#bath and body works joyful garden flower walk

[y2kbeautyandother2000sstuff]

Bath and Body Works Joyful Garden Flower Walk Soothing Bath Salts

late 1990s-early 2000s

Found on Ebay, user thefinds77

[haterishated]

♡ << LESHY X READER HEADCANONS >> ♡

General

- When Leshy was a child, he had a massive chewing addiction, putting everything and anything into his mouth. He couldn't help it. If he liked something, he ate it. If he hated something, he ate it. Yes, innocent followers count, too.

- He loved to burrow into the dirt and rest underground when he was tired or wanted a break from the surface. When Shamura couldn't find him, they checked anywhere that had moist soil and warm light.

- Leshy bathes under the sun in his free time and often lounges on the branches of trees, often falling asleep on them.

- His favorite sibling is Shamura or Heket. He loves hanging out with them and is often seen with them. Leshy is indifferent with Kallamar and has rivalry with Narinder.

- Leshy owns a colossal garden in Darkwood next to his temple and he takes walks there everyday and takes care of the plants along with his devoted and trusted followers.

- Leshy can sprout any flower ( mainly camellia or daisies ) on his body when he feels a strong emotion. It could be rage, joyfulness, extreme sadness, or anything else that could strongly affect him and his mood.

- After Narinder's banishment, he toughened up by a lot and grew strict, cold, and aggressive. Leshy took his job more seriously and wasn't as playful, childish, and sweet as he used to be.

- It pains Leshy to know that he has to put up an act to maintain his reputation as the owner of the green crown and one of the four bishops of the old faith. It hurts Leshy to know that he can't go back to the past and stay who he used to be.

In Friendship

- When you're friends with Leshy before Narinder's exile from the Old Faith, it will be the most chaotic friendship you could ever have.

- Leshy will and is not afraid to cause trouble and drag you along absolutely everywhere. And if you refuse, he always has a way to make you have to chase after him and join him or else he'll cause way too much trouble and chaos for his own good.

- You both have a headquarters / secret base you guys go to whenever you two are bored or just wish to hang out. It's a massive tree in a clearing in Darkwood with a camellia field so large it looks like the ground is made of flowers. Leshy loves to hang on the trees there or curl up around you when he wants to take a nap.

- He'll tell you a his secrets and anything interesting or funny that happens throughout his day. Leshy just loves talking with you about anything he finds intriguing. Once he finds an interesting topic, he will NOT stop talking about it until his voice gets hoarse.

In Relationship

- Leshy is super confused when you mentioned something about committing to a relationship. He doesn't know the difference between platonic and romantic so he doesn't really know what to do.

- Does he do the same things he's always done throughout your friendship or does he initiate something difference? little guy has no idea how romance works.

- Just explain what couples usually do.

- Kissing, hugging, falling asleep together, sharing things, holding hands. Stuff like that.

- Leshy is still a bit puzzled, but at least you've cleared it up for him at least a small little bit. He'll try to do those things but if he ever gets anything wrong, let him know and he'll fix it, or if Leshy does anything that makes you uncomfortable or he accidentally crosses your boundaries, he'll stop immediately.

- Bush boy is new to this whole 'being in love' thing, but he's working on it!

[lakelandseo]

8 Ways to Champion Animals in Your Local Business Marketing Strategy

Image credit: Yoshihide Nomura

If you’ve ever had the privilege of being present for a baby’s first joyful encounter with a household pet, you’ll have noticed the profound wonder and excitement of the little one’s reaction. Once upon a time, that was each of us beaming and bouncing up and down with the thrill of meeting our first dog or cat.

Don’t lose that joy — be like these Canadian women watching whales from their garden:

From our earliest days, most of us have simply loved animals. We fill children’s books with tales of them and choose them as life companions. In many cultures, animals are sources of sacred power, and in all parts of the world, wildlife is absolutely essential to balanced ecosystems.

67% of American households now include pets — that’s the majority of your consumer base signalling just how much animals matter to them. When local business owners and marketers communicate with most customers about animals, shared affinity is ready-built into the exchange, drawing on feelings of warmth, admiration, responsibility, concern, and happiness. These dearly-held sentiments can be sturdy building blocks of benefit for other-than-human creatures, communities, and your business. This is deeply good marketing, which can yield personal satisfaction, press, links, citations, loyalty, and positive social change.

Today, we’ll consider eight options for honoring the love both you and your customers have in common when it comes to animals, plus tips for weaving your efforts into your local business marketing strategy.

All animal-centric activities, great and small

Almost any local business will find one or more actionable ideas here to demonstrate care for animals.

1. Expand your welcome to customers’ pets

Where local health codes and business models permit, make provisions for pets at your place of business. Before the pandemic, dog-friendly dining patios, water stations, lodgings, and shopping center-based dog parks were on the rise and can return once safety does. Put a bowl of dog treats outside your storefront to make your business a memorable highlight of neighbors’ daily dog walks, keep a stash of them behind the counter if pets are permitted indoors, and take note of the dairy delivery drivers who toss snacks to dogs when bringing groceries to customers in the pacific northwest.

A kiosk of free doggy cleanup bags could be a draw to your door and a boon to the neighborhood. Bring customers inside when it’s safe again to do so with a feature wall of local pet photos. Hold contests that center pets or feature pet-centric prizes, or host a pet-based event. Meanwhile, if your business is located in a neighborhood far from large pet supply stores, consider whether a pet section makes sense in your inventory.

2. Make a place for staff pets

Image credit: Groupon

Every year, new studies are published indicating that when pets interact with people, humans benefit from lowered cortisol and blood pressure levels and a variety of improvements in states of whole body well-being. As a shopper, I can say that my household loves visiting businesses with resident pets. Prior to stay-at-home orders, some of our most memorable shopping excursions were to the nursery with the noble-looking Australian shepards, the craft store with the little terriers, and the farm stand with the dachshunds. To-do lists sounded like this:

“We need to buy mulch. Oh, and we’ll get to see Pushkin the little red dog!”

Companies are always seeking out methods of creating memorable experiences, and friendly cats and dogs on-site can be instant magic in this regard.

At Moz, even before we were working remotely, honored staff pets added calm and pleasure to company meetings, with an established policy for animal etiquette and safety practices Mozzers agreed to in order to bring their companions to the office. Even at companies that can’t have animals on the premises as a regular thing, bring-your-pet-to-work days can signal to staff that a brand is sensitive to work/life balance once it becomes safe again for people to return to offices. Evaluate how a company you’re marketing might safely incorporate animal companions into the workplace for the happiness of both staff and customers.

3. Expand your welcome to wildlife

Image credit: Theresa_Gunn

Many businesses have the space to hang a bird feeder and water dish or set up a bird bath. Nesting boxes for birds and bats are small and can be fitted into all sorts of nooks and eaves around your building in any spot where droppings won’t be a nuisance.

If your business is lucky enough to have the space, planter boxes can provide flowers, fruit, seeds, nectar, pollen, and nesting materials for birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.. Call a local nursery to ask which native plants will fit in your containers and support winged visitors. If you have more space and can plant a hedge, you’ll be making a home for many types of birds and insects, and may even offer protection to rabbits, raccoons, possums, and other small animals.

Well-planned Main Streets and shopping districts can provide more than just sidewalks for humans and streets for cars — they can be places where hummingbirds sip from flower to flower, bees gather pollen, butterflies migrate, and herbivores find forage. Take your seat at city planning meetings and become an advocate for green space in commercial areas, bird-friendly windows, accessible waterways, and other ecological development strategies.

4. Sponsor wildlife crossings, corridor, and rescue programs

Millions of domestic and native animals lose their lives on our roads every year, but wildlife corridors that create safe roaming paths through fragmented areas can reduce animal-related car accidents by as much as 80%. If your heart sinks every time you see a dead animal on the highway, talk to your city council about planning wildlife crossings and corridors in your community and then either help build them or have your brand sponsor their construction. Extra credit to you if you can get your customers involved, too.

Meanwhile, if you’ve ever had to call a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation number after encountering an injured animal on the road, having a bird stun itself by crashing into a window, or finding unfledged nestlings on the ground, you know what a lifeline these programs can be. Do some research on agencies and groups in your community that contribute this vital work and offer volunteer hours or financial support.

5. Sponsor guide dog and companion animal programs

Image credit: Zelda Richardson

Dogs that act as the guides, protectors, and friends of differently-abled people are heroes, and it takes a great deal of care, time, and money to train them for their work. Additionally, many communities have programs that bring pets to children’s hospitals, elder care homes, and other centers for the important benefits humans can experience just from interacting with a loving, friendly animal.

If you’re looking for a sponsorship opportunity that can make a world of difference in people’s everyday lives, research these types of programs and volunteer or sponsor them.

6. Sponsor no-kill animal shelters

When animal lovers seek pet adoption, many insist on visiting only no-kill shelters in order to make a statement consistent with their humane values and to avoid the trauma of having to choose among animals who may be killed if not brought home.

If your region has a no-kill shelter, it’s not only a good thing to contribute to, but can also be a source of fostering community goodwill when you allow these programs to place donation jars at registers.

7. Offer plant-based and cruelty-free options

There’s a reason even fast-food franchises are offering veggie burgers now, and I see the source of it in my own family where 65% of the young people are vegetarians or vegans. Meanwhile, nearly all of them actively seek out self-care products labeled as cruelty-free.

Even if your business isn’t staffed by herbivores or animal rights activists, you can include them in the welcome you’re building so that all community members have something to eat, drink, and purchase. Nielsen found in 2018 that 39% of Americans are upping the amount of plant-based dishes in their diets, and it’s my belief that these numbers will continue to rise. Now is the time to be sure you’re not overlooking this growing consumer base who will reward your care for their needs with patronage.

8. Protect water

Image credit: Mark Giuliucci

If a deep regard for animals is shared by your company and customers, there is likely no better cause to support than the protection of all forms of water, on which we all depend for life. Cleaning up and defending the future of streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, lakes, and oceans is challenging, vital work for us all.

Take an active role, and invite customers to learn and change with you, in removing pollutants and plastics from water sources, abandoning oil pipelines in favor of green energy, replacing forever-products with biodegradable ones, replacing many ecologically-disastrous man-made dams with biodiverse beaver dam habitat, encouraging local water boards to include Indigenous leadership in sustainable community planning, protecting remaining wetlands from development, and providing safe drinking water to all communities.

Be a vocal advocate for very good reasons

Image credit: Tim Sackton.

In some cultures and faiths, acts of private charity and kindness are meant to be kept secret. At a corporate level, though, social good can be exponentially expanded when brands are willing to take public stands on matters of conscience. The larger your business, the louder your voice inviting participation in works and causes that honor animals.

Once you’ve determined how you’ll be incorporating care for other creatures into your business plan, here are 10 ways to get the word out to the community you serve:

Publish optimized website content, based on keyword research and community interest, to explain your brand’s animal-centric activities.

Ask the organizations you support to interview someone at your company to explain why your staff/customers are volunteering/donating to this particularly worthy cause. These groups will also likely be looking for content opportunities. Volunteering to be the subject of an interview can expand their reach and hopefully deliver a good link or two to your website, as well.

Reach out to local reporters to let them know that this is an angle of your business operations that the public might enjoy reading about; we could all use some good news these days in the local paper!

If appropriate, get unstructured citations on local blogs or structured citations on specialty directories. For example, HappyCow.net offers a directory of restaurants where plant-based diners can find a meal.

If appropriate, create image and video content about company pets, wildlife stewardship, and local ecological efforts, demonstrating your business’s participation and inviting customers to enjoy taking part.

Promote content that you and others have published about your activities on your social media channels.

Partner with other local business owners with similar policies and programs to share work and send customers to one another.

Write some animal-centric Google posts on your Google Business Profile

Assess whether Google My Business Categories or attributes could be added to your listing to represent animal-related features of your business.

Add photos of staff pets or wildlife features at your location to your GMB listing if they add to the welcoming ambiance of your place of business.

Wag more

Watch the above video by a local business and you’ll see how almost any company can make memorable, emotional connections with the people they serve thanks to a widely-shared love of animals. Actions that celebrate, rather than exploit, our animal relations surely fall under the phenomenon of kindness as currency with multiple studies showing how people are more apt to act with generosity of spirit when they see others do so.

When you’re tasked with marketing, you’re always looking for that extra reason to be chosen by customers. 73% of people say they care about the company they buy from, not just the product. The furry paw poised on your knee right now, the purr emanating from behind your laptop, the songs of birds outside your window could be calling you to connect with customers in an authentic new way, over your joint, abiding care for animals. These days, who wouldn’t welcome a chance to wag more?

Looking for more authentic local search marketing tips to make your community a better place to live and work? Read The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide.

[epackingvietnam]

8 Ways to Champion Animals in Your Local Business Marketing Strategy

Image credit: Yoshihide Nomura

If you’ve ever had the privilege of being present for a baby’s first joyful encounter with a household pet, you’ll have noticed the profound wonder and excitement of the little one’s reaction. Once upon a time, that was each of us beaming and bouncing up and down with the thrill of meeting our first dog or cat.

Don’t lose that joy — be like these Canadian women watching whales from their garden:

From our earliest days, most of us have simply loved animals. We fill children’s books with tales of them and choose them as life companions. In many cultures, animals are sources of sacred power, and in all parts of the world, wildlife is absolutely essential to balanced ecosystems.

67% of American households now include pets — that’s the majority of your consumer base signalling just how much animals matter to them. When local business owners and marketers communicate with most customers about animals, shared affinity is ready-built into the exchange, drawing on feelings of warmth, admiration, responsibility, concern, and happiness. These dearly-held sentiments can be sturdy building blocks of benefit for other-than-human creatures, communities, and your business. This is deeply good marketing, which can yield personal satisfaction, press, links, citations, loyalty, and positive social change.

Today, we’ll consider eight options for honoring the love both you and your customers have in common when it comes to animals, plus tips for weaving your efforts into your local business marketing strategy.

All animal-centric activities, great and small

Almost any local business will find one or more actionable ideas here to demonstrate care for animals.

1. Expand your welcome to customers’ pets

Where local health codes and business models permit, make provisions for pets at your place of business. Before the pandemic, dog-friendly dining patios, water stations, lodgings, and shopping center-based dog parks were on the rise and can return once safety does. Put a bowl of dog treats outside your storefront to make your business a memorable highlight of neighbors’ daily dog walks, keep a stash of them behind the counter if pets are permitted indoors, and take note of the dairy delivery drivers who toss snacks to dogs when bringing groceries to customers in the pacific northwest.

A kiosk of free doggy cleanup bags could be a draw to your door and a boon to the neighborhood. Bring customers inside when it’s safe again to do so with a feature wall of local pet photos. Hold contests that center pets or feature pet-centric prizes, or host a pet-based event. Meanwhile, if your business is located in a neighborhood far from large pet supply stores, consider whether a pet section makes sense in your inventory.

2. Make a place for staff pets

Image credit: Groupon

Every year, new studies are published indicating that when pets interact with people, humans benefit from lowered cortisol and blood pressure levels and a variety of improvements in states of whole body well-being. As a shopper, I can say that my household loves visiting businesses with resident pets. Prior to stay-at-home orders, some of our most memorable shopping excursions were to the nursery with the noble-looking Australian shepards, the craft store with the little terriers, and the farm stand with the dachshunds. To-do lists sounded like this:

“We need to buy mulch. Oh, and we’ll get to see Pushkin the little red dog!”

Companies are always seeking out methods of creating memorable experiences, and friendly cats and dogs on-site can be instant magic in this regard.

