You might be wondering if you really need business cards for your pet business in this day and age. Since most people are searching for their next pet sitter, or veterinarian online, surely a website is enough?
Yes – a lot of your new clients will find you online, but first and foremost pet parents trust word of mouth.
That means local marketing is vital for your pet business, and one of the most effective local marketing strategies you can apply is to make sure your pet business cards and leaflets are distributed by your local pet biz network.
So as you can imagine, having a good looking business card is really important for anyone looking to start or grow their pet business.
In this article you’ll learn how to design a creative business card that doubles up as a lead magnet, brand ambassador and word of mouth generator.
[Full disclosure: I have shared some examples of my own designs, that I printed at Moo + some awesome business cards from other designers from Zazzle. The links to these products are affiliate links, which means I may get a commission if you purchase.]
Sound good? Okay, lets do it!
What should a Pet Business Card Look Like?
Your Pet Business Cards could very well be the first impression your customer get of your business so make sure its a good one.
Your business card is in actual fact a physical extension of your brand and its important that it gives the same impression as your store, website and all other other marketing collateral. In other words – your brand image needs to be consistent across all your customer touch points.
So what should a good business card look like then?
The short answer is, it depends…
It depends on a number of things such as who your customers are, where you’re located and what your brand’s positioning is like.
Let me explain.
You need to match your business card to your audience. First have a look at your existing or ideal customer. Are they cash rich and time poor city dwellers? Do they care about the environment, or are they suburbians looking to get a good deal for their fur babies? If you haven’t already, then now would be a good time to create a customer persona card so you know exactly who you’re making your business card for.
Then take a look at your own brand. Is your business targeting the top tier of the market, or are you constantly competing on price? Do you want to portray good quality, look fashionable or environmentally conscientious?
Once you have a good idea of how your company is positioned in the marketplace, and what you want your brand to be about you can move on and start the exciting design process.
Creative Pet Biz Business Card Ideas
First things first – keep it simple and don’t try and cram too much information on the card.
But make sure you don’t forget the essentials: Business Name, Logo, Address, Email address, Phone number, Web Address.
Got that? Great, lets move on!
Embossing, Thermography & Foil stamping can add an exclusive looking flair to a business card. This would be great for a posh grooming salon salon or pet boutique focusing on high end pet accessories and services.
Textured or coloured paper can help your business card stand out from your competitors and create a seamless brand experience. For example, an organic doggie baker would do well choosing a recycled paper stock, and a puppy school could choose playful colours.
Including your own photo is a great way for pet care services such as groomers, walkers veterinarians to build immediate trust, and making the pet parents feel as though they know you even before they met you.
Make sure the photo is either a good portrait shot, or a sharp photo of you or one of your team walking/grooming/training your four legged customers. You could also use the back of the card to share a photo of your location, surgery or shop.
When I worked as the marketing manager in my friend’s grooming salon, I created business cards using photos of our newly groomed dogs (you can see them in the photo above).
We printed them at Moo because they have the option to print a different image or design on every card (you can use up to 100 different photos), meaning in just one print batch we could include photos of all participating customers.
Include a Fun Fact, Trivia or Customer Testimonials on the back of the card.
If you print your cards at Moo, then you can create a different fun fact or testimonial for each card making them all unique and incredibly effective.
Imagine a pet parent walking into their vets office, scanning all the dog walking business cards and finding your stack of cards with individual photos of your four legged customers and their owner’s testimonials on the back of the card.
That’s incredibly valuable marketing happening right there.
Fun facts could include how many dogs you bath or walk in a year, how many miles your dog walkers cover in a week, or how many dog biscuits you bake in a an average week. You can find fun dog quotes on this page.
Nontraditional Shapes Can Create Impact. Most business cards are of standard size and shape so creating a business card that’s slightly different can really help make an impact.
My favourite printer Moo allows you to print double sided cards that are available in a range of shapes and sizes, from rounded corners, to square and half-sized mini cards, as seen in the photo below. You can also find the rounded corners, as well as the half sized cards at Zazzle (but they call them ‘skinny’).
Paper Quality really matters, and can help build expectations of your brand. So choose the best quality paper you can afford.
Create a Keepsake and your card will always be front of mind. Instead of making a traditional card, why not make it into a keepsake? Create a bookmark, ticket for an event, stickers, or magnets.
Support an animal charity – show you’re a pet business with a heart and and include the text ‘proud supporters of the X animal charity’. Or make it even better and donate their first $10 fee towards that charity.
Give Your Pet Business Card a Purpose
Since you’re going to spend time and money making your own business card anyway, why not make your business card budget work harder by letting your cards multi task and giving them a purpose?
Rather than simply including your contact details, you include some form of call to action – asking the recipient to do something in return for an incentive. Make your business card act as your brand ambassador, lead magnets and word of mouth starter!
The ideal outcome is either a phone call to confirm a booking, or collecting their contact information either via a newsletter sign up or as a follower on your favourite social media platform.
Here are a couple of suggestions
- ‘Sign up for our newsletter and get your first walk FREE’
- ‘Follow us on Facebook and get 10% off your next purchase’.
- ‘Scan the QR Code for your unique offer’. The QR code would link to a page on your website where you host information about the offer (which can be changed anytime).
- ‘Quote ‘pup photo’ when booking an appointment and you will get a free colour print of your favourite photo’.
If you love these suggestions but have no idea how to use Photoshop – then you’ll love these articles:
- No Photoshop? No Problem! Why Petpreneurs will Love Canva
- How to Design Business Cards using Canva & Moo
Do you know a friend who could use a little help with their business cards? Share this article via Email, Facebook or Twitter!
Great suggestions here, especially “You need to match your business card to your audience.” So many people “stampede” into choosing the look and feel of a card based on their brands or other factors; but rarely is the business card designed from the final desired outcome –> more calls/e-mails from the desired prospects.
One other suggestion –> since pets are such an emotional topic, consider the suggestion (if room on the card permits) where people can post pics of their pets on your image-based social media AND website. The reason why is if they are permitted to post images of their pets on your website then they will share the URL of the specific page on your website; and this helps build SEO & social signals (and real world traffic) to your website instead of just your page on a social media platform. Of course, the images can be posted there as well; but taking the extra step will help with your SEO instead of boosting another website’s sub-page in the search engines.
Terrific recap and I am sending this post to some clients in the pets industry. Thanks again.
This is all so helpful! Thank you very much! I haven’t found any other resources with such useful information that I can use right now. Thanks again! (checking out your Moo links right now also!)
Great article! I really enjoyed reading it. All the designs that you share are amazing and it really helps me a lot. Thanks for sharing.