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Tag: target market

Revitalizing Your Online Presence: Generating Phone Calls and Conversions

Is your online presence working for you? 

In today’s digital landscape, a compelling online presence is the cornerstone of any successful business. It serves as a digital storefront, #1 salesperson, your biggest fan and more, enticing prospects to engage with your brand.

So – what entails a successful online presence?

There are 3 main parts:

  • Branding 
  • Google Maps Optimization
  • Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

In this article, we will explore these 3 key elements that can transform your presence online into a powerful client-conversion machine. 

Let’s get started!

Part 1 – Business Branding

Just as a compass guides travelers, a strong brand identity directs potential clients towards your business. It’s crucial to communicate the unique value proposition your brand offers. 

However, rather than focusing solely on yourself, shift the spotlight to the benefits your clients will gain by choosing your services. On your website, create a captivating headline that resonates with their needs and aspirations.  It should have nothing to do with you yet.  People are always looking at the “What’s In It For Me” outcomes.  So, let them know all of the great things that can happen when they work with you.

Then, use the subheadings to highlight features that reinforce these benefits.  This is where you can talk about your knowledge, qualifications, past case studies and more. By following this strategy, you create an emotional connection, compelling visitors to take the next step on their journey towards conversion.

Part 2 –Optimizations To Rank Higher on Google Maps

There are 3 main factors that determine how your business ranks on Google Maps:

  • Location (how close you are to the searcher)

Location emphasizes your proximity to potential clients, ensuring they can easily find and access your business.

  • Relevancy (how relevant your business is to their search)

Relevancy demands that your Google profile and website are optimized to align with their search queries, demonstrating its value and relevance.

  • Prominence (how prominent is your website)

Prominence focuses on elevating your website’s visibility and credibility.

Ensuring that Google “likes” your site by adhering to search engine optimization (SEO) best practices will ultimately increase your organic traffic and conversions.

Since you can’t really change your location, focus on credibility and relevance.

Increase Credibility and Relevance

One great way to increase credibility and relevance is via social proof, like reviews or testimonials.  This is always beneficial to you because if a prospect sees someone similar to them getting a good result with your company, they can picture themselves in that position as well.

The best part? You don’t have to toot your own horn at all.

Video testimonials are the best way to get social proof and can be easily done via Zoom. They are an invaluable asset that humanizes your brand, instilling trust and credibility. They can be posted in a myriad of places, such as:

  • YouTube
  • Your website
  • Google Business Profile
  • Rumble
  • Social Media
  • LinkedIn

…and more!

So, how can you obtain impactful video testimonials that convey the story of how you have positively impacted your clients’ lives?

Meet with happy clients on Zoom and ask them these simple questions:

  • What was the problem that you hired us to solve?
  • Why did you choose our company over everyone else?
  • What was the work that we did for you?
  • Were you happy with the results?
  • Would you recommend us to friends and family?
  • Anything additional you would like to add?

This question structure will create a great testimonial every time because it follows a story narrative. People love to hear stories in a particular order, so this should help your interviewee tell a compelling story.

Once the interview is complete, edit the video to enhance the quality and remove any portions that don’t make sense to include. This video can then be shared everywhere!

Additionally, don’t overlook the power of written testimonials.

Gather positive reviews from platforms like Google and incorporate them into your website, either as widgets, text or screenshots, to further strengthen your social proof.

Part 3 – Conversion Rate Optimization

Google can send you all the traffic in the world, but none of that matters if they don’t convert into clients.

So, how can you increase the conversion rate on your website?

There are many ways to increase conversion rate, but we are going to discuss 3 here.

1 – Make it as easy as possible to get in touch with you on every page

This includes having your phone number at the top of your website, making sure that the number is clickable, having a chat box for people that don’t want to call, and having a contact form for people that don’t want to chat. Make it impossible for someone to find a reason not to get in touch.

2 – Showcase trustworthy elements on your site

Be sure to have an SSL attached to your site so people know that their information is secure. You can further denote this with a padlock graphic on your forms. 

3 - Have a quick loading website

Be sure that your website loads in 3 seconds or less. This will ensure that a prospect cannot get upset by the load time and leave your page frustrated.

