Marketing of Adoptable Animals: Overview

Why is marketing so important for animal shelters?

Despite the myth that there is a pet "overpopulation" problem in the US, when you look at actual statistics, there are vastly more homes for a new pet than there are pets being euthanized by shelters.

Overall, only 2% of America's dog population is euthanized each year in animal shelters. Now, that's still a large number: about 3.6 million pets are euthanized by shelters simply for "lack of a home", not for health reasons.  But it means that every shelter in the US is fully capable of adopting out every single one of the animals it would otherwise kill for space or "lack of a home".

Each year, about 23 million people are in the market for a new pet. Of those, 17 million have not yet decided where they're going to get that pet. For many reasons, some of these people choose to get pets from sources other than shelters. And that's OK, we just need to convince a relatively small percentage of people (3.6 million, or 21%) to choose a shelter animal instead.

Shelter pets aren't over-populated, they're under-marketed.

Once we do that, once we as the rescue community step up and truly do the best we can at marketing, then we'll never again be "forced" to euthanize another healthy animal for "space" or "lack of homes".

There will always be a need for animal shelters. There will always be a small number of irresponsible people out there; there will always be stray pets who need temporary shelter until owners can be found; there will always be people who need help re-homing a family pet due to lots of different (legitimate!) reasons.

A huge part of a shelter's job is to find homes for animals. This will always be true, and there is no escaping it; there is no "waiting it out"; there is no "waiting for the public to become 'more responsible'".

This is why organizations like Pet Rescue aka The Human Society of Eastern Oregon exist. This is why we allow them to be tax-exempt. This is why we pay them our tax dollars.

This is where marketing comes in.

Animal rescues and shelters are, in effect, in competition to "sell" their animals with a slew of other sources: Breeders, pet stores, free animals in the newpaper and on Craigslist (and from friends/family/neighbors), puppy mills, etc. It's the shelter's job to showcase their "product" and make it clear that it's better to get a pet from a shelter than anywhere else.

Too often, well-meaning people at shelters and rescues blame the public for not coming to them. They seem to think that everyone should just intuitively KNOW that it's a morally superior choice to get a pet from a shelter. This attitude leads to lackluster marketing, feelings of despair when the public doesn't show up, and a shelter "buying experience" that is depressing for customers. No one wants to come look for a new family member at a place that's stinky, poorly-lit, cheerless, and full of stressed-out, sad-looking animals.

There are some very simple, easy things that will immediately improve marketing of adoptable animals. Here are just a few examples:

Good photo of every adoptable animal


A good, brief description of every animal

Investing in every adoptable animal to make it more attractive (vaccinations, spay/neuter, trick training, etc) 

Posting ads in as many places as possible

Advertising widely

Taking the animals outside the building whenever possible to any dog-friendly event that will get the animal seen.


Customer-friendly shelter building. It doesn't matter how old or out-dated a building is, there are always wallet-friendly ways to cheer the place up.

I'll expand on the different aspects of marketing in future posts. I'll also give specific examples where Pet Rescue aka The Human Society of Eastern Oregon is currently failing in marketing, and simple steps they can take to improve. As long as they continue to euthanize animals for "lack of space", or "lack of homes", there is room for improvement. They are, in fact, obligated to improve.

Other resources:

Marketing best practices - a great list of resources for shelter managers
How to promote shelter pets for adoption, (pdf) from Best Friends Animal Society
How to find homes for homeless pets (pdf)
Show the positive side of shelter pets: increase adoption rates
Why people aren't adopting (Petsmart Charities/Ipsos study)
The where and why of adoption (Petsmart Charities/Ipsos study)
Using Facebook to increase adoptions
The care and marketing of long-term resident shelter pets (success stories from MI)
The life-saving equation
An entire Facebook page on the subject - tips and ideas
Unconventional marketing ideas for many kinds of businesses - lot's of ideas