Marketing your horse business with Magalogs

What’s a Magalog?

Here is a sample magalog that explains why you might want to consider creating one to help market your business…

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Successful Magalog Marketing – The Magalog Guy

People want to make the right decision when they purchase something and with money tight a lot of people are being extra careful about their purchases. Are you giving people all the info they need and desire to feel comfortable enough to buy from you? A lot of people post business cards up in feed stores and other places, but come on — how much selling can a tiny card do? A brochure is good, but is it giving the readers all they need to make a buying decision for a costly horse, product, or service?

Longer sales copy done right might be the answer to increasing your sales. The Magalog sample above has some good marketing tips in it even if you decide that one isn’t for you right now. Also take the time to note the way that it is designed — how the text and images are placed and work together. Most young and/or small horse businesses have sales material that is lacking in professional design and clarity of sales massage. Start taking notice of what the most successful horse businesses are doing in way of their advertisements — online and off.

By the way, make sure you are happy with your horse logo design before spending the time and money on creating your marketing items.

To view some gorgeous horse ads check out my past article: Gorgeous horse pictures in Horses for Life magazine

Horse Advertising Network – Reach 85,000 plus Horse Enthusiasts

Introducing the Horse Advertising Network (HADN) for the Horse Industry (Carson City, NV – July 7, 2009) The easiest, most effective Internet advertising solution dedicated solely to the Horse Industry.

HADN is an online match maker uniting horse related advertisers with multiple horse related website publishers. The Horse Advertising Network, provides the vehicle for banner type ads to be uploaded automatically to horse related websites directly by the HADN advertiser. The ads are then displayed by website owners –“HADN publishers”- who provide ad space to HADN in exchange for payment; realizing additional income at no additional cost.

The Horse Advertising Network

HADN simplifies the act of buying and selling for both advertisers and web publishers in the horse industry.

While HADN is the first of its kind ad server solution for the horse industry, the vertical ad market concept we use is well proven and promoted by top marketing professionals.

The HADN core technology currently serves over 150,000 websites and servers over 300 BILLION ad views per month. HADN technology is continually updated to keep it current with general ad serving capabilities.

Become a member of HADN today and start seeing results tomorrow.

YouTube video – The Horse Advertising Network http://snipurl.com/rqoc1

About HADN:

The Horse Advertising Network is a Biz Strategies, Inc. solution.

For More Information Contact:

Renae Dudley
renaedudley @ horseadvertisingnetwork . com (remove spaces)
Phone: 816-289-5555

About Renae Dudley:

Renae Dudley is a horse industry professional. She is a life long horse breeder, certified judge and equine appraiser. She has developed software products for horse farms. Renae has been a sales professional in the horse advertising business for over 12 years. renaedudley @ horseadvertisingnetwork . com (remove spaces)

The Horse Advertising Network (HADN) http://snipurl.com/nael2

Note from Joni: If you are using this service I would love to hear your option on it. Please leave a comment below. Thanks!

2008 UPDATE: NickerIt.com closed its site.

Announcing NickerIt.com an bookmarking site for horse people

Nicker: “Hello, good to see you.” ~The Horse.

NickerIt.com is a new, social bookmarking service for equestrians to share news, photos, videos, and website links with other equestrians.

The concept is fun and easy … submit your favorite link to NickerIt.com for other equestrians to see. A nicker — translated from the horse as “Hello, good to see you” — is someone saying they like the link. Once something has been nickered, other users can keep nickering it to show they like it, too.

NickerIt.com is a social bookmarking service that benefits equestrians twofold — popular links rise to the top and it’s easy to find new websites that are based on categories.

“Social bookmarking with NickerIt.com enables you to discover content that you might not have found with traditional search engines or link directories,” noted Scott Hanselman, creator of NickerIt.com. “Because the links are added and nickered [voted on] by users, informative content will naturally be popular and easy to find.”

As a registered user of NickerIt.com, equestrians can submit their favorite content links, add comments, and subscribe to web feeds (also known as RSS Feeds) from the “Popular Links”, “Upcoming Links”, and individual Categories.

