Wait a doggone minute: How non-pet publishers are capitalizing, too
For niche publishers weighing a pet-oriented initiative, there are a variety of ways to cash in on the passion for pets and rising spend, an average of $3000 per year per dog, some studies show.
Publishers told us they found new advertisers hiding in plain sight, pet contests that grew email lists, and pet-friendly content that engaged readers in new ways. Here are our top picks:
1. Photo contests build emails and engagement.
Categories like pet fashion, best dog-friendly patio, or “cutest shop dog” can be added to Best of Contests. But stand-alone pet photo contests, such as Tops in Lexington’s Top Dogs, can work as an email builder, even for publishers who would never run a dedicated pet section.
2. Non-traditional advertisers are hiding in plain sight.
Publisher’s mentioned finding new advertisers, in one case a pet-resistant carpet and flooring provider. There are all kinds of pet-safe landscaping, pet specific auto detailing, pet-friendly real estate and rentals, pet insurance, and even happy hours at bars and breweries. All may be sponsors who don’t think of themselves as pet advertisers — until someone asks.
3. For B2C, guides and directories double as market research and inventory to upsell.
A vets/groomers/trainers/sitters directory is cheap to build, evergreen, and a natural stepping stone to other buys. Travel magazines with pet friendly options have a passionate audience.
4. A local pet-friendly events column can fill a real gap,
Especially in cities without a dedicated pet magazine or site, pet-friendly events are low-lift, recurring, and build the kind of local utility CityDog and Suncoast Pets provide in their markets. Wagazine’s regular Happy Hour for dog-owners is an idea worth stealing for local publishers interested in building engaged in-person communities.
5. The pet angle scales into B2B and trade categories, too.
Farm and agricultural publications that feature working dogs, retailers with “shop dogs” and cats, find these stories are more popular than imagined. For the tennis club operators magazine, the cat at the tennis center may have become a celebrity in its own right.
Almost any vertical has a pet-adjacent story hiding in it.
6. Consider a different writing style: Pet as protagonist.
Poems by Pets is more interesting than poems about them. Instead of “Top 5 dog-friendly patios,” think of headlines like,”This is Biscuit’s favorite patio. Here’s why.”
Not every good idea is a moneymaker, but publishers who have added a pet angle, say they are definitely worth a second glance.
