36 Tips & Strategies To Get More Dog Walking Customers[2024]

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Updated: January 20th, 2022

Wondering how to market your dog walking business?

Marketing your dog walking business is certainly not easy, but there are many ways to promote and advertise your dog walking business.

We put together a list of the best marketing ideas for your dog walking business, so you can get your small business out there.

Here’s the list:

1. Word of mouth: Generate Word Of Mouth Marketing

Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.

Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.

According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.

Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.

Topic: Word Of Mouth
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Free - Happy customers will spread the word at no cost to your business.
Result: Brand Awareness

Check out our full guide on word of mouth ➜

Social media advertising is the use of social media platforms to connect with your audience with the objective to build your brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic.

According to Oberlo, approximately 48% of the global population use social media, and the number is ever-growing.

Therefore, social media allows brands access to cost-effective advertising by enabling them to interact with a large audience.

Topic: Social Media (Organic)
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Medium - On average, businesses invest $4000 to $7000 per month on social media management, which includes marketing and advertising on one or more platforms
Result: Lead Generation

Check out our full guide on social media advertising ➜

3. Direct Sales: Build A Sales Team

Direct sales strategy implies a direct contact between a seller and a consumer without the involvement of any third party. Direct selling is popular in sectors where sellers communicate with their clientele personally. The sales technique occurs at non-store locations which include at home, work, or online.

For direct selling to succeed, hire a few (or many) salespeople to support the sales conversion process. It's critical that you assign them specific roles and responsibilities to nurture the client and provide excellent support.

Topic: Sales
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Cost: High - Typical costs to consider when hiring: hiring costs, training costs, plus salary and incentives.
Result: Lead Generation

Check out our full guide on direct sales ➜

4. Pay Per Click Advertising: Set Up A Pay Per Click Campaign

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a performance-based marketing method that allows you to show specific ads for services or products oriented to a very defined target, with the goal that the user visits your website or landing page.

Topic: Affiliate
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Low - Average is typically $1 per click
Result: Brand Exposure

5. Referral Program: Launch A Referral Program

A referral program is the type of marketing where you state an offer to your existing customers for the act of creating a word-of-mouth referral that converts.

According to SEMrush, word-of-mouth is considered to be one of the top traffic sources for small businesses that practice affiliate marketing.

Launching a referral program is a great marketing strategy for growing a small business. An effective referral program enables startups to increase lead generation and an active audience.

Topic: Word Of Mouth
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - $10-$100
Result: Brand Exposure

Check out our full guide on referral program ➜

6. SEO Strategy: Create An Effective SEO Strategy

An SEO strategy is the process of planning, optimizing, and organizing your website to help it rank better in search results.

A good SEO strategy helps you match users' search intent such that you drive traffic that is more credible and quality leads to your website.

Therefore, invest in SEO to help your business grow online.

Topic: SEO
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium - SEO costs for a monthly retainer plan range from $750 to $5000 per month.
Result: SEO

Check out our full guide on seo strategy ➜

7. Handwritten Marketing : Send Handwritten Notes to Customers

Handwritten marketing is a common strategy used by sales and marketing teams that aim to maintain close relationships with their customers.

Sending handwritten notes to customers helps marketers achieve personalized marketing, improve customer loyalty, and improve open rates.

The concept of sending writing handwritten notes to customers is ideal in lead generation, sending thank you message after the customer made a purchase, retargeting abandoned shopping carts, and several other scenarios.

Topic: Relationships
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - $0-$50
Result: Brand Loyalty

Check out our full guide on handwritten marketing ➜

8. Product expansion: Expand Your Product Line

Product line expansion simply refers to a way of focusing on your customer's requirements and offering them variants of the current products that they already love.

Before undertaking the product line expansion strategy, consider listening to customers' feedback. Focus on understanding their current pain points and look at ways to make your products appeal to a broader market.

It's important to note that adding new products and diversifying may not be in the cards for you right this moment, and that's okay. You can always consider it down the road.

Topic: Buzz
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium - $100-$2,000
Result: Brand Exposure

Check out our full guide on product expansion ➜

9. Competitor analysis: Conduct A Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis refers to a report analyzing your competitors' strengths and weaknesses relative to those of your own business.

For startups trying to break into the market, a well-researched competition analysis gives you the tools to reach strategic decisions.

A competitor analysis should be included in your marketing plan, your business plan, and all aspects of your high-level business and pricing strategy.

Topic: Sales
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Low - $0-$300
Result: Product Quality

Check out our full guide on competitor analysis ➜

10. LinkedIn Outreach: Reach Out To Prospects Via LInkedIn InMail

LinkedIn Outreach is the process of sending direct LinkedIn messages to prospects.

