15 Best Marketing Tips & Ideas For Dog Grooming Businesses

Pets, especially dogs, surely have a special place in our lives. Social media and the rise of memes and videos with animals are undeniable proof of that.

Whether you’re a dog owner or you run a dog grooming business, you know that these furry little friends of ours need special attention when it comes to their appearance, and not only, but today we’ll focus on that.

Dogs are the most popular pet globally, so you can imagine there are also many dog grooming businesses out there.

This raises the question: how can you make your business stand out?

Here are 15 dog grooming marketing ideas you can apply right away.

1. Create a Professional Website 

Whenever you want to start promoting your business online, which is a must in this hyper-connected digital world, you should start with a professional website for your pet grooming business.

A website will come in handy when potential customers look for your business online. This is why you can and should turn your website into an online portfolio with pictures of the place you’re working in, happy, furry customers, and their owners’ testimonials.

You can also provide relevant details like opening hours, details about your services, and a FAQ section.

There’s the option of hiring someone to build your website, or you can simply start creating it yourself, as there are easy-to-use and intuitive website-building tools, such as Wix.

Don’t miss out on any customer and take full advantage of this dog grooming marketing idea and explore its great potential.

2. List Your Business on Google Maps

If we talk marketing for the dog grooming business, we have to talk about Google too. 

Most of the time, when people are searching for a new service they need, they do it on Google Maps to find places near them. 

This means a great opportunity for your business’s visibility. 

All you have to do is list your dog grooming shop on Google My Business and see how much you can benefit from it. It’s a free service but highly recommended.

3. Implement an Effortless Booking System

An online booking system is essential in your marketing plan for the dog grooming business. It will benefit your business and your clients alike.

And here’s why.

Having this kind of booking system means you’re allowing your clients to make appointments online, where they can see which hour is working best for them while thinking of the schedule they already have. 

This means they’re not booking anything in a rush, and they’re much more likely to show to their appointments. Moreover, you can offer full attention to your already booked clients without having to answer the phone to book new appointments.

Consider implementing such a booking system with Goldie, the free pet grooming business app that makes any online booking system a breeze. 

You can perform this on your website and add the “Book Now” button to your Facebook or Instagram page. If you’re interested in implementing your booking system for free, you can download the app from the App Store or Google Play and set up your account details.

Here you can also find a full guide on how to set up your online booking page and to create your “Book Now” button.

4. Tap Into Marketing Messaging

You surely know about email marketing. It’s proven to be one of the most effective forms of marketing strategies. While an email’s opening rate can be high, the chances of people reading a text message is even higher.

You can send text marketing messages to announce promotions, offers, or even appointment reminder texts to let people know about their scheduled appointments. This dog grooming marketing strategy will certainly keep your current customers engaged and secure your business’s growth.

If you’re wondering how to do that without manually send text messages to each of your clients, know that Goldie will help with this too. 

By using Goldie, you can automatically send marketing messages to your clients, saving precious time and reducing the missed appointments.

5. Reward Your Loyal Customers

Since the dawn of businesses, recurring customers love to feel pampered and differentiated from the rest.

You can easily do that by offering loyalty discounts, which you can keep track of through loyalty cards.

Each time a customer reaches a given number of appointments, reward them with a discount or a free appointment.  

And there you have it—a simple yet effective approach to include into your marketing for dog grooming business.

6. Have a Strong Social Media Presence

Everyone loves to see cute animals on their social media profiles feed, so be sure to make the best out of this situation. 

When it comes to social media platforms for your dog grooming marketing strategy, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are the places to be, as they allow you to promote your business creatively.

You can also share behind-the-scenes videos to give people a glimpse into your business. This will increase their trust in you while interacting with an adorable scene you shared.

This is one of the best dog grooming marketing ideas for your business. Just think about it for a minute. According to Smart Insights, more than half of the world now uses social media. This gives you the unique opportunity to promote your business to a huge audience.

7. Ask for Client Referrals 

This is another gold mine when it comes to marketing for the dog grooming business.

Reach out to new customers through your existing ones by using a referral program.

Ask your clients to refer you to their friends and reward them for their advertising efforts. You can give them special discounts, free merchandise, or even free pet grooming sessions.

This word-of-mouth marketing strategy will improve your outreach considerably, giving the fact that people started to trust other people more than anything else these days.

8. Benefit From Online Reviews

Online reviews have become one of the most powerful marketing tools. You can create the best ad there is, but if all of your customers consider you’re a 2-star business, there’s a long and difficult road to recovery. 

But you can avoid that. When you offer only the best services, you’ll get positive reviews, thus increasing your popularity and brand recognition.

Whenever you have a happy customer, make sure you encourage them to leave you a review. In this way, you’re going to benefit from one of the most effective dog grooming marketing tactics.

As with every business, there will also be unsatisfied customers that will make sure others know about their experience. Try to answer their review as quickly as possible, giving them solutions or appropriate answers for their unmet expectations. You can also read more about these practical ways to deal with angry clients.

9. A Little Extra Goes a Long Way

There are services which you’ll find in every dog grooming business out there. This is why it’s important to try and differentiate yourself from others by offering a little more.

Perform a little analysis and see what your competitors from the same area as you are offering. Then, think of new services you can include in your already existing package to bring new customers through the door. 

10. Partner Up With Similar Businesses in Your Area

Consider including another form of word-of-mouth into your marketing plan for the dog grooming business: a partnership between your business and other local pet shops or veterinarians. Ask them if they want to exchange favors in terms of advertising, and broaden your customer base.

People that are paying a visit to a veterinarian, for example, will surely need a grooming service for their dog from time to time, so this opportunity is golden.

11. Be Active in Community Events

Keep an eye on the events happening in your area and see which ones you can join. Every community has an annual fair, special or recurring events where you can go and advertise your business as a pet groomer. 

These kinds of events are also places where you can open discussions with potential customers, thus building relationships that will benefit both of you in the future.

12. Design Cute Promotional Products 

Create promotional products such as bags, collars, matching t-shirts for dogs and their owners, and basically anything that will benefit your customers while advertising your business. 

You can give away these products to your loyal customers or at those events we talked about previously. 

This is a great dog grooming marketing strategy and a lovely conversation starter for the people wearing your products.

13. Organize Giveaways on Social Media

This very engaging marketing trend is also an effective way to attract customers. Announce your giveaway on the social media profile you have more activity, together with clear and easy-to-follow rules.

Once the contest is over, announce the winner and make sure to contact them for the special price they won.

This marketing strategy for the new era, including tagging and sharing, will bring you exposure, which translates into new customers.

14. Target New Customers with Special Deals

While keeping the existing customers is vital for any business, there are ways in which you can bring new customers and expand your reach.

Create special deals for first-time customers and advertise them in your store, on your website, and on every social media platform.

This will certainly stir people’s interest in your services as a pet groomer.

15. Volunteer at an Animal Shelter

It goes without saying that this is the kindest thing you can do for all the animals in need of a home while creating a bit of advertising for your business.

You can take part in adoption days, where you can give away promotional items you created and also special discounts for those who adopt a pet. 

This compassionate action will make people trust your business even more.

Wrapping Up

Creating a great marketing plan for the dog grooming business is not at all difficult, especially when we talk about kind people who care about lovely furry friends and their well-being.

Are you planning on including these methods in your dog grooming marketing strategy, or are you applying some of them already? 

Let us know in the comments section below.