Creative Ways to Integrate Pet-Friendly Marketing Touches
If you know pet owners, you know that it’s not just a label, it’s a whollleeee lifestyle. (Raise your hand if you’re guilty. 🙋🏻♀️ Most of the Sprout team better have their hands up!) This means it’s almost not enough to just allow pets at your community. It’s about weaving a sense of belonging and joy for both residents and their furry friends into every aspect of your community. When you take the time to integrate thoughtful and creative touches, you can transform your apartment community into a haven for pet lovers.
We’re bringing you fun and unique ways to not only be pet-friendly, but be pet-forward with different elements in your community, making sure every interaction and space celebrates the bond between residents and their pets.
Whether it’s through fun signage, personalized follow-ups, or community events, these ideas will help make your apartment community paw-sitively the top choice for pet owners. Sorry, cheesy pet puns are required here.
CREATIVE PET-FRIENDLY FEATURES YOU’LL WANT TO IMPLEMENT AT YOUR APARTMENT COMMUNITY
PET-FRIENDLY PHONE INTERACTIONS
Make your prospects do a double take with a fun, pet-friendly tagline for phone calls. A fun tagline will help you stand out in the minds of your prospects when they’ve probably talked to dozens of apartment communities that day.
BUT, just know that pet people love to talk about their pets, so you might spark quite a conversation. You’ve been warned!
Here’s An Example:
“Thank you for calling [Community Name], where pets are part of the family. How can we make your tail wag today?”
EMAIL SIGNATURES THAT SCREAM PET-FRIENDLY
Keep the pet-friendly message consistent by adding a fun email signature. These can add some fun and personality to emails which, let’s be honest, can be a little bland sometimes.
By adding this pet-friendly signature, you’re reminding your audience that you support them and their pets as well. (PSST—you can click below to copy and use this signature!)
Here’s An Example:
Best Regards,
[Name]
Leasing Consultant
[Community Name]
🐾 Proudly Pet-Friendly! 🐾
If you and your staff are struggling with phone calls or emails, your membership can be your saving grace! Check out more phone and email scripts HERE!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“I just want to express my gratitude for everything you do for the apartment industry to help us. I'm blown away by all of the creative content you have put together for us. I appreciate everything, but my most recent discovery is your scripts for handling different situations. I'm in love!!!! You are all beyond fabulous and I don't have the words to tell you how much I appreciate and depend on you!!!”
Carla Simmons | Regional Manager
PERSONALIZED FOLLOW-UP FOR PET-LOVING PROSPECTS
If you want your follow-up to make an impact, include their pet! While you’re giving your prospect a tour, chat with them about the pets they have, what they like to do with their pets, etc. Use this info to personalize their follow-up. (Don’t forget to go back and make notes about the prospect and their pets.)
Here’s An Example:
When you follow up, either in a phone call or email (or both!), use the pet details you learned in the tour to make the resident feel a personal connection to your community. A great way to win them over is to include pet treat vouchers or information on pet amenities.
Go The Extra Mile: Gather photos of current resident pets enjoying the community and its amenities. Use these in follow-up communications with prospects with pets.
PET-FRIENDLY EVENTS
All residents love it when you throw great events, but pet people LOVE a good party they can bring their pet to. Make it a point to schedule at least one pet-friendly event a year; bonus points if you can do it even more frequently. These events are always crowd-pleasers and also give you such great social media content! Boom, double whammy!
Here’s An Example:
Pet-Themed Events: Regularly host events like “Bark-B-Q” (BBQ for residents and their dogs), “Kitty Craft Day,” or “Pet and Owner Costume Contests.”
Pet Adoption Days: Partner with local shelters to host adoption events and offer incentives to residents who adopt pets.
Sprout Members: Get everything you need for this fun treats event HERE or search “Pets” HERE for more ideas.
PET-FRIENDLY COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT & OUTREACH
Meet your pet prospects where they are! As a team, you can volunteer at shelters or local pet-focused events to spread the word about your community’s pet-friendly policy. This is a great way to show prospects (and your residents!) that you support them and their pets’ journey.
Here’s An Example:
Pet Charity Drives: Organize donation drives for local animal shelters. You can promote participation with social media posts and newsletters to your residents!
