f I asked you to name the baddest Disney villain, who would you choose? Murderous Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty? Power-hungry Scar from The Lion King? Dog thief Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians? My own personal favorite is probably Madame Medusa from The Rescuers.

It’s interesting that although Disney films are aimed at little children, they sure are packed with horror, evil, treachery, betrayal and even death! But there’s a very good reason these gruesome guys and gals are pure devils…

In any kind of storytelling, the villain is just as important as the good guy. In fact, in many ways the villain is more important. Think about it: Would you have cared as much for Luke Skywalker if Darth Vader wasn’t his dad? Even in professional wrestling, every major superstar good guy needs a similarly major badass enemy, or “heel,” as it’s known in the trade.

The same applies when you are marketing your pet services. You need a “villain” of the piece. You need to identify some terrible outcome that dog owners in your town are suffering from that only your service can thwart. And in your marketing, you need to highlight this huge agony-inflicting ache that keeps your prospects awake at night, and then position your superpower service as the solution.

Most pet business owners only talk about the positive aspects, attributes and outcomes of their service. So, your standard pet service provider will have a website and advertising materials that read something like this: “Come to our daycare, we love dogs!” or “Do you need to board your dog? Bring them to us!”

Sound familiar?

Now, if you were running a pet business 30 or 40 years ago when there wasn’t a lot of competition around, then that kind of advertising might be OK. Or, if someone needs a doggy daycare and you are the only choice in your town, then it’s fine to have an advertisement that says, “We are a doggy daycare.”

Nowadays though, competition for your services is everywhere. There’s been a proliferation of pet businesses in every town and city across the country. This means there are more and more pet businesses competing for clients…and it’s only going to get worse. So, you can hide under the bed and ignore the problem, or you can do something about it.

One way to protect your pet business, or supercharge the growth of a new business, is to master how to market your services by using compelling copy that converts. Don’t market your business by only talking about the positive or obvious aspects of your service. You need to put your prospects’ pain points (or the “villain” of the piece) front and center with your marketing. Your marketing simply won’t work as well without a villain, just like Disney movies wouldn’t work without a villain…

Without a villain, the story of Beauty and the Beast would read: Avid reader from French village meets grumpy outcast and falls in love. Or, without a villain, The Jungle Book would read: Lost boy lives happily ever after in jungle with animal friends. Which would be incredibly boring, right? And, that’s what your advertisements look like without a villain.

Now, here’s the thing: Your villain is not necessarily a person. It’s more of a feeling (i.e., a worry, a fear, an anxiety, a danger, a frustration or a pain point). It’s something that causes your potential client unpleasantness, distress, and even causes them to wake up in the middle of the night in a panic-induced cold sweat, too anxious to go back to sleep. Please don’t think these fears and frustrations don’t exist. They most definitely do.

Dog owners who have jobs feel guilty about leaving their dogs home alone. They leave the television on, spend any amount of money on fluffy toys for the dogs to play with and then can’t concentrate when they are at work because they are worried about the dog. Or, leading up to a vacation, dog owners stress themselves out about leaving their dog with a boarding establishment they can trust. So, speaking to them about their fears and concerns in your marketing will position you as a business who cares and understands.

Don’t think of it as seedy or immoral to talk about prospects’ pain points. If you truly care about helping people with your services, then you should do your utmost to connect with them, which means addressing the issues they care most deeply about.

In your town, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of distressed dog owners suffering from all kinds of problems that they would happily pay money to have a professional take care of. So why isn’t your phone ringing off the hook?

Part of it comes down to a lack of awareness that your service exists, and the other part is a lack of trust in your ability to help them.

Starting with the pain points has three BIG advantages:

Draws attention. Just like when training a dog, the first thing you need is your prospect’s attention, and using pain points gets attention. Problems have always been a big deal for us humans because we notice them. Just like the caveman used to be wary when he heard a rustling in the bushes, because that could have represented a life-threatening problem such as a sabre-toothed tiger who wanted to eat him, dog owners in your town have problems too. And you’ll get their attention by talking about them in your marketing.

Builds trust. The second advantage to leading with pain points in your advertising is that it builds an immediate level of trust between you and the prospect. It doesn’t mean they will necessarily buy your service straight away, but they will be more inclined to read the rest of the ad and copy, down your contact details, because you demonstrate you understand the problems they are suffering from. This is very different from the kind of ads your competitors are doing. Consequently, it’ll make yours stand out.

Creates urgency. With any kind of ad we put out there, we want the reader to take some kind of action. Either to move towards investing in our services or, if not, then to certainly move closer towards buying. Well, when we use pain points, we remind the dog owner of the problem that is causing them a lot of stress, anxiety and worry. Then, if you can position your service as the antidote to the poison, you’ll cause the prospect to take action faster.

Framing your prospects’ big problems as the villain and your amazing service as the hero will transform how effective your pet business marketing is. Start by sending out a simple survey asking your clients what their biggest worry, struggle or challenge was before they started using your services. That will give you the material you need to write copy for your new, attention-grabbing, pain-point-focused advertising!

Dom Hodgson is Europe’s leading pet business coach, and is known as the Pet Biz Wiz. His mission is to help pet service providers create superior customer service systems that enable them to build an impactful and profitable pet business. Dom has written over nine books, and is a much in-demand speaker. You can instantly download a free copy of his latest book “How to Disnify Your Doggy Daycare Business” by going to www.petbusinessmarketing.com/daycaremagic