Attracting clients can be difficult for any service-oriented business. Plying your trade in a relatively small niche market, such as equine hoof care, can make those challenges even greater — especially when you’re launching a new practice or starting over in a new area.

There are a number of ways that farriers can effectively market their services and attract new clients. Some methods demand more time and financial investment, while others don’t require much more than a little time, honesty and hard work.

Let Your Work Speak For Itself

In most cases, the business side of farriery is an area that is considered a necessary evil. Things would be so much easier if you could merely trim and shoe a horse, and get paid without worrying about such things as marketing. There are some elements of your work, though, that are marketing.

“I believe and teach that the best way to market your business is with the quality of work you do,” says Ted Shanks, a farrier in Kauai, Hawaii. “The apprentices and rising shoers I help always hear the same thing — if you want to make more money, learn. If you want more customers, learn. If you want to have a better relationship with other horse industry professionals, learn. The rest will progress naturally.”

This philosophy has worked well for Sherbrooke, Quebec, farrier Miriam Braun.

“The quality of my work has been vital to attracting new clients,” she says. “More than 90% of my business is a result of client referrals.”

Identifying problems that a horse might have before you trim and shoe it is important, Shanks says. Although it might not appear to be marketing on the surface, it could pay perceptional dividends.

“The owner might not be aware of it,” he says. “Before you shoe the horse, make sure they know that you’ve found problems such as stumbling, ossifications, contracted and underrun heels, etc. Identifying a problem might make you look good since no one else noticed it. It also raises the customer’s confidence that they chose a good farrier.”

Conversely, if you fail to identify a pre-existing problem, it could come back to bite you down the road.

“If it becomes a problem after you shoe it,” Shanks says, “you might get credit for causing it.”

It’s no secret that many backyard clients consider their horses an extension of their family. As such, how you treat the horse leaves an impression one way or the other. A patient and gentle approach often endears owners, while a slap of a rasp to a misbehaving horse’s ribs might find you looking to replace a hole in your appointment book. As a farrier, it’s never a bad idea to learn horsemanship skills.

“If you’re a beginner and you have trouble with horses, get some horse training lessons,” Shanks advises. “Fighting horses looks bad, ruins your body and does not impress owners.”

It’s definitely a trait that clients have noticed about Shreve, Ohio, farrier Lester Yoder.

“I had him over for my mini and the man is super wonderful,” Regina Murray-Adams wrote on Facebook. “Even though she wanted to buck and run, he was so kind and patient with her.”

When prospective clients search for farriers, you can bet that many will do research. A business page is a good tool to supply passive marketing for your practice, particularly when you receive five-star ratings and glowing reviews.

Miriam Braun participates in a hands-on clinic in which she fills an adhesive blister on a Hanton Horseshoe at Meader Supply. Braun finds that using Facebook to share her continuing education experiences with clients is an effective marketing strategy.

Be Professional

Although it’s important to project professionalism with clients, starting off on the right foot by being candid and up front will help head off any unpleasantries later on.

“Let customers know ahead of time how you run your business, what you expect from them and what they can expect from you,” Shanks says. “If you start your relationship with them correctly, you won’t struggle to make changes later. The customer will think of you more as a professional and will likely treat you that way.”

Although farriery is anything but a neat and clean trade, a collared shirt presents a professional appearance right from the start.

“It’s very important to wear clean, collared shirts that have something on them indicating you’re involved in the farrier industry,” he says. “Owners appreciate a professional appearance.”

Many farriers carry multiple spare shirts in their rigs, particularly during the warmer months, to ensure that they look fresh for each client.

Attire isn’t the only part of your practice that should be neat.

“I keep my rig clean and highly organized,” Yoder says. “People notice that stuff.”

Your farrier rig is like a rolling business card. It influences perceptions that current and prospective clients have of you. In some corners, a dusty, dirty and cluttered rig reflects disorganization and unprofessionalism. By comparison, a clean and organized rig often projects care, organization and attention to detail. Many farriers carry an air compressor in their rigs to blow out dust, metal shavings and other debris that collect over the course of the day.

Others take it a step further by using a magnet wand to collect clipped nails after sweeping up.

Punctuality is another intangible that projects professionalism and reliability.

“If I’m going to be late, I will advise my client,” Braun says. “Unless it’s a private stable, I know the horses well enough and have the client’s permission to work solo, I make it a point to have my clients present when I work on their horse. So being punctual for my clients is important.”

Both Yoder and Braun believe it’s important to be accessible to clients on days that they are not tending to their horses’ feet.

“Clients have access to me almost around the clock,” Braun says. “I feel that’s important. It gives them security and support during crisis. Clients really appreciate this.”

