455: Effective Use of Google Ads with Maris Sonnabend
Time to Pet. Go to timetopet.com/confessional for 50% off your first 3 months.
Peaceful Pet Music - Calm Music for Pets: https://www.youtube.com/@peacefulpetmusic
How do you use Google ads effectively? Running an effective Google ad campaign takes more than just clicking a few buttons. It requires focus, trial and error, and a willingness to lean heavily into your brand. Maris Sonnabend, owner of House of Paws Pet Care, shares her experience of embracing a branding that isn’t for her but has enabled her to target a specific avatar. She walks through the importance of focusing on one guiding principle to keep everything you do focused and intentional. Maris also discusses her philosophy of testing to determine what will and will not work in her business.
Main topics:
Time blocking
One Principle
Using the right language
Using Google Ads
Main takeaway: Integrate your expertise into everything you do.
About our guest:
Born and raised in St. Louis, MO, Maris holds an unwavering love for our city, its people — and their animals! Maris has spent many years crafting her career to center around creatures of all types. She possesses a wealth of knowledge and experience in providing exceptional care to a diverse range of critters, including dogs, cats, horses, birds and fish. Combining that expertise with her passion for animals, she is now a Certified Professional Pet Sitter who also holds certifications in Fear-Free practices and Pet First Aid/CPR.
Links:
https://www.houseofpawspetcare.com
https://www.facebook.com/houseofpawspetcare/
https://www.instagram.com/houseofpawspetcarellc/
ProTrainings: For 10% off any of their courses, use CPR-petsitterconfessional
Give us a call! (636) 364-8260
Follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, & TuneIn
Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
client, pet, people, sitters, google ads, ads, push, google, pet sitter, services, dog, love, running, good, company, walks, meet, branding, facebook, find
SPEAKERS
Collin Funkhouser, Maris S.
Collin Funkhouser 00:02
Welcome to petsitter. confessional. Today we're brought to you by tiny pet and the peaceful pet music, calm music for pets YouTube channel. How do you market to potential clients? Flyers, referral system partnerships and networking in your local community? What about running Google ads? Turns out there's a lot more that goes into this than just clicking a few buttons. And today we are super excited to have Maris Sonnabend event owner of House of paws Pet Care here to talk about how she is utilizing targeted Google advertisements to boost her sales and to bring new people into her company. She says it all starts with having a strong brand and through line for your company that you can communicate to people and instantly connect with. Let's get started. Yeah,
Maris S. 00:46
so my name is Maris Sonnabend. And you might know me as Maris Miller from a couple months ago, I recently got married, and I don't have supplies, pet care. We are a small team of 12, which is just kind of mind boggling. But I started like many people did as a solo sitter. I was petsitting, before work after work. And I was a retail manager at the time. And during the pandemic that was just exhausting. So after we closed on our house in April of 21, I asked my now husband about going full time and he's a numbers, man. So he very quickly was like, okay, yeah, we can see what happens. And that's a scary thing to do in the middle of the pandemic, and right after you buy a house. So very quickly, we realized that we really had potential in what we were doing. And like I said, now we're a team of 12 My husband's full time with us now. And we do pets it dog walks, adventure hikes, almost overnight. Anything pet care related, you can think of in the pet sitting side is what we do. Little bit of pet taxi here and there, all that good stuff. Um, but yeah, so that's pretty much
Collin Funkhouser 02:00
yes. Wow. So I know, You've been doing this since what? 220 13. Right. But you finally made the decision and 2021 What was it about that time where you decided that that you didn't want to be in retail anymore? And that this was what you needed to do with your life? Yeah, so
Maris S. 02:18
I had been recently promoted right before the pandemic, February of 2020, I got promoted to the shipping department of our store I was working at and so we grew 300%. And within a month of me going into that position, so it was just, it was constant stress. And don't get me wrong, you got every other weekend off. And it was just 40 hours a week minus like peak holiday periods and stuff like that. So it seemed great on paper. But again, I was petsitting before work after work. I was turning down jobs that I could be doing that I enjoyed a lot more. So once we were running the numbers. And like I said, after we closed on the house and the bank was out of our business. Well, let's just see what happens. And I very quickly had to onboard someone to help me after that. And it just kind of grew from there. We just I started learning more about the business side of things. I'm sure black people relate to this. I've never ran a business before. So it was really just connecting to a lot of people and seeing how to actually make it something that could grow. And wow, has it really grown
Collin Funkhouser 03:26
well, I know a lot of people are getting worried about the that transition right into this because all of a sudden it is I well I never planned on being an entrepreneur, I never plan on starting my own business. But here's this thing. And I think like you many of us find ourselves in that position of going, man I'm turning down so much work. If I said yes to that, what kind of what I want to actually be able to do with my with my life. And that's where those those numbers come in. And they're so critical to know. Okay, what's my What am I turning away? What would I actually be taking in? What would I make now like really seeing how far we got because a lot of times when you actually run those numbers, the potential really shortens that gap a lot more than we initially see just from our gut feeling. Yeah, definitely.
Maris S. 04:09
And I mean everyone sees like those people that do it on the side and they are just kind of doing it for fun and they're pretty they're plenty busy that's what that was me for so long. So making that leap to go full time I wanted to be a better pet sitter in general I had done it since high school, and I really wanted to make myself stand out in regards to the care that we provide and give that option to people in our area. So um, like I said after I really started pushing for certifications, getting insurance and being legit. It really just blew up and like I said we had to make sure it was the right decision for our family to because like I said we just close in our house we had two dogs I just bought a worse and all these other things that were not cheap or coming about. We had to make sure it was financially feasible because Tyler at the time was still working at Target. And so we knew we had a backup. And it was so funny, I think about this. And my manager at the time told me he's like, we'll make sure you leave on a good note. Because if it doesn't work out, we want you to come back. I'm not coming back so
Collin Funkhouser 05:19
dedicated. Well, I know you mentioned you bought it. But of course, you're really debt in the equestrian world. And I know that's a big passion of yours, too. How has it been balancing? Having that aspect of your life and running this insanely fast and quickly growing business?
