prospective customers

Why You Should Give Your Company E-Mail Address a Makeover

Last Updated: December 17, 2015

Is an unprofessional e-mail address holding you back?
It’s a common refrain for job seekers, as unprofessional e-mail addresses on resumes can make prospective employers think twice about hiring them. But did you know that it can have the same effect on prospective customers seeking local service providers? An unprofessional e-mail address might convince them not to do business with you.
At the same time, Google has rolled out new procedures for claiming business listings that require business owners to have e-mail addresses with corporate domains. Without one, the process is much more time-consuming and complicated.
That means a professional e-mail address won’t just help you attract new customers—it will also streamline your online advertising efforts with Google. You might not have given your e-mail address much thought up until now, but it could make a world of difference for your business.

Have an Easier Time Dealing With Google

First, let’s discuss the new Google policies that make this upgrade a little more urgent.
Google has changed how they let you claim a listing. It used to be that when you had an advertiser trying to claim a listing on your behalf, Google would automatically call you for verification. Now, however, Google requests verification from you (the business owner) via e-mail (unless otherwise prompted by a phone call from your advertiser). But it can’t just be any e-mail: Google needs to receive an e-mail stating that you authorize “X” company to manage your listing, and this e-mail must come from an address on a corporate domain.

What’s a Corporate Domain Anyway?

What do we mean by “corporate domain”? Well, a domain is what a user types into their browser in order to visit a specific website. It usually ends with “.com,” “.gov,” “.org,” “.net,” etc. So, a corporate domain is a domain that contains a given business’s name. For example, Bob’s Appliance’s corporate domain would be “bobsappliance.com” or something similar.
Thus, Google would want to see an e-mail from “bob@bobsappliance.com” when authorizing a third party to claim and/or manage that company’s listing. This is a way for Google to safeguard against spam: An e-mail from a corporate domain proves that an actual owner or employee of the business is the one e-mailing them.
It’s not impossible to claim a listing or transition management without a corporate domain, but it’s a longer and more convoluted process involving a lot of back-and-forth phone calls. You’ll have a much faster resolution with Google if you can simply e-mail them from a business domain. This is an especially important point if you’re switching or planning on switching SEO providers.

What to Do:

Set up at least one e-mail address on your domain that you can send e-mails from to prove that it’s you when you’re claiming or verifying your listing. Google wants to talk to you and wants to know that it’s you.
Always maintain ownership of your listing and just make your advertiser the manager. This way, Google will always know that you’re the verified owner.

Don’t have your own corporate domain? Not sure how to get one? Talk to your advertiser. Most advertisers will be able to provide you with one; if not, they’ll be able to point you toward the correct resources. Either way, you’ll need to coordinate with your advertiser before creating a new domain. And if your advertiser has already built and optimized a website for you (like Prospect Genius’s LeadTrax™ sites), you can still register your own domain and have your advertiser connect the two.
If you’re doing it all yourself, here’s a good place to start.

Make Yourself More Attractive to Customers

Now let’s look at this from a marketing standpoint.
Pretend you’re a local homeowner looking to hire an appliance repairman to fix your fridge. When presented with these two e-mail addresses, which one would you choose to contact for the job?

BobbyB5287@aol.com
bob@bobsappliance.com

Most homeowners would choose the second one, as it appears much more legitimate. Even if it’s only a one-man operation, an e-mail address from “bobsappliance.com” makes the business look much bigger. That’s what prospective customers want to see.

Legitimize Your Business

Whether it’s Google or prospective customers, people like seeing a professional e-mail address. It makes your business look more legitimate, which is helpful for resolving issues with your Google listing and marketing yourself online. Your business’s success will only increase when you upgrade your e-mail address with a corporate domain, so take action now.
In the mood for a laugh? Check out The Oatmeal’s comic, “What your email address says about your computer skills.”

