The pet industry is enormous at the moment, and only looks set to grow even further. What with the number of people who own pets being always on the rise, there is enormous opportunity for people who are entering into the pet business. From pet shop owners, to those selling specific products, to people running pet product events, there are so many different areas you can go into. The hard part is making sure people know about your business, which can take time and money. There is also a great deal of competition in the pet industry, so your products have to stand out. Pet business marketing is a specialist field of marketing, specifically for those wanting to raise awareness of their pet industry business, allowing people to get the word out and start making money from their initiative.

If you are new to the pet business industry, having a marketing plan in place is absolutely essential. This will make you accountable to your marketing aims and will set you up with a strategy, ensuring you know what you are working towards. If you aren’t achieving your aims, then you will be able to make some changes to ensure you get more out of your pet business. A marketing plan is the cornerstone of your marketing activity and something that you should put in place with immediate effect. In order to put together you plan, think of your top level aims first, like how much turnover you would like to have within your first three years, and the sectors that you are going to fall into. You can then begin to think of specific marketing initiatives to ensure you meet these aims, and as quickly as possible too.

These are some of the key ways in which you can market your pet business:

• Advertise in a specific pet publication. Many people in the industry read these magazines and use them to find new products, new services and to generally keep up with what is happening in the industry. If you advertise your business in one of these publications, as an editorial piece or in the classified ads section, you will reach a huge audience. This is perfect for business to business marketing.
• Visit a pet industry event. There are regular industry events that could be very beneficial for your business, both events that are aimed at the public and events that are just for the trade. If you want to really get yourself noticed, you can have your own stall where people can come and visit your to find out more about your pet business. It’s a perfect opportunity to network.
• Use the power of the internet. If you have a customer facing business and want to reach consumers outside of the pet industry, then digital is going to be the way to go. This is one of the easiest ways for people to find you, and for you to demonstrate to them what your business can do for them.