3 Specific Examples Of HOW To Market To Your Ideal Client

Large dogs, medium, or small?
Cats?
Horses?
Distance you have to drive?
Pay via credit card or check?
Monday-Friday midday visits or vacation overnights?

Are you building your ideal client avatar?  If you’re not, you should be.  It will streamline your marketing efforts, be more cost effective, and it will attract clients that you love working with.

We’ve talked WHAT your ideal client looks like.
We’ve talked about WHY you should keep an ideal client in mind.

Now we are going to talk about HOW to reach them.

It’s easy:

Give them what they want: and they all want INFORMATION about things that are IMPORTANT to them.

Ideal client #1

Clients who travel.

You are not so much into walking dogs Monday – Friday.  You really like clients that travel out of town for a long weekend or even that epic trip to Europe.  You visit the animals 3-4x a day, maybe you spend the night in their home, maybe you offer boarding in your home.  They travel on average a minimum of 1 weekend a month and take 1 or 2 longer trips throughout the year.

If this sounds like your ideal client, you are going to want to talk about weekend get-aways.

But wait, an article about weekend get-aways has nothing to do with pet sitting?!  Not directly, but what if they have a pet?

Chances that a first time client is going to put “pet sitter in Whoville” into the Google search box are pretty low.

It is much more likely they will put “fun get-aways close to Whoville” and that’s how they will find you.

You gave them a great suggestion on a new place for them to explore….who do you think they are going to call for pet sitting?

Y.O.U.

Ideal client #2

What if your favorite client has a warm and altruistic personality?  They are involved with local shelters and rescue organizations, maybe they have a few foster animals at their home.

Talk about places in your area to volunteer with animals.

You don’t need to mention your pet siting services – they are on your site already, getting information that is important to them!  If you help them find a way to give back to the community they are going to remember who lead them there!  And then when they need a pet sitter, or get asked about a pet sitter, who do you think they are going to remember?

Y.O.U.

Ideal client #3

We can even narrow it down to a specific animal that you like to work with.

You have a knack for cats with diabetes and add value as a pet sitter to clients who have diabetic cats.

Your target marketing is towards owners who want more information on cats with diabetes.  How to diagnose, who is the best vet in town, how to treat, signs of a crash, the quality of life of a diabetic cat.

Talk to a local vet and see if you can set up an after hours talk specifically for diabetic cats.  Have the vet give information, answer questions etc.  You invite your clients, the vet can invite the clinic clients – throw in some light refreshments and you have an evening of like minded people together in one room.  You have a room full of your 10 out of 10, perfect clients!

Bonus, you brought in potential new clients for the vet as well!  Who do you think that vet is going to recommend for anyone with a diabetic cat?

Y.O.U.

Is it making sense on how vital knowing your ideal client is?  Again, it’s not your only client.

If you have a marketing plan for the clients that you know you work best with, you will still attract other clients – it’s the marketing ripple effect.   Then you can decide if they are a good fit for you and your company policies and build the relationship!

It’s also important to go through the assessment to know what type of clients you know you won’t be happy with.

If you don’t have any experience with horses – you should not be doing any marketing towards people with horses.  This would be a great opportunity to network with other pet sitters so you have someone to refer those horse clients to.

Share with us who your ideal client is!  How are you going to specifically market to them?  We love to hear your stories!

(Photo at top of article is used with permission from Michael Bagley of Michael Bagley Photography)