Digital Profits Podcast – Episode 15: How to Market a Local Service Business from Scratch
Do you dream of seeing your local service business succeed? You can make it a reality with the right marketing strategies. Doing so from scratch, however, isn’t easy. And that’s why we’ve put together this guide!
Here you will find out how to create a comprehensive game plan to get your local service up and running, without spending a fortune on flashy campaigns or expensive ads.
With our tips and advice, you’ll have the knowledge needed to engage potential customers quickly and effectively, all while staying within budget!
Join us as we explore how to take your local business from zero visibility to household name.
It’s important to understand who your ideal customer is and what their needs and problems are. By doing so, you can effectively tailor your product or service to meet their demands and increase your chances of success.
Identify your target market – who are the people you are trying to reach, and what are their needs/problems that your business can solve or provide a solution for
Maybe you’re trying to solve a problem that only a specific demographic faces, or maybe you’re providing a solution that will benefit people from all walks of life. Either way, knowing your target market is crucial in today’s competitive market.
Create content that resonates with your target audience – blog posts, videos, infographics etc.
It’s not enough to simply put out information and hope for the best. Your content needs to be engaging, informative, and above all, relevant to your intended audience. Whether you’re creating blog posts, videos, infographics, or any other type of content, you need to approach it with energy and persuasion.
By using a friendly tone that speaks directly to your audience, you can create a connection that will keep them coming back for more. So, go ahead and create that content that speaks to your audience, and watch as your followers and fans grow.
Utilize local SEO tactics to get your business in front of people searching in your area
Are you looking to get your business noticed by the people who matter most? Then use local SEO tactics. By utilizing strategies designed to target people searching for businesses in your area, you can boost your visibility and ultimately drive more sales.
From optimizing your website for local keywords to creating listings on platforms like Google My Business, the opportunities to get ahead of the competition are endless. What are you waiting for? Invest in local SEO tactics today and watch as your business reaches new heights.
Join relevant online communities and start conversations
These communities offer the perfect platform to interact with people who share our interests and passions. Being a part of these groups opens up new avenues for learning, sharing opinions, and even forming friendships.
So, if you have a hobby or interest that you want to explore more deeply, the first step is to join relevant online communities. Here, you will find people who are as passionate as you are and are always eager to start conversations. So, don’t hesitate, get online and start connecting with like-minded individuals!
Leverage local influencers – find individuals who are an authority in the space and connect with them
Start leveraging the power of local influencers. These individuals are the ones who hold the knowledge and expertise in specific areas that your brand can benefit from. Connecting with them is an opportunity to reach out to a wider audience and boost your brand’s credibility.
By partnering with them, you can tap into their loyal followers and take advantage of their influence to promote your brand and offerings. Engaging with local influencers can be a game-changer for your brand, and we’re here to help make it happen. Remember that you can amplify your brand through the help of local influencers.
Make use of paid advertising to boost visibility and drive traffic
With the right strategy and execution, paid advertising can do wonders for boosting your online visibility. Don’t be intimidated by the idea of spending money on advertising. When done correctly, the return on investment can be well worth it.
Think of paid advertising as a shortcut to getting your brand and message in front of a larger audience. Take control of your online presence and watch the traffic pour in with the help of paid advertising.
Analyze the results of your efforts and track progress regularly
Think about it: How will you know if you’re on the right track or not if you don’t keep an eye on your progress? Whether you’re trying to lose weight, learn a new skill, or grow your business, tracking your progress can help you identify what’s working and what’s not.
Plus, it’s a great way to stay motivated and see how far you’ve come since you started. So, if you’re serious about reaching your goals, make sure you take the time to review your progress regularly.
In order to gain a competitive edge in your local market, it’s essential that you identify the biggest needs and problems of your target audience and create content that resonates with them.
Additionally, utilizing a combination of SEO tactics, joining relevant online communities, leveraging local influencers, and paid advertising are all effective strategies for doing so. Don’t forget to also track the results of your efforts regularly and make adjustments accordingly.
Tap into the power of local marketing today and level up your marketing game when you tune in to EP 15: How to Market a Local Service Business From Scratch of the Digital Profits Podcast with the Profit Squad. Listen now for essential tips on launching a thriving local service business!
Welcome to the Digital Profits podcast, where you’ll learn how to grow your business faster using paid traffic and SEO. Each episode will feature a breakdown of digital marketing trends and answers to your burning questions that will provide actionable takeaways to make your marketing better. So join us, Ben Page, Ray Saubell, and Blake John, as we guide you on your journey to higher profits. Remember to join the Profit squad@joinprofitsquad.com and get ready to profit in 3-2-1.
