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Influencer Marketing
A step-by-step guide with ideas, and templates for implementing a profitable influencer marketing strategy for your pet brand.
Contents
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.
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 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 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.
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.
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
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:
These people have first-hand experience with your brand and can speak genuinely about your products.
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.
But you can narrow-down your search with niche hashtags like #dogfoodreview, if you're selling dog food. It only has ~14K posts.
Here are some other examples of niche pet influencer hashtags to get you started:
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.
Do these 3 essential checks before reaching out to pet influencers:
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.
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".
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.
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.
In your first message, you should:
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.
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 —
Most ambassador partnerships combine:
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.
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.
Don't just focus on direct sales. Ask questions such as:
Ask influencers to share their post analytics:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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:
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.
Learn what’s working in real-time with influencer marketing for otherbrands.
With these 10 time-tested influencer marketing tactics from top brands including Olipop, Athletic Greens, lululemon, and Hexclad, you will find actionable strategies to implement. Whether you're building or looking to improve your influencer campaigns, these lessons will provide a roadmap for your influencer marketing success.
If you want to build a community of influencers that can’t stop talking about you, consider giving the free trial a shot!