Consider that direct messaging is LinkedIn's primary one-to-one communication approach. Therefore, sending direct LinkedIn message provides marketers an effective approach for reaching the target audience in a personal way.

Often referred to as LinkedIn Inmail, LinkedIn direct messaging could accelerate your lead generation pipeline.

Topic: Social Media (Organic)
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - The InMails are sent on a pay-per-send basis, and cost anywhere from $0.30 to $1 per send depending on your target audience
Result: Brand Awareness

Check out our full guide on linkedin outreach ➜

11. Meetup groups: Meetup Group As a Marketing Strategy

Marketing via meetup groups is a strategy to helppublicize a brand during an ongoing in-person or virtual meeting.

Meetup groups offer many benefits for marketing your business, such as finding clients, hosting meetup groups that attract your customers, and learning from like-minded entrepreneurs.

Therefore, if you run a local or global business, meet up groups can be a great strategy for publicizing your offer.

Topic: Events
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - $5-$150
Result: Brand Awareness

Check out our full guide on meetup groups ➜

12. Networking Event: Attend A Networking Event

Networking event refers to social or economic activity where entrepreneurs meet with intention of forming business relationships, recognizing, creating, or acting upon business opportunities.

As an entrepreneur, creating connections and putting your brand out there is critical to the success of your business.

Attending a networking event you will meet like-minded people, exchange a business idea or two, and leave knowing you brought your brand some exposure.

Networking events could provide you a once in lifetime opportunity or connection that could take your business to the next level.

Topic: Events
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - $0-$150
Result: Brand Awareness

Check out our full guide on networking event ➜

13. Franchising: Franchise Your Business

Franchising is a business strategy where private entrepreneurs sell the rights to their business logo, name, and model to third-party outlets.

A franchise is beneficial to small businesses that cannot afford much finance and capital investment to operate a business startup.

Franchises often have a higher success rate compared to startup businesses.

Topic: Buzz
Level of Difficulty: Hard
Cost: High - $20,000-$30,000
Result: Business Expansion

Check out our full guide on franchising ➜

14. Yelp reviews: Get More Positive Yelp Reviews

Yelp is a social networking site that lets users postreviews and rate businesses. Positive Yelp reviews provide valuable input when it comes to lead generation.

According to Customer reviews data, 97% of people make a purchase after visiting Yelp. Besides, 80% of consumers visiting Yelp share businesses they find with other people.

Therefore, positive Yelp reviews can lead to greater social proof needed to inspire consumer confidence and foster customer loyalty.

Topic: Social Media (Organic)
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free - Satisfied customers will leave Yelp reviews voluntarily
Result: Trust & Credibility

Check out our full guide on yelp reviews ➜

15. Yelp ads: Create Yelp Ads

Yelp Ads refers to the placement of promotional content on Yelp with the intention to reach more customers who visit Yelp.

The Yelp advertisements will appear in the search results and on business listings.

Through Yelp ads, you can bring more people back to your Yelp business page so that they learn more about your business and ultimately decide to contact you.

Topic: Social Media - (Paid)
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - $0-$350
Result: Brand Exposure

Check out our full guide on yelp ads ➜

16. Testimonials: Ask Customers For Testimonials

A customer testimonial is a recommendation from satisfied customers affirming the value of a product or service.

Happy customers give customer testimonials voluntarily or upon a company’s request.

According to Optinmonster, 88% of consumers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations.

When combined with a sharp content strategy, customer testimonials help prospects overcome objections, hence boosting online sales and turns customers to brand ambassadors.

Topic: Content
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free - Satisfied customers will leave testimonials at no cost to your business
Result: Trust & Credibility

Check out our full guide on testimonials ➜

17. Offline advertising (flyers, etc): Start an Offline Advertising Campaign

Offline advertising refers to the advertising tactics carried out using the traditional media such as billboards, television, and even radio ads.

Although digital advertising drives a higher ROI for many brands, traditional offline channels still matter for startups.

According to Oberlo, 10% of the US population says they never use the internet. Besides, only 81% of US adults go online on a daily basis.

Thus, running an offline advertising campaign is the best approach for targeting people who never use the internet, or do not log in on a daily basis.

Topic: Print + Traditional
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Cost: High - A company can spend thousands, even millions, to some traditional avenues.
Result: Brand Exposure

Check out our full guide on offline advertising (flyers, etc) ➜

18. Business cards: Create Business Cards

A business card is a card bearing information about a business or an individual.

Business cards may seem like an "old" way to market yourself, but they still may be worth it.

A skillfully designed business card can be your best marketing tool especially if you meet many clients in person.

Topic: Print + Traditional
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - $25-$200. Price depends on how many business cards you order.
Result: Brand Awareness

Check out our full guide on business cards ➜

19. Promotional videos: Create A Stellar Promotional Video

A promotional video is any type of video you record and post with the intention of promoting a particular marketing initiative, sale, or event.

