Marketing Checklist for Horse Adoption Organizations

Being a good marketer will help you place more horses faster, which means you’ll be able to help even more horses. 

These tips will help you tap into marketing best practices and include ideas for your website, email, social media, and more to expand your reach and engage more potential adopters. 

Website 

Your website represents your organization in ways other platforms don’t. It’s your central online presence, and you have complete control over what goes on it.  

You determine the user experience, and you want it to be a good one.  

Make sure your website: 

• Showcases your available horse front and center—don’t make people search or click multiple times to find your equines 

• Highlights your adoption inquiry form—it should be easy for people to locate and fill out your application or interest form 

• Displays your contact information prominently  

• Contains compelling horse listings and at least 3 quality photos and a video of each horse 

• Uses friendly and engaging language that’s easy to read 

• Has a proofreader to reduce the chance of typos or confusing information 

• Is representative of your branding—use the same logo and colors that you do in other types of marketing materials to encourage brand recognition 

• Offers an email newsletter opt-in 

Social Media 

Social media is constantly changing, so it’s good to have someone who keeps up to date with trends. Here are a few general best practices: 

• Make frequent posts on each of your social media accounts—don’t let pages stagnate. 

• Be responsive to comments from potential adopters and any messages sent to your social media platforms.  

• Try out all the tools on each platform—there are some innovative ways to reach and engage current and new followers. 

Learn more by reading 12 Social Media Tips for Equine Organizations and Others. 

Email 

Communicating with your followers through email is still one of the most effective ways to reach them. That’s why developing an email list of supporters and adopters is essential to your organization’s success. 

Besides capturing followers’ emails on your website, consider collecting them using Facebook or other social media ads. You can also go old-school and collect them at events and outreach opportunities. 

More Good Ideas 

Here are some additional tips to consider: 

• Develop and execute a marketing plan to keep yourself focused on your efforts. 

• Claim your Google business account to manage your online reputation and reviews. 

• When possible, attend local events to promote adoption in your community. 

• Create printed materials about your program to share with others.   

Download a marketing checklist to keep all these tips top of mind.