At Moz, even before we were working remotely, honored staff pets added calm and pleasure to company meetings, with an established policy for animal etiquette and safety practices Mozzers agreed to in order to bring their companions to the office. Even at companies that can’t have animals on the premises as a regular thing, bring-your-pet-to-work days can signal to staff that a brand is sensitive to work/life balance once it becomes safe again for people to return to offices. Evaluate how a company you’re marketing might safely incorporate animal companions into the workplace for the happiness of both staff and customers.

3. Expand your welcome to wildlife

Image credit: Theresa_Gunn

Many businesses have the space to hang a bird feeder and water dish or set up a bird bath. Nesting boxes for birds and bats are small and can be fitted into all sorts of nooks and eaves around your building in any spot where droppings won’t be a nuisance.

If your business is lucky enough to have the space, planter boxes can provide flowers, fruit, seeds, nectar, pollen, and nesting materials for birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.. Call a local nursery to ask which native plants will fit in your containers and support winged visitors. If you have more space and can plant a hedge, you’ll be making a home for many types of birds and insects, and may even offer protection to rabbits, raccoons, possums, and other small animals.

Well-planned Main Streets and shopping districts can provide more than just sidewalks for humans and streets for cars — they can be places where hummingbirds sip from flower to flower, bees gather pollen, butterflies migrate, and herbivores find forage. Take your seat at city planning meetings and become an advocate for green space in commercial areas, bird-friendly windows, accessible waterways, and other ecological development strategies.

4. Sponsor wildlife crossings, corridor, and rescue programs

Millions of domestic and native animals lose their lives on our roads every year, but wildlife corridors that create safe roaming paths through fragmented areas can reduce animal-related car accidents by as much as 80%. If your heart sinks every time you see a dead animal on the highway, talk to your city council about planning wildlife crossings and corridors in your community and then either help build them or have your brand sponsor their construction. Extra credit to you if you can get your customers involved, too.

Meanwhile, if you’ve ever had to call a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation number after encountering an injured animal on the road, having a bird stun itself by crashing into a window, or finding unfledged nestlings on the ground, you know what a lifeline these programs can be. Do some research on agencies and groups in your community that contribute this vital work and offer volunteer hours or financial support.

5. Sponsor guide dog and companion animal programs

Image credit: Zelda Richardson

Dogs that act as the guides, protectors, and friends of differently-abled people are heroes, and it takes a great deal of care, time, and money to train them for their work. Additionally, many communities have programs that bring pets to children’s hospitals, elder care homes, and other centers for the important benefits humans can experience just from interacting with a loving, friendly animal.

If you’re looking for a sponsorship opportunity that can make a world of difference in people’s everyday lives, research these types of programs and volunteer or sponsor them.

6. Sponsor no-kill animal shelters

When animal lovers seek pet adoption, many insist on visiting only no-kill shelters in order to make a statement consistent with their humane values and to avoid the trauma of having to choose among animals who may be killed if not brought home.

If your region has a no-kill shelter, it’s not only a good thing to contribute to, but can also be a source of fostering community goodwill when you allow these programs to place donation jars at registers.

7. Offer plant-based and cruelty-free options

There’s a reason even fast-food franchises are offering veggie burgers now, and I see the source of it in my own family where 65% of the young people are vegetarians or vegans. Meanwhile, nearly all of them actively seek out self-care products labeled as cruelty-free.

Even if your business isn’t staffed by herbivores or animal rights activists, you can include them in the welcome you’re building so that all community members have something to eat, drink, and purchase. Nielsen found in 2018 that 39% of Americans are upping the amount of plant-based dishes in their diets, and it’s my belief that these numbers will continue to rise. Now is the time to be sure you’re not overlooking this growing consumer base who will reward your care for their needs with patronage.

8. Protect water

Image credit: Mark Giuliucci

If a deep regard for animals is shared by your company and customers, there is likely no better cause to support than the protection of all forms of water, on which we all depend for life. Cleaning up and defending the future of streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, lakes, and oceans is challenging, vital work for us all.

Take an active role, and invite customers to learn and change with you, in removing pollutants and plastics from water sources, abandoning oil pipelines in favor of green energy, replacing forever-products with biodegradable ones, replacing many ecologically-disastrous man-made dams with biodiverse beaver dam habitat, encouraging local water boards to include Indigenous leadership in sustainable community planning, protecting remaining wetlands from development, and providing safe drinking water to all communities.

Be a vocal advocate for very good reasons

Image credit: Tim Sackton.

In some cultures and faiths, acts of private charity and kindness are meant to be kept secret. At a corporate level, though, social good can be exponentially expanded when brands are willing to take public stands on matters of conscience. The larger your business, the louder your voice inviting participation in works and causes that honor animals.

Once you’ve determined how you’ll be incorporating care for other creatures into your business plan, here are 10 ways to get the word out to the community you serve:

Publish optimized website content, based on keyword research and community interest, to explain your brand’s animal-centric activities.

Ask the organizations you support to interview someone at your company to explain why your staff/customers are volunteering/donating to this particularly worthy cause. These groups will also likely be looking for content opportunities. Volunteering to be the subject of an interview can expand their reach and hopefully deliver a good link or two to your website, as well.

Reach out to local reporters to let them know that this is an angle of your business operations that the public might enjoy reading about; we could all use some good news these days in the local paper!

If appropriate, get unstructured citations on local blogs or structured citations on specialty directories. For example, HappyCow.net offers a directory of restaurants where plant-based diners can find a meal.

If appropriate, create image and video content about company pets, wildlife stewardship, and local ecological efforts, demonstrating your business’s participation and inviting customers to enjoy taking part.

Promote content that you and others have published about your activities on your social media channels.

Partner with other local business owners with similar policies and programs to share work and send customers to one another.

Write some animal-centric Google posts on your Google Business Profile

Assess whether Google My Business Categories or attributes could be added to your listing to represent animal-related features of your business.

Add photos of staff pets or wildlife features at your location to your GMB listing if they add to the welcoming ambiance of your place of business.

Wag more

Watch the above video by a local business and you’ll see how almost any company can make memorable, emotional connections with the people they serve thanks to a widely-shared love of animals. Actions that celebrate, rather than exploit, our animal relations surely fall under the phenomenon of kindness as currency with multiple studies showing how people are more apt to act with generosity of spirit when they see others do so.

When you’re tasked with marketing, you’re always looking for that extra reason to be chosen by customers. 73% of people say they care about the company they buy from, not just the product. The furry paw poised on your knee right now, the purr emanating from behind your laptop, the songs of birds outside your window could be calling you to connect with customers in an authentic new way, over your joint, abiding care for animals. These days, who wouldn’t welcome a chance to wag more?

Looking for more authentic local search marketing tips to make your community a better place to live and work? Read The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide.

#túi_giấy_epacking_việt_nam #túi_giấy_epacking #in_túi_giấy_giá_rẻ #in_túi_giấy #epackingvietnam #tuigiayepacking

[bfxenon]

8 Ways to Champion Animals in Your Local Business Marketing Strategy

Image credit: Yoshihide Nomura

If you’ve ever had the privilege of being present for a baby’s first joyful encounter with a household pet, you’ll have noticed the profound wonder and excitement of the little one’s reaction. Once upon a time, that was each of us beaming and bouncing up and down with the thrill of meeting our first dog or cat.

Don’t lose that joy — be like these Canadian women watching whales from their garden:

From our earliest days, most of us have simply loved animals. We fill children’s books with tales of them and choose them as life companions. In many cultures, animals are sources of sacred power, and in all parts of the world, wildlife is absolutely essential to balanced ecosystems.

67% of American households now include pets — that’s the majority of your consumer base signalling just how much animals matter to them. When local business owners and marketers communicate with most customers about animals, shared affinity is ready-built into the exchange, drawing on feelings of warmth, admiration, responsibility, concern, and happiness. These dearly-held sentiments can be sturdy building blocks of benefit for other-than-human creatures, communities, and your business. This is deeply good marketing, which can yield personal satisfaction, press, links, citations, loyalty, and positive social change.

Today, we’ll consider eight options for honoring the love both you and your customers have in common when it comes to animals, plus tips for weaving your efforts into your local business marketing strategy.

All animal-centric activities, great and small

Almost any local business will find one or more actionable ideas here to demonstrate care for animals.

1. Expand your welcome to customers’ pets

Where local health codes and business models permit, make provisions for pets at your place of business. Before the pandemic, dog-friendly dining patios, water stations, lodgings, and shopping center-based dog parks were on the rise and can return once safety does. Put a bowl of dog treats outside your storefront to make your business a memorable highlight of neighbors’ daily dog walks, keep a stash of them behind the counter if pets are permitted indoors, and take note of the dairy delivery drivers who toss snacks to dogs when bringing groceries to customers in the pacific northwest.

A kiosk of free doggy cleanup bags could be a draw to your door and a boon to the neighborhood. Bring customers inside when it’s safe again to do so with a feature wall of local pet photos. Hold contests that center pets or feature pet-centric prizes, or host a pet-based event. Meanwhile, if your business is located in a neighborhood far from large pet supply stores, consider whether a pet section makes sense in your inventory.

2. Make a place for staff pets

Image credit: Groupon

Every year, new studies are published indicating that when pets interact with people, humans benefit from lowered cortisol and blood pressure levels and a variety of improvements in states of whole body well-being. As a shopper, I can say that my household loves visiting businesses with resident pets. Prior to stay-at-home orders, some of our most memorable shopping excursions were to the nursery with the noble-looking Australian shepards, the craft store with the little terriers, and the farm stand with the dachshunds. To-do lists sounded like this:

“We need to buy mulch. Oh, and we’ll get to see Pushkin the little red dog!”

Companies are always seeking out methods of creating memorable experiences, and friendly cats and dogs on-site can be instant magic in this regard.

At Moz, even before we were working remotely, honored staff pets added calm and pleasure to company meetings, with an established policy for animal etiquette and safety practices Mozzers agreed to in order to bring their companions to the office. Even at companies that can’t have animals on the premises as a regular thing, bring-your-pet-to-work days can signal to staff that a brand is sensitive to work/life balance once it becomes safe again for people to return to offices. Evaluate how a company you’re marketing might safely incorporate animal companions into the workplace for the happiness of both staff and customers.

3. Expand your welcome to wildlife

Image credit: Theresa_Gunn

Many businesses have the space to hang a bird feeder and water dish or set up a bird bath. Nesting boxes for birds and bats are small and can be fitted into all sorts of nooks and eaves around your building in any spot where droppings won’t be a nuisance.

If your business is lucky enough to have the space, planter boxes can provide flowers, fruit, seeds, nectar, pollen, and nesting materials for birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.. Call a local nursery to ask which native plants will fit in your containers and support winged visitors. If you have more space and can plant a hedge, you’ll be making a home for many types of birds and insects, and may even offer protection to rabbits, raccoons, possums, and other small animals.

Well-planned Main Streets and shopping districts can provide more than just sidewalks for humans and streets for cars — they can be places where hummingbirds sip from flower to flower, bees gather pollen, butterflies migrate, and herbivores find forage. Take your seat at city planning meetings and become an advocate for green space in commercial areas, bird-friendly windows, accessible waterways, and other ecological development strategies.

4. Sponsor wildlife crossings, corridor, and rescue programs

Millions of domestic and native animals lose their lives on our roads every year, but wildlife corridors that create safe roaming paths through fragmented areas can reduce animal-related car accidents by as much as 80%. If your heart sinks every time you see a dead animal on the highway, talk to your city council about planning wildlife crossings and corridors in your community and then either help build them or have your brand sponsor their construction. Extra credit to you if you can get your customers involved, too.

Meanwhile, if you’ve ever had to call a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation number after encountering an injured animal on the road, having a bird stun itself by crashing into a window, or finding unfledged nestlings on the ground, you know what a lifeline these programs can be. Do some research on agencies and groups in your community that contribute this vital work and offer volunteer hours or financial support.

5. Sponsor guide dog and companion animal programs

Image credit: Zelda Richardson

Dogs that act as the guides, protectors, and friends of differently-abled people are heroes, and it takes a great deal of care, time, and money to train them for their work. Additionally, many communities have programs that bring pets to children’s hospitals, elder care homes, and other centers for the important benefits humans can experience just from interacting with a loving, friendly animal.

If you’re looking for a sponsorship opportunity that can make a world of difference in people’s everyday lives, research these types of programs and volunteer or sponsor them.

6. Sponsor no-kill animal shelters

When animal lovers seek pet adoption, many insist on visiting only no-kill shelters in order to make a statement consistent with their humane values and to avoid the trauma of having to choose among animals who may be killed if not brought home.

If your region has a no-kill shelter, it’s not only a good thing to contribute to, but can also be a source of fostering community goodwill when you allow these programs to place donation jars at registers.

7. Offer plant-based and cruelty-free options

There’s a reason even fast-food franchises are offering veggie burgers now, and I see the source of it in my own family where 65% of the young people are vegetarians or vegans. Meanwhile, nearly all of them actively seek out self-care products labeled as cruelty-free.

Even if your business isn’t staffed by herbivores or animal rights activists, you can include them in the welcome you’re building so that all community members have something to eat, drink, and purchase. Nielsen found in 2018 that 39% of Americans are upping the amount of plant-based dishes in their diets, and it’s my belief that these numbers will continue to rise. Now is the time to be sure you’re not overlooking this growing consumer base who will reward your care for their needs with patronage.

8. Protect water

Image credit: Mark Giuliucci

If a deep regard for animals is shared by your company and customers, there is likely no better cause to support than the protection of all forms of water, on which we all depend for life. Cleaning up and defending the future of streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, lakes, and oceans is challenging, vital work for us all.

Take an active role, and invite customers to learn and change with you, in removing pollutants and plastics from water sources, abandoning oil pipelines in favor of green energy, replacing forever-products with biodegradable ones, replacing many ecologically-disastrous man-made dams with biodiverse beaver dam habitat, encouraging local water boards to include Indigenous leadership in sustainable community planning, protecting remaining wetlands from development, and providing safe drinking water to all communities.

Be a vocal advocate for very good reasons

Image credit: Tim Sackton.

In some cultures and faiths, acts of private charity and kindness are meant to be kept secret. At a corporate level, though, social good can be exponentially expanded when brands are willing to take public stands on matters of conscience. The larger your business, the louder your voice inviting participation in works and causes that honor animals.

Once you’ve determined how you’ll be incorporating care for other creatures into your business plan, here are 10 ways to get the word out to the community you serve:

Publish optimized website content, based on keyword research and community interest, to explain your brand’s animal-centric activities.

Ask the organizations you support to interview someone at your company to explain why your staff/customers are volunteering/donating to this particularly worthy cause. These groups will also likely be looking for content opportunities. Volunteering to be the subject of an interview can expand their reach and hopefully deliver a good link or two to your website, as well.

Reach out to local reporters to let them know that this is an angle of your business operations that the public might enjoy reading about; we could all use some good news these days in the local paper!

If appropriate, get unstructured citations on local blogs or structured citations on specialty directories. For example, HappyCow.net offers a directory of restaurants where plant-based diners can find a meal.

If appropriate, create image and video content about company pets, wildlife stewardship, and local ecological efforts, demonstrating your business’s participation and inviting customers to enjoy taking part.

Promote content that you and others have published about your activities on your social media channels.

Partner with other local business owners with similar policies and programs to share work and send customers to one another.

Write some animal-centric Google posts on your Google Business Profile

Assess whether Google My Business Categories or attributes could be added to your listing to represent animal-related features of your business.

