We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nikki Gray a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Nikki thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
I had just decided to start my business and couldn’t come up with a name. My husband and I were camping, and he could tell I was distracted. When he asked me what was wrong, I told him I was really stressing over a name. I wanted something unique, not just Nikki’s Pet Sitting Services like so many others do. He began throwing out funny names to make me laugh and relax a little, when he threw out “Barks ‘n Bobbers” I told him that would be perfect! He didn’t think I was serious, but it totally worked for me. I got a logo that goes well with it, and it’s original.
Nikki, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I used to be a Vet Tech full time, and would pet sit on the side for extra income. (Vet tech’s don’t get paid very well, and I made less than average because I worked in a shelter.) I began to hear a lot of our fosters talk about needing to bring their fosters back to the shelter to stay because they couldn’t be boarded due to behavioral or medical issues, and none of their area pet sitters were comfortable taking on pets that needed extensive medical care or had extreme behavioral quirks. When I offered to pet sit for them, they were so relieved that they could go out of town without worrying about their animals or their fosters and not have to feel guilty about bringing their fosters back to the shelter (not that they should have felt guilty, but many of them would have regardless). With that, I decided to create a Pet sitting service that specializes in caring for pets with medical or behavioral quirks. I believe our ability to handle more in depth medical care, as well as safely handle pets with behavioral problems that other companies would normally turn down sets us apart from the majority. We also do not charge add on fees. We only charge for mileage and our time, so if our client has 10 animals to be taken care of, we’re not going to charge an extra fee for the extra animals. Only for the time it takes us to care for them.
I’m most proud of the “tailor made” services we provide. We understand that every client, and every pet is different, and do everything in our power to not only accommodate their needs, but go above and beyond their expectations.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I started off bullying all of my friends & family into following my page (I’m kidding! They were all very supportive and so excited for me). I reached out to old clients and let them know I had turned my side hustle into a business and created a social media page. Everyone that has social media followed me, some left reviews, and others made sure to recommend me in local Facebook groups. That helped out quite a bit, but it didn’t really start to increase until I started posting in Facebook groups that were within my service area. I post a lot of pictures and videos of my work (only with the clients permission) and a lot of them will share the post I made of their pets. This, in turn, gets the attention of the people on their friends list, and then they start to follow. I will say, Facebook has been most successful in helping me gain new clients, but Instagram and TikTok have been helpful. My best advice is, don’t waste money on pay per click adds. I stopped doing them after a 2 week bill was over $50 and I hadn’t gained any leads from that ad. I’ve stopped all paid ads everywhere, and over time, I’ve still built up a nice list of clientele, and continue to grow without paid ads. Maybe it’ll be worth it once the business is gaining more revenue, but right now, I don’t think it’s worth it.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
I have a scheduling software that allows private chat with all of my clients. If I need to have a conversation over the phone or in person, I make it happen. We also frequently chat through social media comments/messenger. I believe my brand loyalty is fostered not only through our work, but the amount of personalized care my clients receive, even when we’re not on the job/getting paid for services.
Some argue that this leads to burn out, lack of work/life balance, clients taking advantage of you, etc.. but I feel like those scenarios are different for everyone, and it while this may be the case for some, it is not for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.barksnbobbers.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barksnbobberspetcare/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarksnBobbersPetCare
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/barks-n-bobbers-pet-care-weimar?osq=pet+sitter
- Other: TikTok @barksnbobberspetcare
Image Credits
Nikki Gray-Barks ‘n Bobbers Pet Care LLC