Why Facebook sucks for pet business owners!
Get some inspirational advice from a one armed dancer, that will help YOU think outside of the ‘Facebook’ box.
Winter is coming… This means thermal underwear and jumpers have replaced shorts and T-Shirts for another year, and the residents of Sunderland can breathe a sigh of relief they won’t be seeing my lily white legs for at least another six months…
The changing seasons bring a load of new TV programmes to watch, and the start of the Christmas advertising blitz.
TV producers need to have their most popular shows running if they want to convince the advertisers to spend big money on their channels. This means the return of the great British bake off, the Apprentice, X Factor, and Dom favourite show of all…..Strictly Come Dancing!
Don’t judge me friend, we all have a guilty pleasure and mine is Strictly Come Dancing.
One of the contestants this year is Laura Steadman who is a Paralympic athlete (and two time European champion). She was born missing her lower right arm but she hasn’t let that in any way hold her back.
When asked about the challenges of doing the dance lifts on Strictly she answered. “There were a couple of things that were slightly different, but as has been my whole life, I just adapt,”
“There’s been many simple things of being a girl, how do you tie your hair with one hand? How do you do your shoe laces, but I found a way. It’s not the normal way but it’s thinking outside the box. So there will be things that will be difficult, but that’s just a discussion with me and my pro about how can we do this? Does it still look good? Is it allowed? All those things. It wouldn’t be any less spectacular, it’ll just be different,” she remarked.
Lauren also explained the challenges her professional dance partner, AJ Pritchard, 23, will face by being partnered with her.
“I think it’s a nice challenge [for him]. This sounds bad, but if you get someone with all their limbs, you just do the same thing you normally do.
“But when you have to think outside the box, it’s more exciting and a challenge,” she added.
Thinking outside the box is something many pet business owners DON’T do.
Instead of trying new things they tend to follow the crowd, which usually means posting loads of shit on Facebook.
The problem with that strategy is, that is the same as what everyone else is doing too. This makes Facebook a big noisy mess of a place where you really struggle to get your ideal prospects attention.
That’s if your ideal prospect is even on Facebook at all.
It’s worth finding out if your clients spend much time on Facebook. The answer might surprise you. Just because you waste hours each day farting around putting logo’s in the corner of your photos and try to create ‘engagement’ (Whatever the fuck that is….) doesn’t mean to say your ideal clients are going to see it.
Chances are THEY WON’T.
Anyway, back to strictly…
The first week Laura and her professional partner AJ Pritchard had to do the waltz. Only she also had to compete in the in the Australian Paratriathalon Championships, which meant she only had two days to practice the routine with AJ.
But, in typical champion style, she completely nailed it, and was one of the highest placed on the leader board.
Mucho respecto.
See, we always find time to do the things that are important to us.
This is why I just giggle when dog walkers, groomers, and trainers tell me they don’t have time to do any marketing.
They DO have time.
We’re all given the same amount of time each day, it’s up to YOU how you spend it.
It’s about being focused and knowing what your most profitable activities are. Then doing MORE of them.
For example;
This issue of the gazette has taken me an hour to cobble together. Today, I’ll also sketch out my newsletter that I send to my dog walking clients, AND I’ve got another book to check through before it goes to the proofreader (my third book in three years), plus I’ve got stuff to do for the accountant and shiz to prepare for the dog trainers bootcamp in October.
Now, I might not get all that done today, I’ve got a bike ride to do too, plus walk my own dogs, but even if I only complete half the jobs, I can carry over the remainder which means my list of stuff to tomorrow is already half full!
See how this works?
Now, how much of that do you think I would get done if I fucked around on Facebook for hours on end.
Answer, none of it.
Facebook is pay to play now. This means if you want to use it as an effective medium to get your marketing message delivered to your target market, then you have to pay for the privilege.
If all you are doing to promote your business is messing around on Facebook, then it’s game over I’m afraid.
And if you are paying for advise from a ‘ bidniz gooroo’ who is telling you that posting three times a day is a credible marketing strategy then might as well throw your money down the toilet.
DON’T shoot the messenger, LISTEN to the message.
Events, direct mail and educating your audience is what you should be doing. Check out what my PBIC member of the month for September Jennifer Beattie, has been doing on page four and you will see exactly what I mean.
So, final thoughts.
If you want more money from your business, then you first need to find time to do some effective marketing.
This means ignoring the social media morons and getting to grips with your marketing.
To maximise your earnings you need to earn more per hour, which means better clients paying higher prices.
And how can you identify and communicate with affluent dog owners in your town?
By doing some of the things I talk about in these blogs.
In 2018 I delivered my second two-day business bootcamp in Sunderland. This bootcamp was specifically for dog walkers who wanted to learn how to position themselves as the premium pet care provider in their town. Many who attended said this was a ‘life-changing event’. You can book a ticket for IMPACT 2020 – The pet business success summit by clicking here now.