Add photos of staff pets or wildlife features at your location to your GMB listing if they add to the welcoming ambiance of your place of business.

Wag more

Watch the above video by a local business and you’ll see how almost any company can make memorable, emotional connections with the people they serve thanks to a widely-shared love of animals. Actions that celebrate, rather than exploit, our animal relations surely fall under the phenomenon of kindness as currency with multiple studies showing how people are more apt to act with generosity of spirit when they see others do so.

When you’re tasked with marketing, you’re always looking for that extra reason to be chosen by customers. 73% of people say they care about the company they buy from, not just the product. The furry paw poised on your knee right now, the purr emanating from behind your laptop, the songs of birds outside your window could be calling you to connect with customers in an authentic new way, over your joint, abiding care for animals. These days, who wouldn’t welcome a chance to wag more?

Looking for more authentic local search marketing tips to make your community a better place to live and work? Read The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide.

[nutrifami]

8 Ways to Champion Animals in Your Local Business Marketing Strategy

Image credit: Yoshihide Nomura

If you’ve ever had the privilege of being present for a baby’s first joyful encounter with a household pet, you’ll have noticed the profound wonder and excitement of the little one’s reaction. Once upon a time, that was each of us beaming and bouncing up and down with the thrill of meeting our first dog or cat.

Don’t lose that joy — be like these Canadian women watching whales from their garden:

From our earliest days, most of us have simply loved animals. We fill children’s books with tales of them and choose them as life companions. In many cultures, animals are sources of sacred power, and in all parts of the world, wildlife is absolutely essential to balanced ecosystems.

67% of American households now include pets — that’s the majority of your consumer base signalling just how much animals matter to them. When local business owners and marketers communicate with most customers about animals, shared affinity is ready-built into the exchange, drawing on feelings of warmth, admiration, responsibility, concern, and happiness. These dearly-held sentiments can be sturdy building blocks of benefit for other-than-human creatures, communities, and your business. This is deeply good marketing, which can yield personal satisfaction, press, links, citations, loyalty, and positive social change.

Today, we’ll consider eight options for honoring the love both you and your customers have in common when it comes to animals, plus tips for weaving your efforts into your local business marketing strategy.

All animal-centric activities, great and small

Almost any local business will find one or more actionable ideas here to demonstrate care for animals.

1. Expand your welcome to customers’ pets

Where local health codes and business models permit, make provisions for pets at your place of business. Before the pandemic, dog-friendly dining patios, water stations, lodgings, and shopping center-based dog parks were on the rise and can return once safety does. Put a bowl of dog treats outside your storefront to make your business a memorable highlight of neighbors’ daily dog walks, keep a stash of them behind the counter if pets are permitted indoors, and take note of the dairy delivery drivers who toss snacks to dogs when bringing groceries to customers in the pacific northwest.

A kiosk of free doggy cleanup bags could be a draw to your door and a boon to the neighborhood. Bring customers inside when it’s safe again to do so with a feature wall of local pet photos. Hold contests that center pets or feature pet-centric prizes, or host a pet-based event. Meanwhile, if your business is located in a neighborhood far from large pet supply stores, consider whether a pet section makes sense in your inventory.

2. Make a place for staff pets

Image credit: Groupon

Every year, new studies are published indicating that when pets interact with people, humans benefit from lowered cortisol and blood pressure levels and a variety of improvements in states of whole body well-being. As a shopper, I can say that my household loves visiting businesses with resident pets. Prior to stay-at-home orders, some of our most memorable shopping excursions were to the nursery with the noble-looking Australian shepards, the craft store with the little terriers, and the farm stand with the dachshunds. To-do lists sounded like this:

“We need to buy mulch. Oh, and we’ll get to see Pushkin the little red dog!”

Companies are always seeking out methods of creating memorable experiences, and friendly cats and dogs on-site can be instant magic in this regard.

At Moz, even before we were working remotely, honored staff pets added calm and pleasure to company meetings, with an established policy for animal etiquette and safety practices Mozzers agreed to in order to bring their companions to the office. Even at companies that can’t have animals on the premises as a regular thing, bring-your-pet-to-work days can signal to staff that a brand is sensitive to work/life balance once it becomes safe again for people to return to offices. Evaluate how a company you’re marketing might safely incorporate animal companions into the workplace for the happiness of both staff and customers.

3. Expand your welcome to wildlife

Image credit: Theresa_Gunn

Many businesses have the space to hang a bird feeder and water dish or set up a bird bath. Nesting boxes for birds and bats are small and can be fitted into all sorts of nooks and eaves around your building in any spot where droppings won’t be a nuisance.

If your business is lucky enough to have the space, planter boxes can provide flowers, fruit, seeds, nectar, pollen, and nesting materials for birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.. Call a local nursery to ask which native plants will fit in your containers and support winged visitors. If you have more space and can plant a hedge, you’ll be making a home for many types of birds and insects, and may even offer protection to rabbits, raccoons, possums, and other small animals.

Well-planned Main Streets and shopping districts can provide more than just sidewalks for humans and streets for cars — they can be places where hummingbirds sip from flower to flower, bees gather pollen, butterflies migrate, and herbivores find forage. Take your seat at city planning meetings and become an advocate for green space in commercial areas, bird-friendly windows, accessible waterways, and other ecological development strategies.

4. Sponsor wildlife crossings, corridor, and rescue programs

Millions of domestic and native animals lose their lives on our roads every year, but wildlife corridors that create safe roaming paths through fragmented areas can reduce animal-related car accidents by as much as 80%. If your heart sinks every time you see a dead animal on the highway, talk to your city council about planning wildlife crossings and corridors in your community and then either help build them or have your brand sponsor their construction. Extra credit to you if you can get your customers involved, too.

Meanwhile, if you’ve ever had to call a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation number after encountering an injured animal on the road, having a bird stun itself by crashing into a window, or finding unfledged nestlings on the ground, you know what a lifeline these programs can be. Do some research on agencies and groups in your community that contribute this vital work and offer volunteer hours or financial support.

5. Sponsor guide dog and companion animal programs

Image credit: Zelda Richardson

Dogs that act as the guides, protectors, and friends of differently-abled people are heroes, and it takes a great deal of care, time, and money to train them for their work. Additionally, many communities have programs that bring pets to children’s hospitals, elder care homes, and other centers for the important benefits humans can experience just from interacting with a loving, friendly animal.

If you’re looking for a sponsorship opportunity that can make a world of difference in people’s everyday lives, research these types of programs and volunteer or sponsor them.

6. Sponsor no-kill animal shelters

When animal lovers seek pet adoption, many insist on visiting only no-kill shelters in order to make a statement consistent with their humane values and to avoid the trauma of having to choose among animals who may be killed if not brought home.

If your region has a no-kill shelter, it’s not only a good thing to contribute to, but can also be a source of fostering community goodwill when you allow these programs to place donation jars at registers.

7. Offer plant-based and cruelty-free options

There’s a reason even fast-food franchises are offering veggie burgers now, and I see the source of it in my own family where 65% of the young people are vegetarians or vegans. Meanwhile, nearly all of them actively seek out self-care products labeled as cruelty-free.

Even if your business isn’t staffed by herbivores or animal rights activists, you can include them in the welcome you’re building so that all community members have something to eat, drink, and purchase. Nielsen found in 2018 that 39% of Americans are upping the amount of plant-based dishes in their diets, and it’s my belief that these numbers will continue to rise. Now is the time to be sure you’re not overlooking this growing consumer base who will reward your care for their needs with patronage.

8. Protect water

Image credit: Mark Giuliucci

If a deep regard for animals is shared by your company and customers, there is likely no better cause to support than the protection of all forms of water, on which we all depend for life. Cleaning up and defending the future of streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, lakes, and oceans is challenging, vital work for us all.

Take an active role, and invite customers to learn and change with you, in removing pollutants and plastics from water sources, abandoning oil pipelines in favor of green energy, replacing forever-products with biodegradable ones, replacing many ecologically-disastrous man-made dams with biodiverse beaver dam habitat, encouraging local water boards to include Indigenous leadership in sustainable community planning, protecting remaining wetlands from development, and providing safe drinking water to all communities.

Be a vocal advocate for very good reasons

Image credit: Tim Sackton.

In some cultures and faiths, acts of private charity and kindness are meant to be kept secret. At a corporate level, though, social good can be exponentially expanded when brands are willing to take public stands on matters of conscience. The larger your business, the louder your voice inviting participation in works and causes that honor animals.

Once you’ve determined how you’ll be incorporating care for other creatures into your business plan, here are 10 ways to get the word out to the community you serve:

Publish optimized website content, based on keyword research and community interest, to explain your brand’s animal-centric activities.

Ask the organizations you support to interview someone at your company to explain why your staff/customers are volunteering/donating to this particularly worthy cause. These groups will also likely be looking for content opportunities. Volunteering to be the subject of an interview can expand their reach and hopefully deliver a good link or two to your website, as well.

Reach out to local reporters to let them know that this is an angle of your business operations that the public might enjoy reading about; we could all use some good news these days in the local paper!

If appropriate, get unstructured citations on local blogs or structured citations on specialty directories. For example, HappyCow.net offers a directory of restaurants where plant-based diners can find a meal.

If appropriate, create image and video content about company pets, wildlife stewardship, and local ecological efforts, demonstrating your business’s participation and inviting customers to enjoy taking part.

Promote content that you and others have published about your activities on your social media channels.

Partner with other local business owners with similar policies and programs to share work and send customers to one another.

Write some animal-centric Google posts on your Google Business Profile

Assess whether Google My Business Categories or attributes could be added to your listing to represent animal-related features of your business.

Add photos of staff pets or wildlife features at your location to your GMB listing if they add to the welcoming ambiance of your place of business.

Wag more

Watch the above video by a local business and you’ll see how almost any company can make memorable, emotional connections with the people they serve thanks to a widely-shared love of animals. Actions that celebrate, rather than exploit, our animal relations surely fall under the phenomenon of kindness as currency with multiple studies showing how people are more apt to act with generosity of spirit when they see others do so.

When you’re tasked with marketing, you’re always looking for that extra reason to be chosen by customers. 73% of people say they care about the company they buy from, not just the product. The furry paw poised on your knee right now, the purr emanating from behind your laptop, the songs of birds outside your window could be calling you to connect with customers in an authentic new way, over your joint, abiding care for animals. These days, who wouldn’t welcome a chance to wag more?

Looking for more authentic local search marketing tips to make your community a better place to live and work? Read The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide.

[xaydungtruonggia]

8 Ways to Champion Animals in Your Local Business Marketing Strategy

Image credit: Yoshihide Nomura

If you’ve ever had the privilege of being present for a baby’s first joyful encounter with a household pet, you’ll have noticed the profound wonder and excitement of the little one’s reaction. Once upon a time, that was each of us beaming and bouncing up and down with the thrill of meeting our first dog or cat.

Don’t lose that joy — be like these Canadian women watching whales from their garden:

From our earliest days, most of us have simply loved animals. We fill children’s books with tales of them and choose them as life companions. In many cultures, animals are sources of sacred power, and in all parts of the world, wildlife is absolutely essential to balanced ecosystems.

67% of American households now include pets — that’s the majority of your consumer base signalling just how much animals matter to them. When local business owners and marketers communicate with most customers about animals, shared affinity is ready-built into the exchange, drawing on feelings of warmth, admiration, responsibility, concern, and happiness. These dearly-held sentiments can be sturdy building blocks of benefit for other-than-human creatures, communities, and your business. This is deeply good marketing, which can yield personal satisfaction, press, links, citations, loyalty, and positive social change.

Today, we’ll consider eight options for honoring the love both you and your customers have in common when it comes to animals, plus tips for weaving your efforts into your local business marketing strategy.

All animal-centric activities, great and small

Almost any local business will find one or more actionable ideas here to demonstrate care for animals.

1. Expand your welcome to customers’ pets

Where local health codes and business models permit, make provisions for pets at your place of business. Before the pandemic, dog-friendly dining patios, water stations, lodgings, and shopping center-based dog parks were on the rise and can return once safety does. Put a bowl of dog treats outside your storefront to make your business a memorable highlight of neighbors’ daily dog walks, keep a stash of them behind the counter if pets are permitted indoors, and take note of the dairy delivery drivers who toss snacks to dogs when bringing groceries to customers in the pacific northwest.

A kiosk of free doggy cleanup bags could be a draw to your door and a boon to the neighborhood. Bring customers inside when it’s safe again to do so with a feature wall of local pet photos. Hold contests that center pets or feature pet-centric prizes, or host a pet-based event. Meanwhile, if your business is located in a neighborhood far from large pet supply stores, consider whether a pet section makes sense in your inventory.

2. Make a place for staff pets

Image credit: Groupon

Every year, new studies are published indicating that when pets interact with people, humans benefit from lowered cortisol and blood pressure levels and a variety of improvements in states of whole body well-being. As a shopper, I can say that my household loves visiting businesses with resident pets. Prior to stay-at-home orders, some of our most memorable shopping excursions were to the nursery with the noble-looking Australian shepards, the craft store with the little terriers, and the farm stand with the dachshunds. To-do lists sounded like this:

“We need to buy mulch. Oh, and we’ll get to see Pushkin the little red dog!”

Companies are always seeking out methods of creating memorable experiences, and friendly cats and dogs on-site can be instant magic in this regard.

At Moz, even before we were working remotely, honored staff pets added calm and pleasure to company meetings, with an established policy for animal etiquette and safety practices Mozzers agreed to in order to bring their companions to the office. Even at companies that can’t have animals on the premises as a regular thing, bring-your-pet-to-work days can signal to staff that a brand is sensitive to work/life balance once it becomes safe again for people to return to offices. Evaluate how a company you’re marketing might safely incorporate animal companions into the workplace for the happiness of both staff and customers.

3. Expand your welcome to wildlife

Image credit: Theresa_Gunn

Many businesses have the space to hang a bird feeder and water dish or set up a bird bath. Nesting boxes for birds and bats are small and can be fitted into all sorts of nooks and eaves around your building in any spot where droppings won’t be a nuisance.

If your business is lucky enough to have the space, planter boxes can provide flowers, fruit, seeds, nectar, pollen, and nesting materials for birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.. Call a local nursery to ask which native plants will fit in your containers and support winged visitors. If you have more space and can plant a hedge, you’ll be making a home for many types of birds and insects, and may even offer protection to rabbits, raccoons, possums, and other small animals.

Well-planned Main Streets and shopping districts can provide more than just sidewalks for humans and streets for cars — they can be places where hummingbirds sip from flower to flower, bees gather pollen, butterflies migrate, and herbivores find forage. Take your seat at city planning meetings and become an advocate for green space in commercial areas, bird-friendly windows, accessible waterways, and other ecological development strategies.

4. Sponsor wildlife crossings, corridor, and rescue programs

Millions of domestic and native animals lose their lives on our roads every year, but wildlife corridors that create safe roaming paths through fragmented areas can reduce animal-related car accidents by as much as 80%. If your heart sinks every time you see a dead animal on the highway, talk to your city council about planning wildlife crossings and corridors in your community and then either help build them or have your brand sponsor their construction. Extra credit to you if you can get your customers involved, too.

Meanwhile, if you’ve ever had to call a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation number after encountering an injured animal on the road, having a bird stun itself by crashing into a window, or finding unfledged nestlings on the ground, you know what a lifeline these programs can be. Do some research on agencies and groups in your community that contribute this vital work and offer volunteer hours or financial support.