Demonstrating care and accountability will go a long way toward maintaining a loyal client base.

“If you make some big changes, call after a couple of days of working on the horse to see how it’s doing,” Shanks says. “Customers like to know you care about their horse. And, don’t forget to say thank you.”

Lester Yoder markets his work in a number of ways including chronicling a variety of cases. One such case is Breeze, a mare that caught her foot and leg in a fence in August 2015 (top). Yoder recorded the progress through Dec. 24, 2015 (bottom).

Continuing Education

Although it’s important to market your practice, honesty remains the best policy while doing it.

“Each person is different, but one of the mistakes I see are beginning shoers advertising above their skill level,” he says. “It’s sort of like tricking customers into using them and not being able to deliver what they advertise.”

Improving your skill level can be as simple as talking with other farriers.

“Meet with other farriers,” Shanks says. “Work with them. If you can’t do the work you promise, you’re going to develop a bad reputation. Be honest about your skill level with some horse owners you know and ask for the right horses from the outset.”

Continuing education will go a long way toward improving skills, regardless of experience.

“It’s important to let my clients know,” Braun says, “that I keep striving to learn more, grow my knowledge base and keep up to date with the most current findings.”

It’s a topic that’s fairly easy to bring up in the course of idle conversation.

“A good client will always ask what kind of continuing education I’ve been doing,” Yoder says, “or where I’ve been since the last visit.”

Sharing your continuing education experiences on social media reaches a broader audience in a quicker amount of time.

“I usually post this on my private Facebook page,” Braun says, “which I usually get a large response.”

Yoder uses picturesque horse images in his marketing materials, which his clients find more appealing than traditional farrier images of anvils and hooves.

Marketing Your Work

Sharing photos on social media of your hoof-care work is equally important. Yoder posts a number of photos on Facebook of horses’ feet that he has worked on.

“It’s important to market your work,” he says. “I include cases that are as simple as trims, but also include hoof wall resections, rebuilds, hoof crack repairs, etc. It allows current and prospective clients to follow along and demonstrate my skill set.”

When using social media, it’s important to stick to posts that are related to hoof care.

“I keep all posts clean and positive,” Yoder says. “I’ll also share hoof-care articles that I think can be helpful and interesting to the horse owner.”

Investing In Materials

Modern tangible marketing methods can miss, regardless of effort.

While Braun has experienced her greatest success with word of mouth referrals, she tried her hand with a website, business cards and advertising in a Canadian horse magazine.

“My website statistics showed that 70% of my views were by Americans, which wasn’t helpful since I’m in Canada,” Braun says. “The advertising resulted in one client in a 2-year period.”

Aside from word of mouth referrals, her biggest success came from the traditional method of leaving her business card at local feed stores, tack shops and vet clinics.

“That’s where I received a lot of clients,” Braun says. “In the past few years, I haven’t had business cards since most of my clients were from referrals. However, there’s been a paradigm shift, a new business name and I’m working on a logo.”

Demand for her services is increasing, which is making her rethink the need for business cards.

“I’m working more and more with veterinarians, who keep asking for my business card,” Braun says. “I need to get more printed.”

Yoder is a staunch believer in business cards, magnetic calendars and pens to market his practice.

“They keep my information in front of the client all the time,” he says. “Some clients need a pen during every visit to write a check. I always tell them to keep the pen. They might pass that pen on or lose it at the feed store. Someone will find it and they might need a farrier.”

The back of each business card has a place to record the next appointment.

“Some clients like that option,” Yoder says. “A lot of my clients stick the business card behind the corner of the magnetic calendar with the date and time of the appointment facing out as a reminder.”

While most farrier marketing focuses on an anvil or are hoof related, Yoder takes a different route. All of his materials feature a panoramic scene of a pair of horses running on a beach with a large body of water stretching to the horizon.

“I keep them attractive to the horse owner,” he says. “What farriers find appealing doesn’t always interest horse owners. Horse owners don’t have framed pictures of anvils and hooves. They enjoy seeing pictures of horses running in a picturesque setting or standing in a field of flowers.”

As a result, this time of year is a bit busy for Yoder.

“They’re always asking me when I’m getting my calendars in,” he says. “This year it’s been a little more hectic because I didn’t get my order in as early as I usually do. I had to tell my clients that they’re coming, they’ll just be a little late this year.”

Marketing your practice can be anything you want it to be. It can be as simple as posting to social media or it can require a small investment in such things as pens or calendars. Either way, the right tactics can help you keep your current hoof-care clients happy while attracting new ones.

January/February 2017 Issue Contents