According to Wyzowl, 83% of video marketers say video gives them a great ROI.

Creating a stellar promotional video grabs the audience's attention and draws them to learn more about the featured product or service.

Topic: Content
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium - $100-$10,000
Result: Brand Awareness

Check out our full guide on promotional videos ➜

20. Direct Mail Campaign: Design A Successful Direct Mail Campaign

Marketing through direct mail is a process where a business sends print advertising to their customer using the mail system.

Although this may seem like an old school way of doing marketing, it's proven to create brand awareness and convert customers.

This form of marketing can be done through various different methods, such as brochures, letters, postcards, flyers and much more.

Topic: Print + Traditional
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Low - $.50-$3.00 per piece of mail
Result: Brand Awareness

Check out our full guide on direct mail campaign ➜

21. Checklist Content: Create A Checklist For Your Blog

Checklists provide readers with a concise list of tasks for how to solve a specific problem.

This type of content typically drives your customer to download, use, and share your content - all great ways to improve your SEO and brand exposure.

Topic: Content
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free - There is no cost to create a checklist.
Result: Brand Exposure

Check out our full guide on checklist content ➜

22. Product Page: Launch A Product Page

A product page is a page on an E-commerce website that describes the product to customers.

Therefore, customers go to the product page to find information about a product they want to buy.

Adding a product page can only offer gains to your online store. However, you have to be careful while launching the product page.

Consider the product page to be a customer magnet, and more importantly, the page where customers spend most of the time.

So, how do you make the most out of a product page? To find out more, Keep reading.

Topic: Sales
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - If you have an existing online store, adding product pages should not cost any extra money.
Result: Lead Generation

Check out our full guide on product page ➜

23. Caption Contest: Run A Caption Contest

A caption contest giveaway is when brands share an image on social media and ask their audience to come up with a description for it.

Typically, whoever creates the best caption is chosen and rewarded with a gift or prize.

Not only can this engage your audience, but the results are often so clever that they can be used for future marketing material. You could even use the best entries to create a hilarious meme for your business. The opportunities are endless.

Topic: Social Media (Organic)
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - $10-$500. Depending on the giveaway prize, the cost may vary.
Result: Engagement

Check out our full guide on caption contest ➜

24. Direct Mail QR Codes: Add A QR Code To Your Direct Mail Campaign

A QR Code (Quick Response code) is a 2-D barcode that allows your direct mail audience to perform actions like calling you back, redeem a coupon, subscribing to a newsletter, pay bills, or booking to attend an event.

Placing the QR code on direct mail enables you to track the user location, time, and date of the scan. Besides, you can determine marketing campaign efficiency by looking at data sets that relate to email engagement, scan rates, and even payments.

In a nutshell, Placing QR codes on direct mail enables you to gather valuable analytics you may not be able to calculate with direct mail campaigns.

Topic: Print + Traditional
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free - You can use free QR code generator available online
Result: Lead Generation

Check out our full guide on direct mail qr codes ➜

25. TV Advertising: Create A TV Ad Campaign

Television advertising refers to broadcasting programmed promotional messages that target potential TV viewers.

Brands use TV commercials to convey promotional messages that market a product or a service.

Throughout the decades, brands have used TV commercials to attract a massive customer base for their products and services.

Topic: Print + Traditional
Level of Difficulty: Hard
Cost: High - $115,000 per 30 second commercial
Result: Brand Exposure

Check out our full guide on tv advertising ➜

26. Brand Story Email: Create A Brand Story Email Campaign

A brand story email narrates the story of how and why your business was started and expresses how that narrative is still apart of you today.

Emails that explain your brand story can be a very effective way to connect with your customer.

Topic: Email
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free - -
Result: Lead Generation

Check out our full guide on brand story email ➜

27. Billboard Ad: Create A Billboard Ad

Billboards are large outdoor advertising structures that are usually found on busy roads and high traffic areas.

Billboards are effective because they can reach pedestrians and drivers.

Based on a recent study, 71% of Americans consciously look at billboard messages while driving.

Topic: Print + Traditional
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Cost: High - $700-$30,000 - depending on location and size.
Result: Brand Exposure

Check out our full guide on billboard ad ➜

28. Print Media Marketing: Create A Print Media Marketing Campaign

Print media marketing is a form of advertising that uses physically printed media to reach consumers, business customers, and prospects.

Examples of physically printed media are magazines, newspapers, newsletters, consumer and trade magazines, and direct letters to target customers.

By creating print media marketing campaigns, businesses are able to reach a very wide audience and target different readerships.

