Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees?

Buildingfutures · 22nd Jan 2010, 02:10 PM

Well, here's what we'll do first sir.

We're going to change your sign-in form that your customers fill out when they come in for their appointment. We're going to change it so that your customer can include an email address. If they ask your staff if its necessary, they'll reply with "You only have to if you want to know about great deals we are having. The [owner/doctor/plumber/etc] has some great options coming up, such as a [free teeth cleaning/coupons/give-aways/etc]. IF you put your email address you'll be able to receive the emails that we send out with these deals."

Then, we're going to set up that database for the emails that you WILL be receiving from your forms. I can train your staff on how to add the information to this database, and I will also be there to write out the emails for the deals you run.

We're also going to put an email capture process onto your website itself. This way, you can have your website on the reciept, and if for any reason they didn't give their email on the sign-in page, they can go to your site and still get on this list. They can also refer their friends, new customers, to the site and they can also get on this list. You will have hundreds of customers just waiting for that email from you talking about a new coupon or deal you are running.

Next, we're going to spruce up your website. We're going to add a customer satisfaction page. We want your customers to rate you, tell you whats going on with THEM while they are waiting and being serviced. We're going to get both bad and good comments, I'm sure. But the bad ones are fantastic, they let us know how to improve what we are doing, right?

I will also train your staff to ensure that the most common complaints are not placed on your website. Comments such as rude staff, not being greeted, etc. We're going to demolish those before they are even brought up.

From there, we're going to get your site ranked onto the first page of Google, Yahoo, Bing, and MSN for keywords people could use to search for [dentists/doctors/plumbers/etc] of [city name here]. That way, your website shows up, people visit, and they too can know when good deals are coming up, because they'll want to give you their emails as well for these [coupons/sales/deals].

And this is what I would work on for you. My services will keep your site ranked well, will have you with a list of hundreds of new customers, not to mention the thousands of previous customers who DO COME BACK, and will be added to your list. I will also write the emails, create the banners, and make sure that your new [sale/coupon/idea] truly entices your customers to come back to you for another service.

What's that sir? Why would you offer a free [teeth cleaning/roto-rooter/50% off sale/etc]? Simple. If they're getting something for cheaper than usual, or free, they're more likely to buy 2-3x that item. A mom who can get her one of her kids teeth cleaned for free will bring in the rest of her kids to get cleaned also, or she and the father will get their teeth cleaned as well, knowing they're getting one free.

Any other questions sir? Or can I count on your business today?

-Sean

Vagabond 007 · 22nd Jan 2010, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by AP

Let's work through a real life example.

************************************************** ***

I would like to see all thoughts. There shouldn't be any criticism from anyone, we are all here to learn.

I am willing to bet that I have (2) answers that no one will come up with. I've picked my brains for years justifying my prices to clients.

Let the games begin.

~AP

P.S. If you need more info let me know, but I'm going to be very conservative in my replies.

I'll reply to this later tonight. Been up all night (4 pm where I'm at now) or else I'd reply to it now.

I love scenarios like the one you posted. Finding money is fun! I've got something that I doubt anyone else will come up with. And I'm very curious to see the 2 things you say no one will think of.

Btw, that Yellow Page budget is going to make this easy.

Lastly....

1. How many unique hits does the site get per month?
2. How many sales per year is the YP ad responsible for?
3. How many customers do they get per month?
4. Average years someone stays a customer?
5. Average sale price per customer?
6. How many times a year does a customer buy?
7. Which leads us to....LTV of each customer?

Tsarina · 22nd Jan 2010, 03:17 PM

Show me how you could justify ME giving YOU a $4,997 set-up fee plus $1,497 per month (starting in 30 days) 12 month agreement. Total price is $23,000.

Love the chalenge... will not be able to answer until tomorrow eve. Two quick questions?
Do I have 5-10 minutes? (asuming I'm entertaining enough)
Do we know anything about LTV of the client? ( usually known)

Barry Walls · 22nd Jan 2010, 03:47 PM

Originally Posted by AP

Show me how you could justify ME giving YOU a $4,997 set-up fee plus $1,497 per month (starting in 30 days) 12 month agreement. Total price is $23,000.

I'm answering one of the questions...the justification for the price.

Heres how I'd sell this dentist using your examples and numbers. I wouldnt talk about the what or how at this stage unless asked (can of worms)...only the WHY...to close the deal.

Expectations can be managed later but the explanation of some broad concepts can be made at this stage.

Pen and paper at the ready for this one...you would need to do the figures with him and walk him through them.

In your scenario, assuming you cut his budget by all that he is spending, not saying you should...but the numbers get messy unless you do, its Friday night...and I want a beer.

In reality a more likely course of action is to make the budget answerable and redeploy the $10k immediately and in year two strive to make the yellow pages transparently workable and cut it if it isn't
performing. In year two set up different websites/email addresses and phone numbers for each advert and test them.

Start with turnover...30% increase...whats that in bottom line terms? Well, its $330k in revenue so its $82.5k in net right there in year one from the sales increase.

Assuming he is spending only what he pays you, for simplicities sake, you save him another $27k in year one to make a total net of $109.5k in year one.

In year two, his advertising spend is now only $18k and his net has gone up another 30% to give a gross increase of $430k to net an additional $107.5k which together with a saving of $32k on advertising to give a total net increase of $139k. As this goes on year after year, so ROI continually climbs.

I would point out that the Net was $275k before and now its $521k at the end of year two.

I'm assuming here...dangerous I know, but I'm assuming that I've done my homework and can deliver these numbers.

Other Benefits include...(I'd choose a few from this list...the most effective ones which I've found out earlier and which appeal to his personality type).

Variable costs are unlikely to rise in a straight line with fixed costs, so year two and three results are likely to be better than 25% net of the gross.
In addition, we will have valuable feedback with which to optimise the funnel
SEO may become stable and other KW's/web properties are brought into the mix over time
If no spare capacity exists, it can be created from extra revenue as needed.
Premises etc can be funded through bank loans and held individually as investments.
Rental income can be charged off to the company to reduce tax liabilities in an optimal way
The database (some of which can be moved over onto email) can be utilised for extra revenue through education and upsells at very low costs.
Will free the dentist from the job of dentistry and put him into a CEO role if desired
If other constraints or lifestyle choice prevent capacity expansion, prices can be increased to ration available resources.
Marketing tactics which weren't viable before now become more viable.
The database can reactivate dormant clients
The database can be used to conduct market research thereby honing your offering more closely to your target market
You will be able to expand your services...orthodontics, denture repair, veneers and other cosmetics even if you have to buy in the talent.
Lower prices due to higher volumes can be negotiated from your suppliers
You can buy practises from retirees and work your magic again.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of all Mr Client is that the business is now running with transparent metrics all the way through. Much smarter strategic decisions are now possible.

You have one question to answer for yourself Mr Client. Based on what you know right now...do these results, which I am confident I can conservatively deliver, justify a $23k investment with me over the next 12 months?

Hope that answers part of the question.

All the best

Barry

AP · 22nd Jan 2010, 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by Vagabond 007

Lastly....

1. How many unique hits does the site get per month?
Client didn't know and Analytics was controlled by someone else.

2. How many sales per year is the YP ad responsible for?
Client had no clue. He said "I just budget 5% for advertising, YP is my biggest expense, and I do some postcards once in a while, support the school baseball team, etc...

3. How many customers do they get per month?
He didn't know that either.

4. Average years someone stays a customer?
He said "they're still with me. I said "what method do you use for your Customer Retention Program? He said "what's that?" Then he admitted maybe customers from 5 years ago "MAY" be using someone else. Duh!

5. Average sale price per customer?
Can't tell you that because it might be a giveaway to what category it was. I will say he was priced too low IMO.

6. How many times a year does a customer buy?
He had no clue.

7. Which leads us to....LTV of each customer?
He said, HUH!

Those are the answers the client gave me. He was too busy to ever get stats, but he desperately wanted my advice. Plus he is a real nice guy.

ijohnson · 22nd Jan 2010, 03:54 PM

Hey, AP!!!

You got it . . . I accept your challenge!!! Even though I have limited professional sales and marketing experience, I'm willing to give this a try. This will be a great way to sharpen my skills. I'll be back with you guys shortly.

Iris

Cryp · 22nd Jan 2010, 04:14 PM

Here is what I would do:

1) Cut all YP advertising

2) Forget about SEO and all that jumbo, theres not alot of searches for example: dentist + city (not in my country anyways, most of the time there are no searches for a proffesion + city)

3) Create a basic website 5 pages, but make it with joomla (high perceived value)

4) Autoresponder (money well spent; you know what to do)

5) Facebook! Create a fan page for his website and tell every single employee to become a fan, this is a great little viral marketing tool. Host annual "birthday" and year in events for networking and let him and his employees invite all of their friends on fb to the events.

6) Focus on the top 10% customers with the highest LTV, let the secretaries write to them on their birthday, christmas and new year. Be extra special to them and go out of your way with that top 10% spending customers. Most of them are high value people with executive jobs and lots of friends, get them on your side and turn them into "raving customers" (You know that Frank Kern bit)

7) JV with a beauty salon, people who get regular facials would probably be interested in getting their teeth whitened. Offer the beauty salon a healthy commission. But the best way to go about this is to just start sending some of the dentists clients over to the beauty salon. Soon that business owner will love you and viola, he does the same for the dentist. One hand washes the other.

There is probably loads more you can do, but now that I look at it, justifying these high fees seem EASY!

troon · 22nd Jan 2010, 04:24 PM

AP:

Not feeling well today so I'll just mention two quick things;

1. The 2,000 customer list is gold. I'll prepare a direct mail piece to reactivate dormant customers. The piece will include a special offer just for being a "past customer". It will drive them to a web page which details the offer. They will be required to enter their email addr. and name. Autoresponder will send them the offer immediately. Now we're starting to build their email list and along with the other on-site methods already mentioned here the list will grow quickly.

2. We will do a series of videos to promote your biz and help with rankings. These videos will be distributed heavily on the Internet and include a strong call to action. I will teach your employee(s) how to use a simple video camera to record customer testimonials and we will prepare "how to" videos to help engage your prospects and increase conversions. We will distribute them and add them to your website.

All for now. More later.

David Neale · 22nd Jan 2010, 04:30 PM

1) Cut all YP advertising

Messing with Yellow Page budget would depend on when their yearly contract expires. Unless it is expiring shortly I'd leave that alone.

If you start talking about diverting funds from there you could be putting the entire process on hold for 6 months and giving your prospect a perfect excuse to delay any action.

I've been down that road.

Divert the "Spray & Pray" funds.

3) Create a basic website 5 pages, but make it with joomla (high perceived value)

I'd also forget building a new site with Joomla or anything else. That will bog you down and do nothing to increase business for the client.

Client has a nice website, ranked page 3 Google. His domain listed Page 3 Google is his entire Internet presence.

Been down that road too

ijohnson · 22nd Jan 2010, 04:42 PM

Okay, I've got about 5 minutes to type this! I would do the following:

I would analyze the Marketing Questionnaire (full of qualifying questions) that I had Mr. BusinessOwner complete so I can see where the problem(s) are and offer a solution;
I would pull out my laptop and conduct a search on Google (right before Mr. BusinessOwner) using the Google Adwords Keyword Tool so I can pull some data and show him what he's missing;
I would recommend that he cut his spending on Yellow Page ads in half, yes cut it 50%;
I would recommend that he cut his direct marketing budget in half (spending only 10% of budget);
I would take his current database and optimize it to get the most out of it to increase traffic into the storefront and online by a projected 50%;
I would draw a mindmap of the system I would recommend on my trusted legal pad as a visual of what I would recommend to solve his problems and meet his goals.

Benefits:

More sales and revenue (or breakeven, at the very least)
A more efficiently operated and managed business
More time for Mr. BusinessOwner to spend with his family
Less stress for Mr. BusinessOwner

Well, that's all I can think of right now. I've got to run but I will be back shortly to see what everyone else comes up with. This is real stimulating fun!!!!

Iris

SpyGuy · 22nd Jan 2010, 05:30 PM

Im new to this game but.... I will give it a try if AP promises not to hold back!

.....

1) Show cust stats proving the Internet is the NEW Yellow Pages
- unless you are online, people wont find you because they dont search via YP anymore, they use Google, Yahoo, Bing. Times are a changing.

2) Do a Google search (customer is watching) for keyword terms where I know their competition will show but, they wont. Showing them "why people cant find them".

I will also add that it seems their competition has had "some" optimization but.. that I can see many things they "ARE NOT DOING" that I can do for them which will blow them out of the water.

