As a real estate agent, generating leads is the lifeblood of your business. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your career to the next level, mastering lead generation is essential for success.
The good news?
There are countless ways to attract more clients. Here, we’ll dive deep into several proven strategies to help you build a steady pipeline of leads.
Now more than ever, your online presence is often the first impression potential clients have of you. Start with a professional website that showcases your expertise, current listings, and client testimonials. Make it easy for visitors to contact you by including clear call-to-action buttons and a contact form.
When it comes to social media, focus on just one or two platforms that align with your target audience rather than spreading yourself too thin. For example, if your ideal clients are professionals, LinkedIn might be the best fit. If you’re targeting younger buyers, Instagram could be more effective. By concentrating your efforts, you can dedicate the time needed to build an engaged and loyal audience.
Post consistently and ensure your content adds value – market insights, success stories, and community updates are excellent choices. Engage with your followers by responding to comments, asking questions, and sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses of your work. This builds trust and establishes you as a relatable and reliable expert in your field.
Additionally, leverage features unique to your chosen platforms.
The key is to provide content that resonates with your audience and reinforces your expertise. A focused and consistent online presence will not only attract more leads but also help you establish long-term trust and credibility.
SEO helps your website appear higher in search engine results, making it easier for potential clients to find you. Start by optimizing your website with high-intent keywords that potential buyers and sellers might use, such as "real estate agent in [Your City]" or "homes for sale in [Your City]." Be sure to include these keywords naturally in titles, meta descriptions, and throughout your content.
Create valuable, keyword-rich content like blog posts, neighborhood guides, or market trend reports to attract organic traffic. The more helpful and relevant your content, the more likely people are to see you as a trusted resource. For example, a blog post on "Top 5 Family-Friendly Neighborhoods in [Your City]" can draw in families searching for their next home.
Another critical aspect of SEO is link building. Focus on earning backlinks from reputable sources, such as local news outlets, community websites, or industry blogs.
You can achieve this by contributing guest articles, partnering with local, small businesses, or getting your listings featured in online directories. Backlinks not only drive referral traffic but also boost your site’s authority, helping it rank higher in search results.
Don’t overlook technical SEO either. Ensure your website loads quickly, is mobile-friendly, and has a secure HTTPS connection. Tools like Google Search Console can help you identify and fix any technical issues. With a well-rounded SEO strategy, you’ll consistently attract high-quality leads to your website.
Paid advertising, like Google Ads and social media campaigns, can give you immediate visibility and help you reach potential clients quickly. To make your campaigns effective, it’s essential to target your ads to specific demographics, behaviors, and geographic areas. This helps ensure your message reaches the right audience at the right time.
Platforms like Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads allow for precise targeting options, including location, income level, interests, and even homeownership status. For example, you can create an ad campaign targeting young professionals in your city who are actively searching for homes, allowing you to effectively generate real estate leads. Use engaging visuals and concise, persuasive ad copy to capture their attention, particularly by showcasing insights into the real estate market.
Experiment with various ad formats, such as carousel ads that highlight multiple listings, video tours that offer a virtual walkthrough, or lead generation forms that make it easy for users to contact you directly. Each format has its strengths, so testing different options helps you identify what resonates most with your audience, including those attending local events where real estate interest might peak.
To maximize your return on investment, track your campaign performance using analytics tools provided by the advertising platforms.
Monitor key metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost per lead. Use this data to refine your approach, reallocating your budget to the most effective campaigns and adjusting underperforming ads.
Additionally, consider retargeting strategies to re-engage users who have visited your website or interacted with your previous ads. Retargeting keeps your services top-of-mind and increases the likelihood of converting potential leads into actual clients. By focusing on strategic targeting, creative content, and data-driven adjustments, paid advertising can become a powerful tool in your arsenal for securing real estate leads.
Your personal and professional network can be a goldmine for leads. Let your friends, family, and acquaintances know you’re in the real estate business. You never know who might be buying, selling, or know someone in need of your services.
Stay top-of-mind by sending periodic updates, holiday greetings, or invitations to client appreciation events. The more you nurture these relationships, the more likely they are to refer you to others.
If you’re thinking to yourself, “I don’t have a very big network,” maybe take some time to brainstorm. You’d probably be surprised to learn how big your network actually is. That’s because your network doesn’t just consist of people you know directly. It actually extends to second-degree connections.
Second-degree connections are people who are connected to people you’re connected with. In other words, if you know a guy who happens to be close with a point of contact in the local universities athletic department, suddenly you have access to an influential individual who could connect you with dozens of other people. Sure, first-degree connections are always the best, but second-degree connections can produce a pretty high ROI too.
Open houses aren’t just about showcasing properties – they’re also a prime opportunity for real estate professionals to meet potential buyers face-to-face and build relationships. To make the most of this strategy, start by marketing your open house effectively. Use social media ads, email campaigns, and local community boards to spread the word. Highlight unique features of the property and create a sense of urgency to encourage attendance, ensuring you attract potential clients who are genuinely interested.
During the open house, make a lasting impression by being personable, knowledgeable, and approachable. Be ready to answer detailed questions about the property, the local market, and the surrounding community. Provide printed brochures or digital handouts with all the key details, so visitors have something tangible to take home.
To further engage attendees, consider offering refreshments or small giveaways. This not only makes the event more memorable but also encourages people to linger, giving you more time to connect with them. Use a sign-in sheet or lead capture forms to collect contact information from every attendee – this is critical for follow-up.
After the event, follow up promptly with personalized emails or phone calls. Even if attendees aren’t ready to buy immediately, staying in touch keeps you top-of-mind for when they are. Additionally, analyze the feedback you receive during open houses to improve your approach for future events. By staying informed about industry trends, you can continuously refine your strategy and offer exceptional real estate services.
Over time, hosting well-executed open houses can become a cornerstone of your lead generation strategy.
Providing free resources is an excellent way to attract leads while demonstrating your expertise. Think beyond the basics and create high-value materials that your target audience can’t resist. For instance, consider offering downloadable eBooks like "The Ultimate Guide to Buying Your First Home" or "Insider Secrets to Maximizing Your Home’s Value." These resources can be hosted on your website and made available in exchange for visitors’ contact information, effectively converting traffic into actionable leads.
Expand your efforts by hosting interactive webinars or live workshops. Topics like "Staging Tips That Sell Homes Fast" or "Demystifying the Mortgage Process" can appeal to both buyers and sellers. During these sessions, you can address common questions and provide actionable advice, further solidifying your role as an industry expert.
Another approach is to create localized content, such as neighborhood guides, school district rankings, or "Top 10 Reasons to Move to [Your City]." By tailoring your resources to the specific needs of your market, you’ll position yourself as the go-to agent for that area.
Don’t forget to promote your free resources on social media, email newsletters, and community forums to maximize their reach. When potential clients see the value you provide upfront, they’ll be more likely to trust you with their real estate needs.
Here’s another simple yet effective tip. You can get some pretty amazing results when you team up with local businesses to expand your reach. For example, partner with home improvement stores, interior designers, or mortgage brokers to co-host events or create cross-promotional content.
Collaborating with businesses that cater to homeowners can help you tap into new audiences and build valuable relationships. It’s a win-win for everyone involved. (And never underestimate how many other business owners and brands are looking to build relationships to grow.)
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to stay connected with potential clients over time. Create a monthly or bi-weekly newsletter that includes market updates, new listings, and tips for buyers and sellers.
Segment your email list based on where leads are in their journey. For example, send first-time buyers tailored content that helps them understand the buying process, while experienced sellers might appreciate tips for maximizing their home’s value.
Video is a highly engaging way to showcase your expertise and build trust with potential clients. Create virtual tours of listings, neighborhood overviews, or short videos explaining real estate concepts.
Share your videos on YouTube, social media, and your website to maximize their reach. Remember, people are more likely to work with someone they feel they know, and video is a great way to establish that connection.
A CRM system helps you organize and track your leads, ensuring no one falls through the cracks. Use your CRM to set reminders for follow-ups, record client preferences, and track interactions.
Many CRM platforms also integrate with email marketing tools, making it easy to nurture leads over time. By keeping your pipeline organized, you’ll spend less time managing data and more time building relationships.
