Q: How can we better target pet parents to use our site?
Ashley Jacobs, Owner
Sitting for a Cause
A: As a socially responsible company, you want to find pet parents who value your commitment to taking responsible actions (i.e., giving back to animal causes). Your challenge is to show these pet parents that by using your service, they are doing something that is sincere and impactful.
But first, you have to identify who these pet parents are — who is your target market? You need to do your homework to learn how your target market is getting their pet sitting needs satisfied now, what they value in services that are competing with yours and what socially responsible actions they value. They may favor different animal causes than the ones you give back to.
With this knowledge, you can develop a position that carves out a place in members of your target market's minds relative to your competition. You must show target market pet parents that you are as good as your competition but you offer social benefits that make you the better choice for them.
So, you need to choose marketing actions that give pet parents confidence in your services' abilities to help them find the right sitter for them — this ensures that pet parents will consider you. And then you need to choose marketing actions that show pet parents the impact they have on animal causes they care about by using your services — this ensures they will choose you.
To be successful, you need both happy users of your services who will spread their positive experiences with others directly or through testimonials, videos, blogs, etc. and happy recipients of your contributions to animal causes. When people visit your site, you want them to see concrete examples of the impact their business has on animals, people and organizations.
Make sure your site and your social media presence do both so that your customers trust your services feel connected with you, and feel the impact they have through you.
David Alexander is an associate professor of marketing at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business.