3) Give a brief history on how 99% of biz's online and offline fail because they dont select and optimize with the proper keyword terms, buyer ready keywords etc. (may throw in a comment on how the SEO co's use this to rip off their customers because they dont know any better)

4) Will fill the client with "hope" (no guarantee) that not only will I get them into the Search Engines so people find them but.. I will also get them multiple listings for multiple keywords and spread their name all over the net to the point that by the end of the year... anyone searching for their services will know their name and what the do.

5) Would ask them what they are doing with their contact list. Then dazzle them with a few ways on how they can monetize that and skyrocket their revenues.

6) Would discuss the history of advertising / marketing / copy and how important it is ..... and how this is virtually ignored and is the main reason why biz's fail and dont reach their financial goals.

7) Would give a few examples of how a simple "promo" via email, you tube video, in-store special or direct mailing - "dont right" can create a whirlwind of business.

8) Would look at the clients site and point out a few mistakes that "arent their fault" because they were either scammed by a greedy SEO company or like 98% of web site owners.. were never informed.

9) Would tell them how my last client made almost "identical" mistakes and with some tweaking and maintenance.. they are seeing a huge ROI after only 6 months.

10) Would finalize by advising that it's 2010 - Sink or Swim. Either you are on the net and your customers can find you..... or you are stuck in the deserted land of the printed advertisement with very little ROI.

- Would tell them to go and read my published book on the subject. You can find it on Amazon.com.

*** I would also ask many questions durring the meeting. I do this to get the client talking about themselves (they love to talk about themselves and show how much they know about nothing) and to gather information so that I can pin-point the best services for them and what will mean the most to their specific goals. ***

The Benefits:

Rather than 1 ad on YP that doesnt convert well, you will now have dozens of ad's on the NEW YP - we now call the Internet.

This means people looking for what you are selling WILL FIND YOU and BUY FROM YOU.

Using our customer friendly marketing techniques, you will be building long lasting relationships and increasing your repeat visitors and ref's.

YOu will create an Online Pressence that has the Real Estate Value of the best street location you can think of. ex. Page 1 on Google is like having your store in the heart of "Rodeo Drive" etc.

If you "ACT NOW" and dont delay, you will be able to get a leg up on your competition and leave them in the dust. But... wait and it will be your competitors that leave you in the dust. As well, it will be twice as hard to get the positioning a year from now than it is today. This is just because so many biz's are realizing just how powerful the Internet is. And remember, there are only 10 spots on the front page and based on my initial analysis,, I could probably get you up their if you wanted me to.

Each day you wait means .... each day you are losing customers that are looking for your services.

****************

How did I do AP ?

Dont hold back... I wanna learn as much as I can.

Your input is greatly appreciated.

Cryp · 22nd Jan 2010, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by David Neale

Messing with Yellow Page budget would depend on when their yearly contract expires. Unless it is expiring shortly I'd leave that alone.

If you start talking about diverting funds from there you could be putting the entire process on hold for 6 months and giving your prospect a perfect excuse to delay any action.

I've been down that road.

Divert the "Spray & Pray" funds.

I'd also forget building a new site with Joomla or anything else. That will bog you down and do nothing to increase business for the client.

Been down that road too

I'd still do the Joomla site, you will be getting targeted traffic with your autoresponder and fb anyway remember? The site is just part of a funnel, not the be all end all.

YP sucks. Period. An average of a 100 businesses advertise in each category, meaning you have the same 1 in 100 chance of being phoned as the rest, plus there is no USP in those ads. It's my opinion anyway, its okay that we differ

Oh yeah and the spray and pray, I would probably advertise in a specialist magazines such as MH for teeth whitening.

How do you track offline ads btw? Seem to miss that somehow:confused:

David Neale · 22nd Jan 2010, 06:04 PM

I agree with you in principal regarding YP, I'm just saying be careful about the timing.

I have moved a few clients over the years to spend less with YP but I've never been bold enough to suggest they cancel completely.

But in general I agree YP is almost useless for many business..... (but not all

)

You can track offline with coupons. The client offers a particular discount code that must be used and he ONLY uses that code in his YP ad. Same goes for other offline mediums.

I'm all about tracking but it's not perfect online either. Many of my clients don't use shopping carts and display their phone number as well as a form. If a visitor calls them and the person answering fails to to their job then a lead can slip through without giving the appropriate credit to the traffic source.

Originally Posted by Cryp

I'd still do the Joomla site, you will be getting targeted traffic with your autoresponder and fb anyway remember? The site is just part of a funnel, not the be all end all.

YP sucks. Period. An average of a 100 businesses advertise in each category, meaning you have the same 1 in 100 chance of being phoned as the rest, plus there is no USP in those ads. It's my opinion anyway, its okay that we differ

Oh yeah and the spray and pray, I would probably advertise in a specialist magazines such as MH for teeth whitening.

How do you track offline ads btw? Seem to miss that somehow:confused:

queenv · 22nd Jan 2010, 07:35 PM

Here's what I would do...

1. I would do a conversion analysis of Mr. Business owner's website and add an opt-in form integrated with an autoreponder system to Mr. Business Owner's website and explain to him how following up with his current customers will turn them into repeat buyers, and how following up with prospects will turn them into customers.

If Mr. Business Owner doesn't have a picture/video on his website I would suggest that either or both be added. Adding a picture would be included in the $4,997 price, but a video would cost more (the cost would depend on whether it's a youtube video - or video from another video sharing site, or if it's a flash video that I would need to upload to his server).

People are visual, but for some reason most business websites do not include pictures or videos. Adding these elements will increase conversions and set the business apart from their competition that has a plain boring website full of nothing but words.

2. Completely cut out the yellow page ads. I would ask the business owner a question such as "if you wanted to take your wife/girlfriend/family out to dinner and you heard about a particular restaurant and wanted to know what others think about it, where would you go to find that information?" or something like, "if you wanted to buy a new (whatever) where would you go to learn more about it and find out who has the best deal? More than likely Mr. business owner would say "the internet" or "I'd google it".

I would explain to the business owner that most people do not waste time flipping through the yellow pages like it's the 1980's, when they can easily search for anything online. Those potential customers who have a certain level of respect for the yellow pages would go to yellowpages.com. This brings me to #3...

3. I would list Mr. Business Owners business in local online business directories such as yellowpages.com, merchantcircle.com citysearch.com, yelp.com (for the reviews) etc.

4. I would create postcards to send out to the 2,000 people on his list and have the postcard give them a reason why they should visit his website so that they can sign up to receive exclusive offers (coupons, etc.) only available to his VIP email list.

I would make a suggestion to Mr. Business owner to have a "Tell us How We're Doing" type of link added to his site that leads to his Yelp profile so that his customers can submit reviews which would help with his online credibility.

5. I would explain how online credibility is very important and there's more to having an online presence than just having a website. Having a website is a piece of a much larger puzzle. The fact that Mr. Business Owner has a website that is ranked high in Google for certain keywords is great (one less thing that I have to worry about), but so does others in his industry. I would explain to him that he has to separate himself for everyone else who is on the first page of google for that particular keyword phrase. When a prospect visits his website after finding him in google, the very next thing they will do is search for him and/or his business by name. If his competition has articles, social media profiles, etc. all over the internet as well as being on the first page of google, they are the ones who will get all the business. A business has to brand themselves online as a leader in their industry and just having a website is not going to cut it.

6. I would create articles related to Mr. Business Owners industry and submit them to the top article directories. In my opinion this is the best way for a business to establish credibility, and be found in the search engines for their name as well as for certain keywords. I would start of with 2 initial articles, then create and submit 1 article each month. I would also create profiles at the top 5 article directories (complete with business bio and links to websites/social networks). These profiles are very important because they are easily found in google when you search for a person's name or a business by name. Too many internet marketers just focus on article submission and are missing out on branding by not completing the whole profile.

7. I would create a press release for the business and distribute to various press release sites.

8. I would create a Google Local business profile

9. I would create a Twitter Profile (only if the business owner is interested in having someone tweet from time to time), a Facebook Fan page, and a Linkedin profile.

10. I would explain the power of video and suggest that I create a video for the business owner and submit it to various video sharing sites. If they take me up on this suggestion, I would create a complete profile at youtube (instead of just submitting to it like I would do with the other video sharing sites). The reason why I say that I would suggest video marketing is because $4,997 would be too low of a price to include video marketing into this package.

11. The monthly $1,497 would consist of article creation and submission (as mentioned above), managing email campaigns, press releases, video creation and submission, social bookmarking, and directory submissions (deep links). I would explain to the business owners that his website will not stay on top forever - off page optimization has to be done each month. Backlinks are a must. The articles, videos, and press releases will take care of more backlinks leading to the home page; therfore, I would do some deep linking with the social bookmarking sites and directories.

Everything listed here in #11 would not be done each and every month because video marketing alone is really worth the $1497 by itself. I probably would alternate the video marketing and article marketing or press releases. Whatever I alternate, one thing is for sure, link building in some way is a must every single month if he wants his site to stay on the first page of results and of course I will manage the email campaigns (if the business owner doesn't want one of his employees to do it).

Overall I would explain how dominating the first page with just a simple link to a website is nothing compared to also dominating with a link to articles, press releases, videos, etc. I would tell the business owner that I don't believe in "ads" because ads are temporary...I believe in syndicating content. I would explain how content submitted online (such as articles and press releases) don't have an expiration like a yellow page ad. Once you submit it, it is there for years to come. This is one of the reasons why I don't do PPC for businesses - it's just not necessary.

rrakausk · 22nd Jan 2010, 08:04 PM

" The Value of Print Yellow Pages

While a majority of consumer search behavior has shifted toward the use of interactive resources, print Yellow Pages and other offline directories are still referenced in the consumer purchase process, proving that offline media still has reach and possesses lead-generation benefits. And the high demand for online Yellow Pages information reveals that consumers still use the Yellow Pages, just in different ways. When coupled with IYP, the Yellow Pages are an effective cross-channel source of local business information. In fact, 30 percent of consumers who first use IYP still turn to print directories as additional resources in their searches. "

This was lifted from ths study here --

TMP Directional Marketing Study Reveals Local Search Changing with Interactive Media, Indicates Consumer Search Behavior and Media Usage Trends

However, my experience with canny business owners is they will no longer pay for Yellow Pages adverts, just the default (cheap or free) listing so they can appear in the online version. They quickly see their full page advert is a waste of money if it reaches only 30% of potential buyers.

dave stahly · 22nd Jan 2010, 08:41 PM

Offer to put your client on your city portal without charge for as long as he is your client. Even offer to allow him to be the only business in that category on your city portal, depending of course, on how your portal is structured and what type of client you are targeting.

dave

TheMagicShow · 22nd Jan 2010, 09:17 PM

All I can say is W-O-W! Dexx, Ap and rest you people rock! I just finished reading every single post from this powerful thread and all of them have been gems. I was offline before online and then shifted online and I am again shifting offline.

I had this client who had a medical business and was charging him $800 per month for his ppc campaigns. He was being quoted $4,000 for his ppc and $4,000 for his seo. There are lots of sharks running wild offline, these people are taking such advantages of these clients.

I have another client that had his ppc setup down by a very popular company, that is heavily advertised and their upfront charge was $2900 and a $700 monthly.

Let me just tell you people that this client's ppc campaign had not a single negative keyword and all of the keywords were broad match types and the money was being flushed down the toilet big time.

There is a lot money to be made in the offline world, I visited my gastro doc a few weeks back and he asked what i did. I told him, I was a marketing consultant and I plan on giving him (just him), a free setup and a comprehensive package.

He has tons of friends that make millions a year, so it is my lead generator to do this just for this one gastro.

I will say this much, if you are not willing to charge good money for your services, then you can bet your bottom dollar that, huge firms will charge them and their results will be horrible (most have been from what I have seen).

YP is old and outdated, yes some still get some good results, but the results are never tracked and the roi is never determined from yp advertising. This thread is just amazing and made me want to go after even more clients.

I will say this much, Dan Kennedy is a genius and all his stuff is solid. invest into some of his offline packages and just see how much it can UP your business bottomline.

Hope all have success!

P.S- I have probably printed 20-30 pages of notes from this thread, AP- is the man, lets appreciate his golden gems and not jump at him just because he offers such valuable information for free. This forum has chased away lots of brilliant minds, let's keep him....lol

ijohnson · 22nd Jan 2010, 09:26 PM

AP,

Another thing I see, based on your scenario and your responses to ((Vagabond 007's)) questions, is a desperate need to set up a tracking system. Mr. BusinessOwner doesn't appear to track much, if anything, in this business. He appears to be a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of guy.