Ben Page: Hey, squad. We’re here today with Ray
Ray Sawvell: Hello.
Ben Page: And Blake.
Blake John: Hey, Squad.
Ben Page: And this is Ben. And we’re going to talk about how to market a local service business from scratch. We want to help you. If you’re just starting out, I feel like this is pretty common that to get questions about this, hey, I just need to get my marketing going. Just launching a business, putting my plans together.
Blake John: How do I get started?
Ben Page: Ben yeah, seriously. So, opening question, what’s the fastest way to get your first customer from online marketing? What would you guys say?
Blake John: Yeah, I think this is an interesting question because it’s not SEO and you know me, I’m the SEO guy, always preaching SEO. But I think the fastest way is probably some form of ads, which pains me to say truthfully.
Ben Page: It’s like the money mailer or what are we talking here?
Blake John: Hey, that could work. I mean, that stuff does work. People find success with that. But no, I think personally, I would mean if you have the pocket change to do it’s, probably spending on search ads or local service ads potentially as well. Those are really valuable. I know. Ben, you have some other ideas, though, too.
Ben Page: But first I want to hear raise.
Ray Sawvell: Yeah, I’m actually going to say se. No, I’m just kidding. But I would agree. Like, ads are probably the best way to go. The issue is if you don’t have deep pockets, you’re not going to be able to sustain it for very long and early on unless it works. Correct. But learning can be difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing. And if you’re a brand new local service provider, it may be difficult. But if you’re looking to get that very first customer and you’re just trying to get the wheels going, it’s going to depend on the type of business you are. Maybe it’s going to be local service ads, maybe meta ads. It’s going to depend on exactly who your target customer is. But ads for sure.
Ben Page: Pmax.
Ray Sawvell: Pmax. Just send it, bro, would you? No.
Ben Page: Why not?
Ray Sawvell: If you’re a lead generation, if you’re ecommerce, maybe. But if you’re lead generation, why not? You’re going to get a bunch of junk.
Ben Page: How do you know?
Ray Sawvell: Spam? Because you will. I just know it.
Blake John: You know, too. We’re kind of assuming we’re saying starting from scratch, but we’re kind of assuming that this person has a website.
Ben Page: Oh, yeah. And we could maybe we’ll back into that like, what are the necessary ingredients for success?
Ray Sawvell: Yeah, I sent people to my MySpace page.
Ben Page: Yeah, I mean, that can work. There’s a few people hanging out. I I think it is. It probably adds to one. Maybe we should go back and say, okay, if you’re starting from scratch with $0, what would it be? But for me, I’d probably say it’s a you know, or ray meta ad to be proper, whether it’s on the gram or delivered on Facebook in some way. Yeah, probably like a hyper targeted Facebook ad with an offer and even just telling the story. Hey, we’re just getting started looking for our first ten customers in Fill in the Blank City offering $99 special this weekend. Only need six people. Call this number. Boom. Easy. And I think too, if your imagery, like, features you or your team or your equipment, whatever it is, it depends on this kind of business or your new storefront or whatever now open in town, I think it gets some good engagement. But how would the answer change, guys, if you flipped it, you said no ad dollars available. Like you’re literally just super scrappy. Like every penny went into your lease and your banner and your product or whatever, or your equipment. How would that change your answer? What would be the fastest way to get your first customer zero ad dollars? Go.
Ray Sawvell: Yeah, I mean, this is a little unorthodox, but things even just like meta groups like going on Facebook or meta groups, like whatever they’re called, you can post on local communities because at the end of the day, you have a local business. So trying to saturate local as much as possible through meta groups or pages or what have you, and then setting up things like Google my business, like kind of doing all these things, or Google business places, whatever.
Ben Page: GBP. Great British pounds.
Ray Sawvell: Yeah. So I think it may not yield a customer right away, but there’s probably like an order of operations that you can do where it’s like this should be set up. You should have your GBV set up, you should have posting. You know what I mean?
Ben Page: Like there’s different fastest way, ray, there’s one answer. Fastest way.
Ray Sawvell: Oh, man, I don’t know. What is the one answer, Blake? I’ll hand it off to you.
Blake John: Oh, man, I don’t really know.
Ben Page: Right. Facebook group is yours, I guess.
Ray Sawvell: Yeah.
Blake John: I was going to say lean into your social media and try to lean into your personal network truthfully and getting friends and family to share or maybe even leaning and saying, hey, do you need what I offer? That’s probably where I would go, truthfully in social media, because it’s free to create an account and spin that up. I think that’d probably be the way to go.
Ben Page: Yeah. There’s a new book, newer book out here called 100 Million Dollar Leads by Alex Hormozi. And in that book he gives the playbook for this very topic, and the first thing he recommends, Blake, you hit it dead on, is Warm Outreach.
