A Quick Guide to Animal Marketing
People adore animals — you can’t deny that. Cats, dogs, raccoons, hedgehogs, hippos… by now, it’s clear that marketers are prepared to go the extra mile just to draw attention towards a brand by using animals as their respective brand mascots. Though animal marketing comes in many forms, using pet influencers to promote products and services is the most common marketing approach there is. It isn’t exactly a new concept, but it’s a fairly new domain that marketers must explore. You may also see what is brand marketing?
Finding Your Place in the Animal Industry
Trustworthiness. Compassion. Playfulness.
These are the three qualities that customers look for in animal-centered campaigns. With so many criticisms over the use of animals for testing and commercial purposes, it’s important for a company to be highly sensitive to their campaigns to steer clear of any issues that may arise. You may also like types of marketing styles
Keep in mind that animal marketing may constitute two different things: you either sell animal-centered products or services, or you don’t. An example of the former means you could be offering grooming and wellness goods for pets, while the latter would mean you could be using animals to draw attention towards your brand. Either way, both scenarios involve animal marketing and how it has become a common form of advertising in today’s market. You may also check out marketing plan examples & samples
What’s considered to be an undeniably crowded industry, standing out from competitors with animals as your best asset can be quite challenging. While you may be aware of your strengths as a corporate entity, you also need to take your weaknesses into consideration. It’s good to find something unique to focus on in order to set yourself apart from the competition. Niche marketing will help create a path for you to follow when developing your animal marketing campaigns.
Secondly, finding your place in the said industry would require your target audience to be identified accordingly. Are you targeting pet owners or just animal-lovers with your ad? Now if that sounds too broad for you, then you may also be more specific with your audience. This will make it easier to determine demographic information to hone your marketing strategy.
Content Marketing Ideas for Animal Marketing
Here are some clever ways to step up your animal marketing game through various content marketing strategies:
1. Set up a Blog.
Imagine a blog filled with adorable pictures and videos of animals. Now if that won’t get anyone’s attention, then what will? Start by publishing compelling articles that are relevant to the needs of your audience. While it may seem tempting to post on a regular basis, concentrate on tailoring your content according to what your customers seek for instead. You may even optimize on keywords that will help drive traffic to effective inbound marketing.
2. Create Your Social Networking Pages.
Apart from blogging sites, social media is the perfect platform to encourage customer-business interaction. But because managing these profiles can be a lot of work, you may want to set up an account in at least two or three networks of which you’re likely to find your target customers. Facebook marketing, Snapchat marketing, and Instagram marketing each have their own pros and cons for your advertising needs.
3. Post Animal-Related Photos or Videos on Social Media.
When it comes to social media marketing, pushing people to buy your products can sometimes come off the wrong way. Knowing this, it would be best to take on an indirect approach to marketing by posting content that is merely relevant to your brand. Your CTA can come at the end of each post to reinforce your brand to consumers. But to make this work, be sure your marketing objectives are made clear.
4. Follow Animal Publications and Well-Known People.
Animal Planet, National Geographic, and the Discovery Channel are just some industry-specific sources that you could follow to aid your content marketing moves. You can share images and videos posted by these channels and add a brief commentary to engross followers or visitors.
5. Optimize E-mail Marketing.
Although the automated nature of email marketing can often be regarded as an impersonal form of advertising, you’d be surprised how this campaign may easily attract prospects. Sharing animal-related topics with your audience will help you communicate directly with potential customers without much effort.
Famous Pet Influencers Who Nailed Animal Marketing
You might have heard about celebrity marketing before, but did you know that animals can be market influencers as well?
Listed below are just a few of the many animal influencers that have all the tips and tricks for animal marketing up their sleeves:
1. Loki the Wolfdog
To some, Loki may look like you’re average Husky but he’s actually a unique mix of a Husky, Malamute, and Arctic Wolf. But, this incredible breed mix isn’t what makes this dog a social media superstar.
Together with his master, Kelly Lund, Loki goes on wild adventures that some thrill-seekers can only dream of doing. The popularity surrounding this wolfdog has landed him in successful marketing campaigns with famous brands like Toyota, GoPro, and Google Photos. With 1.7 million Instagram followers to his name, Loki has definitely set the bar high for competing for animal influencers.
2. Nala the Cat
If you think the numbers on Loki’s following list were impressive, then you may want to check out Nala’s Instagram profile and be a part of her 3.5 million (and counting!) followers.
Nala skyrocketed to international fame when her owner, Varisiri Methachittiphan aka Pookie, created an Instagram account for her beloved cat in 2012. From there, Nala has worked with some of the biggest brands in the industry on various marketing campaigns which include Friskies, Persil, PureVax, Petfinder, and Zappos. A mere mention of her name on other Instagram channels leaves Nala and her team a good media value of a few $$$. You might be interested in successful marketing campaign examples
3. Pumpkin the Raccoon
In a saturated market of pet influencers, Pumpkin takes the crown for being the world’s most popular raccoon. This rescued animal, along with her two best dog friends — Toffee and Oreo — has over 1.2 million followers on Instagram, and has been featured numerous times on TV channels such as CBS, ABC, and Animal Planet. You may also see define marketing plan and its purpose?
And, did we mention that Pumpkin has also released her own book entitled Pumpkin: The Raccoon Who Thought She Was a Dog?
4. Doug the Pug
It’s one thing for an animal to have a book published about them, but having a book tour across the U.S. and the U.K. is not something you hear every day.
Doug the Pug’s fame has even made its way to Hollywood, with a special feature on Jimmy Fallon and Good Morning America, not to mention a cameo in Fall Out Boy’s music video for their hit single Irresistible. Half of his followers are from the United States, with about 74% belonging to the female population. It’s safe to say that Doug the Pug is a certified hit with the ladies (even celebrities like Demi Lovato love him!). You may also like what is internet marketing?
5. Mr. Pokee
Mr. Pokee may be the smallest out of the bunch, but this tiny hedgehog has already collaborated with top brands like Paul Hewitt, Diffeyewear, and Daniel Wellington.
The world’s cutest adventurer is currently less than 50,000 followers short of reaching half a million Instagram subscribers, but that hasn’t stopped this little creature from dominating the Instagram scene. His account is filled with a variety of adorable photos and videos of him doing just about anything. Put a hedgehog beside a commercial product and you have animal marketing at its finest! You may also check out marketing goals examples
The key to animal marketing and branding is to create a branding message that is both relevant and relatable to your target audience. You must make your online presence known to audiences from various social platforms to ensure marketing success. Building brand recognition requires a lot of work, but with the right strategies and tools in hand, you’re sure to leave an incredible impression on prospects. You may also see types of marketing styles
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