Being lax about real numbers and failing to track performance on different levels appears to be a common trait with a lot of offline/brick-n-mortar businesses. It's appears that the average business owner doesn't realize the importance of having good tracking systems in place until they come online. Online, they find that practically everything is measured or based on metrics and you really can't determine the success of your online presence without having some tracking systems in place and an aptitude for analyzing the data collected that directly pertains to the operation of their business.

Iris

Dexx · 22nd Jan 2010, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by Magic Mel

I had this client who had a medical business and was charging him $800 per month for his ppc campaigns. He was being quoted $4,000 for his ppc and $4,000 for his seo. There are lots of sharks running wild offline, these people are taking such advantages of these clients.

I don't know if I'd say its fair to say they are taking advantage of the clients.

Are they providing a positive ROI in exchange for the money they are charging? (i.e. $4000 to bring in $8000 in business?)

If they are getting results, and the business owner isn't losing money, then maybe they priced their service based on the results they provide.

Now if they are charging $4,000 and just blowing his budget (broad keywords, no negatives, etc) with maybe a $500 ROI...then ya...that's brutal. =)

topskyca · 22nd Jan 2010, 09:29 PM

Let me throw in some ideas (really like this post - a pure gem):

1. Google ranking - show the owner the monthly searches pulled from google external keyword tool. depends on the business, some may have 5000 searches a month, some may have 15,000 a month. ask the business owner would like 30%-50% of the searches come to your site every month? right now you are not getting much as you are your site is one page 3. educate the business owner those are potential buyers. you can get these buyers without spending much dollars.
If in the next 30 days you can get x,xxx more visitors to your site, we can make 10% of these people become a prospect by capturing their contact information, thats xxx's of new prosects you don't have before.
Then with our follow up system, we can convert 30% of the prospect to immediate buyers, another 10%-20% to future buyers, that's xx's of new sales coming from very little effort on your end, and zero cost in increased advertising (sure, we are not factoring my fee yet.). If each new client is worth x,xxx lifetime, that's xxx,xxx increased business.

Would this be nice?

2. Yellow Page Advertising - here is what I will do: I will rewrite your whole yellow page ad. I believe most people without marketing background will throw up a branding style ads there and if paying $40,000 a year thats for sure a full page ads. Lets keep full page ads, because "size does matter". If you have been doing it in the past, thats a sign you should keep getting customers from this channel.
But lets do differently. We will work out a direct response ads. We will add a tracking system to your yellow pages ads. We either get people call your sales line, call a voicemail, or direct them to a website, whatever we do, we want to MEASURE how effective the YP ad is.
Educate the client that his ad is flying blind. Branding style won't be effective unless you can prove it.
Now lets throw some experience numbers: if you have got xx sales a month from your yellow page ads - I know you don't know, but lets assume, with our new ad, new offer, new tracking, new sales funnel, we can at least increase your sales by 30% - very conservatively speaking - I wouldn't say double your sales. Its too bold. Give him the hope, but start slow. 30% is fairly easy to acheive, if you do better than 30%, you become a hero.
Now, with 30% increase in yellow page yield, without double your YP ad space, we get more sales, how does this sound to you?

Wait a minute, did we miss something?

Internet marketers tend to forget that yellow page books can't be changed instantly, its published yearly. Well, our assumption can only be based on the renewal point of the yellow page ads.

Well, if its not at the renewal point, we can only make changes to yellow page online listings - what I will suggest you to do is negotiate some extra deals with your YP salespeople. They will throw in some extras by giving you more exposure online.

Now, we can better your online YP exposure too. Similar to what we have done in step one with your website, you can fully maximize your YP online listings by write better ads, giving offers, get more clicks, more phone calls.

Although I hate to do numbers, but I have to use number again. Lets assume previously you have 100 visitors a month from YP - online (this should be pretty average), then after we make some deals with YP rep, we can double the exposure, then we can improve our ad copy, call to action, offer etc. now we can get 200-300 visitors to our site, with a dedicated page built for YP visitors, we can get 30% more buyers, how does this sound to you?

One thing about negotiating online listings with YP rep is you have the leverage of spending $40k a year with them, they dont' want to lose you, you can also tell them you are going to move the money to google adwords if they dont' give you good deals. If the rep is smart, he will give you (remember, everything is negotiable in business world.) Now, with the increased online exposure, we can test the online potential too (I am still talking about at the non-renewal point).

We didn't cut the YP advertising as a waste, we just make it work many times better. Hey, 80% of his advertising is on YP, i don't believe YP doesnt work for him.

(Of course, another approach is so tempting too: is move this budget over to adwords PPC etc. but I would go with the first approcah because we can afford one more year to test how YP works and measure its results.)

3. No more spray and pray, lets track everything. For every mail piece goes out, we want to see what ROI we get. For every billboard you run, - if you have to run - we want to see what dollars it brings in.

4. For your past clients, lets do a series of direct mail campaign. Lets bring back 10% of them for repeat business, thats an instant increase in sales.
Lets get them refer 10% more clients to you, thats another 10% increase in sales.

5. Lets build an up-sell system. I don't know what business it is, but we can upsell. How much extra will you be making? I will build a system to help you sell more.

Sorry I was off track onto 100% offline (I deleted some offline stuff I just wrote), I think the goal is to use IM. I won't talk about SEO, autoresponder yet, just coin it as a sales funnel or sales system to the business owner.

The bottom line is to AUTOMATICALLY get more visitors, AUTOMATICALLY convert them to buyers, all of this is measurable, trackable.

Now, with the increased profit, do you think its worth $23000 investment?

TheMagicShow · 22nd Jan 2010, 09:49 PM

Originally Posted by Dexx

I don't know if I'd say its fair to say they are taking advantage of the clients.

Are they providing a positive ROI in exchange for the money they are charging? (i.e. $4000 to bring in $8000 in business?)

If they are getting results, and the business owner isn't losing money, then maybe they priced their service based on the results they provide.

Now if they are charging $4,000 and just blowing his budget (broad keywords, no negatives, etc) with maybe a $500 ROI...then ya...that's brutal. =)

This is what I did, this particular client had no way to measure their stats. So, I installed google analytics and did nothing else. I waited, to see what this $4,000 a month investment brought them (visitors, potential prospects) and their results were beyond horrible. This was the 4ks they blew on ppc and the other 4ks blown on seo was a total waste too.

I was being lazy and just did a press release for this client, and I one press release I had better results and it was peanuts compared to what this client was being charged & ripped off.

After that one course of action, the client hired me and dumped the shark...lol

This small-midsize client didn't know any better and was paying it up to the bigger firms. This same client wanted to go cheaper (wanted to pay $300) than my $800 monthly fee for ppc and we parted ways.

I still login in once in a while and still see that they are still running a campaign on ppc that I designed for them 9 months ago with no chages and unfortunately their stats are bad now and that's their loss.

Moral of ths story - There are tons of businesses out there that have no clue, and need your expert support/setup. Monetize your opportunities well and good luck!

Dexx · 22nd Jan 2010, 10:07 PM

Awesome, you did verify they were being ripped off, way to go!

Not to mention the goodwill and trust you built with the client by showing them how they were being taken advantage, and then providing a solution that brought results...a double whammy! =)

Tsarina · 22nd Jan 2010, 10:22 PM

AP,
can you answer please
Do I have 5-10 minutes? (assuming I'm entertaining enough)
Do we know anything about LTV of the client? ( usually known)

Buildingfutures · 22nd Jan 2010, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by Tsarina

AP,
can you answer please
Do I have 5-10 minutes? (assuming I'm entertaining enough)
Do we know anything about LTV of the client? ( usually known)

Just assume you have all the time you'd need and just go with the flow!

Say you did your research for the client beforehand, or mix it up and try to come up with something for a client you don't know a thing about!

Have fun!

-Sean

Vagabond 007 · 22nd Jan 2010, 11:23 PM

Originally Posted by AP

Service type (repeat biz) business: Dentist, Carpet cleaner, Pest Control, Plumber, HVAC, etc... Mom & Pop type biz

Gross Sales: 1.2 Million in 2008, decreased to 1.1 Million in 2009, sales have Flat-lined. Incorporated for over 5+ years. Has 4 employees, spouse works part-time helping out.

BTW, the client is one of the above categories.

Originally Posted by AP

Can't tell you that because it might be a giveaway to what category it was. I will say he was priced too low IMO.

Clearly the biz owner has a problem with tracking things. Which obviously needs to be fixed. What gets measured gets improved.

You're just going to leave it at "client is one of the above categories"? Not that big of a deal (since all businesses are pretty much the same and marketing systems are interchangeably), but it would help to know the industry so I can get more accurate numbers.

...and whether or not my Joe Polish and Chet Rowland files will help.

TheMagicShow · 22nd Jan 2010, 11:42 PM

Originally Posted by Dexx

Awesome, you did verify they were being ripped off, way to go!

Not to mention the goodwill and trust you built with the client by showing them how they were being taken advantage, and then providing a solution that brought results...a double whammy! =)

Indeed! This client was being ripped off and still paying their fees with no results. Just because a firm is bigger doesn't mean they are BETTER. Your skills are as good as theirs and even better.

Being a member of this forum can equip anyone to go out and dominate their local markets and get paid like a stud

I was mostly doing ppc and charging 800-1000 a month. Now, after this thread I'm gonna scale it up even more and add more packages and start doing a 2-5k upfront setup and 8-1600 monthly fees.

It's interesting how it started offline, then went online and now the true gold is back offline again ..lol

Good luck!

Dexx · 23rd Jan 2010, 12:20 AM

Hey Mel,

When you say you charge $800 for PPC, does that mean they give you a $800 budget to do PPC for them with? (and also gave that other company $4,000 to use on PPC)

If so, how do you base your fees around that?

Do you take out 10 - 15% of that $800 as your fees and then promote them on PPC with the rest?

How do you show your results / ROI to the client?

Is it based on people signing up to a form or something as leads?

Dexx · 23rd Jan 2010, 12:32 AM

Originally Posted by AP

My average client pays me a $10,000 set-up fee and $1,497 per month. Minimum contract is 12 months. Approx $30,000 first year.

I do a lot of "Infrastructure" work first. Most here would probably not like it.

I develop a comprehensive marketing plan. USP, train sales staff, train secretaries to answer incoming calls, write copy for Yellow Pages, direct mail, set up AWeber, autoresponders, build new site/blog or update their current site, Animoto video marketing, Google Local, Vertical Directories, Press Releases, 1 on 1 coaching, group teleseminars, SEO, etc...

My best client pays me over $10,000 per month, set-up fee was $25,000.

My smallest client paid me $3,000 upfront and $497 per month.

You don't need many clients at $1,500 to make a decent living.

It's a lot easier than most people think it is.

Hey AP,

When you inform your clients of the solutions you can provide them, do you give them options as to what "packages" of services you can provide?

Option A: Setup - $7,000 + $2,500/mo (includes everything in Option B + the following...)
Option B: Setup - $2,700 + $1,450/mo (includes the following...)

etc.

Or do you just give them one service-style package (and associated costs) and they can take it or leave it?

slvrsrfr · 23rd Jan 2010, 12:47 AM

AP, thank you very much for your kind and generous sharing of the obviously terrific knowledge you're sharing. I'm breaking into the offline market now, have been for a few months. So this is a great opportunity or test case to try.

Based on the information you've shared with us so far about this client here's what I would do.

Spend a full day with him understanding his business. I'd watch how everyone interacts. His 5 employees and the customers he has. I'd talk privately to his customers and employees about their hopes and opinions on how the business could be improved.

I'd look at the overall processes that are in place for tracking and invoicing clients as well as payroll issues. If he's not sure of a lot of his metrics, I'm pretty sure that there is fat in how he's organized financially in collecting from his clients and how he perhaps pays his/her people.

I'm certain I could find ways for him to cut his hard costs, like his utilities and perhaps even banking fees. Everything would be looked over with a keen eye. Perhaps there is better software to help him run his business.

How does he/she treat their clients and how do front line staff interact. How are the phones answered how are emails responded too. How do they deal with difficult clients. Are they using receipts and invoices to carry direct marketing messages.

Are his prices reasonable, can he increase prices but add greater value, guarantees or customer satisfaction.

What about the office or business space that he is using. Can it be better utilized, expanded or downgraded. Are there other businesses nearby with which he can offer partnerships.

Next I'd take a look at her online presence. A page 3 website is terrific and something that could quite quickly and easily be improved upon. Article writing, Google local listings with coupons, pics and vids. Vertical directories that can be added to the mix. Press releases to get things going.