Blake John: Right.
Ben Page: Friends and family network, past customers, colleagues, whatever. Hey, do you know anyone that could benefit from this? He has a whole bunch of cool ways to engage people and make that a net benefit all around. But that’s what he facebook groups. Warm Outreach. Love it. I think for me, yeah, probably a post on either a neighborhood Facebook page in the groups next door, depending on where you live. Sometimes those can be pretty popular and you can sign up for a business profile and post for free on there, join your chamber.
Ray Sawvell: But I guess there’s probably some fees with that as well.
Ben Page: Potentially. But maybe you could show up to an event, one event for it, or even local events happening, like, oh, it’s the farmers market or it’s the I don’t know, you get scrappy. Right. Whatever those local events are show up and just start talking. Even if we’re saying $0, you don’t have a booth, you don’t have signage, you don’t have know, swag to hand out. But you can go there and talk to people and say, hey, do you know anyone that’s having this problem? Oh, by the know, I’m Ben. I just started this cool company called Ben’s pressure Washing know, right? Yeah. And then you use AI to spin up your logo. Oh, that’s going to be a different episode.
Ray Sawvell: Yeah. AI Part four.
Ben Page: Right? All right, so we have some ideas. Those are some scrappy ways, but probably it’s going to be either in the physical realm, it’s going to be the hand to hand combat, the person to person. Do you know someone? Here’s what I’m trying to do. Hey, can you help anyone? You can refer me to that or the super targeted posts again, like local, personal, like, what’s in it for me? Always leading with that value component. Yeah, I think that could work, especially if you’re competitively stacked. I can’t tell you actually in my neighborhood. Do you guys experience this in yours? The amount of service providers coming through, even like local, hey, we’re doing window washing, we’re doing spraying for pests, we’re doing fertilizing, we’re tree experts, whatever the case might be.
Blake John: Yeah, I get a lot of door to door for pest control and yard management. Solar, I don’t get that. No, I’m Mosquito Guard.
Ray Sawvell: A lot of that.
Blake John: Yeah.
Ben Page: Whatnot mosquito protection services? Yeah, I mean, it’s also a thing. It’s a different modality, but it’s an option. All right, so maybe rewinding the tape a little bit. You’re just starting out. You don’t know much about digital marketing, but you’re like, hey, I know I got to do something to market this business and get some more opportunities, some more deals closed, more leads. So what are those necessary ingredients in order of operation for that new business? What do you need first?
Ray Sawvell: Yeah, it’s like highest impact like biggest yield. Blake, I’ll hand it off to you.
Blake John: This is all we have to make this clear though. Are we assuming this person has this business, this new entrepreneur has a website?
Ben Page: No, I’m saying literally blank slate. They have nothing. They just know they need to figure out their marketing life. Okay, they started this thing up. Maybe they’ve got some connections or whatever.
Blake John: Okay, well then I think the number one thing kind of from a so the number one thing is probably to spin up social media profiles first and foremost, because those are free. And I think everyone is comfortable enough to do that and make that happen. And I would be really consistent with sort of the if you’re really early on, you won’t have a true brand probably, unless you’re Savvy. You could try Canva or some other tools to just make something up, sort of try to be consistent with that. And obviously your brand name, your address, your phone number, and just be really super consistent. But then really kind of getting into SEO. It’s the Google business profile. It’s personally where I would start to be number one. And Google also offers a service where you can build a website through it’s, like Google Pages or something. I’ve actually never personally used my parents.
Ray Sawvell: Have one of those. I don’t know how it works, but they have one.
Ben Page: Yeah, they just upgraded it too. It used to be through, I think, Google Sites, but now it’s I don’t.
Ray Sawvell: Know enough about it.
Blake John: And I believe it’s free, right?
Ben Page: I think so. I don’t know in the new model if it is or if you need workspace to unlock it, but either it was historically it was free.
Blake John: Yeah, historically it definitely was free. And that’s where I would begin. So Google Business Profile is it’s going to unlock basically the local map pack. In Google searches, which we’ve all seen, it’s when you Google a near me search, like pressure washer near me or plumbers near me, and you see in the search results, there’s usually three, occasionally four, if you add the advertisement with a map, like a literal map, and that’s the local map back, so it can unlock that for you. And fill that Google Business profile out all the way, like leave no box unchecked. Make sure you’ve got your primary category set additional categories that are relevant, services, products, description, everything you want to fill it out, like from start to finish completely. Yeah, all the data that you can give it. And then again, this is always key for SEO, but make sure all the Nap is consistent. Nap is name, address, and phone. It should be every single listing, every profile, everywhere that your brand is. That should always be consistent. You want to make sure that’s consistent to kind of verify to Google that this is truly who we are. And you don’t want to have any discrepancies anywhere, right?
