Shaping Behavior: The Similarities Between Pet Training And Digital Marketing

When you are trying to motivate yourself, a lot of thought needs to go into every step. It may sound unconventional, but comparing pet training to digital marketing is a good example of how traits of human behaviour are common across many different actions. Whether you are training a new pet or driving traffic to a business that you are trying to get off the ground, you are engaging in human behaviour that is shaped to motivate action. Where in pet training, you are working to shape an animal’s behaviour to respond a certain way, in digital marketing you are shaping human behaviour to act as a consumer and help to drive sales or traffic.

In research-based advertising, you use data to drive the changes and actions you are hoping to change. Digital marketing is much different, where you use social media, keywords, and other elements of marketing to create change. In pet training, social networks and keywords are used as well. Learn more about how driving change is performed the same way, whether you are training an animal or motivating humans.

Shape Behaviour With the Right Image

In digital marketing, your brand logo and your website are the keys to your success. This is the face of your business and the first thing that customers see when they are just getting to know you. Your logo is the image that goes on all of your flyers, business cards, and brochures. Your website is your own little piece of real estate that your customers will visit before they decide if they are making a purchase. If a customer likes what they see, that image will shape their behaviour into making a purchase. It may not be the only thing they care about when they are shopping, but it makes a significant first impression and will influence their purchasing decisions whether they know that consciously or not. Your image inspires their motivation.

When you are training a pet, image matters as well. In this case, you want a dog’s or a cat’s image to help influence behaviour. The world of dog and cat costumes and daily wear is a multi-million dollar business across the world, and may even gross billions. Your animal’s image brands them as yours and sends the message to the world that they are cared about. It also sends a message to the animal that they are cared about. You can see the difference in stance, posture, and joy-filled behaviour of an animal when it has an image its owner can be proud of. Image matters when you are shaping behaviour in either animals or humans.

Get Social to Build Confidence in Your Target Audience

We now live in a day and age where social networks are quality markers that tell an audience how credible a business is. An animal’s social network is no different. The difference here is that with business, the credibility of a social network builds confidence in the humans. With pet training, a good social network builds confidence in the animal that you are training.

Humans like to see a solid social presence when they are making purchase decisions. Many humans today simply prefer to shop online exclusively and do not go to brick-and-mortar stores as much as they used to. You need a good social network in order to have an established digital presence when you are trying to make sales online.

For domesticated animals, a social network helps them to feel loved. The more humans that can appreciate their attention and company, the more successful they feel. Train your pet with a wide social network and you help them to integrate into the world of humans in a way that inspires them to behave and to love and be loved. Consistency matters here when it comes to shaping behaviour. When your pet can see that they have the same groomer, the same veterinarian, and so on, they are less fearful of what is to happen next when they get in the car to go out into the social world.

Reward Your Audience For Positive Results

A key strategy in digital marketing today is to reward your customers or future customers in order to keep them coming back for more. The free gift is the key here. Consumers like to get something free when they are shopping. If you have two products that are identical in price and in features, but one comes with a free gift, the buyers will come. They will keep checking to see if you keep offering them positive reinforcement as well. Add other rewards for your audience, such as discounts, loyalty rewards, and bonuses when you are creating your digital brand and message.

Animals are no different. Thanks to Pavlov and his dogs, positive reinforcement is the most popular pet training method in the world. When you want a dog or cat to behave, out come the good boy or good girl treats. When you want positive action from your animals, positive reinforcement tells them what to do the next time in order to reproduce their behaviour.

Train Your Audience

When you want to shape the behaviour of someone in order to produce your desired result, use behaviourism. In digital marketing, these tools are used in order to influence purchase decisions. In pet training, you are working to motivate an animal in order to become a domesticated creature. The same principles of socializing and positive reinforcement are ideal starting points because they work.