Email list management and email capture would be important. Not only online but offline too. Offer an incentive on receipts, invoices etc to join the email list. Set up a new customer satisfaction questionnaire and grab more info that way.

Web site optimisation, adding a personal feel to it. Perhaps a Twitter account would be valuable to her. She could offer the occasional limited deep discount good for only 24 hours as a tweet or something like that.

I'd set up a direct marketing campaign to the list of 2000 with a very strong incentive to bring them back into the fold. I'd coach him and his staff on how to invigorate customer relationships and think about the value she or they could offer their clients.

Of course tracking of the important metrics in her business would be crucial. Especially LTV of her customers and how often they visit or purchase the product or service.

These are some of the things I'd cast my mind too when evaluating his or her business.

Great exercise thanks.

Cheers,

Jason

alfondores123 · 23rd Jan 2010, 12:56 AM

very interesting reading your posts. but most of the starters rarely apply seo techniques that you describe in your posting.

TheMagicShow · 23rd Jan 2010, 01:01 AM

Originally Posted by Dexx

Hey Mel,

When you say you charge $800 for PPC, does that mean they give you a $800 budget to do PPC for them with? (and also gave that other company $4,000 to use on PPC)

If so, how do you base your fees around that?

Do you take out 10 - 15% of that $800 as your fees and then promote them on PPC with the rest?

How do you show your results / ROI to the client?

Is it based on people signing up to a form or something as leads?

Hey Dexx,

This client was spending 6-8ks a month on google ppc, I charged them 800 a month. This included me doing their ad campaigns and landing page optimization for better quality scores and higher conversions.

I simply said this - If you are happy with my services then we can continue next month and month after. Their initial 800 was kept and not spent at all, in my paypal account. If by any chance they were not happy i would give them half their money back because I took my time doing their campaign and landing page stuff.

Because of the increase in leads and better conversions, we kept our deal going till they wanted to be cheap and pay me $300 a month. We parted and they never cared to take their campaign down and keep paying money that has worst results now.

My rates for ppc are between 6-800 a month, If a business can spend 4-10ks a month on ppc, then they can pay my rate.

I learned very quickly that being cheap will get you going broke eventually. Clients will try to low-ball the rates and tons of consultants will play their game and settle on a rate that devalues their service.

Be firm on your rates and never settle and be low-balled, if they don't like it, then move on. There are tons of business out there, that blow their money away and get little or no results.

TheMagicShow · 23rd Jan 2010, 01:03 AM

Does anyone, have any info on how to get a client's business listed on google's local map? And How does one optimize for this?

TIA

David Neale · 23rd Jan 2010, 01:07 AM

http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...line-gold.html

This looks very good. USA clients only. Improving local search results in different countries uses different "authority citations" than the ones Mario uses in his report.

Other than that it looks like a good value.

BTW: no affiliation, haven't purchased, just watched both intro videos

Originally Posted by Magic Mel

Does anyone, have any info on how to get a client's business listed on google's local map? And How does one optimize for this?

TIA

thepolishlad · 23rd Jan 2010, 01:10 AM

Originally Posted by Magic Mel

Does anyone, have any info on how to get a client's business listed on google's local map? And How does one optimize for this?

TIA

Here's an excellent resource for optimizing Google Local listings:

davidmihm dot com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml

As for getting a client's business listed on Google Local, try this link:
google dot com/local/add/

(I can't post links until I hit 15 posts)

Tom

Derek Allen · 23rd Jan 2010, 01:23 AM

I want to start out by saying what an incredible thread this has turned out to be! With that said I figured there are enough pros in here that could hopefully give me some great advice... Please?

I am just getting started in my offline adventure and I have put together a package and a price to offer the package at. If you all would be so kind to let me know what you think of it, what I could add/takeaway, if the price is to high or to low, etc.. I am open to all suggestions and could use all the help I can get.

I will be offering video marketing services to local businesses in my area. I have a college kid that will be my videographer and he is really good. Also, he is only going to charge me $130.00 a shoot with editing. Anyway, here is the package I want to offer as well as the price:

-Keyword research for 5-10 local keywords.
-1 commercial style video.
-5 small slideshow type videos to funnel traffic to the main video and website.
-I will use tubemogul paid edition to blast all of their videos which will have keyword rich titles, descriptions, and tags.
-5 articles submitted to the top article directories linked to main video and website and to try to get some great rankings for the keyword.
-1 press release to be written and submitted to some free press release sites.
-I will also submit their business to the google local search if they are not already on it.
-Add the video to their site if they have one.
PRICE- $800 one time fee.

So, if you minus the $130 for the video that would leave me with $670.00 profit.

What do you guys think? Too expensive, too much? I would also like to have some sort of a package B where I can charge a monthly fee. Maybe host the video for them using viddler, make them some social network sites (facebook, twitter) and charge them to maintain this stuff for them.

I feel like I could charge more but I am not sure. I haven't tested it at all because I am still trying to get my cards in place but, I sure would love your comments, suggestion, and tips.

I want to thank you all in advance for your kindness!

JRG · 23rd Jan 2010, 01:34 AM

OK, I will try to keep the business generic meaning it could be any of the one's AP listed.

Here's what I would do.

Make sure that the company has a "Unique Selling Proposition" and see if it is a good one, if not develop one.
Do some onsite SEO, after researching proper keywords with owner and looking at his competition. I would dissect the sites that are top on Google in his market and see what they are doing right and wrong. Also finding out his defined market area. What cities zip codes etc does he service.
I would ad an autoresponder to his site and make sure that it has a well written series of at least 5-7 emails. Make sure there is a good enough offer for them to sign up.
Make sure that all important info on the site is above the fold. Make sure there is a call to action on every page. Testimonials, easy to contact and a good sales flow. If applicable setup a way to purchase through the site.
Get them listed in Google Local with every feature used, (hours, images, categories etc..) As well as Bing and Yahoo's local service.
Offsite SEO, horizontal directories, vertical directories, social bookmarking. I would also look at the businesses in his market that are on google local and click the "more info" link. Then look at all of the sites that Google is showing their site listed in. Then add the business to all of those same sites. (I have found that I can find good vertical directories this way) And of course check backlinks to the sites.
Video marketing. Make some small videos, nothing fancy and distribute.
Make sure that website is on receipts as well as all ads and through out the store or on t shirts of installers, trucks etc..
Articles and Press Releases not just about the service or product but about the owner
Setup Social Media sites (facebook, twitter etc) and Blog but only if owner is willing to keep it updated or pay to have it updated.
Set up a proper adwords campaign with keyword research and landing pages (after analyzing budget and making room for this)
See if there is a charity or special program that the business contributes to and make sure that it is highlighted on the site and in the articles and press releases
Find out if there is anything "green" about the service or product and highlight that as well (even though "global warming" is crap, it sells)
Review advertising budget, research industry standards, I know there are a few different ways to determine a proper advertising budget, I would see which one works best with particular industry
Review YP ad to see if they can be optimized for better ROI until contract is up.
Divert the spray and pray into some adwords campaigns and analyze what other advertising should be used
Teach the owner how to track his ads to calculate an ROI. Like using different phone numbers, or using coupon codes, or even just making sure to always ask how they heard of them
Review all copy in the ads to make sure that it converts and website is always listed.
Send out a mailer to all customers in the database with a call to action to get on the site and opt in. Setup 3 mailers to go out spaced about 10 days apart all reminding them to opt in for some special offer. Maybe use PURLS in the mailer and in future direct mail campaigns.
Review the 25% profit margin and again compare to industry standards. Look for ways to increase this number by maybe ordering products in bulk for better savings. Evaluate competitor prices.
Find out what upsells the business can offer and make sure those are incorporated into the sales process at all times.
How can the business sell to their customers more often? Are there more products or services they should be offering?
Develop a referral system to increase referrals
Establish the LTV of a customer and how much each lead is worth
Make sure that calls are answered by a live person and in the event that the caller reaches a voicemail it is a scripted message thanking them for calling and emphasizing how important the call is and that they will get back to them in a timely manner.
Train sales and service employees for better conversions
Create a system for following up with the customers, both those who have purchase and those who have not.
Train staff that answer the phone on how to do so. Establish the goal of the phone call. In most cases it is not to sell the customer but to get them in the door or to get you in their door. Make sure that they have a smile while on the phone. You can always sense when someone is smiling on the phone. Stay excited!
Make sure customers have something they can take home with them for easy remembrance to use them or refer them. For example a plumber can have stickers that he places on all pipes in the home during a free inspection. That way if a pipe breaks his sticker with his phone number is conveniently the first thing the customer sees.
Look for JV opportunities with similar service companies for shared advertising or referrals

The benefit of this plan is that it fully optimizes every step of the sales process. From advertising / marketing, to the sale and then retention. Everything is optimized for the highest ROI. With proper tracking we can see what is working and what is not. We can make sure that every dollar spent is giving the business a worthy return and those returns are not being wasted by improper phone handling or followup.

The best part about this plan is that it involves very few additional costs. This is mostly just optimizing tools that the business already has and getting rid of any waste that may be costing the business money.

In the rare event that these changes only end up increasing profits enough to just break even on my consulting costs, the steps that are put in place are for growth and as business grows so will the profits. And the only way to guarantee growth is to make sure that we have optimized every step. Not to mention when I am working for them I am not working for their competitors.

So, would you pay me $5,000 upfront and $1497 a month?

rrakausk · 23rd Jan 2010, 01:42 AM

Bloke named Chad Kimball offers a pretty good course on Google Maps too.
blog link here Google Maps FAQ (dominate for free!)

David Neale · 23rd Jan 2010, 01:52 AM

I've been selling Internet services since 1995 (yikes does that make me ancient?). If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't sell ANYTHING that did not also have a monthly or yearly fee attached. PERIOD!

Also, JR mentions on page SEO. Unless you know your stuff VERY well I'd steer clear here. This is the main thing that could cause a lawsuit... be careful touching anything they currently own unless you are a pro.

I would even recommend getting another domain as a landing page so you can do no harm to an existing asset.

Originally Posted by Deezy

I want to start out by saying what an incredible thread this has turned out to be! With that said I figured there are enough pros in here that could hopefully give me some great advice... Please?

I am just getting started in my offline adventure and I have put together a package and a price to offer the package at. If you all would be so kind to let me know what you think of it, what I could add/takeaway, if the price is to high or to low, etc.. I am open to all suggestions and could use all the help I can get.

I will be offering video marketing services to local businesses in my area. I have a college kid that will be my videographer and he is really good. Also, he is only going to charge me $130.00 a shoot with editing. Anyway, here is the package I want to offer as well as the price:

-Keyword research for 5-10 local keywords.
-1 commercial style video.
-5 small slideshow type videos to funnel traffic to the main video and website.
-I will use tubemogul paid edition to blast all of their videos which will have keyword rich titles, descriptions, and tags.
-5 articles submitted to the top article directories linked to main video and website and to try to get some great rankings for the keyword.
-1 press release to be written and submitted to some free press release sites.
-I will also submit their business to the google local search if they are not already on it.
-Add the video to their site if they have one.
PRICE- $800 one time fee.

So, if you minus the $130 for the video that would leave me with $670.00 profit.

What do you guys think? Too expensive, too much? I would also like to have some sort of a package B where I can charge a monthly fee. Maybe host the video for them using viddler, make them some social network sites (facebook, twitter) and charge them to maintain this stuff for them.

I feel like I could charge more but I am not sure. I haven't tested it at all because I am still trying to get my cards in place but, I sure would love your comments, suggestion, and tips.

I want to thank you all in advance for your kindness!

Derek Allen · 23rd Jan 2010, 02:07 AM

Originally Posted by David Neale

I've been selling Internet services since 1995 (yikes does that make me ancient?). If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't sell ANYTHING that did not also have a monthly or yearly fee attached. PERIOD!

Also, JR mentions on page SEO. Unless you know your stuff VERY well I'd steer clear here. This is the main thing that could cause a lawsuit... be careful touching anything they currently own unless you are a pro.

I would even recommend getting another domain as a landing page so you can do no harm to an existing asset.

Well I wouldn't be messing with their actual site if they have one or anything they own. I would just be adding more value for them and getting them more traffic and leads. Besides I am not good with the technical parts.

Thanks for the advice.

malia · 23rd Jan 2010, 02:48 AM

I just joined today (best $37 ever spent) and I've stayed up ridiculously late reading this thread. I'd like to participate in the challenge as someone who is NOT an internet marketer.

First thing I want to know is does the client give you a budget to spend on advertising/marketing, that is in addition to your fees? Or must you pay for everything from your fees?