Maris S. 05:35
Yeah, well, a lot of that is actually what drove me to hire. I am a big, I'm really big on having time for yourself. And that's so hard to do. And I learned that really quickly, when I was working 1215 hour days, as we can all relate to at some point. So for that, I had to find a way to really integrate it into what we're doing. So we are one of the only companies that does farm sitting in our area. So being able to offer that expertise to people that hasn't Oh, my God, I haven't gone out of town and 15 years because I have no one to watch my horses. And that's also given me a lot of connections in the area to that have helped me further my training also, because a lot of pet sitters say like if they're like, oh, yeah, I'd love to watch a horse. But there's so much that goes into it. And I've been riding horses for I guess, 15 plus years now. And there's things that you can't just like Google to know, when it comes to horses, I mean, they are constantly on a mission to hurt or kill themselves in some way. So it's, it's vital to have someone who really knows what they're doing, you can't just train someone up in a couple of days, and they know what's going on. Because something's always going to come up when it comes to horses. That's just how it is. But like I said, I really knew I had to start hiring and onboarding people when I didn't have time to go out and enjoy my horses. And that was really important to me. So that's, that is my piece that is my calm. And if I didn't have that, I would lose my mind. So
Collin Funkhouser 07:11
yeah, and that would that is so that's so critical to have those those flags in our life, those warning flags that pop up, and that takes knowing ourselves right of going, what would be a warning sign to me and for you knowing, okay, if I don't have time with my horse, if I don't have my time doing these things, going to these shows, or whatever it is like, I don't have time for that, that outlet. If I start cutting into that, I know I'm not going to be a very nice person, or I'm not going to be a very healthy person. And that until we sit down and go exactly, we'll go by don't have hobbies, right, don't really have hobbies. But we all have things that we do that kind of feed us in a slightly different way. I know for one of my things. It's called, I've tried to define a little bit more, but it's kind of like futzing, like just messing with something in a non serious non productive way is a really great way to help me destress of like organizing the files on my desktop, like, that's great. I love doing that. And when I don't have time for that kind of stuff. I just feel more cluttered and more anxious. So having these outlets and when we start cutting into that time knowing I need to push back on this, and I have to maintain these boundaries, if I'm going to be okay, tomorrow.
Maris S. 08:20
Yeah, definitely. Well, and I for a lot of people that say they don't have hobbies, they don't enjoy going out and doing stuff. I'm a really big time blocker, like my calendar on my phone is so color coordinated and full and specific. But I literally scheduled times for me to go to the barn. And that also kind of helps my husband because then he knows what I'm doing. And where I'm at, and if he hasn't heard from me, he knows where to go. Like if something were to happen, God forbid, just time blocking time for yourself. Even if it's just like end of the day time to sit down and like watch TV, on the couch with your animals. Something as simple as that is so important. Because this burnout is so real. I know it's talked about so much. But if you aren't at least able to schedule a few hours a day to yourself, it's made a world of a difference to me because even if I have to, if I have a million visits, but I have two or three hours gap, I'm going to schedule that time to go out to the barn. That way, it's just a time where I don't have my phone on me, don't have to worry about it. But I know I'm gonna get out there at some point during the day. And that gets me through it.
Collin Funkhouser 09:21
It is and I like that I love the idea of color coding, the schedule on your calendar, your personal calendar of whatever that color is, if you need to be a relaxing color or for me, it needs to be like a bright red neon color to remind myself of like no nothing goes here. This is the nose because otherwise it's so easy to to schedule things over there. But it's that visual representation. What's cool about that too Maris at a glance, and when you look at your calendar, you know I'm sure you can immediately see how balanced that week is. Right? You can see oh, where's that you know, for what color do I have riding my horse? I only see that a little bit versus all these other meetings and other stuff. So it can be another reminder to us of going, Okay, I gotta find more balance in here. I gotta carve out more time and knowing that that's important to us. Yeah,
Maris S. 10:07
well, and even like the empty spots, I'll still put something in there that way. I'm like, Oh, well, it's empty. So I can do something. It's I fill it with no, you're gonna do this, even if it's just sitting at home, because again, I will fill my schedule. That's just who I am as a person. And I've gotten really good this year at being like, No, it's okay to sit at home and do nothing for a little bit. I'll probably end up at the barn still, if I had that much free time. But still, it's okay to do nothing for a little bit.
Collin Funkhouser 10:36
No, I know, there are days where I've, I've probably needed to schedule time to breathe right in my day or bare minimum, just like oh, no, this is lunch like, Eat eat at this time. Because otherwise, you get so caught up that not, you know, it's not just self care. It's just basic care of of yourself, where you can do it through so much. And then look up at the end of the day and go, Wait, did I drink any water today? No. Also, oh, like I need to go lay down.
Maris S. 11:03
Yeah, don't call me out like that. I just realized how hungry I am. Sorry.
Collin Funkhouser 11:09
Next question. Because I know one of the things that I love about how you've structured your company Maris is you a lot of us try and come up with like, multiple principles or multiple promises or things like that. And you start off introducing your company to people saying that you are built on one principle, quality pet care. I so love and appreciate this intense focus on that, on that one principle. How do you bring that to life when you're doing visits? Or when you're training staff kind of like day to day? How does that actually come forward?
Maris S. 11:45
Yeah, well, I know that sounds so cliche. And we've heard this before. But time to pet in and of itself is such a wow factor for new clients that have never had a professional pet sitter. Just having that software to back us up for one already shows how much we care and how much we take this seriously. It's not just coming to your house to let the dog out and feed them. It's all the little questions we have in there. Like where's Where do you want us to put the mail? Where do you want us to throw away the poo bags, things like that little things that they might not think of. But we have, and also goes really deep into our training for staff. before they're even in this field, they are put first aid and CPR certified. And then once they are in the field for training, and they get at least 20 hours in the field with another sitter. That way they can really get a feel for the time to pet app and how we do visits. And we also take pictures of like, literally everything that we do, we have all of our sitters post pictures of like filled water bowls that especially whenever it's really hot, you don't want a client to come home to an empty water bowl that you know you spilled. So just having that backup pictures of doors being locked and locked boxes being set back to all zeros, little things that someone else might not think of. But that way the client knows if they are half a country away or even out of the country, they know that their door was locked on every single visit. So just little things like that we really push to so that clients know and feel secure in our care. Because we We come from a team based approach. Most of our clients will not meet every single senator that we have. But I want them to know that no matter who I'm sending into their home, they will get the same quality of care no matter who it is. That's the biggest that's the biggest thing I push especially from a team aspect because I get it I get not wanting to have someone in your house that you don't know. But if you know that that person has been trained the exact same as your favorite primary Senator, you don't have any worries.
Collin Funkhouser 13:38
Yeah, and how do you help build that trust? You have to show them? Right, okay. The first senator locked the door. How do we know we locked door? We sent a photo of the locked door. A second Senator locked the door? How do we know they locked the door? They send a photo of a locked door like like, yes, we are not just what the words that we say aren't just empty, right? They mean something. And here's what that here's how each senator is implementing that through the training and consistency whenever they're over.
Maris S. 14:05
Yeah, exactly. Well, and going back to the pictures, locked doors that really started because there will be times and we've all done this before when you know you walk out the door but you're halfway out the neighborhood or even all the way almost home and you're like did I really lock that door. So you drive all the way back just to confirm that and when you have staff it's not very productive and definitely not good for the payroll. So that just saves a lot of heartache and a lot of headache and a lot of ways that's where that policy stemmed from but it really has helped instill that trust also and that's just pictures of like anything you can think of like I said the water bowls, anything like even meds like taking pictures of medicine to make sure the right amount was administered and things like that.
