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Three Tools to Vitalize Your Prospect Genius Campaign

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Want more add-on options for your Prospect Genius campaign? Looking for ways to get more bang for your buck? Then, keep reading—because we have some great options for you.
As you know, we’re committed to growing with our clients. We aren’t interested in quick fixes. Instead, we want long-term visibility and lead generation for you. That’s why we’re always evaluating our service offerings and updating them to fit our clients’ evolving needs.
As such, we’re excited to discuss three tools that can give your campaign a boost and take your business to the next level. Not all of them are new to our catalog of services, but they’re all increasingly relevant to today’s online marketing demands.
Ready to discover the new directions your online marketing campaign can take you? Let’s jump in!

1. Get More Jobs by Answering More Calls

Already seeing some success with incoming leads? Capture more of what’s already coming to you by taking advantage of our partnership with Professional Answering Service, Inc. Working with this business answering service will help you turn more of those leads into paying customers because it will significantly decrease the number of calls you miss.
As noted by an article in Forbes, close to 80% of callers won’t leave a voice mail if their call is missed, which likely means they’re giving up on that particular business and moving on to a competitor. The key is not to let your incoming calls go to voice mail. Professional Answering Service, Inc. will help you do this.
Prospect Genius recently announced a new partnership with Professional Answering Service, Inc. to help our clients win more customers. When you’re out on a job or you’re away from your desk for the weekend, the staff at Professional Answering Service, Inc. will be able to:

Answer calls on your behalf
Represent your business professionally
Take messages
Schedule appointments
Answer basic customer questions
And more!

Best of all, our partnership provides an exclusive discount for Prospect Genius clients! Professional Answering Service, Inc. will be reaching out to all of our clients soon to see if you’re interested in their help, so keep an eye out. And if you have any questions about their services, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d love to make it easier for you to land more jobs!

2. Increase Your Visibility by Thinking Outside the Search Box

What if we told you a substantial number of local business searches never even make it to Google? It’s true. People are increasingly crowdsourcing on social media before they ever turn to search engines. They’re asking their network of friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances for personal recommendations for everything from landscapers to hair salons to pediatricians. They’d rather choose a business based on a recommendation from someone they know than take a chance on a business they’ve never heard of.
This is where having an active social media presence is crucial for your business. If people are making recommendations for local businesses on Facebook, for example, they’ll want to tag you so their friend can see your page right away. It saves prospective customers a few extra steps in the search process and makes it easier for them to discover you. And anything that makes it easier for prospective customers to find you should always be at the top of your to-do list.
To help you with your social media outreach, Prospect Genius offers a few different options:

SocialStart—If you don’t have any social media pages at all, we’ll set them up for you and create attractive profiles that will impress prospective customers.
SocialStream—We create compelling and valuable blog content on your behalf and share it across your social media channels. As a result, prospective customers will see you’re engaged with your audience and knowledgeable about your industry.
SocialBuzz—We keep you active and engaged on social media by posting weekly updates on your behalf. These brief posts cover your hobbies, interests, local news, and other topics that highlight the personality behind your business.
Paid Facebook Ads—We’ll target your ads according to specific topics and interests. Then, Facebook will display your ads on the news feeds of matching users. In other words, your ads will be placed right in front of prospective customers!

Interested in expanding your visibility with the help of social media? Give us a call for more details.

3. Improve Your Reputation by Getting More Customer Reviews

As we mentioned above, people almost always look for recommendations from previous customers before they commit to a business. And if they can’t find personal recommendations from people they know in real life, they’ll turn to online reviews. A 2016 survey by BrightLocal supports this. According to its findings, 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as recommendations from friends.
Needless to say, most people do their research before hiring a business. So if you don’t provide your prospective customers with adequate information about why they should hire you, you’ll miss out on lots of potential business.
That’s precisely why customer reviews are so crucial. On top of that, your local Google listing is directly affected by your customer reviews. How? Google now displays your business’s “average” star rating as soon as the first review is posted on your listing. You obviously don’t want your star rating determined by just one or two reviews, so it’s in your best interest to accumulate as many reviews as possible.
To achieve this, we recommend signing up with a company like Customer Lobby. Customer Lobby is a service that will contact past customers for reviews on your behalf, integrate those reviews with your website and social media, and even help you add them to your Google listing. We use Customer Lobby for our own marketing efforts, and we’ve had a great experience with the automated process. We barely have to lift a finger.

