Dog-Harmony Lifestyle: A Case Study in Effective Content Marketing
Great content marketing adds value to your target audience(s), creates human connections and appeals to emotions. To create authenticity and build trust in a brand, Ragan recommends the following to brand managers, entrepreneurs and fellow content marketers:
“Pay attention to culture. These people with purchasing power don’t only care about products. They’re interested in the arts, in sports, in politics and so much more. Figure out what excites them, scares them, makes them laugh. And use specifics rather than generalized ideas.”
Introducing Dog-Harmony Lifestyle
This concept struck home in 2020 during a meeting at Dog-Harmony, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to helping dogs rescue people through humane education and positive dog training. (I have been involved with Dog-Harmony since I was adopted by my Florida brown dog, Chloe, who has become my office pawtner.) The non-profit provides humane education and outreach services, bite prevention programs for children, as well as free of charge dog training to parents of rescue dogs to keep them out of overcrowded shelters and in their homes.
While brainstorming ways to build brand awareness and gain public support of the non-profit’s mission, a third party suggested a lifestyle magazine publication. With a prevalence of aversion-based dog trainers and overcrowded shelters in the northwest Florida area, Dog-Harmony, as a small non-profit, faced challenges to reach and educate the community to help turn the tide. We decided that a publication to advance Dog-Harmony’s humane education outreach and build brand awareness was a daunting prospect, but the perfect approach. We branded it Dog-Harmony Lifestyle.
Identifying the Need in the Community
Despite the reductions of euthanasia and intake rates of cats and dogs in Florida in recent years, Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida notes that:
“As a state, Florida’s shelter trends have long tracked with the rest of the South, with higher animal intake per capita and higher euthanasia rates than other parts of the country. Warm climate, high poverty rates, large rural communities, and veterinary care deserts all contribute to a pet overpopulation problem that overwhelms the capacity of many shelters… In 2020, shelter animal intake was 14.5 animals per 1,000 residents in Florida, compared to 12.5 for the US as a whole. Florida shelter euthanasia was 1.9/1,000 residents, compared to 1.3 nationally.”
Seizing the Opportunity
With the need for humane education and positive dog training in our community identified, we developed our initial network of partners and contributors and launched the first quarterly issue of Dog-Harmony Lifestyle in December 2020. The publication, which targets all dog lovers and animal advocates, is dedicated to enriching the lives of humans and their canine family members.
Canine family members have a strong influence on their parents’ discretionary spending and long-term investments, such as real estate acquisitions. Millennials are also now earning "more than young adult households did at nearly any time in the past 50 years," according to the Pew Research Center. Companion animal spending in 2020, despite (or because) of the COVID-19 pandemic, reached sales of more than $100B USD for the first time in the US – and saw a 9.7% increase in the sales of pet food and treats alone.
Source: American Pet Products Association
According to the National Association of Realtors, millennials (1980-1998) are the generation constituting the largest share (37%) of all homebuyers in 2021. Of the 69 million households with dogs, millennials represent approximately 25% (or 17.25 million) of those households.
Source: American Pet Products Association (APPA), Petfood Processing®
A third of millennial homebuyers have even reported that they based the decision to buy a house on their desire to have a better space/yard for their dog.
Source: SunTrust Mortgage
What better way to reach and influence a sizeable – and growing - dog-loving community of 69 million households in the United States than with a doggie lifestyle magazine publication?
Developing Partnerships
Partners and readers directly support Dog-Harmony, the non-profit, when they contribute content, advertise with the magazine or buy a copy to read. Our partners are also supporting animal shelters in their local communities. Dog-Harmony donates access its educational Dog-Harmony Lifestyle publication to local shelters.
The publication provides: dog health and nutrition tips; a puppy survival guide; fear free pet training advice; recommendations on places to go – and traveling safely - with your dogs; canine enrichment activity suggestions; toy selections; and more! Contributors include veterinarians, certified professional dog trainers, certified dog behavior consultants, fear free certified professionals and others from a wide variety of professional backgrounds.
Dog-Harmony Lifestyle connects with its audience of dog lovers by providing educational resources, tips and recommendations for living harmoniously with canine family members. The magazine also provides a platform for other brands to reach their target audience in an authentic way by benefitting the lives of dogs and the humans they rescue.
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