Dog grooming leads aren’t hard to generate today. People are buying dogs, cats, & every other animal it seems due to COVID. So starting a dog grooming business sounds like a great idea. You might have already started one. But realized quick that customers aren’t coming out the wood work towards your new venture. So now, you’re struggling with coming up with a strategy that can help you attract those clients in the first place.
Well, for a service and business dedicated to this niche, it can be easier compared to other companies. Why? Because let’s say that dogs are a bit easier to market than regular services.
However, this doesn’t mean you don’t need to follow a few traditional or common practices or maybe use the same lead generation strategies.
It is more a matter of choosing a more creative approach and knowing how to adjust the usual strategies to your type of business.
That being said, will we just rant about how you should do it but without giving you the details of how to? Not really.
We are up for the challenge of helping you get more dog grooming leads for your business, either if it is starting or not, so stay for a bit, and let’s dive in.
You Need a Website
No matter who you are or what you do, you must always put your efforts into building your website so people can find you easily and learn more about your services. Also, remember that websites are the main point for leads, and despite all the platforms available today, this hasn’t changed. This means you won’t get those leads if you don’t have one or, at least, not as many as you could.
If you are fixed with the idea of using social media or similar options because these places are where people spend their time the most, just think about this.
Facebook and other social media platforms don’t last very long and, although we understand that companies choose to use them for websites, they aren’t as well-optimized as a well-designed website. You never know when they could go down, especially with those hacking issues recently.
Thus, we suggest you just take the time to build your website and have it as the main point for your leads.
If you’re going to build it, make sure it’s focused on high-conversion.
It all comes down to the design of your website and how visitors can contact you, and making sure it is mobile-friendly in the process.
You Need Local SEO
It doesn’t really matter who you ask; local SEO will be at the top strategies and factors on their lists in order to get that dog grooming leads, in your case.
The popularity of local searches has increased exponentially, and since your services aren’t exactly digital but rather local, it is only logical to have a presence in this option.
Searches that include “open” or “near me” have seen a 200% increase in popularity. If you consider this for your dog grooming services, it is only natural to end for not only the keywords related to the previous two but also place your attention on this strategy as one of the main lead gen options.
Now, what you need to know about local SEO is that it doesn’t work around your website only. You should be listed, work towards improvement on your other platforms, and add the location when necessary and possible.
These are the key points to do local SEO work:
- Start by creating your profile on Google My Business Listing and optimize it.
- It is important that you include all relevant alt tags for your niche and business on your website.
- Have your website evaluated and a link strategy developed by a professional.
- Your Google listing must match your business name, address, or website URL.
Hosting Events to Bring Leads
If you are a very recent service (and even if you aren’t), you might host an open event where people can meet you and know whether they can leave your dogs with you or not.
Let’s remember that dogs are our kids; at least, for us, they are our biggest treasures, so people won’t leave them to just a random groomer that opened recently or hasn’t performed that well during all this time.
Thus, try to encourage people by hosting events where they can bring their dogs and even other pets to meet them and show how you have groomed a few ones if possible.
If your service is well-established, you might consider focusing on events that will help build your reputation in specific services or maybe breeds.
It could be anything as long as it is well-organized and related to your niche and what you want to transmit with all these events.
Social Media Platforms & Marketing
Social media is a popular platform for digital advertising, and we don’t think it is ever necessary for us to tell you this.
These platforms give you another way to market your services to thousands of potential clients and finally get the dog grooming leads you to need, thanks to your lead generation efforts using them.
Each platform provides business services to help you manage your profiles and reach specific audience members based on your buyer profile and statistics such as age, genre, etc.
Instagram and visual platforms will be a better investment of your time than LinkedIn and other text-based platforms for places that can capture more leads in this niche.
However, it is crucial to be part of relevant platforms and determine which one works better for you in the long run.
Facebook is the most used platform, with the largest daily user base, despite its current popularity declining a little.
Instagram is smaller than Facebook in terms of the number of users, but always booming for videos and photos of, especially, dogs.
Making YouTube videos can also be a great option by showing the process of grooming the pets and making sure the difference is shown properly to encourage others to say, “I want this groomer.”
