small business marketing – Page 5

The Importance of Positive AND Negative Reviews for Your House Painting Company

Are you scared of bad reviews, so you never ask clients for them?

In today’s digital world, online reviews have a big impact on businesses, especially service-based ones. As a house painting company owner, it’s important to have both positive and negative reviews in your profiles.

In this blog post, we will talk about why it’s essential to get a mix of reviews and how responding to all of them matters. Understanding the importance of reviews and knowing how to respond properly can help your company gain credibility, earn customer trust, and be more successful at converting leads.

The Power of Online Reviews

Online reviews are really influential. People read them to decide if they want to hire you. Positive reviews are like endorsements that show your company is good. They make customers trust you and bring in new business. According to a Podium survey 93% of those interviewed said online reviews do make a difference when it comes to their purchasing habits.

Negative reviews can actually be helpful because they show where your company needs to improve. Fixing these issues can make customers happier and improve your services. Negative reviews also show that you care about honest feedback and want to make things better.

Why Balance Matters

Having a balance between positive and negative reviews is important for your house painting company. If you only have positive reviews, people might think they’re fake. Having a mix of reviews makes your company look real and trustworthy. It shows that you care about your customers’ opinions and always try to do better.

Negative reviews give you a chance to learn and grow. When you handle them well, you can turn unhappy customers into happy ones. Responding to negative reviews shows potential customers that you’re attentive and committed to solving problems. This sets you apart from other companies and builds trust.

Look at your competitors’ reviews – how many of them respond to the negative ones?

Responding to All Reviews

It’s important to respond to every review, good or bad. This shows that you care about what customers think and that you value their feedback. When you respond to positive reviews, say thank you and show that you appreciate their kind words. Personalized responses help build a connection and make customers feel important. Be sure to use the person’s name and if possible, mention the type of work that you did for them.

When you get a negative review, it’s important to respond quickly and with understanding. Start by saying you’re sorry for the bad experience and that you want to make it right. Try to find out what went wrong and offer a solution. Responding to negative reviews shows that you care about your customers’ satisfaction and want to fix any issues. It also shows potential customers that you take feedback seriously and are dedicated to providing good service.

Go Get Those Reviews!

In today’s digital world, online reviews have a big impact on businesses, including house painting companies. It’s important to have a mix of positive and negative reviews to show authenticity and gain trust.

Responding to all reviews, whether good or bad, is important for managing your company’s reputation. By understanding the power of reviews and how to respond, you can build credibility, attract new customers, and create long-term loyalty for your house painting business.

Be sure to also read this article on how to encourage more positive reviews from your customers!

Want Some Help?

IFTS has multiple affordable solutions to help you get more online reviews by putting the process on autopilot!

Contact si@iftsdesign.com for more details.

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.

Creating Video Marketing Content with Canva: Useful Strategies for Your Small Painting Business

Creating Video Content with Canva: Useful Strategies for Your Small Painting Business, PART 1

Marketing videos can be a great way to promote your small business or house painting services. They allow you to showcase your skills and services in an engaging and visually appealing way. However, creating high-quality marketing videos can be challenging, especially if you don’t have the resources to hire a professional videographer or video editor.

What if we told you there’s an easier way to create those videos yourself?

We’re talking high-quality, friends – images and videos that will make your video look like a million bucks (even if it only cost you $12.99 a month for Canva Pro).

That’s right, you can make professional-looking videos yourself using Canva, which is a user-friendly graphic design tool that will have you making amazing videos in a matter of minutes. In the past, we’ve covered making social media posts quicker and easier using Canva, but in this blog, we’ll give you some of our most useful pointers for making marketing videos, specifically for small businesses and house painters.

Creating marketing videos for a small business or painting company can seem daunting. But with Canva, you can create an amazing video without having to be a professional videographer.

Have a Plan For Your Marketing Videos

How Can Small Painting Businesses Use Videos to Market Their Products and Services?

Like with social media post creation, you need a plan for your video marketing. This doesn’t have to be complicated. Decide how you want to promote your services and who your audience is.

For instance, if you own a painting company, you may want to use video to showcase your team at work, customer reviews, tips and tricks, or a recent project, highlighting your attention to detail.

Here are some ways small painting businesses can use videos to market their products and services:

Showcasing Products

You can create videos that show your products in action, such as videos of painting techniques, before and after shots of painting projects, or your favorite paint brands.

Sharing Expertise

As a painting business owner, you have expertise in the field that your customers can benefit from. You can create videos that share your expertise, such as videos on how to choose the right paint color, how to paint a room like a pro, or how to prepare a surface for painting.

Behind-the-Scenes Videos

Behind-the-scenes videos are a great way to show your customers what goes on behind closed doors. You can create videos that show your team at work, your painting process, or a day in the life of your painting business.

Promoting Events

Videos can be used to promote events such as workshops, or charity events. You can create videos that showcase what your customers can expect at the event, including the painting project they will work on, the tools they will use, and the techniques they will learn.

Sharing Testimonials

Customer testimonials are a powerful marketing tool, and videos can be used to showcase them. You can create videos that feature satisfied customers talking about their experience with your painting business, including the quality of your work, your customer service, and your attention to detail.