Positive online reviews can make or break your reputation as a real estate agent. They serve as social proof, showcasing your expertise and reliability to potential clients who are researching their options. Encourage satisfied clients to leave reviews on platforms like Google, Zillow, or Yelp. The more glowing testimonials you have, the more trust you’ll build with potential clients.
Make it easy for clients to leave reviews by sending them direct links to your review pages after a successful transaction. A personalized message thanking them for their business and requesting feedback can go a long way in increasing participation.
Respond to reviews – both positive and negative – to show you value feedback. For positive reviews, express your gratitude and let clients know you appreciate their trust. For negative reviews, take a professional and empathetic approach. Apologize for their experience and offer to resolve the issue. (Even a well-handled negative review can leave a positive impression on future clients, as it demonstrates your commitment to customer satisfaction.)
Additionally, you should highlight your best reviews on your website and social media profiles. Sharing success stories not only boosts your credibility but also reinforces the idea that you prioritize excellent service. Over time, maintaining an active and positive presence in online reviews can significantly enhance your reputation and real estate lead generation efforts.
Being visible in your community helps establish you as a local expert and builds trust with potential clients. You can do things like:
These activities not only give back but also increase your visibility and create organic networking opportunities. While this is the last tip on our list, it might be the most important and effective one – when it’s done well.
As a real estate agent, you can’t afford to have a disheveled or messy brand. In order to generate more leads, you need a cohesive approach that allows you to put the right message in front of the right people at the right time. At Marketer.co, we can help you do just that.
Contact us today to learn more!
Lead generation carries a different connotation with every business owner.
For some, it's a crucial stream of new prospects that keeps the business alive.
For others, it's a waste of money that shouldn't be considered.
For still others, it's a potentially massive benefit that they just can't seem to crack.
So what does lead generation mean to us?
Well, on some days, it's a headache, to be perfectly honest. But generally, we recognize lead generation as one of the most important elements of any sales and marketing strategy.
What exactly is lead generation and why is it so important for your business?
Lead generation is the process of generating leads.
Duh.
But really, lead generation services include a series of strategies and tactics designed to find, target, and connect with people who are likely to buy your products and services. In this way, it straddles the middle line between marketing and sales. Many lead generation strategies are also marketing strategies, but they differ in the sense that they're specifically designed to produce quality leads.
A successful lead generation strategy will provide you with a steady stream of people who are primed and ready to buy your products. Depending on the nuances of your strategy, it might mean that they're much more likely to buy products and services through your website, or it might mean that they're ready to receive a call from your most talented sales team.
In any case, if you can master the art of lead generation, you'll always have a steady stream of new and excited customers for your business.
Also, if you truly master the art of lead generation, let us know because you can probably teach us a thing or two…
Why Does Lead Generation Matter for Your Business?
There’s a reason why more than half of marketers consider lead generation to be a top priority in their marketing efforts.
And it's not because more than half of marketers are stupid.
It's because lead generation matters for your business in a multitude of ways.
· Sales and revenue. The first and most obvious benefit of better lead generation is a path to greater sales and revenue. If you have a good lead generation strategy in place and you use it well, you'll naturally increase the number of leads generated. More people who are ostensibly interested in your products will have the immediate opportunity to buy them, and more people who have never heard of your products before will have an opportunity to hear about them. Assuming your targeting is on point and your messaging is persuasive, you should have no trouble multiplying your earnings with superior lead generation.
· Brand awareness. Marketers also appreciate the capacity for lead generation to increase brand awareness. Even if your marketing qualified leads or sales qualified leads don't buy your products right away, they'll become more aware of your brand and more likely to buy from you in the future. By taking steps to nurture leads, you can build stronger relationships with potential customers. They may also be likely to recommend your brand to other people. In any case, the greater brand awareness you develop through your lead generation can have a secondary impact on your business development.
· Customer relationships. Lead generation can also be an opportunity to build customer relationships early, even before your prospects become full-fledged customers. Often, you'll engage with individual customers either directly, with calls and emails, or indirectly, with drip email campaigns, social media messages, and more. Either way, your new customers will have an opportunity to engage with your brand and its representatives repeatedly. This warms them up and helps them build a stronger relationship with your brand. Eventually, this can increase sales and customer retention.
· Growth. Lead generation is a growth strategy. If you want to grow your business, investing in lead generation is one of the best ways to do it. The more you spend, the more reach you can achieve, the more prospects you can persuade, and the more customers you can bring onboard. If you start feeling confident about the way your lead generation efforts work, you can greatly increase your investments in them, hopefully multiplying their impact many times over.
· Less wasted time. You probably passively generate high quality leads through your existing marketing and sales tactics already. However, a more thoroughly vetted, targeted approach will work in your interest. Once you improve your targeting and polish your lead generation approaches to perfection, you'll waste less time, you'll waste less money, and your lead generation strategy will become far more efficient.
Lead generation takes many forms.
Essentially, there are two big categories: outbound and inbound lead generation. In outbound lead generation, you'll be specifically reaching out to new prospects and targets, filtering out irrelevant parties and following up with and nurturing appropriate targets.
These are a handful of examples:
· Cold email. Cold email is one of the most popular forms of outbound lead generation, even today. Yes, we've all had bad experiences with spam in our inboxes, and it's true that most cold emails don't get a response. But with the right targeting, enough relevance, and a broad enough reach, you can generate a significant flow of qualified leads through email alone. You can also use cold emails in combination with other lead generation tactics, so those messages aren't so cold. It's also highly cost-effective and easy to automate, so it has a place in almost any lead generation strategy.
· Cold calling. It’s true that 87 percent of people routinely ignore calls from numbers they don’t know. It's also true that people are spammed to the brink of madness with irrelevant, robotic phone calls. But that doesn't mean that cold calling is dead. Again, with the right targeting, with relevant messaging, and with a prioritization of quality and human connection, cold calling can be a valuable addition to your outbound lead generation portfolio.
· Social selling. Businesses integrate social selling into their outbound lead generation strategy. Essentially, this means networking with relevant people, expanding your web of connections, and trying to find people who are a good fit for your business and its products. This tactic is very hard to scale, but it's much warmer and more likely to produce results with each interaction.
· Pay per click (PPC) ads. Another highly accessible outbound lead generation strategy comes in the form of pay per click (PPC) ads. As the name suggests, these ads allow you to generate traffic for your website or a specific landing page as long as you're willing to pay for each lead that you generate. You can place PPC ads on a variety of channels, including Google, Bing, and most social media platforms. You can also use strategic lead generation tools to reach only the customers who are most relevant to your brand. Accordingly, it can be highly cost-effective and customized to achieve nearly any conceivable lead generation goal your business has.
Inbound lead generation strategies are differentiated by the fact that they attempt to naturally capitalize on existing interest. Instead of going out and tracking down potential sales leads, you'll create beacons that invite them in, like moths to a flame – but with a much less dangerous setup.
These are some of the best examples:
· Search engine optimization (SEO). By now, you've probably heard about search engine optimization (SEO). The basic idea is to modify your website and build links to increase its likelihood of ranking for strategically valuable keywords and phrases. When done properly, it's much more likely for people to find your business in search results, which means you'll generate more organic traffic to your website. It's a way of naturally capitalizing on searches people are already doing, and it's very cost-effective when done properly. The biggest drawback is that it takes time to build authority and gain rankings, so it's best complemented with outbound lead generation tactics.
· Content marketing. It's almost unfair to mention content marketing as a separate point from SEO because the two strategies are so tightly intertwined. It's almost impossible to practice SEO without content marketing, and if you practice content marketing, you'll probably experience some SEO benefits without even trying. In any case, you can also practice content marketing with a more specific focus on lead generation; for example, you can produce premium pieces of content known as lead magnets and distribute them for free in exchange for contact information from your most valuable prospects. It's one of the most convenient ways to build an email list.
· Social media marketing. Social media is another popular channel for inbound lead generation, if you use it to make posts, distribute content, build an audience, and naturally attract people who would be interested in your brand. Note that it can also be used for outbound lead generation in the form of social selling, PPC ads, and more. With so many channels to choose from and so many potential audiences to harness, the lead generation possibilities with social media are practically unlimited.
