It is a harsh and unfortunate reality that in the world we live in there are predators that prey on unassuming small business owners so they can make a quick buck – especially in the small business internet marketing world. Internet marketing can be overwhelming and complicated so I’ve put together the top deceptions, scams and the black hat practices that pose an immediate danger to your small business web presence.
1. Taking Domain Ownership – It is important that you have complete control over your domain. It is easy to register or transfer a domain so that you are the legal registrant. Deceptive small business internet marketing companies will offer free domains or require you to transfer your existing domain to their control. As a domain owner the only thing your internet marketing service provider should require is DNS access or name server access. This is simple and easy to administer with domain providers like GoDaddy.com
2. Preventing or Delaying Access to Web Performance Metrics – If you are paying someone to manage your organic or paid search efforts you can track and monitor progress with free tools like Google Analytics. It is a best practice for a small business internet marketing company to set you up with Google Analytics and provide you with access. Do business with a transparent company that will partner with you to achieve results.
3. Preventing Access to the Backend of your Website –I am a firm believer that your website should have a backend CMS or content management system like Wordpress. A CMS makes it super easy to add and make changes to content and graphics. Wordpress is as easy as using Microsoft Word. Some small business internet marketing providers will build you a website without a backend CMS making it impossible for you to make changes, thus requiring you to retain their services to make simple changes. Some web designers will argue that a CMS will impact your site performance but I have yet to see the validity of this argument.
4. Engaging in Link Schemes – Back linking is becoming a thing of the past. It really doesn’t matter how many back links your site has. Each link from a domain has a certain level of authority that it passes on to your website when linked. Link farms and other black hat SEO tactics can actually hurt your web performance. A more organic approach in building web authority is content creation. Be aware of small business internet marketing companies that sell links or linking services. Make sure to question their methodology and ask for example reports of existing customers to see the quality of sites they are linking to.
5. Keyword Stuffing - Keyword stuffing is when you write an article and repeat the keyword that you want to rank for more times than it makes sense. The content reads funny and it does not flow. Remember the goal of a small business internet marketing strategy is to not only attract prospective customers to your site but to also engage them with interesting and actionable content. When investing in content development make sure the internet marketing agency is writing content that flows, makes sense and is relevant to the products and services you sell.
6. Producing Duplicate Content – Two years ago it was easy to take a piece of content for one company, change a few words and publish it on another company website to rank for keywords. Today duplicate content can get you into trouble. Google recently launched Google Panda which only gives credit to a piece of content once. Make sure your content is fresh and original. If you recently lost rank and positioning on the search engines it could be you are sharing content with another website managed by the same small business internet marketing provider.
7. Unable to Access Paid Search Accounts – There are some small business internet marketing companies out there that will set you up with paid search accounts and not provide you with direct access to those accounts. It is important that you know what your true costs are when starting a paid search campaign. So if you see your ads running on sites like Google, Bing or Yahoo you should see reports that come directly from these advertisers. Smart deceptive small business internet marketing firms will write their own reports and mask the margins they are making on your paid search dollars. Make sure you have a direct billing relationship with your advertisers and only pay for paid search management. You could be spending 70% or more margin on the backend for paid search services and not even realize it – so if your phone is not ringing ask why.
8. Selling a Small Group of Keywords – This is a deceptive small business internet marketing sales tactic. A sales person will sell you a small group of keywords and claim that you will be number one in the paid search listings. They may even sell you an organic package. The keywords they choose will be long tail keywords or phrases which normally contain 3 or more words. You will be charged for the management of these keywords and not necessarily the performance. It is very simple and fast to rank for long tail keywords.
Awhile back I worked with a client that was paying a small business internet marketing company more than $800 each month for the following terms:
- Pensacola heating and air conditioning contractor
- Pensacola HVAC Contractor
- Best Pensacola Air Conditioning Contractor
I took over the campaign and ran with the same keywords for a period of 30 days. The true cost to get found for these keywords was $0.00. The ads would show up when you typed in the search phrases, however there was no one searching these specific phrases.
