Episode 407: Top 5 Marketing Mistakes Pet Sitting Businesses Make

  Ever find yourself scratching your head, wondering why your marketing isn’t hitting the mark? Wish you had a blueprint to dodge the common marketing mistakes that are holding your pet business back? In this week's episode, I'm unlocking the secrets to effective marketing as I dive into the top five marketing mistakes that I see pet businesses make. This episode is especially for anyone feeling overwhelmed by their current marketing efforts. In this episode, you’ll discover: The ONE major misconception: Thinking everyone is your client—learn why this could be draining your resources and focus. Online Presence pitfalls: Why lacking a robust online presence can make or break your business. Branding Blunders: The do’s and dont’s of consistent, effective branding. Imagine finally understanding why your marketing efforts haven't been converting. Picture turning those weak spots into areas of strength that drive your business forward. Think about it...What if you could spend less time guessing and more time executing tactics that actually work? How would it feel to have a crystal-clear understanding of your target audience? What difference would a consistent and compelling brand make to your bottom line? Time Sensitive Invite: There’s also an exciting revival happening in our Jump Start Your Pet Business community on Facebook, and I want YOU to be a part of it. I've been going live once or twice a week to teach and give valuable tips. We are still entering people into our  FREE 20-minute 1:1 coaching session giveaway. Simply join the group and tag me (Bella) in your post – I'd love to hear which episode inspired you the most! Timestamps: [02:09] Marketing Mistake #1 [07:12] Marketing Mistake #2 [14:25] Marketing Mistake #3 [16:25] Marketing Mistake #4 [21:35] Marketing Mistake #5 Notable Quotes: "If everyone was your client, then that means that you're competing with rover, or you're competing with, like, these big national corporations that are just a logo and, like a website, right? You are a unique individual, servicing a very small area. If you really zoom out, look at the entire world, you know, you are the expert in your area." "If your website is stale, if it's sterile, if your marketing on your website or your social media is literally something that I could copy and paste and put on someone else's therefore it's not personal, then you miss the mark." "Are you measuring engagement? Are you measuring ultimate conversion rates? Are you measuring just page views on Google? Are you measuring click throughs in emails? What are you measuring?" Resources: Email Bella: bella @ jumpconsulting . net Jump Start Your Pet Business Facebook group FREE 20-min Consult with Bella Did you love this episode? Make sure you never miss an episode! Head over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify to subscribe to Bella In Your Business. Transcript: Welcome to another episode of Bella in your business. My name is Bella Vasta. Today we're gonna talk. We're gonna talk about top five marketing mistakes that pet businesses make. And, guys, I know you've been loving these, like, really personal episodes, and trust me, I'm gonna stay personal. We're gonna keep it going because this is literally me talking to you and keep all of the questions coming. I love getting them. I love the DM's. I live for them. Honestly, I always love finding out, like, you know, what your biggest takeaway was. So feel free to ask me anywhere. Instagram, Facebook, where else? I don't know. Everywhere, really. Or bellaumpconsulting.net. olivia was so excited and loved all of your comments. So thank you so much for her little, um, her little debut last week. If you haven't listened to it, she dropped some positivity bombs that were pretty cute. I was very proud of her. Um, all right, so without ado, let's get started. Actually, no, there's one more thing I want to tell you about. Um, keep coming into the jumpstart, your pet business Facebook group. We're going to be doing a lot of stuff in there. It's starting to really ramp up. I went live in there once or twice this weekend. Um, just kind of teaching or giving some tips. I'm going to do even more. And we are still entering people into our free coaching session. So all you got to do is just post on the wall. Tag. Mella. Hey, Belle. I heard you on the podcast, entering to win one of the free coaching sessions. Um, and, uh, and let me know, and we'll get you in there. Okay? So just go to Facebook and just type in, jump start your pet business. You might already be a member and just forgot because of the greatest, a logarithm. Um, and, uh, it's just. It's fun in there. So come on and get in. It's one way you can be part of a community. It's free. It's free. Costs nothing. And the difference about this community is it's actually led by me. Right? So it's not like a, um, another, um, group where it's just a random