5. Sponsor guide dog and companion animal programs

Image credit: Zelda Richardson

Dogs that act as the guides, protectors, and friends of differently-abled people are heroes, and it takes a great deal of care, time, and money to train them for their work. Additionally, many communities have programs that bring pets to children’s hospitals, elder care homes, and other centers for the important benefits humans can experience just from interacting with a loving, friendly animal.

If you’re looking for a sponsorship opportunity that can make a world of difference in people’s everyday lives, research these types of programs and volunteer or sponsor them.

6. Sponsor no-kill animal shelters

When animal lovers seek pet adoption, many insist on visiting only no-kill shelters in order to make a statement consistent with their humane values and to avoid the trauma of having to choose among animals who may be killed if not brought home.

If your region has a no-kill shelter, it’s not only a good thing to contribute to, but can also be a source of fostering community goodwill when you allow these programs to place donation jars at registers.

7. Offer plant-based and cruelty-free options

There’s a reason even fast-food franchises are offering veggie burgers now, and I see the source of it in my own family where 65% of the young people are vegetarians or vegans. Meanwhile, nearly all of them actively seek out self-care products labeled as cruelty-free.

Even if your business isn’t staffed by herbivores or animal rights activists, you can include them in the welcome you’re building so that all community members have something to eat, drink, and purchase. Nielsen found in 2018 that 39% of Americans are upping the amount of plant-based dishes in their diets, and it’s my belief that these numbers will continue to rise. Now is the time to be sure you’re not overlooking this growing consumer base who will reward your care for their needs with patronage.

8. Protect water

Image credit: Mark Giuliucci

If a deep regard for animals is shared by your company and customers, there is likely no better cause to support than the protection of all forms of water, on which we all depend for life. Cleaning up and defending the future of streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, lakes, and oceans is challenging, vital work for us all.

Take an active role, and invite customers to learn and change with you, in removing pollutants and plastics from water sources, abandoning oil pipelines in favor of green energy, replacing forever-products with biodegradable ones, replacing many ecologically-disastrous man-made dams with biodiverse beaver dam habitat, encouraging local water boards to include Indigenous leadership in sustainable community planning, protecting remaining wetlands from development, and providing safe drinking water to all communities.

Be a vocal advocate for very good reasons

Image credit: Tim Sackton.

In some cultures and faiths, acts of private charity and kindness are meant to be kept secret. At a corporate level, though, social good can be exponentially expanded when brands are willing to take public stands on matters of conscience. The larger your business, the louder your voice inviting participation in works and causes that honor animals.

Once you’ve determined how you’ll be incorporating care for other creatures into your business plan, here are 10 ways to get the word out to the community you serve:

Publish optimized website content, based on keyword research and community interest, to explain your brand’s animal-centric activities.

Ask the organizations you support to interview someone at your company to explain why your staff/customers are volunteering/donating to this particularly worthy cause. These groups will also likely be looking for content opportunities. Volunteering to be the subject of an interview can expand their reach and hopefully deliver a good link or two to your website, as well.

Reach out to local reporters to let them know that this is an angle of your business operations that the public might enjoy reading about; we could all use some good news these days in the local paper!

If appropriate, get unstructured citations on local blogs or structured citations on specialty directories. For example, HappyCow.net offers a directory of restaurants where plant-based diners can find a meal.

If appropriate, create image and video content about company pets, wildlife stewardship, and local ecological efforts, demonstrating your business’s participation and inviting customers to enjoy taking part.

Promote content that you and others have published about your activities on your social media channels.

Partner with other local business owners with similar policies and programs to share work and send customers to one another.

Write some animal-centric Google posts on your Google Business Profile

Assess whether Google My Business Categories or attributes could be added to your listing to represent animal-related features of your business.

Add photos of staff pets or wildlife features at your location to your GMB listing if they add to the welcoming ambiance of your place of business.

Wag more

Watch the above video by a local business and you’ll see how almost any company can make memorable, emotional connections with the people they serve thanks to a widely-shared love of animals. Actions that celebrate, rather than exploit, our animal relations surely fall under the phenomenon of kindness as currency with multiple studies showing how people are more apt to act with generosity of spirit when they see others do so.

When you’re tasked with marketing, you’re always looking for that extra reason to be chosen by customers. 73% of people say they care about the company they buy from, not just the product. The furry paw poised on your knee right now, the purr emanating from behind your laptop, the songs of birds outside your window could be calling you to connect with customers in an authentic new way, over your joint, abiding care for animals. These days, who wouldn’t welcome a chance to wag more?

Looking for more authentic local search marketing tips to make your community a better place to live and work? Read The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide.

[camerasieunhovn]

8 Ways to Champion Animals in Your Local Business Marketing Strategy

Image credit: Yoshihide Nomura

If you’ve ever had the privilege of being present for a baby’s first joyful encounter with a household pet, you’ll have noticed the profound wonder and excitement of the little one’s reaction. Once upon a time, that was each of us beaming and bouncing up and down with the thrill of meeting our first dog or cat.

Don’t lose that joy — be like these Canadian women watching whales from their garden:

From our earliest days, most of us have simply loved animals. We fill children’s books with tales of them and choose them as life companions. In many cultures, animals are sources of sacred power, and in all parts of the world, wildlife is absolutely essential to balanced ecosystems.

67% of American households now include pets — that’s the majority of your consumer base signalling just how much animals matter to them. When local business owners and marketers communicate with most customers about animals, shared affinity is ready-built into the exchange, drawing on feelings of warmth, admiration, responsibility, concern, and happiness. These dearly-held sentiments can be sturdy building blocks of benefit for other-than-human creatures, communities, and your business. This is deeply good marketing, which can yield personal satisfaction, press, links, citations, loyalty, and positive social change.

Today, we’ll consider eight options for honoring the love both you and your customers have in common when it comes to animals, plus tips for weaving your efforts into your local business marketing strategy.

All animal-centric activities, great and small

Almost any local business will find one or more actionable ideas here to demonstrate care for animals.

1. Expand your welcome to customers’ pets

Where local health codes and business models permit, make provisions for pets at your place of business. Before the pandemic, dog-friendly dining patios, water stations, lodgings, and shopping center-based dog parks were on the rise and can return once safety does. Put a bowl of dog treats outside your storefront to make your business a memorable highlight of neighbors’ daily dog walks, keep a stash of them behind the counter if pets are permitted indoors, and take note of the dairy delivery drivers who toss snacks to dogs when bringing groceries to customers in the pacific northwest.

A kiosk of free doggy cleanup bags could be a draw to your door and a boon to the neighborhood. Bring customers inside when it’s safe again to do so with a feature wall of local pet photos. Hold contests that center pets or feature pet-centric prizes, or host a pet-based event. Meanwhile, if your business is located in a neighborhood far from large pet supply stores, consider whether a pet section makes sense in your inventory.

2. Make a place for staff pets

Image credit: Groupon

Every year, new studies are published indicating that when pets interact with people, humans benefit from lowered cortisol and blood pressure levels and a variety of improvements in states of whole body well-being. As a shopper, I can say that my household loves visiting businesses with resident pets. Prior to stay-at-home orders, some of our most memorable shopping excursions were to the nursery with the noble-looking Australian shepards, the craft store with the little terriers, and the farm stand with the dachshunds. To-do lists sounded like this:

“We need to buy mulch. Oh, and we’ll get to see Pushkin the little red dog!”

Companies are always seeking out methods of creating memorable experiences, and friendly cats and dogs on-site can be instant magic in this regard.

At Moz, even before we were working remotely, honored staff pets added calm and pleasure to company meetings, with an established policy for animal etiquette and safety practices Mozzers agreed to in order to bring their companions to the office. Even at companies that can’t have animals on the premises as a regular thing, bring-your-pet-to-work days can signal to staff that a brand is sensitive to work/life balance once it becomes safe again for people to return to offices. Evaluate how a company you’re marketing might safely incorporate animal companions into the workplace for the happiness of both staff and customers.

3. Expand your welcome to wildlife

Image credit: Theresa_Gunn

Many businesses have the space to hang a bird feeder and water dish or set up a bird bath. Nesting boxes for birds and bats are small and can be fitted into all sorts of nooks and eaves around your building in any spot where droppings won’t be a nuisance.

If your business is lucky enough to have the space, planter boxes can provide flowers, fruit, seeds, nectar, pollen, and nesting materials for birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.. Call a local nursery to ask which native plants will fit in your containers and support winged visitors. If you have more space and can plant a hedge, you’ll be making a home for many types of birds and insects, and may even offer protection to rabbits, raccoons, possums, and other small animals.

Well-planned Main Streets and shopping districts can provide more than just sidewalks for humans and streets for cars — they can be places where hummingbirds sip from flower to flower, bees gather pollen, butterflies migrate, and herbivores find forage. Take your seat at city planning meetings and become an advocate for green space in commercial areas, bird-friendly windows, accessible waterways, and other ecological development strategies.

4. Sponsor wildlife crossings, corridor, and rescue programs

Millions of domestic and native animals lose their lives on our roads every year, but wildlife corridors that create safe roaming paths through fragmented areas can reduce animal-related car accidents by as much as 80%. If your heart sinks every time you see a dead animal on the highway, talk to your city council about planning wildlife crossings and corridors in your community and then either help build them or have your brand sponsor their construction. Extra credit to you if you can get your customers involved, too.

Meanwhile, if you’ve ever had to call a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation number after encountering an injured animal on the road, having a bird stun itself by crashing into a window, or finding unfledged nestlings on the ground, you know what a lifeline these programs can be. Do some research on agencies and groups in your community that contribute this vital work and offer volunteer hours or financial support.

5. Sponsor guide dog and companion animal programs

Image credit: Zelda Richardson

Dogs that act as the guides, protectors, and friends of differently-abled people are heroes, and it takes a great deal of care, time, and money to train them for their work. Additionally, many communities have programs that bring pets to children’s hospitals, elder care homes, and other centers for the important benefits humans can experience just from interacting with a loving, friendly animal.

If you’re looking for a sponsorship opportunity that can make a world of difference in people’s everyday lives, research these types of programs and volunteer or sponsor them.

6. Sponsor no-kill animal shelters

When animal lovers seek pet adoption, many insist on visiting only no-kill shelters in order to make a statement consistent with their humane values and to avoid the trauma of having to choose among animals who may be killed if not brought home.

If your region has a no-kill shelter, it’s not only a good thing to contribute to, but can also be a source of fostering community goodwill when you allow these programs to place donation jars at registers.

7. Offer plant-based and cruelty-free options

There’s a reason even fast-food franchises are offering veggie burgers now, and I see the source of it in my own family where 65% of the young people are vegetarians or vegans. Meanwhile, nearly all of them actively seek out self-care products labeled as cruelty-free.

Even if your business isn’t staffed by herbivores or animal rights activists, you can include them in the welcome you’re building so that all community members have something to eat, drink, and purchase. Nielsen found in 2018 that 39% of Americans are upping the amount of plant-based dishes in their diets, and it’s my belief that these numbers will continue to rise. Now is the time to be sure you’re not overlooking this growing consumer base who will reward your care for their needs with patronage.

8. Protect water

Image credit: Mark Giuliucci

If a deep regard for animals is shared by your company and customers, there is likely no better cause to support than the protection of all forms of water, on which we all depend for life. Cleaning up and defending the future of streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, lakes, and oceans is challenging, vital work for us all.

Take an active role, and invite customers to learn and change with you, in removing pollutants and plastics from water sources, abandoning oil pipelines in favor of green energy, replacing forever-products with biodegradable ones, replacing many ecologically-disastrous man-made dams with biodiverse beaver dam habitat, encouraging local water boards to include Indigenous leadership in sustainable community planning, protecting remaining wetlands from development, and providing safe drinking water to all communities.

Be a vocal advocate for very good reasons

Image credit: Tim Sackton.

In some cultures and faiths, acts of private charity and kindness are meant to be kept secret. At a corporate level, though, social good can be exponentially expanded when brands are willing to take public stands on matters of conscience. The larger your business, the louder your voice inviting participation in works and causes that honor animals.

Once you’ve determined how you’ll be incorporating care for other creatures into your business plan, here are 10 ways to get the word out to the community you serve:

Publish optimized website content, based on keyword research and community interest, to explain your brand’s animal-centric activities.

Ask the organizations you support to interview someone at your company to explain why your staff/customers are volunteering/donating to this particularly worthy cause. These groups will also likely be looking for content opportunities. Volunteering to be the subject of an interview can expand their reach and hopefully deliver a good link or two to your website, as well.

Reach out to local reporters to let them know that this is an angle of your business operations that the public might enjoy reading about; we could all use some good news these days in the local paper!

If appropriate, get unstructured citations on local blogs or structured citations on specialty directories. For example, HappyCow.net offers a directory of restaurants where plant-based diners can find a meal.

If appropriate, create image and video content about company pets, wildlife stewardship, and local ecological efforts, demonstrating your business’s participation and inviting customers to enjoy taking part.

Promote content that you and others have published about your activities on your social media channels.

Partner with other local business owners with similar policies and programs to share work and send customers to one another.

Write some animal-centric Google posts on your Google Business Profile

Assess whether Google My Business Categories or attributes could be added to your listing to represent animal-related features of your business.

Add photos of staff pets or wildlife features at your location to your GMB listing if they add to the welcoming ambiance of your place of business.

Wag more

Watch the above video by a local business and you’ll see how almost any company can make memorable, emotional connections with the people they serve thanks to a widely-shared love of animals. Actions that celebrate, rather than exploit, our animal relations surely fall under the phenomenon of kindness as currency with multiple studies showing how people are more apt to act with generosity of spirit when they see others do so.

When you’re tasked with marketing, you’re always looking for that extra reason to be chosen by customers. 73% of people say they care about the company they buy from, not just the product. The furry paw poised on your knee right now, the purr emanating from behind your laptop, the songs of birds outside your window could be calling you to connect with customers in an authentic new way, over your joint, abiding care for animals. These days, who wouldn’t welcome a chance to wag more?

Looking for more authentic local search marketing tips to make your community a better place to live and work? Read The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide.

[ductrungnguyen87]

8 Ways to Champion Animals in Your Local Business Marketing Strategy

Image credit: Yoshihide Nomura

If you’ve ever had the privilege of being present for a baby’s first joyful encounter with a household pet, you’ll have noticed the profound wonder and excitement of the little one’s reaction. Once upon a time, that was each of us beaming and bouncing up and down with the thrill of meeting our first dog or cat.

Don’t lose that joy — be like these Canadian women watching whales from their garden:

From our earliest days, most of us have simply loved animals. We fill children’s books with tales of them and choose them as life companions. In many cultures, animals are sources of sacred power, and in all parts of the world, wildlife is absolutely essential to balanced ecosystems.

67% of American households now include pets — that’s the majority of your consumer base signalling just how much animals matter to them. When local business owners and marketers communicate with most customers about animals, shared affinity is ready-built into the exchange, drawing on feelings of warmth, admiration, responsibility, concern, and happiness. These dearly-held sentiments can be sturdy building blocks of benefit for other-than-human creatures, communities, and your business. This is deeply good marketing, which can yield personal satisfaction, press, links, citations, loyalty, and positive social change.

Today, we’ll consider eight options for honoring the love both you and your customers have in common when it comes to animals, plus tips for weaving your efforts into your local business marketing strategy.

All animal-centric activities, great and small

Almost any local business will find one or more actionable ideas here to demonstrate care for animals.

