Do you run a service-based business?
Is your revenue tied to a mix of new calls and a referral network of property managers?
Do you often lose potential customers due to a lack of new online reviews as part of your customer acquisition strategy?
If you answered any of these questions with a booming “Yes,” understand that getting attention from your prospects online is an exercise in a holistic strategy. Statistics show that tactical, “piece-meal” solutions just aren’t effective in the long run. Sure, without these components you may score a few short-term wins. But in the long run, implementing a solid strategy can help prevent someone with better tactics from siphoning away your potential customers.
Rather than waiting around with fingers crossed for prospects to reach out to you, there is a far more effective way to attract high quality customers. You can utilize a holistic marketing solution that builds a strategy based on the prospect’s entire online journey, providing you with more tailored solutions specific to your marketing challenges.
Simply put, this strategy is a combination of two of the most effective online marketing services: local search engine optimization (SEO) and online reputation management. By using the most crucial parts of each of these services, you can benefit from an overlooked and unconventional solution that is very effective. Through this combined solution, your business is provided with the exposure it needs, while also enhancing its reputation to your target audience.
Why are these so effective, especially when combined? Read on to discover why both services are vital for your business to gain a competitive edge.
What is The Importance of Local SEO
As the term suggests, local SEO focuses on area-based search engine optimization.
While general SEO may focus on terms like “roof repair” and provide generic results, local SEO gets super-specific and responds to keywords such as “roof repair in New York” and “water damage near me.”
This targeted approach helps customers who are searching for required services to narrow down to their specific location. More and more present and potential customers are using local search. As a result, more businesses are implementing it which creates stiff competition.
Here are a few stats that highlight the effectiveness of local SEO when it comes to service-based businesses such as roofers, restoration experts, and HVAC companies.
- 95% of customers who need local services search online for local businesses.
- 88% of searchers for local businesses contact a relevant business within 24 hours.
- 83% of U.S. shoppers visit a business after they have searched it on Google.
So the first order of business is to get and apply this useful mode of marketing to your business. It is proven to boost overall web presence and search engine rankings.
What is The Effectiveness of Reputation Management
Much like local SEO, the benefits of reputation management are easily defined.
Simply put, reputation management refers to controlling the way your business appears on the web. Even if your business has sky-high rankings placing it on the top of the front page, that doesn’t guarantee engagement. In fact it could do the opposite.
Bad reviews or low ratings on Google, and negative comments on Facebook or other websites can damage your business’s web reputation. What’s worse, a poor reputation can compromise any existing marketing efforts, especially local SEO.
Unfortunately, the fact is that negative PR prevents new customers from contacting your business. And it doesn’t stop there. It can even cause existing customers and referral partners to have second thoughts about their relationship with you.
Worst of all, it doesn’t take much for negative ratings or a lack of reviews to become a problem for your business. Often, it only takes one bad review or a single 1-star rating to tank your reputation. And if you don’t manage it instantly, you miss out on customers.
Reputation management has become essential to the survival of any business. Here are some stats.
- 92% of customers read online reviews about local businesses.
- Most consumers look at more than 2 review sites before making a decision.
- 84% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
- 73% of customers believe that reviews older than 3 months aren’t relevant.
While it might seem impossible to control these reviews or recover from a bad rating, reputation management can solve these issues. By using a few tried and tested strategies, this approach can help reform your reputation and enhance it to draw more business from new and old customers alike.
Key to Dominating Your Service Area: How to Combine Local SEO and Reputation Management
Blending local SEO and reputation management can take your business to a whole new level and maximize your potential for success.
The first step is to identify the most critical factors of both services:
What is Local SEO
- Search Engine Rankings. Where your site ranks in search results.
- Google Maps Rankings. Your business’ rankings in Google Maps.
- Business Profile on Major Platforms. Your presence on the most common platforms (such as Yelp).
- Setup of SEO Elements on Website. Optimizing your site for search engines.
- Mobile Search Optimization for Website. Optimizing your site for mobile devices.
- Creation of Interesting and Valuable Content. Developing engaging content for your existing and potential customers.
What are Online Reviews
- Average Star Rating. Your average rating on Google and other platforms.
- Total Number/Total Lack of Reviews. The number of reviews your business has or needs.
- Review Frequency. How frequently your new reviews should be submitted.
- Age of Reviews. Date of the most recent reviews.
- Average Ratings Across Multiple Sites. Identifies your average rating across different platforms.
- How a Business Responds to Negative Reviews. Your mitigation strategy in the face of bad reviews.
- Sentiment of the Reviews. The feeling your reviews project to the reader.
By addressing all of these factors thoroughly, your business can obtain top rankings and project strong consumer confidence in your business.
What are the Challenges of Implementation
Yes, the critical factors defined above may seem arduous and time-consuming. And honestly, it can be.
Staying a step ahead of your competitors can be challenging. This is where the benefits of holistic marketing services become more apparent. Having experience in the creation of effective solutions and the expertise to recognize the efforts that will fall short is invaluable.
Writing interesting, relevant content is essential for generating the highest level of engagement from your potential customers. Knowing what, when, where, and how to distribute it is even more important when working towards improving your search engine presence.
When it comes to reputation management and user reviews, things can get a bit more daunting. Getting reviews from real customers can be extremely difficult due to your customers’ lack of time, knowledge, and reminders. But getting fake or spam reviews can be a big deterrent towards maintaining your credibility in the business world. Securing real reviews from actual customers is a necessity, as is staying current with monitoring and responding to what is posted.
How To Find Solutions
A successful holistic marketing service should have a streamlined process, developed from many years of experience encountering these same dilemmas. And through their solutions, they should produce real results from actual customers in a way that solves your marketing woes.
Though this may sound too good to be true, it is not. How does a process like this work?
Diligent Follow-Up
Instead of complicated software, a tailored reputation management solution works with a built-in email reminder system. This will allow you to automatically send an email and text to your customer as soon as you have completed a job for them. In addition to thanking them for their business, it can ask them to leave feedback for the service you’ve provided. And it can automatically follow-up on all non-responses. This empowers and motivates your customers to send in a review.
Simple to Comprehend
A text-based reminder system is easy to use and creates a process that’s quick and simple for your customers. They will love leaving you reviews because all they need to do is send a simple text. This method can help eliminate most customers’ hesitation.
Multi-Faceted Approach
Using a multi-dimensional approach to reviews can seamlessly point prospects and customers to Google or Facebook; whatever is best for your industry. This helps to lead people straight to your business listing, and automatically opens the dialog box to simplify clicks.
Being a leader in this industry for over a decade, we have crafted a unique solution that addresses both local SEO and reputation management. Our proven solution is comprised of the most effective tactics for increasing your business. Please contact us for more information on how we can help you today.
