The lifeblood of every local business is leads, well it’s actually customers, but it starts with leads! In an attempt to generate more leads, you can throw a lot of money at a lot of things these days – online ads, social media, radio, and the next new thing that the internet comes up with.
It’s frustrating, to say the least.
But here’s the good news. All you really need is a proven marketing system.
Below are the 7 essential elements of an effective local marketing system
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Create a core message and strategy of difference
Finding a way to stand out in the mind of your ideal customers, something differentiates your business from every other business that seems to provide the same products and services as you, is hard work, but it might be the most important discovery you can make.
To help discover the perfect strategy for your business we’ll:
- Define more ideal customer using what you know about your current customers
- Discover the characteristics of your most profitable customers that already refer
- Interview your current customers to discover the problems you really solve for them
- Scan your reviews to find even more clues about what your customers think
- Create a core message that targets the problems your ideal customers want to solve
Marketing lives and dies by developing "Strategy Before Tactics" - We think this step is so important that we start every engagement here with something we call Strategy First - In fact, this can be a stand alone engagement that leads into the following implementation steps. Click to see full Strategy First details.
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Build a website that converts visitors to customers
No matter what your business sells today your website is the hub of your marketing. It must be able to tell your story and guide your prospects to take the actions that turn them into customers. To do this effectively, there are certain elements that every small business website must-have.
To help you build a website that drives growth we’ll:
- Design a site structure and flow that engages visitors
- Create and feature your core message to help you stand out
- Feature your ideal customers to help prospects know they are in the right place
- Build the content for your core web pages and SEO plan
- Add case studies, accomplishments, and testimonials that help build trust
- Tell the full story of your products, services, and mission
- Integrate video content for trust-building and engagement
- Audit, organize and refresh your existing content
Recent Local Business Websites by Duct Tape Marketing
Denver Auto Shield - Click image to visit
Schloegel Design Remodel - Click image to visit
KC Waterproofing - Click image to visit
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Master everyday SEO to help prospects find you
People turn to search engines when they want to find something. In fact, that’s the #1 way local businesses get noticed today. If you’re not showing up on the maps and organic listings you are at a huge disadvantage. SEO isn’t that complicated, but it must be done in a strategic manner, integrated with your content and website structure.
To help you create an everyday SEO plan we’ll:
- Create a website structure built for Google
- Optimize all of your current pages
- Get your Google My Business page producing results
- Make sure that your data is correct and complete across directories
- Acquire links back to your content from related websites
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Let your customers talk about how great you are with reviews
From the beginning of time, people have asked their friends for the names of businesses that can help them solve a problem. A good review from a friend went a long way. Today, we turn to review sites like Google and Yelp to find business and rely on the review, good and bad, from strangers to provide information and proof that a business is one we can trust.
To help you maximize reviews we’ll:
- Make sure that your profiles on reviews sites are optimized
- Create a funnel for reviews that makes it easy for fans to share
- Create a process that allows you to get reviews with every new customer
- Find ways to highlight your great reviews on your website.
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Use social media to create awareness and build trust
Social media platforms offer many new ways to create awareness for your business, but they can also be a distraction if you don’t have a plan to use them strategically. Millions turn to social media sites every day so tapping this behavior is key.
To help you get the most from your social media we’ll:
- Tune up your profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram
- Create a plan to focus the right message on the right plan
- Teach you how to capture those personal brand moments that create engagement
- Integrate your content, sharing, and paid social efforts
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Capture leads ready to buy now with online advertising
Pay-per-click advertising or paid search as it is called today offers some tremendous benefits. It’s also a place where you can potentially waste a great deal of money. That’s why it’s so important that you work with a marketing professional who understands how to implement effective Google Ads campaigns that are aligned with your overall strategy.
To help you get the most from your PPC efforts we’ll:
- Develop a list of high purchase intent keywords for your campaigns
- Create targeted audiences based on your ideal customer
- Build campaign-specific landing pages for high conversion
- Create ads and campaigns focused on generating business
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Access real-time reporting to see what’s working and what’s not
The rise of digital marketing gives us more ways to collect and track data than ever. We can now know what the exact return on just about any campaign is, but we can also get flooded with useless data. The key is to establish a handful of useful metrics and use them to help inform marketing decisions.
To help you get the most from your overall marketing efforts we’ll:
- Help you construct a Lifetime Customer Value metric
- Develop conversion goals around your marketing campaigns
- Create a reporting dashboard so you can monitor the progress of your marketing
- Install tracking tools that allow you to see where your best leads come from
The real beauty of a proven marketing system is that it can expand and mature just as your business expands and matures.
Meet Alpine Ductless
Industry Home Repair / HVAC
Location Washington
Employees 10-20
All of Alpine Ductless’ leads are now coming from the website, referrals, and direct mail. By focusing on ideal client audiences and pursuing and attracting them through targeted channels, Alpine Ductless is now seeing better quality leads and higher sales dollars
Alpine Ductless is a ductless heating and cooling expert in northwest Washington state, owned by Cory and Janette Eckert. They install and service ductless mini-splits and bring comfortable living and sustainability to every home and business they encounter.
"The team at Duct Tape Marketing has always been attentive to our needs and responds quickly to any concerns that we've had. Our web traffic has improved significantly since we started using their services.
Every team member that we've encountered has been friendly, kind, knowledgeable, and truly vested in our success.
Everything from initial consultation, ongoing consultation, and account management has been easy and straightforward."
Cory and Janette Eckert
Owner of Alpine Ductless
Some of the true small business we serve
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Let’s talk about growing your business.
We are strategy experts and we are passionate about helping small businesses reach their full potential.
Book a consult today, and let's get to work growing your business.
Duct Tape Marketing is founded on the simple belief that marketing is the most important small business system.