Volunteering: Encourage staff and residents to volunteer at local shelters and promote these activities within the community.
All-Access Members, search “Pet” Marketing designs in the gallery HERE.
FAVE PET MARKETING DESIGNS
Click a design to edit in Canva
SIGNAGE THAT SHOUTS PET-FRIENDLY LIVING
Keep reminding your residents and prospects how pet-forward you are by displaying it everywhere. This shows that you run with your community with everyone in mind (two-legged and four-legged) and strive to meet all needs.
Here’s An Example:
Pet-Friendly Signs: Use fun and engaging signage around the community. For example, “Welcome to [Community Name], where paws and people thrive!” or “Leash up and let’s play!”
Directional Signs: Include paw prints leading to pet amenities like parks, washing stations, and pet-friendly areas.
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VISUALS THROUGHOUT THE COMMUNITY
Highlighting pets from your community is a great way to get residents excited. They’ll get so excited to see their pet’s picture on display and prospects will see how much you value your residents and create a personal. experience for each one of them.
Here’s An Example:
Pet Murals: Decorate walls with murals of pets. Highlight the pets of residents or famous pets from history or from the area.
Pet Photo Board: Display photographs of resident pets in a common area. You can do fun themes around creative holidays or different seasons.
Did you know we make this super easy for All-Access members? Search our Stock Photos HERE for more images like these. Use them on social media, your website, and your resident portal!
Stock Photo Photo Faves
Click images to download
FUN PET-FRIENDLY TOUCHPOINTS BY THE ONSITE TEAM
Whenever your residents or prospects interact with your staff, make sure it’s a good one. Adding some personal touches and going just a step further to add some kindness to their day makes a huge difference in their happiness in your community.
Here’s An Example:
Pet Treats at Reception: Keep a jar of pet treats at the front desk and offer them to visiting pets.
Pet Greeting Cards: Send out cards for residents' pets, with a small gift or coupon for pet services at a local shop.
All Members: Grab this design + Amazon shopping links to assemble the perfect pet-friendly goodie bag HERE.
SOCIAL MEDIA THAT FEATURES PETS
Meet your residents and prospects where they’re at - on their phones. Show how much your residents’ pets are celebrated by doing fun features, sharing pet-friendly tips, and highlighting pet-friendly events at your community.
Here’s An Example:
Pet of the Month: Feature a resident’s pet each month. Share their story and cute photos.
Pet Tips and Tricks: Post tips for pet care and pet-friendly activities nearby and highlight community pet events.
Resident Pet Features: Encourage residents to be featured and share their pet stories and photos on your social media pages.
All-Access Members, search for “Pet” digital graphics HERE.
PET DIGITAL GRAPHIC FAVES
Click an image to edit in Canva or download it and then use it on your social media pages
MEET THE ONSITE STAFF’S PETS
We love introducing the staff on social media and websites so your prospects and residents know who they can expect to interact with, but give the people what they want! More pet pics! Give everyone a look at the emotional support animals that never asked for that job title but who uphold it well when the staff’s days are ruff.
Here’s An Example:
Staff Pet Introductions: Create a “Meet Our Pets” section on your website or social media where staff members introduce their pets.
Pet Days at Work: Allow staff to bring their pets to work on designated days and share photos on social media.
PAWS UP: COMMUNITY MASCOT
If there’s anything people can get on board with, it’s a pet mascot. Pick a spokes-pet for your community and use them to help highlight the pet-friendly features in your community and pet-forward aspects of the surrounding area.
Here’s An Example:
Adopt a Mascot: Adopt a community pet or mascot. Feature the mascot in newsletters, social media, and events.
Mascot Adventures: Share the mascot's stories and adventures in and around the community, making it a fun, engaging element for residents.
BONUS TOUCHPOINTS FOR FUN
If you’re itching for some more pet-friendly touchpoints, here are some extra bonus touchpoints for funsies!
Here’s An Example:
Pet Welcome Board: Maintain a welcome board in the lobby featuring new residents and their pets.
Pet Welcome Bag: Give new residents with pets a goodie bag with some starter gifts. (Pick up bags, treats, a small toy, and a welcome newsletter just for pets with intros from other community pets.)
Pet-Friendly Décor: Incorporate pet-friendly decor in model apartments to showcase how pets can comfortably live in the space.