You’ve tried sharing, you’ve tried begging, you’ve tried making them laugh — but that one long-stay pet is just not getting interest from adopters. What’s next?
Putting them in the witness protection program, of course. What we mean is that you need to start from scratch by wiping them clean of their current identity and giving them a brand new name, profile, photographs and any other assets you can think of.
Once you’ve done that, create buzz around them!
Here are just a few ideas to get your wheels turning.
Choosing a name:
- Name them after a popular celebrity that makes sense with their personality or looks
- Think local! Name them after an athlete from a local sports team, a local business or restaurant (if applicable), or even a local media person, like a TV news anchor or a favorite DJ on the radio. Then reach out to the person or retailer asking for help promoting the special superstar. Perhaps even a selfie with them?
Social media:
- Host a live Twitter chat with them
- Take it a step further and use Facebook Live to host an interview with them. Have people submit questions. You could make it a daily talk show for a week, or even feature a different long-stay pet each day
- Have them take over your tweets for the day. Be sure to make them entertaining and reflect their personality!
- Create a special Facebook page for an individual pet (or all long-stay pets)
- Use video to show them doing tricks, playing with another dog, or anything else they do that helps set them apart from other pets
- Create an ad on Facebook.
- Create a contest around them
Local businesses and community:
- Reach out to a local business, retailer or restaurant who will share them on their social pages, email newsletters, or at their physical place of business
- Ask a local business sponsor their adoption
- Create table tents with their photo and contact information to put on tables or desks
- Reach out to local sports teams to see if they’ll get involved
- Have a “Where’s Waldo?” contest with local retailers. Take pictures of the pet in various retailers around your town and have people guess where they’re at. Have the businesses help promote it!
- Have a selfie contest. Have people take a selfie with the pet and share them on their social pages
Local Media:
- Take them on your local TV station’s Pet of the Week segment
- Ask for an endorsement from a local DJ or radio station
- Is there a music festival coming to town? Ask if the pet can help introduce the opening act!
- Tweet to press and ask them to retweet
Specific groups or organizations that make sense with the pet:
- Is your pet active and would make a great running buddy? Reach out to your local running store or club!
- How about a pet that just wants to relax? Sounds like a spa or salon might be a good fit to help promote them!
- Do you have a special needs pet, such as one with diabetes or who is blind? Connect to local associations for these conditions to see if someone is looking for the perfect match.
- Seniors for seniors, enough said!
What out-of-the-box ideas have you tried to get long-stay pets adopted? Tell us on our Facebook page!
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