9. Blocking the Search Engines – I’ve seen small business internet marketing companies that will block your website from being indexed from search engines like Google by inserting a piece of code – “no index, no follow.” This prevents your site from being crawled, indexed and ranked on a search engine results search. It is common for a deceptive internet marketing company to block your site when you terminate service. Maintain control over your domain and make sure you have access to the backend of your website to prevent this from happening. When you sign an agreement make sure you have it in writing that your site will be indexed and followed along with ownership over your content.
10. Misrepresenting Google – Google employees do not make cold calls. If you are receiving cold calls from internet marketing companies claiming to be from or affiliated with Google I would highly recommend asking them for their phone number and website address so you can verify the claim.
About The Service Coach
The Service Coach helps service businesses of all sizes develop and implement proven digital marketing strategies. Below are a number of common challenges we help service business owners solve:
Website Visibility and Performance: The average small business website has only 14 indexed web pages and most require IT involvement to make changes. We make your website work harder with an easy to use content management system. The CMS has built in tools that make it easy to create pages, measure performance and track critical marketing metrics like traffic and conversion.
Automating Proven Marketing Executions: You have had success in the past launching campaigns that delivered a positive ROI but it is difficult for you to systemize and repeat proven marketing executions without a significant amount of time and resources. We take proven marketing executions and make them easy to deploy.
Long Sales Cycles: You write estimates for high ticket, high margin replacement installations and find that it is taking longer to close deals than before. We help you develop and implement sales tools and communications that speed up the buying process.
Customer Retention: You have worked hard to generate new customers but do not have a process in place to grow and develop long term relationship with them. We help you constantly stay in-front of your customers through a number of marketing executions including newsletters, blogging, social media and promotions.
Consistent Lead Generation: Lead flow is sporadic and unpredictable. We help you generate a steady flow of leads at scalable costs through a number of layered lead generation strategies including paid search, email, local search directory placement, content development and more.
Turning Service Offerings into Easy-to-Sell Programs: People purchase products and services that offer perceived value. Without value it is often difficult to position your offering at its’ optimal price. This typically leads to missed opportunities and contracts agreed to at a substantially discounted price. We transition your product and service offerings into easy-to-sell programs.
Selling Recurring Revenue Preventative Maintenance Plans: One of the best ways to secure a customer relationship is to implement a recurring service model where the customer belongs to an exclusive offering where they have peace of mind knowing that your company will respond at a moment’s notice and take care of their equipment. We help you build and develop recurring revenue streams and customer service plans that build long-last relationships.
Running Blind: You may have heard the old adage “About half of my ads work, the problem is I’m not sure which half.” If you’re running blind without visibility into marketing performance we can help. We’ll wire up your marketing department so you’ll have visibility into marketing performance. With data you’ll be able to make informed decisions and control costs. You’ll know exactly how much a lead will cost, how much it will take to generate a new customer and more.
Request a one-on-one consultation and learn how The Service Coach can help your organization. Call 1-866-532-6224 or fill out the form here.
About The Author: Steve Teneriello is the Founder of The Service Coach and is a seasoned senior marketing strategist and business development professional experienced in both residential and commercial sales and digital marketing. Throughout his career Steve has worked with over 300 small to medium-sized service business owners helping them develop and implement systematic and formula driven marketing, sales and operations strategies that fuel growth and profitability. Learn More About Steve
Here
When managed correctly and to best practices, paid search is one of the only advertising vehicles that delivers one of the best returns on your monthly marketing investment. Whether you are starting out for the first time or already have active paid search campaigns I’m going to walk you through a number of proven strategies that can help you stretch your budget, lower your cost per lead and double your lead conversion rate. Here it goes:
Start with a small territory and build your campaign out one product or service at a time. Starting out small will give you a sense for the competitive landscape, average bids and will give you a feel for traffic volume.- Start with Google. Google is the main search player when it comes to paid search. They own close to 70% market share. Master Google first and explore other options like Bing and Yahoo after you have established a scalable paid search model.