1. Expand your welcome to customers’ pets

Where local health codes and business models permit, make provisions for pets at your place of business. Before the pandemic, dog-friendly dining patios, water stations, lodgings, and shopping center-based dog parks were on the rise and can return once safety does. Put a bowl of dog treats outside your storefront to make your business a memorable highlight of neighbors’ daily dog walks, keep a stash of them behind the counter if pets are permitted indoors, and take note of the dairy delivery drivers who toss snacks to dogs when bringing groceries to customers in the pacific northwest.

A kiosk of free doggy cleanup bags could be a draw to your door and a boon to the neighborhood. Bring customers inside when it’s safe again to do so with a feature wall of local pet photos. Hold contests that center pets or feature pet-centric prizes, or host a pet-based event. Meanwhile, if your business is located in a neighborhood far from large pet supply stores, consider whether a pet section makes sense in your inventory.

2. Make a place for staff pets

Image credit: Groupon

Every year, new studies are published indicating that when pets interact with people, humans benefit from lowered cortisol and blood pressure levels and a variety of improvements in states of whole body well-being. As a shopper, I can say that my household loves visiting businesses with resident pets. Prior to stay-at-home orders, some of our most memorable shopping excursions were to the nursery with the noble-looking Australian shepards, the craft store with the little terriers, and the farm stand with the dachshunds. To-do lists sounded like this:

“We need to buy mulch. Oh, and we’ll get to see Pushkin the little red dog!”

Companies are always seeking out methods of creating memorable experiences, and friendly cats and dogs on-site can be instant magic in this regard.

At Moz, even before we were working remotely, honored staff pets added calm and pleasure to company meetings, with an established policy for animal etiquette and safety practices Mozzers agreed to in order to bring their companions to the office. Even at companies that can’t have animals on the premises as a regular thing, bring-your-pet-to-work days can signal to staff that a brand is sensitive to work/life balance once it becomes safe again for people to return to offices. Evaluate how a company you’re marketing might safely incorporate animal companions into the workplace for the happiness of both staff and customers.

3. Expand your welcome to wildlife

Image credit: Theresa_Gunn

Many businesses have the space to hang a bird feeder and water dish or set up a bird bath. Nesting boxes for birds and bats are small and can be fitted into all sorts of nooks and eaves around your building in any spot where droppings won’t be a nuisance.

If your business is lucky enough to have the space, planter boxes can provide flowers, fruit, seeds, nectar, pollen, and nesting materials for birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.. Call a local nursery to ask which native plants will fit in your containers and support winged visitors. If you have more space and can plant a hedge, you’ll be making a home for many types of birds and insects, and may even offer protection to rabbits, raccoons, possums, and other small animals.

Well-planned Main Streets and shopping districts can provide more than just sidewalks for humans and streets for cars — they can be places where hummingbirds sip from flower to flower, bees gather pollen, butterflies migrate, and herbivores find forage. Take your seat at city planning meetings and become an advocate for green space in commercial areas, bird-friendly windows, accessible waterways, and other ecological development strategies.

4. Sponsor wildlife crossings, corridor, and rescue programs

Millions of domestic and native animals lose their lives on our roads every year, but wildlife corridors that create safe roaming paths through fragmented areas can reduce animal-related car accidents by as much as 80%. If your heart sinks every time you see a dead animal on the highway, talk to your city council about planning wildlife crossings and corridors in your community and then either help build them or have your brand sponsor their construction. Extra credit to you if you can get your customers involved, too.

Meanwhile, if you’ve ever had to call a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation number after encountering an injured animal on the road, having a bird stun itself by crashing into a window, or finding unfledged nestlings on the ground, you know what a lifeline these programs can be. Do some research on agencies and groups in your community that contribute this vital work and offer volunteer hours or financial support.

5. Sponsor guide dog and companion animal programs

Image credit: Zelda Richardson

Dogs that act as the guides, protectors, and friends of differently-abled people are heroes, and it takes a great deal of care, time, and money to train them for their work. Additionally, many communities have programs that bring pets to children’s hospitals, elder care homes, and other centers for the important benefits humans can experience just from interacting with a loving, friendly animal.

If you’re looking for a sponsorship opportunity that can make a world of difference in people’s everyday lives, research these types of programs and volunteer or sponsor them.

6. Sponsor no-kill animal shelters

When animal lovers seek pet adoption, many insist on visiting only no-kill shelters in order to make a statement consistent with their humane values and to avoid the trauma of having to choose among animals who may be killed if not brought home.

If your region has a no-kill shelter, it’s not only a good thing to contribute to, but can also be a source of fostering community goodwill when you allow these programs to place donation jars at registers.

7. Offer plant-based and cruelty-free options

There’s a reason even fast-food franchises are offering veggie burgers now, and I see the source of it in my own family where 65% of the young people are vegetarians or vegans. Meanwhile, nearly all of them actively seek out self-care products labeled as cruelty-free.

Even if your business isn’t staffed by herbivores or animal rights activists, you can include them in the welcome you’re building so that all community members have something to eat, drink, and purchase. Nielsen found in 2018 that 39% of Americans are upping the amount of plant-based dishes in their diets, and it’s my belief that these numbers will continue to rise. Now is the time to be sure you’re not overlooking this growing consumer base who will reward your care for their needs with patronage.

8. Protect water

Image credit: Mark Giuliucci

If a deep regard for animals is shared by your company and customers, there is likely no better cause to support than the protection of all forms of water, on which we all depend for life. Cleaning up and defending the future of streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, lakes, and oceans is challenging, vital work for us all.

Take an active role, and invite customers to learn and change with you, in removing pollutants and plastics from water sources, abandoning oil pipelines in favor of green energy, replacing forever-products with biodegradable ones, replacing many ecologically-disastrous man-made dams with biodiverse beaver dam habitat, encouraging local water boards to include Indigenous leadership in sustainable community planning, protecting remaining wetlands from development, and providing safe drinking water to all communities.

Be a vocal advocate for very good reasons

Image credit: Tim Sackton.

In some cultures and faiths, acts of private charity and kindness are meant to be kept secret. At a corporate level, though, social good can be exponentially expanded when brands are willing to take public stands on matters of conscience. The larger your business, the louder your voice inviting participation in works and causes that honor animals.

Once you’ve determined how you’ll be incorporating care for other creatures into your business plan, here are 10 ways to get the word out to the community you serve:

Publish optimized website content, based on keyword research and community interest, to explain your brand’s animal-centric activities.

Ask the organizations you support to interview someone at your company to explain why your staff/customers are volunteering/donating to this particularly worthy cause. These groups will also likely be looking for content opportunities. Volunteering to be the subject of an interview can expand their reach and hopefully deliver a good link or two to your website, as well.

Reach out to local reporters to let them know that this is an angle of your business operations that the public might enjoy reading about; we could all use some good news these days in the local paper!

If appropriate, get unstructured citations on local blogs or structured citations on specialty directories. For example, HappyCow.net offers a directory of restaurants where plant-based diners can find a meal.

If appropriate, create image and video content about company pets, wildlife stewardship, and local ecological efforts, demonstrating your business’s participation and inviting customers to enjoy taking part.

Promote content that you and others have published about your activities on your social media channels.

Partner with other local business owners with similar policies and programs to share work and send customers to one another.

Write some animal-centric Google posts on your Google Business Profile

Assess whether Google My Business Categories or attributes could be added to your listing to represent animal-related features of your business.

Add photos of staff pets or wildlife features at your location to your GMB listing if they add to the welcoming ambiance of your place of business.

Wag more

Watch the above video by a local business and you’ll see how almost any company can make memorable, emotional connections with the people they serve thanks to a widely-shared love of animals. Actions that celebrate, rather than exploit, our animal relations surely fall under the phenomenon of kindness as currency with multiple studies showing how people are more apt to act with generosity of spirit when they see others do so.

When you’re tasked with marketing, you’re always looking for that extra reason to be chosen by customers. 73% of people say they care about the company they buy from, not just the product. The furry paw poised on your knee right now, the purr emanating from behind your laptop, the songs of birds outside your window could be calling you to connect with customers in an authentic new way, over your joint, abiding care for animals. These days, who wouldn’t welcome a chance to wag more?

Looking for more authentic local search marketing tips to make your community a better place to live and work? Read The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide.

[gamebazu]

8 Ways to Champion Animals in Your Local Business Marketing Strategy

Image credit: Yoshihide Nomura

If you’ve ever had the privilege of being present for a baby’s first joyful encounter with a household pet, you’ll have noticed the profound wonder and excitement of the little one’s reaction. Once upon a time, that was each of us beaming and bouncing up and down with the thrill of meeting our first dog or cat.

Don’t lose that joy — be like these Canadian women watching whales from their garden:

From our earliest days, most of us have simply loved animals. We fill children’s books with tales of them and choose them as life companions. In many cultures, animals are sources of sacred power, and in all parts of the world, wildlife is absolutely essential to balanced ecosystems.

67% of American households now include pets — that’s the majority of your consumer base signalling just how much animals matter to them. When local business owners and marketers communicate with most customers about animals, shared affinity is ready-built into the exchange, drawing on feelings of warmth, admiration, responsibility, concern, and happiness. These dearly-held sentiments can be sturdy building blocks of benefit for other-than-human creatures, communities, and your business. This is deeply good marketing, which can yield personal satisfaction, press, links, citations, loyalty, and positive social change.

Today, we’ll consider eight options for honoring the love both you and your customers have in common when it comes to animals, plus tips for weaving your efforts into your local business marketing strategy.

All animal-centric activities, great and small

Almost any local business will find one or more actionable ideas here to demonstrate care for animals.

1. Expand your welcome to customers’ pets

Where local health codes and business models permit, make provisions for pets at your place of business. Before the pandemic, dog-friendly dining patios, water stations, lodgings, and shopping center-based dog parks were on the rise and can return once safety does. Put a bowl of dog treats outside your storefront to make your business a memorable highlight of neighbors’ daily dog walks, keep a stash of them behind the counter if pets are permitted indoors, and take note of the dairy delivery drivers who toss snacks to dogs when bringing groceries to customers in the pacific northwest.

A kiosk of free doggy cleanup bags could be a draw to your door and a boon to the neighborhood. Bring customers inside when it’s safe again to do so with a feature wall of local pet photos. Hold contests that center pets or feature pet-centric prizes, or host a pet-based event. Meanwhile, if your business is located in a neighborhood far from large pet supply stores, consider whether a pet section makes sense in your inventory.

2. Make a place for staff pets

Image credit: Groupon

Every year, new studies are published indicating that when pets interact with people, humans benefit from lowered cortisol and blood pressure levels and a variety of improvements in states of whole body well-being. As a shopper, I can say that my household loves visiting businesses with resident pets. Prior to stay-at-home orders, some of our most memorable shopping excursions were to the nursery with the noble-looking Australian shepards, the craft store with the little terriers, and the farm stand with the dachshunds. To-do lists sounded like this:

“We need to buy mulch. Oh, and we’ll get to see Pushkin the little red dog!”

Companies are always seeking out methods of creating memorable experiences, and friendly cats and dogs on-site can be instant magic in this regard.

At Moz, even before we were working remotely, honored staff pets added calm and pleasure to company meetings, with an established policy for animal etiquette and safety practices Mozzers agreed to in order to bring their companions to the office. Even at companies that can’t have animals on the premises as a regular thing, bring-your-pet-to-work days can signal to staff that a brand is sensitive to work/life balance once it becomes safe again for people to return to offices. Evaluate how a company you’re marketing might safely incorporate animal companions into the workplace for the happiness of both staff and customers.

3. Expand your welcome to wildlife

Image credit: Theresa_Gunn

Many businesses have the space to hang a bird feeder and water dish or set up a bird bath. Nesting boxes for birds and bats are small and can be fitted into all sorts of nooks and eaves around your building in any spot where droppings won’t be a nuisance.

If your business is lucky enough to have the space, planter boxes can provide flowers, fruit, seeds, nectar, pollen, and nesting materials for birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.. Call a local nursery to ask which native plants will fit in your containers and support winged visitors. If you have more space and can plant a hedge, you’ll be making a home for many types of birds and insects, and may even offer protection to rabbits, raccoons, possums, and other small animals.

Well-planned Main Streets and shopping districts can provide more than just sidewalks for humans and streets for cars — they can be places where hummingbirds sip from flower to flower, bees gather pollen, butterflies migrate, and herbivores find forage. Take your seat at city planning meetings and become an advocate for green space in commercial areas, bird-friendly windows, accessible waterways, and other ecological development strategies.

4. Sponsor wildlife crossings, corridor, and rescue programs

Millions of domestic and native animals lose their lives on our roads every year, but wildlife corridors that create safe roaming paths through fragmented areas can reduce animal-related car accidents by as much as 80%. If your heart sinks every time you see a dead animal on the highway, talk to your city council about planning wildlife crossings and corridors in your community and then either help build them or have your brand sponsor their construction. Extra credit to you if you can get your customers involved, too.

Meanwhile, if you’ve ever had to call a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation number after encountering an injured animal on the road, having a bird stun itself by crashing into a window, or finding unfledged nestlings on the ground, you know what a lifeline these programs can be. Do some research on agencies and groups in your community that contribute this vital work and offer volunteer hours or financial support.

5. Sponsor guide dog and companion animal programs

Image credit: Zelda Richardson

Dogs that act as the guides, protectors, and friends of differently-abled people are heroes, and it takes a great deal of care, time, and money to train them for their work. Additionally, many communities have programs that bring pets to children’s hospitals, elder care homes, and other centers for the important benefits humans can experience just from interacting with a loving, friendly animal.

If you’re looking for a sponsorship opportunity that can make a world of difference in people’s everyday lives, research these types of programs and volunteer or sponsor them.

6. Sponsor no-kill animal shelters

When animal lovers seek pet adoption, many insist on visiting only no-kill shelters in order to make a statement consistent with their humane values and to avoid the trauma of having to choose among animals who may be killed if not brought home.

If your region has a no-kill shelter, it’s not only a good thing to contribute to, but can also be a source of fostering community goodwill when you allow these programs to place donation jars at registers.

7. Offer plant-based and cruelty-free options

There’s a reason even fast-food franchises are offering veggie burgers now, and I see the source of it in my own family where 65% of the young people are vegetarians or vegans. Meanwhile, nearly all of them actively seek out self-care products labeled as cruelty-free.

Even if your business isn’t staffed by herbivores or animal rights activists, you can include them in the welcome you’re building so that all community members have something to eat, drink, and purchase. Nielsen found in 2018 that 39% of Americans are upping the amount of plant-based dishes in their diets, and it’s my belief that these numbers will continue to rise. Now is the time to be sure you’re not overlooking this growing consumer base who will reward your care for their needs with patronage.

8. Protect water

Image credit: Mark Giuliucci

If a deep regard for animals is shared by your company and customers, there is likely no better cause to support than the protection of all forms of water, on which we all depend for life. Cleaning up and defending the future of streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, lakes, and oceans is challenging, vital work for us all.

Take an active role, and invite customers to learn and change with you, in removing pollutants and plastics from water sources, abandoning oil pipelines in favor of green energy, replacing forever-products with biodegradable ones, replacing many ecologically-disastrous man-made dams with biodiverse beaver dam habitat, encouraging local water boards to include Indigenous leadership in sustainable community planning, protecting remaining wetlands from development, and providing safe drinking water to all communities.

Be a vocal advocate for very good reasons

Image credit: Tim Sackton.

In some cultures and faiths, acts of private charity and kindness are meant to be kept secret. At a corporate level, though, social good can be exponentially expanded when brands are willing to take public stands on matters of conscience. The larger your business, the louder your voice inviting participation in works and causes that honor animals.