For more information or to register for free, visit NickerIt.com

NickerIt.com is a great place for equestrians to discover and share favorite horse related content from the Internet. Like a virtual conversation between equestrians, links are voted on or Nickered as we affectionately refer to it. NickerIt.com operates as part of the EquinesUnlimited.com network.

EquinesUnlimited.com is an Internet publishing company that includes a network of full-featured equine websites.

Horse business social marketing tip:

Drag the Nickerit site link to your desktop to your quick links browser bar, then make a note in your to-do-list and business calendar to remind you to nicker your blog posts, articles, and press releases as your put them on the web. Let your friends and family know about your nickers and they may nicker your story too.

But don’t stop there. Nicker other horse stories your find that relates to your product or service. This will help you educate people to the benefits of what your are selling. Contact the people that your nickered and let them know that you nickered their article and they may do the same for your stories on NickerIt.

P.S. I designed the NickerIt logo. For more info on my custom logo packages visit my site Horse-Logos.com.

Social Networking Site Examples…

MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Photobucket, Metacafe, Yahoo groups, Hub Pages, Care2.com, Propeller, bebo, orkut, and on and on and on – there are thousands of sites!

Social Bookmarking Site Examples…

Digg, Del.icio.us, Technorati, Wikipedia, Scribd, Twitter, Squidoo, Gather, NickerIt etc…

Learn more about Social Networking Sites and Social Marketing

• Social Marketing – There are NO Secrets Video
• List of social marketing videos on youtube.com
• Social marketing vs. social media marketing
• Facebook: More Popular Than Porn
• The Future of Facebook
• Top Ten Marketing Podcasts

Youtube video: 5 Reasons Why Social Marketing is a Must

Jane Savoie, one of the top dressage riders is having a holiday sale as a thank you.

The special sale starts Tuesday, November 20 at 9 AM EST. It will be over at midnight November 27 EST so don’t wait.

The Equestrian Goodies:

You get 20% off of ALL orders. That means not only will you get the discount for books, CDs and DVDs, but you’ll ALSO get 20% off of all Equestrian video lessons, mentoring sessions, and coaching programs! (Note: Space is limited for mentoring and coaching. There are only 5 slots available.)

Plus bonuses…

BONUS #1: And that’s not all! For every order over $150, I’m including an autographed copy of my little motivational book, A Winning Attitude PLUS a CD of a live lecture PLUS a motivational quote card to carry in your wallet. This $35 value makes a great stocking stuffer!

BONUS #2: PLUS…For every order over $250, you’ll get an autographed copy of my best seller, That Winning Feeling! Join the thousands who have used the tools in this book to transform not only their riding but also their lives.

Here’s what Gail George from Western Australia has to say about these educational tools:

“Your books and DVD’s put things in simple terms that I can remember! You know you’ve made it if you can get an Aussie bush girl brought up on stock horses to Grand Prix, without even meeting me!”

To take advantage of the sale and shop for the horse lovers in your life, visit Jane Savoie website.
Horse business marketing tip: Consider having sales as a way to gain PR exposer (see I posted her sales news) and drive more people to your business.

About Jane Savoie

Jane Savoie wears many hats in the horse industry — dressage competitor, coach, instructor, clinician, speaker and author.

Jane Savoie is one of the most recognized names in dressage, and for a good reason. Her accomplishments and the breadth of her influence are impressive. She has been a member of the United States Equestrian Team and has competed for the US in Canada, Holland, Belgium, France and Germany. She was the reserve rider for the Bronze medal winning Olympic dressage team in Barcelona, Spain. She has been long-listed by the USET with several horses and has won nine… (more)

A friend recently sent me an email with a lot of photos of creative mailboxes. I thought, “What a great idea to draw attention to a horse business!” So I did a quick Google search and found sites with creative mailbox photos. Some of the photos on Sam’s Mailbox Pictures where of the same ones emailed to me. This is long web page full of intriguing and creative mailbox photos. Some of these creative mailbox creations should boost your creative thinking on your horse business marketing!