Get the Biggest Bang for Your Buck!

Now that you’ve already invested in an online marketing campaign from Prospect Genius, why not get the most out of it that you can? By adding any of the above tools to your campaign, your business will take off in new and exciting ways.
Reach out to us today to find out more!

How to Get More Customer Reviews Just by Asking for Them

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Your business can’t have an effective online presence if it doesn’t have any customer reviews.
Why? Because when people are hiring a new business, they want to be sure they’re making the right choice. Reading about other people’s experiences helps them decide which business will best align with their needs. They’ll be able to see which companies are pleasant to work with, which ones are punctual, which ones deliver good results, and so on.
In fact, a 2016 Local Consumer Review Survey by BrightLocal reports 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as recommendations from friends! And 74% say positive reviews make them trust a business more.
It’s one thing for your business to appear prominently all over Google Maps and local search results. It’s another thing for your business to actually grab customers’ attention and get them to hire you. Customer reviews help close this gap.
In short, if you want your business to stand out and appeal to local consumers—essentially making all of your online marketing efforts worthwhile—then you need to get more customer reviews for them to read.
The best way to get more customer reviews? Just ask for them! Keep reading to discover how.

How to Get More Customer Reviews Just by Asking for Them

Ask and You Shall Receive

Did you know? According to BrightLocal’s 2016 survey, 7 out of 10 people will leave a review for a business if they’re asked to. This is a super promising sign that you’ll be able to get the customer reviews you need, as long as you’re proactive.
When trying to get more customer reviews, keep these three tips in mind:

Ask customers directly.
Make leaving a review foolproof.
Act quickly before customers forget.

There are a lot of specific tactics you can use to ensure better responses from your past customers. Read “Make Your Presence Known: Get More Customer Reviews Online” for further suggestions!

How to Get More Customer Reviews in Five Easy Steps

First, identify your best customers—the ones who loyally come back to you, and the ones who you’re confident will give you a good review. These people are more likely to help you out.
Next, contact these select customers by phone or e-mail and ask them directly if they would please take a few minutes to leave you a review online. Tell them your preferred platforms. Google Maps, Facebook, and Yelp are best. This should give you an initial boost in your number of customer reviews.
Then, develop a plan for future customers so you can start getting a continuous flow of reviews. Add an on-page feedback tool to your website (available through Prospect Genius). This way, customers can write a review in one place and the tool can disseminate the review to other platforms.
In the future, ask customers at the very beginning of your service, before you’ve even started the job. Say, “If you’re happy with our work once we’re finished, please consider leaving us a review on Google.” This will plant the seed in their minds early on.
Finally, remind customers again as soon as the job is complete. Attach links to follow-up e-mails, mention it in follow-up phone calls, and even add it to the bottom of your invoices. Customers are more likely to leave you a review while the experience is still fresh in their minds.

If this sounds like too much work on your end, you may want to look into a service like Customer Lobby. An automated service that follows up with previous customers on your behalf, Customer Lobby can do all the legwork for you. Prospect Genius refrains from officially endorsing specific products and services; however, we can say we’ve had good experiences using Customer Lobby ourselves.

Get More Customer Reviews Now!

As we’ve explained previously, having a large number of customer reviews can potentially save your business. Not only is it good for your online reputation, but it’s also helpful for improving your local search performance.
So if you’ve already invested in any type of online advertising, it only makes sense to strengthen it and give it the best chance possible to succeed. By following our advice, you’ll be able to get more customer reviews online and increase your business’s appeal.
If you have any questions or need a little guidance, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!