All social media and platforms offer advertising options, so you can also add this part to your social media strategy to get paid and organic leads.
Show How You’re Different
For people, it is hard to notice the difference in a groomer in the beginning and how they treat their dogs when leaving them to be stylized and look shiny.
Usually, the difference isn’t only about the installations but also the service in specific and how it is done.
Since most owners won’t take the time to stay and look at how it is done, you need to be more obvious when showing how different (and good) you are compared to others.
Come up with ideas that can make your business stand out along with your services. Maybe change something in your local or place, add some perfume or fragrances to the dogs, so they small super good, or just small details that can make people understand how you work as well.
Anything is fine as long as it is positive.
Get Started with a Blog (It Works!)
More than just singing a blog for SEO (search engine optimization), it is also a way to build traffic and visitors that could end up choosing your services when they are in the city or when they already live there.
Focusing on both SEO for your website and the result of providing valuable content through your blog is an extremely common strategy to generate organic traffic, and thus, dog grooming leads.
How can you approach this strategy while having a dog grooming business? Simple, focus on sharing tips and tricks, dog care advice, and anything that is valuable for your potential leads and prospects.
But why is blogging so important in terms of websites and lead generation? Because during searches by users, they are most likely to appear before your services pages or other parts of your website.
Suppose you have a well-optimized blog with keywords and, additionally, offer key points people can find interesting to the point of saving your page or following you eagerly. In that case, there will be a big increase in your conversion rate.
Pay-Per-Lead Strategy
Ask any professional, business, or company, and you will know that all of them use this strategy at some point regardless of the industry they’re part of.
Warning: This is actually paying per lead, but just done smartly to avoid the usual consequences of poor leads that won’t convert.
We know that you must be more familiar with pay-per-click and how the ads work when it comes to paid options.
But what if we told you that there is a better way for you to invest your money to get the leads?
Paying the price per lead is all that’s required. However, as we mentioned before, it is important to do so smartly so that you don’t waste any of your money or resources.
This is a more profitable option than buying ads on every platform, and it can save you money.
PPC can be a worthwhile investment if it is done right, but it is also tricky and difficult to approach (though we still find it necessary).
But when you rely on a direct way to pay for your leads, you can get more than what you lose in the process.
Usually, the cost of a lead can go as high as $100, so you should evaluate whether this is worth it in terms of your final revenue or profit.
Some companies that work with lead generation can provide you the contact information from the leads you need to follow up with email marketing or other strategies, and this is usually for a lower price.
However, we know there are some downsides of this strategy you must consider:
- Multiple groomers can receive the same leads.
- You cannot guarantee the return of your investment in the lead if it doesn’t turn or convert into a client.
These PPL services can be found on social media or with a quick research on Google.
Are you unsure if this strategy is right for your company?
Before considering other options, we recommend giving PPC a try. Next, compare the options.
We are happy to inform you that PPC can be a great strategy depending on your budget and whether or not it is suitable for you long-term. In fact, we think you will need it much more than PPL, but this latter one can be the boost you are looking for.
Work Around Referrals
Referrals are when someone recommends your services to a friend, family member, or any other person.
Statistics show that seven out of 10 people looking for professionals like you will receive feedback and recommendations from their friends. They may even hire you because they trust the person who recommended you.
But for this option to work, it is required to offer extraordinary services (naturally) and pay attention to the dogs or pets but also their owners.
It’s important to stay in touch with past clients to encourage them to refer others, but not to the point of being pushy with it.
If you want some tips for this to work, you can consider these:
- Encourage people to sign up for your newsletters, updates, and other information after they pick up their groomed dogs.
- Holiday gifts can be a great way to express gratitude to clients who have made the greatest contribution to your success and encourage them to recommend you in the process, as they probably always did.
- Keep in touch with all contacts and offer freebies or discounts to your referrals.
Just show how much you care about them and continue nurturing the old and new clients continuously.
A look at SEO and PPC
SEO and PPC are elements we have mentioned briefly throughout the entire article, but we haven’t dived into them that much. Well, we will do it here.
Both SEO and PPC generate traffic. The first requires a time investment, while the second requires a financial one. So, this is why they fall into the free and paid categories, respectively.
