MOAR Marketing! Maybe, Maybe not?

Ask any dog professional, dog trainer, dog walker, pet sitter what the top of their priority list is. Usually, in the top 5, it is marketing for their dog training business. Every ad you see on Facebook or Instagram is a company, agency, business coach selling you on more fucking marketing. 

As entrepreneurs, we've been sold on the idea that we need more marketing, visibility, and noise, which equals more clients.

More clients = more money

Money = survival

Survival is what we as humans are programmed to do—especially being in business for ourselves as dog trainers and pet business owners. 

Dog trainers then get into this endless loop of the marketing hustle cycle and thus fuels the war of attention for clients, unstable growth, and stability...

Side note: the average person (your prospective dog-owning clients) is exposed to 6 to 10k ads PER DAY. 

Listen, marketing is sexy. It's super fun to do, especially when you get results. I'd even say it's addicting to the average business owner. And honestly, I fucking LOVE marketing. It's the vehicle we can connect with so many fantastic dog biz entrepreneurs and get them the help they need. If you look back at podcast episodes, most of them are dog business marketing focused, and I geek out when we do it for our students and clients. 

We need to keep in mind that marketing is ONE system (that also has many different systems in your entire dog biz ecosystem). When we heavily rely on one sector and cherry-pick the actions of marketing, many dog trainers and pet business professionals unknowingly neglect the other critically important parts of their dog training business. 

What happens when there is too much marketing going on? You're making a lot of noise without precise, direct results and KPIs. I want to see the RAW DATA, not "I get this many clients from wherever"...

Data & info to look at:

• How much time spent on platform - remember, time is an investment to an entrepreneur

• What type of lead generation are you doing

• Reach (inorganic vs. paid)

• Is your target market reached?

• Are these people in your spectrum of niche

• How many conversations

• How many leads into your sales process

• How many conversions to sales

• How many objections in the sales process

• Those that don't buy, where do they go?

• Total LTV of person

If you're consistently hustling your face off with marketing and have an over-dependence on growth tactics; you might want to look into this area of your dog training business to get off the Marketing Hustle Crisis Cycle.

Offers & Programs: 

Do you have too many? For example, if you're rocking out your dog business with four different group class styles, day training, private sessions, rally/scent/CGC, you don't need marketing. You need Jesus. Kidding, but you need to cut it down and focus on facilitated dog training program design with a higher-price point. That way, quantity isn't your primary driver to get new dog owners in. 

We can usually tell when dog business owners are struggling when they have a fuck-ton of classes and offers to drive new clients in. Seriously, making a simple shift to your programs and pricing can take you off the marketing hustle crisis cycle. 

Before y'all put words in our mouth, NO, this isn't us saying, "Dog trainers, dog businesses don't need marketing or lead generation!"... because you do. That's a fact. Strategic, authentic, aligned marketing to the right dog owners is the goal.

But what do you NOT need? Spending countless hours fucking around with free Facebook groups for dog owners (can we drop-kick the people that suggest that, please? Sorry, not sorry). Time wasted making your content perfect only to have it seen by dog owners that ghost you or that defeated feeling when you are finally brave enough to show up on a video, then get nothing in return beyond some comments. 

So, fuck all the marketing, all the time.