Why Customer Service and Facebook Are a Brilliant Match

Last Updated: July 21, 2016

Local SEO isn’t the only way to spread the good word about your business. Offering friendly, helpful customer service is a super-easy way to keep customers happy and strengthen word-of-mouth. After all, customers are much more likely to do repeat business with a company that provides superior customer service.
So why not take this one step further and make your customer service efforts public? When you receive customer comments on social media, particularly Facebook, you can respond right there on the same platform. This way, you’re not just providing a customer with a prompt response—you’re also showing prospective customers visiting your page just how attentive and professional you really are. If you do it correctly, it’s a win-win.
In her recent article on Search Engine Watch, “Five Reasons Why You Should Invest in Social Customer Service,” Rebecca Sentance explores how you can benefit from using social media to interact with customers. Many of her examples focus on Twitter and the big brands that use it; however, we can easily adapt these examples to fit small, local businesses that primarily use Facebook.

Five Reasons to Use Social Media for Customer Service

So, what are Sentance’s five reasons for using social media for customer service?

Convenience: People are spending a lot of time on social media daily. It makes sense to meet them where they already are.
Attention: People want to be heard. When they don’t hear back from a company, they react negatively and often disparage said company on social media. On the other hand, when they do hear back promptly, they’re much more likely to view that company favorably.
First impressions: Frankly, responding on social media makes you look good. It shows accountability and personality.
Retention: Studies show consumers are willing to switch brand loyalties and even pay more if they think they’ll receive better customer service. Keeping customers happy—and doing so publicly—will help you attract and retain customers.
Feedback: Social media, especially Facebook, is a great tool for getting customer feedback. You can survey your audience to hear their thoughts on your current product offerings or what kinds of new services they’d be interested in. Basically, you can use social media as low-cost market research to help you improve your business.

Of course, when angry customers take to social media to air their grievances, things can get ugly. However, this is likely to happen regardless of how active you are on Facebook or Twitter. Cooler heads always prevail in these situations. As long as you respond professionally and respectfully, you’ll come out on top.
Want more details? We strongly recommend reading Sentance’s full article over on Search Engine Watch. It’s a deeply insightful read.

Why Social Media for Small Businesses Is Essential

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

For businesses large and small, social media isn’t optional anymore. It’s essential. Does your business have a social media presence? If not, then you’re missing out on a staggering number of benefits—benefits your competitors are probably enjoying as you read this.
So, what are the benefits of social media for small businesses? How can you make the most of them? Keep reading to find out.

Social Media Fosters Connection

One of the biggest reasons for social media’s rise has to do with how easily and quickly it connects people. In your case, social media will enable you to connect with your target customers (and vice versa). By sharing, commenting, and generally interacting with current and potential customers, you’ll strengthen your relationship with them.
In fact, social media platforms like Facebook have become another channel customers are using to directly contact businesses. Whether it’s through public wall posts or private messages, customers may rely on social media to inquire about your products or services, send you valuable feedback, or to even ask for a price quote. Contacting you via social media is even easier than sending an e-mail (never mind making a telephone call), so the frequency of this method of contact is expected to rise.
As Lauren Friedman explains,

Your customers are on Facebook throughout the day—especially those that work with the internet, so it’s only natural they would much rather stay on the same website rather than switch or pick up the phone to call you. Many of them use Facebook Messenger now like text message, chatting with their friends and family throughout the day.

However, if you aren’t on Facebook, then that’s one fewer way customers are able to contact you. And don’t you want to make it as easy as possible for customers to get in touch with you?

Social Media Makes You Feel Real to Customers

When you’re active and engaged on social media, you’ll also be showing off your personality and the real people behind your company. This will build a relationship between you and your customers. They’ll begin to see you as a group of living, breathing individuals. Eventually, this will lead to more business. As Internet entrepreneur Evan Carmichael says, “People buy from people, not companies.”
At the same time, a professional social media presence will also give you the appearance of a cohesive, legitimate company. Prospective customers will see your regular updates and posts on Facebook or Twitter and feel you’re genuinely invested in your business.

