There are many different ways to advertise your dog walking business. 

I have already written a couple of articles on how to market your dog walking business.

In this article, I wanted to explain the elements that go into a good advertisement that will get clients to contact you.

I also go through an example that you are more than welcome to emulate.

How do I advertise myself as a dog walker?

Your job as a dog walker is to serve your clients, both two and four-legged. 

It’s important to remember what it is you are helping them with. 

Ask yourself these questions:

1. What are their pain points?
2. Why do they need a dog walker?
3. How are you making their life better?

For example:

Pain Points: Not enough time in the day, cannot physically walk their dog (injured, elderly), feeling guilty, stressed out

Why they need you: Help free up time, stop destroying things, wear them out, tired, happy pup, relieve guilt and stress

How you can help: Their dog is happy and worn out each day, proper exercise is vital for a healthy dog, they feel less guilty and stressed, frees up more time in their day for family, etc.

Now that we have most of the benefits listed of hiring a dog walker (if you have even more, perfect, the more the merrier!) it’s easier to put together an ad.

How to advertise dog walking on facebook

For the sake of this article, I am going to concentrate on how to advertise with FREE ads, so I am not going to go into how to write a paid ad on Facebook.

However, promoting a post on Facebook is a great way to find potential clients online. 

Anyways, I digress.

To be able to advertise on Facebook, you need a Facebook Business Page. Optimize this page with all of your business information, including:

• Location
• Hours of operation
• Phone number
• Email
• Social Media handles
• Website

Don’t get too overwhelmed thinking about adding all of this information. Facebook walks you through it when you create your page. 

If you don’t have all of the information, such as a website, remember to add it in when you do.

You can also add a call to action button to your page. You would either link to your website or phone number here, whatever the best way is to get in touch. 

Remember, you want to make it easy for a potential client to contact you.

Now that your Facebook page is set up and all your info is filled out, there are a few things you can do to engage a potential client looking for a dog walker. 

Post consistently

You should be posting an engaging picture or article every single day. 

Now, don’t just post a picture of a cute pooch and say, “Awww, isn’t he the cutest?” 

Your posts need to speak to potential clients.

Remember the three questions we answered at the beginning of this article?

Keep them in mind when you write a post. 

Always keep your ideal client in mind, and not every post will target the same audience.

Maybe you want to focus on clients with more than one dog, or you’re looking for a client in a particular area. 

Remember their pain points, and write a post that demonstrates how you can help solve their problems.

Show off Your Skills

Post pics of you with your current clients (with their human’s permission, of course!)

If you don’t have clients yet, take pics of you with your dog out on walks and having a good time.

That’s what I did.

Pictures really show how a dog interacts with you and how much they love the walks that you provide. 

A simple caption that hits some pain points of potential clients could be:

“Sparky is loving his 90-minute hike in the woods today! Sniffing, running, and playing wear him out so much. He is a happy and tired pooch when I return him home safe and sound.”

This simple post outlines the service you provide (90-minute hike), information for potential clients (sniffing, running, and playing burns off energy), and the benefits for the dog (happy and tired).

You don’t need to write a novel, you can get your point across with a simple caption.

By doing this consistently, you will get people engaging with your content (make sure to respond to comments) and Facebook will put your posts in front of more and more people.

As with anything, this takes time so do not expect results over night. Just keep working at it and don’t give up!

How to advertise dog walking on Instagram

Fortunately advertising on Instagram is very similar to advertising on Facebook.

First, you need to set up a business account. This is still free, it just gives you additional information such as the demographics of your audience and allows you to promote your post (paid ad).

However, again, we are going the free route on this one.

To start, like Facebook, input all of your contact info.

The same rules apply, post often, and keep your captions directed toward potential clients.

Keep them in mind at all times. Always be asking yourself, “How can I help them?”

The good thing about Facebook and Instagram is that you can connect your two acounts.

This means that when you post on Instagram, there is an option to post on your Facebook business page as well.

I highly recommend that you do this because it means that you can hit two birds with one stone, so to speak.

You can post each day on FB and Insta with the same post. 

As you get a bigger following on social media, you might want to do additional posts on just Instagram or just Facebook, but in the beginning, as long as you’re posting valuable content daily, you can take advantage of this feature.

How to advertise dog walking on Kijiji or Craigslist

My very first ad was on Kijiji. I was pretty much testing the waters to see if there was a market for a dog walker in my neighbourhood. 

This is what my ad looked like:

Nothing too fancy, right.

I introduced myself, outlined my experience, explained why I wanted to expand our pack, what type of dog would be suitable, and that I was willing to work with a client’s schedule.

This simple ad, with only one picture on it has actually drummed up a little bit of business for me. So it did its job. I knew that there was, in fact, a market for a dog walker in my area. This one ad generated two regular clients.

I think an ad like this is a great one to start with, however, now that I have more experience and know that I actually want a dog walking business, it’s time to kick it up a notch.

The first thing I would do is add more pictures. If you have pics of yourself walking your pack of dogs, definitely show that off. 

It instantly gives you credibility to any prospective clients.

Also, show pics of you and your pooches, again this helps with credibility and shows how you interact with dogs.

For the written part of the ad, I follow these criteria:

• Introduce yourself
• List your credentials (years of experience, licensed, insured, etc)
• Explain why hiring a dog walker is good for potential clients and their pooches (hit those pain points HARD)
• Explain how YOU can help alleviate those pain points
• Let them know how many spots you have available if they are limited
• Leave your contact information

If I was to write a new Kijiji ad for my dog walking business, The Local Barker, here’s what it would look like:

Dog walker ad example

Hi, my name is Kathy and I am an experienced dog owner of more than 14 years.

I offer dog walking services to the wonderful communities of Northumberland County.

When I lived in Toronto, and life was more hectic, I hired a dog walker to walk our dog when I was stretched to the max and just could not scrape together enough time to take him out properly each day.

I understand the guilt and stress that comes with knowing that your pooch is under-exercised and not as happy as he could be.

I would like to help alleviate just a little bit of the stress and guilt that you are carrying around.

Let me tell you, there is nothing better than coming home after a long day at work and finding your pooch tired and happy!

I offer 60 and 90-minute hikes in the beautiful Northumberland forest. My dog, Ollie, comes along for the hikes as well. 

Your pooch will get tuckered out by all of the walking, sniffing, and playing they will experience on our hikes.

If this sounds like a good fit for you and your pooch, please check out my website for more information www.thelocalbarker.com, or simply reply to this ad.

Ollie and I look forward to meeting you and your pooch!

Notice how I introduced myself, highlighted my experience and credentials (I don’t have many yet!), what type of service I am offering, empathized with their situation (personal story), explained how I can help them, what services I currently offer, and how to contact me.

These are the basic elements you need to have in order to advertise effectively.

Additional dog walking advertising ideas

There are many different platforms to advertise your dog walking business, here are some more that you may want to consider:

• Your own website
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• You Tube
• TikTok
• Google My Business
• Yelp
• Flyers
• Business Cards
• Google Adwords
• Newspaper
• Sign on Car
• Shirts with Logo
• Pens with your logo and info

How do you advertise your dog walking business?

I’ll go first.

I have Facebook and Instagram business accounts, a YouTube channel, website, and I advertise on Kijiji.

In the near future, my plan is to put ads up on Facebook marketplace, join more local Facebook groups, put up flyers, and get business cards made.