It started four and a half years ago, with a stroll in the park. Rikke Rosenlund was walking a friend’s dog – “a very cute brown Labrador” – in Fulham when a thought crossed her mind. “Why are people spending so much money on dog walkers or kennels, when I would happily take care of a dog for free?”
And with that BorrowMyDoggy, a website that connects dog owners with people who would like to look after a dog temporarily, was born. Along with some friends, Rosenlund hung a few posters up around Hampstead Heath testing the concept, and three days later she’d received more than 80 enquiries.
For the first year, BorrowMyDoggy didn’t have a formal website – instead, interested parties were directed to a simple landing page where they could register their details. Rosenlund would then contact everyone, and match people with pooches individually.
A personal mission
“The first dog owner was down in Cornwall, an elderly man who’d just had an operation and needed help walking his dog. And then there was a student growing up in a family in Australia, missing her dogs at home while she was in London. I also met a family with a little girl begging for a dog, who wanted to test out owning one to see if it would work.
“Manually matching people really helped me understand our community” Rosenlund says. “It became a very personal mission.”
Indeed, active communication with members has been a vital part of BorrowMyDoggy’s success and has informed a number of their business decisions. For example: “People were asking us about the dog’s safety so we built assurances into the subscription base.
“If you borrow a dog it’s £13 per year, while owners pay £45 annually. Those fees include verification of all of our members, and both owners and borrowers are covered by a third party liability insurance,” she continues. “Plus, everyone has access to a 24/7 vet line should something go wrong while a dog is being borrowed, but even an owner could call up and ask about something related to their dog’s health.”
Building a community of dog-lovers
But as the number of members have grown, keeping that ever-important personal touch has required something extra: Facebook.
“Facebook is one of our main channels for attracting new customers and engaging with our current community. For us, word of mouth is very strong too but you don’t get the word of mouth without an online presence,” Rosenlund explains.
“The funny thing is, our Facebook and Instagram pages were set up in the first two months, but we weren’t posting. Instead, the community were using it as a place to ask questions or share their stories.”
BorrowMyDoggy’s Facebook community is now over 240,000 strong, and is a vibrant hub of dog-loving activity from members and the company itself.
“We share new member sign ups because we love sharing pics of our furry members and we also use social media for dog-care education.”
It might seem that the stars were aligned for BorrowMyDoggy, especially when it comes to social media – after all, cute furry creatures are golddust on the internet. But Rosenlund has undertaken extensive analytical work with their content to develop their brand. The first step? Finding out the raison d’etre of the company.
“Why are borrowers and owners signing up, what do they all have in common?” Rosenlund asked. “Borrowers might love to spend some time with a dog in a flexible manner and owners might need help or want to socialise their dog but there is something more than that.”
The answer? “Happiness. It is all about happiness. Brand development isn’t something you do overnight, it’s something that grows organically. We didn’t start out as a company, we started out as a purpose. Our brand has come out of that purpose which is to make people and dogs happy. We call it the pawprints of happiness.”
To help hone the voice, Facebook analytics have been essential. “We regularly test our content to see how our community is responding,” she explains.
“Social media is a fantastic way to engage and communicate with your users, to get ideas for further product development, and to create a community around you who can help spread the word about your business.”
Content on this page is paid for and produced to a brief agreed with Facebook sponsor of the Guardian Small Business Network Connected for Success hub.
