Is pet marketing dead? Do pet products sell themselves? What are the 5 tips for selling more pet products?

John Cullen of Bulldog Marketing & Sales will answer these questions and more in our interactive podcast interview.

Some of the things John will discuss include:

• What are your top 4 tips for getting a new pet business off the ground?
• How has the economy been affecting pet product sales? Strong areas? Weak?
• How do you get your product into the bog box stores? What’s involved?
• What are the best types of online advertising tactics you recommend and why?
• What are the best and most cost-effective OFF-LINE ad tactics you recommend and why?

Listen to the recorded Podcast here…

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Hi Everyone, here is the latest video in my Pet Marketing & Sales Video Lesson Series.

This Pet marketing video reveals 5 insider secrets as to how the pet business really works.

The video answers the questions…

- Do pet products sell themselves?

- What does it take to get my product into a pet distributor or pet chain?

- Can I be successful with a one SKU pet product line?

- Does a great pet product need marketing?

- Are pet products really price inelastic?

In the video, I’ll  walk you through the 5 secrets step by step and offers insights as to how you can answer the questions above for your own business leading to greater success.

Enjoy the video? Would you like to learn more about Bulldog Marketing & Sales and what we can do for your business? Visit us at http://www.bulldogms.com or call us at 718-218-4Pet.

We offer a free consult. To schedule YOUR free consult visit http://www.bulldogms.com/contact

Want more FREE pet marketing advice, tips & tricks? Visit the Pet Marketing Blog http://www.bulldogms.com/blog-page

I hope you will share your feedback and comments here and on the YouTube video page.

See you online soon.

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Here are 5 pet marketing resources that are absolutely FREE.  I hope you find them useful to your own business.

1. I put together a Twitter list of the top 10 pet marketing experts.  Check it out…Pet Marketing Experts.

2. Here is a quick video covering pr, SEO and blogging for your pet business.  3 Pet Marketing Tactics You Can Use Today To Sell More Tomorrow.

3. Here is my white paper, “Confessions of a Pet Product Marketer” which is chock full of free pet marketing advice.

4. If you liked #3 there is also a fun video of the same name.  Sometimes it has problems loading, so if you have an issue just hit reload.

5. Here is a nice sell sheet outline.  You need one of these to sell into distributors.  Pretty handy.

Well that’s it for now.  If you are looking for more free pet marketing advice, checkout my Pet Marketing Blog.

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Hi Fellow Pet Marketers,

I finally got around to starting my Pet Marketing Video Lesson Series.  Glad we are off and running.  Here is the first video in the series. I hope you enjoy it. Please feel to leave comments/questions/feedback here on the pet marketing blog or on YouTube.  I’ll be checking both.  Thanks.

This is a short Pet Marketing how-to video that covers 3 simple marketing tactics to help pet product manufacturers and services sell more. Topics covered include:

1. Public Relations – Write a press release and submit it to petpr.com and reach pet influencers like pet trade magazines, pet bloggers and TV news producers that focus on pet.

2. SEO – Start learning about search engine optimization, do keyword research to figure out what people are searching for when they are looking for your product or service and optimize your website’s title tag to include the keyword.

3. Start a blog – Blogging increases web traffic and inbound links (which helps with SEO). It also helps you become an authority in your product or service category.

Need help? Get a Bulldog.
Pet Marketing Help

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But was it ever alive?

The pet industry is a strange breed. However, I can’t be too harsh because it is also the industry that has employed me for over 10 years. Just for reference I started my career in marketing research and the consumer packaged goods industry. I’ve also spent a few years in Consumer Electronics.

In a nutshell the pet industry is at least 20 years behind CPG or CE. However, it is changing. Luckily the dog food companies owned by Colgate and P&G keep things professional. For most, it is an industry where anyone with a zip-lock bag of home

No offense to my old client, but this is not the right approach to Pet Marketing.

baked dog treats can slap a label drawn with crayon on the front and be in the pet biz! The barriers to entry are low and the potential for riches great (at least that is how the story goes).

I started the pet marketing ad and consulting agency, Bulldog Marketing & Sales, Inc. to help start-ups become more professional. It has been a struggle. It’s not easy professionalizing an industry where many people attend trade shows in a t-shirt and flip-flops. Add to that the pig headed nature of entrepreneurs (me included!) who thinks they know everything and you have a recipe for disaster!

So if you are thinking about getting into the pet business or are already in and not seeing much success here are a few tips to help you get off to a good start.

1. Develop a good, benefit brand name and logo. Get professional help if you need it. So many times I work with clients that have a pretty good product, but the name is terrible and has nothing to do with the product itself. Making it worse, the logo looks like it was created by a second grader (and probably was).

2. Create a real packaging design. In most cases, the packaging is the most important piece of marketing you can invest in. It is your “silent salesman”. Will it stand out among the competition on shelf?

3. You need more than 1 SKU. Yes you do. No really, yes you do. Depending on the category you need 6 – 12 SKUs to have an impact. Buyers hate 1 SKU lines. So do I and so should you.

4. Set a marketing budget. You need one. There are so many options today to market your product and not spend an arm and a leg. You need to spend something. If you think business is free, don’t spend anything and save yourself a lot of time and effort and NOT start the business at all.

Want more helpful tips? Read my pet marketing whitepaper or watch my video.

And of course if you need personalized help navigating this crazy business, give me a call at 718-218-4PET or email me at john.cullen@bulldogms.com.