Think about it, what are you doing to draw some attention to your horse business? Do you have a nice sign posted up? Is it large enough and creative enough to draw some looks? Do you have a plain boring mailbox when you could have an eye catcher?

I from that first site I found Dean’s Custom Mailboxes. He makes wonderful horse mailboxes. Then I found The Mailbox Ranch with super WOW horse mailboxes! These should get people to take a double look.

So many horse business people complain that it is so hard to make money in the horse business and then they skimp on marketing. I have been to horse farms that didn’t even have a small sign hanging up. I even ended up at the wrong farm once because I passed up the first place because they didn’t have a sign and stopped at the first horse farm that I came to that sported a sign. And some places had signs so old and worn that I thought twice about visiting at all once I got there.

I doesn’t matter if you have horses polished better than Sunday china if no one learns about them. You have to market your business and it doesn’t always require big bucks. Get creative and think about ways you can draw attention to your farm/ranch/business.

More creative marketing ideas:

1. Horse Crossing Signs These would be great for most horse farms and stables!
   krittersinthemailbox.com and signswithanattitude.com are two sites I found and I know there are more.
2. Decorative Horse Flags You could use these to pretty up your stable and office. flagsforyou.com
3. Horse Event Banners Do you hold any horse events? Then post a large banner for each one. Brand them with your logo. You do have a logo design right?

Have more creative marketing ideas, post them in the comments! We would all love to hear them.

Internet greeting cards for horse lovers

Hi, I have been super busy today creating new equine ecards to add to my free horse postcards. You are sure to find one that would be perfect to send to a friend, a family member, and don’t forget your clients and potential customers.

Here is a quick peek at one of the horse ecards I have just added (this is just the thumbnail image, the full size cards are a large 500 x 750 pixels)…

Ecards can be a sensational marketing tool for your horse business because people really love receiving greeting cards. E-cards are great way to let your customers know that you are thinking about them and truly appreciate them.

Egreeting cards are a fun way to invite people to your horse events, shows, parties, and even to remind them about their class schedules.

Two horses headed for death saved and made into greeting cards.

I just thought that I would share with you a little background information on a couple of the horses who’s photos appear in the Horse Art eCards. Both of these horses had a rough start in life and were about to be auctioned for horse meat, but kind and loving people rescued them and they are now living the good life.

“Shiloh” Percheron/Belgian cross

(Photo posted in the “Wise Words” ecard category in Horse Art eCards.)

“…for those who aren’t aware…Dan and I adopted Shiloh from a rescue in Kentucky when she was 17 days old…she would have been sent to slaughter had she not been rescued. She is a Percheron/Belgian cross and 3.5 yrs old now and once she’s clean…a real beauty! Just goes to show ya…that thar bucket feeding her milk sure goes a long way! LOL )

She and Dan are doing very well with their schooling to drive….we are very excited to get Shiloh “graduated” and back home to take ‘er for a spin!”

- Marian Mastin of Adopt A Foal – Mon, 11 Dec 2006

“DOC HUDSON” Quarterhorse

(Photos posted in the ecard categories of “Wise Words”, “Love”, and “Christmas” in Horse Art eCards.)

“I wanted to tell you what Alina (the little girl in the photos) was telling Doc in that picture – she later told her MiMi that she was telling Doc, “Doc, you and me are going to grow big together.” Pretty good looking quarter horse who was rescued from and saved from going to auction – he is from grand champion cutting stock and because he was raised around Pasos – he thinks he’s one. Too funny!

My dad started round penning him in August and he is the smartest baby (foal) they have ever come across. As different people come through the barn, they all ooh & aah over Doc and now the owner of the barn regrets getting rid of him. Different cutting trainers have been in and out of the barn and immediately spot him. They are curious about his bloodlines and when told who he is out of they can’t believe how my parents acquired him. Now he has a permanent home and he and my daughter will be reunited in about a years time so they can grow big together.