person doing it, or maybe it's a coach doing it, but they don't actually show up or they don't actually teach, and they just. It's kind of like person led like mine. I really take pride that I try to start a lot of conversations, or I try to give you guys value weekly, and. But I want you guys to join in the conversation, too, now. All right, so let's get going because this is also kind of in ties with what we're talking about. The top five marketing mistakes pet businesses make. Again, I'm Bella Vasta from jump Consulting. If this is one of the first times you are listening to me, I've been in this industry since 2002 when my parents told me that they wanted to put a curfew on me and I realized that I could get paid to sleep over people's houses with their pets. What? Back then, the industry was not well known. So a lot of our marketing was a lot about telling people that they didn't have to go put their dog in a boarding facility that they could actually bring them to or that they could stay at home and that we could come to their home. And getting the public, like, knowing that that was an option, obviously now in 2024, at the time of this recording, that is nothing, I think, anymore. Now we're just really trying to explain to them how great and positive and trustworthy and likable and professional we are. Right. Because they already know what's going on. And so I want you to think about something. I know a lot of pet sitters make this big mistake. The first one is they think everyone is their clients. Now that sounds pretty obvious, right? But if I go to any one of your Instagram or Facebook or maybe your email marketing, if you do email marketing, which you should be, by the way, it's like the best form. It's like email, Instagram, Facebook. That's where I would actually like, put my, um, my money where my mouth is if I were a business owner right now. Um. Oh, I didn't even finish my story. See, here we go. Add again. Um, anyways, all right, I'm going to slow down because I'm getting really excited. It's in the morning. I've had a lot of coffee. Um, okay, so everyone isn't your client. Everyone is not your client. And I want you to realize that because it's like, you know, if everyone was your client, then that means that you're competing with Rover or you're competing with like these big national corporations that are just a logo and like a website, right? You are a unique individual in a servicing a very small area. And, you know, if you really zoom out, look at the entire world, you know, and you are the expert in your area. You are the expert when it comes to pets. You are the expert when it comes to dog walking. You are the expert when it comes to your, your weather and the different nuances that are there. Right. If I were to drop someone from, like, Edmonton, Canada, in the middle of the sonoran desert, they would have no idea what a javelina is or, or to look out for certain kinds of cactus that can, like, jump on you or, like, coyotes. Right. Nor would I understand, like, the fact that my walkers are gonna be walking and their eyelashes are gonna end up with icicles on them and it's perfectly okay. And that the dogs up there are okay with it like it is. You are such an expert, and if I can at any point put whatever you're saying on anyone else's, then you've lost. Right. And so I really want you to think about, you have to define your target audience. Okay? You have to know your ideal customer. You have to provide tips on, on how to, you know, care for your pets in your specific area from your specific expertise. And so the way that you understand your target market is you can do it a couple different ways. One, you could be reactive. And by that, I mean you can think about everyone that you actually service right now, who you've attracted. And I think the number one thing you have to think about is, are these the clients I want? Right. So sometimes maybe company a has attracted a bunch of people by having coupons everywhere. And so they've, they've attracted a lot of, like, um, uh, coupon minded people that will probably jump to the next coupon or best deal, um, possible. They're not typically loyal. Um, and, and they really care about price. They're trying to constantly nickel and dime you up. You, you know, you increase your prices, they're, like, freaking out. And then there's like, you know, company b, that's just like, you know what? We're going to be $10 more expensive than everyone else, and we're not going to have as much volume, which means we're not going to have as many employees. But our profit margin is going to be, like, popping. It's going to be amazing. And I would rather work less for more money than my ego and make it a popularity contest. Right, and have a low profit margin and a high volume. And so I think a lot of people don't stop and think, like, what do I really want? And neither one is better or worse. Right. It comes down to, like, what you want. Um,