How to Get Your Cleaning Product in Every Pet Household

Arguably, no one goes through more cleaning products, tools, or machines faster than a pet parent does!

For them, one of the most difficult challenges in caring for a pet is the cleanup. In fact, in a survey by American Pet Products Association, shedding was the second biggest drawback to owning pet, next to grieving when a pet dies. General cleanup after a pet was ranked just a couple of spots below.

Surely, pet parents need trustworthy and effective cleaning products to make their lives easier. So how can you get your cleaning product in more pet households, winning the trust and loyalty of these valued customers?

The Challenges with Television, OTT, and Other Advertising Platforms

The market for cleaning products is saturated. The most crowded shelves in any grocery store are filled with every product needed for deodorizing, eliminating bacteria, scrubbing, creating a shine, and more.

While television advertising is often effective in creating brand awareness, it does little to instill in your prospects a genuine trust in your brand. It also does little for the budget, as a 30-second advertising spot (not aired during a hit show) can cost well over $100k in air time alone, never mind production costs.

Then there’s OTT advertising. We’re heading towards 15% of US homes using OTT services like Netflix and Hulu exclusively. It can be cost effective  to advertise on these types of platforms. However, here again you face the challenge of building confidence in your brand. Not to mention, it’s very difficult to measure your conversions through media buys, either OTT or traditional television advertising.

In fact, in nearly every advertising scenario, with the exception of influencer marketing and word of mouth, it’s very difficult to win consumer trust, measure results, while keeping your investment low and your return high.

How a Influencer Marketing Can Help You Win the Trust of Pet Parents Everywhere

Influencer marketing works because it helps consumers make a decision based on what’s working for someone else that they already trust. I’ve had some experience in this during my 25+ years in the pet industry, helping connect brands with pet parents.

For instance, my post, How to End Your Dog’s Urine Marking for Good, received 7,925 visits in 90 days. It continues to be one of my most popular posts since it solves a real problem that many pet parents face — that pesky cleanup after a pet piddles. The post contains affiliate links to my favorite products on Amazon. Out of those 7k+ visits, nearly 4k visitors clicked on a link, and 256 of those proceeded to purchase. That’s roughly a 3.2% conversion rate from visit to purchase! Marketing mogul, Neil Patel cites a statistic that the average e-comm store’s conversion rate is 1.6%. Yes, the proof is in the purchase (and repeat purchases). Consumers trust recommendations from influencers they know and have a connection with.

A good influencer knows how to tell a story about falling in love with a product. They’re clear about why they use it, what makes it work for them in their life, and why their audience should use it as well. There’s no “hawking” a product just to make the bank account grow. Good influencers know that their audience sees right through those tactics. And if they want to retain a loyal audience, there’s no room for inauthenticity.

Some of my favorite partnerships have been with cleaning brands that I regularly use, such as BISSELL. As their brand ambassador for more than 6 years, I created pet lifestyle content for their pet-parent facing microsite, generated thousands of email leads, and garnered millions of impressions via media tours. The 50+ blog posts I created for them continue to gain exposure, thanks to great SEO.

In 2018, I was pleased to partner with Urine Off to create a giveaway that generated more than 1,000 email leads in one week! Their urine finder light continues to generate weekly sales due to my recommendation on my blog.

While I love to tout the successes cleaning product brands can have with influencer marketing, it is absolutely possible to partner with an influencer that doesn’t get results.

In order to ensure success, here are some questions you’ll want to ask before you create a partnership with an influencer in the pet industry:

• Will the pet or the owner (or both) be demonstrating the use of the product? While there are some excellent pet influencers, cleaning products often need a human to demonstrate its effectiveness.
• How will you measure our success together? While certain metrics should be agreed upon together in advance, the influencer should be prepared to provide measurable results at the end of each campaign.
• Have you used our product and for how long?
• Have you ever worked with, or are you working with, any of our competitors? If so, how will that impact our relationship?
• Do you have established and/or customized programs? A reputable influencer will not rely on you, the client, to create a scope of work.

The bottom line is, cleaning product brands are a natural fit for experienced influencers in the pet industry. They win the trust of pet parents, generate sales, and provide content that continues to generate sales long after the campaign or partnership has come to an end.