- Joined
- Jan 26, 2016
- Messages
- 46
- Reaction score
- 19
For the majority that don't know me, I'm primarily a 360 virtual tour creator. I have personally visited 1500 businesses and published high quality SLR tours on their Google listing in the last 2 years as part of the Google Trusted Photographer program. I also have the Trusted Verifier app from Google so I can verify GMB via GPS on the spot.
I could do a lot of other things, local search consulting, websites, etc. Video is definitely one direction I am going next year.
Running a business involves so many components: sales, marketing, admin. Too many hats.
So many potential clients that are ignorant of the local search niche, from the mom and pop stores to multinationals. If you take small, medium and corporate businesses worldwide, how many physical locations are we talking about? Probably about 200-300 million.
How many active local search specialists are on this forum generating revenue full-time? Between 50 and 100 (give or take). I don't have 3 million clients, do you?
I see sales as a big problem for many local search pros. Too much time spent doing the "engineering" type stuff, not enough time focused on growing the business. Even after decades, the E-Myth by Michael Gerber is still as relevant today. Once you have the sale, you then have issues being able to implement at scale.
There are some shining lights in the industry who have created platforms and companies that can solve issues at scale. Yext and Factual, Grade.us and GetFiveStars. Those companies that are mentioned on GeoMarketing. Many readers of this post are consultants working alone or with a small team. Linda, Joy, Phil, Greg, Scott, Garrett, David etc.
It's hard to be everything to everyone. Mike Blumenthal (who I respect deeply) personal website looks like it belongs in the wayback machine, (GetFiveStars looks great I admit) and I have read his recent article "Google is the new Homepage" and the Barbera Oliver Jewellery case study about 10 times. But how is even a local search god going to handle progressive web apps and WebVR?
Back to my main line of thought, I would like to know where you see your major sources of revenue coming from, for each component of Local Search Marketing that would make an effective strategy.
Are you focusing on a few niche industries, or one product or service more than others?
How much time do you spend educating clients? Does the educational process limit your sales ability? Is it easier just to focus on a small retinue of switched on business owners you already have?
How much are you implementing new features such as direct restaurant booking and limiting third-parties on GMB, booking appointments, using posts? How much of your strategy involves Facebook? Instagram? Snapchat? Email Marketing?
Services I do offer, can offer, may offer:
What am I missing? What works for you? What skills do you wish you had? What could you sell to your clients if it was a turn-key solution?
I am thinking of becoming is a Zoho CRM consultant. This diverges from the main point of my post, but I have been researching CRM for a long time and the Zoho One package is very affordable for what you get, compared to other SMB CRMs, and I can't afford the monthly licensing and implementation costs for Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce - and I need something like this to grow my business.
I'm open to chatting at a deeper level via Skype with anyone worldwide who is interested in what I am discussing here. I really want to achieve something great next year, and that involves sales, setting up an outsourcing office of my own in the Philippines where I have connections, and most importantly, helping to bring success to business owners who need digital transformation.
What services would you, the community like me to build for you? What can you offer to build for me that I can sell?
A bitcoin for your thoughts
I could do a lot of other things, local search consulting, websites, etc. Video is definitely one direction I am going next year.
Running a business involves so many components: sales, marketing, admin. Too many hats.
So many potential clients that are ignorant of the local search niche, from the mom and pop stores to multinationals. If you take small, medium and corporate businesses worldwide, how many physical locations are we talking about? Probably about 200-300 million.
How many active local search specialists are on this forum generating revenue full-time? Between 50 and 100 (give or take). I don't have 3 million clients, do you?
I see sales as a big problem for many local search pros. Too much time spent doing the "engineering" type stuff, not enough time focused on growing the business. Even after decades, the E-Myth by Michael Gerber is still as relevant today. Once you have the sale, you then have issues being able to implement at scale.
There are some shining lights in the industry who have created platforms and companies that can solve issues at scale. Yext and Factual, Grade.us and GetFiveStars. Those companies that are mentioned on GeoMarketing. Many readers of this post are consultants working alone or with a small team. Linda, Joy, Phil, Greg, Scott, Garrett, David etc.
It's hard to be everything to everyone. Mike Blumenthal (who I respect deeply) personal website looks like it belongs in the wayback machine, (GetFiveStars looks great I admit) and I have read his recent article "Google is the new Homepage" and the Barbera Oliver Jewellery case study about 10 times. But how is even a local search god going to handle progressive web apps and WebVR?
Back to my main line of thought, I would like to know where you see your major sources of revenue coming from, for each component of Local Search Marketing that would make an effective strategy.
Are you focusing on a few niche industries, or one product or service more than others?
How much time do you spend educating clients? Does the educational process limit your sales ability? Is it easier just to focus on a small retinue of switched on business owners you already have?
How much are you implementing new features such as direct restaurant booking and limiting third-parties on GMB, booking appointments, using posts? How much of your strategy involves Facebook? Instagram? Snapchat? Email Marketing?
Services I do offer, can offer, may offer:
- KPI Analytics / Dashboards
- GMB claim/audit/optimisation
- Organic search optimisation
- Citation Management
- Review and Reputation Management
- On-Page SEO
- Website development / Progressive Web Apps
- Off-page SEO / Backlinks
- SEM / Adwords / Facebook Marketing / Retargeting
- 360 Virtual Tours
- Point of Interest Photography
- Video - explainers, testimonials
- Marketing Automation / Email Marketing
- AI / Chatbots
- Digital Business transformation / CRM / POS
- Digital Signage
- Internet of Things / WiFi Analytics
What am I missing? What works for you? What skills do you wish you had? What could you sell to your clients if it was a turn-key solution?
I am thinking of becoming is a Zoho CRM consultant. This diverges from the main point of my post, but I have been researching CRM for a long time and the Zoho One package is very affordable for what you get, compared to other SMB CRMs, and I can't afford the monthly licensing and implementation costs for Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce - and I need something like this to grow my business.
I'm open to chatting at a deeper level via Skype with anyone worldwide who is interested in what I am discussing here. I really want to achieve something great next year, and that involves sales, setting up an outsourcing office of my own in the Philippines where I have connections, and most importantly, helping to bring success to business owners who need digital transformation.
What services would you, the community like me to build for you? What can you offer to build for me that I can sell?
A bitcoin for your thoughts