Collin Funkhouser 14:49
So that that was huge of here's like doing the before dosage and taking a photo of that, especially if you're having to draw on a syringe, proving no No, this is what I've measured before, because we've had that scenario come up where all of a sudden there comes a question and somebody doesn't remember, was it good? Did I draw it was it was a 2.0? Or was it 2.2? Or was it What? What? Wait, what exactly was that. And those photos are invaluable to go. I gave you the correct dosage. And here's a photo proving of the doses that I gave, because a lot of pet parents are are nervous. I know you mentioned that you you, the time to pet is a huge WOW factor for people who've never used a professional pet sitting company, kind of just thinking back to your new client intake there. What kind of percentage do you get for people who have used another company versus who are first time into a professional service.
Maris S. 15:43
So we really target the younger age group in general, like the millennial dog mom is like my ideal client. And if you click on my website, it's very blue and pink and punny. And it's very bright. So a lot of our clients have never used a professional company before. Maybe they've used friends or neighbors, and they just didn't want to inconvenience them or anymore, or their dog is their literal baby, again, ideal client, and they want the best care for them. So they are definitely new to the idea of a professional pet sitter. And we want them to never go back. I know a lot of people don't take those last minute requests. But if it's a client that I know, is in our area that we'll see, we'll be in that area, why they're not super outside of our service area, and we can fit them in reasonably well take them in because I know that we can usually convince them to go with us going forward. Granted, there's always one off clients and stuff like that. But I really trust in our service and my staff to really up the game and their expectations so that they'll never go back to just their next door neighbor checking on their animals couple times a day.
Collin Funkhouser 16:52
Because that's a proverbial discussion in the industry of do I take class minutes on? Do I not? How do I What do you think it is that does convert people over to using your services more regularly, then being a one off client.
Maris S. 17:07
So we like I said, really pushing through that consistent visit, they know exactly what they're going to get every single time. I'm having fees upfront, ready to go. So they can see them whenever again, on the website or time depends when they're booking they can see everything, and just being really transparent and open in general. Like I said, our branding is very bright and cheery, we use lots of emojis and our introduction, emails and stuff like that. So we make it so easy. And I really push how easy it is to book in our system. Once you're an established client. We're really good. But like last minute bookings, we do have fees and all that. But I really push the whole flexibility. We're here whenever you need us last minute requests, emergencies, stuff like that. I'm making it as as convenient for the client as we can. That way they know that okay, if something happens, I need to leave tomorrow, I can just reach out to them without having to inconvenience anyone else that I might know. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean it's not inconvenience for us. We all know how that works, but we can at least make some money off of it so
Collin Funkhouser 18:08
well. And when I'm consistently surprised by Mariss, the number of clients who come to us who prior to using our services, would use a combination of like five or six different people to care for their pets over the course of a vacation. And that that's just that's normal for people it that's just how most a lot of people operate, have no harm, no foul, it's just well, you know, Sally can't do all of the all of them. So she's going to cover these things. And Dave is next door, and then my mom's going to come over and my brother is going to be visiting and being able to take all that away and going. We're the one stop shop, right? We handle all of that. You contact one time, and everything's covered. Like that is such a huge win. We talk about peace of mind to clients. That's an aspect that we often don't talk about enough. In our marketing. I always even had it with people who who go, oh, well, I was going to have my neighbor water the plants and my other neighbor was going to do the trash and take care of my mail. But oh, you're going to do all that for us. Wow. Okay, that's great. So even finding those pain points too is important when we try and message and get in contact with who we're trying to serve.
Maris S. 19:20
Yeah, and it always makes me giggle when people are like, Hey, can you bring the trash cans in? Or can you grab that package is supposed to come in on Thursday? And I'm like, yep, included in your visit when that's another thing and we take pictures of packages that are brought in mail that's brought in trash cans brought in things like that, and it's also on the report on time to pet so you've got a picture of it. And you know, it's checked off. Just just little things like that, that seem so small to us because it's just included really telling people that that's what you do. That's part of your service. Because again, it might just be something that you do every single day but they had to coordinate it with so many people and explain to so many people prior that this is what I need done. And as we all know, it's so much more than just letting the dog out and feeding them.
Collin Funkhouser 20:07
Have you heard of time to pet dog from Pat to the bone pet care has this to say
Doug 20:11
time to pet has made managing my team and clients so much easier. Our clients love the easy to use app and scheduling features. And our sitters love being able to have all of their information organized and easily accessible. My favorite feature is the instant messaging by keeping conversations on time to pet we are able to monitor our team and ensure nothing ever falls through the cracks. If
Collin Funkhouser 20:31
you're looking for new PET scanning software gift time to pet a try, listeners of our show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting times pet.com/confessional. Do you ever get pushback from people who who want a cheaper service and may ask oh, well don't bring in my mail? Don't don't deal with my trash or plants? You know, will you charge me less for that? Is that ever a sticking point for people that contact you.
Maris S. 20:54
I've had people that do that. But what I really, really push whenever I'm selling our services, I guess the best way of putting it is We charge by time it doesn't matter what we're doing, we charge the same no matter how long we are there. If it takes us 20 minutes up to an hour. And then we have like the more high end services like adventure walks and almost overnights and stuff like that. But that's totally different clientele that someone's looking for the cheapest service. Yeah, but because we don't do like the extra pet fees or anything like that, which props to you if you do nothing wrong with that, but we just charge by time and everything is included in that no matter what. So there's no like ala carte add ons or anything like that, just to make it easier for all my setters to
Collin Funkhouser 21:36
well, and it's it is less of a headache and the ala carte approach I know can be it can be implemented, but it has to be implemented exceptionally well with a very clear stairstep of what exactly you're getting. And the kind of more all inclusive approach is just like, No, this is this is everything right? It's no you don't get to pick and choose. You know, when I grew up, I used to order a BLT sandwich without the L or the tea because I thought they were gross. And they still charged me the same. And I you know, I thought that was weird. But now running a business. I'm like no, like this is this is the service. It's a use it all up to the fullest extent or not. But our time is there. And that's what is accounted for when we are doing your visit.
Maris S. 22:17
Yeah, well, I think the biggest reason why I really started doing that. And everyone has had this client that Oh, you just need to watch the dogs don't worry about the cat. And it's like a week long trip. And or let's say just check the litter boxes every couple of days. Now everyday we're there, we're going to be checking on your cat's litter box, especially the litter box, geez, filling their food and water and it's included. We're not charging you extra take care of your cat as he takes us longer than we'll have that conversation. But it's included in your care because I don't want that poor hamster upstairs to not be taken care of. It's always the hamster or the fish. But still, I don't want that to be a problem. So it's just included. It's just part of it. No. And
Collin Funkhouser 22:55
that's such a it's a much more relaxing way. That's all inclusive thing because we've had people who have actively tried to hide cats from us because they were thought it'd be an additional charge. And we had one kid who we did the meet and greet we came over I asked questions. Are there any other pets to be cared for the home? Nope, nope, just the dog. That's all good. It was the second day and we came in and we heard a meowing behind the bedroom door that was shut. They had moved all of the cat stuff into the bedroom door. It had had all of its auto feeder in its water and its automatic litter scoop and its cat tree and everything was in there. And then they shut the door. And I was like, No, like you didn't. We're here for you. Like that's not okay. So just getting people in that mindset of like, No, it's all taken care of. It's It's all to your you're going to be okay, because it's all inclusive.