You can choose to use one or both depending on how urgent your lead requirements are, and if you ask us, considering both at the same time could be the best approach.
In the case of search engine optimization strategies, they can be used to build trust and credibility.
Research shows that organic results are more popular than paid ads. This is because people feel secure about the ranking of your website or link and decide to trust the algorithm more than a “forced” ad being shown.
Therefore, you should find ways to increase your visibility without spending money advertising. After all, converting visitors into leads and then clients can be made easier by building trust and credibility.
This method is free unless you hire someone to do your SEO. Although it doesn’t have to be costly, it will take time.
What about PPC?
Pay-per-click lets you use ads to charge per click for the URL you direct people to.
Search engine advertising and social media advertising both require that you pay per click. This strategy is faster than SEO and allows you to target your audience and convert more leads, but it isn’t always effective, and the result depends a lot on the keywords you bid for (how people will reach your ads) and the budget you set for it.
Broadcast Advertising
Podcasts have gained popularity over the years, and if you ask us what do people talk about in them, well, about anything.
Businesses and individuals who don’t use them to promote their services are losing a great source of leads, including you.
The idea of this strategy isn’t to create your podcast (though you could). Instead, it is to rely on content creators who are constantly looking for advertisers who will pay for mentions or ads in their podcasts to generate leads, income, and potential clients.
In our experience and based on the niche of dog grooming, advertising with them is the best way to achieve the desired results.
Podcasts often focus on specific topics, and listeners choose which podcasts they wish to stream, which helps you to have a target audience even without doing deep research about each podcast-
Another approach to this option is working with the podcast and people involved in it or running it yourself.
You give podcast listeners a link to your website that will offer a discount on their purchases to encourage their visits and turn them into leads.
You can also create video ads to generate leads, whether you’re streaming on YouTube or other platforms.
It may sound similar to any other advertising strategy. However, selecting a podcast or show that is relevant to your target audience will allow you to better target customers who might be most interested in your service.
Or, when building it yourself, you are using a content format that is being consumed today.
Social Media Ads Work
We didn’t forget about those paid ads we mentioned earlier, but we thought it would be a good option to wait before jumping into them.
Just like PPC that works with keywords and bidding for those to be found on search engines, social media ads work similarly.
However, the main difference is that you don’t need to wait for people searching your keywords to find you online when you use social media ads in most cases despite keywords being important here as well.
After all, your ads will be displayed to the most qualified people, saving you time and allowing you to identify sales-qualified leads.
How do you get started with social media ads?
Social media advertising is simple to set up and easy to implement.
Targeted leads can be reached on multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as Pinterest and LinkedIn.
Each platform has its own system for placing paid ads. You will need to search for paid ads on your platform based on the ones you’ve chosen for your dog grooming business.
We have compiled some information about the most popular social networks that you can use to save you time and ensure you are aiming for the right ones:
- Facebook.
Facebook is a versatile platform for social media advertising and the place where most of them achieve the desired results of those who settle them. It offers many ad formats as well as the most efficient and effective targeting options for your audience.
You can target people by their location, job description, or interests. Targeting browsing habits and other information can be done as well.
Facebook will give you the highest return on your investment than any other platform, as it will allow you to drive the most successful campaign possible through its settings and structure.
This efficiency will allow you to stretch every dollar and make each dollar count.
- Instagram.
Instagram is known for its heavy use of images and videos. We are sure you already know this.
This is a great way to advertise visually appealing services that, in your case, will be the rooming you do for dogs, and it’s a good option if you want to reach younger people or animal lovers in specific.
These ads are similar to organic posts, and you can blend in with a user’s timeline. You can include hashtags in your ads to increase engagement and interest.
- Twitter.
It’s very similar to Facebook in that there are many advertising formats available to interest leads.
These ads seamlessly blend with the timeline to provide users with an enjoyable experience.
Twitter makes it easy to engage with users through its ads, and the platform is well-known for its concise format and messages. This means that everything is clear, and you won’t struggle much with setting a copy message.
You may be skeptical about using more than one social media platform for your company. However, the impact of social networking on consumers is substantial, and you have good chances of getting prospects from almost all of them.
