Helpful Tips: Promoting Your Foster
“Second to providing food, water, shelter and love, marketing is the most important thing a foster caregiver can do for their pet,” -Lorian Epstein
As a foster parent, you are your foster pet’s biggest advocate! Follow these tips to get your foster in the public eye.
Team up with your foster community!
Your fellow fosters are here to help! At CAC, we have a private Facebook page just for our foster families to connect with one another. This is a great place to ask for advice and share your adoption ads for others to push out to their audience.
Get out there!
If your foster dog enjoys walks, pup cups, or meeting new people, get them out in the community. Take them to your favorite park in an “adopt me” bandana. Let them join your friends at a dog-friendly patio with an “adopt me” bandana. You never know who could see them and fall in love.
Create a connection!
Make an emotional appeal to grab people’s attention. This could be a funny look at the dog’s personality through a story, pulling at the heartstrings about how far the dog has come, or anything else you can think of to grab eyes. A great way to share this is on social media. If you are social-savvy, making a foster-specific Instagram and/or TikTok that you regularly post to is a great way to share more with the public.
Be Accessible!
If you aren’t comfortable sharing your personal email or just want a way to better organize adoption inquiries, creating a separate email specifically for fostering is a great idea. Just ensure you are checking it at least once a day so that no inquiries get missed. Remember to check your social media DMs as well to make sure you don’t miss any inquiries that come through those platforms.
Try and try again!
Don’t get discouraged if the adoption doesn’t happen right away! It’s important to remember that the right family will come around and that you’re doing everything you can to help your foster.
In Conclusion
Fostering is an amazing thing to be a part of that is truly life-saving. Always remember that you aren’t alone in this effort! You have the support of the shelter staff, volunteers, and fellow fosters. Do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or if you need advice.