Once you’ve determined how you’ll be incorporating care for other creatures into your business plan, here are 10 ways to get the word out to the community you serve:

Publish optimized website content, based on keyword research and community interest, to explain your brand’s animal-centric activities.

Ask the organizations you support to interview someone at your company to explain why your staff/customers are volunteering/donating to this particularly worthy cause. These groups will also likely be looking for content opportunities. Volunteering to be the subject of an interview can expand their reach and hopefully deliver a good link or two to your website, as well.

Reach out to local reporters to let them know that this is an angle of your business operations that the public might enjoy reading about; we could all use some good news these days in the local paper!

If appropriate, get unstructured citations on local blogs or structured citations on specialty directories. For example, HappyCow.net offers a directory of restaurants where plant-based diners can find a meal.

If appropriate, create image and video content about company pets, wildlife stewardship, and local ecological efforts, demonstrating your business’s participation and inviting customers to enjoy taking part.

Promote content that you and others have published about your activities on your social media channels.

Partner with other local business owners with similar policies and programs to share work and send customers to one another.

Write some animal-centric Google posts on your Google Business Profile

Assess whether Google My Business Categories or attributes could be added to your listing to represent animal-related features of your business.

Add photos of staff pets or wildlife features at your location to your GMB listing if they add to the welcoming ambiance of your place of business.

Wag more

Watch the above video by a local business and you’ll see how almost any company can make memorable, emotional connections with the people they serve thanks to a widely-shared love of animals. Actions that celebrate, rather than exploit, our animal relations surely fall under the phenomenon of kindness as currency with multiple studies showing how people are more apt to act with generosity of spirit when they see others do so.

When you’re tasked with marketing, you’re always looking for that extra reason to be chosen by customers. 73% of people say they care about the company they buy from, not just the product. The furry paw poised on your knee right now, the purr emanating from behind your laptop, the songs of birds outside your window could be calling you to connect with customers in an authentic new way, over your joint, abiding care for animals. These days, who wouldn’t welcome a chance to wag more?

Looking for more authentic local search marketing tips to make your community a better place to live and work? Read The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide.

https://ift.tt/3yOo3ri

[y2kbeautyandother2000sstuff]

Bath and Body Works Joyful Garden Flower Walk Silkening Shower Gel

late 1990s-early 2000s

Found on ebay, user boosbargainboutique

[kjt-lawyers]

8 Ways to Champion Animals in Your Local Business Marketing Strategy

Image credit: Yoshihide Nomura

If you’ve ever had the privilege of being present for a baby’s first joyful encounter with a household pet, you’ll have noticed the profound wonder and excitement of the little one’s reaction. Once upon a time, that was each of us beaming and bouncing up and down with the thrill of meeting our first dog or cat.

Don’t lose that joy — be like these Canadian women watching whales from their garden:

From our earliest days, most of us have simply loved animals. We fill children’s books with tales of them and choose them as life companions. In many cultures, animals are sources of sacred power, and in all parts of the world, wildlife is absolutely essential to balanced ecosystems.

67% of American households now include pets — that’s the majority of your consumer base signalling just how much animals matter to them. When local business owners and marketers communicate with most customers about animals, shared affinity is ready-built into the exchange, drawing on feelings of warmth, admiration, responsibility, concern, and happiness. These dearly-held sentiments can be sturdy building blocks of benefit for other-than-human creatures, communities, and your business. This is deeply good marketing, which can yield personal satisfaction, press, links, citations, loyalty, and positive social change.

Today, we’ll consider eight options for honoring the love both you and your customers have in common when it comes to animals, plus tips for weaving your efforts into your local business marketing strategy.

All animal-centric activities, great and small

Almost any local business will find one or more actionable ideas here to demonstrate care for animals.

1. Expand your welcome to customers’ pets

Where local health codes and business models permit, make provisions for pets at your place of business. Before the pandemic, dog-friendly dining patios, water stations, lodgings, and shopping center-based dog parks were on the rise and can return once safety does. Put a bowl of dog treats outside your storefront to make your business a memorable highlight of neighbors’ daily dog walks, keep a stash of them behind the counter if pets are permitted indoors, and take note of the dairy delivery drivers who toss snacks to dogs when bringing groceries to customers in the pacific northwest.

A kiosk of free doggy cleanup bags could be a draw to your door and a boon to the neighborhood. Bring customers inside when it’s safe again to do so with a feature wall of local pet photos. Hold contests that center pets or feature pet-centric prizes, or host a pet-based event. Meanwhile, if your business is located in a neighborhood far from large pet supply stores, consider whether a pet section makes sense in your inventory.

2. Make a place for staff pets

Image credit: Groupon

Every year, new studies are published indicating that when pets interact with people, humans benefit from lowered cortisol and blood pressure levels and a variety of improvements in states of whole body well-being. As a shopper, I can say that my household loves visiting businesses with resident pets. Prior to stay-at-home orders, some of our most memorable shopping excursions were to the nursery with the noble-looking Australian shepards, the craft store with the little terriers, and the farm stand with the dachshunds. To-do lists sounded like this:

“We need to buy mulch. Oh, and we’ll get to see Pushkin the little red dog!”

Companies are always seeking out methods of creating memorable experiences, and friendly cats and dogs on-site can be instant magic in this regard.

At Moz, even before we were working remotely, honored staff pets added calm and pleasure to company meetings, with an established policy for animal etiquette and safety practices Mozzers agreed to in order to bring their companions to the office. Even at companies that can’t have animals on the premises as a regular thing, bring-your-pet-to-work days can signal to staff that a brand is sensitive to work/life balance once it becomes safe again for people to return to offices. Evaluate how a company you’re marketing might safely incorporate animal companions into the workplace for the happiness of both staff and customers.

3. Expand your welcome to wildlife

Image credit: Theresa_Gunn

Many businesses have the space to hang a bird feeder and water dish or set up a bird bath. Nesting boxes for birds and bats are small and can be fitted into all sorts of nooks and eaves around your building in any spot where droppings won’t be a nuisance.

If your business is lucky enough to have the space, planter boxes can provide flowers, fruit, seeds, nectar, pollen, and nesting materials for birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.. Call a local nursery to ask which native plants will fit in your containers and support winged visitors. If you have more space and can plant a hedge, you’ll be making a home for many types of birds and insects, and may even offer protection to rabbits, raccoons, possums, and other small animals.

Well-planned Main Streets and shopping districts can provide more than just sidewalks for humans and streets for cars — they can be places where hummingbirds sip from flower to flower, bees gather pollen, butterflies migrate, and herbivores find forage. Take your seat at city planning meetings and become an advocate for green space in commercial areas, bird-friendly windows, accessible waterways, and other ecological development strategies.

4. Sponsor wildlife crossings, corridor, and rescue programs

Millions of domestic and native animals lose their lives on our roads every year, but wildlife corridors that create safe roaming paths through fragmented areas can reduce animal-related car accidents by as much as 80%. If your heart sinks every time you see a dead animal on the highway, talk to your city council about planning wildlife crossings and corridors in your community and then either help build them or have your brand sponsor their construction. Extra credit to you if you can get your customers involved, too.

Meanwhile, if you’ve ever had to call a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation number after encountering an injured animal on the road, having a bird stun itself by crashing into a window, or finding unfledged nestlings on the ground, you know what a lifeline these programs can be. Do some research on agencies and groups in your community that contribute this vital work and offer volunteer hours or financial support.

5. Sponsor guide dog and companion animal programs

Image credit: Zelda Richardson

Dogs that act as the guides, protectors, and friends of differently-abled people are heroes, and it takes a great deal of care, time, and money to train them for their work. Additionally, many communities have programs that bring pets to children’s hospitals, elder care homes, and other centers for the important benefits humans can experience just from interacting with a loving, friendly animal.

If you’re looking for a sponsorship opportunity that can make a world of difference in people’s everyday lives, research these types of programs and volunteer or sponsor them.

6. Sponsor no-kill animal shelters

When animal lovers seek pet adoption, many insist on visiting only no-kill shelters in order to make a statement consistent with their humane values and to avoid the trauma of having to choose among animals who may be killed if not brought home.

If your region has a no-kill shelter, it’s not only a good thing to contribute to, but can also be a source of fostering community goodwill when you allow these programs to place donation jars at registers.

7. Offer plant-based and cruelty-free options

There’s a reason even fast-food franchises are offering veggie burgers now, and I see the source of it in my own family where 65% of the young people are vegetarians or vegans. Meanwhile, nearly all of them actively seek out self-care products labeled as cruelty-free.

Even if your business isn’t staffed by herbivores or animal rights activists, you can include them in the welcome you’re building so that all community members have something to eat, drink, and purchase. Nielsen found in 2018 that 39% of Americans are upping the amount of plant-based dishes in their diets, and it’s my belief that these numbers will continue to rise. Now is the time to be sure you’re not overlooking this growing consumer base who will reward your care for their needs with patronage.

8. Protect water

Image credit: Mark Giuliucci

If a deep regard for animals is shared by your company and customers, there is likely no better cause to support than the protection of all forms of water, on which we all depend for life. Cleaning up and defending the future of streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, lakes, and oceans is challenging, vital work for us all.

Take an active role, and invite customers to learn and change with you, in removing pollutants and plastics from water sources, abandoning oil pipelines in favor of green energy, replacing forever-products with biodegradable ones, replacing many ecologically-disastrous man-made dams with biodiverse beaver dam habitat, encouraging local water boards to include Indigenous leadership in sustainable community planning, protecting remaining wetlands from development, and providing safe drinking water to all communities.

Be a vocal advocate for very good reasons

Image credit: Tim Sackton.

In some cultures and faiths, acts of private charity and kindness are meant to be kept secret. At a corporate level, though, social good can be exponentially expanded when brands are willing to take public stands on matters of conscience. The larger your business, the louder your voice inviting participation in works and causes that honor animals.

Once you’ve determined how you’ll be incorporating care for other creatures into your business plan, here are 10 ways to get the word out to the community you serve:

Publish optimized website content, based on keyword research and community interest, to explain your brand’s animal-centric activities.

Ask the organizations you support to interview someone at your company to explain why your staff/customers are volunteering/donating to this particularly worthy cause. These groups will also likely be looking for content opportunities. Volunteering to be the subject of an interview can expand their reach and hopefully deliver a good link or two to your website, as well.

Reach out to local reporters to let them know that this is an angle of your business operations that the public might enjoy reading about; we could all use some good news these days in the local paper!

If appropriate, get unstructured citations on local blogs or structured citations on specialty directories. For example, HappyCow.net offers a directory of restaurants where plant-based diners can find a meal.

If appropriate, create image and video content about company pets, wildlife stewardship, and local ecological efforts, demonstrating your business’s participation and inviting customers to enjoy taking part.

Promote content that you and others have published about your activities on your social media channels.

Partner with other local business owners with similar policies and programs to share work and send customers to one another.

Write some animal-centric Google posts on your Google Business Profile

Assess whether Google My Business Categories or attributes could be added to your listing to represent animal-related features of your business.

Add photos of staff pets or wildlife features at your location to your GMB listing if they add to the welcoming ambiance of your place of business.

Wag more

Watch the above video by a local business and you’ll see how almost any company can make memorable, emotional connections with the people they serve thanks to a widely-shared love of animals. Actions that celebrate, rather than exploit, our animal relations surely fall under the phenomenon of kindness as currency with multiple studies showing how people are more apt to act with generosity of spirit when they see others do so.

When you’re tasked with marketing, you’re always looking for that extra reason to be chosen by customers. 73% of people say they care about the company they buy from, not just the product. The furry paw poised on your knee right now, the purr emanating from behind your laptop, the songs of birds outside your window could be calling you to connect with customers in an authentic new way, over your joint, abiding care for animals. These days, who wouldn’t welcome a chance to wag more?

Looking for more authentic local search marketing tips to make your community a better place to live and work? Read The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide.

[noithatotoaz]

8 Ways to Champion Animals in Your Local Business Marketing Strategy

Image credit: Yoshihide Nomura

If you’ve ever had the privilege of being present for a baby’s first joyful encounter with a household pet, you’ll have noticed the profound wonder and excitement of the little one’s reaction. Once upon a time, that was each of us beaming and bouncing up and down with the thrill of meeting our first dog or cat.

Don’t lose that joy — be like these Canadian women watching whales from their garden:

From our earliest days, most of us have simply loved animals. We fill children’s books with tales of them and choose them as life companions. In many cultures, animals are sources of sacred power, and in all parts of the world, wildlife is absolutely essential to balanced ecosystems.

67% of American households now include pets — that’s the majority of your consumer base signalling just how much animals matter to them. When local business owners and marketers communicate with most customers about animals, shared affinity is ready-built into the exchange, drawing on feelings of warmth, admiration, responsibility, concern, and happiness. These dearly-held sentiments can be sturdy building blocks of benefit for other-than-human creatures, communities, and your business. This is deeply good marketing, which can yield personal satisfaction, press, links, citations, loyalty, and positive social change.

Today, we’ll consider eight options for honoring the love both you and your customers have in common when it comes to animals, plus tips for weaving your efforts into your local business marketing strategy.

All animal-centric activities, great and small

Almost any local business will find one or more actionable ideas here to demonstrate care for animals.

1. Expand your welcome to customers’ pets

Where local health codes and business models permit, make provisions for pets at your place of business. Before the pandemic, dog-friendly dining patios, water stations, lodgings, and shopping center-based dog parks were on the rise and can return once safety does. Put a bowl of dog treats outside your storefront to make your business a memorable highlight of neighbors’ daily dog walks, keep a stash of them behind the counter if pets are permitted indoors, and take note of the dairy delivery drivers who toss snacks to dogs when bringing groceries to customers in the pacific northwest.

A kiosk of free doggy cleanup bags could be a draw to your door and a boon to the neighborhood. Bring customers inside when it’s safe again to do so with a feature wall of local pet photos. Hold contests that center pets or feature pet-centric prizes, or host a pet-based event. Meanwhile, if your business is located in a neighborhood far from large pet supply stores, consider whether a pet section makes sense in your inventory.

2. Make a place for staff pets

Image credit: Groupon

Every year, new studies are published indicating that when pets interact with people, humans benefit from lowered cortisol and blood pressure levels and a variety of improvements in states of whole body well-being. As a shopper, I can say that my household loves visiting businesses with resident pets. Prior to stay-at-home orders, some of our most memorable shopping excursions were to the nursery with the noble-looking Australian shepards, the craft store with the little terriers, and the farm stand with the dachshunds. To-do lists sounded like this:

“We need to buy mulch. Oh, and we’ll get to see Pushkin the little red dog!”

Companies are always seeking out methods of creating memorable experiences, and friendly cats and dogs on-site can be instant magic in this regard.

At Moz, even before we were working remotely, honored staff pets added calm and pleasure to company meetings, with an established policy for animal etiquette and safety practices Mozzers agreed to in order to bring their companions to the office. Even at companies that can’t have animals on the premises as a regular thing, bring-your-pet-to-work days can signal to staff that a brand is sensitive to work/life balance once it becomes safe again for people to return to offices. Evaluate how a company you’re marketing might safely incorporate animal companions into the workplace for the happiness of both staff and customers.

3. Expand your welcome to wildlife

Image credit: Theresa_Gunn

Many businesses have the space to hang a bird feeder and water dish or set up a bird bath. Nesting boxes for birds and bats are small and can be fitted into all sorts of nooks and eaves around your building in any spot where droppings won’t be a nuisance.

