Picture two clients at your front desk this week. One drops off their dog for a $25 day of daycare, the way they do every Tuesday. The other is heading out on a two-week trip to visit the grandkids and books a boarding stay worth $300 to $400. Which one do you think of as your best client?
That question set the tone for the fourth session of the Pet Industry Leaderboard Series, a webinar series built on the 2026 Pet Boarding, Daycare and Resort Industry Benchmarking Report from PocketSuite, IBPSA, and The Dog Gurus. Guest speaker Mark Sherman of Nehmedia, known across the industry as Pet Resort Marketing, shared what he has learned from more than 13 years and 180 pet resorts about finding, reaching, and keeping the clients who matter most. Carmen Rustenbeck of IBPSA hosted, and Alyson Fisher of PocketSuite joined for audience questions.
Want the full data behind this series? This session only scratched the surface of the 2026 Pet Boarding, Daycare, and Resort Industry Benchmarking Report. Take the free Account Health Checkup to see how your business compares on labor, occupancy, retention, and more, and unlock the full white paper as soon as you finish.
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A Growing Industry With Room to Stand Out
Mark opened with the benchmarking data. Of the 457 owners surveyed, 59% rely on minimal paid marketing, and paid digital ads climb from 15% of businesses under $150,000 to 49% of those at $1 million or more. His take: many owners fund marketing straight from their own income, so the real question is trust that every dollar will pay off. This session was all about making that trust easier to earn.
The backdrop is encouraging. Pet parents increasingly treat their dogs like family, and they’re investing accordingly. Expectations have moved from “a safe place to stay” to “a great experience.” Mark’s market modeling shows roughly 3,000 dog households per location, and about 1,500 of those have never boarded. Most clients live within about 5 miles. As Mark put it, you don’t need thousands of clients. You need the right ones coming back.
Lead With Trust and Safety
According to Mark’s neighborhood research, 71% of pet owners use a pet sitter and 49% have boarded, often because a sitter feels more trustworthy. That’s an opening for pet resorts. You see dozens of dogs a week, and you have the training, the structure, and the supervision to prove it.
- Share what you do to keep dogs safe. Fencing, sanitation systems, and daily wellness checks all build confidence, and Mark said most resorts don’t talk about them enough. When Alyson asked whether to advertise safety features, his answer was a clear yes: on your website, brochures, ads, and social media.
- Remember that trust often outweighs price. Mark cited safety as the leading concern for pet parents at 44%. Many families will pay $50 to $100 a night, and some resorts charge $150 or more with luxury add-ons, so there’s room to price for the experience you deliver.
Know Who Your Best Clients Really Are
Mark’s KPI dashboard work across pet resorts surfaced a few patterns worth checking against your own data:
- A focused group drives most of the value. In his data, 76% to 87% of lifetime revenue comes from 40% of clients, and the top 10% account for nearly half of revenue. Best clients are worth $7,500 to $15,000 over their lifetime, while the lowest-value clients average just $100 to $400.
- Boarding is easy to overlook. Boarding typically drives 70% to 75% of revenue, with daycare at 25% to 30%. Because boarding clients visit one to three times a year, they rarely feel like your top clients, even when they are.
- Proximity and household matter. In a sample of about 15 locations, distance explained roughly 38% of the difference between stronger and weaker client segments, with the sweet spot at about 5 miles. Households with incomes over $100,000 often have both the time and the means to travel.
- Your message should fit your audience. About half of top-tier clients in Mark’s data are over 60, and they’re more likely scrolling Facebook than TikTok.
A few conversation clues can help you spot best clients early: ask about upcoming travel, and notice households with multiple dogs.
Reach Clients Where They Live
Google and Meta targeting stops at the zip code level, so Mark’s team uses neighborhood-level mapping to show ads only where best-fit clients live. Traditional tactics work well here too, because you’re no longer mailing to half a million people. You’re reaching about 500.
- Use direct mail, email, and door hangers aimed at the right neighborhoods.
- Ask your best clients for referrals, since their neighbors often look a lot like them.
- Partner locally with restaurants, pet stores, and veterinary clinics near your target neighborhoods.
- Know your math. A client worth $10,000 justifies spending up to $1,000 to win them. Mark’s guideline is to invest up to 10% of lifetime value, and that can include a $50 thank-you gift basket for a top client.
- Measure it. Five more clients in one neighborhood could add $30,000 in lifetime value, and you can check next year whether you got there.
Keep the Right Clients Coming Back
Mark’s data shows only 40% to 58% of clients are still active a year later, and once clients make it past year one, retention climbs to 57% to 74%. Moves and pet loss explain roughly 22% to 25% of the drop, which leaves real opportunity in how you welcome and follow up with clients.
- Make first visits memorable. Mark shared a restaurant story: new guests got red napkins, so staff knew to offer dessert or a coupon for next time. Train your team to give first-time clients the same attention.
- Use boarding as the front door. At some resorts Mark works with, 51% of new training clients were already existing clients, so follow-up emails offering a free day of daycare, a grooming visit, or a training session can grow each relationship.
- Check in with quiet clients. Look at who hasn’t booked in a year or more. A caring note, and sometimes a sympathy gift if a pet has passed, keeps your resort in their hearts.
- Follow up after every stay. A call, postcard, or email reassures families, and it lets you address a tired or off-day pup before it turns into a worried review.
- Watch your replacement rate. Mark sees about 44% annual churn on average, and 30% to 35% is excellent. If you aren’t adding new best-fit clients as fast as others leave, revenue can look healthy while the client base quietly shrinks.
Spend Smarter on Paid Search
Across about 40 clients, Mark found “dog boarding near me” averages $6.34 per click, and a typical online conversion runs $21 to $30. At one conversion in four, a $25 lead means $100 per new client. Spending more on targeting, say $100 per lead converting one in two, brings that to $200 for a client worth up to $10,000.
- Match keywords to your ideal client. Searches like “affordable dog boarding” may attract more price-focused clients, and bidding on your own business name is inexpensive and worth doing.
- Plan around the calendar. About 40% of clients book within two weeks of their stay. Try an offer like 10% off for booking four weeks ahead, and expect a 20% to 25% cancellation rate when you schedule staff.
- Spend where demand needs help. Pause ad spend when you have a waitlist, since extra demand only adds to families’ frustration.
- Try seasonal ideas. Football season, for example, invites a “let your dog play with us while you tailgate” campaign.
Try These on Monday
- Pull your client list from your CRM with total revenue per client, as far back as you can go, and split it into five groups of 20%.
- Map where your best clients live, then make a second map of your lowest-spending clients and compare.
- Pick one add-on for your front desk to recommend consistently.
- Follow up after every stay with a call, postcard, or email.
- Bid on your own business name and track who books through it.
Building a direct mail list? Mark’s tip from the Q&A: take your client list with as much revenue history as you have, pull the top 20% to 40% by client count (not dollar value), look at the neighborhoods they live in, and find mailing lists for those areas.
The takeaway is simple: great marketing starts with knowing your best clients, and the rest follows. Missed an earlier session? Catch up on the whole series!