Maris S. 23:46
Yeah, exactly. And the only difference that we have in services are the drop in visits and dog walks. So for a dog blog, it doesn't include like feeding and everything else. And that's just mostly so my sitters know what to do. And the drop in visit is some people just have the dog isn't enjoy walk. So we'll still have like the midday drop ins per se. But at least then the sitters know what to drop in. There's more than just a dog walker that's involved. There's might be feeding or meds or something like that. And that's helped them make a difference
Collin Funkhouser 24:13
a lot. What you've mentioned a couple times your website and I do love your website. It is so fun. I love a lot of the words that you use, you call the meet and greet a pre party, right? And you've got these phrases on there. Like you know, did we just become best friends? It's really funny and it's all scattered with that. Is that is that purely to target the millennial dog parents or is that an aspect of you that's coming out there in display?
Maris S. 24:41
So a little bit of both. I think you actually recently had her on Pet Pet marketing unleashed with Michaela. She did all of our rebranding I guess in the last couple of months and I really told her I was like this is my target market. This is our colors. I want to keep our colors I really push that I am not a pink person. So in regards to like the wording and how we talk to clients, yes, that is definitely all me. But the branding is definitely targeted towards that millennial dog parent that really wants the best care and fun care for their pet like, it's not just normal, like, Hey, we're just going to hang out with your dog, it's we're going on an adventure, I don't care was just around the block in your neighborhood, your dog is gonna have a blast. And we really push that and our reports do that we send to our clients kind of match that branding, I really pushed my sitters to use emojis and fun words and tell stories, and things like that. And so the website, I really wanted that to kind of represent like, what your visits are going to look like, whenever you're away. And that was really important for me, but the pink and all that is not necessarily me. But the wording Yes.
Collin Funkhouser 25:51
I know that's an aspect of branding that is that is, personally it's difficult for me if if I don't have a personal connection to it, it's hard for me to love it and want to implement it and use it. So for you going, Yeah, I'm not a pink person in marriage. I don't know who about this. But there's a lot of pink on your website. So how did you? How did how did you? You know, was that a struggle with you to use that color everywhere? Or did you just have to go? Well, if it gets me the clients that I want to get, that's what I have to do. And
Maris S. 26:18
that's pretty much what happens when I talk to my Kayleigh, she sends you this whole list of questions to answer before they even get into your brand and to get an idea of the field that you want. And she even said, just a reminder, your branding is for your target audience, not for you, necessarily you. And that was like, Okay, let me think about this for a bit. I knew I wanted to use the blues that we already had, because I had my attempt at social media had already had a lot of that I didn't want to lose that work. My sister does my social media now. And she's amazing. And she's a pink person. So you see more pink in her social media now,
Collin Funkhouser 26:51
she was happy that you kept her sister happy.
Maris S. 26:57
So when Mikayla sent me like my color scheme and everything, it just worked with everything. It's a very bright pink. And Michelle said to me once after my rebranding, she's like Andrew, kind of doing it the perfect time, because Barbie is very in right now. So it all kind of correlated right there. And I've had tons of compliments on our branding. I think it's awesome. I'm obviously I'm a little bit biased, and it's grown on me, you won't catch me wearing pink. But it's definitely incorporated in our branding, our social media and all that good stuff. So yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 27:27
and that is that is as the business owner, you know, we talk about the, you know, you do what you're passionate about and have connections to you, there does come a point where we have to recognize that not only is is our business, not for ourselves of like, we may charge prices that we personally wouldn't be okay paying for we may offer services that we personally won't use, or we may need to do branding and colors that don't personally reflect us. But that's such great advice that Mikayla told you like your it's not targeting you, right? Your it's your business, but it's not targeting you as a client. And that distinction can be really hard to maintain and fully embrace in the going and that's, that's part of becoming a business owner of going okay, well, my business sits over here. And then I'm here and I need to manage and run this business. Sometimes regardless of my personal feelings about a particular color or particular wording or language that I'm using. Yeah,
Maris S. 28:23
exactly. And before when I had made my own logo and picked out my colors, it was literally that really pretty blue, and black and white. And it just didn't pop, it was something that you can easily scroll through it almost like blends them with like the regular Facebook colors is really what it did. So those two colors that really stand out the blues and the pinks, I want people that scroll on Facebook, and they know those colors are for company. It's just like with like, I guess like Target I guess the best way of putting it you know that red and outright that symbol that's target or Amazon and all their colors. I wanted that brand recognition that was really important to me. So yeah, it
Collin Funkhouser 28:59
is because you're trying to stand out you're trying to get to that target market, you're trying to speak in in ways that they're going to connect with. And that all gets down to how you are marketing and how you are messaging. So how how have you been marketing? And what some of the best ways that you found to get connected to that client avatar that you're after?
