Ten Rules For Marketing Your Dog Training Business On A Budget


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By Adam G. Katz

Deep down inside, many dog trainers question whether they can run an effective marketing campaign. Well, relax. You don't need any special talents, skills or even a formal education in order to pull off an effective, low budget marketing campaign. Here's ten tips that show you how to do it:

Tip #1: Forget conventional wisdom
Image advertising just doesn't work for our industry. In contrast, direct response advertising does. And it's easy to learn. (See our "Dog Business 101" department) No matter what anyone tells you, you don't need expensive ads or marketing literature to own a successful dog training business. Just a little ingenuity and some hard work and you'll soon be the #1 dog trainer in your area.

Tip #2: Break From The Pack
You must give dog owners a reason to spend their money with you. Ask yourself this question: "Why would a dog owner seeking dog training services, pick me?" When you can answer this question, you'll have come up with your USP-- Your Unique Selling Proposition. This is what makes you unique. And this is what you'll want to promote when you do start running your direct response ads and handing out your business cards. Your USP might be something like, "The Fastest Dog Training Results In Toledo, Guaranteed!" Or "Recommended by 4 out of 5 Veterinarians!"

Tip #3: Know Who Your Target Market Is...
Many dog trainers who are new to the business make the mistaken assumption that only the wealthy will be able to afford $300, $500, or even $1500 for a dog training program. This is faulty thinking. The reality-- as proven by years of experience and back-tested in several different markets-- is that people from all walks of life will pay the "big bucks" for dog training. In fact, I've found that it's actually easier to sell a one-on-one dog training program to a middle class or even working class dog owner than it is to sell to a wealthy dog owner. Because it's always the wealthy dog owner who wants to haggle. Or second guess you. Their business, their maid, their pool boy, and their kid's private schools take up so much of their time that they generally make for lousy clients. This is a broad generalization I'm making, of course. But the notion that you need to be in a wealthy area to make money in the dog training business is pure bunk.

You Need To Be In An Area Where There Are Many Dog Owners! And that's it!

And so, my main point is this: Dog owners of any socio-economic background will pay for your services. I don't know where they get the money, nor do I care. I think it's just that many people make their dogs as much of a priority as they do their kids. And this means money in our pockets.

Tip #4: Identify Your Big Benefits
Don't just say, "Obedience Training." Instead, you'll want to exclaim, "Imagine being able to take your dog with you, anywhere you go!"

Instead of saying, "Behavior problems fixed," say, "Housebreaking In A Hurry!" or "Get your dog to stop pulling in less than 10 minutes!" (By the way... these two are both copyrighted titles from videos produced by Dogproblems.com, so you'll need to be creative and come up with your own description of the services you provide to your clients).

Tip #5: Promote Yourself Like Crazy!
Did you think that you'd be spending the majority of your time training dogs? Ha! At least in the beginning, a majority of your time will be spent promoting yourself. And even later, marketing is like dog training... it never ends. It's something you're always working on and always maintaining.

A Simple Exercise That Will Put An Extra $1500 to $2000 In Your Pocket

Here's a good exercise that you'll want to get into the habit of practicing, because it will put an extra $1500 to $2000 in your pocket: First, make sure you've designed your business cards like we suggest, in the tutorials available in our "Dog Business 101" section. Next, every time you're out and about, around town, FORCE YOURSELF to walk up to dog owners you've never met and start talking to them about their dog. It's easy. Most people like to be approached, and if you've been in this business for any length of time, you probably already know that most people LOVE to talk about their dogs. So, at the end of your conversation, hand them a business card and tell them, "It's been wonderful chatting with you. If you know of anyone interested in dog training services, my company offers free consultations and a free temperament evaluation. Please have them give us a call." Wham! Just that one technique alone has given me enough income to cover all of the rest of my monthly advertising expenses.

Make it a habit. Anywhere you go and see somebody with a dog, think to yourself, "There's $500. Let's go talk to them!"

Tip #6: Make A Small Plan

You might be tempted to "wing it," just like so many other dog training business owners do. But don't. Most dog training businesses (or businesses in general) that don't have a plan, simply don't succeed.

You wouldn't plan a road trip without first buying a map and planning out your trip, would you? Even if it just means familiarizing yourself with the main highway that will get you where you want to go?

Running a dog training business is a lot like planning a road trip. You need a plan. And one of the best ways to formulate a plan is to study and model what other successful dog training business owners have done in the past. (That's what we're trying to provide for you here, at DogTrainerClub.com)

Tip #7: Test, Test, and Test Some More!

Experimentation is truly the key to success in the dog training business. Many of the ideas on this site cost you little or nothing, but can deliver big results. But you'll need to test and tweak each of these ideas to see which ones work best for you. For example, some dog trainers are naturally better at doing in-person public relations. They'll have no problem walking into a radio station and announcing that they're free for an interview. While other dog trainers are a lot more comfortable writing and testing headlines for their ad copy. And some like keeping a low profile, and focus more on doing "walk ups" to prospective clients, or offering bite prevention or puppy seminars to their local vet clinics.

The truly successful dog trainer will force him or herself to become proficient in all forms of marketing and advertising, and then will constantly test and tweak his approach to consistently improve response.

Tip #8: Make Certain That You're "Delivering The Goods"

You need to be confident that you can "deliver the goods." Because nothing sells your dog training business better than happy customers who take their dog outside and show off what you've taught them.

They'll show off their dog to their neighbors.

They'll show off their dog to their friends.

And they'll show off their dog to their groomer and veterinarian.

And in return, all of these people will start sending you clients. And it won't cost you a thing.

If you're not 100% confident in your dog training skill, then you need to spend some time working on this by going to seminars, apprenticeship, training clubs or by going back to school.

Tip #9: Persist For Profits...

Many of the marketing and business techniques that we teach will get dog owners to start calling you, almost immediately. Others take time.

Just remember: To really start making the "big bucks," profit takes persistance. What you're building is a giant snowball. Sure, it starts out small. But after awhile, you're going to have so many different streams of revenue coming in that you'll wake up one morning and realize that you've got a giant snowball of a dog training business, sending you a constant stream of new clients. In fact, many of my students have found that even after a very short period of time, they're forced to either increase their rates or simply cut back on their number of signings because they have too much business to handle.

Tip #10: Set Up Systems To Run Your Business

In the beginning, you'll be tempted to just run everything by the seat of your pants. But the smart dog trainer will buy a file cabinet and a box of files and begin documenting HOW everything in the business is done. Imagine that some day, you'll have an employeee to run your business for you. So, start now by setting up systems. Systems for how calls are handled. Systems for how your marketing and referral network is run and maintained. Systems for how the money gets deposited.

Even if you never hire an employee to help run your business, by establishing systems, you'll find that you can actually streamline your own behaviors and make almost everything in your business run more efficiently. For more information on how to do this, pick up a copy of Michael Gerber's book, "The E-Myth Revisited."