Ben Page: Everywhere. On the web that your business is visible, whether it’s your Facebook page, Google Business Places, your webs anywhere, same name, same address, same phone, same format. We’re not saying on Facebook, you get the LLC at the end, and on Google Business, it doesn’t. And on your website, you’re called something else. That’s a recipe for disaster. And right now, I’ll just say, like, either Google, literally go to Google.com, type in Google Business Places and you’ll find it, or I believe the URL right, as of today is.
Blake John: Google.com or I.
Ben Page: Bet it redirects to that’s redirect.
Blake John: Yeah, you’re right.
Ben Page: But either one, right? So you do that and you can click sign up and it’s free. Right? So you do that and again, we’re in this know, what do you do? Free, no money. Like, all right, so if you’re going free yeah, I would set up Facebook page first, personally, because when you then go to set up your GBP, you then point your website URL to your Facebook page. That is an option, right?
Blake John: You could do that, yeah.
Ben Page: And now you can do all of that for $0 because you haven’t even bought a domain name yet or done hosting. And I’d feel like if it’s true that you can still make a free website through GBP, that could be a cool next step.
Ray Sawvell: Yeah, I think with GBP, it’s probably the first step, no matter what vertical you’re in. So probably doing that right away is going to be extremely important. But I think the one thing that I try to think about is, how do you pick one of these things to do really well after you set up your GBP? Because depending on the vertical you’re in, so if you’re like a hairstylist, you probably don’t want to go to LinkedIn for your first channel. You probably want to stay to social, where most of your target audience would be. If you’re a consultant or something, you maybe want to go to LinkedIn. So I think it’s really important to because you’re running a business, right? So these business owners are focused on running their business, successfully, launching it well, and they got to figure out how do they spend, at least in my opinion, the biggest impact, how do we move those things forward? And in my opinion, it’s pick one of these channels. And I agree it’s got to be social, but if you’re going to do Meta, do it well, be consistent, obviously. Make sure nap is good. All your phone, your name, address, phone number is all up to date. But I think it’s really important to just not spread yourself too thin and be like, I got to be on Meta, Twitter or X or is thread still a thing going everywhere? You know what I mean? So I think it’s just really important to pick one channel, do it well, be consistent and just do that over time and then slowly add on more. If you find something work well for you.
Blake John: And I will add too, you’re right though, Ben. Like you could use your Facebook page as your website. I mean, it could really be that. And what I would say if you do that, which I think is totally reasonable for a local service business to go that route, make sure that you’re basically telling the user if you’re going that route, facebook page is your website. It’s like your front digital presence that you’re telling users what the action is that they should take. The CTA should be message me on Facebook always. Don’t make it clear like, hey, find us on Facebook. Sure, that’s thing. But if you want to reach out and you want to go the next step, be like, this is how you contact us.
Ben Page: Yeah.
Blake John: Or obviously call. That’s always an option too. But we know this too. A lot of times people aren’t ready to get on the phone, they just want to send a message or fill out a form is usually what it is in these types of verticals. But that would be really key to make sure you want to give it really, I think, sticking to one to two CTAs. Either call or message us on Facebook if you’re going that route, or LinkedIn as well.
Ben Page: Yeah, I’m thinking about this too, from that owner’s perspective. And like you said, Ray, don’t get overwhelmed. In the beginning, I need to be on eight platforms and a website and ads and I don’t even know, I’m just trying to run my business here. I feel like you could totally win and build a huge business, a huge local business on GBP and a Facebook page. I mean, I’ve seen it. Yep, by consistency. And you can go deeper know if you boost know with ad dollars or whatever, but it’s like, what would you do? So let’s say you set it up, right? Consistent name, address, phone, you got your Google business profile, everything’s filled out humanly possible. Facebook page, same thing. Dialed in v one. Like you’re just using your cell phone number and you throw that on both. Maybe later you get fancy. You can have tracking numbers or have a Google voice number for $15 a month or what, I don’t know what it costs. So you do that and if you do the messenger thing, you just have your messenger up and you’re DMing people that are inquiring and like the you get it set up. It’s not like know if you build it, they will come. This isn’t the field of like, what do you do next? What’s the consistent daily action? Like, now you’re in your business and okay, now what? How do I make Facebook work for me? How do I make Google business profile.