- Understand the Google Quality Score. Every time a searcher types in keywords that match your campaign your ad will appear. This is called an impression. If the searcher clicks on one of the paid search listings (yours or a competitor) than an online transaction or auction takes place and you or your competitor will be charged a click by Google. (By the way there are over 400 Million Google searches everyday) The cost you pay for the click and your ad position is determined by your Google quality score. The quality score measures relevance which is factored by a number of different components. The higher the quality score, the lower you will pay per click and you will receive better competitive positioning. It is quite possible to bid less on a keyword and receive a better position than your competitor if you follow these best practices:
- Place your keywords into an adgroup that is very specific to the campaign. For example if you manage a plumbing company you should have over 30 different adgroups. One for water heaters, one for tankless water heaters, one for toilet repair, so on and so forth. Place like keywords and assign them to an adgroup. Grouping your keywords in this manner gives you the ability to make your adcopy extremely relevant and actionable.
- Work your keywords into your ad copy.
- Create urgency in your ad copy. Here are some urgency phrases that work:
Same Day ServicePrice Match GuaranteeCall for PricingAvailable NowOperators Standing By
- Create landing pages for each adgroup. Most paid search management companies for small business do not do this and this is a huge part to the success of your campaign. Dropping a prospective user to your home page hurts lead conversion. Setup a landing page so you can measure response.
- Use a separate phone number and call tracking software to monitor phone calls.
If you require paid search campaign coaching or need professional paid search management we can help. Call us at 866.532.6224 to setup a time for us to connect and discuss your paid search needs.
About The Author: Steve Teneriello is the Founder of The Service Coach and is a seasoned senior marketing strategist and business development professional experienced in both residential and commercial sales and digital marketing. Throughout his career Steve has worked with over 300 small to medium-sized service business owners helping them develop and implement systematic and formula driven marketing, sales and operations strategies that fuel growth and profitability. Learn More About Steve
Here
It has become an unavoidable fact of life – in order to be as successful as you can possibly be, you simply have to market your business online or risk obsolescence. Home computers have become as nearly commonplace as a telephone. In fact, you can say they’ve become more commonplace as an increasing number of people are getting rid of their home phones in favor of their cell phones. As more people gain Internet access, more people are using it to find a service business. You not only need an online presence, you also need a way to differentiate yourself from your competition in making it easier for prospective customers to find you. One of the best ways of doing this is through paid search marketing for your service business.
The Yellow Pages have almost become a thing of the past. When most people need a service, they conduct a Google or other Internet engine search. They type in a phrase like “Boston plumbing service” and then the most relevant results will come up highest on the page. If your site is not among these top results, then you are not getting the first shot at those customers – your competitors are.
Paid search – the best way of getting the best results
The fastest way to drive customers to your company’s website is through paid search marketing, also known as “pay per click.” Google is the de facto search engine of choice, and the best way of gaining exposure on Google is through the company’s paid search marketing platform, which brings faster results than building exposure through social media marketing or search engine optimization, which can both take time to take effect.
How to take advantage
It’s simple – the more exposure your business has on a search engine, the more traffic moves to your website. Here are some steps to take in order to drive as much traffic to your site.
1. Hire a professional to manage your paid search marketing campaign. It is one of the forms of advertising that can make you spend money much quicker than you might think.
2. Commit to running the campaign for at least two or three months. It takes some time to get 100 percent accurate data, plus this amount of time lets you get data you can use for other components of your marketing.
3. Do not merely direct paid search marketing to your home page, but rather a quality landing page. A good landing page can lead to increased conversion rates and also ultimately reduce your cost per click.
If you would like to learn more about how paid search marketing for your service business can bolster your bottom line, call Steve Teneriello with The Service Coach at 1-866-53-COACH.
About The Author: Steve Teneriello is the Founder of The Service Coach and is a seasoned senior marketing strategist and business development professional experienced in both residential and commercial sales and digital marketing. Throughout his career Steve has worked with over 300 small to medium-sized service business owners helping them develop and implement systematic and formula driven marketing, sales and operations strategies that fuel growth and profitability. Learn More About Steve
Here
This is an example of a Boston Plumber who received a gas fired tankless water heater lead today. Everyday The Service Coach works with service businesses like this local Boston Plumber to help generate leads. Call the Coach today to learn how we can help you - 866.532.6224.