Sadly most of the horses (14 in all, purebred with fantastic papers) went to auction some for as little as $75 to $350 (for a mare with a newborn) all with papers! One Peppy Sand Badger son (stallion) sold for $225, hopefully he found a good home.” (The caretaker of these horses died and owners were elderly and couldn’t care for the horse properly and they were in poor condition.)

- Jeannine Wargacki of Paso Americana – Fri, 1 Dec 2006

What can you learn from these two stories that may help your horse business?

Here are a few things I take from this info:

1. From these two stories and others I have read and heard, there seems like quite a few nice horses are being sent to auctions with a good chance they will end up being bought and sold for horse meat.
2. Purebred horses with good to great bloodlines show up at the auction barns regularly.
3. Since most people in the market for a horse are looking for one ready to ride most of the young foals, studs, broodmares, and untrained horses are short on buyers and have the highest chance of going to slaughter.
4. The main people that bid on horses in poor condition are the killers. People buy with their eyes and want horses that look and move great.
5. People desire horses they can handle and ride so the more training the horse has more willing they are to part with good money for them.
6. Surroundings count big time! Take a diamond ring — if it is glittering on black velvet in a classy uptown jewelry store window people will perceive its value as higher than if they viewed the same ring at a yard sale. Same goes for where people view a horse for sale.

So lets see…

If you want to received the best price (most profit) for your horses and take the lest chance they will end up slaughter bound you have to do as many of the following as possible…

• Sell what people are looking for — what is in demand, horse wise, for your area? What training, bloodlines, breeds of horses, color of horses, etc…
• Put as much training as you can on your horses. Even if you are selling foals a halter trained foal that will trailer load and allow his hooves to be trimmed will pull more interest than a foal that hasn’t been touched. And a foal that has been imprint trained at birth and given daily handling will make a better horse and gain more looks and money.
• A horse that is easy to handle and ride has a much better chance of staying in a home for a many years or maybe life and has far less chance of being bid on by the killers if he should ever end up in an auction.
• Love your horses? Then consider selling them with a buy back option.
• Pay attention to your horses health and condition. The better they look the higher their perceived value. They don’t have to be a halter horse to shine like one. Learn about horse nutrition because it can make a huge difference in how your horse looks.
• The setting counts. A man was trying to sell his horse and he wasn’t getting many interested buyers until he started to board his horse in a popular show barn. His horse seemed a better value when displayed in a winning barn surrounded by champions. If you have a farm look at it with new eyes and see where you can polish the setting. Consider a nice looking sign with flowers at the entrance. Fly flags with your logo imprinted on them. Maintain the paint on the buildings and kept everything clean and orderly.
• Only breed the best to the best! There seems to be just too many horses around and that drops the prices of all but the very top ones. Breed less, breed better, train more, market better.
• Take great photos or pay someone that can.
• Give people all the info they need and be truthful about the horse.
• Learn more about marketing your horses and your horse business. Never stop learning. This is especially important if you breed a not so popular breed or sell young untrained stock.
• Seriously consider getting out of the horse breeding business. You don’t have to breed horses to have a horse related business and make money. Consider all the other options that allow you to be around horses but without adding to the over population problem.
• Put your new found knowledge into action.

Learn to Market your Equestrian Business…

Selling 101 for Equestrians – How to Quickly and Safely Sell Your Horse

Covers advertising and marketing, about how to write advertisement, adding pictures, pricing, and other things to do to sell your horse, local and off line actions.

“The Law Of Attraction” For Equestrians Teleclass
Why You Get What You Get With Your Horse And In Your Life

PR for Equine Biz Teleseminar with Sherry Busch, of RiskOutWest.com

I would love a day to come where there are no horses going to slaughter but until then we can all play a part in helping save horses by spreading this info. I would love to hear your thoughts on this, especially if you have any more helpful horse business tips. Just comment on this posting.

P.S. If you would love to see one of your favorite horse photos posted as a Horse Art eCard email me a clear, sharp, good looking horse photo to info (at) alove4horses.com with “Horse Pics” in the subject line. Also let me know who is in the photo and who took the photo and your web site address to post in small text in the ecard image.

