How to promote a dog walking business effectively

If you have a passion for animal care, and you want to turn that passion into a business, then professional dog walking might be the perfect business for you. But if you want your dog walking business to work long-term, you’re going to need regular customers. 

To help you find those customers, we’ll be sharing some of our favourite tips on how to effectively promote a dog walking business, including:

• Build a website
• Stay active on social media
• Start a YouTube channel
• Sign up for online directories
• Get certified
• Organise a charity walk 
• Partner with a shelter

Your website is the face of your business, so it’s crucial that it makes a good first impression. At the very least, your website should include contact information, prices, an “about me” page and a comprehensive description of what you can offer.

You can hire a professional service to build your website for you, but a cheaper option would be to use a website builder (CMS software). There are loads on the market that are beginner-friendly and can guide you through the whole process to help you make a professional website. 

A good website will make sure you appear when people search for dog walking services on search engines like Google. You can improve your search engines rankings by:

• Paying for Google ads.
• Making your site SEO (search engine optimisation) friendly.
• Asking your customers to leave Google reviews.

Social media is one of the best ways to advertise your services. It’s free, easy to use, and almost everybody uses it. Sites like Facebook and Instagram, in particular, will react very positively to posts about all the adorable dogs you’ve been walking. 

Try joining some groups dedicated to dog walking and animal care, post regularly, and make sure your comment and reshare as much as possible to encourage engagement from other users. 

Alongside pictures, you can post blogs about animal care techniques and short videos of your walks. You could even do a weekly dog bio, introducing a new member of your dog walking group every week. 

Although YouTube is technically a social media platform, we thought it deserved its own section. 

YouTube is a popular platform, but it’s also the world’s second-largest search engine, so promoting your business through it will attract a lot of attention. For the best results, you should upload videos regularly, and they should be at least ten minutes long. 

You can create videos about:

• The walks you take.
• Individual dogs in your group, introducing them to the public. 
• General advice for dog owners. 

Creating a YouTube channel doesn’t just improve your visibility. With enough viewers and subscribers you can actually monetise the channel itself and seek out private sponsorship, so it could end up being another substantial revenue stream. 

Loads of people are going to be looking online for dog walking services, so signing up for directories through Google and Facebook will make it much easier for people to find you. 

Google offers a free listing service that anybody can sign up for. When people find you on Google, your profile will appear with reviews, photos, and your location. A service like this will be a huge boost to your business, as people are much more likely to come to you if they have more information. 

For more detailed information about advertising with Google, check out our article, “How to advertise a small business on Google”.

Facebook provides a similar service, but this one is dedicated to your Facebook page. If you register, Facebook will automatically send ads to people listed in your local area. 

Unlike Google my business, you’ll have to pay for Facebook’s service. But it has the added benefit of showing up on people’s actual newsfeeds, instead of them having to search for you themselves. 

There are loads of great courses about dog walking and animal care. Completing one of these courses will improve your overall knowledge of the industry, plus it looks good when you’re advertising your services. 

Displaying your certification will let people know there’s a lot of knowledge required for animal care and that their dogs are safe in the hands of a professional. 

In a similar vein, you should definitely look into dog walkers’ insurance policies. It’ll protect you in case something goes wrong, and it’ll give your clients peace of mind. 

Charity events are a great way to get the local community interested in your business and generate some positive PR. 

You could organise a large dog walking event to raise money for an animal charity like the RSPCA or The Dogs Trust.

Remember to take lots of pictures and videos to show on your social media pages and websites. You could even live stream the whole thing for some extra attention. 

Try approaching some dog shelters in your area and ask them to refer your service to anybody who comes in to adopt a dog. 

One of the biggest reasons people don’t keep dogs in the first place is that they don’t realise how much work actually goes into animal care. So getting your business cards into the hands of new dog owners will make sure they’re properly looked after while providing a new stream of customers to your business. 

Effectively promoting your business will lead to more customers. And more customers will lead to more complicated bookkeeping. That’s why thousands of business owners use the Countingup app to make their financial admin easier. 

Countingup is the business current account with built-in accounting software that allows you to manage all your financial data in one place. With features like automatic expense categorisation, invoicing on the go, receipt capture tools, tax estimates, and cash flow insights, you can confidently keep on top of your business finances wherever you are. 

You can also share your bookkeeping with your accountant instantly without worrying about duplication errors, data lags or inaccuracies. Seamless, simple, and straightforward! 

Find out more here.