These decisions will help you create an effective video that resonates with your target viewers.

Be sure you stay on brand, though. If your brand is fun and upbeat, go ahead and reflect that in your videos!

First Things First - Getting Started in Canva

Create A Canva Account

To start creating videos in Canva, follow these easy steps:

Log in to your Canva account. If you don’t have one, you can easily sign up for a free account.
Once you’re logged in, click on the “Create a design” button and select “Video” from the dropdown menu.
Once you’re in the design screen, you’ll need to upload your video footage. Canva makes this easy by allowing you to upload videos directly from your computer.

*Pro-Tip* – If you’re feeling a little camera shy, you can even access various stock footage that is specifically designed for businesses and house painters and add your own uploaded audio files as the background.

This footage can be a great way to add an extra layer of professionalism to your video and make it stand out from the crowd!

Choose the Right Template

So, you know your brand and your audience, but you may not know how (or have the time) to create the overall style of your video from scratch.

This is where Canva Pro is worth the upgrade. With hundreds of templates for making marketing videos and other graphics, it’s easier than ever to choose the right template for your needs!

*Pro Tip* – If your brand colors are blue and green, you might want to choose a video template that already incorporates overlays and graphics with those colors or one that uses shapes that mimic the shapes used on your website.

Keeping it Simple-Streamline the Editing Process

Once you’ve uploaded your audio and/or video files and chosen a template, incorporating the style and colors of your brand, it’s time to start editing. When it comes to editing a marketing video using Canva, it can be helpful to approach the editing process in a step-by-step way.

Break down the editing process into smaller tasks and complete each task one at a time, rather than jumping back and forth between tasks. This will make it easier to stay focused and keep track of what you’ve completed and what still needs to be done so you can avoid getting bogged down in one aspect of the editing process and losing momentum.

To use a sequential editing process in Canva, here are some rules to go by:

Adjusting the Size and Scale Of Your Video

To do this, you’ll need to crop the footage first so that only the parts of the clip that are relevant to your message remain in the final product. It’s important to keep in mind that cropping a video will remove any parts of the footage that fall outside of the crop box.

Additionally, if you want to maintain the original aspect ratio of the video, you should ensure that the crop box is proportionally sized. Canva makes this easy by allowing you to select specific parts of your video and delete anything else by following these steps:

After uploading your video into Canva, select the video on the timeline that now shows on the timeline bar at the bottom of the editing screen.
Click on the crop icon located on the toolbar above the timeline.
Use the crop handles that appear on the edges of the video to adjust the size and shape of the footage.
Move the crop box over the area of the video you want to keep and adjust the size and shape as needed.
Click the “Apply” button to crop the video to the selected dimensions.
If you want to adjust the crop again, simply select the video and click the crop icon to reopen the cropping tool.

*Pro tip* – Aspect Ratio requirements vary between social media platforms. Instead of cropping your video manually, with Canva’s pro feature, you can copy and resize your video to fit any format automatically. You may have to adjust your video to fit the new screen size, but it is a quick way to create videos for a variety of social media outlets. So if you know you will be posting a video on several sites, this is a helpful tool.

Add Your Logo

Continue the editing process by adding your logo to the video first, before cutting the footage. This ensures that your branding is prominently displayed throughout the video and creates a cohesive look and feel. Here’s how:

Select the “Uploads” tab or the “Brand Hub” tab (See our previous article about using Canva’s Brand Kit to save all of your logos, fonts, and colors in one area for easy access in this tab)and upload or select your company logo.
Drag and drop your logo onto the video timeline and adjust its size and position as necessary.
You can also add other branding elements, like your company name or contact information, at this stage.
Don’t forget to change out any of the pre-designed template fonts with the fonts you use on your website or with a font very similar to your other marketing documents.

Cut Your Footage

Cutting a video is an essential step in creating a marketing video using Canva, as it allows you to remove any unnecessary footage that doesn’t add value to your message. There are a couple of ways to do this, but here is the easiest way we’ve found to cut a video in Canva:

Select the small thumbnail of your video in the timeline tab at the bottom of the editing screen so that it is outlined with a purple box.
Play your video back in the editing screen and simply hit the “S” key on your keyboard to cut the video at a certain point. You can also hit the pause button and then hit the “S” key.
Repeat the split tool process to cut your video footage into different segments, depending on how many different clips you want to include in your final marketing video.
You now can simply select and delete any portions you want to remove from your final video. Remember to keep your audience in mind when selecting which portions to include and which to cut, as their engagement is key to the success of your video marketing efforts.

*Pro tip* – If you want to have an image or one of Canva’s stock videos playing over your video, but still be able to hear the sound, simply select your video in the main editing screen. A three-dot tab will appear and when clicked on, choose the option to detach your video from the background. Then, select the checkerboard icon at the top of the screen and adjust the transparency of your video to zero.

Now that you’ve got a plan and the basics down, look for our next article, Part 2, where we will jump right into adding some flair to your videos with all of our favorite Canva creative tips to make your videos really pop!

Need more help? Contact our social media experts at IFTS, and we will get the job done for you! Give us a call today at 412-715-6266, and we’ll get you started on creating videos that will take your business to the next level.