If your business is lucky enough to have the space, planter boxes can provide flowers, fruit, seeds, nectar, pollen, and nesting materials for birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.. Call a local nursery to ask which native plants will fit in your containers and support winged visitors. If you have more space and can plant a hedge, you’ll be making a home for many types of birds and insects, and may even offer protection to rabbits, raccoons, possums, and other small animals.

Well-planned Main Streets and shopping districts can provide more than just sidewalks for humans and streets for cars — they can be places where hummingbirds sip from flower to flower, bees gather pollen, butterflies migrate, and herbivores find forage. Take your seat at city planning meetings and become an advocate for green space in commercial areas, bird-friendly windows, accessible waterways, and other ecological development strategies.

4. Sponsor wildlife crossings, corridor, and rescue programs

Millions of domestic and native animals lose their lives on our roads every year, but wildlife corridors that create safe roaming paths through fragmented areas can reduce animal-related car accidents by as much as 80%. If your heart sinks every time you see a dead animal on the highway, talk to your city council about planning wildlife crossings and corridors in your community and then either help build them or have your brand sponsor their construction. Extra credit to you if you can get your customers involved, too.

Meanwhile, if you’ve ever had to call a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation number after encountering an injured animal on the road, having a bird stun itself by crashing into a window, or finding unfledged nestlings on the ground, you know what a lifeline these programs can be. Do some research on agencies and groups in your community that contribute this vital work and offer volunteer hours or financial support.

5. Sponsor guide dog and companion animal programs

Image credit: Zelda Richardson

Dogs that act as the guides, protectors, and friends of differently-abled people are heroes, and it takes a great deal of care, time, and money to train them for their work. Additionally, many communities have programs that bring pets to children’s hospitals, elder care homes, and other centers for the important benefits humans can experience just from interacting with a loving, friendly animal.

If you’re looking for a sponsorship opportunity that can make a world of difference in people’s everyday lives, research these types of programs and volunteer or sponsor them.

6. Sponsor no-kill animal shelters

When animal lovers seek pet adoption, many insist on visiting only no-kill shelters in order to make a statement consistent with their humane values and to avoid the trauma of having to choose among animals who may be killed if not brought home.

If your region has a no-kill shelter, it’s not only a good thing to contribute to, but can also be a source of fostering community goodwill when you allow these programs to place donation jars at registers.

7. Offer plant-based and cruelty-free options

There’s a reason even fast-food franchises are offering veggie burgers now, and I see the source of it in my own family where 65% of the young people are vegetarians or vegans. Meanwhile, nearly all of them actively seek out self-care products labeled as cruelty-free.

Even if your business isn’t staffed by herbivores or animal rights activists, you can include them in the welcome you’re building so that all community members have something to eat, drink, and purchase. Nielsen found in 2018 that 39% of Americans are upping the amount of plant-based dishes in their diets, and it’s my belief that these numbers will continue to rise. Now is the time to be sure you’re not overlooking this growing consumer base who will reward your care for their needs with patronage.

8. Protect water

Image credit: Mark Giuliucci

If a deep regard for animals is shared by your company and customers, there is likely no better cause to support than the protection of all forms of water, on which we all depend for life. Cleaning up and defending the future of streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, lakes, and oceans is challenging, vital work for us all.

Take an active role, and invite customers to learn and change with you, in removing pollutants and plastics from water sources, abandoning oil pipelines in favor of green energy, replacing forever-products with biodegradable ones, replacing many ecologically-disastrous man-made dams with biodiverse beaver dam habitat, encouraging local water boards to include Indigenous leadership in sustainable community planning, protecting remaining wetlands from development, and providing safe drinking water to all communities.

Be a vocal advocate for very good reasons

Image credit: Tim Sackton.

In some cultures and faiths, acts of private charity and kindness are meant to be kept secret. At a corporate level, though, social good can be exponentially expanded when brands are willing to take public stands on matters of conscience. The larger your business, the louder your voice inviting participation in works and causes that honor animals.

Once you’ve determined how you’ll be incorporating care for other creatures into your business plan, here are 10 ways to get the word out to the community you serve:

Publish optimized website content, based on keyword research and community interest, to explain your brand’s animal-centric activities.

Ask the organizations you support to interview someone at your company to explain why your staff/customers are volunteering/donating to this particularly worthy cause. These groups will also likely be looking for content opportunities. Volunteering to be the subject of an interview can expand their reach and hopefully deliver a good link or two to your website, as well.

Reach out to local reporters to let them know that this is an angle of your business operations that the public might enjoy reading about; we could all use some good news these days in the local paper!

If appropriate, get unstructured citations on local blogs or structured citations on specialty directories. For example, HappyCow.net offers a directory of restaurants where plant-based diners can find a meal.

If appropriate, create image and video content about company pets, wildlife stewardship, and local ecological efforts, demonstrating your business’s participation and inviting customers to enjoy taking part.

Promote content that you and others have published about your activities on your social media channels.

Partner with other local business owners with similar policies and programs to share work and send customers to one another.

Write some animal-centric Google posts on your Google Business Profile

Assess whether Google My Business Categories or attributes could be added to your listing to represent animal-related features of your business.

Add photos of staff pets or wildlife features at your location to your GMB listing if they add to the welcoming ambiance of your place of business.

Wag more

Watch the above video by a local business and you’ll see how almost any company can make memorable, emotional connections with the people they serve thanks to a widely-shared love of animals. Actions that celebrate, rather than exploit, our animal relations surely fall under the phenomenon of kindness as currency with multiple studies showing how people are more apt to act with generosity of spirit when they see others do so.

When you’re tasked with marketing, you’re always looking for that extra reason to be chosen by customers. 73% of people say they care about the company they buy from, not just the product. The furry paw poised on your knee right now, the purr emanating from behind your laptop, the songs of birds outside your window could be calling you to connect with customers in an authentic new way, over your joint, abiding care for animals. These days, who wouldn’t welcome a chance to wag more?

Looking for more authentic local search marketing tips to make your community a better place to live and work? Read The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide.

[thanhtuandoan89]

8 Ways to Champion Animals in Your Local Business Marketing Strategy

Image credit: Yoshihide Nomura

If you’ve ever had the privilege of being present for a baby’s first joyful encounter with a household pet, you’ll have noticed the profound wonder and excitement of the little one’s reaction. Once upon a time, that was each of us beaming and bouncing up and down with the thrill of meeting our first dog or cat.

Don’t lose that joy — be like these Canadian women watching whales from their garden:

From our earliest days, most of us have simply loved animals. We fill children’s books with tales of them and choose them as life companions. In many cultures, animals are sources of sacred power, and in all parts of the world, wildlife is absolutely essential to balanced ecosystems.

67% of American households now include pets — that’s the majority of your consumer base signalling just how much animals matter to them. When local business owners and marketers communicate with most customers about animals, shared affinity is ready-built into the exchange, drawing on feelings of warmth, admiration, responsibility, concern, and happiness. These dearly-held sentiments can be sturdy building blocks of benefit for other-than-human creatures, communities, and your business. This is deeply good marketing, which can yield personal satisfaction, press, links, citations, loyalty, and positive social change.

Today, we’ll consider eight options for honoring the love both you and your customers have in common when it comes to animals, plus tips for weaving your efforts into your local business marketing strategy.

All animal-centric activities, great and small

Almost any local business will find one or more actionable ideas here to demonstrate care for animals.

1. Expand your welcome to customers’ pets

Where local health codes and business models permit, make provisions for pets at your place of business. Before the pandemic, dog-friendly dining patios, water stations, lodgings, and shopping center-based dog parks were on the rise and can return once safety does. Put a bowl of dog treats outside your storefront to make your business a memorable highlight of neighbors’ daily dog walks, keep a stash of them behind the counter if pets are permitted indoors, and take note of the dairy delivery drivers who toss snacks to dogs when bringing groceries to customers in the pacific northwest.

A kiosk of free doggy cleanup bags could be a draw to your door and a boon to the neighborhood. Bring customers inside when it’s safe again to do so with a feature wall of local pet photos. Hold contests that center pets or feature pet-centric prizes, or host a pet-based event. Meanwhile, if your business is located in a neighborhood far from large pet supply stores, consider whether a pet section makes sense in your inventory.

2. Make a place for staff pets

Image credit: Groupon

Every year, new studies are published indicating that when pets interact with people, humans benefit from lowered cortisol and blood pressure levels and a variety of improvements in states of whole body well-being. As a shopper, I can say that my household loves visiting businesses with resident pets. Prior to stay-at-home orders, some of our most memorable shopping excursions were to the nursery with the noble-looking Australian shepards, the craft store with the little terriers, and the farm stand with the dachshunds. To-do lists sounded like this:

“We need to buy mulch. Oh, and we’ll get to see Pushkin the little red dog!”

Companies are always seeking out methods of creating memorable experiences, and friendly cats and dogs on-site can be instant magic in this regard.

At Moz, even before we were working remotely, honored staff pets added calm and pleasure to company meetings, with an established policy for animal etiquette and safety practices Mozzers agreed to in order to bring their companions to the office. Even at companies that can’t have animals on the premises as a regular thing, bring-your-pet-to-work days can signal to staff that a brand is sensitive to work/life balance once it becomes safe again for people to return to offices. Evaluate how a company you’re marketing might safely incorporate animal companions into the workplace for the happiness of both staff and customers.

3. Expand your welcome to wildlife

Image credit: Theresa_Gunn

Many businesses have the space to hang a bird feeder and water dish or set up a bird bath. Nesting boxes for birds and bats are small and can be fitted into all sorts of nooks and eaves around your building in any spot where droppings won’t be a nuisance.

If your business is lucky enough to have the space, planter boxes can provide flowers, fruit, seeds, nectar, pollen, and nesting materials for birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.. Call a local nursery to ask which native plants will fit in your containers and support winged visitors. If you have more space and can plant a hedge, you’ll be making a home for many types of birds and insects, and may even offer protection to rabbits, raccoons, possums, and other small animals.

Well-planned Main Streets and shopping districts can provide more than just sidewalks for humans and streets for cars — they can be places where hummingbirds sip from flower to flower, bees gather pollen, butterflies migrate, and herbivores find forage. Take your seat at city planning meetings and become an advocate for green space in commercial areas, bird-friendly windows, accessible waterways, and other ecological development strategies.

4. Sponsor wildlife crossings, corridor, and rescue programs

Millions of domestic and native animals lose their lives on our roads every year, but wildlife corridors that create safe roaming paths through fragmented areas can reduce animal-related car accidents by as much as 80%. If your heart sinks every time you see a dead animal on the highway, talk to your city council about planning wildlife crossings and corridors in your community and then either help build them or have your brand sponsor their construction. Extra credit to you if you can get your customers involved, too.

Meanwhile, if you’ve ever had to call a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation number after encountering an injured animal on the road, having a bird stun itself by crashing into a window, or finding unfledged nestlings on the ground, you know what a lifeline these programs can be. Do some research on agencies and groups in your community that contribute this vital work and offer volunteer hours or financial support.

5. Sponsor guide dog and companion animal programs

Image credit: Zelda Richardson

Dogs that act as the guides, protectors, and friends of differently-abled people are heroes, and it takes a great deal of care, time, and money to train them for their work. Additionally, many communities have programs that bring pets to children’s hospitals, elder care homes, and other centers for the important benefits humans can experience just from interacting with a loving, friendly animal.

If you’re looking for a sponsorship opportunity that can make a world of difference in people’s everyday lives, research these types of programs and volunteer or sponsor them.

6. Sponsor no-kill animal shelters

When animal lovers seek pet adoption, many insist on visiting only no-kill shelters in order to make a statement consistent with their humane values and to avoid the trauma of having to choose among animals who may be killed if not brought home.

If your region has a no-kill shelter, it’s not only a good thing to contribute to, but can also be a source of fostering community goodwill when you allow these programs to place donation jars at registers.

7. Offer plant-based and cruelty-free options

There’s a reason even fast-food franchises are offering veggie burgers now, and I see the source of it in my own family where 65% of the young people are vegetarians or vegans. Meanwhile, nearly all of them actively seek out self-care products labeled as cruelty-free.

Even if your business isn’t staffed by herbivores or animal rights activists, you can include them in the welcome you’re building so that all community members have something to eat, drink, and purchase. Nielsen found in 2018 that 39% of Americans are upping the amount of plant-based dishes in their diets, and it’s my belief that these numbers will continue to rise. Now is the time to be sure you’re not overlooking this growing consumer base who will reward your care for their needs with patronage.

8. Protect water

Image credit: Mark Giuliucci

If a deep regard for animals is shared by your company and customers, there is likely no better cause to support than the protection of all forms of water, on which we all depend for life. Cleaning up and defending the future of streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, lakes, and oceans is challenging, vital work for us all.

Take an active role, and invite customers to learn and change with you, in removing pollutants and plastics from water sources, abandoning oil pipelines in favor of green energy, replacing forever-products with biodegradable ones, replacing many ecologically-disastrous man-made dams with biodiverse beaver dam habitat, encouraging local water boards to include Indigenous leadership in sustainable community planning, protecting remaining wetlands from development, and providing safe drinking water to all communities.

Be a vocal advocate for very good reasons

Image credit: Tim Sackton.

In some cultures and faiths, acts of private charity and kindness are meant to be kept secret. At a corporate level, though, social good can be exponentially expanded when brands are willing to take public stands on matters of conscience. The larger your business, the louder your voice inviting participation in works and causes that honor animals.

Once you’ve determined how you’ll be incorporating care for other creatures into your business plan, here are 10 ways to get the word out to the community you serve:

Publish optimized website content, based on keyword research and community interest, to explain your brand’s animal-centric activities.

Ask the organizations you support to interview someone at your company to explain why your staff/customers are volunteering/donating to this particularly worthy cause. These groups will also likely be looking for content opportunities. Volunteering to be the subject of an interview can expand their reach and hopefully deliver a good link or two to your website, as well.

Reach out to local reporters to let them know that this is an angle of your business operations that the public might enjoy reading about; we could all use some good news these days in the local paper!

If appropriate, get unstructured citations on local blogs or structured citations on specialty directories. For example, HappyCow.net offers a directory of restaurants where plant-based diners can find a meal.

If appropriate, create image and video content about company pets, wildlife stewardship, and local ecological efforts, demonstrating your business’s participation and inviting customers to enjoy taking part.

Promote content that you and others have published about your activities on your social media channels.

Partner with other local business owners with similar policies and programs to share work and send customers to one another.

Write some animal-centric Google posts on your Google Business Profile

Assess whether Google My Business Categories or attributes could be added to your listing to represent animal-related features of your business.

Add photos of staff pets or wildlife features at your location to your GMB listing if they add to the welcoming ambiance of your place of business.

Wag more

Watch the above video by a local business and you’ll see how almost any company can make memorable, emotional connections with the people they serve thanks to a widely-shared love of animals. Actions that celebrate, rather than exploit, our animal relations surely fall under the phenomenon of kindness as currency with multiple studies showing how people are more apt to act with generosity of spirit when they see others do so.

When you’re tasked with marketing, you’re always looking for that extra reason to be chosen by customers. 73% of people say they care about the company they buy from, not just the product. The furry paw poised on your knee right now, the purr emanating from behind your laptop, the songs of birds outside your window could be calling you to connect with customers in an authentic new way, over your joint, abiding care for animals. These days, who wouldn’t welcome a chance to wag more?

Looking for more authentic local search marketing tips to make your community a better place to live and work? Read The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide.