Ray Sawvell: Work for I think, you know, once you start getting a steady flow of customers or referrals through all the different actions that you’re doing. So assuming that if you built it, they will come. Not everybody’s going to go to that right away, but really trying to showcase what you’re doing. So I’m going to this hair salon or hairstylist example. If you’re opening up a hair salon and you do an awesome style or something, you take that picture, you put it on social, ensuring that the outcomes that you’re doing for your business, you’re showcasing it in some way. And maybe this is where you jump in. You can probably take some of that as well. Upload it to your Google My Business or Google Business Places or whatever, ensuring that the actions that you’re doing, you’re putting them out so people can see them and engage with it.
Blake John: Yeah, I would agree. That’s honestly where my head was at too. So it’d be posting on. You can also post on Google business profile as well. And I would just consistently post on both. And being active everywhere, I think kind of going to what you were just talking about too. We just mentioned this. Now it’s starting to get into local events, being in the community, because if you’re sort of building a brand and you have places to send people, and you can sort of show, this is the work we’ve done, maybe you have testimonials, you have reviews on Google Business Profile. You can kind of start to build that up a little bit and really start to kind of develop a reach, and you can start to engage with the audience a little bit more. So I agree with you. I think that’s where my head is at.
Ben Page: What if you’re still pre revenue? All right, so you set it up, right? It’s day zero. You set it up, go to bed. You’re like? Yeah, I set up my GBP. Digital profits hooked me up. I set up my Facebook. It’s all optimized awesome, right? Day one, phone hasn’t rung yet.
Ray Sawvell: My grandma’s commented on every single one of my posts.
Ben Page: Well, that’s what saying, right? Know, like, what’s your first know? And you have zero customers. You set it up. Zero customers. Next day, walk into the store or throw the pressure washer in the back of the truck, right? And now what? No customers, nowhere to go. You got to post. You got to generate that demand. What are you doing? Is that where you start posting content? What do you guys think?
Blake John: I don’t really know if that’s a situation you’re in. I feel like you’re not really trying to figure out what’s my next post? I don’t think you want your customer.
Ben Page: Right?
Blake John: Yeah, absolutely. I’m thinking you probably are going you’re trying to make this if you have no customers and you have nothing to really share of your work or whatever, I think you turn this into a story a little bit, and you kind of build a narrative like, hey, I’m doing this. I’m setting out on my own. Maybe it’s like a day in the life of a young pressure washer entrepreneur or something. I think that’s the way you could go. Well, you keep talking about pressure washer on TikTok.
Ray Sawvell: There’s this guy what you’re talking about?
Blake John: There’s this guy who does yard work and pressure washing for free. And that’s like his whole brand.
Ray Sawvell: Millions of views.
Blake John: Millions of views, actually, same thing.
Ray Sawvell: People do it for, like, mowing lawns. They’ll do, like, landscaping, and they’ll just find a really house that has overgrown right.
Ben Page: Yeah.
Blake John: Now I feel like I’m telling young entrepreneurs that give away your services for free, do free stuff, which is challenging.
Ben Page: But it’s day one. No customers, just pressure wash your own.
Blake John: Driveway or something and just film that and just show the process and say, this is what we do. And before and after you could there’s leaner video. Yeah, I think there’s a lot of things that you could do to try to establish sort of a foundation of content and build reach a little bit. There’s definitely things out there. And there’s the other thing, too, short form video. And we’ve talked about it internally. I’m telling you, it’s so valuable and there’s so many opportunities, and we haven’t even mentioned, I don’t think TikTok at all.
Ben Page: Right, but that’s like day nine. We’re on day one still.
Blake John: We’re on day one and a half, I think.
Ben Page: Yeah. Well, right, so you’re building you’re almost, like, documentary style, right? You don’t have a customer. You’re like, all right, but I have some knowledge of cutting hair or plumbing or whatever pressure washing, whatever the case might be. Right. So, yeah, either you’re like, hey, I’m out here filming myself. Here’s the truck, here’s the washer I got. Here’s why I chose it. Here’s how it works. Here’s what we do, how I operate it. Yeah. I’m going to do this dirty patch of driveway. You do it. Oh, it’s beautiful, right? And you knock on the neighbor’s door. Hey, I noticed probably haven’t washed your siding in a while. Can I do it really quick? Oh, if it looks great. After, will you leave me a review on Google business profile? Oh, you will? Sweet. All right, let’s do it. Boom. And capturing that, snapping the photo, getting the testimonial language, and then you’re starting to build some traction. But probably dude day one is doing some of this documenting, creating a ton of content I would post multiple times because I think in these ecosystems, where it is a local business, local service business, or even a brick and mortar, the idea is there’s a finite number of people that are your potential customers within that world, in that ecosystem. It’s like what you’re trying to do is a you’re trying to reach those people. And that’s where I think the depth strategy comes in. But ultimately, you want to do surround sound. You want to make it like if it’s your right prospect, the lead that you want, you want them to get the sense that I keep seeing these guys everywhere. And so it’s like you said earlier, Ray, you’re progressively adding tactics and stuff, but I think first is like depth. It’s like post ten times in a day, share it on that local Facebook page, whatever. Right. Cross. Post it on GBP. Yeah. What about reviews?
