Your dog is so cute… what kind of dog is it?

Whenever I walk my dog-Lily, which is every day and sometimes twice a day, I get this question- “what kind of dog is that, it’s so cute.”  It never fails, day in and day out.  I used to get annoyed because I was trying to get us both some exercise and had no time for chit chat.  Now many months later, I just find it amusing and actually stop to answer their question. (Photo- This is the photo that drew me to Lily on Petfinders– she looks like snoopy- Look at that left ear!)

For those who get my printed newsletter, you already know that I’m a huge dog lover.  She’s my silent business partner, and I post photos of her whenever possible.  And some of you even know the whole story of how we got Lily from Petfinders.com last November and went through that thorough and stringent process of adoption.

She of course is a mutt- they thought she was part German Shepherd and Golden Retriever and so did we.  When we got my favorite dog catalog from Orvis and they had this special genetic test you could buy to see what your dog was- we did it!  Talk about a great product and great marketing- these guys are making a killing- it’s almost as popular as the chip you should put in your dog in case they’re ever lost.  For $75 they gave us a swab to use on the inside of her mouth and place it in the self-mailer tube and off went all her genes to the lab.

It took longer than I had thought to get her results back. Yet when we did, we were somewhat surprised.  They send you this great certificate with your dog’s name and photo, (Photo- This is the photo I gave them- this was when she still had her puppy ears- one up, one down) and results. Drum roll please….

Our Lily is 48% Golden Retriever, The rest is a mix of Collie, Border Collie and Sheltie – go figure!  So imagine my delight now when people stop me and ask me what kind of dog she is and I ramble all of the above.  I’m sure they think it’s a new kind of breed or something because I’m spouting with great certainty what kind of dog she actually really IS.  That’s when I tell them that we adopted her and I took this cool test to see what kind of dog she really was…..

So if you have a mutt and are interested, I’d check out this test.  The vet thought it was great because we know her genes and can see if she’s susceptible to any diseases.

Now let’s get back to the marketing of this test- who would have thought a company selling a gene test for dogs would get even smarter.  This week I just got an email from them thanking me for my business and telling me they’ve just upgraded their testing system.  The test I did only tested for 38 breeds.  Now for only $50 I can do another test that now has 70 more breeds.  I was rather impressed by their marketing- what a great niche- going after all the people that bought a previous test, and getting them to do it again because they added more breeds. I have to admit I was almost tempted, but I think we have enough information for now. (Photo- Here’s Lily all grown up- doing what she does best- relaxing on the couch!)

So the moral of my story because this isn’t just about dogs (sorry Lily).  So if you’ve read this far- kudos to you- this story is also about great marketing- do you have a product or service that is niched to a specific markplace that you could make a few tweaks to and upgrade it and go back to all your clients that bought it and sell them something more? This is THE BEST strategy because they’re already proven buyers and hopefully had a great experience.  Try this out in your business- now’s the time to act.  And Ms. Lily is itching to have her say, you never know she may get her chance to write a post one of these days… 🙂

Please follow and like us: