Patricia Cameron, executive director at Green Calgary, and former Executive Director at the Calgary Humane Society, understands the need to adapt and has the experience to help you get there. In her InfoStream Guest Author series, Patricia will evaluate the tools and thought processes necessary to strive in an ever-changing world.
“There is a tide in the affairs of men.Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” – William Shakespeare
Back in 2001, the Ipsos-Reid study of Canadian pet ownership “Paws and Claws” zeroed in on a pivotal change in the our relationship with pets: the majority of pet owners saw their pet as a family member and treated them accordingly.
Decades in the making, this historic shift has massive implications for pet owner behaviour, and by extension, for the pet industry. Over the same time period leading to this pivotal change, there was a rising concern about the interconnected issues of environmental well-being and personal/family health. This concern continues to rise and to shape consumer choices.
Coupled together, perceptions of pets as family members and environmental concerns have created a “tide in the affairs of men” that is creating change in all sectors of the pet industry.
Change is always a two-edged phenomenon, with some loss and some gain. The key question a business owner needs to answer is “How can I minimize losses and maximize gains?”
I hope in these blog postings to help you ponder and formulate your own answers to this question, and surf the tides of change. But heads-up – as former successful entrepreneur, former CEO of an animal welfare organization, and current CEO of a leading urban environmental charity, I am not going to sugar-coat my perceptions. There is too much at stake: the health and well-being not only of our businesses, but of our pets and other family members, of our communities, and of our planet. These are all tied to what we produce and what we and our pets consume. So here goes.
I hope in these blog postings to help you ponder and formulate your own answers to this question, and surf the tides of change. But heads-up – as former successful entrepreneur, former CEO of an animal welfare organization, and current CEO of a leading urban environmental charity, I am not going to sugar-coat my perceptions. There is too much at stake: the health and well-being not only of our businesses, but of our pets and other family members, of our communities, and of our planet. These are all tied to what we produce and what we and our pets consume. So here goes.
Most of us are familiar with the SWOT analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Analyzing the pet “space” through SWOT offers a number of actionable insights and I am going to start the series on a positive note with Strengths.
- COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE: Many pet retailers have done a great job of creating a friendly, pet-positive client experience. Like coffee merchants Starbucks or West Jet, savvy pet retailers and service providers create business environments that offer up not only purchasing opportunities, but an entire consumer experience: for example, with bins of tasty treats, warm earth toned walls, flooring and fixtures, engaging toys, their own “in-house” pets, imagery of happy families and pets, friendly and caring staff. The best of these environments foster comfort, pleasure, and trust, precious qualities for business sustainability. It is amazing what tuning into the esthetics of your business can do to engage your community and have them coming back for more.
- COMMUNITY EMPATHY: Connection with the local community. Impersonal national or international companies are less and less appealing to the high-income, well-informed consumer. Savvy businesses in all sectors ensure they are visibly active in investing in and supporting the communities in which they operate. Pet industry players have done so by hosting adopt-a-thons or on-site adoptions with local animal welfare groups. Funding spay-neuter efforts is another positive step. The winning combination is partnering with a highly professional local group on a high visibility/ high impact initiative that engages both the community’s interest and heart. With emphasis on the heart. There is an art to engaging with non-profit partners, and some players in the pet industry have mastered this art.
- COMMUNITY EDUCATION: Pet industry organizations have a wealth of information to share with consumers. Best-of-breeder education efforts focus on meeting pet owners where and how they are rather than on how the pet owner “should” be. Their materials are illustrated with compelling imagery of pets and people, content that is written in plain language, and offer actionable advice pet owners can put to immediate use. Becoming a trusted source of information and guidance is a huge strength to those that achieve it because the pet world is awash in competing views, ideology, fear, and misinformation. The formula for success is as follows: Education that is simple and clear, actionable, absolutely trust-worthy, focused on the pet owner’s needs and interests, and are either compelling or FUN or both.
There is a flip-side to all three of these areas of potential strength: stores or offices that are cold, ugly, and unpleasant; businesses that do nothing to “give back” to the community, or whose community is unaware of the great work they do; education efforts focused on an ideological agenda, selling products, full of inaccuracies or opinion portrayed as fact, or are text-heavy, boring, or difficult to understand.
What strengths does your business exhibit in these three areas? What could you do to build on these areas of potential strength?
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