Building Customer Relationships – Page 4

Helping Your Painting Business Rank in the Google 3-Pack

When you search for a local business on Google, the first three results that appear are known as the Google 3-Pack. The 3-Pack (also known as the local pack or snack pack) is displayed with a map that provides the location of each business as well as basic information about each business. The 3-Pack is above normal search results, which makes it a valuable piece of real estate for any local business that wants to reach people who are looking for something in their area.

Let’s talk about helping your painting business rank in the Google 3-pack.

In our experience, a lot of phone calls come from just showing up below the map in Google when someone is searching for a painter.

The best part about this? These calls are coming to you free of charge. So, how do you get more of these free calls?

To rank in the 3-pack, Google looks at 3 things:

1 – How close your business address is to the searcher, or proximity

2 – How prominent your business and brand are online, or prominence

3 – How related your company is what the person is looking for, or relevance

Now, you can’t do much about the first one, so you need to concentrate on the other 2.

Let’s start with prominence.

For this, Google is going to look at how many other websites link to you online.

This isn’t about the quantity of links, but the quality of the links. So, you want to be sure to have links from all of the organizations that you belong to and if possible, from all of the charities that you participate in. These are the types of high-quality backlinks that Google is looking for.

Google is also going to look at a bunch of different online directories/citations and make sure that your name, address and phone number all match what is in your Google Business Profile and on your website.

If you’ve moved locations a few times, you may want to look into a tool like Yext to help you get that all straightened out. We also offer this service at our company.

Now, let’s move onto relevancy.

It used to be that the closer your company name was as seen in your Google Business Profile to the search terms that someone put in, the more likely it was that you would show in the 3-pack. However, companies started to game this system by naming themselves things like “Pittsburgh House Painters” in their Google Profiles. Once Google became aware of this issue, they replaced looking at the business name with looking at your reviews!

So, Google now wants to see detailed reviews about your company, and they will look at the keywords used within the reviews to determine the relevancy to a person’s search term.

For example, if someone in Oklahoma City was looking for someone to paint their living room, Google would probably expect words like “interior painting”, “painters”, and “OKC” to be in the review text.

So, what does this tell you?

You need to get reviews on a regular basis to establish the relevancy that Google wants to see.

Unfortunately, these can’t just be any reviews.

They need to be high-quality reviews that mention words that Google wants to see…which will help you get more free phone calls.

So, how do you accomplish this seemingly impossible task of putting words into people’s heads?

You’re not a magician.

Well, when you ask for a review via text or email, we have found that it’s good to provide a nice basis for them, which helps avoid writer’s block and allows you to put ideas in their heads…kinda like Inception, but without Leonardo DiCaprio.

As an example, you could send the following email:

“Mrs. Smith –

We hope that you found our service to be extraordinary. If that is the case, we would love for you to leave us a review.

To help you get started (and avoid writer’s block), we have found that the most impactful reviews answer these questions:

What work did we do for you and where are you located?

Was it done well?

Why did you pick our company?

What was the best thing about working with our company?

Would you recommend us to family and friends?

Please click here and it will take you directly to our Google Review Page: [Link]

Thank you for choosing us and we really appreciate you taking the time to leave a review.”

By asking these questions, you help guide them to use the words and phrases that will make your reviews relevant to most searchers looking for companies like yours. In addition, they will leave reviews that look non-spammy and well thought out.

The other thing about reviews is that you need to get them regularly…and this is for a few reasons.

Reason 1 – Google wants to see recent reviews to help with relevance

Reason 2 – Prospects want to see recent reviews to help them make a decision

In fact, almost 50% of people won’t even consider a review relevant if it was written over one month ago.

So, you’ll need to create a system that helps you get reviews on a regular basis. We have a whole video about this, which I’ll link to in the description.

As a bonus, you should respond to reviews to help increase your relevancy. In your response, it gives you a chance to mention the place you worked and what the job was. It also allows you to express your gratitude to the person that took the time to leave you a review.

So, in summation, ranking in the 3-pack requires 3 things:

Proximity
Prominence
Relevance

Because you can’t change the first one, be sure to concentrate on the second two to have the best profile possible and get more phone calls than your competition.

If you have any questions about the topic discussed in this article, or if you need help with ranking in the Google 3-pack, contact IFTS at 412-715-6266 or email Stacey Ivol at si@iftsdesign.com.

Local Lead Generation Techniques for House Painting Companies-Part 1

Quality leads, better customers, less hassle

LEAD GENERATION FOR HOUSE PAINTERS, PART 1

Are you having trouble locating high-quality leads while employing tried-and-true marketing strategies like networking, word-of-mouth, and referrals to gain more customers?

House painters and handyman are some of the most in demand service professionals, but there is a ton of competition in the marketplace.

How does a prospect know which company to choose?

As a house painting business, you typically offer similar services to your competition, so how do you stand out amongst the crowd?

It’s by showcasing your differentiators with proven marketing techniques!

