Are pet licensing organizations thinking about their “brand”?
It’s no secret that in today’s world, the quality of a company’s brand is a primary factor in driving sales for that organization. Consumers tend to be more loyal to brands whose vision, mission and purpose align with their own. An attachment to a cause is no longer an additional benefit associated with a brand, but has instead become an expectation. As a part of our research in DocuPet’s 2020 Annual Pet Licensing Industry Report, we were able to find that this concept can be applied to the way pet licensing organizations think about pet licenses.
In that report, we found that over 60% of dog owners were more interested in actually licensing their dog if they knew just a portion of the cost went to support their local animal shelter. Why is that?
It comes down to brand.
Imagine asking a pet owner in your community what they believe to be is the benefit of a pet license, and what they believe to be is the benefit of their local pet shelter. You will no doubt hear more positive interest in the local shelter because the brand of that shelter precedes itself. Pet owners believe in the mission of their local shelter, they appreciate the services it provides and they’re more likely to support it when they have the opportunity.
Thinking about brand…
As a pet licensing organization, do you also provide sheltering services like lost pet housing, rabies clinics and adoption events? Or – perhaps revenues from your licenses at least partially offset the costs of sheltering and those associated services within your community? In either case, what’s important to understanding your brand is the impact of the services that you provide.
From our 2020 Report, over 70% of dog owners acknowledged both that their local pet shelter was easily accessible and extremely important to them. With the support clearly there already, you have a good opportunity to tell your stories and have them be impactful to your pet owners.
How many pets have you sheltered in the last year? How many pets have been returned home thanks to your hard-working animal control officers in the last month? When is your next free adoption event or pet food drive? Use convenient and inexpensive methods to get these stories out. Send emails, take up local media advertising opportunities, attach these stories to preexisting communications like mailed license renewal notices and adoption packages, and don’t forget about social media.
Now tie your brand to pet licenses…
Now that you know the value of your sheltering brand and that pet owners are being engaged, show them how the revenue associated with a license expands the opportunity for your brand to provide more improved services. By clearly communicating the allocation of license fees to sheltering initiatives, residents are allowed a transparent understanding that their pet’s license isn’t just a mandated fee, but rather it is a conduit helping to make a difference in their own community while protecting their own pet.
Just 23% of dogs across North America are licensed on average. That means just 23% of potential revenue is being achieved to support highly popular local animal shelter brands. Let your pet owners know about this, thank them along the way, and your shelter brand will become an excellent driver for new and renewed license sales year over year. If you would like to be in touch with us directly to discuss this in more detail, simply click the button below to request a demonstration.