Animal Shelter Marketing: Cards for Promoting Your Adoptable Animals

How many pictures, graphics, and flyers advertising a dog or cat looking for their next home have you seen? Hundreds, right? From hand-written notes to ultra-short descriptions to long bios about each animal, there are a ton of ways to offer that information to the public. Standing out and providing that content in an eye-catching format, one which can be easily handed out, shared online and even collected by kids helping to get a pet a forever home is a win-win!

   

There are many trading card templates out there online which you could use, or you can find a company which makes them and have some printed up. Granted, minimum order could be too many pieces to make sense, and of course you'd have to consider all the costs involved as some of the companies I've researched ranged in price from $.45 to well over $1.00 each. While prohibitive for most cases, perhaps you might find a place willing to print fewer copies and for that long-time shelter resident who just hasn't found the right home yet, perhaps utilizing a promo idea like this would be just the ticket!

Not only can you customize the wording for each animal (if you create the cards yourself), but you could really have fun with them. Write the short bio from the pet's perspective and use humor in the description - or have it read like a personals ad or vintage advertisement. Between the style of template, color options, fonts and personalization, your shelter residents can each stand out and shine! If you are creating them on the computer yourself, it's pretty quick after you've done the first one. These designs are ones that I've created and customized, and to print they line up three on a page horizontally or four in a grid layout. This way, printing out one sheet of a color copy on heavy cardstock ($.40 here where I live) would give you four cards if you opt for that method. Now you do have to cut and trim them but the cost is pretty affordable at just $.10 each.

I hope this idea inspires you to try the cards! Everyone who has seen them so far thinks they are adorable and I'm excited at the possibility of a new twist on promoting shelter residents. Let me know what you think and how you are working to personalize your adoptables. Good luck!

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Sincerely,
Andrea Baumann
Marketing Delmarva

 

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