The Local Lead Generation Process for Your Dog Grooming Business
All right! So, everything is about building properties and generating leads. But how does the process actually take place? Are there other steps I need to know?
The steps I mention below are what students from our local lead generation program follow to generate leads for businesses like yourself. So I’ll help you see what we do. And how if you join our program, you can simply generate leads for your own business (unless you want to start a side hustle and build a laptop lifestyle business).
Essentially, our lead generation can be divided into four steps:
The first is prospecting. You need to take the time to do market research on a niche (industry) and determine how many phone-driven businesses are there.
Keep in mind that this is local research as you need to know how many companies need leads. For example, you may search for “plumbing services Youngstown OH.”
You will find dozens or even hundreds of businesses trying to get themselves in front of the customers by ranking on Map Listings, organic results, and even Ad.
The second step, building. When you find a niche (plumbing, tree services, a software company, real estate…), you will need to start building your digital properties. You don’t need to be an expert in HTML or coding. It can be easy with the right tools.
The third step is now taking time to rank your lead gen website. With the site done, you need to work on SEO strategies and start dominating those Google search results. If you’re new to SEO, it stands for Search Engine Optimization.
To keep it simple, it consists of the entire process of growing a company’s visibility on search engines like Google and generating organic traffic. And remember this, local lead generation is part of the strategies.
Moving on to step four, once you rank the site, you will start getting your ROI and profits. You only need to rent it out to a local business interested in the leads the site generates. You can offer a couple of free leads to their move on with the actual pay per lead.
To review steps 1-4 above, I described it to a normal student who is building a lead gen business to help local service providers generate more calls. But replace the student with you as the business owner. And replace sending the leads to a business to simply siphoning the leads to your personal business.
By the way, fun fact, about 20% of our students in our local lead gen program are actually business owners who went through the program. And they use the skillsets we teach to generate leads for their own business.
An Example of Lead Generation: Home Advisor
You must be thinking, “if lead generation sounds so good so far, how come I haven’t seen any company?” That’s the thing; there are many out there. You just don’t know they are dedicated to it.
HomeAdvisor is one of the best examples you can find on the Internet as it is a top lead generation company that has spent millions building its brand but also earned even more zeros for this same reason.
They started small as everyone else but invested in building their brand awareness to make people who are looking for home services go to their website and find what they need. They are over 75% of people’s first choice when they need those services.
If you don’t get HomeAdvisor that much or need a refresh, users need to submit their information to request a service and get a professional or expert who can provide it.
HomeAdvisor’s job is to share your information, which makes you a lead, with local companies so they can contact you and offer the service you’re requesting. For sharing this lead information, HomeAdvisor gets paid by the companies. This happens for every single lead they send to multiple businesses.
Business owners who don’t have marketing skills or don’t even know how to have any online presence will always rely on those pages to list their services. They will save time and effort, but companies like HomeAdvisor can make them spend lots of money as leads aren’t exclusive (one lead is sent to multiple companies after all).
Using Facebook Ads aka Paid Ad Platforms: Do They Generate Leads?
They DO generate leads. If not, no one would use them.
However, you need to remember two facts:
- Paid ads or platforms can be expensive.
- They don’t generate “natural” leads.
Whenever someone sees or clicks in one of those ads, over 80% of them did it by accident or are trying to close/report it.
Why? Because they aren’t looking for those services. At least not at the moment.
What those ads do instead is interrupt their time on the platforms. Users aren’t there to find companies or businesses unless they are searching for a specific company’s user, and for that, there’s a search bar. This is why it is hard to convert them to actual customers who will show interest in the companies’ services. Also, you’re limited by a budget.
When using lead generation, everything is organic. You aren’t forcing others to pay attention to your business but rather being there when they need you. This is why Google’s organic traffic will always beat paid ads, and the reason companies continue investing in it, which is a lot cheaper as well.
What Is Local SEO?
Don’t worry… I didn’t get it at first either. Following the short explanation, local SEO focuses on scaling businesses’ visibility on search engines. However, this is only for those who serve their communities face-to-face.
What does this mean?