Time To Get Started

Your website holds the key to unlocking your business’s potential, acting as a bridge between you and your ideal clients. Make sure that you have built that bridge as strong as possible by following the outline discussed above.

Need help implementing any of the optimizations discussed in the article? Let IFTS help!

Call 412.715.6266 or send an email to si@iftsdesign.com to get started.

Local Lead Generation Techniques for House Painting Companies

Quality leads, better customers, less hassle

LEAD GENERATION FOR HOUSE PAINTERS, PART 2

Last time, we talked about generating leads for your painting business using Google Ads and Website Optimization.

Now, let’s talk about 4 more tactics as well as a plan to bring them all together.

LEAD GENERATION TACTIC #3 – SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

60% of all organic clicks go to the organic top 3 search results.

– Business2Community

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of adjusting a website’s architecture and content such that it receives a higher page rank in search engine results pages in response to certain queries. In an ideal world, customers would just type a few keywords related to your business into Google and learn that you provide the best value for your customers’ money.

76% of people using “near me” searches visit a related business within a day.

– Google

In the real world, there is a long list of known factors that go into how high your website and content will rank in search engine results and SEO works to make your business as attractive as possible.

Organic position 1 receives the highest number of standard SERP clicks.

– BrightLocal, 2019

Search engine optimization is a powerful tool.  It helps with attracting more qualified prospects who are ready to buy. If your website is optimized for search engines like Google and Bing, it will be more likely to be seen by potential clients who are conducting online searches for painting and handyman services.

The constant algorithm changes that Google makes are the largest obstacle to maintaining “good” SEO for your site. 

Businesses that rely on search engine optimization for lead generation often find it difficult to keep up with Google’s changes to search ranking numbers.  This dynamic nature of SEO means that many companies prefer to hire outside professionals to maintain their websites.

SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, outbound leads (ex. direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate.

– Search Engine Journal

LEAD GENERATION TACTIC #4 – EMAIL MARKETING

Email is ideal for generating leads since it can be tailored to each individual recipient and it has a low cost.

Email marketing continues to play an important role in any successful lead generation strategy, as it is widely regarded as one of the finest ways to communicate with consumers and prospects. In terms of bringing in new customers, expanding the reach of an existing brand, and converting existing customers, email marketing remains unrivaled.

42% of organizations believe email is one of their most effective lead generation channels.

– Circle Research

Use Dedicated Landing Pages In Your Emails

Each and every email you send should have a distinct purpose. Having a landing page dedicated just to said goal is a great way to keep your readers on the track you’ve set out for them. Every email must include one clear and concise call to action that instructs the recipient on what to do next.

Some example Calls To Action (CTA):

  • Get A Free Quote
  • Schedule Your Free Home Estimate
  • Download Our Moving Checklist
  • Make An Appointment

Companies see a 55% increase in leads when increasing their number of landing pages from 10 to 15.

– HubSpot

By using a landing page, you can make sure that all of your reader’s attention is on what you want them to do. There are no distractions or offers of other products to give them more choices. Just an easy way for the reader to do what you want, which means a higher conversion rate.

For most painting and handyman companies, a landing page will typically have a form to fill out or an appointment scheduler as the main action.

Bring Prospects Back To Your Website Via List Building

Know that most of the people who visit your website will never come back unless you keep in touch with them regularly.

One of the best ways to do this is to get more people to sign up for your email list.

Only 4% of website visitors are ready to buy.

– Marketo

Email subscribers choose to join your list and confirm who they are by clicking on a link (double-opt-in). They are very interested in what you have to offer, so they are more likely to buy from you. Think of them as leads who have already shown interest but need to be won over and cared for.

No matter what kind of business you run or what industry you’re in, if you have a website and want to turn visitors into repeat customers, you need to get them on your email list.

Email lists also protect you from any sort of changes to a platform or account cancellation.  A lot of companies invested millions of dollars getting Facebook followers so they could communicate with their followers for free.  Then, Facebook changed the rules and a company’s post will typically reach 10% maximum of their followers.  If that company wanted to be sure that their followers saw something they posted, they would need to pay for a Facebook ad to do this.

LEAD GENERATION TACTIC #5 – PAID ADVERTISING WITH FACEBOOK

Companies that engage in social selling get 199% better return on investment.

