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Business owners know the importance and value of having a solid brand – colours, a logo, slogan, personality, mascot, etc. – but many don’t capitalise on these aspects of their business as much as they could. The purpose of a logo, after all, is for your marketing, so why not put it everywhere you can to boost awareness of your business?
In this blog, we’ll be discussing ideas for branded products that pet businesses – whether they’re shops, shelters, veterinarians, or anyone else running a business in the world of animals – can sell. These products can increase awareness of your business, increase profits by expanding your business offering, and create more happy customers and fans of your organisation.
Here are our ideas for branded products your pet business can sell.
1. Animal Photo/Graphic Printed Products
a) Logo Products
Although the point of selling branded products (in this scenario) is that they have your logo on them, you can create products that exclusively showcase your logo – most importantly, stickers! They can go anywhere, including on your other products. You could also create cheap magnets with the same idea.
It’s important to share your logo everywhere. Familiarising people with your organisation by utilising your branding is one of the most important steps in marketing a business. Offering stickers, magnets and more with your logo to customers allows increased awareness of your business.
b) Print on Demand Products
First, what’s print on demand (POD)?
POD companies only make and distribute (print) your products when someone buys them (on demand). You don’t pay any money, create the products, distribute them, or even take care of payments. You only make money when people buy, usually through a website. You can also use this for the stock you want in-store, because you only have to buy the amount you want to (though you’ll be losing money if the in-store products don’t sell).
POD products will end up being more expensive overall (compared to buying a batch wholesale and taking care of distribution yourself), but they are a great help in reducing overheads and storage for product selling. This is a great compromise when you’re starting out selling products and don’t want to go all in yet. You don’t want to risk ending up with a warehouse of t-shirts that aren’t selling.
Pet Business POD Products:
A great POD product for an animal-related business is a calendar. Cat and dog calendars, with a cute pet photo for every month of the year, have no lack of popularity. These novelty calendars can be great gifts for animal lovers, and the best part is, you can use photos of animals from your organisation. For example, a pet shelter could use the cutest or funniest photos of animals that have spent time with them, or an animal grooming business could use photos of animals covered in bubbles or shaking their fur. This is fantastic marketing and creates a direct empathetic connection with potential customers.
Books are also a popular POD product, and you don’t have to be a good writer! Creating and self-publishing books has never been easier or more affordable, and they don’t have to be wordy. As with calendars, your organisation should already have many cute and funny animal photos, and you can collate the best in a coffee table book. If you prefer words, however, you might write a short book on pet care, like a guide on grooming, or even training. These books can be sold in-store or online.
Finally, some of the most common POD products are items that can be printed (of course) with a special design or photo. This includes t-shirts, mugs, hats, bookmarks, phone cases, etc. These products are just another way for you to get your branding out there and spread word of your business. The printed designs could be your logo, animal images, or even artwork/graphics that are animal-related. Companies like RedBubble are popular for making, selling and distributing these types of POD products.
2. Branded Pet Products to Sell in Store
Leashes, cages, beds, and more can be sold with your branding to remind customers who you are and increase professionalism. You can either give away products with each adoption, or sell them. Imagine the business exposure from having dogs around your area walking with leashes with your brand!
Branded products also help to keep you top-of-mind in customers who have brought from you, and is a way they can further support you. You might do something as simple as buy cheap pet products and put your branding on them manually (for example, buying cat litter trays in bulk and sticking your logo stickers on them). Or, you could contact a company that makes pet products and talk to them about creating a batch with your branding.
3. Homemade Products
For an even more personalised touch to your branded products, you just have to look within your business. If you have some crafty staff or volunteers, you could offer products like homemade blankets, baked goods (including homemade pet treats) or stuffed toys (for both humans and pets).
For blankets or other homemade sewed or knitted products, you can embroider your business name into a corner (or attach a tag with your name/logo printed). These can be sold online, at markets, or at local shops to increase your brand’s visibility.
For baked goods, you could look into selling them through a local bakery. The bakery can have a box on their counter of pet treats – with your branding – that people can purchase. If those treats are good enough, your business will stay top-of-mind the next time people have a pet-related need.
4. Food and Drinks In-Store or Online
You can also sell pet food and treats through your pet business retail store or online, whether that’s selling from other companies or making and packaging your own.
A mini-cafe can also be a great way to boost your marketing. This might mean offering a free coffee (in a branded take-away cup) with each pet adoption, or some cafe foods like cakes and sandwiches. Having these services available means that customers will not only be encouraged to stay at your organisation for longer if they choose to dine in – encouraging them to buy more products – but means they’ll be carrying around a cup or even a napkin with your logo if they leave with the food.
With a simple coffee machine, some cheap cups with your logo printed on them (or with your logo stickers), and a donation of fresh food from a local bakery, your pet organisation can become a cafe! Just make sure you can legally sell food, and health and safety policies are up to scratch.
Are you looking to adopt a pet or donate to a pet rescue organisation? Georgie and Cindy from Large Hope SEO foster cats and kittens on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. If you’re local, get in touch to discuss adopting from the rescues. See cats and kittens available for adoption or donate so we can save more kittens.
