Hi, my name is Linda Liebrand and I’m a professional marketer who ended up in the pet industry almost by mistake. A few years ago my husband and I decided to get a dog, and I planned to take a few months off on ‘canine’ leave before looking for a new marketing job in the city.
While I was busy training the pup a good friend of mine, who is also a brilliant dog groomer, asked if I could help her out in her doggie spa and boutique during her lunch breaks. I thought it would be fun and said yes – and before I knew it I had applied all my marketing tricks from working in retail and corporate marketing to her shop and she started seeing sales go up. My friend, who never misses a good business opportunity, quickly promoted me to Marketing Manager and I got to work.
How I created a doggie boutique brand
I wrote a marketing plan for her grooming salon, only to immediately change and adapt the plan to the actual budget my friend had in mind. Then I set up a new website for the pet business, and created a brand that was uniform whether our customers looked at a piece of signage, carrier bags or loyalty cards.
Meanwhile, I also worked in the shop and welcomed our four legged clients and their parents, making sure that they got the right type of haircuts and accessories. I learnt what dog foods are good for dogs with sensitive stomachs, and I learnt how to stop a dog from shaking water all over you when you bath them. I also learnt how to explain, in a nice way, why a matted dog would need an all over shave without upsetting the customer – all very useful stuff.
But, being true to my marketing geek self, I never stopped taking mental notes of what marketing worked, and what didn’t – and at the back of my mind an idea had started to form.
What if I could help more small pet service businesses, like dog groomers, dog walkers and pet stores, with their marketing needs?
Could there be a way to make all the marketing and branding strategies I had learnt during my years in the city available to smaller independent pet businesses with much smaller budgets? Could I teach pet business owners how to make their own kick ass marketing campaigns so they don’t need to hire a specialised (and expensive) pet marketing agency?
Of course the answer was yes, and the idea for My Brand Buddy business was born and I started helping petpreneurs growing their businesses. These days I’m not taking on any new clients as I have my hands full with our bouncy gorgeous toddler, but I still want to help as many pet pros as possible. And so the Marketing for Pet Pros Made Easy book series came about.
The purpose of the books is simple – I know you’re busy, and I know you’re working on a small budget.
So my goal with these books is to show you how to adapt big brand marketing strategies to your budget, as fast as possible.
The books are short, to the point, and include action points throughout each chapter – so when you’re done reading the book your strategy is done too. Sounds good? Check them out on Amazon here.