Vagabond 007 · 23rd Jan 2010, 02:50 AM

Originally Posted by AP

Has 4 employees, spouse works part-time helping out.

If I understand you correctly, he has 4 employees PLUS his spouse? So 5 employees total? Or does the 4 include the spouse?

Who is all part time, just the spouse?

What do these employees do? Are any of them salesman? Are they behind the scenes? What do they do?

In this area (employees), you're leaving us in the dark with not letting us know what kind of business. Are potential customers calling the office to book an appointment/get service? Does the call get answered live? Do they have any free recorded messages? How many employees actually speak to customers?

Has he ever mentioned anything like "my employees won't do that"? In other words, the inmates are running the asylum.

How many steps in the sales process? What is the sales process...walk in, call in, 2 step, 3 step, something else??

For the most part, doesn't matter if it is a dentist or plumber or whatever. But at the same time, it does matter.

The employees need to be trained better. But how can I come up with a game plan to train them if I don't know their roles right now?

Brian Alaway · 23rd Jan 2010, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by Deezy

I want to start out by saying what an incredible thread this has turned out to be! With that said I figured there are enough pros in here that could hopefully give me some great advice... Please?

I am just getting started in my offline adventure and I have put together a package and a price to offer the package at. If you all would be so kind to let me know what you think of it, what I could add/takeaway, if the price is to high or to low, etc.. I am open to all suggestions and could use all the help I can get.

I will be offering video marketing services to local businesses in my area. I have a college kid that will be my videographer and he is really good. Also, he is only going to charge me $130.00 a shoot with editing. Anyway, here is the package I want to offer as well as the price:

-Keyword research for 5-10 local keywords.
-1 commercial style video.
-5 small slideshow type videos to funnel traffic to the main video and website.
-I will use tubemogul paid edition to blast all of their videos which will have keyword rich titles, descriptions, and tags.
-5 articles submitted to the top article directories linked to main video and website and to try to get some great rankings for the keyword.
-1 press release to be written and submitted to some free press release sites.
-I will also submit their business to the google local search if they are not already on it.
-Add the video to their site if they have one.
PRICE- $800 one time fee.

So, if you minus the $130 for the video that would leave me with $670.00 profit.

What do you guys think? Too expensive, too much? I would also like to have some sort of a package B where I can charge a monthly fee. Maybe host the video for them using viddler, make them some social network sites (facebook, twitter) and charge them to maintain this stuff for them.

I feel like I could charge more but I am not sure. I haven't tested it at all because I am still trying to get my cards in place but, I sure would love your comments, suggestion, and tips.

I want to thank you all in advance for your kindness!

Too cheap unless it's tied to a monthly recurring. How about doing the first one in return for a video testimonial only (monthly maintenance/optimization would trigger your recurring fee)? Analyze, refine and repeat.

Brian

ijohnson · 23rd Jan 2010, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by Deezy

(text deleted)

I will be offering video marketing services to local businesses in my area. I have a college kid that will be my videographer and he is really good. Also, he is only going to charge me $130.00 a shoot with editing. Anyway, here is the package I want to offer as well as the price:

-Keyword research for 5-10 local keywords.
-1 commercial style video.
-5 small slideshow type videos to funnel traffic to the main video and website.
-I will use tubemogul paid edition to blast all of their videos which will have keyword rich titles, descriptions, and tags.
-5 articles submitted to the top article directories linked to main video and website and to try to get some great rankings for the keyword.
-1 press release to be written and submitted to some free press release sites.
-I will also submit their business to the google local search if they are not already on it.
-Add the video to their site if they have one.
PRICE- $800 one time fee.

Deezy,

I'm not even in the game yet and, in my opinion, you're not charging enough for all the services you will be offering.

((David Neale)) recommends setting things up with monthly or recurring payments. I think that's a great idea. You can tailor your plan to provide these services over several or more months. As for what you could request for a set up and/or monthly fee, I'm not qualified to suggest it but you're in the right place and on the right thread to get all your questions answered.

Iris

ijohnson · 23rd Jan 2010, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by kaos

Great thread!
Seems to boil down to offering value, having sales skills and real knowledge of the market or business.
The posts show many want to get into this offline area but only a few seemed qualified.
When we hesitate about what price to charge a client or what services to offer it seems more like we have no idea what we are even doing.

Kaos,

I agree, wholeheartedly! That's why I love this thread so much and I'm eager to learn what I need to know to gain the confidence and the knowledge needed to add value to a client.

Where would the experienced offline consultants recommend a newbie start?
From your experience, what issues or problems have inexperienced offline consultants caused for their clients?
What WSO or experts should a newbie seek out to gain the knowledge required to be of value to an offline business?

Those are a few questions I have that will have the most impact on me applying this business model ASAP.

Iris

malia · 23rd Jan 2010, 11:40 AM

Service type (repeat biz) business: Dentist, Carpet cleaner, Pest Control, Plumber, HVAC, etc... Mom & Pop type biz

I've given this some thought and I'd like to jump in. I'm not "one of you guys" (maybe not yet) so go easy. Most of my stuff is based on what I see lacking with these types of businesses, locally. And I' going to try to not duplicate what others have written.

----IDENTITY-----
Most of them have really bad names like Keeble & Sons Commercial Plumbing. I would explore branding with a catchy name along the likes of 1-800-GOT-JUNK. I would register a memorable domain name (I know this would be taken, but like notermites.com) and memorable toll free number. Revise the corporate identity to incorporate all this. Not a name change, because a lot of times that's difficult, but layering a brand on top of what exists. People go to Cort, Roto Rooter, Orkin and 1-800-DENTIST just because they remember it.

If they have their biz info on their service vehicles, I would get them wrapped, or revise the artwork. I can't tell you how many times I've been behind or next to one and needed their services, but would have to hit their vehicle to read the number or website. Why do they make it so small?.

Would make sure someone was always answering the phone even if they needed to get an answering service. Would also make sure they had a brief basic website or faxable info sheet they could send in case no "technician" was available to talk. This would get me the info I need until someone called me back. Lots of times I just keep moving on because I want to find a company and make the service appointment, not wait for a call and forget.

Package price simple jobs. I once had to have my garage door repaired and ended up going with a very large company, with multiple locations, because they could tell me, over the phone, what the repair would cost (with caveats) vs everyone else wanting to see and quote and me not have any clue what I'm in for. They might have been more expensive than the competition, I'll never know. They took the uncertainty away and I went with them.

Would get them on a basic CRM system to manage their customer info and make sure they capture more contact information than they were previously. Train the staff to make sure the records are updated at each point of contact.

Use the CRM system to do campaigns to increase business such as:

Reminder cards for dental maintenance
Offer affordable annual inspections for pest, plumbing, HVAC (really important), etc.
Offer cleaning services at specific times of year (spring cleaning, before holidays, new year)
For those businesses that are on-site-service businesses, I would probably do some door drops instead of direct mail (we're used to it). I would make the piece a keeper, that they would need or want to have on hand when they make the appointment

I would offer stock educational materials that the client could private label and use as a direct mailer. I once had my windows done by a company because they would send a free guide to selecting the right dual pane windows. They positioned themselves as experts. An example is for HVAC- reduce your electricity bill with these simple tips...

Try to get local awards for the business.

Work on local PR, publicity, press releases to newspapers, etc..

Make sure the service technicians (for those businesses) wore branded apparel on all jobs.

Always leave the client w simple, branded, educational material after the job.

Always leave referral cards after the job and ask for it "If you like our work, please tell a few of your friends..." The guy who did my landscaping did that and sure enough, people knocked on the door to ask who did it. Luckily I had his cards because I didn't remember the company name (it was horrible).

Partner with complementary, non-competing businesses to cross market

Have a downloadable v-card on the website. This one is so simple for B2B, but rarely do I see it used.

troon · 23rd Jan 2010, 11:42 AM

Kaos,

Read this tread from the beginning. It answers all of your questions. Take notes, or better yet, use this free service to keep the thread on your PC:

PDFmyURL.com - Convert and save pdf from any webpage for free

IMHO, there has never been a better thread on the forum, including Offline Gold! You could literally start your offline biz from the gold in this thread. Read it, print it, highlight it, and build your biz plan!

ijohnson · 23rd Jan 2010, 11:59 AM

Dexx,

I really like your line of questioning. You ask probing questions that we should consider to get the most for our services and give the client what they need, too. You're a pro at what you do -- that's evident to me.

I would like to THANK YOU for starting this thread. I'm learning a lot from the questions you've posed and the answers you've given to other inquiries. I really like the way you and AP are passing that baton back and forth and running with it!!!! The momentum you guys are building is really getting a lot of us off the sideline and into the race.

Can't thank you guys enough!!!!

Iris

queenv · 23rd Jan 2010, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by Deezy

I want to start out by saying what an incredible thread this has turned out to be! With that said I figured there are enough pros in here that could hopefully give me some great advice... Please?

I am just getting started in my offline adventure and I have put together a package and a price to offer the package at. If you all would be so kind to let me know what you think of it, what I could add/takeaway, if the price is to high or to low, etc.. I am open to all suggestions and could use all the help I can get.

I will be offering video marketing services to local businesses in my area. I have a college kid that will be my videographer and he is really good. Also, he is only going to charge me $130.00 a shoot with editing. Anyway, here is the package I want to offer as well as the price:

-Keyword research for 5-10 local keywords.
-1 commercial style video.
-5 small slideshow type videos to funnel traffic to the main video and website.
-I will use tubemogul paid edition to blast all of their videos which will have keyword rich titles, descriptions, and tags.
-5 articles submitted to the top article directories linked to main video and website and to try to get some great rankings for the keyword.
-1 press release to be written and submitted to some free press release sites.
-I will also submit their business to the google local search if they are not already on it.
-Add the video to their site if they have one.
PRICE- $800 one time fee.

So, if you minus the $130 for the video that would leave me with $670.00 profit.

What do you guys think? Too expensive, too much? I would also like to have some sort of a package B where I can charge a monthly fee. Maybe host the video for them using viddler, make them some social network sites (facebook, twitter) and charge them to maintain this stuff for them.

I feel like I could charge more but I am not sure. I haven't tested it at all because I am still trying to get my cards in place but, I sure would love your comments, suggestion, and tips.

I want to thank you all in advance for your kindness!

You're not charging enough, this is way too low! Everything that you're doing with video is worth more than the $800 by itself.

Zach · 23rd Jan 2010, 12:08 PM

WOW, what a great thread!

I'm new to the offline world and just landed my first small project. My client owns a local florist and his business is way down like so many others. I've already done some basic SEO, added his site to all of the local map portals (Google, Yahoo, etc.) and optimized his listings. Also, just finished his first video and will be using TubeMogul for distribution.

One of his competitors just closed so I told him to buy his domain and I'll forward it to his domain. I also told him to buy his phone number and have it forwarded to his. And, of course, I told him to buy his competitors customer list. He was amazed at my suggestion and told me that this alone was worth the cost of my services. Seems like common sense to me but taught me a valuable lesson!

My fee was only $500 (remember, this is my FIRST client) and I haven't talked with him yet about monthly service which I know from reading this thread will be required. I know now that I charged way too little but hope I can make it up on the monthly service.
Now I'm trying to figure out what I'll offer for monthly services (this thread will help) and other marketing ideas I can propose.

I'm posting this because I want you guys, especially Dexx, AP and some others, to know how much this thread is worth. And, that I'm actually IMPLEMENTING the ideas posted here! Hopefully, I'll be able to contribute to this forum myself with some valuable input.

Spark · 23rd Jan 2010, 01:33 PM

Now i truly understand why even thought people are jumping into offline marketers. Yet there's always space for everyone..

Because each one has their own way of thinking in marketing!

As AP mention, he don't really need SEO to get the payment. Other can use Videos as their niche marketing angles. Some use Social Media Marketing.

Most important - You just need to know what you are doing that's all!

Will keep reading it to trigger more ideas.

P.S: For those that you feel that your worth is too little. Don't worry, just get a few clients first. Once things are getting good. - Charge double of what you charging. Those who value you will stay with you. Those who don't..Well you can get more clients since you are done so much for others! All you need is testimonial from them and you are good to go. Only by doing this will increase your value in lesser time rather than fearing of charging too little.

Hope this help! Cheers!

Oh yeah, one more thing.

The big different between us and marketer outside - We leverage the power of INTERNET.