Maris S. 29:20
Yeah, so I feel like I have tried everything. Facebook ads were great for me the first year and a half. And then something changed in the algorithm. I know they had a whole announcement about it, but it just wasn't as useful as it used to be. That being said, Facebook is still a huge lead generator for us. We get recommended all the time on the community pages. were posted. My favorites whenever a client tags you it's like the best feeling in the world. Whenever you're getting that open referral, or there's a list of your clients comments in your business. It's like oh my gosh, it's so cool. So Facebook is a huge lead generator for us the website as it's been on Online longer and then more processed within Google has really helped us a lot. But with that Google and Google ads, there are quite a few businesses in my area that are definitely larger than mine or have been around longer than me. So I'm not listed very high up in the Google ranking per se. But I run a lot of Google ads. Okay. And it has taken some trial and error. But I currently run two to four at a time for specific services I'm trying to sell, I think I have two going right now, because it's the holiday season. And I'm trying to not pick up as many petsitting clients at this time. So we have one running for adventure walks, and then one for dog walks. So there's really those mid day surfaces that I'm really pushing for right now. And those have been a game changer for me. They're not cheap, don't get me wrong. But the way I see it, especially with like the dog walking clients, and that's just a one off petsitting client, if they are recurring client, you'll get the money back least and on it. And it's taken a lot of trial and error for me to even find an app that works for me, talk us through,
Collin Funkhouser 31:05
you don't have to talk about what you're spending on these ads. But like realistically, what some what is what should somebody expect to spend on this kind of thing? Because when I think that I'm like, okay, like, are we talking like 100 bucks? Or is this like multiple $100 over the course of a year in order to get those kinds of results? Yeah, so
Maris S. 31:22
I always say, when especially when you're trialing Google ads and seeing what works for you, anything less than $20 a day is not going to really give you anything. The one thing I really like about Google Ads compared to like Facebook is that Google Ads charges you per click so per action on your ad, not just views, and Facebook charges you per view. So however many people they blast it out to doesn't matter how many people click on it, aren't you scroll past it, or anything like that. The Google ads are specifically people that have actioned your ad and gone to your website, clicked on it done something. And that was really important for me, because then I'm paying for nothing really on Facebook, maybe a few likes here or there, which could turn into clients potentially, but most likely not. But for Google ads, I am sending them directly to my services page. So they are the Contact page, depending on which one they clicked on. I've really played around with that, too, it gets really in depth. Okay. But either way I wanted to the reason why I did the Google ads is because I could kind of control how much I was spending on it. Um, and I can kind of shut things off, if I've kind of hit my limit for the month or anything like that. But I averaged around, I think I'd say between five and $800 a month depending on what I'm pushing for. Um, so with that, I said $20 a day I found especially that will kind of vary and take you different places, depending on how concentrated your area is. I think if you're somewhere like Los Angeles, where there's a crap ton of people, maybe looking for a dog walker, then you're gonna blow through that $20 A day pretty quickly. But with me, in my area, we're pretty concentrated area. But there's not a ton of like people searching directly for dog walkers or something like that. So I might have a $20 a day budget, but I might only get two or three clicks, I'm only spending like 10 to $15 a day. So you don't always hit that Max. And the way Google charges you is that they will basically go you set a monthly limit. And it'll charge you once you've hit that limit or by the end of the month. So for me mine is like $600, I think so if I hit 600 or $600, before the end of the month, then they'll charge me about 600. Or if it's a full month, and I've only hit like 500 ish, then at the end of the month, they'll charge me that 500 And then it starts over. So that's why I like Google Ads compared to Facebook. That
Collin Funkhouser 33:48
sounds like you have a lot more control over the finances part of it and really know exactly where you are spending your money. When you when you go to make that ad. How much should we know about our target clients and our that client avatar? So
Maris S. 34:05
Facebook does this better than Google, I think but Facebook will ask you for like, do you want to target men or women and what age group and stuff like that. And Google doesn't give you that necessarily, but they do give you the ability to select certain zip codes, which I really like and then keywords that you want those people to be looking at. Something that I started doing is adding rover and wag as my keywords that way because a lot of people were typing in like rover sitters near me, that's a big one. And Google is really good about telling you where your ad popped up that got you clicks. And I kept seeing rover pop up. So now it's a keyword. And I don't have the marketing power or the budget that rover and wag have but I can at least kind of squeezed myself in there hopefully right before them. And maybe if someone's like me and they really want to support a local business instead of just rover. Then hopefully they'll click on me And that works out. But also, it also gives you the ability to exclude your ad from different things like daycare boarding, things like that is another thing that I've done that way, I'm not wasting my money on clicks that for services I don't even offer. Because that kept happening a lot to as I was getting clicked on and contacted for boarding and daycare and all that, and I want nothing to do with that anymore. I know you guys used to do in home boarding too. So you know, the struggle? Yes, we do that from our website, I have even got a little thing on our new client forms. And we do not offer boarding and daycare, we still get people that reach out, but whatever. Um, but Google really gives you the flexibility to adjust what when you're going to pop up for people, and that has really helped a lot. And just playing around with those keywords and finding things that we do and don't pop up for has really helped so,
Collin Funkhouser 35:55
so to find those keywords, are you? Are you looking at your website analytics to see, you know, can you get some ideas from that? Or are you? Are you thinking of okay, what is what is my target audience? What are they searching? And how do you come up with those keywords.
Maris S. 36:11
So at first, that's kind of how I went by, like, what the people that I'm targeting what they're Googling, and a lot of times, It's Pet Sitter near me, or dog walker near Maine. So I kind of played around with that too, just to see what would pop up in that regard. One thing, you'll never see your own Google ads on Google. So don't freak out. When that happens, what you can do is go incognito mode and try to see if you can find it that way. But if you're signed on your Google account, you won't show up for yourself. So before you run ads, it's good to do that research. Yeah. But as I was running more and more ads, like I said, they kind of break down for you what they searched when they clicked on your ad. So that kind of gives you a lot of ideas. And that's how I found out that like dog boarding kept popping up and daycare and things like that. And I've also played around with putting dog walking ads on daycare searches, just to have that alternative pop in their brain in case they didn't think of that. So little, it's really kind of trial and error, you kind of have to run ads to see what people in your area are looking up in order to see what works best for you. Which people don't always love hearing that.
Collin Funkhouser 37:16
But know how, how long is an acceptable time to run an ad to kind of have enough data to make that decision or kind of what's your typical process with that.
Maris S. 37:25
So I've only been running ads on Google for about eight months now. So it really only took me about two or three months to really see a trend and what people were looking up and and kind of just being able to tweak things here and there. And my current ads are running whole new as that kind of works with the new rules I was looking for. I used to just do ads for like pet sitting and dog walking, like all over this ad is for both services that we offer. And as I've gotten more into it, I'm getting more niched in what I'm like what I'm advertising for, and that has really helped a lot because then I can really narrow down by Keywords are words that don't want to be included in and things like that. So that's really helped. You mentioned
Collin Funkhouser 38:06
earlier how you're kind of running two ads right now, but for slightly different services. Do you ever run to kind of two ads for the same thing to see which one does better to kind of do this A B testing for? Okay, we need to do dog walking? Now I got two ads, but for the I want the same outcome for them? Do you do those kinds of tests to figure out kind of where you should push one? Yeah, so
Maris S. 38:29
for dog walks, that's what I really started pushing ads for in the beginning anyway, when I made that decision that we might eventually be a dog walking only company. So I started trying to just trialing and seeing what what happened there. Google will send you these really like corny AI generated tag lines that you should use. And I don't know, I'm assuming it's aI because they just don't make sense together. Like they just they're so like, I don't know, they just don't work well. So running something that was pretty basic and bland like that, that sounded like a robot was reading it to you. And then once that kind of spoken our company tone. And that really helped a lot too because then people know like there's they're reading a fun tagline and they click on our website and then see that we're bright cheery pink and and punny, they're gonna know that that's all correlated and it's not just something that doesn't speak to us the whole bland we are dog walkers insured and bonded. Versus Let us party with your friends whenever you're at work or something like that. I say friends, friends, is that what we say in our company? Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 39:33
stay consistent mirror.
Maris S. 39:36
Oh, sorry. A little things like that. They definitely help. And again, just kind of seeing like, based on your target audience. I know there's a lot of people that are targeting medical clients right now. So if you wanted to get really nice for it and running ads for medical people looking for dog walks or dog care or something like that, that's definitely a cool space to do it. And because you can track the metrics really easily. It'll tell you your impact. options, which are how many views that you have, and then your actual clicks. And you can kind of compare how many impressions you've had and how many clicks you've gotten per. And you can adjust your timeframe from the last 24 hours all the way up to the last year. So you can really easily kind of mess with those numbers and see what's going on. If you're a numbers person, that's a lot of fun.
