With Memorial Day behind us and summer in full swing, It is the time to reach a HUGE target market – DOG LOVERS!
A quick conversation with your local shelter or dog rescue will open the doors to a world of pet festivals. Pet festivals are a great place to set up a booth as a vendor where you will reach a variety of individuals from home owners to CEOs who have one thing in common – they love dogs. Dog lovers, in my experience, are most likely to remember your bed bug detection team when the pest invades their home or work place. Not only will they remember your team, they will refer you out to friends.
Let them meet the WHOLE team.
As much as we adore our handlers, here at NACPI everyone knows it’s the canine half of the team that people love the most. Let potential customers meet your partner and they will get a lasting impression.
Set up demos!
A basic training exercise, like “can-work,” looks amazing to a homeowner and will be very simple for your dog to manage under stress.
Hand out flyers!
Information like how to protect themselves from bed bugs on vacation, what to look for when shopping yard sales or how to properly choose a canine team will be very accepted.
Do a raffle!
Grab a relevant, awesome prize (we use K9First Aid kits from OutdoorSafety.com) and allow patrons to enter a drawing with their contact information. You get a contact list built up and have some credibility since you’re talking with them while they’re at your booth.
Don’t be afraid of the “small town.”
Resist the urge to avoid small, local adoption events and pet fairs. Large events draw large crowds but they also require more handouts, a higher registration fee and you may get lost in a sea of vendors. The first event Jarvis and I will be doing this summer is sponsored by a local pet laser therapy and surgical office and is raising funds to purchase equipment for the county policy canine teams. For $25 we will be one of 20 vendors with a yearly crowd draw of +500 local dog lovers. That is my idea of a target market!
Share your success stories!
If you’ve done this in the past and have a success story, please share it with us in the comments!
