Each week there are dozens of awareness days including ones focused on pets and animals that you can use as a Petpreneur to get press coverage.

It could be something fun like Dress Up Your Pet Day, something involving your community like National Dog Friendly Day, or have an important message like Pet Obesity Awareness Day.

There’s National Pick Up Poo Day, Love Your Groomer Day, Canine Companion Day, Dog Photography Day and many more.

You don’t have to create your own day either – simply use dates that are already registered and in media planners and you can land amazing press coverage.

In this podcast episode discover how to use awareness days to raise your pet business profile and be your own PR.

You can listen in on the player link below or read the key points as a blog post.

Having your own awareness day

This episode is going out in March 2022 and you might have seen that Sarah Jones from My Anxious Dog has had an incredible result from her DogsInYellow day on March 20th. 

In just three days, she had 11 pieces of national press coverage and radio, which is a new record for the last three years I’ve been working with pet businesses.

Sarah registered her day with The Year Ahead in 2021 and has working tirelessly on making it a success including pitching to dozens of media outlets over the last few months.

If you have your own awareness day, brilliant, this is something that can really put your business on the map because when people look up the day, they find you.

But don’t worry if you’ve tried to register a day and been knocked back, even Janet Murray, content marketing queen had this happen.

You can still have your day without it being official and if you’d like support with this when it comes to getting press coverage, my Awareness Day bundle may be for you.

What makes for a successful awareness day?

One that people can easily get involved with like National Dog Photography Day on July 26th created by photographer Kerry Jordan.

Click to read: How Kerry Jordan’s National Dog Photography Day went viral

We take 77 MILLION photos of our dogs each week according to a study by Natures Menu and who doesn’t love sharing photos of their dog?

One that creates an emotional response, so Sarah Jones’ Dogs in Yellow Day on March 20th is in support of dogs who are anxious. 

Sarah created a compelling campaign which has grown into a movement where she talked from the heart as an anxious dog owner and about how her anxious dog Bella views the world.

One that is timely too – Sarah’s day has really taken off because many pet parents are struggling with anxious pets post lockdown.

How do I choose the right awareness day to use?

Spend time going through a planner with awareness days in, and there are lots online like https://www.awarenessdays.com/ and on www.animalscharities.co.uk/

This list from Sarah Jane White from Ruffle Snuffle is great and I also use Janet Murray’s Courageous Content planner.

Pick an awareness day that’s really relevant to what you do

For example, if you’re a vet running a community helping pet parents manage their pet’s weight like vet Caroline Taylor, aka the Slim Pet Vet, then National Pet Obesity Day would be ideal for a campaign.

(Find out more about Caroline here: https://www.facebook.com/DrCaroline.Vet)

If you work with animals with Arthritis like Hannah Capon from Canine Arthritis Management, you could use National Arthritis Awareness Week from October 7-14th.

As a dog photographer, National Dog Photography Day on July 26th is a way to show off your skills and images and share tips.

And if you’re a cat groomer, Love Your Cat Day taking place on March 24th (today) is perfect to talk about the benefits of grooming.

How do you build a campaign for an awareness day?

Plan ahead. If you want to be featured in a magazine you need to send your pitch at least three months before your day.

For newspapers I would do a month before to give yourself plenty of time, and the same for radio, podcasts and blogs.

It is better to be too early than miss out!

But you can send out pitches and press releases the week of your day.

Sarah from My Anxious Dog sent out several just days before and landed coverage in Pet Gazette, Pet Business World, BBC Radio London, Pet Trade Extra and two local BBC stations.

What else do you need for your awareness day campaign?

It’s great having eyes on your business for that day if you have a successful campaign. People will find you on social media and check out your website.

It’s important to carry on the conversation with those new followers and browsers. Can you get them to download a guide that fits with your day?

For Caroline it might be how to check your pet is a healthy weight.

For Kerry or Nicki it might be how to take awesome photos of your dog.

For Sarah it’s an awareness pack showing pet parents how to educate people around dogs and anxiety.

You can hire a copywriter to help with this if you’re feeling overwhelmed like Rikki Sullivan at The Canine Copywriter.

You want to stand out on social media too so while Canva is great, consider having some graphics made.

These are for your own feed and your supporters too. To make your awareness day campaign a success, the more people involved the better.

Alison Price can help with graphic design at https://www.houseofhenry.uk/

And Rosie Robinson with websites at https://www.wufdesign.co.uk/

Michelle Burgess from Scruffy Little Terrier has National Terrier Day taking place this weekend and has fun quotes about life as a terrier mum that she shares with her community.

Michelle posts the graphics and gives a cheerleader pack to her followers too, so they have ready made social media graphics and this helps make the day take off.

Last year it trended on Twitter and led to thousands of visits to her website.

Making your awareness day content work hard

Whether it’s your own day or you’re using an existing day, you’ll create lots of content and make sure it works hard for you.

Repurpose a press release into a blog post, and into social media posts, and don’t be afraid to keep posting and posting about your campaign.

If you can, particularly if it’s your day, clear your diary and focus on social media, connecting with new people, curating content, that’s what gets your day trending.

Have a debrief after your awareness day campaign

You might be shattered after the day but try to have some time to reflect on how things went. 

Get your website stats, look at your sales, save all your posts and any other resources you’ve created.

This will save you time for next time – and remember you can repurpose all your work next year and for similar days.

Want support getting press coverage around awareness days?

Book your half day for here.

If you enjoyed this post, you might like to read In the spotlight with Sarah Jones from My Anxious Dog or Kerry Jordan on how to create your own awareness day.