So, you have decided to start your own business and to earn a living doing what you love most.<\/p>\n
What are you going to do now? Following are 10 stages for marketing yourself and promoting<\/p>\n
your activities:<\/p>\n
1. Define the service you provide \u2013 Are you dog trainers? Are you canine assisted<\/p>\n
therapists? Is this definition in a process of change? For example: is it dog training today,<\/p>\n
and in a year it\u2019s going to be canine assisted therapy.<\/p>\n
2. Define your target audience in as focused a manner as you can \u2013 Are you targeting dog<\/p>\n
owners? Are you appealing to parents with small children? Teenagers? People dealing<\/p>\n
with fear of dogs? The more clearly you define your target audience, the more you will<\/p>\n
be able to grasp which activities you should appeal to.<\/p>\n
3. Find your relative advantage \u2013 in the process of marketing, it is important to emphasize<\/p>\n
your strong advantages. Do you have a good connection with people? Do you know a<\/p>\n
vast number of people? Do you love to volunteer? Are you good at training puppies? Are<\/p>\n
you successful working with dog related anxiety?<\/p>\n
4. Find creative ways of offering your services \u2013 For example group training at the park as<\/p>\n
part of a training program.<\/p>\n
5. The stage of exposure is very important! Define how many people per week you tell<\/p>\n
about your activities, everyone you know should be aware of what you do! Print business<\/p>\n
cards and give them to at least ten people each week. To whom? When the bank clerk<\/p>\n
asks your name, giver her your card to keep. At the store, your nursery school, anywhere<\/p>\n
you meet people. You field is interesting and it will start a conversation. Take the<\/p>\n
conversation to where you want it to go.<\/p>\n
6. Lectures \u2013 Offer to lecture free of charge in various frameworks \u2013 nursery schools,<\/p>\n
schools etc, and take part in school health days or any possible platform that gives you<\/p>\n
exposure. Afraid of lecturing? Practice where you have people\u2019s support, with friends and<\/p>\n
family and slowly gain more confidence.<\/p>\n
7. Cooperation \u2013 Think what kind of relevant cooperation you can find, for example: pet<\/p>\n
shops, vets, dog kennels and dog pensions, etc. Make them an offer they can\u2019t refuse.<\/p>\n
Fruitful cooperation can carry on for a long time, when both sides are happy. For<\/p>\n
example: since pet shops have high exposure to your target audience, and they are<\/p>\n
interested in increasing their sales, we can offer the first training session for free, for<\/p>\n
people who purchase goods for over a certain sum. The store gains a large sale and you<\/p>\n
get a customer via recommendation. Social media \u2013 set up business pages in an<\/p>\n
assortment of social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn etc) and post tips,<\/p>\n
recommendations or case studies. Make sure your page is always active.<\/p>\n
Recommendation: Don\u2019t rethink what to write or post each time. Set up a monthly plan<\/p>\n
with regular dates and prepare in advance. This is how you will manage to maintain it<\/p>\n
over time. Consider advertising on social media to your target audience based on zone,<\/p>\n
cities, target audience as described in section 3.<\/p>\n
8. A website – it is recommended that you set up a website where you can present your<\/p>\n
services. If you have not yet completed your two specializations, be sure to plan ahead to<\/p>\n
add the second field without having to get the help of a programmer or designer. The<\/p>\n
website should showcase your strong advantages and your style.<\/p>\n
9. GOOGLE ADWORDS \u2013 if you have a website you need to market it, to get people<\/p>\n
surfing the web to enter, and to contact you. One of the most recommended ways is to<\/p>\n
use GOOGLE ADWORDS. Advertising this way helps you attract those people who are<\/p>\n
looking for your service, when they are in fact looking for it.<\/p>\n
10. Social media \u2013 Be accessible to your patients and cooperative partners and in fact ensure<\/p>\n
exposure of all your activities. Set up a business page along with your personal page<\/p>\n
(share posts from your business page to your personal page) and offer tips, articles,<\/p>\n
successes stories and motivate sales, (invite people to your lecture \/ group session etc).<\/p>\n
And most important of all \u2013 Love your profession! Remember that the more you help<\/p>\n
others – the more they will help you too. Volunteer and help others and don\u2019t expect<\/p>\n
immediate gain. It will come to you in the future.<\/p>\n
Good Luck!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 \u2013 Are you dog trainers? Are you canine assisted therapists? Is this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3690,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,131],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-en","category-dog-training-guide-en"],"yoast_head":"\n