· Retargeting ads. It's also common for businesses to use retargeting ads as a form of inbound lead generation. Retargeting ads are ads that appear to people after they've already visited your website or engaged with your brand in some meaningful way. It's a passive and inexpensive way to capitalize on people who have already expressed genuine interest in your products or services.
· Webinars. Do you have knowledge or wisdom to impart to your target audience? If so, consider presenting it in the form of a free webinar. People will likely sign up in droves, providing their contact information in the process, giving you an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and follow up in the future.
Because outbound and inbound lead generation strategies have different strengths and weaknesses, it's a good idea to include both in your lead generation approach.
At this point, we've answered the central questions.
You came to this article because you wanted to know what lead generation is and why it matters your business, and if your reading comprehension skills are on point, you now know it.
But we didn't want to leave you hanging.
So we're going to leave you with some quick tips for more effective sales lead generation in your business.
· Work with experts. Lead generation can be overwhelming. It's hard to know who to target, how to target them, and how to get the most value from your money. That's why it's a good idea to work with experts, especially at the beginning. Consider reaching out to a lead generation firm (like ours!) for more guidance.
· Know your audience. Much of your lead generation success depends on your knowledge of your audience. If you target people who aren't interested in your brand, you'll waste all your time and money. If you target the right people in the wrong way, your messaging won't be impactful. Accordingly, you should spend the bulk of your early efforts focused on researching and better understanding your target demographics.
· Target as specifically as possible. With that in mind, you also need to target as specifically as possible. Broad, generic strategies meant to be relevant to everyone simply aren't going to work. You have to narrowly target your potential customers if you want to run an efficient lead generation process.
· Prioritize organic lead generation. It’s possible (and tempting) to buy leads for your business. However, most businesses are much more successful when they prioritize organic lead generation. That's because leads generated organically are much more relevant, much warmer, and ultimately, much more likely to buy from your business.
· Take advantage of multiple channels. These days, omnichannel marketing and lead generation strategies are dominant. That's because there are an incredible number of communication channels available, and each one has something uniquely beneficial to offer. Only by taking advantage of an array of different solutions will you be able to maintain a well-rounded lead generation approach.
· Automate what you can. Automate as much as possible in your lead generation strategy. Automation allows you to eliminate manual effort, saving both time and money, and it can actually increase the consistency of your execution at the same time.
· Be ready to adapt. Finally, be ready to learn and adapt. Good lead generation strategies aren't stagnant; They constantly evolve in response to the development of new technologies, the formation of new trends, and the machinations of industry competitors.
Are you ready to transform your qualified lead generation approach for the better?
Or are you interested in better understanding the landscape of your marketing, sales, and lead generation strategies?
The lead generation experts at Marketer.co are on standby and ready to help.
Contact us today for more information!
These days, when someone wants to buy a product or service from a business, they turned to Google for information.
If a business has lots of good reviews and very few neutral or bad reviews, they’ll be much more likely to move forward.
But even a single bad review can throw a wrench in things.
Obviously, as a business owner, you have good motivation to delete those bad Google reviews and improve the visibility, reputation, and sales of your brand.
So what's the best way to do it?
Google reviews are relatively short business reviews left by other people who have patronized your business, at least ostensibly. Users can find your business through a basic search, click to view your Business Profile, and write a review based on their experience. Users typically have to be signed into their Google account to leave such a review.
People have the option of rating your business on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, and they have the option to leave a more qualitative review as well. Once submitted, the review will automatically be scanned and evaluated; if it seems to be spammy, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable, it's going to be weeded out. Otherwise, the review will become publicly available.
Users have the option to delete or edit their reviews at any time. However, as a business owner, you don't have much direct control over how Google reviews get posted or what happens to them once they're up. You can always leave comments and feedback, and you'll have the option to contact users directly, but you can't easily or directly delete negative Google reviews.
Why are Google reviews so important for local businesses on Google Maps?
· First impressions. For starters, Google reviews are a solid foundation for the first impressions of most people researching your brand. Google reviews are extremely visible and highly valued by users investigating various businesses. An abundance of good reviews can make them feel more comfortable patronizing a business, while even a small number of bad reviews can make them second guess their decision. Individually, this may not seem like much, but it can accumulate to have a massive impact on your business. According to one report, even a single bad review can cost you up to 25 percent of your total business revenue.
· Due diligence. Your savviest customers are going to do their due diligence before they even consider buying from you. They're not just going to look at your star rating; they're going to read the details of each review posted about your brand. If something distasteful catches their eye in a bad review, they may float to a competitor for the sake of safety.
· SEO value. Reviews also play a role in your search engine optimization (SEO). Having more reviews and better reviews is a positive signal, supporting you in the local rankings especially. A single bad review won't be enough to tank your entire SEO strategy, but you should generally strive for as many good reviews as possible. Finding a way to limit, delete, and prevent bad reviews can help you rank higher in search engines and generate more organic traffic overall.
Now to the main point: how are you supposed to delete Google reviews?
Remember, there's no way for a business to delete bad Google reviews directly. However, businesses do have the power to flag Google Reviews for human evaluation. If a bad review violates any of Google's policies, you can flag it, and hopefully, a human evaluator will decide to remove it.
These are some of the reasons you can flag a bad Google review:
· Off topic. Google wants reviews to be focused on reviewing. They encourage reviewers to write about the direct experience they had with the brand, rather than venturing off into personal opinions, speculative territory, or slander. If you feel that a bad Google review is not fully topically focused on the experience of your business, consider flagging it for removal.
· Spam. Google is pretty good at catching spam, but every once in a while, something slips through the cracks. If a Google review seems like it's hawking another product or if it's so low quality that it could easily be mistaken as spam, flag it.
· Conflict of interest. There are also policies in place to control conflicts of interest. If you can demonstrate that this bad review was written or facilitated by a close competitor, you can probably get it removed. Anyone with a financial interest in smearing the reputation of your business you should not be posting bad reviews about it.
· Profanity. Again, Google is usually good at catching negative reviews with excessive profanity, but sometimes, things slip through. If an inappropriate review features offensive language or obscenities, you'll be in a good position to have it removed.
· Bullying or harassment. One of the more nebulous policies of Google is a firm stance against bullying and harassment. This is a somewhat subjective standard, so it can be difficult to prove. If Google is too strict with this standard, bullying and harassment can persist indefinitely, but if Google is too lax with this standard, almost every negative review would be removed under the pretense that it's harassing the business owner. The line isn't always clear here, but if you sincerely believe that this review is more focused on attacking, threatening, or otherwise damaging your business than it is spreading honest information, flag it.
· Discrimination or hate speech. You should have no trouble getting a negative review removed if it includes any language that could be interpreted as discriminatory or containing hate speech. If someone insults you or your business due to race, ethnicity, religion, or other characteristics, flag the review and get it removed.
· Personal information. Google also has a policy against sharing personal information. If you find any sensitive information in a bad review, you can probably flag it for removal.
· Not helpful. Perhaps the most ambiguous category here is describing a review as “not helpful.” Obviously, Google wants all of its publicized reviews to be helpful to the people reading them. If a review is not helpful because it's not clear, because it's too obviously subjective, or because the details are too unbelievable, it's clearly not helpful for the people reading it. Be ready to justify what you think is not helpful about this review before you flag the review for this.
Remember that Google has built-in, automatic screening systems to identify problematic and negative reviews, so it's quite rare to find a Google review that’s publicly posted and in violation of one of Google's policies. Not every bad review for your business is going to be flaggable.
Obviously, there are some problems with this approach:
· No straightforward process. Unfortunately, the process is not always straightforward. You may have an issue with a bad review that was left for your brand, but it may not fit neatly into any one category for flagging for removal. In some cases, you may not be able to flag a bad review for anything.
· A slow process. If you do flag the review, it can take some time for someone to evaluate it. In the meantime, customers and prospects will be seeing and considering the review. Even if the review does eventually get removed, it can do some damage in the meantime.
· Unreliable results. There's no guarantee that the flagged review is going to be removed, even if you have a genuinely good reason for flagging it. Unfortunately, results here are highly unreliable.
· The Streisand effect. The Streisand effect is an internet phenomenon in which a person's attempts to bury or obfuscate a piece of information end up generating more attention on that piece of information. If your business relentlessly tries to hide or bury bad reviews, you might end up bringing more attention to your business and those bad reviews. Sometimes, the best course of action is to simply respond and let the negative review stand.
