Trying to get your pet product or pet care service in front of more buyers and pet owners? You're not alone. Oneupweb gives 5 steps to start a content marketing strategy to reach your customers, a look at today's pet-owner and their behaviors, and an editorial calendar template to start mapping out your content needs and topics.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Content Marketing & Today’s Pet Owner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Persona: Meet Maryanne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5-Step Content Marketing Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Editorial Calendar Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
About Oneupweb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

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THE U.S. PET INDUSTRY WEATHERED
THE ECONOMIC RECESSION...
with much greater ease than other retail sectors, averaging an overall 3.4 percent
annual growth from 2008 through 20131
. The strength and resiliency of the pet in-
dustry is good news for pet companies, and the total consumer expenditures are
estimated to increase from $55.53B in 2013 to $67.56B by 20181
. At the same time,
the industry’s sustainability has made it an increasingly crowded and competitive
space, making the challenge of driving demand for your brand more difficult than ever.
With U.S. pet owners continuing to spend more on their beloved creatures, pet com-
panies must be poised to reach and attract as much of this audience as possible.
The widest reach is available through content marketing—but where to begin? Content
marketing is more than simple, traditional search engine optimization and it is different
from overly-promotional sales copy.
Let’s take a quick look at what content marketing is, what it means for the pet industry
and how it can help you reach today’s pet owners.
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
36B 40B 44B 48B 52B 56B 60B
Amounts (Billions)
PET INDUSTRY GROWTH (SINCE 2009)
Source: American Pet Products Association (APPA) | http://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp

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WHAT IS CONTENT MARKETING?
At its most basic level, content marketing is a marketing technique involving the
creation and distribution of branded creative that are specifically relevant, helpful
and timely to your target demographic.
Content marketing is all things content and content is practically all things, including
articles, videos, webinars, infographics, white papers, blog posts, social media content
and more. If it can be created, shared and disseminated, and if it’s created specifically
for the purpose of attracting the attention of your target audience by playing towards
that audience’s interests and pain points, then it’s content marketing.
It’s one of the most effective marketing tactics available. Your marketing efforts are
practically useless without great content.
So how can you leverage it to grow your brand? Let’s take a look first at some of the
traits and behaviors of today’s pet owners.
PET-PARENTING: A LOOK AT TODAY’S PET OWNER
Pet-parenting continues to be the dominating trend among pet owners. Since 2005,
more and more pet owners raise their pets much in the same way as they would
raise a child, rewarding their pets in human terms, spending money on premium
diets, and seeking out specialized products and services (like custom pet clothing
or pet therapy sessions).
Bob Vetere, President and CEO of the American Pet Products Associations, points to
pet owners’ growing concern in the health and wellbeing of their pets, forecasting
that “Health and wellness-related themes represent the most powerful trends across
all segments of the industry and will continue to do so.”2
Despite generalities, surprising differences exist between varying pet owner
demographics. Consider:
»» Two-person households spend the most on pets; single persons
living alone spend the least 3
»» Households with more human mouths to feed spend fewer dollars
on their furry friends 3

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»» Households earning $93,800 per year or more spend four times
as much on their pets than households earning $18,558 or less 3
Income demographics and buying habits are relevant to framing content around
purchasing decisions, but content marketing should also address consumer pain
points. Like the differences that exist among pet owners of varying household sizes
and income levels, pain points vary depending on the kind of pets an owner cares
for and where they live, among other things.
For example, consider dog owners. The American Humane Association estimates 37
to 46% of U.S. households own a dog (that’s 43.5 to 54.1 million households). 4
With
the growing trend toward pet parenting, many of these owners are likely concerned
with protecting their pets against common ailments. But the question then becomes
what common ailments?
Dogs in southern states tend to be more susceptible to heartworm disease, flea and
tick infestation, whereas dogs in the southwest suffer from Valley Fever4
. Dog owners
in the southern states will respond more positively to content centered around com-
batting a flea infestation than they would to caring for a dog with Valley Fever.
2B 6B 10B 14B 18B 22B
Amounts (Billions)
Food
Supplies/OTC Medicine
Vet Care
Live Animal Purchases
Grooming & Boarding
2013 2014 (Estimated)
2013 ACTUAL & 2014 ESTIMATED SALES (U.S. MARKET)
Source: American Pet Products Association (APPA) | http://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp

