As you dip your toes into all of the new beginnings and clean slates that come with the New Year, why not make a few resolutions that you can actually keep? Prospect Genius has compiled a list of some of the best things you can do for your company’s online advertising campaign in the coming year. By putting into practice even a few of these suggestions for smarter advertising, you’ll see a greater return on your efforts over last year.

Resolutions to Improve Your PG Campaign

1. Include your business name in your voice mail greeting. When matched with a friendly tone, it’s a professional touch that makes a strong first impression on prospective customers.
2. Send us your company photos. We’ll add them to your LeadTrax™ site for a personal touch that appeals to prospects.
   • Pictures should reflect your industry’s expected level of professionalism. For example, appliance repairmen can pose next to their toolbox or truck, but tax attorneys should have a professional head shot.
3. Do what you can to make sure your directory listings are populated with recent reviews. While this is somewhat out of your control, it’s important to keep in mind since prospective customers pay closer attention to reviews from the last few months.
4. Remember Prospect Genius’s package options:
   • Add PPC to strengthen your campaign.
   • Use Boost to promote a seasonal offering.
   • Sign up for a local AdBlast to promote a special discount.
5. Don’t let calls go to voice mail. There’s no excuse. Use your phone package options:
   • Send calls to your cell phone while you’re on the job. You can change the number yourself in the Client Portal.
   • Reroute calls so that they go to a different line after a few rings.
   • Hire an outside answering service as a last resort.
6. Use the Client Portal. Our most successful clients regularly check the Portal to:
   • See their lead stats (calls and e-mails).
   • Listen to their call recordings.
   • Harvest client e-mail addresses by copying and pasting the log from the Portal into a separate spreadsheet.
7. Check your e-mail. No matter what.
   • Set up the e-mail-to-call feature so you can keep track of your missed leads electronically and receive notification on your smartphone when your business misses a call.
   • Forward e-mails to multiple addresses so there’s a better chance of someone responding promptly to a lead.
8. Periodically monitor your Google+ Local listing to ensure that information doesn’t change or disappear (which is known to happen as Google makes updates). Get a jump on inaccurate information before it affects your rankings.

One Big “Don’t”

Don’t provide fake information to anyone, ever. This particularly refers to Google+ Local. When they call to verify certain information about your company, be accurate and honest. If they find out that you’ve falsified information—and they will—your company’s listing will be severely penalized for a substantial amount of time. Trust us: Honesty is the best policy.

A New Year of Online Advertising

To sum it all up: If you resolve to pay more attention to your campaign and become a more active participant in it, your extra efforts will pay dividends as the year goes on. Start off 2014 by following the above suggestions and be prepared to get a whole lot busier! As always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you need assistance logging into the Client Portal or using any of its features. We’re here to help!