The NAPRP Blog

Aug 14

Written by: NAPRP Admin
8/14/2009 3:59 AM

On Tuesday we had our monthly expert teleseminar and I had the pleasure of talking to Betsy Saul from Petfinder. I hope you had the opportunity to listen in because it was a whole lot of fun. (If you couldn't listen live and you're a Golden Paw member, don't forget you can log into the NAPRP Web site anytime, and visit the Recordings page to download the MP3 audio.)

In addition to being an animal lover like the rest of us, Betsy is an amazing businessperson. I know many people in rescue hate to think of what we do as involving any type of "product" that we're trying to "move off the shelves" but realistically, many principles from business do apply when you are trying to get more animals adopted.

For example, the Petfinder site itself is really just about getting a potential adopter's attention. (It's a "lead generator" in marketing speak.) In other words, Petfinder is a HUGE advertising opportunity for you. So when you post a dog, for example, you don't need to educate people about every nuance of dog ownership. What you need to do first is get the visitor's attention. Once the person has fallen in love with that furry face, you can begin the education process and the person will be far more receptive.

From a practical standpoint, you should really spend time on describing your critters. You want to make the animals who may have "problem" personality traits get the attention they deserve. After all, you know that dogs or cats that are older, exuberant, declawed, black, or shy are still wonderful pets. Talk about what you love about the animal. Tell her story so it's interesting, not negative. The Web surfers at the Petfinder site are already predisposed to adopt. Write descriptions that encourage them to move forward!

Another vital aspect of marketing is customer service. If you aren't following up with people who contact you, you are not only missing an adoption opportunity, but through September, you could actually be throwing money away. If you've visited the Petfinder admin page lately, you may know this already, but Petfinder is running a customer service contest in conjunction with Maddie's fund. The "Secret Adopter" challenge offers prizes for you to just be nice and follow up with people who contact you. It's so easy!

As always, thank you for all you do to help the animals ;-)

~ Susan Daffron
Founder & President, NAPRP

 

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