In the era of digital advancements, cleaning and restoration companies recognize the crucial role of leveraging modern marketing to achieve profitable outcomes. However, amidst overwhelming options it is challenging to know where to allocate your marketing efforts and resources.
We work with hundreds of cleaning and restorations companies and firmly believe that a combination of data-driven decisions and innovative techniques is the driving force behind growth, brand visibility, and unapparelled connectivity with your target audience. In this article we will dive into five things happening right now in digital marketing to set your sights on. Some come with a price tag, and some are totally free.
Put Together a Game Plan Using These Five Elements and Your Marketing Will Have a Competitive Advantage
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
- Google Business Profile Optimizations
- Video
- Chat GPT – Open AI
- Paid Advertising (Pay-Per-Click, Local Service Ads, Facebook Ads)
1. Update to Google Analytics 4 Now – FREE
Good data drives good marketing decisions and the clock is ticking to update your analytics. Google is releasing a new version of its web analytics platform called Google Analytics 4 (GA4). It’s the successor to Universal Analytics (UA) and offers advanced features and capabilities to help businesses analyze and understand user interactions on their websites.
One of the most important reasons to transition to GA4 is that UA will discontinue data collection on July 1, 2023. This means users will lose access to historical data from Universal Analytics. By setting up GA4 ahead of the switch, users can avoid losing their historical data, such as how many site visitors, where does your traffic come from, etc.
Why is Google moving to GA4 and away from UA?
- Increased privacy has become an important issue. GA4 respects user privacy while still
providing valuable data. - GA4 also provides customer insights and tracks users across different devices and platforms.
- GA4 leverages machine learning and provides deeper insights into user behavior. GA4 offers improved integrations with various Google products, such as Google Ads.
- GA4 is a more flexible data model than the previous Universal Analytics.
The change to GA4 is not optional. Websites that fail to install GA4 will be at a serious disadvantage starting July 1, 2023.
2. Google Business Profile Optimizations – FREE
Google My Business has been replaced with Google Business Profile (GBP). This is a free platform that is simple to manage and update. It is home to your Google maps, Google reviews, and company updates. Your Google Business Profile takes more Internet real estate space on a search engine results page than anything else and Google rewards companies who regularly add content and photos to their profile.
Google has long valued current and relevant content and GBP is the place companies can post weekly updates, including geo-tagged photos to increase organic rankings.
Your Google Business Profile is the ideal place for even the most novice marketer to add content that includes strategic keywords.
3. Video. Video. Video. – $$
Video captures people’s attention more effectively than text or images alone. It evokes emotions, tells compelling stories, and engages viewers in a more dynamic and memorable way. Where do you use video now? Video should be scattered throughout your entire digital marketing strategy.
Video, also referred to as rich media, brings better brand recognition and awareness. Video is highly shareable and best of all shows improved conversion rates. Video has the power to influence buying decisions and showcase your services in action.
- Video in Paid Advertising: It will never be less expensive to advertise on YouTube than it is right now, plus Google and YouTube share information. This means when someone is in market for your service and searches on Google that information is shared with YouTube to target your ideal audience with your video.
- Video in Social Media: Social media platforms highly prioritize video content in their algorithms. Videos tend to receive higher organic reach, more engagement, and better placement in users’ feeds.
- Video in Organic Search (SEO): Video can positively impact your SEO efforts. Including video on your website or embedding them in a blog post can increase the time customers spend on your site, reduce bounce rates and improve overall engagement metrics. These factors are considered by search engines when ranking websites.
4. Start Experimenting with Chat GPT – FREE
Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to dominate the discussion and restorers are left wondering what they need to know. Artificial Intelligence is not new to digital marketing. It is built into many things that we use on a daily basis, but we just don’t recognize it. Google has been using AI for years. Email filtering, voice assistants, and product recommendations are all a result of AI technology. What is new is the access that we, as business owners and marketers now have to the power of AI.
So, how should we be using it in our marketing? It’s important to recognize that not all AI is created equal. There are legitimate concerns about the quality of information it delivers. OpenAI has invested significant resources in training ChatGPT on a variety of data which allows it to generate coherent and contextually relevant responses in many scenarios.
What you need to know is simple. ChatGPT is not going away. It continues to improve, and it can significantly reduce time to help you do things like create marketing content calendars, brainstorm email marketing campaigns, come up with social media ideas, and respond to online reviews. ChatGPT can even help with keyword ideas and ad copy. It is important to note that ChatGPT is not suitable for directly generating blog posts or web page content. We recommend using traditional writing methods and carefully crafting information to meet the specific requirements for Google. Google has warned it can detect generated content and we expect algorithm penalties for companies violating this suggestion. However, Chat GPT can be helpful in gathering ideas and generating concepts which can be refined and expanded on quickly.
ChatGPT has a web version and a new app option. There is a FREE version, which is all you need to get started.
5. Own Internet Real Estate with Paid Ads – $$$
If you owned every store in the mall what are the chances people would shop at your store? They are pretty high. The same is true with internet real estate space. There are a several types of paid ads you can use and using data to show up in the place where you have the most traffic, especially traffic that has a high intent to make a decision is a proven way to grow your business.
The most successful cleaners and restorers are using Pay-Per-Click advertising, Local Service Advertising, also known as Google Guaranteed, and Facebook Advertising for at least some of the services. And yes … we see an increase in conversion when Local Service ads and Pay-Per-Click ads are used together.
PPC is just what is says – a cost per click model, while local service ads are a pay per lead model. It is free to become a Google Guaranteed business, but to show up at the top with the little green Google checkmark is going to require paying. A couple things to consider with Google Guaranteed ads, they are at the very top of the page. The dashboard allows you to easily monitor leads; this includes disputing calls that are not legitimate.
Facebook advertising is a little more disruptive than Google advertising. People don’t go to Facebook when their basement floods, but for non-emergency services, targeted Facebook marketing can be a powerful option.
Paid ads require you to have an ad spend budget and a management budget if you are working with an agency to manage the ads.
The most successful cleaners and restorers are staying one step in front of their competition with their online presence. They are consistently embracing new technology and platforms to stay ahead and make smart data driven decisions with their marketing.
Katie Harris
Katie Harris is an entrepreneur and marketer who has helped hundreds of businesses with their marketing. She is the co-owner of Get Found First and Spot On Solutions. As a Google Premier Partner Managed Agency Get Found First and Spot On Solutions help over 600 companies in all industries.
Katie is a certified John Maxwell Leadership coach and trainer as well as a certified DISC personality consultant. Helping employees and clients understand their personalities and grow their leadership skills is one of her greatest passions. She is a member of the Forbes Agency Council and Forbes Business Council and is a contributor to Forbes magazine.
Katie volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children in foster care and works to make children’s voices heard in the court system. She has been married for 27 years, has 3 children and 2 grandchildren.
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