How to Use Direct Mail to Market Your Pet Sitting Business

Using direct mail is a tried-and-true ways to generate leads for any business. For owners of pet sitting businesses, it can be one of the most effective ways to get new clients, because it can physically reach the homes in targeted services areas where their ideal pet sitting customers reside.

I. Flyers

When business owners think about direct mail, “flyers” is one of the first things to come to mind and the ease of making them is one of the reasons why.

Flyers can be made in a variety of ways. If you really wanted to, you could simply write one flyer in long hand and copy it off several times. But for those pet sitting business owners, a more professional look is a few clicks away. You can create a sleek-looking flyer accessing Microsoft Word or Publisher and using one of the many available templates in these programs.

Think about where your target market frequents. Do members of your target market go to dog parks? Do they visit pet stores often for specialized supplies? Are they clients of exotic pet veterinarians? Wherever your target market goes, your flyers should go, too.

II. Postcards

Like flyers, you can also create postcards to advertise your pet sitting business using Microsoft Word or Publisher. If these programs aren’t available to you, you can design and order them on various “printing” Internet websites. Postcards are great when you want to be succinct and use images to communicate your pet sitting business’ brand, ideals, values or services. 

For postcards, you may need to do research to get potential clients’ physical addresses. When determining how you’re going to distribute, you should also consider the cost of postage. Postcards can be one of the most costly direct mail forms because of their creation and distribution costs, even though the total cost should be relatively pretty cheap. If you find that postage will break your advertising budget, you can also make postcards available at physical locations like on bulletin boards, kiosks or newsstands. 

III. Door Hangers

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that door hangers can be made using the same tools and programs mentioned above. For a more professional feel, you can also enlist the help of a print shop- especially if you want them custom made in a way that totally differs from what’s available on those programs. Print shops can also come in handy if you plan on mass producing thousands of door hangers for each door in a specific neighborhood.

While door hangers may seem to be the most work intensive of the direct mail options, they do have benefits. Their distribution method means that they can be very localized and have a more personalized feel to them. And statistically speaking, door hangers have a great chance of being read and saved in comparison to postcards or flyers. Besides, knocking on a potential client’s door is always bound to get a response!