Topic: Print + Traditional
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium - $500-$20,000
Result: Brand Awareness

Check out our full guide on print media marketing ➜

29. Newspaper Ad: Experiment With Newspaper Advertising

Newspaper advertising refers to running an ad for your business in a print publication.

Placing ads in newspapers and magazines has been an effective way to reach a wide range of customers. Advertisers can use newspapers and magazines to run targeted advertising.

To ensure effectively targeted marketing using newspaper and magazine ads, the advertiser must research the interests of the target audience.

Topic: Print + Traditional
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium - $500-$20,000
Result: Brand Awareness

Check out our full guide on newspaper ad ➜

Social media engagement refers to responding to comments, likes, and shares by social media users.

Through social media engagement, a brand can measure how consumers perceive their products, respond to complaints and amplify positive comments about the brand.

Engaging social media users is a great approach to measure whether the content you are creating is resonating with your audience.

Topic: Social Media (Organic)
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - On average, you can expect to pay $6.35 per 1000 views for boosted posts
Result: Engagement

Check out our full guide on social media engagement ➜

31. Sell Sheet: Create A Sell Sheet

A sell-sheet is a one-page document that details how your product or service solves customer problems.

The sell-sheet should be visually compelling and formatted neatly to capture the prospect's attention. You may distribute the sell sheets to prospects through email, share during a physical meeting, or send via traditional mail.

When done right, a sell-sheet is a compelling piece of communication that does the selling for you

Topic: Sales
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free - You can design a compelling sell-sheet using free sell-sheet templates available online
Result: Lead Generation

Check out our full guide on sell sheet ➜

32. Happy Birthday Email: Develop A Happy Birthday Automation Email For Your Customers

A Happy Birthday email is an automated message sent to customers or subscribers on the date mentioned as their birthday. The email messages are triggered to the subscribers or customers on their birthday or before the event.

Sending a happy birthday email to your customers is a great way to let them know you care and can encourage them to remain loyal to your brand.

Typically, birthday emails include a special deal, offer, or a free gift. Often, happy birthday deals can be redeemed online or in-store, and validity is extended to few days after the celebration date.

Topic: Email
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - On average, a mid-size business can expect to spend $0 - $1,000 per month depending on the email marketing platform and number of emails.
Result: Brand Loyalty

Check out our full guide on happy birthday email ➜

33. Mobile Email Strategy: Optimize Your Email Messages For Mobile

Mobile email strategy covers how a brand is embracing the mobile era to send personalized email campaigns in order to attain high click-through rates.

According to Email Monday, about 3 in 5 customers check their emails on mobile devices, while 75% of customers check emails using on their Smartphones.

Therefore, if you continue building your email marketing for desktop users only, chances are that the audience you are trying to reach will never open or read your email campaigns.

So, how do you optimize your email marketing messages for email? Keep reading for more insights.

Topic: Email
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - On average, a mid-size business can expect to spend $0 - $1,000 per month on email marketing depending on number of subscribers and the email platform.
Result: Lead Generation

Check out our full guide on mobile email strategy ➜

34. A/B Test Email Campaigns: A/B Test Your Email Campaigns: Button, Color, Design, and Subjects

Email Campaign A/B testing involves sending two or more variations in your email marketing campaign to determine which version attains a higher open rate or conversion rate compared to the others.

In email A/B testing, you may want to compare how different email subject lines, CTA button color or images perform in terms of attracting conversions.

Ideally, A/B testing in the context of email campaigns involves a 50/50 split meaning half of your audience will receive variation A while the remaining half gets variation B.

Topic: Email
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - A/B testing email campaigns is easy and cost effective.
Result: Engagement

Check out our full guide on a/b test email campaigns ➜

35. Postcard: Design & Send A Postcard

A postcard is a commercially printed card with space for a message, an address, a postage stamp, and often a photographic.

According to Data & Marketing Association, postcards get a high response rate. Therefore, adding postcards to your direct mail campaign is a great lead generation tactic.

Ideally, the message conveyed on postcards gets right to the point. In that regard, postcards are a high-impact marketing technique.

Topic: Print + Traditional
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Low - Design costs may vary depending on the agency, design aspects and quality
Result: Lead Generation

Check out our full guide on postcard ➜

36. Backlinks: Improve Your Backlink Portfolio

Backlinks refer to links from one website to a page on another website. Search engines consider backlinks as votes for a specific page.

Thus, pages with a high number of backlinks tend to have a high organic ranking on search engines. A recent study showed that backlinks remain a key ranking signal for Google.

Therefore, improving your backlink portfolio means your website will rank higher in Google and other search engines.

Topic: SEO
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium - The price of link building varies greatly between $100 – $20,000 per month depending on quality and volume.
Result: SEO

Check out our full guide on backlinks ➜

meet the author

Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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