Instead of simply deleting every bad Google review you find, or bending over backwards to find ways to flag Google reviews for human evaluation, consider using the following strategies as alternatives for dealing with bad Google reviews:
· Authenticate and investigate. Take some time to investigate the review and authenticate what it claims. For example, if someone complains about the quality of the spaghetti you served them on Thursday night, and your receipts show that nobody ordered spaghetti on Thursday night, you'll have a basis for flagging the review – or responding with evidence that the review is in bad faith. The more information you can gather, the better.
· Respond in good faith. Consider responding publicly to the negative review and do so in good faith. Remain polite, accommodating, and concise in your response. In some cases, it's a good idea to apologize; in others, it's a good idea to provide supplementary information to properly contextualize the claim. For example, you may apologize that the customer didn't get the experience they want but point out that they arrived at your establishment five minutes after closing.
· Reach out to the customer directly. If you feel comfortable doing so, you can reach out to the customer directly. Ask them if there's anything you can do to resolve the problem or make up for the bad experience. In many cases, customers will be willing to take down their bad reviews in exchange for a refund, or replacement, or some other incentive. This isn't bribing someone to take down a negative review; Instead, it's an attempt to fix an underlying problem or offer a resolution where there wasn't one before. Again, be polite and straightforward in your communications with them.
· Follow up. If you don't get an immediate response, or if the customer doesn't take down their bad review, consider following up with them, especially if it's an inappropriate review. In private communications, you can move the conversation forward and hopefully work out a mutually agreeable course forward. If you can't make any progress, consider posting publicly that you reached out in private and offered to make things right. Even if users encounter the bad review, they'll see that your company genuinely cares about its customers and will try to resolve issues if they arise.
· Update your business practices. Even if you don’t fully understand or agree with the person who posted the negative review, there’s probably something you can learn about your target audience from this engagement. What can you change about your business to prevent this type of bad review in the future?
· Get more positive reviews. One of the best ways to drown-out negative reviews or fake reviews is to find a way to scale-up your positive reviews. The more positive reviews you get, it will dimish the impact of a couple of negative or fake Google reviews.
No business wants to get bad Google reviews, but even the best businesses must contend with them from time to time. If any bad Google reviews violate Google's policies and best practices, you can easily flag them for manual review and removal. Otherwise, there are plenty of alternative strategies that can help you mitigate and control those bad reviews.
Google reviews are just one aspect of your digital marketing strategy and overall online presence.
Juggling them with all your other priorities, like SEO, PPC ads, and social media marketing, can be challenging – which is why so many businesses choose to work with a comprehensive digital marketing firm for consulting, execution, and overall support. If you’re ready to get started, contact us for a free consultation today!
This past year, we had a massive opportunity to help a Fortune 100 company with their SEO efforts.
We’ll call it “Company A” for the sake of discretion.
As you can imagine, Company A was no stranger to SEO.
The marketing team at Company A had been managing a robust SEO strategy for many years – and they had a lot to show for it. They had strategically important target keywords, a relatively high domain authority, and an impressive spectrum of keyword rankings worth showing off.
But they wanted more. Naturally.
So they came to us. And we helped them spearhead a new campaign that pushed their search engine dominance even higher – and set them up for even more momentum to come.
Let’s take a look at how we helped a Fortune 100 company increase their keyword rankings by 45 percent.
Our initial engagement focused on consulting and strategic analysis. We wanted to understand Company A’s current goals, philosophy in marketing, and previous SEO efforts.
After a few meetings and a deep dive into their existing strategic targets and needs, we collaboratively developed a strategy we felt would make the biggest impact.
3 Months
So far, our campaign has lasted 3 months. That's not a lot of time in the SEO world; it's ample to see meaningful results, but the best campaigns last many years.
Still, we wanted to make the most of the time we had and prove that our efforts were worth continuing.
1 Vital Page
Company A had 1 particularly important internal page in mind for development. Naturally, we also wanted to build the company’s domain authority more broadly.
6 Vital Keywords
We decided to focus our efforts on 6 vital keywords with strategic value for the client. Each of these keywords had significant search volume, a high degree of relevance, and a host of powerful competitors vying for them.
If we wanted to increase rankings for these keywords, we would need to make our efforts count.
4 Waves of Link Building
Our role in this campaign was, primarily, link building.
Our link building efforts unfolded across 4 separate waves, each with a blend of diverse offsite targets. The goal was to build links across a variety of different websites with different DA scores – and maximize relevance to readers and publishers. We also mixed up our publication schedules and timing to make sure our links would be as natural and organic as possible.
Now for the juicy part – the results.
How much did Company A benefit from our new campaign?
First, let’s talk about their most valuable target keywords.
We’ll anonymize the keywords for the sake of discretion. For each keyword, we’ll show you the original ranking, the gain in ranking (in parentheses), and the final ranking (in bold).
· Keyword 1. 13 (+11) > 2
· Keyword 2. 18 (+16) > 2
· Keyword 3. 22 (+19) > 3
· Keyword 4. 11 (+1) > 10
· Keyword 5. 100 (+93) > 7
· Keyword 6. 16 (+7) > 9
Note that these keywords are highly competitive, head keywords. All 6 of their most valuable keywords are now on page 1, despite none of them being on page 1 before our efforts – including 1 keyword that barely made it to page 10.
On top of that, we led an increase in Company A’s total number of keyword rankings. Company A went from 1,812 ranking keywords to 2,627 today – a nominal increase of 815, or 45 percent.
The page we targeted started with an authority score of 52, and by the end of our campaign, it rose to 57, an increase of nearly 10 percent.
Our results for Company A speak for themselves.
But can we replicate these results?
We’ve had hundreds of engagements with hundreds of clients who can attest to that – and you don’t have to be a Fortune 100 company to benefit from our help.
At Marketer.co, we can help you with everything related to SEO and marketing, including:
· Strategic consulting. Arguably the most important part of your campaign is the strategy and research that happens before you develop a single piece of content. We can help you evaluate your current strategic position, including your domain authority, page authority, keyword rankings, and more. From there, we can help you develop a holistic strategy to achieve your SEO and marketing goals.
· Keyword research. It's important to recognize your most strategically valuable target keywords, based on their relevance to your business and your audience, their search volume, and the level of competition contesting them. Otherwise, you may not achieve your full potential in generating organic traffic or new revenue for your business.
· Content development. Content has been at the heart of SEO for more than a decade, and it continues to be the most important component of your strategy. We can help you not only figure out what types of content you need, but also develop those pieces of content on your behalf. We specialize in both onsite and offsite content.
· Link building. When it's time for link building, we can help you tap into our massive network of publishers to find only the most relevant, highly authoritative, trustworthy referring domains. Whether you're just starting out or are competing with some of the top names in the industry, we'll help you boost your authority numbers and rise to the top of the SERPs.
· Peripheral strategies. As our name suggests, we’re about much more than just SEO (though it is one of our greatest offerings). We can also help you with practically any peripheral marketing or advertising strategy, such as PPC advertising, social media marketing, and email marketing. Many of these strategies complement each other, so it pays to have a dedicated partner who can help you with all of them.
If you liked this case study, you'll really enjoy this bidet marketing example where we took a NEW bidet brand from zero to page one on Google in 18 months.
If you’re interested in learning more about how we achieve such impressive results for our clients, or if you’re ready to get started with a free consultation, contact us today!
You want prospective clients to find your law firm.
There are many ways to facilitate this, but the best is to optimize your presence in search engines.
After all, most of your clients and prospects are primarily using search engines for researching lawyers and law firms for their needs.
But here's the thing.
Chances are, most of your competitors are already outranking you in search engine results pages (SERPs) for queries relevant to your niche.
And as you might imagine, higher rankings get not only more visibility, but more traffic and more prestige as well.
If you want to earn that visibility and traffic for your own law firm, you'll need to find a way to outrank your competitors. Search engine optimization (SEO) can help you do this. But an SEO strategy without keyword research is like a boat without a rudder; it may be powerful, but it lacks direction.
Accordingly, keyword research is typically the first step of any SEO strategy, and it's certainly the best place to start as a law firm.
So what exactly is SEO keyword research? And how do you practice it?
In SEO, keywords (and by extension, keyword phrases) are words and phrases that people enter into search engines like Google as a search query.
