As a dedicated animal welfare activist and caretaker, I’ve noticed some parallels that can be drawn from that work, relating to what I’m trying to accomplish with my internet marketing efforts. It was only the other day that I realized the correlations, as I have kept these parts of my life very well separated. Now, I’m thinking, they aren’t that far apart after all. Here is how I came to realize it:
I started an animal shelter about 7 years ago and have rescued hundreds of dogs and close to 1,000 cats. Housing them has been an amazing experience that has taught me a lot about pet care, behavior and health, and how people influence those dynamics (good and bad). Working with that many animals has given me knowledge and expertise that has provided the content for several ebooks and many articles, not to mention, successful outcomes for most of the animals, because I paid attention to details, followed up on what worked best, and recorded my observations.
I hesitate to call any of it “experimentation” as that implies testing that necessarily allows a percentage of my “subjects” to suffer ill effects for comparison purposes.
However, it is correct to use the term to describe my non-scientific, trial and error, approach to determine best protocols to handle their various needs.
OK, now pay attention to this revelation, because it relates to marketing, too:
In time, I developed policies that most often ensured their best interests. For example, feeding the cats is a major endeavor, since they come from different backgrounds, with different ages, weights, breeds, health issues, environments and experiences with people and/or other animals. Often, these factors are unknown because there are no records.
With such enormous variety of background factors, it soon became obvious to me that cats are not finicky or picky, as people believe, but rather, cautious about anything that might compromise their safety and survival. Not allowing themselves to be forced into our notion of cooperation, which is only forced conformation to our convenience, is not picky… it’s individuality, a trait not generally appreciated by humans in regard to animals… and hardly to other humans.
Appetite may result from hunger, but it does not lead to consumption if the product is unfamiliar.
Just like their human counterparts, cats come to the table with many differences, though it will be necessary in a shelter to be fed foods they may not know. (Imagine you’re in Africa and have been offered a local delicacy that turns out to be sheep’s eyeballs. How eager are you to eat that? Even the common daily menu could include items you do not consider food, such as insects and grubs. You could lose a lot of weight in the process. have you ever watched that television show, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern?)
Finding an acceptable food puts a burden on the caretakers (the shelter) to meet a wide and largely unknown variety of appetites. Forcing all the cats to eat the same food may be a necessity for shelter survival, but occasionally it threatens the lives of individual cats with special needs. Unfortunately, we did lose 6 cats during the first 6 years the shelter was open.
When a cat cannot or will not eat, they die. Period. Why don’t they just eat the food in front of them, like a dog would? Perhaps this huge behavior difference can be attributed to totally different evolutionary paths, but it doesn’t matter. You can’t change a cat’s instincts. You can, however, train some cats to accept a new food, but it requires more time spent on one cat and takes away from the time needed for the rest. I do it anyway, as it is worth it if the cat makes it. But they don’t always last long enough to overcome their body’s reaction to fasting.
What keeps them from making the transition to a new food?
1. If they are depressed, they won’t eat. Cats are very emotional.
2. If the smell is unfamiliar, they may not realize it is food.
3. If they are physically unable to smell, as from an injury, they don’t recognize anything as food, even if it’s something they have always loved.
One cat we lost some years ago had been rescued from an abusive situation wherein a blow to the face damaged his sinuses. He had to breathe through his mouth and he never ate again. Veterinary care kept him going for about a week, but we could not afford the delicate surgery to repair his sinuses.
The other 5 cats died because they were in unfamiliar surroundings, out of their comfort zones, and missed their families. Nothing keeps these cats alive if they can’t transition to a new life and start eating.
Customers can be like that. While the results aren’t as dire, many people cannot or will not be convinced that they need your product or service. It is up to you to get in front of people who already know or can see your stuff has value. It is fruitless to spend inordinate amounts of time trying to make people want you, just like trying to make a cat eat new food.
Many marketers take the wrong approach… they are trying to “make a cat eat something” it doesn’t recognize as useful or desirable.
Clearly, the most difficult path is to create a product and then try to educate the public to create a market that wants it.
The more practical path, then, is to
1. Find hungry cats who already know that the “food” you have is exactly what they already wanted and have been looking for. Then give it to them.
2. Put them into a consumption frame of mind. This could mean giving them a treat to get their attention first (a free gift), then “permission” to go ahead and get the new product. Sometimes pets have been trained to stay away from an area and you have to let them know it’s OK to go there at your place. I’ve actually sat on the floor by a cat and cajoled and cooed to let them know it’s OK to eat the food, even when it’s familiar to them but the location is not. With people, you create this frame of mind with your “call to action.” Be clear, and firm if needed, by letting a customer know that yes, this is the right product, and this is the right time and place to buy it.
3. Once they know it’s OK and that you are the best person to get it from, they will gobble it up and come to you again later for more. Once satisfied, and now able to trust you, they will be willing to get other products from you, too.
Coo and cajole your cats, er, customers, and you will have devoted followers for many years.