Blake John: Blake yeah, I feel like you just mentioned it once you start working with people, I think it’s just like a verbal it’s like, hey, if you were satisfied, like, leave a review. I’d love to work with you again. Love to know. Tell your friends, help your neighbors with.
Ben Page: More beautiful siding, right?
Ray Sawvell: Yeah.
Ben Page: Wouldn’t it be great if you got to wake up and not only was your house shimmering and bright, picturing this right now, but also your neighbors? Wasn’t that overgrown bush over there? What if that was gone? What if we were able to do that together? Hey, you know how we’re going to get that word out? You got to leave me a review and more people find it. We’ll help them, too.
Blake John: I know where you live probably now your customers are doing door to door sales for you because they want your.
Ben Page: Neighbors to have there we go. Day 14 is affiliate program.
Blake John: Blake exactly.
Ray Sawvell: But Ben, early on, you talked about offers, and I think that’s something that’s really important, too, because in a lot of these service businesses, you could do specific offers. You could do contests early on potentially, too, where it’s like the pressure washer example. Blake you could be like, hey, I just did XYZ Project. I’m doing one of these this month for free or through. Like, there could be ways to generate some hype around that from that standpoint. So really honing in on offers, at least to start to get new business in the door could be helpful, right?
Ben Page: That’s what the door to door crews get, like, so many times, like, hey, knock, knock, knock, knock. Hey, do you know Billy down the street? Yeah, I do.
Ray Sawvell: Love Billy.
Ben Page: Well, hey, you know what? We just signed up Billy and actually five other neighbors coming back on Saturday. And if you’re in on that group on Saturday, we can actually take $50 off the price. We’re doing this. Here’s how it works.
Ray Sawvell: We’re here anyway.
Ben Page: Are you interested? Yeah, we’re here anyways.
Blake John: Did you just get pitched yesterday?
Ben Page: Because I’ve heard that exact pitch months ago. But they all I mean, it’s a playbook, right? Yeah, it’s probably just best practice. These companies grow up so rapidly, and then I feel like they fizzle because the next season, it’s like the pest control people are back, but it’s like the 6th brand of it that you’re like, I never heard of that one, but it’s probably like some offshoot from the mothership and whatever. It’s all shots on goal and conversion rates probably at that point. But regardless, that’s an approach. Or again, we’re using that service based thing a lot. But what if you have a brick and mortar? You are the salon, the float tank, the massage, the PT, whatever it might be, same thing. I think offer could still apply, right? But maybe you’re broadcasting it more like in that person to person or on the social media or even you can do offers on GBP as a type, so you promote that. Or if you’re kind of keeping track as you’re posting, people are engaging, so hey, people react to it, then you DM them. Or people message your page and you reach back out to the ten people now that have actually reached out to you and you say, hey, listen, this weekend we’ve only got ten spots, truthfully, because I’m a one person show and this is how it is. But if you’re interested, for this weekend only, we’re going to do $20 off Mohawks. You in. Oh, you are? Great. Cool. So there’s ways to make it work for you, but all right, so now, yeah, you’re doing the things you’re posting. If you start getting traction, customer engagement, trying to get those reviews, actually talk about that. Do you want to distribute the reviews? Do you want them all in GBP? You want some on Facebook page mix?
Blake John: I would honestly say you’d probably want a good mix of specifically your platform. If it is Facebook, then I would say, yeah, you’re going to want reviews on Facebook. But really I think the scalable way, I guess sort of is kind of Google Business profile because that is going to be a landing spot for as long as you’re in business. The Google Business profile will sort of have tons of eyes on it eventually. I’m sort of imagining like this business, this pressure washing business sort of graduates from Facebook at some point. You’re never going to graduate from your Google Business profile. It’s not going to happen. It’s always going to be so because.
Ben Page: It is the way to get into Google Maps.
Blake John: That’s the why behind well, and Google’s not going away, we think. Yeah, you’re right, we do think that. But if you need help with something, you’re not going to generally, I suppose, you’re not going to Facebook at the beginning of your search to find the service you need. You’re going to Google and your Google Business profile is what’s going to display if you are irrelevant and within proximity and whatnot. So your Google Business profile isn’t going away. So I would sort of say maybe it’s like 80 20 kind of, to be honest, where you want 80% of your reviews going to the Google business Profile and 20% of your reviews going to Facebook, or maybe it’s even Yelp or you know what I mean? I think it’s probably 80% going to Google Business Profile, though first.