Ever wonder how a company gets more customers than you consistently even though their finished product is much worse than yours?

It’s their marketing.

You don’t have to let this happen!

There are time-tested lead generating techniques that draw in the right clients who are prepared to purchase your services on the spot.

EFFECTIVE LEAD GENERATION STRATEGIES

In a market dominated by internet research, it can be hard for a business that just wants to focus on having the best services to come up with good lead generation strategies. With the internet, smartphones, Google, and social media taking over the world, lead generation has become more competitive and complex.

How businesses like yours found new clients and customers has changed a lot in the last 20 years. If you’re still marketing like it’s 1999, you won’t grow or remain relevant.

But there is a bright side…even in the most competitive markets, you can find ways to get leads with digital marketing strategies. Keep reading to find out how you can start getting new leads for your painting company.

DEFINITION OF A LEAD

A lead is someone who has shown interest in your business’s product or service and given you their contact information. Every business needs to find new customers and clients in order to grow.

The ways to get these new leads have changed, and while a few old-school methods might still work on a small scale, online local lead generation can help any business grow its audience and customer base in ways that have never been seen before.

LET’S TALK ABOUT LEAD GENERATION

Lead generation is the process of turning people in your market who don’t know about your business into leads who are interested in what services you have to offer.

Your lead generation strategy tells you how to get people interested in your business so they can enter your sales pipeline. When you know what your potential customer wants and can connect that to a good offer, you will always get good leads.

WHY DO YOU NEED A LEAD GENERATION PLAN FOR YOUR PAINTING BUSINESS?

As Zig Zigar says, “You are out of business if you don’t have a prospect.”

To grow your company, you need a steady stream of high-quality, sales-ready leads that are ready to get started with the painting process. When potential customers are interested in your business, they are easier and cheaper to sell to in the future because there is already a trust factor involved.

Even if your business is small, you can still have a large customer base if you have a good plan for getting leads.

As people become more and more dependent on the internet, there have been big changes in how they look for, get, and pay for home services.

Buyers can make most of their decisions based on their access to a lot of information online. Once they complete a form on your website or call, they have already done most of the work. Getting a customer’s attention and keeping it throughout the buying cycle has become even harder.

As a painting business, you need to come up with a creative way to get in front of your ideal customer. This will help you build trust and turn prospects into leads.

Lead generation is the most important thing for a business to do that wants to grow. It helps you spread the word about your brand, connect with your users, get sales-ready leads, and, in the end, increase your conversions.

For 65% of businesses, generating traffic and leads is their top marketing challenge.

– HubSpot

HOW TO GENERATE LEADS FOR YOUR COMPANY

Over the years, the way people buy products and services has changed a lot. With the rise of the Internet and an abundance of information online, buyers today are more likely to make decisions on their own, with no need to talk to a salesperson. About two-thirds to ninety percent of the buying process is now done by the buyer before they even talk to the business.

Companies that do well at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost.

– InvespCRO

It is now harder than ever to get a customer’s attention and keep it throughout the buying process.

So, what should you do?

Businesses must have a clear plan to find new ways to connect with customers and get them interested in their services.

Let’s talk about some ways to do this!

LEAD GENERATION TACTIC #1 – PAID ADVERTISING WITH GOOGLE

Google paid advertising lets you reach potential customers who don’t know about your painting business yet.

A study by Search Engine Land found that 75% of people say paid search ads make it easier for them to find the information they want on a website or search engine. 33% of people click on a paid search ad because it directly answers what they were looking for.

So, how should you approach paid ads?

Well, there are multiple approaches to discuss:

Paid Advertising with Display Ads

Display ads are the ads you see on multiple search engines and pages that are small embeds throughout the page. They usually have an offer, a company logo, and pictures. They can also be a short video. Most of the time, these ads are very specific to the demographics and actions of prospects and buyers.

Display advertising has proven to increase traffic to websites by 300%.

– Visually

These kinds of ads are better for getting people to learn about your business, but there are other paid options that work well, too.

On average, 41% of clicks go to the top 3 paid ads on the search results page.

– Wordstream

Paid Advertising with PPC Search Ads (Pay-Per-Click)

Pay-per-click ads are a cheap way to advertise online because you only have to pay when someone clicks on your ad, which can lead to any website link or even your phone number.

No matter what business you’re in, a very large number of your potential customers are online and using Google or Bing to find information. With Google AdWords PPC ads, you can reach people based on what they are looking for.

PPC visitors are 50% more likely to purchase something than organic visitors.

– Unbounce

If you are ready to invest time in a process of trial and error to fine-tune your chosen key phrases or utilize a PPC management service with bidding experience, you will be able to appear in front of more people who are relevant to your business.

For high commercial intent searches (someone looking to buy a product), paid ads get 65% of all clicks.

– Wordstream

Paid Advertising with Retargeting (Pay-Per-Click)

Retargeting is a clever way to get prospects to take action. With retargeting, you can find your prospects wherever they are and make sure that they see your business over and over again with images, videos and text ads.

