Need Your Input. Where should I advertise?

[leftyladyfrommo]

I am a petsitter and I need to know what advertising would work best for me.

If you were a pet owner and wanted to find a petsitter near you - where would you look?

Yellow Pages

OnLine Yellow Pages

Local paper (little neighborhood type)

Citywide paper

Home Association Newletter

Other

Thanks so much. I have found that advertising is terribly expensive so I really need to go where I get the most bang for my buck.

[taterguy]

1. Flyer at a dog park

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. I think that would work pretty well except the nearest dog park

is clear across town.

I would really like to get business from the lofts downtown. And there may be a way to put fliers out to those people.

It is so hard to get into places anymore. They are all locked up because of security concerns.

And a lot of upper crust neighborhoods won't allow anyone in to pass out fliers.

[NightWatcher]

2. I'm in the same boat

I dont really want to go in the yellow pages, but that is where you'll get the most coverage. Might I rec that you contact the vets in your area. When I had pets and had a "pet issue" arrise, I'd call the vet and get advice. Bulletin Boards at vets offices are a good start.

[leftyladyfrommo]

3. I haven't much help from vets around here. Not even my own.

They all board themselves so they are kind of in competition with me. I don't see it that way because there are lots of animals that really don't do well in a kennel situation. And there are animals that have to be boarded because they can't stay at home by themselves. Although I do have some fliers up in different offices close to me. And I think I have gotten one call from those fliers.

I guess people don't read the bulletin boards in those places. I had thought that I would get a good response from those but it sure didn't happen.

Course it may also be that I need to get some better fliers - ones with more color appeal or something. I just designed my own.

[philosophie_en_rose]

5. Ideas

1) If I wanted a pet sitter, I would type "pet sitter" & {my city} into an internet search engine.

You may try making a simple website with "{YourCity}petsitter.com" as the address or something like that.

http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp sells domain names for less than $10.


2) Print professional posters at home or at OfficeMax. Place them on free bulletin boards at grocery stores, senior centers (you can watch people's pets during surgeries or vacations, etc), colleges (watch pets during breaks), libraries, etc. I wouldn't make these very expensive as you'll probably have to replace them frequently. However, it is a good way to get the word out.


3) You can also try home associations directly. You can connect with them directly. They can offer to connect homeowners with you, as a kind of amenity.


4) Travel agents.


5) Military bases.

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. I need to look into travel agents. But I think I would need a good

brochure for that - something kind of classy for them to hand out to customers.

I am so new to all of this stuff.

Actually, I am on the internet with SW Bell. And I have a webpage there. And I have gotten the best response from that of anything I have tried.

I wonder how expensive a radio ad would be?

[LostinVA]

6. Ask your vet if you can advertise there

Mine allows pet sitters to do that IF they're bonded and have references.

[AllegroRondo]

8. my first thought too

when I look for a pet sitter, I ask my vet who they recommend.

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. Well, that was what I figured too. But it didn't pan out.

For one thing I think some of the vet techs actually do petsitting on the side.

And it may be different here in this area than in other areas of the country.

I almost quit going to my vet after a zillion years because they wouldn't even let me put my fliers up there. And this after I have paid them thousands of dollars over the years. But they board animals themselves and it is a big part of their income.

Most vets in this area also board.