As you settle into a new year with your pet brand, there are a few must-have business goals you should keep in mind that you can start ironing out now so that you’re fully prepared as the year progresses.
Business goals are great for all brands of every size to have — not only do they help keep your business on track, but they can help set you up for success by giving you a holistic view of what you’re aiming to achieve in 2021.
But knowing which goals to focus on can be tricky, so we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 business goals your pet brand should focus on this year!
Profit growth
It’s always important to keep in mind that profit is the number one goal for your pet brand. By factoring profit growth into your plans for 2021, you’ll operate with a more productive, revenue-driven mindset that is crucial for the survival of your business — especially when your brand exists in a tumultuous time like a global pandemic.
Typically, growing your profit would mean looking closely at your existing margins and formulate how much you’d like to make in 2021. But there are a few other considerations to think about!
Evaluate your costs — thinking about launching a new product this year, or changing your packaging? Evaluate what your most critical costs are and consider which expenditures will have the most positive impact on your bottom line.
Rethink your hiring strategy — if you’re a small pet brand that needs help with your growing business, consider which roles you should hire for that will add to the productivity and efficiency of your brand.
Consider where you sell — owning your own website that you can sell your products or services through can be more cost-effective than selling on a platform like Etsy, where these platforms take a cut of your profits.
Customer service
Communication and customer satisfaction are paramount when it comes to the success of any business, but when you’re selling to pet owners, even more so. Customers aren’t shy about letting others know when they had a positive or negative experience with a brand — and if customer service is lacking, you’ll be docked points for that, too!
That’s why customer service must be a priority this year, and improving upon it should be a key goal for your business. You may be thinking, “I already have great customer service!”, but there is always room to improve.
Try a few of our top tips for making your brand’s customer service stand out (in the right way!):
If you sell a pet-related service, always stay in frequent contact with your customers (like sending newsletters, using SMS reminders for appointments, and making it easy for customers to contact you)
Use social media as a customer service tool; for example, many brands use Facebook or Twitter as platforms where customers can get in touch with team members for inquiries about products and orders
Consider website chatbots that allow customers to chat with your team when they’re shopping online
Remember: whatever methods you use to improve your pet brand’s customer service, your goal should be to make your customers happy!
Data and analytics
It’s no secret that most brands use analytics and customer data to better understand what their customers are buying and what brings customers to their brand. But what if you’re not tracking the performance of your content or your sales channels?
Data and analytics must be a priority for every pet brand this year. The reality is, knowing where your customers are coming from and which channels help bring the most traffic to your business is crucial if you want to know what to offer your customers (and when!).
Let’s say, for example, that you use an analytics tool to monitor how much traffic Instagram and Facebook brings to your website, and you look at the data for 2020. The data tells you that Instagram outperformed Facebook by driving the most customers to your website and generating the most revenue. The data also tells you what those customers purchased the most of from you.
It makes sense that you would then focus on Instagram as a key sales channel for your brand in 2021, and optimize how you use Instagram to drive more sales. The only way you’d know that is with data and analytics!
Tip: try using Google Analytics to monitor key data that can tell you a lot about your business and your customers! Google Analytics is free (and our team can help you harness its full potential).
Smart digital advertising
If you experimented with paid advertising in 2020, now is the perfect time to learn from the results of your efforts — or start implementing digital advertising into your strategy!
The pet industry is booming, and with more niche markets within the industry becoming increasingly more saturated, how you advertise your brand, products, and positioning will matter this year. Not only are you competing with other eCommerce pet brands, but many customers turn to Amazon for the convenience of online shopping and instant experiences.
To make digital advertising work smarter (and not harder) for your brand, consider starting first with SEO — for example, audit your website and any content you create to optimize it for search. Once you’ve done that general housekeeping, look at digital advertising to boost your brand’s awareness in search and online.
There are a few key channels through which you can use digital (paid) advertising as part of your marketing strategy. Let’s take a look at those channels:
Google — consider display and retargeting ads to position your brand in customers’ search results for specific keywords.
Facebook — perfect for older demographics of customers who are most active on the platform, you can use Facebook ad retargeting customers who have been to your website but haven’t made a purchase.
Instagram — try boosting Instagram Stories when you’re having a sale or a seasonal promotion so that you reach more customers outside of your existing audience or following.
Brand marketing
This sounds like an obvious one, but increasing your marketing for your brand is critical if you hope to stand out among the crowd or cut through the noise this year. The global pandemic has forced many brands to turn towards digital channels to increase awareness, capture customers, and drive sales — so focusing on your brand’s marketing will be a non-negotiable!
Here are just a few of the many ways we’re helping our clients with their brand marketing this year:
Website marketing — your website is your brand’s calling card, and it’s also where many pet brands sell, which makes it the most important sales channel to optimize. We ensure our clients have high-converting, SEO-tailored websites that drive sales.
Content marketing — as a pet brand, you need to be more than just a brand; you need to be an authority. Part of what we do for our clients is to help them cut through all of the noise in the industry to become experts in their niche (and this drives audiences to their sales channels).
Email marketing — everyone who signs up for your newsletter is a potential customer, and we help our clients nurture those prospects through every stage of the funnel using email marketing that is both conversion and customer experience-driven.
While 2020 was a tough year for many businesses, this year offers a fresh start and an opportunity to revamp your business goals. If you need a helping hand doing just that, contact us — we’re to help your pet brand succeed in the digital age!
