How to Keep local business owners engaged?

And how's that working out for you...?

I'd bet that came from someone selling a course on FB ads...

First question to ask everyone is "How much time do you spend in FB groups?"

You might just find you're selling something that nobody wants...

To answer your headline question, you'll keep their interest if you are able to bring in more sales at less cost than they can do themselves...

The caveat is that everyone selling marketing/advertising services is claiming they can do that, so you have to convince them that you're the one they should spend their money with.

Yes, your goal is not to overwhelm them with all the mumbo jumbo of the Internet marketing world. Instead, as the other person put it, is to simply show them what you can deliver to them service-wise and the types of business you can bring to them.

"But my end goal is to have an engaged group where people ask questions, provide answers and recommend it to their friends in the community who owns businesses. Not link posting etc."

I think this is a great idea. I have never done it personally. I don't know how you would go about that, but I do believe that if you want them to be engaged, your job is to take care of that. Your job is to do their engaging for them and simply be there to make it happen.

Being in this business, that's my end goal. Making sure that I'm the one doing the work (outsourcing it haha) so I can get paid!

I wasn't suggesting you should organise a live event, rather comparing the relative difficulty.

To get your first clients:

1. Look to your existing network. Who do you (or friends or family) know who might want your services? Or who might have a list of people who might want your services. e.g. do you know an Accountant? A Printer? A Web Designer? Anyone who already services the type of business owners who you want as clients. Will they introduce you? Endorse you?

2. Create a lead magnet, such as a report. Should have reason why as well as how to. In other words sell the result as well as the method.
Find people who already service the type of business owners who you want as clients and offer them the report as a free giveaway for their client base. Customise it for each taker with an introduction, mentioning you as the author. Supply them with a sample/template letter/email to their customers. Include an special offer "specially for customers of.." or a "for more information" link. Have your website in the footer of each page.
This will do more for your credibility - and your bank balance - than trying to persuade people onto a Facebook group.

As for case studies, you can possibly use other peoples. As an example of how, take a look at Ewan's Web Designer ad. He's used other people's case studies which can be found on the web.
In a similar way, we've used other people's case studies to create giveaway reports.

Sample Introduction (copied from my swipe file):
The person distributing the report was an Accountant and he's giving the author an endorsement by referring to him as a "marketing expert".

Edit to say:
Try the above along side getting people into your Facebook group and see the relative results...

Provide as much value for free as you can, would be the obvious answer.


So you could do case studies of clients you run FB ads for, show the results. Then help other businesses run their campaigns for them. Value first, then offer the help.


Free course or blueprint might also help.


Rather than focus on getting lots of them engaged, I'd personally want to just get value out there and start closing as many as you can. You only need to start getting a few people in and then start to sell.


But provide value first, prove your worth. Then they'll be more willing to hand you their credit cards.

A few things I would like to add.
So that you can judge the value of the information I share, a bit of background.

My agency deals specifically with companies doing a minimum of 1mm/yearly and looking to scale dramatically. Generally my clients or target market are at 2mm to 3mm yearly. I deal specifically with companies that sell something people search for or know they need. I do NOT deal with coaches, courses, make money online stuff. Examples are HVAC companies, roofing companies, blast door companies, direct to consumer manufacturers etc.. so they are REAL type businesses not caught up the make money online stuff.

These owners ABSOLUTELY belong to some Facebook groups.

The ones that don't belong to Facebook groups are generally 55+, have been running their business for 25 years and are not in growth/development, but rather trying to fight the tide. They are not my target market. Having said that even these folks often belong to a few groups, but they are personal interest. Maybe the love cigars, or belong to a group that travels to their favourite yearly get away.

The ones that own companies looking to scale dramatically are very success/development motivated. They generally do NOT belong to groups that teach the technical work, if they do its more to learn how to quickly vet if someone they are going to hire has an idea what they are doing... but the most certainly belong to some groups... often personal development, following authors, speakers or people they respect. Targeting people that follow Gary V or other thought leaders lets you work with folks that actually have a love for marketing/development/new ideas, so its a win win.

Now on to your mission. Your trying to get clients. To do that appearing as the expert is a good thing. To accomplish this things like recaps, case studies, quick vids that are NOT too technical will win the game. Put in place intent based remarketing. In other words if you put out a video on how businesses can save 30% on their adwords budgets, track views and remarket to those with that interest etc...

Here is the rub. WAY WAY WAY before you start randomly putting out content, you need to know your market, decide EXACTLY who you want to sell to, EXACTLY what you want to sell them and then work backwards from there on your marketing funnel that starts with content and omni-presence, all the while leading them to an action, likely booking a call or ringing you up.

One thing that should always happen is this. If someone visits your web site, they should forever more see you as omni present through retargeting. With this method you may have no idea what they would or would not read/watch, but you don't need to, just put out useful quickly consumable content and let the stats dictate where you should focus, of course making sure you can actually sell something related to them.

Once you master this, it can be the exact thing you deploy for them.
As an example Google Adwords rocks for local services BUT you can put results on steroids by remarketing to those that did not convert.

I would share my process and show them how to get from their pain point to their solution.

Most of them like to get to the desired solution but not willing to put in the work.

That is where they will be willing to pay you to do it for them or teach them.

Here are 7 strategies for you to increase customer engagement today.

Communicate Industry Information.
Provide Useful Content.
Host an Event.
Reward Customer Loyalty.
Ask for Customer Feedback.
Engage with Your Customers.
Manage Online Reviews.

I guess referral fees (or kickbacks) are different in each industry. Some call it commission, affiliate payouts...but it's all the same.

Follow these seven steps to manage your offline referral fees:

Set goals.
Define the message.
Choose an incentive.
Make a landing page.
Focus on analytics.
Spread the word.
Train employees.