo this weekend!

This weekend is the BarkWorld Expo in Atlanta, August 20-22, at Atlantic Station. The conference, expo, and weekend of events will be a really fun and educational time for those interested in learning more about social media for pets and pet businesses.

The conference boasts some amazing speakers including Natalie Malaszenko, PETCO; Rick Rockhill, Natural Balance; Lynn Haigh, PawPawty.com; Charlotte Reed, The Pet Expert and more. I will be speaking tomorrow, Friday, August 20th and discussing how to utilize social media to market your pet business. Although the presentation is geared toward pet businesses, both B2B and B2C, it will also be helpful to non-profits, individuals and even pets parents to learn how they can utilize social media to promote their business, cause or their pet through social media.

As part of our trip my dog's Johann and Gracie from JohannTheDog.com and RaiseAGreenDog.com will be in attendance. They have teamed up with Cranimals, makers of the healthy, green, whole food supplements and functional ZenDog biscuits for our upcoming trip. While at BarkWorld, they will be handing out Cranimals supplements and treats for dogs to try.

If you'll be attending the expo I hope that you'll stop me and introduce yourself, I'd love to meet you! And if you are attending my presentation, get your questions ready as we'll have a nice Q&A session following the presentation to help businesses, non-profits and individuals learn tips and tricks to best utilize social media for their situation. Those attending my session will be provided with a copy of the presentation with notes, so they can put what they've learned to work right away.

See you in Atlanta!