Promoting a Pet Resort: Bring your Dog to Work, Leave your Assumptions at Home

What’s better than working with dogs?

Hello, my name is Alessandro Ulisse, and I am an Advertising Major with a concentration in Brand Strategy and Research. I am interning with Golden Paws Pet Resort and Spa, a luxury pet resort in Robbinsville, New Jersey.

This isn’t my first marketing internship. My first internship was with an urgent care provider, and my roles haven’t changed much between the two jobs. Simply put, I get the word out. But some words are more appealing than others. For example, “doggy daycare” versus “occupational healthcare.” Promoting puppies isn’t quite as tricky as convincing folks to go to the doctor. But it isn’t a walk in the park, either (no pun intended).

You might think social media content practically creates itself in a building full of cute puppies. Well, it does, but it isn’t going to manage itself. Golden Paws is indeed a content goldmine, but as a small business operation with a very local market, digital marketing is more of a complementary asset than a necessary one. In other words, Golden Paws has been doing just fine without sophisticated social media strategies that are essential to many other businesses.

Up until now, Golden Paws’ social media content has catered mostly to existing clients. And it’s great content. Clients want to see their pets having fun, and they want everyone else to see too. This aspect of social media has always been very solid at Golden Paws. But now they are ready to seize on the growth potential that social media offers. They want to use social media for not only customer retention, but also customer acquisition.

Golden Paws is now pursuing a more aggressive digital marketing strategy. They’ve recently hired 1SEO, a digital marketing firm in Bristol, PA, to help manage their digital assets. I was invited to sit in on their initial meetings together, both at Golden Paws’ and 1SEO’s offices, and it was a very rewarding learning experience.

1SEO’s representatives laid out their social media and SEO strategy for Golden Paws, and they explained concepts that I’ve been learning about all semester. The plan is to start publishing more ads on social media, as well as more promotional content in general, as opposed to strictly pictures of puppy play. At 1SEO’s office, we were presented with the results of one of their initial Facebook ad campaigns with us, a tour-style video of Golden Paws’ facility—it got tens of thousands of views! I’m excited to see Golden Paws’ digital marketing strategy grow and adapt in real time.

The moral of the story? You can have the best content in the world. You could have exactly what the people want, exactly what the people need. But you won’t see optimal results until your content is managed by an experienced professional.

I aspire to become the experienced professional.