Kosmo’s Dog House makes no bones about it – small print ads really work.

Meet Kat Lange-Richards, owner of Kosmo’s Dog House in Scottsdale. She didn’t start out as a business owner. Kat was always interested in dogs and after her shelter dog, Kosmo, died she wanted to do something to honor him. So she opened her grooming, training, and pet supply store. “It’s a place where his memory can live on.”

Kat was devoted to Kosmo and now she’s married to her business. In today’s tough economy, she keeps close tabs on how she spends her money. “To get people to come in, you have to advertise. But if you can’t afford advertising, then you can’t get people to come in.” Kat had been putting some ads in magazines, but the investment wasn’t paying off.

And that’s where GannettLocal came in. Kat’s Local Marketing Navigator helped steer her in the right direction for her local market. “I wanted to find out what our main market was, how to target them, and how to use the right media to reach them,” Kat said. “We have a lot of older customers, and trying to reach them online might not be effective.”

On the advice of her Local Marketing Navigator, Kay ran small print ads in community newspapers for three days. “It’s the best advertising we’ve done so far. I’ve gotten more responses from running that little ad for three days than we did with a half-page, color ad in the local magazine.” (Kosmo would be proud.)

Now Kat’s ready to take the next turns in her local marketing roadmap:

• Search Engine Optimization
• Online Map Optimization