Confessions Of A $100/Month SEO Client
Are you an agency trying to sell super cheap search marketing services to SMBs? If so, here’s some free market research!
Last week, I got my kitchen counters resurfaced. Inevitably the service guy asked me what I did for a living. When I told him I did SEO, the conversation quickly turned to the local online marketing and I put my interviewer hat on. Enjoy:
NAP Citation: Cleaner One 416 Honeysuckle Lane San Ramon, CA 925-336-0600 Owner: Paul Breaton Service Categories: Carpet Repair, Marble Polishing, Marble Cleaning
- How many times a day do you get called by Internet marketers trying to sell their services? I get called at least twice a day. Those auto-dialer guys are awful. Their call-to-action where they tell you there’s a emergency problem with your Google listing is inappropriate and deceptive. Instead of lying to me, they need to just say, “This is who we are and here is how we can help you.” Give me some factual info about myself.Show me how I am not making money and show me how your plan will work. Give me a guarantee and give me a test run for free. I love when I get a call from Google*(I think he means from marketers pretending to represent Google)*. I’ll ask those guys questions until they try to sell me.Advertising for small companies is a crap shoot. You never know what’s going to work. But we know better than you what works for us. If you really believe in your product give it to me for free to try it — if it works, of course I’ll want to pay you for it.
The Moral Of The Story
Paul, who seals a mean counter, is a living example of why serving these kinds of businesses is murder. The SMB often doesn’t have the time, knowledge or budget to understand search engine marketing. And, it costs marketing service providers a lot to get Paul on the phone and close him, only to get $350/month (part of which goes to Google for media). So, they can’t afford to really service Paul in a way that’s meaningful.
Interestingly, when I asked Paul how he felt about mobile marketing, his eyes lit up and his response was, “I wouldn’t be opposed to looking at that. If I could get my client database into an app, that would be cool. If my client could get an app like that, she’d be able to share the app with her friends and recommend me, which would be cool for me and cool for her because she’s helped and impressed her friend. She’d be all juiced up.”
And when it comes to local search marketing, it’s clear from talking to many business owners like Paul (and many marketers trying to service the ocean of Pauls out there) that we are all going to need as much juice as we can get.