22nd Jan 2010, 02:10 PM	#401
Buildingfutures Sean Sheehan - WF Troll War Room Member Join Date: 2008 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 803 Thanks: 146 Thanked 257 Times in 129 Posts Blog Entries: 2	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Well, here's what we'll do first sir. We're going to change your sign-in form that your customers fill out when they come in for their appointment. We're going to change it so that your customer can include an email address. If they ask your staff if its necessary, they'll reply with "You only have to if you want to know about great deals we are having. The [owner/doctor/plumber/etc] has some great options coming up, such as a [free teeth cleaning/coupons/give-aways/etc]. IF you put your email address you'll be able to receive the emails that we send out with these deals." Then, we're going to set up that database for the emails that you WILL be receiving from your forms. I can train your staff on how to add the information to this database, and I will also be there to write out the emails for the deals you run. We're also going to put an email capture process onto your website itself. This way, you can have your website on the reciept, and if for any reason they didn't give their email on the sign-in page, they can go to your site and still get on this list. They can also refer their friends, new customers, to the site and they can also get on this list. You will have hundreds of customers just waiting for that email from you talking about a new coupon or deal you are running. Next, we're going to spruce up your website. We're going to add a customer satisfaction page. We want your customers to rate you, tell you whats going on with THEM while they are waiting and being serviced. We're going to get both bad and good comments, I'm sure. But the bad ones are fantastic, they let us know how to improve what we are doing, right? I will also train your staff to ensure that the most common complaints are not placed on your website. Comments such as rude staff, not being greeted, etc. We're going to demolish those before they are even brought up. From there, we're going to get your site ranked onto the first page of Google, Yahoo, Bing, and MSN for keywords people could use to search for [dentists/doctors/plumbers/etc] of [city name here]. That way, your website shows up, people visit, and they too can know when good deals are coming up, because they'll want to give you their emails as well for these [coupons/sales/deals]. And this is what I would work on for you. My services will keep your site ranked well, will have you with a list of hundreds of new customers, not to mention the thousands of previous customers who DO COME BACK, and will be added to your list. I will also write the emails, create the banners, and make sure that your new [sale/coupon/idea] truly entices your customers to come back to you for another service. What's that sir? Why would you offer a free [teeth cleaning/roto-rooter/50% off sale/etc]? Simple. If they're getting something for cheaper than usual, or free, they're more likely to buy 2-3x that item. A mom who can get her one of her kids teeth cleaned for free will bring in the rest of her kids to get cleaned also, or she and the father will get their teeth cleaned as well, knowing they're getting one free. Any other questions sir? Or can I count on your business today? -Sean
	Simple Mission Statement "Under the Radar and Over the Top!" Sean's Guide To The Forum Thoughts of a 22 Year Old Marketer

22nd Jan 2010, 03:54 PM	#406
ijohnson Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Posts: 499 Thanks: 344 Thanked 150 Times in 126 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Hey, AP!!! You got it . . . I accept your challenge!!! Even though I have limited professional sales and marketing experience, I'm willing to give this a try. This will be a great way to sharpen my skills. I'll be back with you guys shortly. Iris

22nd Jan 2010, 04:14 PM	#407
Cryp Active Warrior Join Date: 2009 Location: South-Africa Posts: 79 Thanks: 18 Thanked 14 Times in 11 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Here is what I would do: 1) Cut all YP advertising 2) Forget about SEO and all that jumbo, theres not alot of searches for example: dentist + city (not in my country anyways, most of the time there are no searches for a proffesion + city) 3) Create a basic website 5 pages, but make it with joomla (high perceived value) 4) Autoresponder (money well spent; you know what to do) 5) Facebook! Create a fan page for his website and tell every single employee to become a fan, this is a great little viral marketing tool. Host annual "birthday" and year in events for networking and let him and his employees invite all of their friends on fb to the events. 6) Focus on the top 10% customers with the highest LTV, let the secretaries write to them on their birthday, christmas and new year. Be extra special to them and go out of your way with that top 10% spending customers. Most of them are high value people with executive jobs and lots of friends, get them on your side and turn them into "raving customers" (You know that Frank Kern bit) 7) JV with a beauty salon, people who get regular facials would probably be interested in getting their teeth whitened. Offer the beauty salon a healthy commission. But the best way to go about this is to just start sending some of the dentists clients over to the beauty salon. Soon that business owner will love you and viola, he does the same for the dentist. One hand washes the other. There is probably loads more you can do, but now that I look at it, justifying these high fees seem EASY!

22nd Jan 2010, 04:24 PM	#408
troon HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 181 Thanks: 14 Thanked 53 Times in 30 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: AP: Not feeling well today so I'll just mention two quick things; 1. The 2,000 customer list is gold. I'll prepare a direct mail piece to reactivate dormant customers. The piece will include a special offer just for being a "past customer". It will drive them to a web page which details the offer. They will be required to enter their email addr. and name. Autoresponder will send them the offer immediately. Now we're starting to build their email list and along with the other on-site methods already mentioned here the list will grow quickly. 2. We will do a series of videos to promote your biz and help with rankings. These videos will be distributed heavily on the Internet and include a strong call to action. I will teach your employee(s) how to use a simple video camera to record customer testimonials and we will prepare "how to" videos to help engage your prospects and increase conversions. We will distribute them and add them to your website. All for now. More later.

22nd Jan 2010, 04:42 PM	#410
ijohnson Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Posts: 499 Thanks: 344 Thanked 150 Times in 126 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Okay, I've got about 5 minutes to type this! I would do the following: I would analyze the Marketing Questionnaire (full of qualifying questions) that I had Mr. BusinessOwner complete so I can see where the problem(s) are and offer a solution; I would pull out my laptop and conduct a search on Google (right before Mr. BusinessOwner) using the Google Adwords Keyword Tool so I can pull some data and show him what he's missing; I would recommend that he cut his spending on Yellow Page ads in half, yes cut it 50%; I would recommend that he cut his direct marketing budget in half (spending only 10% of budget); I would take his current database and optimize it to get the most out of it to increase traffic into the storefront and online by a projected 50%; I would draw a mindmap of the system I would recommend on my trusted legal pad as a visual of what I would recommend to solve his problems and meet his goals. Benefits: More sales and revenue (or breakeven, at the very least) A more efficiently operated and managed business More time for Mr. BusinessOwner to spend with his family Less stress for Mr. BusinessOwner Well, that's all I can think of right now. I've got to run but I will be back shortly to see what everyone else comes up with. This is real stimulating fun!!!! Iris

22nd Jan 2010, 05:30 PM	#411
SpyGuy "aka" Andrew Douglas War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 97 Thanks: 78 Thanked 35 Times in 25 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Im new to this game but.... I will give it a try if AP promises not to hold back! ..... 1) Show cust stats proving the Internet is the NEW Yellow Pages - unless you are online, people wont find you because they dont search via YP anymore, they use Google, Yahoo, Bing. Times are a changing. 2) Do a Google search (customer is watching) for keyword terms where I know their competition will show but, they wont. Showing them "why people cant find them". I will also add that it seems their competition has had "some" optimization but.. that I can see many things they "ARE NOT DOING" that I can do for them which will blow them out of the water. 3) Give a brief history on how 99% of biz's online and offline fail because they dont select and optimize with the proper keyword terms, buyer ready keywords etc. (may throw in a comment on how the SEO co's use this to rip off their customers because they dont know any better) 4) Will fill the client with "hope" (no guarantee) that not only will I get them into the Search Engines so people find them but.. I will also get them multiple listings for multiple keywords and spread their name all over the net to the point that by the end of the year... anyone searching for their services will know their name and what the do. 5) Would ask them what they are doing with their contact list. Then dazzle them with a few ways on how they can monetize that and skyrocket their revenues. 6) Would discuss the history of advertising / marketing / copy and how important it is ..... and how this is virtually ignored and is the main reason why biz's fail and dont reach their financial goals. 7) Would give a few examples of how a simple "promo" via email, you tube video, in-store special or direct mailing - "dont right" can create a whirlwind of business. 8) Would look at the clients site and point out a few mistakes that "arent their fault" because they were either scammed by a greedy SEO company or like 98% of web site owners.. were never informed. 9) Would tell them how my last client made almost "identical" mistakes and with some tweaking and maintenance.. they are seeing a huge ROI after only 6 months. 10) Would finalize by advising that it's 2010 - Sink or Swim. Either you are on the net and your customers can find you..... or you are stuck in the deserted land of the printed advertisement with very little ROI. - Would tell them to go and read my published book on the subject. You can find it on Amazon.com. * I would also ask many questions durring the meeting. I do this to get the client talking about themselves (they love to talk about themselves and show how much they know about nothing) and to gather information so that I can pin-point the best services for them and what will mean the most to their specific goals. * The Benefits: Rather than 1 ad on YP that doesnt convert well, you will now have dozens of ad's on the NEW YP - we now call the Internet. This means people looking for what you are selling WILL FIND YOU and BUY FROM YOU. Using our customer friendly marketing techniques, you will be building long lasting relationships and increasing your repeat visitors and ref's. YOu will create an Online Pressence that has the Real Estate Value of the best street location you can think of. ex. Page 1 on Google is like having your store in the heart of "Rodeo Drive" etc. If you "ACT NOW" and dont delay, you will be able to get a leg up on your competition and leave them in the dust. But... wait and it will be your competitors that leave you in the dust. As well, it will be twice as hard to get the positioning a year from now than it is today. This is just because so many biz's are realizing just how powerful the Internet is. And remember, there are only 10 spots on the front page and based on my initial analysis,, I could probably get you up their if you wanted me to. Each day you wait means .... each day you are losing customers that are looking for your services. **************** How did I do AP ? Dont hold back... I wanna learn as much as I can. Your input is greatly appreciated.

22nd Jan 2010, 07:35 PM	#414
queenv New Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: Atlanta, GA USA. Posts: 26 Thanks: 13 Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Here's what I would do... 1. I would do a conversion analysis of Mr. Business owner's website and add an opt-in form integrated with an autoreponder system to Mr. Business Owner's website and explain to him how following up with his current customers will turn them into repeat buyers, and how following up with prospects will turn them into customers. If Mr. Business Owner doesn't have a picture/video on his website I would suggest that either or both be added. Adding a picture would be included in the $4,997 price, but a video would cost more (the cost would depend on whether it's a youtube video - or video from another video sharing site, or if it's a flash video that I would need to upload to his server). People are visual, but for some reason most business websites do not include pictures or videos. Adding these elements will increase conversions and set the business apart from their competition that has a plain boring website full of nothing but words. 2. Completely cut out the yellow page ads. I would ask the business owner a question such as "if you wanted to take your wife/girlfriend/family out to dinner and you heard about a particular restaurant and wanted to know what others think about it, where would you go to find that information?" or something like, "if you wanted to buy a new (whatever) where would you go to learn more about it and find out who has the best deal? More than likely Mr. business owner would say "the internet" or "I'd google it". I would explain to the business owner that most people do not waste time flipping through the yellow pages like it's the 1980's, when they can easily search for anything online. Those potential customers who have a certain level of respect for the yellow pages would go to yellowpages.com. This brings me to #3... 3. I would list Mr. Business Owners business in local online business directories such as yellowpages.com, merchantcircle.com citysearch.com, yelp.com (for the reviews) etc. 4. I would create postcards to send out to the 2,000 people on his list and have the postcard give them a reason why they should visit his website so that they can sign up to receive exclusive offers (coupons, etc.) only available to his VIP email list. I would make a suggestion to Mr. Business owner to have a "Tell us How We're Doing" type of link added to his site that leads to his Yelp profile so that his customers can submit reviews which would help with his online credibility. 5. I would explain how online credibility is very important and there's more to having an online presence than just having a website. Having a website is a piece of a much larger puzzle. The fact that Mr. Business Owner has a website that is ranked high in Google for certain keywords is great (one less thing that I have to worry about), but so does others in his industry. I would explain to him that he has to separate himself for everyone else who is on the first page of google for that particular keyword phrase. When a prospect visits his website after finding him in google, the very next thing they will do is search for him and/or his business by name. If his competition has articles, social media profiles, etc. all over the internet as well as being on the first page of google, they are the ones who will get all the business. A business has to brand themselves online as a leader in their industry and just having a website is not going to cut it. 6. I would create articles related to Mr. Business Owners industry and submit them to the top article directories. In my opinion this is the best way for a business to establish credibility, and be found in the search engines for their name as well as for certain keywords. I would start of with 2 initial articles, then create and submit 1 article each month. I would also create profiles at the top 5 article directories (complete with business bio and links to websites/social networks). These profiles are very important because they are easily found in google when you search for a person's name or a business by name. Too many internet marketers just focus on article submission and are missing out on branding by not completing the whole profile. 7. I would create a press release for the business and distribute to various press release sites. 8. I would create a Google Local business profile 9. I would create a Twitter Profile (only if the business owner is interested in having someone tweet from time to time), a Facebook Fan page, and a Linkedin profile. 10. I would explain the power of video and suggest that I create a video for the business owner and submit it to various video sharing sites. If they take me up on this suggestion, I would create a complete profile at youtube (instead of just submitting to it like I would do with the other video sharing sites). The reason why I say that I would suggest video marketing is because $4,997 would be too low of a price to include video marketing into this package. 11. The monthly $1,497 would consist of article creation and submission (as mentioned above), managing email campaigns, press releases, video creation and submission, social bookmarking, and directory submissions (deep links). I would explain to the business owners that his website will not stay on top forever - off page optimization has to be done each month. Backlinks are a must. The articles, videos, and press releases will take care of more backlinks leading to the home page; therfore, I would do some deep linking with the social bookmarking sites and directories. Everything listed here in #11 would not be done each and every month because video marketing alone is really worth the $1497 by itself. I probably would alternate the video marketing and article marketing or press releases. Whatever I alternate, one thing is for sure, link building in some way is a must every single month if he wants his site to stay on the first page of results and of course I will manage the email campaigns (if the business owner doesn't want one of his employees to do it). Overall I would explain how dominating the first page with just a simple link to a website is nothing compared to also dominating with a link to articles, press releases, videos, etc. I would tell the business owner that I don't believe in "ads" because ads are temporary...I believe in syndicating content. I would explain how content submitted online (such as articles and press releases) don't have an expiration like a yellow page ad. Once you submit it, it is there for years to come. This is one of the reasons why I don't do PPC for businesses - it's just not necessary.