For example, “lawyers” is technically a keyword, though most people don't search this broadly. “Personal injury lawyers near me” is a much more common keyword phrase, as is “How to choose the best personal injury lawyer.”
If you can optimize your web presence for phrases like these, you'll increase your chances of ranking in the SERPs produced for these queries.
SEO keyword research is the process of analyzing various keywords and phrases for the sake of finding the best possible targets. Some SEO keywords are more valuable for your law firm than others, and for a few different reasons; some keywords are more relevant to your organization, some are more popular search terms, and some are easier to optimize for.
The process usually begins with some simple brainstorming, which you can do even if you don't have much SEO experience. Think about what your law firm represents, what types of customers you serve, and what those customers might search for if they're looking for a business like yours.
Most people start producing a list based on their brainstorming efforts, then they turn to the power of specific keyword research tools that allow them to gather more data and come up with new ideas.
You can figure out the best keywords for your law firm to target by studying the following metrics:
· Relevance. Relevance is largely a subjective matter. You need to choose SEO keywords that are relevant to your organization as well as the clients and prospects searching for it. Otherwise, there isn't much of a point in receiving the traffic.
· Search volume. Within the realm of relevant keywords, you should also choose keywords and phrases with relatively high search volume. Search volume tells you how many people search for this keyword or phrase within a given time period, usually one month. The higher the search volume, the more people are searching for it, and the more traffic you'll receive if you can rank at the top for that keyword or phrase.
· Competition. That said, choosing only the keywords with the highest search volume is a surefire recipe for failure. That's because you also need to consider the competition; keywords with high search volume often have high competition, making them difficult or even impossible to rank for. Keywords with lower search volume may not get as much visibility or traffic, but you can reach rank one for those terms quite easily.
Ideally, you'll select a host of keywords and phrases that are highly relevant to your organization, with high search volume, and minimal competition. These perfect keywords are unicorns, however, so you may have to make some compromises.
Your strategic keyword targets are going to inform every element of your SEO strategy, including your onsite optimization, your content creation, and even your link building. You'll use them to create new pages of your website, inform the topics for your blog posts, serve as anchor text for your links, and more.
You can start the keyword research process by simply getting into the mind of your ideal target client or prospect. What is this person looking for? What has this person recently experienced? What types of things would they enter into a search engine if they were either A) interested in services like yours or B) could benefit from services like yours?
Already, you can likely come up with various ideas directly related to your area of expertise. For example, people might search for things like “family lawyer,” “divorce attorney,” or “custody agreement lawyers near me.”
But if you want to go a step further, you should also consider the types of questions that people ask search engines related to legal matters. Think of things like “what should I do if someone is suing me?” or “how do I create a last will and testament?” Consider all the things that your prospects and clients ask you when first meeting you.
If you're struggling to come up with ideas, or if you just want to flesh out your list even further, look to online resources that specifically support questions and answers related to legal matters. Avvo, Justia, and Lawyers.com are fantastic resources for this.
Keep a list of all the keywords and phrases you've generated. Most experienced SEO professionals do this in a spreadsheet, making it easier to manage SEO keywords both now and in the future.
As your list expands, you can consult other tools designed for keyword brainstorming. SEMRush, Ahrefs, Google Trends, and Google Keyword Planner are good places to start. All you have to do is enter a handful of keywords and phrases, and these tools will help you generate even more ideas.
In the course of your brainstorming and development, be sure to highlight keyword variations and related searches. For example, if you came up with the keyword idea “divorce lawyer,” you should understand that “divorce attorney,” “divorce law firm,” and “divorce legal help” are all functional variations of that query.
Each variation and related search can function somewhat on its own in your SEO strategy, though it is worth noting that due to semantic search, Google often blends semantically similar keywords and phrases together.
Don't worry about anything else at this point; just focus on cultivating a large list of potential keywords and phrases that are relevant to both your organization and the clients and prospects it serves.
At this point, you should have a long, borderline comprehensive list of keywords and phrases that are highly relevant to your law firm.
Now, your job becomes whittling that bulky tome down to a more manageable list. Many law firms and lawyers start with a list of about 20 keywords and phrases, but feel free to increase or decrease this according to your budget and your goals.
The two primary factors you'll need to consider beyond relevance are search volume and competition. The best targets are ones with high search volume and low competition, but these are understandably rare, due to the attractiveness of high search volume keyword terms in such a competitive industry. You'll need to decide for yourself how to balance these; most lawyers and law firms choose a diverse mix of “low hanging fruit targets” with low search volume and low competition along with “long-term goal” targets with high search volume and high competition.
Head keywords, or relatively short keywords and phrases, like “DUI lawyer,” typically offer very high search volume, but also high competition. Long-tail keywords, or longer search queries, like “How do I get out of a DUI?” typically offer very low search volume, but also low competition. The best SEO campaigns include a mix of both in their keyword targets.
Local keywords, as you might expect, are keywords and phrases that also include some geographic element. For example, these are search queries like “real estate lawyer Ohio,” “real estate lawyer Cleveland,” or even “real estate lawyer near me.”
These keywords and phrases are especially valuable for local SEO – the practice of optimizing your law firm for local searches. Local SEO is very similar to national SEO, but with some extra considerations for local search results.
Optimizing for your geographic location can be an easy way to avoid big competition and maximize visibility for the people geographically closest to you. Just keep in mind that in addition to optimizing for local keywords, you also need to optimize your local presence, such as by cleaning up your local citations and maximizing the quality and number of local reviews for your law firm.
Local SEO is a complex topic that requires its own article, but suffice it to say that most law firms do benefit from having at least a handful of local keywords among their strategic targets.
If you're hoping to get more out of SEO keyword research for your law firm, these tips should give you a good start:
· Work with the pros. We've tried to make this guide thorough, yet accessible. It should help you understand the basics of keyword research, but as you probably understand, SEO keyword research is better performed in the hands of an experienced professional who knows what types of keyword targets work best. If you have the budget for it, we advise you to work with SEO professionals for your keyword research needs.
· Consider budget and scope before beginning. There is no such thing as universally applicable keyword research. That's because each business has a unique budget and a unique scope. What works for a small, local, boutique law firm simply isn't going to work for a large, more generalized law firm. Make a plan for your budget and the scope of your SEO campaign from the beginning so you can choose better strategic targets.
· Triangulate the truth with multiple tools. Unfortunately, keyword data isn't perfect. It's constantly in flux, and different tools use different methodologies for providing you with data. Accordingly, it's good to triangulate the truth by using multiple tools to cross-reference each other.
· Understand search intent (and cater to it). Google is all about serving user intent. When someone asks a question, Google tries to find them an answer. When someone is obviously searching for a certain type of business, Google tries to find businesses that match those defined criteria. Accordingly, the better you understand search intent, and the better you cater to that intent, the better results you'll see.
· When in doubt, go narrow. A small number of very focused keywords is possibly the best way to start any SEO strategy. This way, you can use your budget on keywords that are extremely relevant with low competition; even if these searches don't generate much volume, you can at least get some early results to fuel the rest of your campaign. This is also a great way to stress test your SEO strategy; if you can't increase your rankings with very niche keywords with limited competition, you'll need to make some changes before you increase your budget and scope.
· Study your competition carefully. It's also a good idea to understand your competition. Go beyond simply looking at the competitive rating of various curative phrases and try to understand the tactics your competitors are using to optimize for them. What types of articles are they writing? Where are they building links?
· Optimize with caution. Keyword stuffing is the practice of deliberately including keywords in your content for the explicit purpose of manipulating your rankings. If done excessively, it leads to a much poorer user experience and can actually work against you, earning you a penalty that precludes you from advancing your SERP rankings. When optimizing for your strategically valuable keywords, do so with caution.
· Measure your results. Finally, be prepared to measure your results. You won't know how effective your keyword targets are until you put them to use and objectively observe their impact.
Keyword research is never easy.
It’s even harder in a competitive market like legal services.
That’s why it’s valuable to trust your keyword research – the foundation of your SEO strategy – to competent professionals with expertise in your niche.
We’re waiting for you. So don’t hesitate to reach out today – and find out how we can help your law firm dominate the SERPs!
Marketing heads and major decision makers within Fortune 500 companies are responsible for using consumer data to make better decisions.
