Stop Being Your Town’s Best-Kept Secret: Pet PR & Business Marketing Tips for Independent Pet Stores
Pet Boss Nation founder Candace D’Agnolo shares practical PR, marketing, and business growth strategies that help independent pet retailers. She wants you to attract more customers, build community trust, and stop being their town’s best-kept secret.
Show Summary
Independent pet businesses need to focus on pet PR and business marketing. They’ve never faced more competition—or more opportunity. Between national chains, online retailers, shifting consumer habits, and the endless demands of running a business, many pet store owners struggle to find visibility.
D’Agnolo has one big piece of advice for her fellow small, independent pet store owners. Pet PR and marketing are not optional. Drawing on nearly 25 years in the pet industry, Candace explains how store owners can compete without massive advertising budgets. She also thinks business owners need to understand their customers and consistently show up where pet owners already are.
The conversation goes beyond marketing tactics. It’s a masterclass in leadership, reputation management, and the power of becoming the trusted local expert. Every pet owner remembers when they need advice.
There is an old saying in business that D’Agnolo believes every independent pet retailer should remember: You can’t be your town’s best-kept secret. It sounds simple, but it’s one of the biggest reasons otherwise exceptional pet businesses struggle to grow.
Many independent retailers invest enormous amounts of time perfecting their product selection, improving customer service, training employees, and learning about pet nutrition. Yet marketing often becomes the last item on an already overwhelming to-do list.
By the end of the day, there are invoices to pay, inventory to receive, employees to schedule, online orders to fill, and customers to serve. Marketing becomes something owners promise themselves they’ll “get to next week.”
According to D’Agnolo, that’s exactly backward.
“If customers aren’t coming through the door,” she explains, “nothing else matters.” Visibility isn’t separate from running the business. It’s running the business.
Passion Alone Doesn’t Build a Profitable Pet Business
One of the most refreshing aspects of D’Agnolo’s philosophy is her honesty. She recognizes that nearly everyone enters the pet industry because they love animals. Some started after solving a problem with their own pet, while others wanted to improve nutrition. Some even wanted to rescue more animals or simply dreamed of opening the neighborhood pet store they wished existed.
Passion gets people started, but it doesn’t necessarily prepare them to understand cash flow, profit-and-loss statements, inventory management, employee leadership, or strategic marketing.
That’s one of the reasons D’Agnolo launched Pet Boss Nation ten years ago.
She realized independent retailers didn’t simply need another webinar or software platform. They needed someone who had actually lived through the challenges they faced. Someone who understood the sting of a one-star review, knew what it felt like when a trusted pet food brand suddenly appeared in national chain stores, or someone who understood the loneliness that often comes with owning a small business.
That shared experience became the foundation of an entire community built around education, accountability, and encouragement.
Pet Business Marketing Starts Long Before Social Media
One of the biggest misconceptions about marketing is that it’s primarily about posting on Facebook or creating videos for Instagram. D’Agnolo argues that effective marketing starts much earlier—with understanding who your customer actually is. Many businesses assume every pet owner is a potential customer. They’re not.
Instead of guessing, Candace surveyed customers at her new retail store. The results surprised her and the majority of respondents weren’t retirees or first-time pet owners. Instead, they were women between the ages of 25 and 44 living in multi-pet households. That single insight immediately changed how she thought about marketing.
Instead of creating broad messages designed to appeal to everyone, she could now speak directly to the customers most likely to visit her store. The lesson is powerful. Marketing becomes significantly easier—and far more effective—when businesses understand exactly who they’re trying to serve.
You Don’t Have to Be Everywhere as an Independent Pet Retailer
Small businesses often feel pressure to maintain a presence on every social media platform.
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, LInkedIn The list keeps growing.
D’Agnolo believes that’s a mistake. Her customer research showed Facebook remained the dominant platform, followed closely by Instagram. Rather than spreading limited time and resources across every channel, she encourages business owners to focus on the platforms where their customers already spend time. The same principle applies offline.
Maybe your community responds best to local festivals.
Perhaps it’s farmers markets.
Maybe it’s sponsoring rescue events.
Or becoming the pet expert local television stations call when they need seasonal pet safety advice.
Success rarely comes from doing everything. It comes from consistently doing the right things well.
Meet Candace D’Agnolo
D’Agnolo is one of the pet industry’s most respected business coaches and retail experts. As the founder of Pet Boss Nation, she has spent the last decade helping independent pet retailers strengthen their businesses through education, coaching, and community.
Before launching Pet Boss Nation, D’Agnolo successfully built and sold three independent pet businesses, giving her firsthand insight into the challenges local retailers face every day. Today, she combines that experience with coaching programs, educational events, speaking engagements, and the Pet Boss Podcast to support thousands of pet professionals across North America.
More recently, Candace returned to brick-and-mortar retail by opening Dante & Dory’s Pet Emporium in Galesburg, Illinois, allowing her to continue testing and refining the same business strategies she teaches her clients.
Ready to Bark Loud and Purr Smarter?
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