How to Make Social Media More Effective

Social media for small businesses doesn’t have to be complicated. It may feel like a daunting project at first, but once you get into the swing of things, you’ll barely even think about it. Heck, you might even enjoy it!
Here’s how to make your social media presence as effective as possible:

Be active. Don’t just create a Facebook page and forget about it. Regular activity is key.
Share status updates, photos, helpful articles and videos, and any other content that will give your audience a peak behind the curtain. Make yourself and your team seem as real as possible.
Regularly check your message inbox, as well as your page, and reply to anyone who has reached out to you about doing business with your company. You can’t reap the benefits of a direct line of contact if you aren’t there to respond!

How Prospect Genius Can Help

Feel like there’s not enough time in your day? Can’t figure out how to get started? Fear not! Prospect Genius is here to help.
Our selection of social media packages offers assistance at all levels. Whether you’re just starting out or you want a more advanced, fleshed-out campaign, we’ve got you covered. Here’s what we offer:

SocialStart: For clients who are just getting started on social media, we’ll create accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Then, we’ll write several blog posts for you that we’ll share on your accounts so you have a handful of posts right out of the gate.
SocialStream: For clients who are established on social media and want to share content regularly, we write a set number (determined by you) of blog posts each month and share them on your accounts.
SocialBuzz: For clients who want to be engaged on social media but don’t have the time to share updates on their own, we create and share weekly status updates on your behalf.
Paid Facebook Advertising: For advanced clients looking to expand their reach, increase visibility, and drive more traffic to their website, we create and manage targeted Facebook ad campaigns.

No matter where your business falls on the social media spectrum, Prospect Genius has a solution for you.
Social media for small businesses is critical, but that doesn’t mean you should lose sleep over it. Have fun with it! Sharing details about your company and interacting with your customers can be rewarding and even eye opening.
If you’re having trouble keeping up with Facebook or Twitter, simply give us a call and we’ll see how we can help. There’s no excuse for abandoning your social media presence!

Common Social Media Pitfalls to Be Aware Of

Last Updated: January 27, 2016

Today, in 2016, the importance of social media for local businesses has been well established. We all know it’s a vital way for businesses to connect and engage with potential customers nearby. Ask any online advertiser, and they’ll tell you the same thing.
However, digital marketing strategist and author Roger Rogerson raises an incisive point:

“Everyone is telling you to use social media – but who’s telling you to be careful?”

In his recent article, “The Hidden Social Media Dangers for All Businesses,” Rogerson describes an exhaustive list of scenarios that could get a business into trouble on social media. From disgruntled former employees posting irate messages on your wall to an employee accidentally sharing top-secret company news, he proves there are countless social media pitfalls your company must watch out for.

Other scenarios include:

Dissatisfied customers publicly complaining about your business.
Poorly worded posts being misconstrued and causing backlash.
Competitors slandering your company and spreading rumors.
The local media getting wind of something (such as an erroneous post or a bad customer experience) through social media and escalating the story.
Employee(s) exhibiting unprofessional behavior.
Nasty Internet trolls calling you out publicly or even harassing you.

Unfortunately, the list goes on.
Rogerson’s article is not meant to intimidate or scare business owners away from engaging on social media, though. It’s simply a warning about the various social media pitfalls that can damage a company’s entire web presence.
What you should take away from this article is that your company’s social media accounts must be handled by an employee you trust and respect. This will minimize the damage that can be done internally. You should also take time to develop a company-wide policy for dealing with negative customers, competitors, and other individuals who attempt to provoke you or do you harm. This way, you’ll have a go-to response tactic in place so you can react as quickly as possible. Of course, every situation is unique, but it’s a good idea to at least have a guideline.
Check out Rogerson’s article over on Search Engine Watch for the complete details.

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