Facebook Is the New Google

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Facebook isn’t just for stalking your old classmates anymore. In the past few years, Facebook has evolved into a hub for exchanging information—everything from political opinions to diet tips to breaking news—among friends, coworkers, and relatives. People even outsource their own questions, asking trusted friends who they recommend for local doctors, dentists, hair dressers, repairmen, contractors, and so on. That means local businesses and service providers have a unique opportunity on Facebook: They can take advantage of this crowdsourcing trend and promote themselves right on Facebook, where people are already looking for info about them.
In fact, Facebook is slowly replacing Google as the go-to resource for local search. People used to turn to Google to find local appliance repairmen, plumbers, landscapers, and the like, but there was no way to know whether these professionals were actually reliable or not. Hence the uptick in crowdsourcing on Facebook. Now, people realize it’s much more easy and effective to ask the people they know and trust for their personal recommendations—instead of taking a gamble on the business that happened to have the best ranking on Google.

Optimize Your Facebook

To take advantage of this new opportunity, you must make your Facebook presence as appealing as possible to prospective customers. Here’s what you need:

Page “Likes.” A Facebook Page without fans is like a restaurant without patrons. People passing by will not go in because the restaurant is empty, implying that it’s unpopular. In other words, more “Likes” on your Page will give your business more credibility.
Reviews. Customer reviews used to just be nice to have. Then, they became integral in attracting new customers. Now, they’re a vital part of your local search rankings on Google. You simply must get your customers to leave reviews on your company’s Facebook Page.
Page activity. Your Page is a showcase for your company’s personality and expertise. You should be posting status updates, uploading photos, and sharing helpful articles on a consistent basis (at least a few times a week), otherwise your audience will see no value in following your Page.
An attractive profile. Your company’s description should be well written and captivating. Your profile picture and header should be unique, high-quality images that are relevant to your business—not grainy snapshots of your own face. You want Page visitors to see how professional your team really is.
Regular engagement. To show your audience that you care, you should be interacting with them regularly. When they comment on one of your posts, respond. When they leave a review, good or bad, thank them for their feedback. This is your chance to hear what your customers and prospects are thinking and to let them know that you’re listening.

What You Can Do Yourself

There are many aspects of social media marketing that you can take care of yourself. Maintaining a presence on Facebook is something that’s entirely within your abilities if you have the time and energy. Here are some of the Facebook tasks that are pretty DIY friendly:

Sharing status updates. It only takes a minute to share what your company has been up to for the past few days.
Uploading photos and/or videos of your work. Smartphones make it super easy to take photos and videos, and the Facebook app makes it even easier to upload them straight to your timeline.
Sharing links to relevant articles and/or blog posts. If you come across an item online that you think your audience would appreciate, it takes almost no time at all to copy and paste the link on Facebook.
Interacting with your audience (e.g. posing questions, replying to comments, etc.). As soon as you get a notification that someone has commented on a post or left you a review, take a quick moment to read it and respond. It’s also easy to engage with your fans simply by asking them about their plans for the weekend or an upcoming holiday.

What You Should Leave to Us

Of course, having some extra time on your hands isn’t always enough to make an impressive Facebook presence. If you really want to promote your brand and put yourself in front of local prospects, then you’ll need to consider some more advanced strategies. However, advanced strategies call for advanced expertise. The below tasks require the kind of experience you can only find at Prospect Genius:

Promoting sponsored ads. We have years of experience working with paid ads. We use those countless data points to identify trends and help your ads get the most visibility and highest conversion rates possible. Plus, since Facebook uses a CPM model instead of CPC (in other words, you pay for ad impressions instead of clicks), you’ll need a team that knows how to set up your campaign so you aren’t hemorrhaging money.
Implementing a “Like” campaign. Again, since we’re able to draw on our wealth of experience with paid ads, we know how to test and rotate ads so they drive the most “Likes” to your page.
Continuously sharing content. Even if you have the time to post on Facebook, you may not know exactly what to say. That’s where our SocialStream package comes in handy. Our professional writers will add a certain number of blog posts each month to your LeadTrax™ site, and our production specialists will share them on all of your social media accounts. It’s the best way to share useful, high-quality content with your audience on a consistent basis.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Social media is a lifestyle. It’s not a one-and-done campaign. Maintaining a solid Facebook presence requires lots of repetition. You need to be continuously active on your account. Your activity can’t just last for one month and then taper off, or else you’ll miss out on countless potential fans. If you don’t think you’ll be able to maintain consistent activity on Facebook, then you should seriously consider calling for reinforcements. Our professionals will give you plenty of valuable content to share and can even promote your brand through sponsored ads. You can’t afford to ignore such a vital (and mostly free) advertising platform… Give us a call and start coordinating with our team today!