You need to understand who your consumers are, how they think, and how they make purchases if you want to persuade them. This much is obvious.
But currently, we live in an age of hubris. That's because we live in the age of big data and AI. This combination of technologies entitles us to more data from more sources than ever before, and it enables us to crunch those numbers at record speed.
It's only natural that CEOs, CMOs, and other executive authorities feel like they're on top of the world. Now, every decision can be based on data.
But there's a problem.
There are massive consumer data blind spots holding Fortune 500 companies back.
And if you want to maintain your market dominance, you'll need to learn how to recognize and avoid them.
What do we mean by “consumer data blind spot?”
To put it succinctly, a consumer data blind spot is any error, inaccuracy, missing piece, or misinterpretation in your data sets or your interpretation of data that leads to a meaningful disconnect. Furthermore, because these are blind spots, you aren't aware they actually exist.
As an example, let's say you're buying T-shirts for a group of 10 people. You know the sizes of 9 of those people, so you know that there’s 1 data point missing.
But what you may not realize is that 3 of those people wrote down the wrong shirt size, or that 1 of them lives in a foreign country where shirt sizes work a bit differently.
These are blind spots.
Keep in mind that blind spots aren't just related to inaccurate or incomplete data. They also exist in the context of processing, analyzing, or interpreting data. Our example doesn't work here because T-shirt sizes are unambiguous and require very little high-level consideration. But more complex data sets for more abstract decisions are ripe with opportunities for misinterpretation and botched analysis.
If you want to make better decisions for your business, you need to be able to uncover and either eliminate or account for these blind spots.
So let's look at some of the common blind spots that plague modern business leaders.
Survey creators typically understand the importance of sampling – and getting responses from a representative audience. However, there are fundamental limitations to what surveys can tell you about customers.
Most notably, not everyone likes to participate in surveys. In fact, some people absolutely refuse to do it under any circumstance, even if you bribe them. You may receive enough survey responses to feel confident that you have a representative sample, but that representative sample will always disproportionately reflect the types of people who choose to participate in surveys. Even if it's only slight, this effect can become noticeable on larger scales.
This is especially noticeable in political arenas, where people with certain political beliefs are inherently less likely to participate in surveys. This is one reason why election polls are seemingly becoming less accurate with time, despite better tools and a better understanding of statistics to help us gather and analyze the appropriate data.
Also, we need to understand that customers participating in any kind of survey or feedback mechanism may be incentivized to give responses that don't necessarily align with their true thoughts and feelings. For example, an especially nice person might be unwilling to give a poor review of their experience because they don't want to get the customer service representative who helped them into trouble – or a person having a bad day may give a disproportionately bad review because of their emotional state at the time.
This effect becomes even more exaggerated when you attract more customer feedback through the use of incentives. For example, if you offer your customers a $5 gift card as a reward for completing a survey, you'll naturally attract many people who don't want to waste their time filling out a survey but do want the $5; they're not going to think about their responses very much, as they just want to get the survey done and over with.
This doesn't mean that you can't use surveys, focus groups, or structures for collecting customer feedback. On the contrary, these can be very good sources of consumer data. However, you need to account for this uncertainty. Just because most of your customers are leaving positive feedback doesn't mean you're making the best possible impact.
Most of you reading this will already be familiar with confirmation bias, but it’s an important concept that bears repeating for a very crucial reason: many people believe themselves to be exempt from this effect. In fact, many people believe themselves to be exempt from biases in general. It's only natural, as this is, in itself a bias: the illusory superiority effect.
As a refresher, confirmation bias is the tendency for people to exaggerate the importance of pieces of evidence that align with their preconceived ideas and downplay the importance of pieces of evidence that don't align with their preconceived ideas. It's a way of using the data to validate your preexisting conclusions, rather than to challenge them or naturally guide you to a new conclusion.
In our experience, confirmation bias is an insidious and notorious effect in the higher echelons of Fortune 500 companies. Instead of starting with a neutral view, leaders often form assumptions, then look to the data to try and prove themselves right.
In some ways, this is actually a byproduct of competence, knowledge, and experience. If you've spent the last 30 years in a certain niche, perfecting your professional skill set, you can and should feel confident about your abilities. You'll also develop a kind of sixth sense for the industry, giving you a legitimate way to “feel things out” even without data.
However, this can also lead to overconfidence and arrogance, causing leaders to assume that their assumptions are correct – and unintentionally ignore pieces of data that disagree with them.
Fortunately, there's a somewhat easy fix here. Even if it's only temporary, you have to assume the opposite of what you actually believe – and try to prove your initial assumptions wrong. In other words, you need to flip confirmation bias’s effects on its head, disproportionately weighing evidence that disagrees with you. If you can't possibly prove yourself wrong, you know you're onto something.
Organizations have also developed a tendency to ignore or underplay outliers. Outliers are data points that don't conform to trends or expectations. For example, let's say that 95 percent of your orders arrive at their destination between 3 and 5 business days after shipping. However, there are some orders that arrive in only one business day, and there are a couple of examples of orders that arrive after 25 business days.
In this example, it's easy to see that the outliers need to be examined. What caused such a massive delay in the shipments that took 25 business days? Why did that happen? How can you prevent it? Even if it only happened to one person out of thousands, it's still something that warrants looking into.
At scale, and in other matters, it's easy to write off outliers. And in some cases, it may be genuinely appropriate to do so. However, generally, it's important to at least acknowledge the presence of outliers and determine why they are outliers. Doing so can help you better understand the mainstream trends even better – and possibly help consumers who are otherwise neglected or ignored.
Black Swan theory, developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, seeks to examine and explain human behaviors related to major, surprising, transformative events that seemingly emerge out of nowhere. For example, nobody saw the 2008 financial crisis coming – and yet, with the benefit of hindsight, everyone becomes an economics expert who insists that the signs were all there.
The truth is, before a major, disruptive event, even the best experts in a given field are unsuspecting. After all, the status quo is the status quo for a reason, and the longer that status quo has existed, the longer we assume it will continue into the future.
But if you want to better understand your audience and make better decisions within your organization, you need to understand that Black Swan events can and do happen – and they tend to happen when you least expect them.
These events are, by nature, unpredictable, so don't bother trying to predict them. Instead, assume that major disruptive events can occur within your target demographics, such as a sudden shift to adopting a new technology or making significant spending cuts.
The proper way to approach this is to make your business agile and ready to respond to almost any conceivable crisis. Assume that you don't know and can't predict everything, and be ready to shift on a moment’s notice.
Blind spots can also emerge as a byproduct of overrelying on data. Yes, data is objective and it's the perfect foundation for decision making. However, if you treat data as a God and you assume that decisions can be made with raw data alone, you'll set yourself up for failure.
· The limitations of quantitative data. First, you need to understand that quantitative data does have limitations. Just because the solution looks good on paper doesn't mean that it works well in real life, and at the same time, not everything can be easily quantified. If you ask a person how happy they are on a scale of 1 to 10, and they say 6, what the hell does that actually mean? Different people can mean different things with the same number, so while it's not totally useless, it's also not perfectly accurate. We simply can't rely on quantitative data for everything.
· Historical data vs. future data. Second, you need to understand that historical data doesn't necessarily predict future data. Today, we have powerful data analytics engines fueled by machine learning and AI, but these tools can only help us project existing trends into the future; predictive analytics engines can't magically predict new technologies that emerge or consumer behavioral patterns that evolve. Just because something has trended a certain way in the past doesn't mean it will continue to trend that way in the future.
· Overconfidence. For the past couple of decades, writers and analysts everywhere have been extolling the virtues of “data-driven decision making,” and for good reason. But this has sort of poisoned leadership mentalities in Fortune 500 companies in various industries; leaders have come to assume that raw data is everything, and that it can be trusted inherently on every matter. This overconfidence makes blind spots worse, since you'll have no reason to actively search them out.
So far, we've looked at general and relatively timeless factors related to consumer data blind spots. But now, we need to turn your attention to an upcoming, specific event.
Despite several delays, Google and other major tech companies are preparing for the imminent death of third party cookies. If you've been relying on third party cookies to fuel your marketing and advertising campaigns, this is going to cause major ripples in your understanding of consumer data. If you haven't already been preparing for this shift, you're behind schedule.
