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For brands seeking authentic partners, pet influencers are a must when attempting to reach a passionate, engaged audience.
With pet industry spending surpassing $140 billion in 2023, brands are leveraging the charisma of dog influencers to boost their visibility, drive sales, and increase conversions. From premium pet food and pet tech products to stylish apparel and eco-friendly dog care, these partnerships leverage a pets impact on fostering emotional connections while also conveying a brand’s message and trusted owner recommendations.
In this article, we’ll dive into 10 brands that partner with dog influencers, explore why brands invest in pet influencer marketing, and share real campaign success stories so you can start to monetize your pup’s social media today.
A dog influencer is a pet who has a large social media following where the owner, who manages the account, uses it to promote brands, products, and services to an audience.
One of the most popular dog influencer accounts is @itsdougthepug, a famously loved pug influencer with 3.6 million Instagram followers. He has met countless celebrities, appeared in Katy Perry’s music video Swish Swish and even has his own holiday in his hometown of Tennessee, Doug the Pug Day.
With brand posts witnessing an 89% increase in comments and 15% increase in likes when featuring a pet, dog influencers often offer significantly larger engagement rates than fellow human creators, and much of that has to do with their large following.
Looking to stand out in both traditional and unconventional advertising, brands that work with dog influencers often favor them due to their innate ability to grab their audience's attention quickly. Their warmth and trustworthiness is often more memorable than ads featuring people or objects.
One of the best ways for brands to foster a strong, long-lasting relationship with consumers is being associated with positive sentiment, and featuring pets is a great, quick way to achieve that. Dogs often represent joy, nostalgia, and companionship, and a 2022 study by The Journal of Marketing even found that people are more excited to make purchasing decisions when an ad features a dog.
Takeaway: Dog influencers capture high engagement rates and create strong emotional connections with audiences, making them highly effective marketing assets. Brands choose them because pet content feels more authentic, builds trust, and often outperforms traditional advertisements.
After building an engaged social media community and mastering high quality content creation, here are some ways you can turn your pup’s influence into income:
Blend unsponsored, genuine posts, with creative, lucrative pet brand collabs to create valuable content while sharing helpful tips for the dog community. To get the best brand deals, try:
Similar to brand partnerships, you can land meaningful partnerships with creative pet brands, only this time try exploring long-term collaborations with brands you and other pet parents already know and love. These types of partnerships often include monthly payments + free products to try out and create content.
Discover the best dog influencer affiliate programs and share affiliate links to your favorite pet products to earn a commission for every sale made through your unique links. Other helpful tools can be affiliate networks like ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, Impact, or Amazon Associates to find affiliate programs for pet products. Make sure you maintain transparency by showcasing hashtags like #ad or #affiliate on each post.
Create and sell pet-related merchandise like custom collars, toys, or even digital products like training guides. With influencer storefront platforms like Creator Hero, you can easily build your own online storefront and integrate your favorite dog products while earning revenue. For example, @tuckerbudzyn, one of the most popular Golden Retriever dog influencers, has his own online shop including leashes, lick mats, treat molds and even human apparel inspired by his personality.
Leverage a creative outlet to document your favorite moments with your pup. With long-form content, you can generate additional income while monetizing through ads, sponsorships, and affiliate links.
Platforms like Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee allow your followers to support your content through exclusive perks, behind-the-scenes access, or even personalized shoutouts.
For example, @dsns_patron is a jack russell terrier from Ukraine who has gained international recognition for his role in detecting explosives. He has a Patreon page where supporters can contribute to his mission and receive updates
By offering exclusive content and updates, Patron effectively engages his audience and provides them with unique insights into his important work.
If you're looking for more in-depth strategies, this Reddit thread offers a helpful breakdown, including affiliate marketing through Amazon Associates and Etsy, as well as newsletter monetization ideas.
Takeaway: Dog influencers can earn through brand deals, affiliate marketing, selling their own products, and even blogs or YouTube channels. Diversifying income streams helps maximize earnings while maintaining an authentic connection with your audience.
Although giving your pup a social media persona can be fun and exciting, you are the creator behind it who ultimately decides its course. When collaborating with pet brands, make sure they represent and strengthen your emotional connection with your dog, and inspire others to do the same. After all, it not only comes to virality and large followings, but working and creating with your best friend, and building an engaged, joyful community.
Make sure their work pays off by leveraging Influencer Hero's free marketing tools, and help our furry friends track performance, discover relevant brand partnerships, and analyze audience engagement. Plus, you can explore affiliate program reviews like the Petco affiliate program in-depth review and get valuable insights into the program’s benefits, commission structure, and key takeaways to help you decide if it’s the right fit.
Boost their charismatic influence and create even more impactful campaigns with dog brands you both can enjoy partnering up with.
