Marketing Services

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Make sure they know what they are doing and have your best interests in mind. Read their blogs, their white papers, e-books, and guides. Google them to see what comes up. Look at their website, social media accounts, and the LinkedIn profiles of their executives. Look for testimonials and case studies from clients. Check out the industry to get an idea of what others are doing effectively- and compare that to what your provider is telling you or offering you. Ask lots of questions to find out if he/she really knows his/her stuff.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. No secrets really. Just make sure you know what you are really getting- spell it out in a contract. Be sure to assign responsibilities and accountabilities with measurable goals and a time frame for accomplishing them. So many who are providing marketing services don't really do these latter 2 things but I think that is critical to achieving success and being satisfied that you get what you paid for.

One last thing, know that any reputable service provider in my industry should be upfront with you to let you know that seeing results will take time and you will have to be involved too in order to see the best results possible. I need to learn about your business in order to market it and write content to produce leads/customers. And if you don't want to hire my firm to produce content, who will do it? Are they dependable enough to do it well and do it frequently and regularly enough to meet your goals? Producing great content consistently is one of the biggest keys to success. But it is also the hardest thing to do.

Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?

A. What they recommend doing and why- and how much it will cost. What is the time frame to see success- or to know something is not working. How do they track and measure results and report that to you. What kind of ROI could one expect from their services. And what happens if you are not satisfied with their services. Will they make it right? Do they keep working until you are satisfied or will they refund some or all of their fee? Also, find out how have other clients fared when using their services. Do they have client testimonials or case studies? Check third party sites like yelp, citysearch, social media sites, etc. to find out what others say about them.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. Do I really need a web presence? Do I need to get leads and customers/clients online? Are my prospects searching for my products or services online? What are my in-house capabilities for driving traffic to my website, optimizing it to convert that traffic to leads, and nurture those leads until they are ready to buy or at least talk to a sales representative? And lastly, know what your business and marketing goals are what your lead generation rate is for your marketing methods- especially your online marketing methods. How many site visitors turn into qualified sales and marketing leads? How many of those leads convert into paying customers, clients, or patients? Those are very important metrics to know. If you don't know them, call me quick so I can tell you how to figure it out!

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. I always look at how my services affect the bottom line of my clients. There are all kinds of marketing strategies, methods, and tactics one could take to get a prospect's attention and make a sale. But not all of them are going to make you a profit. Small businesses don't have the money to spend on big media pushes or branding campaigns. They need every dollar they spend to work hard for them and to produce multiple times what they spend in order to sustain their business long-term. That is why I love inbound marketing so much. It meets customers and prospects where they are and it follows their buying process. So it is very effective- and for the time being- very inexpensive if you (or someone you hire) knows what they are doing.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. Getting to use both the creative side of my brain and the analytic side of my brain. This job entails that I do both for success. And I do them very well if I may say so myself. :)

I also enjoy meeting and working with many different small business owners such as myself and having a positive influence in my community.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. What is inbound marketing? Do you build websites? Do you provide graphic design services? How much do you charge?

Inbound marketing is simply pulling people to you with great content that gets found on the search engines or social media and converting visitors to leads/customers through content that answers their questions and serves their needs- both shopping needs and they need to solve a problem.

I don't build websites. I optimize them. I do build landing pages and blogs that can be used with websites though.

I don't do graphic design but I have many many contacts with excellent graphic designers. I can either refer you to them or hire and manage them directly on your behalf.

How much I charge depends on what you want and how quickly you want it. If you hire me by the hour, I usually charge between $75 and $150 an hour. I prefer to charge by the project though and that depends on what you want. Compare it to building a house. Do you want a shack or do you want a mansion or do you want something in between? And how soon do you want it? I can help you answer this and build a custom quote for you based on your answers. But I do have some standard packages already pre-built available with standard prices. Just check out my website or call/email for details.