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Hi All -

After the overwhelming success of my whitepaper, ‘Confessions of a Pet Product Marketer’ and the recorded pet marketing webinar of the same name, I have decided to create a video series called Pet Marketing and Sales Lessons. These will be short, to the point, video lessons about how to create a successful brand and marketing campaign in the pet industry. I hope to get this up and running within the next week and publish a new video about once a week over the course of a few months. I have a new baby on the way in November so I want to get as much published before then as possible.

Feel free to suggest pet marketing topics so I can keep it relevant to your needs. Keep a look out for lesson # 1 : Creating a Pet Product Brand Name. It’s coming soon to the Bulldog YouTube Channel and right here on the Bulldog website.

See you online soon.

John
Bulldog

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You’ve Read the whitepaper now watch the recorded Webinar! John Cullen, pet industry veteran and principal of Bulldog Marketing & Sales, Inc. walks you through his top downloaded whitepaper, ‘Confessions of a Pet Product Marketer’. Learn from a Pet Product Marketing & Sales Veteran TODAY and start selling more pet products TOMORROW! It’s FREE, FUN and INFORMATIVE!

Watch Confessions of a Pet Product Marketer Now!

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Here are 5 reasons you need to be making your website/blog Search Engine friendly. Why?

1. Google is the new Yellow Pages. 21% of shoppers research products online before buying. Are they finding your product?

2. 70% of links consumers click on are Oragnic – meaning the pages that rank on Google’s Search Engine Results pages. These listings are NOT PAID. They are free if your site is optimized.

3. 60% of clicks go to the top 3 ranked listings on any given search.

4. 75% of people who search for a product, NEVER go beyond the first page. What page are you on for Google search results? Are you on the first page?

5. Paid Search, or those little ads you see at the top and the side of your search results only get a 2% click-through on average. Most of this is because people who use Adwords don’t know how to run an effective campaign, but still

Bottom line: If Google can’t find you, neither can your customers.

Right now — > go to Google and search for your product using “keywords” or phrases you think your customers would use to find you. Are you on the first page of results? Are you on the first 3 pages?

Ask yourself —> How much more business could you be doing if you were on the first page of Google?

Need help? Bulldog is doing SEO reviews and homepage optimization for $500. It could just be the best money you ever spent. Contact us for more info: info@bulldogms.com.

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Can we help you get ranked higher in the Google Search Results pages? Take a look at what our clients are saving about Bulldog SEO!

Eric Bittman(client)
Eric hired you as a SEO in 2011
Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Expert

“John did an excellent job working on SEO for our webpage www.warrenlondon.com. Our results have been tremendous and we couldnt be happier!” June 4, 2011

Linda White(client)
Linda hired you as a Business Consultant in 2011
Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Good Value

“In a matter of days, Bulldog Marketing & Sales brought our website from the 3rd page of Google search results to the #2 listing on the FIRST PAGE of Google! Considering there are literally thousands of dog training products out there I find this to be an excellent organic search positioning without having to pay-per-click. His knowledge of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was amazing. If you’re looking for some help to optimize your website and want it done quickly, I highly recommend John Cullen of Bulldog Marketing & Sales, Inc. Thanks Linda!” June 8, 2011

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Why is SEO important? Well if you can get your website on the first few pages of a Google Search Result it can mean the difference between success and failure for your business.  So this leads me to my topic question. Why is SEO overlooked in most marketing campaigns?  Even for businesses that are primarily online and transactional?

I believe it is the “black box” nature of SEO. Ask 10 people what SEO is and how to do it effectively and you will probably get 10 very different answers.  It is a bit of art and science.  It is also fairly new.  TV advertising has been around since the 1950′s.  Search Engines have only been around for about 15 years, so it takes time to catch up on the learning and implementation side.

Being a marketer by trade and a salesman by necessity, I realized I needed to get into the Search game.  It is an essential part of any modern marketer’s training and toolbox.  It is as important today as media planning and creating great advertising.  So, I got certified by Search Engine College in SEO and Pay-Per-Click advertising (paid search) - these are the ads you see above and on the side of your searches. 

How can you begin your SEO journey?  Bulldog can help, or you can take classes at Search Engine College yourself and learn how to do it.  Getting started in SEO boils down to a few things…

1. Selecting Keywords.  What do you believe consumers are searching for in Google or other search enginges for when they are looking for your products?  For example is it, “dog toys”, “dog coats”, “Anti-itch shampoo”?  You need to do a lot of homework on this and pick a few key keyword phrases to optimize your site for.  A great tool to help you see how much search volume/traffic for a given keyword is the Google Keyword Tool.  It will also give you ideas on other keywords.  The Keyword Tool will also tell you how competitive the keywords are.  The more competitive, the more difficult to rank for these keywords.

2. On-Page Optimization.  You need to use your selected keywords website title tag, meta description tag, and meta keywords tag in your HTML source code – for each page of your website.  It is important that your tags are different for each page.  You also need to incorporate the keywords carefully into your site copy.  Use Alt-Text tags for the images on your page and include your keywords (if they are naturally relevant).

3. Off-Page Optimization.  Get people to link to your page.  Ask for links or create exciting content like a blog with tips of how to use your product, etc. that people will naturally want to link to.  Become an authority on your category and be seen as a thought leader.  Using Social Media such as Facebook and Twitter can help here.

Let me know if you need any help.  We’ll get you started and ranking in no time. Questions? Leave a comment on this post and I’ll get back to you.

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