About The Author: Steve Teneriello is the Founder of The Service Coach and is a seasoned senior marketing strategist and business development professional experienced in both residential and commercial sales and digital marketing. Throughout his career Steve has worked with over 300 small to medium-sized service business owners helping them develop and implement systematic and formula driven marketing, sales and operations strategies that fuel growth and profitability. Learn More About Steve
Here
Over the last two years Google has been strategically making changes to the way it serves up search information. In late 2010 Google completely overhauled their search infrastructure by implementing Google Caffeine – which makes it easier for them to index, crawl and return search results faster. With the foundation laid out they have made several strategic algorithmic changes in 2011 that impact search. With more and more consumers conducting local search than ever before these changes have provided small local businesses the opportunity to compete against larger sleeping giants and win. In this article I’m going to lay out each change and give you a strategy and New Year’s resolutions that will help you take advantage of the new online search playing field.
Google Change #1: Google Panda and the New Google Search Algorithm
Google Panda was rolled out in February of 2011. It was a change in Google’s search results ranking algorithm that lowered the rank of low-quality websites. Sites with higher quality content now appear at the top of the search results pages. The goal of Google Panda is to encourage and reward original and fresh content production.
In November of 2011 Google released a new search algorithm that impacted 35% of search according to Searchengineland.com. The enhancement reinforces the Google Panda initiative and again rewards websites that produce fresh content.
Who Was Impacted?
Sites with duplicate content and affiliate advertiser sites were mainly impacted. Earlier in 2011 I consulted for a dealer group with 84 locations – Basement Technologies. They are an in-home waterproofing contractor and each of their dealers received a turnkey local market website from a 3rd party web development company. As soon as Google released Panda the dealers who all shared the very same website content immediately dropped off of the Google search engine results pages. I implemented a blogging strategy for their corporate location and was able to increase their local web traffic by 600% by publishing original and fresh content articles. This strategy helped the local Boston office generate 45-60 organic leads each month. Bottom line - it is very important that you know where your content is coming from and that you are not sharing it with someone else.
Your 2012 Resolution
Start a blog right away and publish original content . Make sure the blog is connected to your domain so you leverage your domain authority. If you have duplicate content on your website take it down or replace it so you are not penalized in the search engines. We offer a number of solutions for businesses of all sizes to help you implement this strategy. To find the solution right for you visit: ServiceJournalist, MarketingSprints and ServiceCMO.
Google Change #2: Google Places
This was a big one this year and it looks like Google rolled out changes to its Google Places product over the course of a few months. Before we dig into the changes first let me point out that Google has incorporated a local search function on the far left side of the results page – giving the search user the ability to change the city or town they would like to search in. We have already seen that we are starting to receive local business organic results when typing in terms like ‘Boston Plumber’ or ‘Boston Electrician’ when making ‘Boston’ the designated city or town. However, and more recently Google Places map listings are trumping organic results and are appearing just below the paid search bar and actually inside paid search placement located top right of the page.
Here are recent changes we’ve identified:
- 3rd party reviews are gone. Google has shut down the Yelp, Service Magic, City Search and other third party review sites – only displaying Google reviews on the main page of the search results. They moved the 3rd party reviews to the very bottom of the Google Places display page.
- Fraudulent or duplicate Google Places accounts are disappearing. If you have noticed your competitors located on the maps listings with suspicious addresses in different cities or towns and know for sure that they are taking advantage of the old system then I wouldn’t worry. It appears Google is removing or repositioning duplicate or fraudulent Google Places accounts.
- Setting up a Google Places account now requires a stringent verification process. About six months ago you could verify a listing with your cell phone. Unverifiable phone numbers now require a physical postcard to be mailed to your location. And – if you share an address with another company like in a virtual office, post office or other address with duplicate addresses your Places account may not be published.
- I’ve read about Google Places accounts that were frozen due to a large number of false reviews.
- There is now a hover feature on a Google search page where you can quickly and easily view a Google Places page without actually clicking on it.
Your 2012 Resolution
If you haven’t already done so already take advantage of Google Places and sign up today. It is free. Make sure to optimize your listing with coupons, pictures and actionable information. Push your happy customers to your Google Places site so they can give you a review. It might also make sense for you to put a button on your website that displays your Google Places account. There are also 50 other local search directories that I put my clients into. You can download my Local Search Playsheet Here to get a listing of the top 50 local search directories.
