Marketing Strategies I Learned from My Dog
I'm a dog person. Let's get that out in the open. Cats can be cute and certainly easier to take care of. But nothing beats the loyalty of a pooch.
Do cats care if you leave the house for hours? Not really. Dogs on the other hand, treat you like you've been on a mission to Mars for months, when all you've done is walk to the mailbox and back.?
At least that's how our miniature schnauzer Ace treats us.?
Next to hearing my kids scream, "Daddy's home!" when they were little, it's tough to find a more satisfying, exciting greeting at the door.
Anyways, I was walking Ace the other day and he was sniffing away at something in the grass. I didn't see anything so it was probably some sort of rodent underground. I tried to distract him and tugged on his leash.
He kept at it. So I kept trying.?
"Leave it!" I snapped, while gently pulling on the leash again.
Nothing.
Yeah, Ace, like most miniature schnauzers, is the textbook case of "stubborness." When we first got him, I had to look up "schnauzer" to see if it was German for "stubborn."
I tried a few other tricks, like looking down the street and excitedly asked, "Who is THAT? Who's coming? Who is that?"
And sure enough, he popped his head up to look at the empty street down the road.?
But he looked. And then started walking with me.
In short, it worked. And it really was all about my tone. It's how I said it.?
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At that moment, I realized something… I was "marketing" to my dog. I was communicating with him in a language he understood in order to get a response.?
I had to laugh at that a bit but it's true. Marketing is all about knowing your audience and speaking in a way that they're used to hearing things. Why would dogs be any different?
Same goes with his food. Some days he's starving and will eat his kibble no problem. Other days, he'll sniff it, give it the side eye and then hop up on the couch to bark at whoever's walking by in the street outside.
Normally, it's fine and I wouldn't care that he didn't eat right away. But on days he goes to "doggy daycare," I definitely want him to eat in the morning because it's a long day and I don't know what he does there.?
So I have to get sneaky again.
When you market to someone and they visit your site but don't convert, what do you gain from that? They clicked a link somewhere and made it to your site. Awareness achieved! But they stopped there. How come? Could be any of a dozen different reasons. Your product or service isn't clearly explained. It's not what they expected. It's not what they want. Your site took too long to load. Your site's colors are hideous. The list goes on and on.
With Ace, I did the same thing. He walked over and sniffed the bowl. That's the first step. I caught his attention. He's aware! He made it to the top of the sales funnel!
But he then walked away. So I do what any decent marketer would do… I alter the "offer." I add a handful of cooked chicken to the bowl. Now I have to show him I'm doing that, so he understands and will head over to the bowl again.?
And wouldn't you know it, it works most of the time. He may just eat the chicken and leave the kibble. Or he'll eat it all. Either way, I managed to get some sort of "conversion" out of my dog. That's a win in my book.
On tough days I even go so far as to add a spoonful of cream cheese to the mixture. That's his kryptonite. Usually. It almost always works, but there are occasions it doesn't and I have to try something else or just give up completely and try again the next day.
The nice thing about marketing to dogs is that you get instant feedback too. Forget diving into analytics and creating mountains of pivot tables. A simple wag of the tail is more than enough to show you that you've got one satisfied customer.?
Cats, on the other hand, well, that's a completely different marketing challenge…
Home based Market Researcher
11 个月Such a cute face.
Communications Strategy | Event Planning | Brand Building
2 年This analogy really puts the marketing process into perspective and is easily understood. Of course, your examples resonated with me as I also have a stubborn dog who goes to doggie daycare to help him expend some of his energy. I get so frustrated when he takes his time to finish breakfast on those days when I know he needs the sustenance. Marketing is all about knowing your audience. (Also, try pumpkin in his kibble.)
PATH2 | CoFounder
2 年Love this. I am dog person and this completely resonated with me.
Content Strategy, Marketing and Social Media Director
2 年I read my dog all my copy. He never has any edits. ??