Collin Funkhouser 40:20
Sounds like you're a numbers person. I was also a reminder that this is not a set it and forget it kind of thing. It really it really sounds like you need to be in there actively managing and looking and learning and adapting to the information you get back from us.
Maris S. 40:38
Yes, and they make it really easy to I know there's two Google Ads dashboards that are popping up for people right now. One is very user friendly, and one is not. And that can be kind of frustrating. I'm still trying to figure out how you get to each one. And like, sometimes I'll get one and other times I'll get the other. So it's just really strange in general, which doesn't help with how confusing it can be. But it's definitely it's just like looking at your weekly, like your monthly meet and greets and stuff like that seeing what ads are working what isn't, like I said, I turned off my petsitting ones, I probably won't turn them back on until the end of the year, because I don't want to pop up those last minute people. And I'm really focusing on dog walks and adventure hikes right now for my team. So that's why that one's just pause. And I'm not worrying about it right now. But at one point, we had like four dog walking ads going and I just moved it down to the two that I really like, which is like a flexible dog walking one and then the adventure heights. So some of my ads really focus on like quality dog walks like high quality, insured and bonded pet first aid certified other ones are like flexible dog walking, easy scheduling, things like that. So just picking different themes that you have, that might help with people's worries. And that's really helped a lot. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 41:57
even as you were mentioning those two, those even those two distinctions of insured, bonded, reliable, consistent, flexible, fun adventures like these, we all can think of right now if like, oh, wow, those two describe two very different clients that I currently serve. Right? And, but they both have, they're both using my services, but they both have different fears, wants, needs, desires that are driving them to continue to use us. And so even sitting down and thinking about your current clients, who are you serving, asking them, Hey, why are you using my service? What drew you to me? And then regurgitating that kind of back out into the internet going? Anybody else out there like this? Right? That's, that's what that process is going, Okay, let's find more of people who who do because I may I get shocked sometimes whenever people because I look at our website, and I look at our analytics and and people do search like insured dogwalker insurance, etc. And I'm like, Oh, wow, I Yeah. And they, you know, they find us that's great. And then other people want, you know, friendly or whatever. And it's just understanding people will have different desires and needs when they reach out to you. And there are ways to get in touch with more people like that.
Maris S. 43:07
Definitely one going back to when you asked me about if a lot of people one of our a lot of our clients send us professional petsitter before some people haven't and had a bad experience with a uninsured unprofessional center, and that's why they want to professional company, and some people just want to make sure that they have access to a walker whenever they need them. So there's two different needs there so really kind of pushing both sides of it, but seeing what sticks the best in your area.
Collin Funkhouser 43:36
A lot of pet owners don't know how to react when their beloved pet is facing a bout of anxiety, noise sensitivity or depression. However, various studies have shown that animals react very positively when calming music is played for them. As a trusted Pet Sitter have your clients check out peaceful pet music calm music for pets on YouTube, where they can give their pets the best chance of relaxing while they're away. From peaceful melodies to soothing nature sounds this YouTube channel is the go to spot when your client's pet is anxious and you don't know where to turn. Complete with beautiful and vibrant animations. Their videos will become your home for the tools needed to keep the client's pet in a state of peacefulness. Be sure to subscribe to peaceful pet music calm music for pets on YouTube and hit the bell so you never miss a moment of calm. You mentioned even earlier of like, okay, if I'm going to tag on to a rover thing I need I guess you know, I would assume Maris at that ad mentioned something about being local or being you know the hometown thing or to draw a distinction to what you're going to be showing up against. Yes,
Maris S. 44:51
definitely. And the ones that tag rover and wag and all that I really push. Like I said being a small business and having that fun bright, cheery look do it. Because again, I don't have the marketing power that those companies do. And honestly, a lot of people think that Google ads don't work because they personally don't click on them. I don't click on Google ads, either I scroll right past them. But there have been times when I'm scrolling. And I don't realize that it's an ad, because they're getting pretty good at like, Paul mentioned that it's an ad, but it's just teeny, tiny. So you click on it, as I have stayed in my website and our missions, that if I could get them on our website, I can most likely get them to submit a new client form if they're seriously looking. And it's having faith in your website. Also, because Google ads by themselves, if you have a website that's just like a one page or something like that, that's not going to do what you need it to. You need to have a powerful website to back that up as well. Yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 45:47
And that that's, that's key, right? It's not just words in The Little Book button on the on the Google it's, it's you're throwing them to your own property? And then what are they planning on? Are they impressed with that? Is did that meet their expectations? Because if you do start seeing that there are maybe there's high impressions, there's high click through rates, and then nobody's booking? You've got to go, Okay, what, okay, what turned them off? Where? How far? Did they make it to our process? Did they make it into our process? And really, that gives you now okay, now I need to really look at my intake process, and what what am I communicating, it opens up a lot more information about that client, new client experience coming into your company?
Maris S. 46:24
Yeah, definitely. And a big thing that I pushed to with my on my website is as easy as 123. So like, send a new send in a new client form, schedule your Meet and Greet book whenever, like think I don't know, that's the exact three steps that are on there. But essentially, that's what it is. And obviously, there's more that goes into it. But you don't need to tell them the entire process of how to onboard and that's gonna overwhelm them, you want to make it easy, you want to make it seamless. And it's as simple as you clicked on my google ad, here's my new client form, fill it out, we'll be in touch, and then we send all the important stuff in that initial email that goes out to them, they might want to consider so
Collin Funkhouser 47:04
do you find that because I know that is a problem or a headache that many people have of, okay, I get the person in, and then they fall off during my intake process. Do you? Do you ever get pushed back? Because I know you, you do ask a lot of questions and you ask a lot of your clients go through that? Do you ever get pushback from people that it's too much? It's not worth it? Or do you find that by the time they're filling out those questions they're really engaged in want to see that through.
Maris S. 47:28
So I am really proud of our new client intake process in general, I've really, really put a lot of thought into it just in the last couple of months as to like, what what's the first email they're gonna get from us, what's the message we follow up with, to get that meet and greet scheduled, and it's kind of like built up on so first, they fill out that new client intake form, which is pretty simple. It's like, first and last name, address services you're looking for tell us about your pets. After that, I can follow up with another email, well, they get an email that was sent to them, it's like, Thanks for reaching out, we'll be in touch within 24 hours. And then I reach out to them. And that's when I send them the whole, this is how we schedule like we scheduled based off of time. These are the services that we offer, stuff like that. And then after that, we schedule them the meet and greet once that's coordinated, they're added in time to pet and asked to fill out their pet profiles beforehand. That way, my sitter has an idea of what they're getting into. Because I don't do all the meet and greets anymore. So I want to give them an idea of what's going on before they head in there. Um, I have had some pushback on filling out the full pet profiles beforehand. And I'm not super strict on that is ideal. But I know some a lot of sitters do require that those are filled out before their meet and greet. But I think that they still need to know, they they're trying to get to know you, too, you know that you are trustworthy. But just introducing them into your software, if you have one so that they know that you have a system in place, I think is really vital. And that's talking about it more at the meet and greet. If they have questions about it, they'll feel better about it. Once they get in there. I understand that wanting to put your garage code or your lockbox code in there before we even have the meet and greet. I get that.