22nd Jan 2010, 08:04 PM	#415
rrakausk Active Warrior Join Date: 2005 Location: Gold Coast, Queensland , Australia. Posts: 32 Thanks: 82 Thanked 28 Times in 19 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: " The Value of Print Yellow Pages While a majority of consumer search behavior has shifted toward the use of interactive resources, print Yellow Pages and other offline directories are still referenced in the consumer purchase process, proving that offline media still has reach and possesses lead-generation benefits. And the high demand for online Yellow Pages information reveals that consumers still use the Yellow Pages, just in different ways. When coupled with IYP, the Yellow Pages are an effective cross-channel source of local business information. In fact, 30 percent of consumers who first use IYP still turn to print directories as additional resources in their searches. " This was lifted from ths study here -- TMP Directional Marketing Study Reveals Local Search Changing with Interactive Media, Indicates Consumer Search Behavior and Media Usage Trends However, my experience with canny business owners is they will no longer pay for Yellow Pages adverts, just the default (cheap or free) listing so they can appear in the online version. They quickly see their full page advert is a waste of money if it reaches only 30% of potential buyers.
	Dominate the front page of Google and local search, then explode conversion rates with multivariate testing ... http://seoprofitengineers.com Spend your ill-gotten gains on a real adventure ... http://livehistorytours.com

22nd Jan 2010, 08:41 PM	#416
dave stahly Active Warrior Join Date: 2008 Posts: 63 Thanks: 22 Thanked 6 Times in 5 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Offer to put your client on your city portal without charge for as long as he is your client. Even offer to allow him to be the only business in that category on your city portal, depending of course, on how your portal is structured and what type of client you are targeting. dave

22nd Jan 2010, 09:17 PM	#417
TheMagicShow Success Is No Illusion! War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 857 Thanks: 40 Thanked 98 Times in 68 Posts Blog Entries: 1	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: All I can say is W-O-W! Dexx, Ap and rest you people rock! I just finished reading every single post from this powerful thread and all of them have been gems. I was offline before online and then shifted online and I am again shifting offline. I had this client who had a medical business and was charging him $800 per month for his ppc campaigns. He was being quoted $4,000 for his ppc and $4,000 for his seo. There are lots of sharks running wild offline, these people are taking such advantages of these clients. I have another client that had his ppc setup down by a very popular company, that is heavily advertised and their upfront charge was $2900 and a $700 monthly. Let me just tell you people that this client's ppc campaign had not a single negative keyword and all of the keywords were broad match types and the money was being flushed down the toilet big time. There is a lot money to be made in the offline world, I visited my gastro doc a few weeks back and he asked what i did. I told him, I was a marketing consultant and I plan on giving him (just him), a free setup and a comprehensive package. He has tons of friends that make millions a year, so it is my lead generator to do this just for this one gastro. I will say this much, if you are not willing to charge good money for your services, then you can bet your bottom dollar that, huge firms will charge them and their results will be horrible (most have been from what I have seen). YP is old and outdated, yes some still get some good results, but the results are never tracked and the roi is never determined from yp advertising. This thread is just amazing and made me want to go after even more clients. I will say this much, Dan Kennedy is a genius and all his stuff is solid. invest into some of his offline packages and just see how much it can UP your business bottomline. Hope all have success! P.S- I have probably printed 20-30 pages of notes from this thread, AP- is the man, lets appreciate his golden gems and not jump at him just because he offers such valuable information for free. This forum has chased away lots of brilliant minds, let's keep him....lol
	" You can either give a man a fish and feed him for a day OR teach him how to catch a fish and it will feed him for a lifetime"

22nd Jan 2010, 09:26 PM	#418
ijohnson Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Posts: 499 Thanks: 344 Thanked 150 Times in 126 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: AP, Another thing I see, based on your scenario and your responses to ((Vagabond 007's)) questions, is a desperate need to set up a tracking system. Mr. BusinessOwner doesn't appear to track much, if anything, in this business. He appears to be a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of guy. Being lax about real numbers and failing to track performance on different levels appears to be a common trait with a lot of offline/brick-n-mortar businesses. It's appears that the average business owner doesn't realize the importance of having good tracking systems in place until they come online. Online, they find that practically everything is measured or based on metrics and you really can't determine the success of your online presence without having some tracking systems in place and an aptitude for analyzing the data collected that directly pertains to the operation of their business. Iris

22nd Jan 2010, 09:29 PM	#420
topskyca Eric Chen War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Toronto, ON Posts: 120 Thanks: 10 Thanked 12 Times in 7 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Let me throw in some ideas (really like this post - a pure gem): 1. Google ranking - show the owner the monthly searches pulled from google external keyword tool. depends on the business, some may have 5000 searches a month, some may have 15,000 a month. ask the business owner would like 30%-50% of the searches come to your site every month? right now you are not getting much as you are your site is one page 3. educate the business owner those are potential buyers. you can get these buyers without spending much dollars. If in the next 30 days you can get x,xxx more visitors to your site, we can make 10% of these people become a prospect by capturing their contact information, thats xxx's of new prosects you don't have before. Then with our follow up system, we can convert 30% of the prospect to immediate buyers, another 10%-20% to future buyers, that's xx's of new sales coming from very little effort on your end, and zero cost in increased advertising (sure, we are not factoring my fee yet.). If each new client is worth x,xxx lifetime, that's xxx,xxx increased business. Would this be nice? 2. Yellow Page Advertising - here is what I will do: I will rewrite your whole yellow page ad. I believe most people without marketing background will throw up a branding style ads there and if paying $40,000 a year thats for sure a full page ads. Lets keep full page ads, because "size does matter". If you have been doing it in the past, thats a sign you should keep getting customers from this channel. But lets do differently. We will work out a direct response ads. We will add a tracking system to your yellow pages ads. We either get people call your sales line, call a voicemail, or direct them to a website, whatever we do, we want to MEASURE how effective the YP ad is. Educate the client that his ad is flying blind. Branding style won't be effective unless you can prove it. Now lets throw some experience numbers: if you have got xx sales a month from your yellow page ads - I know you don't know, but lets assume, with our new ad, new offer, new tracking, new sales funnel, we can at least increase your sales by 30% - very conservatively speaking - I wouldn't say double your sales. Its too bold. Give him the hope, but start slow. 30% is fairly easy to acheive, if you do better than 30%, you become a hero. Now, with 30% increase in yellow page yield, without double your YP ad space, we get more sales, how does this sound to you? Wait a minute, did we miss something? Internet marketers tend to forget that yellow page books can't be changed instantly, its published yearly. Well, our assumption can only be based on the renewal point of the yellow page ads. Well, if its not at the renewal point, we can only make changes to yellow page online listings - what I will suggest you to do is negotiate some extra deals with your YP salespeople. They will throw in some extras by giving you more exposure online. Now, we can better your online YP exposure too. Similar to what we have done in step one with your website, you can fully maximize your YP online listings by write better ads, giving offers, get more clicks, more phone calls. Although I hate to do numbers, but I have to use number again. Lets assume previously you have 100 visitors a month from YP - online (this should be pretty average), then after we make some deals with YP rep, we can double the exposure, then we can improve our ad copy, call to action, offer etc. now we can get 200-300 visitors to our site, with a dedicated page built for YP visitors, we can get 30% more buyers, how does this sound to you? One thing about negotiating online listings with YP rep is you have the leverage of spending $40k a year with them, they dont' want to lose you, you can also tell them you are going to move the money to google adwords if they dont' give you good deals. If the rep is smart, he will give you (remember, everything is negotiable in business world.) Now, with the increased online exposure, we can test the online potential too (I am still talking about at the non-renewal point). We didn't cut the YP advertising as a waste, we just make it work many times better. Hey, 80% of his advertising is on YP, i don't believe YP doesnt work for him. (Of course, another approach is so tempting too: is move this budget over to adwords PPC etc. but I would go with the first approcah because we can afford one more year to test how YP works and measure its results.) 3. No more spray and pray, lets track everything. For every mail piece goes out, we want to see what ROI we get. For every billboard you run, - if you have to run - we want to see what dollars it brings in. 4. For your past clients, lets do a series of direct mail campaign. Lets bring back 10% of them for repeat business, thats an instant increase in sales. Lets get them refer 10% more clients to you, thats another 10% increase in sales. 5. Lets build an up-sell system. I don't know what business it is, but we can upsell. How much extra will you be making? I will build a system to help you sell more. Sorry I was off track onto 100% offline (I deleted some offline stuff I just wrote), I think the goal is to use IM. I won't talk about SEO, autoresponder yet, just coin it as a sales funnel or sales system to the business owner. The bottom line is to AUTOMATICALLY get more visitors, AUTOMATICALLY convert them to buyers, all of this is measurable, trackable. Now, with the increased profit, do you think its worth $23000 investment?
	Watch How I Make $81,000 in 39 Days with My "CPA Magic Bullet System"

22nd Jan 2010, 10:07 PM	#422
Dexx Offline Consultant War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 1,918 Thanks: 674 Thanked 664 Times in 334 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Awesome, you did verify they were being ripped off, way to go! Not to mention the goodwill and trust you built with the client by showing them how they were being taken advantage, and then providing a solution that brought results...a double whammy! =)

22nd Jan 2010, 10:22 PM	#423
Tsarina Make Sites that Rule Web War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: online Posts: 217 Thanks: 70 Thanked 24 Times in 20 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: AP, can you answer please Do I have 5-10 minutes? (assuming I'm entertaining enough) Do we know anything about LTV of the client? ( usually known)
	Dream like you will live forever, live like you will die tomorrow NEEDED: virtual assistant (VA)

23rd Jan 2010, 12:20 AM	#427
Dexx Offline Consultant War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 1,918 Thanks: 674 Thanked 664 Times in 334 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Hey Mel, When you say you charge $800 for PPC, does that mean they give you a $800 budget to do PPC for them with? (and also gave that other company $4,000 to use on PPC) If so, how do you base your fees around that? Do you take out 10 - 15% of that $800 as your fees and then promote them on PPC with the rest? How do you show your results / ROI to the client? Is it based on people signing up to a form or something as leads?