– Awario

You can show ads to people in your area based on their location, age, gender, interests, and a lot more with a social media business account. And social media sites make it easy to tell your followers what they should do.

31% of consumers say they are using social media channels to browse for new items to purchase.

– Aimia

Because ads on Facebook and other social media sites often target specific people based on their demographics or actions, you can use what you know about your customers to reach out to those you think would be more interested.  You can also retarget people that you know are interested in your services.

Facebook accounts for 50% of total social referrals and 64% of total social revenue.

– Business Insider

Facebook Messenger and Lead Generation Ads

Digital marketing makes it possible for local painting businesses to reach their ideal customers in ways we never thought possible. With Facebook Messenger marketing, you can put your ad in people’s inboxes or chat directly with new and potential customers. This works better and costs less than other digital ads.

Local businesses that use Facebook Messenger to promote their business have a huge advantage in being able to reach out to people who are actually interested in their product and live near them.

Facebook added two new features in 2019 to make it easier for your business to market itself. They added lead generation templates right to the Ads Manager to get people to go to a question-and-answer flow in Messenger that is run automatically.

And an appointment booking interface API that can be connected to a business’s calendaring system so that people can see the most up-to-date available appointments.

Messenger marketing is about SO MUCH MORE than just ads and chatbots

When you use Messenger for marketing, you can put an ad in the chat inbox of your ideal customer, where it will be hard to miss. But there’s more…

You can: make interactive stories, give customer service by answering FAQs, customize product or service suggestions, book appointments, send purchase or shipping confirmations, send newsletters and notifications of new blog posts, deliver downloadable content like lead magnets or catalogs, and send event reminders.

LEAD GENERATION TACTIC #6 – REPUTATION MARKETING

The people who work for you or buy from you now trust you enough to do so.

But how do you get new prospects to trust you and your business?

How do you get leads to turn into sales? 

With reviews and testimonials on your website and on other sites like Google, Yelp, Facebook, and review sites that are specific to your industry, like Angi.

Before making a purchase, over 90% of people in the United States look online for reviews and recommendations.

90% of online users trust reviews.

– Google

If a lead visits your website or your business’s online presence before or after the research phase of their buying cycle, they should get a clear and bold message about how great your business is. 

Make sure that NEW reviews and testimonials are easy to find on your website. No one will be impressed by a testimonial from three years ago, and it won’t show prospects what you can do for them now.

44% of consumers will not consider a review to be relevant if it was written more than one month ago.

Power Reviews

You can easily automate the posting of reviews and testimonials on your website with cheap reputation management services that gather reviews and post them where they matter most. Good star ratings and customer reviews have been shown to have a big impact on how consumers decide what to buy.

HOUSE PAINTING LOCAL LEAD GENERATION

A good lead generation strategy includes elements that draw in the best prospects, which are people who have said they need or are interested in your services offered and want to find out more about what you have to offer.

These leads are most likely to turn into customers quickly and easily because they are ready to buy. That’s why your lead generation strategy should avoid spam and general telemarketing that reaches people who might not be interested in your product. Instead, it should focus on building you a list of qualified leads who are willing to pay good money for a service you sell.

When you have a good lead generation strategy, you can use effective activities and a focused approach to get qualified leads that turn into loyal customers.

Your strategy should try to get prospects’ attention, make it easy for them to find your business, and turn prospects into customers.

Your plan for getting leads needs to be as flexible as the people you’re trying to reach. Make and test appealing offers, calls to action, landing pages, and lead generation forms, and then promote them through a variety of channels and platforms.

Find the ones that work and do more of those.

A good lead generation strategy takes planning and consistent work to bring in good leads for your business, but the return on investment (ROI) is unbeatable when compared to traditional and outbound marketing methods.

NEED HELP?

This publication is not a how-to guide. Instead, it is a source of information that will help you make smart choices when making and putting into action a marketing plan to get more leads for your painting business.

There are some business owners who know enough about online marketing to do it on their own. But because the tools, rules, and best practices that make up online marketing today are always changing and growing, others should think about working with professional digital marketers who have experience with local lead generation to make sure their campaigns are effective and bring in the most money.

Talk with IFTS today for more details at 412.715.6266!

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:

  1. Sign up on Google as a local service provider
  2. Create a budget based on the number of leads that you want to get
  3. 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!