Collin Funkhouser 49:11
Yeah, it is it is a process. Right. And that is frustrating. And you mentioned into like, yeah, we know how amazing we are. We know that we're trustworthy. We know that, you know, we're professionals at this. They don't. And does our process speak to that? Or is it demanding too much too fast in this new relationship? And they're going well, I'm not comfortable going there yet. Like I need some more time I want to talk to somebody I need to have some more communication. I need some more information and realize that that's okay. Okay, so I need a system that is supposed to kind of hold their hand and walk them through the new steps because if they've never used a professional service before, are they do they have used a professional service, and they were dissatisfied and was a bad experience for them? The either way, they need to be reassured of like Okay, welcome. Here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna get this I love how you have that that automatic email that goes out that says, hey, thank you for filling this out. We're going to be in touch within X number of hours, however you decide to that. And then with your follow up message, is that an email always? Or is that a phone call? Or how do you usually handle that? So I hate
Maris S. 50:14
being on the phone? To answers the phones right now. And this is so funny, I actually ran a Google ad, they had a call button on it, just so that I would push myself to answer the phone if it rang because it would be for a new client, ideally, or Google Ads scammer, which you can talk about to he want. Everyone, everyone's got to Google My Business Phone number that's calling them at your they have not been updated or whatever. But that second email that goes out to clients is just another outline of like, what we do why you should use us. Here's next steps, like when would you like to schedule meet and greet is basically the last part of everything. And that comes after talking about, like, we charged by time, it doesn't matter how many pets you have, it's the same amount no matter what, just however long you want to book us, you are in complete control using our app. Here's what goes in our app. Once we schedule our meet and greet, we'll get you added into there, when would you like to meet is essentially our next email that comes from us. And there's like a little template I have in our safe replies on time to pet that we copy into that. I know some people have their new clients go directly into time to pet but I want to see who they are before they start filling things out. Or even in our service area, we get a lot of people that
Collin Funkhouser 51:29
aren't so Yeah, same or they have a different expectations than we're able to fulfill go against some of our company policies and such. So having those initial knockout questions are just great, right to be able to go okay, like, let me get a feel for this person coming in, before we just throw him into the system, and then hope because it's like, you know, one aspect of like, well, no, I want them in the system, because then maybe I can convert them later. But if they're not a good fit, now, they're very unlikely going to be a good fit tomorrow, or the next day or the next day. And then they're just sitting there and you may suck them up into an email newsletter if you do that automatic jump of client information. And then, you know, it's, it's just kind of a waste at that point. So really thinking through exactly what is each step for? And what am I trying to get out of this?
Maris S. 52:13
Well, and like I said, my sitters do a lot more meet and greets, if not all of them. And they have a process that they have for the meet and greet of things to go over and things like that. But I want the client to have a really good expectation of the service that we offer before they ever meet anyone my company. Yeah, I want them to know the next steps. I want them to know where we are based, like what, what we really care about in our care. But that's really vital to me. So really establishing those expectations up front so they know what's going on and what's happening next. And everything went back as in it's less stressful for them. Also, because traveling and leaving your pets alone with anyone, even in a professional can be stressful, especially after the pandemic. Everyone knows about that. So
Collin Funkhouser 52:56
Well, I'm sorry to hear that you are also getting how many times you press nine to unsubscribe from the Google spam ad phone call sets you get
Maris S. 53:06
constant well, so I use Google Voice to ironically Yeah, and it's it has it has an intro before they call us. It's like please state your name which people can either hate or they love. I love it. Because I press I answer here who it is and then choose from there. I'm going to actually pick it up or decline it. Yeah. And that's really helped me a lot because as soon as it's a Google and it's a scammer, let us immediately start talking into that and you can hear it and then just press decline. But yeah, once you start running Google ads, just a forewarning, you will get a ton of those. I even had a Google My Business Profile for a while before I ran ads and never had a problem. But as soon as I started paying for ads, that's when they started popping up. So I don't know how they find you. But whatever. Google will never call you banned. And
Collin Funkhouser 53:50
for those of you who are listening, you're going What on earth is this? It there scammers who calling and I think there's slightly different variations. But the one we get all the time is it says your Google My Business listing maybe like suspended or unverified, please hang on the line to talk to somebody. And that turns out that sometimes it's that and then other times they're trying to sell you to get hooked up to a voice search optimization thing that you're not showing up on voice search. And they try and pitch you on, on getting listed on an Alexa search or whatever. And it's a complete scam. So that's just like I have yet to find a way to actually make these stop. They're just kind of a background noise at this point.
Maris S. 54:27
Yes, exactly. And I know a lot of people don't like answering the phone because of that anyway. And again, I challenged myself for a month to answer the phone more by putting a call button. I'm like Google ad. And I think in a lot of calls, but I've also found that a lot of people that call you are looking for someone immediately and if you can't solve their problem immediately, they're gonna move on anyway. And that's been a big thing for me. I want them to go to the website and fill out the form. I want them to go through the whole process. Otherwise, I gotta get on the phone, collect all their information and kind of change my onboarding process in general in a way that I would rather not cuz I do love our current onboarding process. And I want clients to go through that. So if they're calling and they're like, oh, I need someone this weekend, probably not your ideal client anyway.
Collin Funkhouser 55:09
Yeah, no, that's a really good point and a really key distinction between the kinds of businesses that a lot of us run of like, no, there is a process, right? There are steps to go through. And those phone calls, it's, you mentioned that it's like, I think, well, obviously, we're, we're recording this, like the week coming into Thanksgiving. So like, it's just been insane with the, oh, I need, I need help today, or I need help tomorrow, or I need I mean, I had a call a guy called me this morning and said, I have an emergency, I need you to take care of my pet today. I was like, I cannot help you. Like that's not something I can do. Here's some references that may may be able to get you to just understanding again, why people call sometimes people call because they want a reassurance that there's a person on the other end, a lot of times people call because they want that's the fastest way to get a yes or no from you. And you know, we can't really be offended by that it's just a consumer behavior at that point.
Maris S. 55:58
Yes, exactly. And just recognizing that and finding a way around it, if they leave a voicemail, again, people are gonna love or hate this. But if someone I think I can help send them a text with a Google Voice number, and I'm like, hey, please start a new client form. That way, I can check Twitter availability, something like that, that way I can get an idea of where they are, if we can even help them. Before I spend 30 minutes on the phone with a person that's never going to become a client.