Retargeting helps you get more leads from people that have visited your site, watched your videos, called you or clicked on your ads.

Lead generation outsourcing is 43% more efficient than in-house generating because of their expertise.

– Fearless Competitor

Paid Advertising with Google Local Service Ads (Pay-Per-Click)

Local Services ads help you connect with people who search on Google for the services you offer.

Customers in your area will see your ads, and you only pay if a customer contacts you directly through an ad. As a Google Guaranteed provider, you gain the trust of new customers and your ads stand out on Google’s search results pages.

Local Service Ads by Google receive 13.8% of local search engine results page clicks.

– BrightLocal

Getting started with Google Local Service Ads is really easy. It only takes 3 steps:

Sign up on Google as a local service provider
Create a budget based on the number of leads that you want to get
Turn on the ads, then pay only if someone contacts you via the ad

LEAD GENERATION TACTIC #2 – OPTIMIZE YOUR PAINTING BUSINESS WEBSITE

You need a high-quality website and landing pages if you want quality leads.

Website optimization, often lumped in with search engine optimization (SEO), is the process of making a website work well for its users, search engines, and the business…which results in more leads and a better UI experience.

A well-optimized website is a crucial component of any successful lead generation strategy. Your website will sell your business with the SEO already in place. After all, the goal of all your other lead generation strategies is to convert random visitors to your website into paying clients.

According to Marketo, only 4% of people who visit a website are in a purchasing mindset.

While it sounds like a terrible stat, keep in mind that it only indicates the traffic that is heading for the exit step of your sales funnel. The other 96% are still in the “wait and see” phase, giving you plenty of time to hone your conversion techniques.

Make it obvious on your website where you want visitors to go and what you want them to do when they get there.

Be sure to watch for Part 2 of this blog series, which covers 4 more lead generation tactics for painters and a plan to bring them together!

How to Market Your Service Business on Facebook

Are you advertising your painting business online?

For a service-based business, it can be very hard to find the right place to advertise online. If you want to market your business online, Facebook may be the best place to do it, even if you have to pay for it.

Local businesses that use Facebook to promote their business have a lot to gain from being able to target people who are actually interested in their services and live near them.

With Facebook advertising, you can reach a very specific audience in their personal digital space, where they talk to each other every day.

Using Facebook Messenger ads is a great way to reach people where they are online. People are increasingly using messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp to talk to people they know and businesses they do business with.

Facebook Ads Remind People of Your Services

If you sell services, it’s important for your customers that you have a good web presence, active social media and a good reputation online. When hiring a service provider, people want to feel safe and sure.

It makes sense that these prospects take more time to decide what to buy and don’t always go with the first business that comes up in the paid ads on search engine results pages.

People often take the time to look at their top choices for services, check out their websites/social media and reviews, compare prices, and ask their friends and family for suggestions. Since many service purchases don’t happen right away, it’s easy for customers to forget about them.

But local service providers can remind people about their services and turn more interested leads into customers by using Facebook marketing.

Messenger Ads Can Help Service Businesses Reach More People

Over 1.3 billion people around the world use Facebook Messenger. And each month, businesses and users send and receive more than 20 billion messages.

Those are some pretty big numbers, but you’re a small business in your town, so what do they have to do with you?

So, here are some numbers that show why you might want to think about Facebook Messenger ads:

67% of people indicated that they have made a purchase after seeing a social media ad (The Manifest’s 2019 Consumer Social Media Survey)
31% of consumers say they are using social media channels to browse for new items to purchase. (Aimia)
Facebook accounts for 50% of total social referrals and 64% of total social revenue. (Business Insider)
84% of millennials say user-generated content from strangers has at least some influence on what they buy. (Gartner)

Your business can find the perfect audience to market to by digging into your Facebook Audience Insights to learn more about the demographics and preferences of everyone on Facebook. More importantly, you can get detailed information about the people who have connected with your Facebook page to make highly targeted Messenger Ad campaigns that are hard to ignore.

Put Your Business in Facebook Messenger Inboxes

Running ads that show up in people’s Messenger inboxes is the easiest way to get the word out about your business on Facebook Messenger. Just like Facebook ads, Messenger ads automatically put ads where they are most likely to get results for the least amount of money. You can even use the same ads for Messenger that you already made for marketing campaigns on Facebook and Instagram.

When people see your ads in the Chats tab of the Messenger app, they can tap on them to go to the destination you chose when you made the ad. So, you could send them to a Messenger chat with your business, or you could send them to a website or app.

There are even sponsored Messenger ads that can be sent directly to people’s Messenger inboxes, but ONLY if they have talked to your business on Messenger before.

People are reading less and skimming more, so focus on making calls to action that people “can’t pass up” and give prospects a reason to click. Your next customer might be waiting on Facebook for you to post something. Try using eye-catching colors or images to get people to see your message.

If you don’t know how to set up or manage a Facebook ads account, contact us right away about our Facebook Ads Management plans.