Experts and professionals like painters, plumbers, and dentists (but not only them) offer their services to their local customers. Why? Because they can’t deliver them unless they are located in the same area of their customers.
To make sure those businesses get more leads, you need to rank them locally by claiming the business listing on Google to place them on Map Listings. Local SEO also involves online reviews, citation management, and how you manage your entire online presence in the local area.
If you are going to bet on lead gen, you need to adapt yourself to today’s world: The Internet.
Keep in mind that although traditional channels and methods like billboards, warm calls, and pamphlets still work, they aren’t part of your tools. Whenever someone needs a service, they go to Google and search for it.
“Dentist in Miami” or “plumbing services in Orlando,” etc. And you can keep coming up with services or professionals people need and look for. Thus, you need to make sure you’re using Google to get the companies in front of their clients.
Users will always click on the first search results (those near the top), and many of them will be either Ad links (people paid to place their websites there), Map Listing, and then you get websites. Almost all of them are your goal and where you should always aim to place yourself.
Can My Dog Grooming Business Utilize a Local Lead Generation Strategy?
If you want customers, you better know you need it. Following the previous explanation, lead gen is all about placing businesses in front of their customers, choosing them over their competitors.
Put it simply – it’s all about closing deals and having clients for those companies to make money. The main difference with the usual methods companies use for this is how lead generation approaches different channels to get them in the right place of the market to get customers.
Those channels are all focused on the Internet as most people are searching for products but also services across the net. The issue is that the Internet is way too broad, and businesses don’t know how to place themselves. They usually try, but they get one common result: losing money and time.
How Powerful Are Organic Dog Grooming Leads from Google?
For companies looking for customers, it’s everything. For you? Pretty much the same. When you build a business with digital properties, you get to make thousands of dollars a month.
This isn’t a “get started today and get rich tomorrow” thing, but it is HIGHLY scalable, and ROI + positive results are guaranteed. Learning a fairly decent and very needed set of skills to create your digital properties and start ranking them on Google is required.
I have invested in several online businesses over the years, and if there’s something uncertain, whether you will get your ROI or not, even more than the actual profit.
However, this business moved my earnings from five figures a year to a month in ONLY passive income while sitting comfortably at home.
On my laptop. Anywhere. Anytime.
You can look at one of the first sites I built back in 2016, and it continues making me over $1.000+ every month. The best part is that I don’t need to touch it or the rest I’ve built over the years, just like this digital property.
What Makes Lead Generation SO Alluring?
Here it goes: you can work from home.
The main issue with regular business opportunities is how much you need to invest in staff, equipment, or rent to have a place to sell your products or offer your services.
We all know the hassles of traditional businesses that involve regular expenses, which are extremely high. Can you afford it? I don’t think so, and even if you can, is it worth it? Now, it isn’t only about the money. You also need to put in a lot of work, and it isn’t only during the first couple of months or years. Usually, it is as long as you continue running it.
You can save yourself those headaches and bone-breaking tasks and expenses with lead gen since it is more about generating leads with digital channels—mainly websites.
Websites can be VERY cheap to build, and with many tools online, you get to do it in a couple of hours instead of days. Any virtual or digital business is scalable and won’t need constant maintenance.
So, let’s summarize this:
- You save money in regular expenses with traditional and most online businesses as what you need is yourself and digital properties (websites).
- You can bet on passive income.
- There’s no need to hire more people to get started.
- You can generate leads in multiple industries, which allows you to work on any niche you want.
How Can I Get Started in the Local Lead Generation Program?
Anyone can start and learn. That’s the beauty of this business model. I knew nothing about SEO, Map Listing, and everything I’ve mentioned so far. It is all about learning the skills, gaining experience, and deciding to take the step.
Remember that this business model will never get old as business owners are always looking for leads. They need to do business and scale their companies. Why not do the same while helping others and still making money?
You can start with this local lead generation course highly recommended for anyone wanting to grow in the business. It is a close training that will take you through each step and make sure you are able to get your ROI, profits and take control of your life.
You will be added to an incredible lead generation family ready to help you 24/7 when asking questions on the group. Anyone is welcome who’s willing to put in the work. Click here to watch the lead gen webinar.