Already, most organizations have begun to reoptimize their internal approach to gathering and analyzing consumer data. They're relying much more on first party data as well as internal financial data to better understand campaign performance and appeal to their customers more effectively.
We'll close out this article with a brief list of tips that can help you correct consumer data blind spots generally, as we only covered a small fraction of potential blind spots in this article.
· Rely on many independent sources of data. Blind spots shrink and eventually disappear when you gather data from more diverse sources. If a combination of surveys, focus groups, statistical analysis, behavioral analysis, and competitive research all tell you the same things, you can generally trust them.
· Blend quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data is great, but you also need qualitative data if you want to truly understand your consumers. Don't just ask them to rate their satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 10; prompt them for comments to explain their reasoning for the number they selected. It takes more time and it's more abstract, but it can lead you to better conclusions.
· Zoom in on outliers. Your natural inclination is to gloss over or completely ignore outliers. But instead, you should zoom in. Oftentimes, outliers hold the most critical pieces of information for better understanding a topic.
· Predict the unpredictable. You can't predict Black Swan events. But you can operate under the assumption that there's always a Black Swan event on the horizon. Consider the types of disruptions that could significantly influence your consumers and your organization, and develop strategies to respond to these disruptions with agility. Building more resilience into your organization is a useful auxiliary approach as well.
· Always estimate certainty fairly. Finally, approach your analyses and your decisions with a conscious, deliberate estimation of your certainty. How certain is your conclusion, based on what you know? This forces you to study areas of limited knowledge and more accurately assess your own understanding.
Are you interested in tackling your consumer data blind spots?
Do you need help better understanding your audience, your competitors, and the strategies you need to get an edge in the modern era?
Marketer.co is here for you. If you’re ready to take the next step, contact us for a free consultation today!
At Marketer, we know from experience how important it is to stay on top of the latest developments in the marketing industry. New trends, new technologies, and new techniques are always emerging – and it’s often difficult to fully grasp and utilize them ahead of the competition.
We have a great team here who helps us do it. But we’ve decided to make that team even bigger.
We’re therefore thrilled to announce our strategic partnership with Marion, a distinguished marketing and design agency with a storied 40-year history in Texas. We see this alliance as a fusion of Marketer.co's innovative digital marketing strategies with Marion's extensive experience and creative prowess, setting a new standard for comprehensive digital marketing services.
Hopefully, you know us already. We’re Marketer – a dynamic marketing agency dedicated to creating human connections through strategic, data-focused digital design.
In other words, we provide excellent marketing and advertising services to businesses like yours. Our ultimate goal is to deliver consistent, predictable growth via digital strategy workshops, brand architecture, user interface design, lead generation, SEO analysis, and more.
Marion is an award-winning, full-service marketing and design agency headquartered in Houston, Texas, with additional offices in Austin and Dallas/Fort Worth. They partner with clients to either supplement their in-house marketing department or serve as their fully outsourced marketing department.
Already, you can see why we get along so well.
So what exactly are we trying to accomplish here?
· New service offerings. For starters, each of our agencies has different areas of expertise and different services in which we specialize. By supporting each other with our own greatest strengths, we can offer our clients a wider range of versatile marketing and advertising services. Together, we may even be able to explore entirely new territory.
· Truly omnichannel marketing. A downstream effect of this is that our clients will have access to marketing strategies that are truly omnichannel. Modern marketing strategies do best when they aren't artificially tethered to a narrow range of communication mediums.
· Creative collaboration. Marketer and Marion both have impressive teams that include experienced leaders, niche experts, and creative masterminds. When we start putting our heads together in more collaborative endeavors, our creative ceilings are going to grow much higher.
· Successful customers. Ultimately, we hope that our strategic partnership is going to help more of our customers find success. Clients of both Marketer and Marion should find themselves with better services, more options, more creative output, and ultimately more visibility, more brand trust, and more generated revenue.
Tim Carter, our own Chief Revenue Officer, shared his vision for the partnership: "Our collaboration with Marion is a strategic endeavor to bring together our digital expertise with their rich history and creative success. We really believe that this partnership is going to change the way businesses perceive and engage with digital marketing."
"Joining forces with Marion not only expands our capabilities but also deepens our commitment to delivering excellence and innovation in every digital marketing campaign,” said Samuel Quincy Edwards, Chief Marketing Officer here at Marketer. “We are setting a new benchmark for what clients can expect from their marketing partners."
This partnership is possible because Marketer and Marion each have such powerful respective strengths – without significantly overlapping each other.
Nate Nead, CEO of Marketer, highlighted the synergy between the two firms: "This partnership with Marion aligns perfectly with our mission to provide end-to-end marketing solutions that are both innovative and effective. Together, we will redefine industry standards and drive unparalleled success for our clients.”
We may not be able to dictate the future of marketing, but we might be able to help lead it.
And we can definitely use our new partnership to help our customers see better results along the way.
If you’d like to learn more about our partnership, or if you’re just interested in seeing how Marketer and Marion can help you see better campaign results, contact us today!
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Sales teams tend to have a diverse mix of people.
They may all have similar backgrounds and follow a similar methodology, but they're all unique individuals with unique strengths and weaknesses.
Accordingly, major companies typically have standout sales “superstars” capable of landing humongous accounts and keeping them indefinitely. They're the most valuable members of your team, by far, which is great – but it also introduces a vulnerability.
If those sales superstars choose to leave, either because they find a new opportunity or because they no longer enjoy their work, it will leave a massive, gaping hole in your sales strategy.
So what are the best approaches to retain those sales superstars?
Let's take a look at the sales rep retention problem from a high level.
The superstars on your sales team are simply better than everyone else. This is probably due to a combination of factors, such as getting more done in less time, having more charisma to persuade others, or utilizing a more eclectic knowledge of your clients’ needs.
Whatever the case, these are the people who can land the big accounts. These are the people disproportionately responsible for your sales team hitting its goals for the quarter. These are the people who keep the revenue flowing.
In other words, they are massive value creators that you can't afford to lose.
Your top sales reps also succeed in retaining your best clients. And while retention is typically cheaper and less effort intensive than acquisition, you can't afford to neglect it as a critical part of your sales strategy. If your top sales reps leave, they may take some of your clients with them, or motivate other clients to jump ship.
That means in addition to losing revenue generation potential, you'll also be losing a chunk of your client base.
So your sales superstars are valuable. Why is this a problem, exactly?
It's because everyone else knows how valuable they are.
Your sales reps know how valuable they are. Your competitors know how valuable they are.
This opens the door to two distinct paths for departure.
First, your sales superstars could choose to leave on their own volition. Even if they're making a lot of money and are succeeding in their role, they may feel pressure to change roles, change companies, or drop out of the workforce altogether. And it's much more common than you think: it’s estimated that 25 percent of sales reps are planning on leaving within the next 6 months.
Second, your sales superstars could be headhunted and recruited by your top competitors. These reps already have knowledge, experience, and proven capabilities, and they won't need much training or education to thrive in a new role. This makes them highly attractive targets for recruiters, who will often be willing to offer those reps more compensation than you currently do.
Obviously, every sales superstar is different, and there are many complexly interwoven motivations that could cause each one to leave. But the better you understand those motivations, the more likely you'll be able to retain the sales titans who make your marketing and sales strategies successful.
In the sections that follow, we'll be analyzing various individual problems that are likely to affect your sales reps. After that, we’ll summarize the generalized strategies that can help you resolve many of these problems simultaneously, enabling you to retain your top sales staff.
First, we have the burnout problem. If you work in a role long enough, eventually, you're likely to grow tired of it. This problem is compounded by jobs that are especially difficult, stressful, or time intensive.
Sales can be difficult, stressful, and time intensive simultaneously, so it's no wonder why so many sales reps have one foot out the door. If one of your reps is disproportionately responsible for the success of the business, and they have more responsibilities than their peers, they may feel even more burnout.
If the problem gets bad enough, they may leave on their own. But even if the stages of burnout are just starting, a sales superstar will be much more likely to leave if contacted by a recruiter.
So what can you do about this?