[drummcarpentry]

8 Ways to Champion Animals in Your Local Business Marketing Strategy

Image credit: Yoshihide Nomura

If you’ve ever had the privilege of being present for a baby’s first joyful encounter with a household pet, you’ll have noticed the profound wonder and excitement of the little one’s reaction. Once upon a time, that was each of us beaming and bouncing up and down with the thrill of meeting our first dog or cat.

Don’t lose that joy — be like these Canadian women watching whales from their garden:

From our earliest days, most of us have simply loved animals. We fill children’s books with tales of them and choose them as life companions. In many cultures, animals are sources of sacred power, and in all parts of the world, wildlife is absolutely essential to balanced ecosystems.

67% of American households now include pets — that’s the majority of your consumer base signalling just how much animals matter to them. When local business owners and marketers communicate with most customers about animals, shared affinity is ready-built into the exchange, drawing on feelings of warmth, admiration, responsibility, concern, and happiness. These dearly-held sentiments can be sturdy building blocks of benefit for other-than-human creatures, communities, and your business. This is deeply good marketing, which can yield personal satisfaction, press, links, citations, loyalty, and positive social change.

Today, we’ll consider eight options for honoring the love both you and your customers have in common when it comes to animals, plus tips for weaving your efforts into your local business marketing strategy.

All animal-centric activities, great and small

Almost any local business will find one or more actionable ideas here to demonstrate care for animals.

1. Expand your welcome to customers’ pets

Where local health codes and business models permit, make provisions for pets at your place of business. Before the pandemic, dog-friendly dining patios, water stations, lodgings, and shopping center-based dog parks were on the rise and can return once safety does. Put a bowl of dog treats outside your storefront to make your business a memorable highlight of neighbors’ daily dog walks, keep a stash of them behind the counter if pets are permitted indoors, and take note of the dairy delivery drivers who toss snacks to dogs when bringing groceries to customers in the pacific northwest.

A kiosk of free doggy cleanup bags could be a draw to your door and a boon to the neighborhood. Bring customers inside when it’s safe again to do so with a feature wall of local pet photos. Hold contests that center pets or feature pet-centric prizes, or host a pet-based event. Meanwhile, if your business is located in a neighborhood far from large pet supply stores, consider whether a pet section makes sense in your inventory.

2. Make a place for staff pets

Image credit: Groupon

Every year, new studies are published indicating that when pets interact with people, humans benefit from lowered cortisol and blood pressure levels and a variety of improvements in states of whole body well-being. As a shopper, I can say that my household loves visiting businesses with resident pets. Prior to stay-at-home orders, some of our most memorable shopping excursions were to the nursery with the noble-looking Australian shepards, the craft store with the little terriers, and the farm stand with the dachshunds. To-do lists sounded like this:

“We need to buy mulch. Oh, and we’ll get to see Pushkin the little red dog!”

Companies are always seeking out methods of creating memorable experiences, and friendly cats and dogs on-site can be instant magic in this regard.

At Moz, even before we were working remotely, honored staff pets added calm and pleasure to company meetings, with an established policy for animal etiquette and safety practices Mozzers agreed to in order to bring their companions to the office. Even at companies that can’t have animals on the premises as a regular thing, bring-your-pet-to-work days can signal to staff that a brand is sensitive to work/life balance once it becomes safe again for people to return to offices. Evaluate how a company you’re marketing might safely incorporate animal companions into the workplace for the happiness of both staff and customers.

3. Expand your welcome to wildlife

Image credit: Theresa_Gunn

Many businesses have the space to hang a bird feeder and water dish or set up a bird bath. Nesting boxes for birds and bats are small and can be fitted into all sorts of nooks and eaves around your building in any spot where droppings won’t be a nuisance.

If your business is lucky enough to have the space, planter boxes can provide flowers, fruit, seeds, nectar, pollen, and nesting materials for birds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.. Call a local nursery to ask which native plants will fit in your containers and support winged visitors. If you have more space and can plant a hedge, you’ll be making a home for many types of birds and insects, and may even offer protection to rabbits, raccoons, possums, and other small animals.

Well-planned Main Streets and shopping districts can provide more than just sidewalks for humans and streets for cars — they can be places where hummingbirds sip from flower to flower, bees gather pollen, butterflies migrate, and herbivores find forage. Take your seat at city planning meetings and become an advocate for green space in commercial areas, bird-friendly windows, accessible waterways, and other ecological development strategies.

4. Sponsor wildlife crossings, corridor, and rescue programs

Millions of domestic and native animals lose their lives on our roads every year, but wildlife corridors that create safe roaming paths through fragmented areas can reduce animal-related car accidents by as much as 80%. If your heart sinks every time you see a dead animal on the highway, talk to your city council about planning wildlife crossings and corridors in your community and then either help build them or have your brand sponsor their construction. Extra credit to you if you can get your customers involved, too.

Meanwhile, if you’ve ever had to call a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation number after encountering an injured animal on the road, having a bird stun itself by crashing into a window, or finding unfledged nestlings on the ground, you know what a lifeline these programs can be. Do some research on agencies and groups in your community that contribute this vital work and offer volunteer hours or financial support.

5. Sponsor guide dog and companion animal programs

Image credit: Zelda Richardson

Dogs that act as the guides, protectors, and friends of differently-abled people are heroes, and it takes a great deal of care, time, and money to train them for their work. Additionally, many communities have programs that bring pets to children’s hospitals, elder care homes, and other centers for the important benefits humans can experience just from interacting with a loving, friendly animal.

If you’re looking for a sponsorship opportunity that can make a world of difference in people’s everyday lives, research these types of programs and volunteer or sponsor them.

6. Sponsor no-kill animal shelters

When animal lovers seek pet adoption, many insist on visiting only no-kill shelters in order to make a statement consistent with their humane values and to avoid the trauma of having to choose among animals who may be killed if not brought home.

If your region has a no-kill shelter, it’s not only a good thing to contribute to, but can also be a source of fostering community goodwill when you allow these programs to place donation jars at registers.

7. Offer plant-based and cruelty-free options

There’s a reason even fast-food franchises are offering veggie burgers now, and I see the source of it in my own family where 65% of the young people are vegetarians or vegans. Meanwhile, nearly all of them actively seek out self-care products labeled as cruelty-free.

Even if your business isn’t staffed by herbivores or animal rights activists, you can include them in the welcome you’re building so that all community members have something to eat, drink, and purchase. Nielsen found in 2018 that 39% of Americans are upping the amount of plant-based dishes in their diets, and it’s my belief that these numbers will continue to rise. Now is the time to be sure you’re not overlooking this growing consumer base who will reward your care for their needs with patronage.

8. Protect water

Image credit: Mark Giuliucci

If a deep regard for animals is shared by your company and customers, there is likely no better cause to support than the protection of all forms of water, on which we all depend for life. Cleaning up and defending the future of streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, lakes, and oceans is challenging, vital work for us all.

Take an active role, and invite customers to learn and change with you, in removing pollutants and plastics from water sources, abandoning oil pipelines in favor of green energy, replacing forever-products with biodegradable ones, replacing many ecologically-disastrous man-made dams with biodiverse beaver dam habitat, encouraging local water boards to include Indigenous leadership in sustainable community planning, protecting remaining wetlands from development, and providing safe drinking water to all communities.

Be a vocal advocate for very good reasons

Image credit: Tim Sackton.

In some cultures and faiths, acts of private charity and kindness are meant to be kept secret. At a corporate level, though, social good can be exponentially expanded when brands are willing to take public stands on matters of conscience. The larger your business, the louder your voice inviting participation in works and causes that honor animals.

Once you’ve determined how you’ll be incorporating care for other creatures into your business plan, here are 10 ways to get the word out to the community you serve:

Publish optimized website content, based on keyword research and community interest, to explain your brand’s animal-centric activities.

Ask the organizations you support to interview someone at your company to explain why your staff/customers are volunteering/donating to this particularly worthy cause. These groups will also likely be looking for content opportunities. Volunteering to be the subject of an interview can expand their reach and hopefully deliver a good link or two to your website, as well.

Reach out to local reporters to let them know that this is an angle of your business operations that the public might enjoy reading about; we could all use some good news these days in the local paper!

If appropriate, get unstructured citations on local blogs or structured citations on specialty directories. For example, HappyCow.net offers a directory of restaurants where plant-based diners can find a meal.

If appropriate, create image and video content about company pets, wildlife stewardship, and local ecological efforts, demonstrating your business’s participation and inviting customers to enjoy taking part.

Promote content that you and others have published about your activities on your social media channels.

Partner with other local business owners with similar policies and programs to share work and send customers to one another.

Write some animal-centric Google posts on your Google Business Profile

Assess whether Google My Business Categories or attributes could be added to your listing to represent animal-related features of your business.

Add photos of staff pets or wildlife features at your location to your GMB listing if they add to the welcoming ambiance of your place of business.

Wag more

Watch the above video by a local business and you’ll see how almost any company can make memorable, emotional connections with the people they serve thanks to a widely-shared love of animals. Actions that celebrate, rather than exploit, our animal relations surely fall under the phenomenon of kindness as currency with multiple studies showing how people are more apt to act with generosity of spirit when they see others do so.

When you’re tasked with marketing, you’re always looking for that extra reason to be chosen by customers. 73% of people say they care about the company they buy from, not just the product. The furry paw poised on your knee right now, the purr emanating from behind your laptop, the songs of birds outside your window could be calling you to connect with customers in an authentic new way, over your joint, abiding care for animals. These days, who wouldn’t welcome a chance to wag more?

Looking for more authentic local search marketing tips to make your community a better place to live and work? Read The Essential Local SEO Strategy Guide.

[retro-tvs-blog]

two birds one stone (short story)

Atticus couldn’t breath. His body wouldn’t let him. He let out a small whimper as he crouched next to the garbage cans glowering at the man who stood in front of him. The man whose name was unknown to Atticus had just socked him in the gut, causing the professor to stumble backwards in shock. Creating an a ruckus only heard by him and the other man. He tried to figure out the events that had lead him to this place, it was hard to make sense of them. Suddenly Atticus felt a sharp kick dig into his side, and he toppled over hitting his head against the large bin of waste and consciousness failed him, but before it left entirely he heard rushed footsteps.

Seb grinned holding the bouquet of flowers close to his body, he brushed his slightly cat hair covered suit and adjusted his posture. His excitement was uncontainable as he made his way through the slow moving pharmacy line. Finally his time came and he smiled at the woman maintaining the cash register.

“ Hiya magi’”, he said placing the flowers in front of her and grabbing his wallet from his pocket.

“ Ah! I see you took my advice!,” She giggled a little, “ See these are better the any ol’ garden weeds”

“ Magi! You know i was kiddin’, I would never give my sweetheart any ol’ weeds” He cried defensively pushing a twenty into the woman's hand.

“ I never know with your type, your sweethearts a lucky one. Some of us can’t get a break with love at first sight.” She chuckled bitterly and gave Seb his change, to which he leaned in and gave her a small peck on the cheek and a small hug.

“ Magi, love at first sights bullcrap. Besides when ya’ meet the right man you’ll know.” He waved her goodbye, to which she gave him a thumbs up. As he walked from the store his hand slipped into his other pocket and he fingered the small box.

Atticus had been teaching his class early that morning, when the man came in. He was tall, lean and looked to be in his early twenties. The professor leaned against the podium and adjusted his glasses.

“ Oh hello? How can I help you sir?” The few young adults he was teaching turned to face the man as well. Mimicking  their professors action.

“ Are you Atticus Peterson?” He asked coldly looking the man up and down.

“ Why yes I am. Although I would prefer if you have any questions to have come during my office hours instead of during my class tim-.”

“ Listen, Mr. Peterson. I hope you realize that you’re an immoral hypocrite.” The man interrupted coldly. Atticus sighed and began to adjust some papers he had laying on his desk, trying not to look at the man. Trying to make it seem like he didn’t care.

“ Listen Mr-” he waited for the man to introduce himself, a name never came so he continued, “ This really isn’t the time to argue views, and i’m not exactly sure why you’ve come here and even how you heard of me?”

“ I read your paper. It was in my weekly subscription. When I read what you had written I was absolutely appalled. You! Do not, deserve the recognition you’ve received for such a blasphemes and untrue article!’ The man's voice was at a quivering yell at this point. “ A..and when I read you’re a college professor in MY town! It disgust me! We’re a small community and we don’t need you poisoning the minds of our future!”

“ Sir. I’m going to need you to calm down.” Atticus watched him from the corner of his eye carefully, noticing that the man kept getting closer to him, and his hand was clenched. He was holding something. “ Sir. Perhaps we should take this outside of my lecture hall. This really isn’t the time or place for such an aggressive debate of views.. “ He said rather meekly

“ Phf- You’re all the same, wanna make it seem like you’re the victim. But if you wanna’ go outside and deal with this like real men, instead of fakers like yourself.” Atticus’s face went blood red at that statement he made.

“ Sir.. please let’s just go, Class please continue to take notes on the lecture i’ve given so far, copying down some of the powerpoint will also help you. Your term final will be on this so please take note. I’ll be right back I swear”

Seb grinned brightly, he made his way past the small house and parks that lined his little towns, downtown area. He checked his watch, if he timed this right then they should be off of work for their lunch date around the time he got. He smiled it was a nice warm day, a light breeze swept his black uncombable hair and ruffled the bottoms of his pants. He stopped for a moment to bath in the sun his smile bleeding happiness. For once he was going to do something amazing and nobody was going to stop him. He practiced his lines under his breath he wanted them to be just right, he wouldn’t screw this up. Not this time.

    Atticus’s eyes opened slightly the sun blinding him and making his headache worsen. His breathing was ragged and everything around him seemed louder then normal. He tried to push himself up but he found he couldn’t there was a hand on his chest. He looked up at the man his eyes watering with recognition.

“ Hi.. old friend..” He laughed looking at Seb.

“ What the heck have you been doing!” He grabbed Atticus into a hug.

“ I’ve been being a sarcastic pessimiste begging for a beating, according to everyone” He smiled gently hugging Seb back gently but winching in pain as he accidentally touched a newly formed bruise.  

“ you’re.. Sucha’ dork” Seb said gently, grabbing Atticus’s hand.

“ Seb.. i’m scared..” Atticus said softly, “ what.. If they come back..”

“ What if who come back atticus..?”

“The type of men who do this.. Who.. are so scared, of us..”

“ Well screw em’ all Atty. What do we care what they think!” Said Seb passionately, “ They can go on livin’ in hate and workin’ in their little small minded town.” Atticus smiled adjusting himself, flinching in pain. He moved himself to look Seb in the eye, to get a better view of the passion that shone, “ We’ll be livin’ up top and nobody's gonna tell us folk how ta’ live anymore.” Seb grinned seeing Atticus’s watering eyes.

“ Seb-” something crashed, he wasn’t sure what it was. Another pain struck through his side, But Seb continued ignoring the headache that the sent of the trash was giving him.

“ Atticus never doubt..” Seb’s hand went to his pocket slowly, he fingered the small box, “ I’ll protect you.. No one's ever gonna hurt you again.” He slowly pulled out the small box, “ I love you Atty, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you” At this point his eyes were watering and Atticus was full on sobbing. He grabbed Seb into a joyful hug, tears dripping down his face and dug his head into Seb’s shoulder. The pain he felt had disappeared and all he and Seb could hear was their own joy ringing in their ears. The man walked up behind them, hand shaking he stared at the two men tangled in an embrace, he turned quickly on his heel when he thought he heard the sound of footsteps and took off down the alley. It was an hour before they found the two men’s bodies.