Google Change #3: Google Adwords
I would say that 9 out of 10 prospective customers I speak with have had a bad experience with Google Adwords. I don’t think it is because of the product. My clients are extremely successful with paid search and know exactly how much they need to spend to make the phone ring. I think it is because most small business owners are overwhelmed by the technology or have done business with paid search agencies that make a profit on the cost per click margin. That’s why Google search partners are able to offer a ‘Free’ managed service offering because they make it up on the backend. Google seems to be aware that their search partner program is hurting their business and have introduced several enhancements to their Google Adwords program to increase customer retention.
- New ad extensions. You can now increase the size of your ad with a number of new conversion tools like a phone number, links to your website, your Google Places account and more. These new enhancements give you an opportunity to create more urgency and convert at a higher percentage.
- Google Engage. For small paid search management companies like The Service Coach Google has come out with Google Engage. It is a program where I am able to offer new clients coupons to get started with adwords. It does not provide me the ability to charge margin on clicks and I think this is a great program. Small business owners SHOULD have a direct billing relationship with Google and know what your TRUE costs are. I think this is a more transparent program and should work out well for both Google and the advertiser.
- Google Adwords Express. This is Google’s solution to help small businesses get up and running with Adwords faster who may not necessarily have a website. Google points ads to your Google Places page. I would not recommend Adwords Express for companies who need to generate leads.
Your 2012 Resolution
Set yourself up with a direct billing relationship with Google and give it another shot. Set a conservative budget and scale your paid search efforts once you determine your true cost per lead and true cost per customer acquisition. The Service Coach offers paid search management through our managed offering ServiceVisible. We also offer paid search training in our Marketing Sprints Program. You can download our Paid Search Playbook here to get the play-by-play on paid search for service businesses.
About The Service Coach
The Service Coach helps service businesses of all sizes develop and implement proven digital marketing strategies. Below are a number of common challenges we help service business owners solve:
Website Visibility and Performance: The average small business website has only 14 indexed web pages and most require IT involvement to make changes. We make your website work harder with an easy to use content management system. The CMS has built in tools that make it easy to create pages, measure performance and track critical marketing metrics like traffic and conversion.
Automating Proven Marketing Executions: You have had success in the past launching campaigns that delivered a positive ROI but it is difficult for you to systemize and repeat proven marketing executions without a significant amount of time and resources. We take proven marketing executions and make them easy to deploy.
Long Sales Cycles: You write estimates for high ticket, high margin replacement installations and find that it is taking longer to close deals than before. We help you develop and implement sales tools and communications that speed up the buying process.
Customer Retention: You have worked hard to generate new customers but do not have a process in place to grow and develop long term relationship with them. We help you constantly stay in-front of your customers through a number of marketing executions including newsletters, blogging, social media and promotions.
Consistent Lead Generation: Lead flow is sporadic and unpredictable. We help you generate a steady flow of leads at scalable costs through a number of layered lead generation strategies including paid search, email, local search directory placement, content development and more.
Turning Service Offerings into Easy-to-Sell Programs: People purchase products and services that offer perceived value. Without value it is often difficult to position your offering at its’ optimal price. This typically leads to missed opportunities and contracts agreed to at a substantially discounted price. We transition your product and service offerings into easy-to-sell programs.
Selling Recurring Revenue Preventative Maintenance Plans: One of the best ways to secure a customer relationship is to implement a recurring service model where the customer belongs to an exclusive offering where they have peace of mind knowing that your company will respond at a moment’s notice and take care of their equipment. We help you build and develop recurring revenue streams and customer service plans that build long-last relationships.
Running Blind: You may have heard the old adage “About half of my ads work, the problem is I’m not sure which half.” If you’re running blind without visibility into marketing performance we can help. We’ll wire up your marketing department so you’ll have visibility into marketing performance. With data you’ll be able to make informed decisions and control costs. You’ll know exactly how much a lead will cost, how much it will take to generate a new customer and more.
Request a one-on-one consultation and learn how The Service Coach can help your organization. Call 1-866-532-6224 or fill out the form here.
