The Influencer Marketing Playbook For a Pet Brand

A step-by-step guide with ideas, and templates for implementing a profitable influencer marketing strategy for your pet brand.

Priya Nain

Priya Nain

January 3, 2025

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Your customers are already watching pet content creators on social media. They're following dog accounts, saving cat videos, and engaging with pet content more than almost anything else online. You can use it to your advantage by collaborating with those pets to promote your product.

Let us first explain why influencer marketing works so well in the pet industry, and then we'll give you a step-by-step guide to making it work for you.

🐶 Why is influencer marketing impactful for pet brands?

Pet brands have a unique advantage when it comes to influencer marketing. The combination of adorable animals, trusted recommendations, and engaged communities creates the perfect environment for authentic promotion.

Here's why it works so well:

Pets are naturally photogenic

Pets make social media content way better. A dog enjoying their dinner or a cat getting excited about treats? That's content gold.

When influencers share moments of their pets enjoying certain products, people are already drawn to that content. That's why marketing feels less forced and gets way more engagement than typical ads.

Pet parents trust other pet parents

Pet owners form tight-knit online communities where they actively seek and share advice about pet care or pet nutrition.

When a pet-parent talks about a product they've used, other pet owners tend to trust them because they see them as experienced people who also care about their pets.

When an influencer shares their personal experience with a pet product brand, it resonates differently than with many other products because pet parents view other experienced pet owners (especially those with large followings) as trusted advisors for their fur babies' wellbeing.

Instagram post by a pet influencer account

You can actually see the results

The cool thing about pet brand marketing is that followers can see if it really works. For example, influencers can show how their pet's coat gets shinier over time, or how their energy levels improve, or even how excited they get at mealtime.

You can't fake those kinds of real, visible results in any influencer marketing post. People are more likely to try the brand when they see actual changes in pets they follow online.

🤳 Step 1 — Find the right pet influencer accounts

The pet space is crowded with influencers. So instead of randomly reaching out to pet accounts, use these two strategic methods to find your ideal influencer partner

1. Start with your existing customers

Review your customer database and social media mentions to identify pet parents who have organically shared content featuring your products. Your most valuable influencers might already be using your products.

Check:

  • Comments and mentions on your social posts
  • Customer reviews with photos
  • DMs where customers share their pet's experiences with your products.

These people have first-hand experience with your brand and can speak genuinely about your products.

2. Use targeted hashtag research

Influencers often use specific hashtags related to their niche or content themes. By searching through these hashtags, you can narrow down the pool of potential partners and ensure that the influencers you connect with are more likely to have an audience relevant to your products.

Focus on specific hashtags relevant to your product instead of broad hasthags.

For example, hashtag like #Dogsofinsta will have millions of posts. It'll be difficult to sift through these and find the relevant accounts.

Broad instagram hashtag

But you can narrow-down your search with niche hashtags like #dogfoodreview, if you're selling dog food. It only has ~14K posts.

Niche pet influencer hashtag

Here are some other examples of niche pet influencer hashtags to get you started:

  • For pet food: #dogfoodreview, #rawfeddog
  • For toys: #dogtoys, #cattoys, #enrichment
  • For gear: #dogharness, #catbackpack
  • For grooming: #doggrooming, #petsalon

Pro tip: When you find a relevant pet influencer, check Instagram's suggested accounts for that profile - they often match similar content styles and niches.

For example, when we followed the ‘@golden_boy_murphy’ account, we got suggested accounts from other dog influencers.

Instagram profile of a pet influencer

3 Checks before reaching out to influencers

Do these 3 essential checks before reaching out to pet influencers:

  1. Does their content style match your brand? If you're a premium brand, look for polished, high-quality pet content. If you're a fun, playful brand, look for energetic, entertaining content
  2. Review how they present other pet products — look for detailed, honest reviews
  3. Check their engagement — you want real discussions in comments, not just surface-level reactions

With SARAL, finding the right pet influencer is simple. Enter what matters to your brand - like "dog trainer" or "cat behavior expert" - and discover creators who align with your needs. Save promising profiles to organized lists, making outreach and tracking effortless.

SARAL Creator Discovery Feature

Our unique 'Search in bio' feature helps you find niche pet creators most brands miss. Looking for raw pet food advocates? Just search for #rawfeeding in bios. Want local pet influencers? Search for your city name plus "dog mom" or "cat dad".

SARAL Search in bio feature

Use SARAL's free Chrome extension to quickly check if an influencer is worth partnering with. See their real engagement rates, analyze their audience's loyalty, and get suggested partnership rates - all in one click.

SARAL chrome extension

💬 Step 2 — Reach out to the accounts you want to partner with

For micro-influencers with under 10k followers, sending them DMs works best. These creators usually manage their own accounts and appreciate personal messages. For bigger accounts over 10k followers, start with email. You'll often find their business contact in their bio.

DM vs Email for influencer marketing

In your first message, you should:

  • Show you know their pet and content style
  • Share what makes your brand special
  • Explain why their audience would love your products
  • Not impose any collaboration

Email and DM templates for outreach

Here's an email template you can customize and use for outreach. This template is perfect when you're sending gifts to pet influencer accounts, hoping they'll like and post about your brand —

Hi [Name],

Love how [their pet's name] showed off their personality in your recent [specific post]. I'm [your name] from [brand], and we make [product type]. Would love to send some for [pet's name] to try - think they'd especially love our [specific product feature].