Collin Funkhouser 56:28
It's good to help protect your company and to protect your sanity as well, so that you still have those boundaries. Because if you just sat and chased all of these little squirrels that are running around your company at all times, you're not going to have time for anything else, search for any initiatives, you're not going to have peace of mind, you're not going to have those call moments. And instead going, Nope, every time I'm doing this, it's going to be really intentional. And I'm going to just nope, here's my process. No, here's my process. That way, it pushes people out, you have a process so that you don't you don't have to physically handhold them, you have a process that does that for you. And it allows you to step back and go okay, while they're filling all that out and being guided through my automated emails, my entire process. I can be over here riding my horse for a relaxing company, you know, our to
Maris S. 57:13
definitely well, and it came up recently, I had a client that we on boarded through Facebook, I got business messenger page or whatever. And she would message in Messenger to cancel her appointment, and things like that. And I don't check it that I check it every day. Sure, but I don't like I'm not actively looking at it like I would time to pet. So this might be petty, but I will respond to her message and time to that.
Collin Funkhouser 57:37
We do that we do that too. We do that to have like, hey, it all even mentioned like, hey, you know, saw your Facebook message? Or you know, or sometimes if it's been a really egregious I'll just answer directly through they're not even mentioned where I saw just, here's an answer to your question. Because trying to train people that to that, like, I don't even want to reward you by saying please don't go through here in Facebook, I'm just going to only read only respond through.
Maris S. 58:03
Well, and I was so bad, good or bad how you look at it. I had messaging wherever clients needed me for the longest time. And it was things were getting things were just getting lost in the sea of notifications. We're all in it. I mean, we're all on the Facebook groups where all the off personal things going on. And sometimes you just don't want to deal with it. So if you have one place to check, and especially as you start onboarding like managers and things like that, I just brought my first admin person on which she can't help if you're texting my personal phone number, which we are out of that for the most part, thank God but but she can't help you as you're messaging someone that she doesn't have access to. And if you're at a time to pet that's what it's for I pay for it, please use it.
Collin Funkhouser 58:50
It is about finding those and doing that client education. And a lot of that to starts with your onboarding process. How are you targeting people delink is all the way back to the ads that you're running to mirrors of what is the kind of person that I'm attracting to my company with my ads with my messaging with my, with my marketing with my Facebook with my, with my website, that is all part of a client onboarding and training process for the setting up for the proper expectations for how to work with and interact with my company?
Maris S. 59:17
Definitely well, and there are some people like we've got a lot of elderly people that just maybe aren't tech savvy. So at the meet and greet like maybe we'll call them to help clarify anything and maybe their Meet and Greet like their whole profile won't be filled out. But I love the sitter now. Okay, she's gonna need some help setting up her profile, make sure the app is downloaded, show her how to use it. We also have like a little quickstart guide that we send them also, it kind of gives them a breakdown of how to use the app and all that good stuff. Um, but just really making it as easy as possible. If that means my sitter is there for an hour to help set up the app, but it's going to save my life and then calling me every 20 minutes. I'm okay with that. Because at least then they know Oh, it's done. had easy, it's already set up for me and I'm, again, I'm okay with that. Spending a little extra time to nurture those clients that need a little extra help, especially if they're going to be an onboard like a constant client that's going to be on there for a long time. It's worth an extra hour or longer meet and greet to get them set up and then not calling you all the time.
Collin Funkhouser 1:00:22
I love that. I love that marason I'm, gosh, I am so thankful for our conversation today and and you breaking down those Google ads and encouraging us to try those out and test the waters and that to see exactly who we can connect with. And for also just understanding that we serve our clients with how we want to be served, if that makes still make space for the things that we want to do in our lives. And I can't believe I didn't even ask you. What's your horse's name? Oh, well, I have two, two. Okay.
Maris S. 1:00:52
So I have a three year old paint who is his name is Rolex. They call him rolly rolly Foley, all that good stuff. And then I have another one who is a coming two year old son. He's still a baby. And his name is playboy. Calm Huey. So there, they're awesome. We show in the ranch Horse Association. So we do a lot of like cattle classes and trail classes and stuff like that. And we went to that show this last weekend. So again, if I sound tired, I am literally exhausted, but I wouldn't miss this for anything. But yeah, so that it's awesome. I said that's my piece I've been writing for 15 plus years now and I would literally lose my mind if I didn't have it so
Collin Funkhouser 1:01:40
well thank you for taking time out of your day to come and talk with us Maris and encouraged us in all these ways and I've just I so appreciate you and your your your insights today and for sharing with us and encouraging us as well. For those who want to get in touch. Follow along see the cool marketing messaging and cool Pink's, how can they best do that? Yeah, so you
Maris S. 1:02:03
can find our business page on Facebook or Instagram under Hassel paws pet care, um, or I think our Instagram handle is at house paws Pet Pet Care, LLC. We're just too long to change that but whatever. You can also find me on Facebook. I'm all over the pet sitter groups. You've probably seen me comment somewhere. But name on there is Maris Kate Miller sign event again, very long. But, um, but yeah, so reach out to me if you have any questions about Google ads, I'm not I offer virtual assistant work, but I haven't really done anything with Google Ads yet. I'm thinking about offering something for like setup. But that'll be after the holidays. Anyway. So. Okay.
Collin Funkhouser 1:02:45
Well, tell us a little bit about your virtual assistant help that you offer to business owners here. Yeah, so
Maris S. 1:02:51
I offer petsitting companies that use time to pet just support within time to pet so what are those notification management, New Client Onboarding? Again, I'm really good at it. City handbook, things that you don't want to deal with. I can deal with it for you. So
Collin Funkhouser 1:03:05
Okay. Is there a different way to contact you for that? Or is it still all the same ways through the same
Maris S. 1:03:10
message me directly and at the business page with virtual assistants stuff? But yeah, essentially the
Collin Funkhouser 1:03:15
same Pickaway will have all those links our show notes on our website, so people can click right to that. Maris. Again. Thank you so much for for your time today. It's been an absolute pleasure getting to speak with you. Yeah,
Maris S. 1:03:27
thanks for having me. Anytime.
Collin Funkhouser 1:03:28
We talk about the importance of brand and branding on the show an awful lot. And my discussion with Maris really hit home the point of why we have to do that. Because when we need to communicate who we are and what we do to our target audience, we have to have immense and crystal clear idea of what that is, how do we know how to communicate something if we don't even know what we are communicating? That's where all of this starts. So no matter what way you are choosing to advertise, bring focus and clarity to that messaging by starting off with that question of who am I? What is my business? And who is it for? When you can answer those questions. You'll find that the how, and the method flows easily from that. We want to thank today's sponsor, it's time to pet and the peaceful pet music calm music for pets on youtube channel for sponsoring today's episode, and we really want to thank you for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and we'll be back again soon.