About The Author: Steve Teneriello is the Founder of The Service Coach and is a seasoned senior marketing strategist and business development professional experienced in both residential and commercial sales and digital marketing. Throughout his career Steve has worked with over 300 small to medium-sized service business owners helping them develop and implement systematic and formula driven marketing, sales and operations strategies that fuel growth and profitability. Learn More About Steve
Here
ServiceCMO For Home Service Contractors
Full Service Digital Marketing Management Solution
Your Very Own Marketing and Business Development Department Focused on Increasing Service, Replacement and Installation Revenues at a Fraction of what you would Normally Pay a Full-Time Employee
Program Summary: ServiceCMO stands for Chief Marketing Officer. It is a full service digital marketing management solution for growth stage service contractors in the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, appliance repair and electrical industries. ServiceCMO is designed specifically for home service companies that require deeper local market penetration and a stronger digital marketing presence. If you are looking for a way to aggressively increase service, replacement and installation revenues and turn your marketing and business development initiatives into scalable and predictable systems in 2012 but do not have the in-house expertise or budget to hire a full-time digital marketing team than this program is for you.
You will be placing digital marketing strategist and Head Coach of The Service Coach – Steve Teneriello, along with his team of service marketing experts in your organization to quickly and effectively transition your marketing department into a turnkey profit center at a fraction of what you would normally pay a full time employee. Steve and his team have already delivered the ServiceCMO solution to a number of thriving home service organizations with verifiable results. Throughout his career Steve has worked intimately with well over 300 service organizations ranging in size from startup to 20M+ a year in sales in both residential and commercial environments. As a ServiceCMO client you will be joined by other home service companies who already trust and recommend The Service Coach.
What you Can Expect from the ServiceCMO Solution:
- Your very own experienced marketing and business development department.
- Consolidation of current marketing systems and vendors – bringing strategy under one roof.
- You and your company will be positioned as the local go-to expert.
- Customers will find you in high organic placements on search engines.
- You will generate highly qualified inbound organic internet leads.
- Marketing budgets and advertisements will deliver a positive ROI.
- You will constantly stay in touch and build long lasting profitable relationships with your clients.
- Your website will work hard for you for as long as you own your business.
- Protected territory and Service Coach exclusivity.
Business Challenges The ServiceCMO Solution Solves:
Website Visibility: Through a number of strategic layered executions the ServiceCMO solution helps you get found online for the search terms associated with your product and service offerings. The ServiceCMO team works hard to capture local market search traffic and convert website visitors to customers with tools, technology and proven systems.
Permanent & Consistent Lead Generation: The ServiceCMO solution delivers leads. Each month campaigns are developed and implemented both on and offline to deliver a consistent volume of leads to support your business development objectives.
Customer Retention: Your most valuable customers are the ones you have already done business with. Retention systems are put in place so you are constantly connected and engaged with your existing client base – creating long term profitable relationships.
Long Sales Cycles and Open Estimates: Eliminate long sales cycles on large ticket replacement and installation items. Confront sales objections and reduce barriers to entry – give your techs and sales reps the selling tools and systems that accelerate the buying process and help close deals.
Referrals: Turn your customers into raving fans who refer their family, friends and co-workers to your business. The Service Coach marketing team will make it easy for you to capture a consistent volume of referral leads by implementing easy-to-use and automatic proven systems that reward and motivate customers who generate referral opportunities for your organization.
Reputation Protection: Consumers rely heavily on review sites like Google Places and Yelp before they make a decision to contact a service provider. The Service Coach works with you to protect your good name by managing and monitoring your online reputation. You will receive real time alerts when someone mentions your company name online.
Marketing Training and Communications: Turn each of your employees into brand ambassadors who contribute to the overall development of new business growth opportunities. The ServiceCMO solution delivers the marketing and sales systems, tools and training that motivate your customer service reps, technicians, sales reps and other public facing members of your organization to take part in revenue producing activities.
Recurring Revenue Maintenance Plan Development: Increase customer retention, deliver great service and develop consistent cash flow each month with easy-to-sell service plans.
Marketing Tracking and Performance: The ServiceCMO solution gives you visibility into real-time marketing performance tracking. You will know exactly what your ROI is for every single marketing dollar you invest. Data driven analysis and strategic decision making help maximize your marketing budget.