Let me know if you'd be interested in checking it out.

If you don't hear back right away, that's normal. Pet influencers are busy creating content and taking care of their pets. You can follow up with a simple message:

Hey! Just checking if you saw my message about [Brand]? Would love to send [Pet's name] something special to try. Let me know if you'd be interested!

If you've sent an email and didn't get a response after a few days, you can send them a DM

Hey [Name],

Is [influencer.email] the best way to reach you about a potential collab with [Brand Name]?

I sent you an email, but I wanted to catch you here, too.

We're so excited about the idea of working with you!

Talk soon, [Your Name]

SARAL streamlines the follow-up process by allowing you to set up your messages in advance. The platform then sends these messages at the time you would've set.

SARAL Email Drips feature

🎁 Step 3 — Onboard the pet influencer as your ambassador

Once the pet influencer account posts about your product, or gives good feedback on it, it's time to pitch them to come onboard as your ambassador.

This means creating a long-term partnership where they consistently represent and promote your brand. This is different from a one-off sponsored post as you want them to become a genuine voice for your brand.

Here's an example of what could be a post from someone who's an ambassador for a pet food brand —

An influencer post promoting a dog food brand

Most ambassador partnerships combine:

  • Regular product shipments
  • A unique discount code for their followers
  • Affiliate commission — a percentage of revenue from the sales they generate

Once someone is excited about being an ambassador, set them up for success. Create an unboxing experience that makes them feel special, share some guidelines about how to present your brand, and have a quick chat to share your story and vision. The goal is making them feel like they're truly part of your brand family, not just someone posting about your products.

📈 Step 4 — Track influencer posts and performance

Measuring the success of pet influencer marketing isn't just about counting immediate sales. You need to look at both quick wins and long-term brand growth.

Look at the whole picture

Don't just focus on direct sales. Ask questions such as:

  • Are more pet parents discovering your brand?
  • Has your social media following grown?
  • Are people mentioning your brand in their own posts?
  • Do you see sustained sales lift beyond just campaign spikes?

Get the numbers

Ask influencers to share their post analytics:

  • Post reach (unique views)
  • Engagement (likes, comments, shares)
  • Story views
  • Link clicks on their discount code

This tells you how many pet parents your brand reached through that partnership and you can use it as a baseline to pay your influencers.

Track how customers find you

Add a simple "How did you hear about us?" question during checkout. Include "Pet influencer" as an option. Many customers might buy weeks or months after first seeing your product on their favorite pet account - this helps you catch those delayed conversions.

Use specific tracking links

Create unique links for each influencer using UTM parameters. This way, you can see exactly how much website traffic each creator drives. For example: www.yourpetbrand.com/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=influencer&utm_campaign=golden_ellie

Good influencer partnerships build trust over time. Sometimes a pet parent might see your product on five different pet accounts before deciding to try it - and that's okay. The key is steady growth in brand awareness and trust.

Use SARAL's data dashboard

You can use SARAL's detailed performance reports to complement this with an objective approach. These will get you clarity and focus, not just an overwhelming array of figures.

Performance Analytics inside SARAL

It'll give you access to insightful data that highlights your successes and areas for improvement. You can show stakeholders the direct impact of your actions on results, and make informed decisions that can improve your profitability.

🤝 Step 5 — Build long-term relationships with your ambassadors

Think about your favorite pet accounts - they probably partner with the same brands consistently. That's because those brands treat them as true partners, not just advertising channels. And when a creator genuinely loves your brand, their audience feels it.

Here's how you can build lasting partnerships with your pet influencers:

  • Share what's new and exciting: Give your partners early access to new products. Let them be the first to try your new treat flavors or test your latest toys. Make them feel like insiders who get to share exciting news with their followers.
  • Make them part of your brand story: Feature their content on your brand's page, invite them to product brainstorming sessions, or ask for their input on new products. Their experience with pets can bring valuable insights to your brand.

Look at how Target took their partnership with @elliegoldenlife to the next level - they featured their dogs on a Times Square billboard and created a special "Cuddle Collab" collection. This is a perfect example of making your influencer partners feel truly valued and part of something bigger than just regular sponsored posts.

Instagram post of an influencer promoting Target
  • Support their growth: Help your partners grow beyond just sending products. Maybe that's connecting them with pet photographers, sharing tips on working with brands, or introducing them to other creators in your network.
  • Keep it personal: Remember their pets' birthdays, celebrate their milestones, and check in regularly - not just about content. Send surprise treats or toys occasionally. These small gestures show you value the relationship beyond just business.

The best partnerships don't feel like business deals - they feel like two pet lovers working together to make pets' lives better. When you find great partners, invest in keeping them.

Put this strategy into action

You've got the playbook for pet influencer marketing now. But going from strategy to execution can feel overwhelming.

That's where SARAL comes in. We've built tools specifically for brands like yours who want to scale influencer marketing and stay profitable.

In a few weeks, your brand could:

  • Stop spending thousands on Instagram ads and instead have pet influencers naturally bringing you customers
  • Have real pet parents consistently recommending your products to their friends
  • Save hours by automating all the manual, mundane tasks of influencer marketing

It's all possible with SARAL. Let us get on a call and show you a quick demo. Pick a time that works for you.

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