Customer wants customers NOW!!

19 replies
Hey guys, I have an SEO customer & I'm 6 weeks in to his campaign. We're ranking well already for some main kw but he's getting impatient & wants results/ calls/ work NOW! His work is seasonal (landscape gardening) and he's afraid he might 'miss the boat'

He has revealed he has an advertising budget of about £300 - £500/ month & wants me to give him a proposal to get him some INSTANT results. :rolleyes:

I already suggested PPC & FB ads to him but thought you wonderful guys & gals might come up with something a bit more creative.

Thanks in advance,
Robbie
#customer #customers
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    • Profile picture of the author robgee123
      Thanks for your reply. My problem with PPC is what to charge & it usually takes a couple of days to get the OK from Uncle Google..
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  • Does he have past customers they let get away? One of the fastest ways to get money in the door is a lost customer reactivation campaign. Come up with a irresistible offer, send out emails or direct mail and get them back.

    If not, can you saturate his area with postcards? Do they have the equivalent of EDDM there?
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    • Profile picture of the author robgee123
      Hi, thanks for your reply! Really appreciated.

      What is EDDM?? We are in Scotland, UK.
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  • Profile picture of the author SashaLee
    Hi there,

    Are you marketing where his potential customers are likely to be found? I mean, will people really go to the web to look for a gardener? I know I wouldn't - I'd talk to neighbours, look at other gardens, watch for trucks outside gardens and observe the workers and maybe call the number on the side of the truck if they seemed impressive.

    There's another thread here about about a gardener placing flags in lawns he's already working on and creating a stir about "the flags". Search for that and it might give you some ideas.

    All the best,

    Sasha.
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    • Profile picture of the author Weblover50
      Originally Posted by SashaLee View Post

      Hi there,

      Are you marketing where his potential customers are likely to be found? I mean, will people really go to the web to look for a gardener?
      People could. In fact this is nothing to be guessed, as any other SEo, you can use a keyword Tool like Google Adword tool and understand the search frequency of the targeted keyword in your area.

      One thing about doing SEO is you should make it very clear to the client that it is not a one week / one month job and it would take time. Your contract / agreement/arrangement should clearly have the time and target position and your pay should be linked to the same. Failure to do so will have unhappy customers and payments not made.

      As suggested, now your best bet is obviously PPC and other ads. Google doesn't take much time and I don' think it will take 2 days to approve your campaign. What you should bid etc would depend on various factors, there are enough tools and info to help you. Facebook campaigns could work wonders for niches like this and try that as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author deu12000
      Originally Posted by SashaLee View Post

      Hi there,

      Are you marketing where his potential customers are likely to be found? I mean, will people really go to the web to look for a gardener? I know I wouldn't - I'd talk to neighbours, look at other gardens, watch for trucks outside gardens and observe the workers and maybe call the number on the side of the truck if they seemed impressive.

      There's another thread here about about a gardener placing flags in lawns he's already working on and creating a stir about "the flags". Search for that and it might give you some ideas.

      All the best,

      Sasha.
      People are definitely looking online for landscapers/gardeners. I ran a test $100 Adwords campaign for a landscaper and he got 34 clicks. These were all click to call. I had to fire the client because he was turning down most of the jobs because they were too small for him. This was about 9 months ago in the Fall season. 10 of the calls were over 30 seconds long. The campaign ran for about 3 weeks.

      The amount of people interested in his service was over 10 but I can't give you an exact number without listening to all the recordings. He pissed me off so much turning down the jobs that you wouldn't believe. He's one of those guys that says he goes within a 30 mile radius and no job to small, then get gets the calls and doesn't want to do anything under an acre within a 10 mile radius.

      Those were my test results in the Northeast United States.

      As far as charging him I would charge him per call. I know a lot of people charge a percentage of ad spend also. More or less a standard number is around 15%. With the budget he has charging a percentage is practically working for free.
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      • Profile picture of the author mojo1
        Originally Posted by deu12000 View Post

        As far as charging him I would charge him per call. I know a lot of people charge a percentage of ad spend also. More or less a standard number is around 15%. With the budget he has charging a percentage is practically working for free.
        As I read your response, I was thinking the exact same thing in terms of charging per call. I'm pretty sure he would not have turned so many small jobs away had he been on the hook for paying each inbound call.

        He could have actually used a few of those smaller jobs as a means to advertise his company yard sticks to surrounding neighbors especially if the area had a nice density of houses in the neighborhood.

        I guess that's why we get paid the big bucks to consult. Just thinking out loud.
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  • Profile picture of the author smileverse
    PPC, FB ads, Linkedin Ads are all ways to attract visitors in short time. The key point for Google Adword is to the choice of keywords. Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    In my mind here is what I would focus on.

