There are thousands of local and online Pet Stores but most people only know about Petco and PetsMart. The reason these businesses have succeed is because of consistent advertising so the customer does not forget their name (brand). Branding is the key to success of any business regardless of size.

A brand is your organizations personality. Without a brand youre only a small business. You need to start with targeting your potential customer base. If you provide a Pet Sitting service, make sure people in your area know about you. Try to take advantage of all possible advertising opportunities. Have good references ready for potential customers. People feel more comfortable with the businesses who provide customer feedbacks.

Try different marketing strategies before you decide on one. Measure your advertising performance periodically and make changes accordingly. Try to advertise on media that provide you longer visibility. For example, it is better to advertise in Yellow Pages or Online Business Directory who provide one year listing than your one time ad in the Newspaper.

Other thing you could do is, study marketing strategies for big businesses who are successful. You may not be able to spend same money as big businesses but it could give you enough information to make the right marketing decisions. Based on the Overture keyword tool, there were 3,95,015 searches performed for the keyword Pet Supply in the month of May 2005. This information is to give you an idea that people are looking for your products or services, but they should be able to find you. This can be done with branding your business.