PPM Article: Thrive on the High Street

How independent pet stores can thrive on the high street of the future… by looking to the past. Article by Buy Blaskey originally published in the trade magazine Pet Product Marketing.

For those who missed my talk on at PATS Sandown on how independent pet stores can thrive on the high street of the future I thought it would be good to write a shortened version of it. You can also catch the full-length version at PATS Harrogate in September and we will hopefully get a video online at www.xoxx.co.uk

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Logo Design: Sheffield Student Landlord Association

The Sheffield Student Landlord Association approached us asking for a logo to represent their association. They had a very strong staring point, knowing that they wanted it to act almost like a ‘kite mark.

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PPM Article: The other Social…. A social conscience

How working with charities can benefit your business and help thousands of people (and dogs). Article by Guy Blaskey, originally published in the trade magazine Pet Product Marketing.

A lot is written (including by me) about social media marketing, but there is another type of social marketing, which is increasingly popular – socially conscious marketing.

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PPM Article: Create a new website

How to set up a website for free, or without spending much money at all. Article by XOXX and Pooch & Mutt owner, Guy Blaskey, originally published in the trade magazine Pet Product Marketing.

New year – new website.

The stats say that 10% of UK sales are now online, but in the pet trade it is closer to 1%. There is nothing inherently different about the pet trade, it is just lagging behind. This means that the percentage of online sales in the pet trade is going to grow in 2012. As high street retailers it is easy to fear this growth, but there are many ways that you can take advantage of it. Read the rest of this entry »

PPM Article: Christmas Marketing Ideas

How to market your independent pet store during the Christmas season– Article by XOXX and Pooch & Mutt owner, Guy Blaskey, published in the trade magazine PPM (Pet Product Marketing).

Make this Christmas a Cracker

Christmas is fast approaching. There are the obvious ways for retailers to benefits from the Christmas buzz, like selling the special edition foods, treats and toys, but there is also a lot more that you can do at this time of year to promote your store, build sales now and build a customer base for the next year.

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PPM Article: Romancing your customers

How the dating game and selling to your customers are similar – Article by XOXX and Pooch & Mutt owner, Guy Blaskey, published in the trade magazine PPM (Pet Product Marketing).

Imagine a young man in a bar, he sees a girl that he is attracted to. His aim is to get her in to bed. He could go straight out and ask her if she’d like to come home with him. Chances are that she will say ‘NO’… or throw a drink in his face. She may say ‘yes’ straight away, but if she does she is probably not the kind of girl that he would want to get into bed with and definitely not one he would want to have a long-term relationship with.

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Advertising: Blue Chip Calmers

Above is the press advertising for the launch of the new Blue Chip instant calmers for horses.

As mentioned in the post about the development of the calmers, we identified that our job was not to launch the concept of an instant calmer (as there are already many on the market), our job was to differentiate the Blue Chip calmers from the competition. We did this by focussing on the natural flavourings of the calmers.

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PPM Article: Location based AdWords

How physical stores can benefit from online advertising with Google AdWords. – Article by XOXX and Pooch & Mutt owner, Guy Blaskey, published in the trade magazine PPM (Pet Product Marketing).

I have heard many pet store owners complain that online retailers have taken a lot of their trade. One way you can get it back is by using Google AdWords.

Adwords are the sponsored ads that come up at the side of the web page when you search for a product on google. Below is a picture of what comes up when you search for ‘pooch and mutt’. As you can see, the top 3 results and the 3 results on the right are in a section called ads. These ads are paid-for ‘AdWords’ ads. However you don’t pay for them to show, you only pay if someone actually clicks on the ad, which makes them extremely cost effective if done well.

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Packaging Design & Product Development: Blue Chip Calmers

Applecalm and Carrotcalm are two new instant calmers for horses, from Blue Chip Feeds.

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PPM Article: Profits from Passion

Profits from Passion. - Article by XOXX and Pooch & Mutt owner, Guy Blaskey, published in the trade magazine PPM (Pet Product Marketing).

Jamie Oliver is not a writer, but he is the second most successful author in the UK (after JK Rowling) with £101.55 million racked up in book sales.

Jamie Oliver was never a head chef and he never got a Michelin Star, but he makes far more money from restaurants than Michelin-starred chefs like Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal and Marco Pierre White.

Jamie Oliver reportedly does not buy food in supermarkets, but made approximately £13 million over 11 years from Sainsbury’s.

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