Systems and Technology: Say goodbye to your IT guy when it comes to making changes to your website. Your website will be placed on an easy-to-use backend content management system hosted on robust servers. Making changes, updates or enhancements will be as easy as using Microsoft Word.
Included in the ServiceCMO Program:
- 20-60 hours of marketing services each month.
- New website developed on an easy-to-use robust content management system.
- On demand access to tracking tools that deliver marketing performance data.
- Access to The Service Coach project management portal.
- 2 – one hour bi-monthly management sessions to discuss strategy, performance and upcoming activities each month and 1 – full day of onsite management which includes staff training and coaching.
- Access to exclusive Service Coach trainings and e-learning modules.
- 12-month marketing strategy and planning
- Paid search management
- Database and email management
- Newsletter management
- Local search engine optimization & local search directory management
- Website management
- Offline marketing management
- Ongoing local competitive analysis
- Content development
- Campaign construction
Who is ServiceCMO for?
The ServiceCMO solution is designed for growth stage companies and includes the full gamut of The Service Coach offering. A typical ServiceCMO client will have 5 or more employees, an existing customer base with customer contact information and generate $500,000 - $10M in annual sales with a minimum monthly marketing budget starting at $3k.
Program Costs and Return on Investment
The ServiceCMO solution is customized and delivered to meet your specific business needs. The average payback period of ServiceCMO is typically four months. Increasing lead generation by just three new opportunities each week provides a break even financial outcome for the average home service company. The entry level 20hr per month ServiceCMO package starts at $375 per week.
Request a Demonstration & Competitive Assessment
- Call: 866.532.6224 to schedule a demonstration or click on the link below.
During the ServiceCMO demonstration you will learn:
- How your current digital marketing performance compares to your local competition. Receive a detailed analysis of your local competitive landscape. Get tips on what you can do to make your website work harder for you.
- See a sample of a real life campaign that has been implemented in a similar company. Get a look at the local marketing formula that delivers a consistent flow of organic leads.
- Discuss your current business development initiatives and revenue goals.
- Get a hands-on demonstration of the marketing tools and technology that the ServiceCMO solution delivers.
About The Author: Steve Teneriello is the Founder of The Service Coach and is a seasoned senior marketing strategist and business development professional experienced in both residential and commercial sales and digital marketing. Throughout his career Steve has worked with over 300 small to medium-sized service business owners helping them develop and implement systematic and formula driven marketing, sales and operations strategies that fuel growth and profitability. Learn More About Steve
Here
The 90-Day Heating Digital Marketing Plan for HVAC Contractors includes everything you need to turn your website into a full throttle lead generating, marketing and sales machine. The Service Coach will ramp you up fast by implementing proven digital marketing executions including keyword optimization, content development, special offer creation and positioning, landing page development, blog management, social media automation, review management, local SEO, lead management, email lead nurturing and paid search management..jpg)
This package focuses on helping you attract prospective customers in your local area seeking help with their heating equipment this winter. It also focuses on nurturing and marketing to your existing customer base along with the implementation of a referral lead generation strategy. The 90 Day program promotes 3 core digital marketing campaigns for the following service offerings:
- Furnace Replacement
- Furnace Maintenance, Cleaning, Repair & Safety
- Emergency Heating System Service
Click Here to Learn More about the 90 Day HVAC Marketing Plan.
About The Author: Steve Teneriello is the Founder of The Service Coach and is a seasoned senior marketing strategist and business development professional experienced in both residential and commercial sales and digital marketing. Throughout his career Steve has worked with over 300 small to medium-sized service business owners helping them develop and implement systematic and formula driven marketing, sales and operations strategies that fuel growth and profitability. Learn More About Steve
Here
Each week I'll receive about 6-8 requests for a competitive assessment. It's something I've been doing as part of my sales process for about a year now. The local digital marketing competitive assessment is a great way to see how my clients rank in terms of authority and traffic in their respective market places. The assessment is a deep dive into the core metrics that define how your website performs compared to your closest competitors. I've put together a 20-minute on-demand webinar that will take you on a step-by-step explanation on what you can do to make your website work harder for you.