    1. Get his google places to show up well. (has this been part of your SEO?)
    2. PPC and landing pages (do not just send them to the home page). Make the landing pages and the ads make people truly want to get him to do their work. To do that you need to find out about his customers and why they choose him so you can find more of the same and appeal to those same points.
    3. Video (SEO the crap out of it) with questions people ask about his business. Get people who are researching to see him as the expert.
    4. Ditto with a blog (see the concrete pool guy and how he has dominated his industry using this method) and literally over time answer every question he ever gets asked and make sure that he says the good and the bad. The more real he is with the answers the more they will trust him.
    5. Get him some PR. News = free advertising. So what has he or is he doing that makes him a news story? Then get the papers and TV stations to make it the story.
    6. Customer Reactivation: Get on the phones (no direct mail) and touch base with lost customers. If he can sell I would have him do this. The key is to make each feel like they are the only one being called even if he calls 1,000 people (I hope he hasn't lost that many customers as that points to a whole other problem for him). Focus on those he lost last season first. May be too late to reactivate depending on how contracts are in his industry.

    Notes: Remember Bing and Yahoo PPC not just Google. Those customers are older with more money normally. Also lower price per click normally.

    What I wouldn't do.
    1. Facebook including ads (while long term this might help it will not get the ROI and speed he needs)
    2. Direct Mail (at this time): His budget is too small to do it right. Build his business up and then do it once he trusts you.

    Overall the key is to capture everyone who is looking for landscaping now and getting those he lost to come back. Assuming he does this year after year for customers and not just one time if just one time some of what I said is off. I just assumed he did the big work plus did maintenance on said work (and not his work) on a regular basis.
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  • Profile picture of the author Doran Peck
    You have stumbled upon SEO's glaring weakness.

    See, no matter how well you are ranked or how visible you are on any online venue...you are STILL sitting crippled, as far as any kind of marketing advantage goes.

    Here's why. Your customer can't do anything until his customer decides for himself to go looking for on the internet, or take any action.

    For every 1 guy who decides to go looking on Google, there are in reality like 500 more that STILL actually need the service, but just haven't done anything about it yet.

    As an internet marketer you are trying like the devil to capture that one guy, the moment he pops his head into the game. A marketing strategy of sitting waiting and hoping, is not a very advantageous one.

    Get your client in front of that 500 and the 1.

    Direct Mail Postcards, or EDDM is how you do it.

    Good Luck
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  • Profile picture of the author flnz400
    You can't fix unrealistic expectations.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    gumtree?

    Posting of flyers in his neighborhood stores and such.
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  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    Desperate customers who are desperate for customers never make a good customer.
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  • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
    One tip is creating a direct mail piece that is like a letter from
    one of his happy customers.

    And when he's serving that customer deliver the letter to everyone
    in the surrounding area (like 2 or 3 streets).

    A little bit of extra work...possibly for a helper...that should produce
    a regular stream of extra paying customers for him.

    There are obvious advantages in having a lot of customers in the
    same area...in the same street is better still.

    The direct mail piece can also be used on a wider scale...testing
    results as you go.

    Kindest regards,
    Andrew Cavanagh
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  • Profile picture of the author The IM Factory
    You should've told this client from day one that SEO takes time and if you guys started late in the season for him now to expect much results yet. SEO is a marathon, takes time and the ROI will come but not right away. As Iam Nameless said, customers like that can be a nightmare and will bother you every second asking questions why they aren't busy yet.
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  • Profile picture of the author shane_k
    Everyone above has given you advice on how to get more traffic

    But maybe that is not the problem

    Your problem could be converting that traffic.

    So I have a question

    You say that you are ranking well for some keywords.

    But are you getting a good flow of traffic to the actual site?

    If you are, and people still aren't calling in, then your problem is not necessarily traffic but your call to action.

    So what is your call to action?

    How are you going about getting people to call this business?

    What is the offer you have setup on the actual site?

    It's either going to be one of those two things

    Traffic

    or

    Call to actions
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  • Profile picture of the author bsummers
    This is one thing that most clients do not understand. You cannot rush things like this. Agree with IamNameless "Desperate customers who are desperate for customers never make a good customer." Why, you settle for second best since you are in a hurry to get a close.

    Now, you said that the KW are ranking well. Is it visible to your target market? This is one thing that you should consider. Go through it again and if it is okay then go for paid ads.
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  • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
    Anyway OP, how did this turn out as you asked this back in May
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    Mike

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