Ben Page: So interesting that for me sparked this idea of how people are finding you and the psychology right on search and with. Maps. It’s like they’re looking for you, like you said it, right. They went to a search engine to search for someone that can clean their windows, and then they happened to find you because you had your GBP. It was offers, you know, ratings, reviews, whatever. But how often does it happen that they discover you? They’re not searching for you. They’re not like, hey, I need a window. They don’t even know that they know. Yeah. And they’re on Facebook and then someone.
Ray Sawvell: Does neighbor gets their siding pressure washed or something.
Ben Page: Yeah, exactly, right? And then I just feel like so many times I’m just thinking about conversations with my wife and stuff, and it’s not like we’re sitting around like, oh, totally. In the next 30 days, we’re going to wash our windows, right. We’re going to get that done. But then someone shows up at the front door, and then Billy Bob and eight other people are doing it. Or in the Facebook neighborhood group, someone posted it, and then all of a sudden, now we need to do it, too. It wasn’t like I was looking for it before. Like I wouldn’t have been on Google.
Ray Sawvell: Oh, yeah, it’s about time that that’s done.
Ben Page: It’s a different mindset, right. It’s just like in other businesses in e commerce or know, it’s like you’re searching for it versus you discovered it on social, on a news site, in a podcast or whatever, like a push and a pull kind of approach. But I almost wonder, Blake, in the beginning, from a cold state, you probably get more pushing it and getting the discovery aspect on social and the social proof and playing into those dynamics than you can expect to win on the search side. But now let’s talk about ads a little bit that could boost your potential on that search side, the pull side. Right. And the reason I say that is, like, if you’re starting out from scratch without ad dollars, even if you do all this optimization, if there are competitors in your area, they might have five years of service, 125 star reviews. So it’s going to be hard for you to kind of break through that barrier of entry organically, so to speak, in the map pack, right, or whatever. But now, Ray, talk to us about ads, man. How can you use it to break through?
Ray Sawvell: Yeah, I know we’ve kind of been talking like you don’t have a website at this point, but I feel like for ads to work, like search ads, for them to work, we need a website. Technically, you can send some traffic to, like, a Facebook page if you really want to, but don’t be scared, you can do it. I wouldn’t.
Ben Page: I’ve done it.
Ray Sawvell: You have, have you?
Ben Page: Oh, yeah, site links and okay, site. I mean, hey, if you don’t have a site yeah, why not? I mean, you can’t track it and it’s sad, right? But if the whole point. I mean, it mean, it kind of goes against the ethos a little bit of what we do here, but right. I’m saying, dude, it’s day three now, right? You got your first two customers. It’s organic, though, and it’s quiet out there in Google and you’re like, hey, I should probably now I got some money from my first two. I want to reinvest that in the biz. And anytime someone searches for pet grooming in my city, I want to be visible on Google for that.
Ray Sawvell: I guess from like an order of operations standpoint, though, let’s say my channel that I’m dominating is like Meta. I’m seeing some growth. Not only Grandma’s commenting now, grandma’s friend is commenting on it now, and her dog wants some help. I would rather go to Meta and do, like, a boosted post or something along those lines first. Because while the search ad is more demand driven and we can send people to a Facebook page I’m trying to think. From a user experience standpoint, if I’m used to going on Google, I click on an ad and all of a sudden I end up on Facebook. I might not even have a Facebook account. I’m like, why the heck am I even the connection from somebody clicking on a Google ad and ending up on Facebook could be confusing in some extent. So from my standpoint, if the channel that you’re on and you’re seeing some promise and you don’t have to be dominating it by any means, but if you’re seeing some kind of signs of, like, oh, this is interesting. I’m noticing a trend of people with this type of dog or whatever are clicking on my ads and they want pet grooming. You can tailor a post around that, boost it and then try to get more engagement. But to Blake’s point earlier, make sure you have a really clear call to action on it, whether it’s like call now or Messenger Messenger, get directions, like whatever, something like that. So it’s really clear. So if you have ad dollars to work and it’s day three, I probably wouldn’t do the search side of things, at least not right away. You probably want a website for that. I would put more money behind like boosting post or something like that.