If you have you ever wondered what it takes to really get your website on the first page of Google than this is the webinar for you. You'll learn the core metrics and science used to define a local market leading website. You'll get to see a real world example of plumbers in Ann Arbor Michigan fighting for rank, positioning and website traffic. You'll also get a glimpse into simple strategies that you can implement on your own site to increase website traffic and inbound lead generation. Register now to watch the on-demand webinar.
About The Author: Steve Teneriello is the Founder of The Service Coach and is a seasoned senior marketing strategist and business development professional experienced in both residential and commercial sales and digital marketing. Throughout his career Steve has worked with over 300 small to medium-sized service business owners helping them develop and implement systematic and formula driven marketing, sales and operations strategies that fuel growth and profitability. Learn More About Steve
Here
Before you get in to the routine of posting your blog on a regular basis, there are some big questions you should answer. To maximize the effectiveness of your blog you need to develop a blogging strategy. Answering these questions can help you to make sure that you are providing the most appropriate information, and make all the difference in the results you get with your blog.
Identifying Your Market
The first thing you should do is define your market. Your market is the target audience you want to reach with your blog, and the people you want as customers. Your blog entries should be targeted to this audience. The tone and topics you use in a blog will be different depending on who you are writing for, and so finding the right tone is very helpful for getting your desired results.
Identify Your Keywords
When selecting your keywords, you want to be sure that you are correctly representing your business. Broad keywords are great, but you also want to be sure that whatever category or niche your business falls into is represented. Once you have this figured out, you can blog about the different specialties of your business and gain readers who are looking for exactly what you can provide. Keywords are infinitely valuable in that they bring people to your site, but if you choose the wrong ones you will bring people who may not be looking for you.
What is Your Message?
As a business that blogs you have the control. You can control your image, maintain your reputation and give your readers a message about your business. What do you want your readers to get from your blog and content? The answers to this question are important to keep in mind as you write your blog and choose the content for your articles. You want to make sure that you continue to provide the best possible information and continue to gain customers from your desired market.
Pick a Schedule
The more frequently you post blog entries, the faster you will see results; and so the most effective way to post is to do so daily. It is very important to post blog entries consistently and pick a schedule that works for you and your business and stick with it. If you do so, the results will be there.
Each blog strategy will be slightly different due to the different fields and different desired results, but working through these guidelines will help you find the strategy that is right for your business.
About The Author: Steve Teneriello is the Founder of The Service Coach and is a seasoned senior marketing strategist and business development professional experienced in both residential and commercial sales and digital marketing. Throughout his career Steve has worked with over 300 small to medium-sized service business owners helping them develop and implement systematic and formula driven marketing, sales and operations strategies that fuel growth and profitability. Learn More About Steve
Here
Choosing software for your company can seem overwhelming. It is a big financial commitment and you want the software to suit the jobs and needs of your company.
Measure the Technical Aptitude of your Staff
Usability is probably the most crucial concern when investing in new company software. First, you must determine the tech savvy of your office staff and how much interaction other employees will be having with the software. Is it easy or difficult to use? How long does it take to learn? For how long might this limit work flow?
Look for Industry Adoption
Look for success stories within your industry. Even if the software is good, does it work in your field? Success stories within your field will show that this software was either developed for this particular line of work or it lends itself very well to it. Be wary of investing in a software that does not have any success stories in your field. Software that is a front-runner for your field is usually well-regarded for a reason. That being said, do not be afraid to look at newer software that might offer solutions to gripes from prior editions.
Try Before you Buy
Can you try the product before you buy it? This is a great way to test if this software is something that can work in your business long-term. Many major companies will allow a free trial of their solution. Put together success criteria or requirements before engaging in a fully fledged trial. Put it to the test and see if suits your company.
About The Author: Steve Teneriello is the Founder of The Service Coach and is a seasoned senior marketing strategist and business development professional experienced in both residential and commercial sales and digital marketing. Throughout his career Steve has worked with over 300 small to medium-sized service business owners helping them develop and implement systematic and formula driven marketing, sales and operations strategies that fuel growth and profitability. Learn More About Steve
Here