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Likewise, city dog owners do not have the luxury of wide open spaces as their rural
dog owner counterparts. City dog owners might care about better ways to exercise
their dogs or keep them active than rural dog owners would be. It’s all about knowing
your audience.
The more specific and relevant you can be to your particular pet-owner demographic,
the more effective your content marketing efforts will be. Knowing the particulars of
your target customers enables you to create powerful and useful marketing personas
—portraits of your ideal customer. Armed with those, you can begin creating content
specifically geared towards this persona’s motivating behaviors.
But that’s not enough—as we discuss below, content marketing is a concerted effort.
It takes careful planning and execution.
PET PERSONA: MEET MARYANNE
Maryanne is a young, 28 year-old millennial. She cohabitates with her boyfriend, Sasha,
and they both live in an upper middle class loft in downtown Chicago. Maryanne is an
up-and-coming securities broker; Sasha is making a name for himself as a freelance
artist, averaging a modest income, depending on his workload. Together, they earn a
little over $90,000 per year. Maryanne and Sasha have been with each other for a long
time. Marriage has come up every once in a while, but the two are content, for now,
to live together and care for Daisy, their lovable Mal-Shi.
Daisy is a small toy dog crossed between a Maltese and a Shih Tzu. She’s an energetic
dog who will occasionally play the role of lap dog when she isn’t chewing on her chew
toy or running with the other dogs in the local dog park. Maryanne tends to baby Daisy,
and Daisy has developed a case of separation anxiety. Maryanne has come home
several times to Daisy digging at the carpet in front of their front door.
“Daisy is a little diva. She loves to be pampered and I love seeing her happy. When I
found out what was in the majority of dog food, I switched to a healthier diet—Sasha
and I don’t eat that way and neither should she.”
“I don’t know what to do with Daisy when Sasha and I aren’t there. She just gets so
stressed out. We thought about another dog, but one is enough. We’re also so busy;
it’s hard to always be there for her.”

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5-STEP CONTENT MARKETING PLAN
So, where should you begin your content marketing strategy? What follows is a
simple, 5-step plan designed to jumpstart your content marketing efforts.
1. Know Your Audience. Your own customer data and the general socio-economic
status of your business location is a great place to start. Are the majority of
your customers homeowners? Do they live in rural areas? Do they come from
single or multiple households? Are they primarily dog owners? Cat owners? Etc.
2. Address Your Buyer’s Primary Concerns. Here again, your own data can help
frame the conversation. If you’re a boutique pet store whose specialty is
gourmet pet food, your customers probably care specifically about what their
pets eat, the ingredients in their pet foods, and what they can do to ensure their
pets remain healthy, strong and active. Dietary tips, menus and other content
created around these concerns would work well in this example, rather than
focusing on things like price-volume benefits geared more towards the cost-
conscious pet owner.
3. Audit Existing Content. What are you currently offering your customers?
Where are the content gaps? Determine what you can still use, what you can
reuse or repurpose and what you need to create.
4. Create an Editorial Calendar. Content marketing involves several moving parts
and pieces. Between determining and creating the actual content, you need
to know where each piece of content should “live” (be it in a blog, an email or
simply as a post on your social media channels) and how it should be dissem-
inated to your audience. This also requires knowing where your audience is
online—what sites they frequent, where they interact and what they do. (There’s
an editorial calendar template provided at the end of this article.)
5. Measure and Refine Results. One of the beautiful aspects of digital marketing
is the availability of key metrics and analytics that help you identify which pieces
of content are the most and least effective. At least monthly, review your content
marketing efforts, refining them to make adjustments and improvements.
CONCLUSION
The future continues to look bright for the pet industry—keep your business on the
path to success by harnessing the effectiveness of a strong content marketing strategy.
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MONTH CONTENT THEMES/TOPIC
EDITORIAL CALENDAR TEMPLATE
CONTENT SHARING & PROMOTION
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
EXAMPLE
Pets are
Therapeutic!
Indoor
Exercise
for Pets
See us at
the Global
Pet Expo!
x x x x x APPA Feature
Brand
Feature/
Theme
Seasonal
Topic
Industry/
Product
Updates
Facebook YouTube Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Blog Other

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ABOUT ONEUPWEB
Oneupweb has been an innovator in digital marketing for nearly 20 years, creating
integrated online marketing strategies that incorporate web design, search
marketing (SEO and PPC), social media, inbound marketing and more. Heralded
by an independent research firm for their leadership team, work ethic and solid
experience in optimizing complicated sites, Oneupweb has been named a Top
25 Search Marketing Agency by Advertising Age for five consecutive years, and
CEO Lisa Wehr is recognized as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
Oneupweb is a privately held company located in Traverse City, Michigan. For
more information on Oneupweb, please call 231.922.9977, visit OneUpWeb.com.
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RESOURCES:
1. http://www.multibriefs.com/briefs/exclusive/pet_businesses_will_
prosper.html#.U1k1i1dCq5J
2. http://www.petproductnews.com/headlines/2014/03/17/spending-on-
pets-should-rise-nearly-five-percent.aspx
3. http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-2/pdf/spending-on-pets.pdf
4. http://www.americanhumane.org/assets/pdfs/pets-fact-sheet.pdf