Ben Page: Yeah, it’s interesting. I’d probably do $5 a day on Pmax and $5 a day on boosted posts or some kind of campaign of that effect on Meta. And mainly for me with Pmax, it’s more about boosting your GBP visibility. That’s fair. So I don’t know how much actual search traffic you get and yeah, measurement’s lost, but I think it’s going to be a spaghetti of attribution anyway. In the beginning, and especially with the word of mouth and referrals and all this kind of stuff, I suppose you can maybe do some codes or unique things per channel to, hey, it’s the same offer, but you’re like mention code, blah, blah, meta yeah. Mention code, puppy love or I don’t know, and get $20 off. Yeah. Super interesting. Well, what else? How would you build upon this foundation, right? You’re rocking and rolling. You’re starting to do some meta ads. You’re getting some hits. What do you do from there?
Blake John: Are we to the point where we would build a website?
Ben Page: Yes, my students, you are. Day 17.
Ray Sawvell: Maybe I’m envisioning somebody just like, writing down all the days that you’re saying Ben, and they’re like, what is Ben talking about? Day 14, we’re doing this. And day 17, right?
Ben Page: Day 30, you’re a millionaire.
Blake John: Right? That’s a trajectory we’re on right now.
Ben Page: Well, it could be that’s a different podcast depends on the demand and right. Day 30, you’re hiring ten pressure washers under you, and then you’re, I don’t know, upgrading your equipment and buying a fleet. I don’t know what’s like a reasonable.
Ray Sawvell: Budget for a one to three page website. Blake how can a business owner just jumpstart something and get the ball.
Blake John: For is it called Google Sites?
Ben Page: It was. I don’t know if it’s in the new iteration if it’s still being called truthfully.
Blake John: Like, full disclosure, I don’t have a ton of experience with Google Sites because most of our clients have a website. So if you have a website, you wouldn’t even touch Google Sites because it would sort of be redundant. But Google Sites, from what I know in its previous iteration, is entirely free. And you can spin up a website with everything that you would really need for just several hours of your time.
Ben Page: It has the AI tools built in to generate some of the assets needed.
Blake John: If you were to go, like, the WordPress route, you could probably build something.
Ben Page: Yourself for like $80, like really cheap, something like that. If you go on WordPress.com, sign up for a plan that’s going to get your hosting and the whole website system back, end that. You need the infrastructure. And then maybe you buy a domain name, perhaps write a premium theme if you want to really customize that look and feel a little bit more you could do that. If you have more time than money, pay the $10 or whatever for a domain name for your business. And then you could try to find some cheap website hosting, I don’t know, $20 a month or something like that. And then you could spin up WordPress from WordPress.org, like, set up the system and then build it yourself. And again, find there’s a free theme that comes with that. And there are a lot of AI tools now that are generating websites for people. So I feel like you could sign up for a free Canva account, spin up a logo, spin up some images, use the AI tools to spin up stock like images for different pages or use from all this social content you’ve been generating. Bring that photo and video on the site. But seriously, you could do a business card style site. A one pager or a two pager. Pretty quick and cheap. I feel like that could be the next step. Yeah.
Blake John: And depending on the services that you offer, honestly, I wouldn’t recommend a one page website because now we’re sort of graduating a little bit from Facebook being kind of your online presence entirely. It still will be there, of course, but you want to start the ecosystem with a really good structural foundation of content. I would have your homepage, of course, that would kind of be like an overview, would be your brand, who we are, just kind of some general things. But then I really would have a service page that details if you’re pressure washing, if you’re dog grooming, if you’re selling flowers or haircuts, whatever it is. This is sort of what we do. This is what we offer. This is the price. Maybe you have some testimonials, et cetera. And then I would also have, in addition to that, a contact page just as the basic, very basic starting point. Just because I’m trying to think about this from like a scalable way. That’s really the way to do it is kind of build out that structure of content that’s sort of linear in a way, but makes more sense at scale. This is kind of a really small operation, but again, I’m thinking ahead and saying, okay, set that standard now, early on.
Ben Page: Yeah, that’s great. Well, this one is getting a little long in the tooth, guys. I feel like we’ve kind of hit on this, like, what would be the first iteration of digital marketing for this local service business squad? If you’re listening, if you like this episode, let us know, and we can do a part two that talks about.
Blake John: The phase two of picking up at day 18.
Ben Page: Right. Starting to accelerate different advertising strategies like Blake. What you’re really starting to get into is like a long term SEO approach. How do you structure this site? How do you build upon that foundation? We could talk about more of the local based marketing hand to hand combat that could help take you to that next level. So let us know. Do reach out. We’d be glad to elaborate and continue this thread of conversation. Thank you for listening. Thank you so much for listening. Your support means the world to us and allows us to help more people and grow the community. Please take a minute right now to subscribe and share this. Wherever you listen to podcasts and sign up for the Profit Squad@joinprofitsquad.com, this will get you insider access, additional tools and swipe files, and help you elevate your marketing game to the next level.