23rd Jan 2010, 12:47 AM	#429
slvrsrfr Peaceful Jedi Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Canada Posts: 108 Thanks: 154 Thanked 31 Times in 18 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: AP, thank you very much for your kind and generous sharing of the obviously terrific knowledge you're sharing. I'm breaking into the offline market now, have been for a few months. So this is a great opportunity or test case to try. Based on the information you've shared with us so far about this client here's what I would do. Spend a full day with him understanding his business. I'd watch how everyone interacts. His 5 employees and the customers he has. I'd talk privately to his customers and employees about their hopes and opinions on how the business could be improved. I'd look at the overall processes that are in place for tracking and invoicing clients as well as payroll issues. If he's not sure of a lot of his metrics, I'm pretty sure that there is fat in how he's organized financially in collecting from his clients and how he perhaps pays his/her people. I'm certain I could find ways for him to cut his hard costs, like his utilities and perhaps even banking fees. Everything would be looked over with a keen eye. Perhaps there is better software to help him run his business. How does he/she treat their clients and how do front line staff interact. How are the phones answered how are emails responded too. How do they deal with difficult clients. Are they using receipts and invoices to carry direct marketing messages. Are his prices reasonable, can he increase prices but add greater value, guarantees or customer satisfaction. What about the office or business space that he is using. Can it be better utilized, expanded or downgraded. Are there other businesses nearby with which he can offer partnerships. Next I'd take a look at her online presence. A page 3 website is terrific and something that could quite quickly and easily be improved upon. Article writing, Google local listings with coupons, pics and vids. Vertical directories that can be added to the mix. Press releases to get things going. Email list management and email capture would be important. Not only online but offline too. Offer an incentive on receipts, invoices etc to join the email list. Set up a new customer satisfaction questionnaire and grab more info that way. Web site optimisation, adding a personal feel to it. Perhaps a Twitter account would be valuable to her. She could offer the occasional limited deep discount good for only 24 hours as a tweet or something like that. I'd set up a direct marketing campaign to the list of 2000 with a very strong incentive to bring them back into the fold. I'd coach him and his staff on how to invigorate customer relationships and think about the value she or they could offer their clients. Of course tracking of the important metrics in her business would be crucial. Especially LTV of her customers and how often they visit or purchase the product or service. These are some of the things I'd cast my mind too when evaluating his or her business. Great exercise thanks. Cheers, Jason
	What would you do IF you could do it? After twelve years of therapy my psychiatrist said something that brought tears to my eyes. He said, "No hablo ingles."

23rd Jan 2010, 12:56 AM	#430
alfondores123 Warrior Member Join Date: 2009 Posts: 5 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: very interesting reading your posts. but most of the starters rarely apply seo techniques that you describe in your posting.
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23rd Jan 2010, 01:03 AM	#432
TheMagicShow Success Is No Illusion! War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 857 Thanks: 40 Thanked 98 Times in 68 Posts Blog Entries: 1	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Does anyone, have any info on how to get a client's business listed on google's local map? And How does one optimize for this? TIA
	" You can either give a man a fish and feed him for a day OR teach him how to catch a fish and it will feed him for a lifetime"

23rd Jan 2010, 01:23 AM	#435
Derek Allen Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: USA Posts: 880 Thanks: 597 Thanked 343 Times in 123 Posts Blog Entries: 1	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: I want to start out by saying what an incredible thread this has turned out to be! With that said I figured there are enough pros in here that could hopefully give me some great advice... Please? I am just getting started in my offline adventure and I have put together a package and a price to offer the package at. If you all would be so kind to let me know what you think of it, what I could add/takeaway, if the price is to high or to low, etc.. I am open to all suggestions and could use all the help I can get. I will be offering video marketing services to local businesses in my area. I have a college kid that will be my videographer and he is really good. Also, he is only going to charge me $130.00 a shoot with editing. Anyway, here is the package I want to offer as well as the price: -Keyword research for 5-10 local keywords. -1 commercial style video. -5 small slideshow type videos to funnel traffic to the main video and website. -I will use tubemogul paid edition to blast all of their videos which will have keyword rich titles, descriptions, and tags. -5 articles submitted to the top article directories linked to main video and website and to try to get some great rankings for the keyword. -1 press release to be written and submitted to some free press release sites. -I will also submit their business to the google local search if they are not already on it. -Add the video to their site if they have one. PRICE- $800 one time fee. So, if you minus the $130 for the video that would leave me with $670.00 profit. What do you guys think? Too expensive, too much? I would also like to have some sort of a package B where I can charge a monthly fee. Maybe host the video for them using viddler, make them some social network sites (facebook, twitter) and charge them to maintain this stuff for them. I feel like I could charge more but I am not sure. I haven't tested it at all because I am still trying to get my cards in place but, I sure would love your comments, suggestion, and tips. I want to thank you all in advance for your kindness!

23rd Jan 2010, 01:34 AM	#436
JRG Who me? War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 148 Thanks: 78 Thanked 77 Times in 31 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: OK, I will try to keep the business generic meaning it could be any of the one's AP listed. Here's what I would do. Make sure that the company has a "Unique Selling Proposition" and see if it is a good one, if not develop one. Do some onsite SEO, after researching proper keywords with owner and looking at his competition. I would dissect the sites that are top on Google in his market and see what they are doing right and wrong. Also finding out his defined market area. What cities zip codes etc does he service. I would ad an autoresponder to his site and make sure that it has a well written series of at least 5-7 emails. Make sure there is a good enough offer for them to sign up. Make sure that all important info on the site is above the fold. Make sure there is a call to action on every page. Testimonials, easy to contact and a good sales flow. If applicable setup a way to purchase through the site. Get them listed in Google Local with every feature used, (hours, images, categories etc..) As well as Bing and Yahoo's local service. Offsite SEO, horizontal directories, vertical directories, social bookmarking. I would also look at the businesses in his market that are on google local and click the "more info" link. Then look at all of the sites that Google is showing their site listed in. Then add the business to all of those same sites. (I have found that I can find good vertical directories this way) And of course check backlinks to the sites. Video marketing. Make some small videos, nothing fancy and distribute. Make sure that website is on receipts as well as all ads and through out the store or on t shirts of installers, trucks etc.. Articles and Press Releases not just about the service or product but about the owner Setup Social Media sites (facebook, twitter etc) and Blog but only if owner is willing to keep it updated or pay to have it updated. Set up a proper adwords campaign with keyword research and landing pages (after analyzing budget and making room for this) See if there is a charity or special program that the business contributes to and make sure that it is highlighted on the site and in the articles and press releases Find out if there is anything "green" about the service or product and highlight that as well (even though "global warming" is crap, it sells) Review advertising budget, research industry standards, I know there are a few different ways to determine a proper advertising budget, I would see which one works best with particular industry Review YP ad to see if they can be optimized for better ROI until contract is up. Divert the spray and pray into some adwords campaigns and analyze what other advertising should be used Teach the owner how to track his ads to calculate an ROI. Like using different phone numbers, or using coupon codes, or even just making sure to always ask how they heard of them Review all copy in the ads to make sure that it converts and website is always listed. Send out a mailer to all customers in the database with a call to action to get on the site and opt in. Setup 3 mailers to go out spaced about 10 days apart all reminding them to opt in for some special offer. Maybe use PURLS in the mailer and in future direct mail campaigns. Review the 25% profit margin and again compare to industry standards. Look for ways to increase this number by maybe ordering products in bulk for better savings. Evaluate competitor prices. Find out what upsells the business can offer and make sure those are incorporated into the sales process at all times. How can the business sell to their customers more often? Are there more products or services they should be offering? Develop a referral system to increase referrals Establish the LTV of a customer and how much each lead is worth Make sure that calls are answered by a live person and in the event that the caller reaches a voicemail it is a scripted message thanking them for calling and emphasizing how important the call is and that they will get back to them in a timely manner. Train sales and service employees for better conversions Create a system for following up with the customers, both those who have purchase and those who have not. Train staff that answer the phone on how to do so. Establish the goal of the phone call. In most cases it is not to sell the customer but to get them in the door or to get you in their door. Make sure that they have a smile while on the phone. You can always sense when someone is smiling on the phone. Stay excited! Make sure customers have something they can take home with them for easy remembrance to use them or refer them. For example a plumber can have stickers that he places on all pipes in the home during a free inspection. That way if a pipe breaks his sticker with his phone number is conveniently the first thing the customer sees. Look for JV opportunities with similar service companies for shared advertising or referrals The benefit of this plan is that it fully optimizes every step of the sales process. From advertising / marketing, to the sale and then retention. Everything is optimized for the highest ROI. With proper tracking we can see what is working and what is not. We can make sure that every dollar spent is giving the business a worthy return and those returns are not being wasted by improper phone handling or followup. The best part about this plan is that it involves very few additional costs. This is mostly just optimizing tools that the business already has and getting rid of any waste that may be costing the business money. In the rare event that these changes only end up increasing profits enough to just break even on my consulting costs, the steps that are put in place are for growth and as business grows so will the profits. And the only way to guarantee growth is to make sure that we have optimized every step. Not to mention when I am working for them I am not working for their competitors. So, would you pay me $5,000 upfront and $1497 a month?

23rd Jan 2010, 01:42 AM	#437
rrakausk Active Warrior Join Date: 2005 Location: Gold Coast, Queensland , Australia. Posts: 32 Thanks: 82 Thanked 28 Times in 19 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Bloke named Chad Kimball offers a pretty good course on Google Maps too. blog link here Google Maps FAQ (dominate for free!)
	Dominate the front page of Google and local search, then explode conversion rates with multivariate testing ... http://seoprofitengineers.com Spend your ill-gotten gains on a real adventure ... http://livehistorytours.com

23rd Jan 2010, 02:48 AM	#440
malia HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2010 Posts: 241 Thanks: 13 Thanked 104 Times in 58 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: I just joined today (best $37 ever spent) and I've stayed up ridiculously late reading this thread. I'd like to participate in the challenge as someone who is NOT an internet marketer. First thing I want to know is does the client give you a budget to spend on advertising/marketing, that is in addition to your fees? Or must you pay for everything from your fees?

23rd Jan 2010, 11:42 AM	#446
troon HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 181 Thanks: 14 Thanked 53 Times in 30 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Kaos, Read this tread from the beginning. It answers all of your questions. Take notes, or better yet, use this free service to keep the thread on your PC: PDFmyURL.com - Convert and save pdf from any webpage for free IMHO, there has never been a better thread on the forum, including Offline Gold! You could literally start your offline biz from the gold in this thread. Read it, print it, highlight it, and build your biz plan!

23rd Jan 2010, 11:59 AM	#447
ijohnson Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Posts: 499 Thanks: 344 Thanked 150 Times in 126 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Dexx, I really like your line of questioning. You ask probing questions that we should consider to get the most for our services and give the client what they need, too. You're a pro at what you do -- that's evident to me. I would like to THANK YOU for starting this thread. I'm learning a lot from the questions you've posed and the answers you've given to other inquiries. I really like the way you and AP are passing that baton back and forth and running with it!!!! The momentum you guys are building is really getting a lot of us off the sideline and into the race. Can't thank you guys enough!!!! Iris

23rd Jan 2010, 12:08 PM	#449
Zach HyperActive Warrior Join Date: 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 150 Thanks: 9 Thanked 47 Times in 26 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: WOW, what a great thread! I'm new to the offline world and just landed my first small project. My client owns a local florist and his business is way down like so many others. I've already done some basic SEO, added his site to all of the local map portals (Google, Yahoo, etc.) and optimized his listings. Also, just finished his first video and will be using TubeMogul for distribution. One of his competitors just closed so I told him to buy his domain and I'll forward it to his domain. I also told him to buy his phone number and have it forwarded to his. And, of course, I told him to buy his competitors customer list. He was amazed at my suggestion and told me that this alone was worth the cost of my services. Seems like common sense to me but taught me a valuable lesson! My fee was only $500 (remember, this is my FIRST client) and I haven't talked with him yet about monthly service which I know from reading this thread will be required. I know now that I charged way too little but hope I can make it up on the monthly service. Now I'm trying to figure out what I'll offer for monthly services (this thread will help) and other marketing ideas I can propose. I'm posting this because I want you guys, especially Dexx, AP and some others, to know how much this thread is worth. And, that I'm actually IMPLEMENTING the ideas posted here! Hopefully, I'll be able to contribute to this forum myself with some valuable input.

23rd Jan 2010, 01:33 PM	#450
Spark HyperActive Warrior Join Date: 2007 Location: In a Small Little Island Posts: 393 Thanks: 27 Thanked 11 Times in 11 Posts	Re: Offline Marketers: What services are you offering for monthly fees? Share on: Now i truly understand why even thought people are jumping into offline marketers. Yet there's always space for everyone.. Because each one has their own way of thinking in marketing! As AP mention, he don't really need SEO to get the payment. Other can use Videos as their niche marketing angles. Some use Social Media Marketing. Most important - You just need to know what you are doing that's all! Will keep reading it to trigger more ideas. P.S: For those that you feel that your worth is too little. Don't worry, just get a few clients first. Once things are getting good. - Charge double of what you charging. Those who value you will stay with you. Those who don't..Well you can get more clients since you are done so much for others! All you need is testimonial from them and you are good to go. Only by doing this will increase your value in lesser time rather than fearing of charging too little. Hope this help! Cheers! Oh yeah, one more thing. The big different between us and marketer outside - We leverage the power of INTERNET.
	People who risks change the world