So, you have decided to start your own business and to earn a living doing what you love most.

What are you going to do now? Following are 10 stages for marketing yourself and promoting

your activities:

1. Define the service you provide – Are you dog trainers? Are you canine assisted

therapists? Is this definition in a process of change? For example: is it dog training today,

and in a year it’s going to be canine assisted therapy.

2. Define your target audience in as focused a manner as you can – Are you targeting dog

owners? Are you appealing to parents with small children? Teenagers? People dealing

with fear of dogs? The more clearly you define your target audience, the more you will

be able to grasp which activities you should appeal to.

3. Find your relative advantage – in the process of marketing, it is important to emphasize

your strong advantages. Do you have a good connection with people? Do you know a

vast number of people? Do you love to volunteer? Are you good at training puppies? Are

you successful working with dog related anxiety?

4. Find creative ways of offering your services – For example group training at the park as

part of a training program.

5. The stage of exposure is very important! Define how many people per week you tell

about your activities, everyone you know should be aware of what you do! Print business

cards and give them to at least ten people each week. To whom? When the bank clerk

asks your name, giver her your card to keep. At the store, your nursery school, anywhere

you meet people. You field is interesting and it will start a conversation. Take the

conversation to where you want it to go.

6. Lectures – Offer to lecture free of charge in various frameworks – nursery schools,

schools etc, and take part in school health days or any possible platform that gives you

exposure. Afraid of lecturing? Practice where you have people’s support, with friends and

family and slowly gain more confidence.

7. Cooperation – Think what kind of relevant cooperation you can find, for example: pet

shops, vets, dog kennels and dog pensions, etc. Make them an offer they can’t refuse.

Fruitful cooperation can carry on for a long time, when both sides are happy. For

example: since pet shops have high exposure to your target audience, and they are

interested in increasing their sales, we can offer the first training session for free, for

people who purchase goods for over a certain sum. The store gains a large sale and you

get a customer via recommendation. Social media – set up business pages in an

assortment of social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn etc) and post tips,

recommendations or case studies. Make sure your page is always active.

Recommendation: Don’t rethink what to write or post each time. Set up a monthly plan

with regular dates and prepare in advance. This is how you will manage to maintain it

over time. Consider advertising on social media to your target audience based on zone,

cities, target audience as described in section 3.

8. A website – it is recommended that you set up a website where you can present your

services. If you have not yet completed your two specializations, be sure to plan ahead to

add the second field without having to get the help of a programmer or designer. The

website should showcase your strong advantages and your style.

9. GOOGLE ADWORDS – if you have a website you need to market it, to get people

surfing the web to enter, and to contact you. One of the most recommended ways is to

use GOOGLE ADWORDS. Advertising this way helps you attract those people who are

looking for your service, when they are in fact looking for it.

10. Social media – Be accessible to your patients and cooperative partners and in fact ensure

exposure of all your activities. Set up a business page along with your personal page

(share posts from your business page to your personal page) and offer tips, articles,

successes stories and motivate sales, (invite people to your lecture / group session etc).

And most important of all – Love your profession! Remember that the more you help

others – the more they will help you too. Volunteer and help others and don’t expect

immediate gain. It will come to you in the future.

Good Luck!!!