Keep Calm and Carry On: How to Respond to a Negative Review

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Customer reviews are a blessing and a curse. When you have countless satisfied customers leaving you glowing reviews on directories like Google+ Local, Yelp, Facebook, Angie’s List, CitySearch, and so on, your business gets a huge boost and your self-esteem soars. But as soon as you notice one negative review, a record scratches and the party stops. You can’t believe what you’re reading.
It’s upsetting to read negative things about your company, especially when you try so hard to satisfy every customer. Sometimes, after you’ve given it some thought, a complaint might be justified; other times, it feels like you’re dealing with an irrational individual who can’t be pleased. Whatever the case may be, don’t leave a negative customer review unanswered. Instead, take initiative and respond by following these steps.

1. Keep the Right Audience in Mind

Remember that prospective customers will be reading your response; it isn’t just for the one person who left the review. In fact, the person who left the review will probably never see your response! Prospective customers are doing their research, carefully reading about others’ experiences, and they’ll want to gain insight into how you treat your customers. Bearing that in mind, your response should address the issue at hand by explaining what went wrong and how similar problems will be prevented in the future. Prospects want to be sure that you’re aware of your weaknesses and that you’re actively working to mitigate them. Reading these points in your response will reiterate to them that you’re an honest, hardworking company.

2. Don’t Get Defensive

When dealing with a negative customer review, it’s best not to be reactive. As business owners, it’s easy to get defensive. A bitter response might be the first thing that comes to mind, especially if the reviewer included false information, but that’s not an effective course of action. Just take a few hours, maybe even a whole day, to gain some perspective and to form a rational rebuttal before you post anything online for public viewing.

3. Demonstrate Accountability

In your response, you should try to put your company in the most flattering light while still accepting responsibility for the customer’s unfavorable experience. Instead of merely explaining your side of the story, you should also present an idea for how you might fix the problem and use this as a learning experience. This demonstrates to prospective customers that you’re serious about providing top-quality work and customer satisfaction, and more importantly, that you’re always striving for improvement.

4. Just Respond

Don’t ignore a negative review. Any response is better than no response, with the exception of an aggressive, personal attack written in the heat of the moment. Given the current state of social media and the fact that everyone has a virtual megaphone now, a review that’s left uncontested could quickly spread beyond your Facebook page or Google+ listing. That’s the last thing you need. A quick response to the reviewer, and the wider public audience by extension, could keep a potential mess at bay.
For an entertaining look at some of the biggest social media splashes made by passionate customers, check out this slideshow from DailyFinance: “When Customer Service Goes Viral: The Good and the Bad.” As you can see, all it takes is one instance of poor service to create a public relations nightmare. In fact, public complaints against high-profile brands like United Airlines and FedEx have received hundreds of thousands of hits online! While local service providers like you are operating on a much smaller scale, you see the point: Word of mouth travels at the speed of light these days. Don’t let one rotten review spoil your whole clientele.

5. Counteract With More Positive Reviews

In addition to responding verbally, you can also respond by taking action. If you talk to your satisfied customers, you can collect a handful of more positive reviews that will push the negative one toward the bottom of your listing, thus minimizing any serious impact. In doing so, you’ll also make the negative review seem less glaring and more like a fluke. If prospective customers see just one bad review surrounded by numerous good ones, they’ll do the math.
For ideas on how to harvest those positive reviews from your customers, stay tuned for our next blog post at the beginning of October!

Prospect Genius

Why You Should Give Your Company E-Mail Address a Makeover

Have an Easier Time Dealing With Google

What’s a Corporate Domain Anyway?

What to Do:

Make Yourself More Attractive to Customers

Legitimize Your Business

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