· Proactively recognize (and address) the signs of burnout. Some burnout signs are obvious. Others are less so. If you wait until your sales rep is having a panic attack or showing up to work with permanent bags under their eyes, you're going to lose them. Instead, you need to be on the watch for burnout signs early and often. Does this person seem less engaged with their work? Are they more irritable? If you notice these signs, take the time to address them.
· End toxic work expectations. American companies sometimes pride themselves on hard work. This alone isn't a bad thing, but it can become toxic in high doses. If you expect your employees to work through the weekend, work long hours, respond to emails late at night, and tackle other burdensome responsibilities for the sake of proving what a hard worker they are, you're effectively pushing your top workers away. End these toxic work expectations and give people more flexibility.
· Encourage, rather than merely tolerating, time off. The best way to prevent or stave off burnout is through time off. Many Fortune 500 companies readily allow their employees to take time off work for occasional breaks and vacations, but there's a big difference between tolerating and encouraging time off. Don't just allow it under extreme circumstances; actively push your top sales members to step away from the job and destress.
· Prioritize meaningful engagement. Burnout is also solved with enough meaningful engagement. If your sales rep is consistently engaged with their work, they probably won't be motivated to leave anytime soon. Different people engage with their work in different ways; some people want more challenging work, while others want more creatively stimulating work, for example. Your job is to find what motivates your top employees and give it to them more specifically.
· Shake things up. Excessively repetitive routines can cause anyone to experience burnout, even if they generally love the contents of those routines. That's why it's important to shake things up from time to time; cycle through different responsibilities, give your sales rep exposure to new environments, and help them feel like every day at work is truly unique.
Less commonly, sales superstars leave because of compensation issues. This doesn't necessarily mean you're underpaying them, but it does mean a competitor is willing to pay them more. If a sales rep notices a discrepancy between their actual value to the organization and what they're earning, they're going to be motivated to close that gap, no matter how much you're paying them nominally.
That's why it's important to:
· Stay tuned to the competition. Keep a close eye on the sales strategies of your competitors, to whatever extent you can. How much are their top salespeople being compensated? How much are they offering when headhunting others? Can you stay competitive with them?
· Increase pay and/or commissions. The most direct solution to this problem is to increase pay or commissions for your top sales performers. If this sales rep is as valuable as they seem, it will probably be worth it. If it's out of budget, you'll have to come up with an alternative strategy to make it more worthwhile to stay in your organization.
· Consider adopting new benefits. New benefits, such as more robust health insurance or better retirement programs, can incentivize sales reps to stay, even if their core compensation doesn't increase. But again, this isn't going to fit all budgets.
· Offer flex time and other intangible benefits. If money is tight, consider rewarding your best sales employees with intangible benefits like flextime, extra time off, dedicated parking spaces, or other smaller rewards. They may not seem like much, but they can seriously add up, especially in combination with other strategies in this guide.
Sometimes, your sales superstars become motivated to leave because of a culture fit problem.
Unfortunately, there isn't much to cover in this area. If a sales rep has been with your organization long enough, you can rule out culture fit as a problem (unless you've undergone a serious change in your workplace culture since they arrived). After all, they wouldn't have stayed this long if they had a problem with how you run things.
Also, if a sales superstar does begin to grow resentful of your workplace culture, there isn't much you can do. Unless you're planning on uprooting and changing your entire workplace culture for the sole sake of this individual, the better path for both of you might be allowing the departure to take place.
Many employees rank autonomy as one of their most important priorities, and a major goal for their career. People generally want to be in control of their own work; they want to set their own goals, pursue their own objectives, and do work the way they want.
If your top sales staff members feel they don't have enough autonomy, they're going to be more susceptible to head hunting and voluntary departure.
Here's how you can combat that.
· Encourage more independent decision making. Give your sales reps more freedom and opportunities to make their own decisions. These don't have to be huge, company-wide decisions; even small decisions, when made independently, can make a person feel more autonomous.
· Allow time for personal side projects. Google once famously allowed employees to dedicate 20 percent of their time, or about 1 day a week, to work on personal side projects of their choice. It didn't slow down productivity by much, yet it gave employees a strong sense of autonomy. It also resulted in the birth of many new innovations, which continue to make google a lot of money to this day. Consider giving your sales reps more time and flexibility to work on things that they think are important.
· Loosen up mandatory requirements. You can also cut back on anything that's mandatorily required. As an example, daily sales huddle meetings can be productive, but top performers can also feel like they're stale or a waste of time. Make them optional for anyone exceeding a certain performance threshold. Generally allow your employees to work however they want to, as long as they continue exceeding performance expectations.
· Give your best salespeople leadership roles. Consider giving leadership responsibilities to some of your best salespeople. Have them train or mentor new sales reps. Have them develop new strategies. Ask them to give talks or seminars. People in leadership positions tend to feel much more autonomous.
Most employees want to feel like they're on a consistent growth trajectory. If your job hasn't changed much in 10 years, what reason do you have to stick around?
Some people want growth and progress for their own sake, as these represent interesting changes that keep things from getting too stagnant. Others want growth and progress so they can earn more money and perform better.
Either way, you can solve the growth problem with tactics like the following.
· Pay for training and education. As long as you have the budget for it, consider paying for additional training and education. Even if your sales reps are learning things that aren't immediately and obviously tied to sales, this is a valuable strategy for showing your employees that you're invested in them.
· Offer cross-departmental collaboration. You can accomplish something similar by allowing more cross training and cross-departmental collaboration. Your sales reps will feel more integrated in your business if they get to witness and work with other departments, and they'll learn and grow as a result.
· Optimize for flow with appropriate challenges. A flow state is a psychological phenomenon in which a person is deeply immersed in the work they're doing. To achieve this, a person must be sufficiently challenged without being overwhelmed – and they must be genuinely interested in the work they're doing. Work with your sales reps to create conditions that allow them to achieve flow more consistently.
· Establish clear trajectories for long-term goals. Most of your top performing salespeople will have individual, unique goals of their own. They may want to start their own business someday, rise to the top of your organization, or accomplish something specific within the sales realm. These people are going to be much more committed to your business if you give them a clear, unchanging trajectory for achieving those long-term goals. In other words, if your employees feel like they're taking consistent steps toward their long-term vision, they're much more likely to stick with you.
The final problem is potentially the most important: it's the “problem ambiguity” problem.
If you don't know what kind of problems your top performing salespeople are facing, or worse, if you don't even know that problems exist, you won't be able to solve those problems effectively.
That's why your first course of action should be working aggressively to determine which problems, if any, are affecting your best salespeople.
What tips and tricks do we have to help you with this?
None. There are no shortcuts. You have to figure this out. Ask lots of questions. Make lots of observations. Get to know your salespeople, inside and out. Do this, and it's only a matter of time before you figure out what the problems are.
We've covered many individual tactics that can help you resolve different problems affecting your sales superstars, but these strategies are some of the best for preventing and solving multiple problems simultaneously:
· Conduct stay interviews. Most companies regularly practice exit interviews. This is an opportunity for employees to reflect on their experience and share their honest opinions about the environment and conditions in which they work. These can be valuable, but they aren't going to help you retain salespeople, since they've already decided to leave. Instead, conduct stay interviews, picking the brains of your best salespeople to discover their true sentiments before they're even tempted to leave.
· Get to know your reps individually. Similarly, it's important to get to know your reps individually. Even among the top performers, you'll find a shocking amount of diversity in terms of strengths, weaknesses, perspectives, and values. Different sales reps are motivated to stay for different reasons, so you'll need to discover the right ways to appeal to each employee.
· Allow autonomy and flexibility. Autonomy and flexibility make your salespeople feel empowered, independent, valued, trusted, and rewarded for their work simultaneously. And as top performers, they've certainly earned them.
· Offer rewards commensurate with contributions. Finally, make sure you're rewarding your top sales representatives at a level commensurate with their contributions. Depending on the nature of your organization, this may or may not be an easy equation to calculate. Sure, you can probably afford to pay your sales rep a bit less than they’re actually worth – but what happens when one of your competitors steps in to outbid you?
Your business is built on the backs of your sales reps and marketers.
Your teams are incredible.
But they don’t – and shouldn’t – have to do it all by themselves.
At Marketer.co, we have some of the best marketing minds in the industry – and the resources to support businesses of any size or scale.
If you’re ready to partner up and improve the performance and capabilities of your sales and marketing departments, we’ll be waiting for you.
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