“The finest champion sill produces manure to haul!” –Joni Solis

MEANING: No Matter how impassioned you are about your equine business don’t think that you will not have any pain to endure.

If building a successful company were easy everyone one would have one. BUT it is not going to be easy or always fun. It takes hard work to make a company successful and some of that work will take real guts and be as enjoyable as transporting fresh manure with your bare hands.

You may have heard the saying< --more-->, “No Pain, No Gain” that is popular with bodybuilders; well it is just as true for business builders. You have to be willing to do more than your competition is willing to do and do it better, faster, and with more creativity. You have to be willing to feel pain-the pain of psychical and metal work beyond what you normally consider your limits.

Pain like waking up extra early after pulling a late night work shift to finish a job on the promised deadline. Pain like a week of sore leg muscles from canvassing your area hand delivering flyers for eight hours on a Saturday. Or the pain of stiff fingers from hand addressing sales letter envelopes until you couldn’t release the pen from your hand–not fun

If you don’t have the money to hire someone to do the jobs you despise then you had better put your mind and back into doing them yourself.

**** REMEMBER THIS ****

“The racehorse that gets the roses had to do a lot of hard running day after day in training in order to be fit enough to go all out on race day. He wasn’t spending his time trotting around a pasture playing with butterflies!” -Joni Solis

Too many people don’t want to endure the pain of doing what needs to be done. They keep putting off the unpleasant chores hoping they that they can get by without doing them or that these chores will just disappear. Well they don’t and as you piddle paddle around–the competition will run you over and buried you in the dirt.

* HOT TIP *

DID YOU KNOW: In order to keep and grow more muscles that you have to stress and damage the ones you have now? This damage is what triggers your body to grow new and stronger muscles.

It is the same with you and your beliefs on what you can do. Once you push yourself to do what scares or brings you some pain you grow in knowledge that you can handle more than you thought possible and this gives you confidence to tackle more the next time out.

So be willing to carry that load of manure knowing that the pain of it is building your company to be stronger and maybe you will have those roses!

**** Today’s Lesson ****

Race into a better tomorrow by practicing the following…

1. You do have the ability to handle the hard, unpleasant jobs so starting today plan out your days to handle these jobs first thing in the morning if possible.Get them done and out of the way before you have time to put them off and lose the race.
2. Don’t plan on doing as little as possible of the unpleasant chores, put your back into them and do them with all your muscle! Be willing to feel pain!Pain equals gain. Don’t plan on doing the despised jobs just once, do them again and again–remember the training gallops the racehorse does over and over.
3. Needed chores to put on your to-do-list:

• Plan, and then plan some more without leaving out the manure jobs. Then work your plan. Work it hard–feel the pain.
• Have an open mind to better ways of gaining your goals–get creative, your competition is.
• When designing your mission plans draw up backup plans. Always have a plan ‘B’ for when plan ‘A’ just doesn’t work out in real life the way you planned it out on paper.

Today’s recommend book is:

“Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior” A Commando’s Guide to Success by Richard Marcinko

“Bracing, Gutsy, Touch-Talkin, Empowering; should be required reading” -Publishers Weekly

“This man will show you what it takes to lead yourself and others into a successful company” -Joni Solis

Now blasting other business guides out of the water, Marcinko draws on his remarkable experience as a Navy commando and creator of the legendary SEAL TEAM SIZ to apple his Ten Commandments of Special Warfare to the challenges of business and everyday life.

A sampling:

• I will always lead you from the front, not the rear.
• I shall punish thy bodies because the more thou sweatest in training, the less thou bleedest in combat.
• Verily, thou art not paid fro thy methods, but for thy results, by which meaneth thou shalt kill thine emeny by any means available before he killeth you.

Using his own war stories, plus case studies of Fortune 500 companies and smaller businesses, Marcinko now clarifies the simple-but-profound-leadership principles that have made him an extraordinary success, both in and out of the military.

horse business marketing, equine business marketing