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If you have your own business, are currently working in the customer service industry, or if you’re actually the customer on the receiving end of the service given by a company, you know how important customer service is. Customer service can make or break a sale. In this day and age where most consumers can have anything delivered to their door with just one click, how can companies keep up with this demanding customer persona new technology has created? According to a study by Walker, the customers of 2020 will be more informed and more in charge of the type of service and experience they will receive. Companies are expected to know a customer’s individual needs and preferences. Anticipating and proactively addressing a customer’s immediate and future needs should be the staple for any company, and providing personalized experience will be the trend. Let’s start at the beginning – why does service matter so much? Why Is Customer Service Important? … [Read more...] about 5 Tips for Amazing Customer Service

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) get almost 24 calls a month from marketing providers looking to sell them advertising or marketing products and services. Competition is fierce, and SMBs often have a difficult time choosing a provider. Last month, I covered how the trend of fake online content leads to a general distrust of digital and online media. But the local digital marketing industry, especially in the area of SEO, suffers from its own share of issues that lead to a lack of trust by SMBs. LSA (Local Search Association) conducted a survey to examine what challenges SMBs face when shopping for a digital marketing provider and what areas they feel are most important for marketers to address when trying to gain their business. Below I discuss the results of the survey, data regarding client churn in the industry and ways in which marketers need to respond. Lastly, I share some information on a new certification program that LSA is launching to address these problems. Top … [Read more...] about SMBs are overwhelmed with digital marketing choices. How to stand out and win their business.

Fake news and its influence on the election dominated headlines for weeks as fabricated news reports went viral and the election results shocked the nation. But fake news is just one tentacle of a troubling and growing trend of fake media content. The headlines simply brought to light what is a much wider problem: the ease and prevalence with which false online information is used to manipulate behavior. The manipulation can be of consumer behavior, business behavior or even the behavior of software triggered by false information fed into its system. Scam artists are strongly motivated to take advantage — recent reports cite Russian hackers who stole up to $5 million a day in advertising revenue by posing as fake users in a scheme tagged by the name “Methbot.” The impact on marketers is particularly hard. As consumers search for information to help make purchase decisions, uncertainty about the veracity of the information they receive impacts the effectiveness of … [Read more...] about The fake information epidemic and how it will hurt local search in 2017

The Local Search Association held its annual conference last month, where search and marketing experts in the local space provided fascinating insights into trends and challenges that the advertising, marketing and search industry faces today. Here are 10 of the top insights shared at LSA16. 1. Search disruption is coming Online search has essentially followed the directory listing model, whether it be search results from Google, restaurant reviews on Yelp or hotels on TripAdvisor. Yet a number of speakers at LSA16 shared innovations that deviate from this traditional model that owes its genesis to print directories. Virtual assistants and artificial intelligence have been talked about for a number of years since their launch in 2011. Google voice search was launched in mid-2011, and Siri was launched towards the end of 2011. However, they’ve largely been limited to setting calendar events, making witty responses to dumb questions and inspiring dreams about what the future could … [Read more...] about “Search disruption is coming!” and 9 other expert insights From LSA16

The business of local is enjoying a surge of growth, supported both by consumer demand and business interest. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have long been touted as the backbone of the economy. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent data (2012), businesses with fewer than 20 employees make up 90% of all employer businesses and produce $4 trillion in sales receipts. But it is their future growth that has marketers taking notice. Local online marketing company Yodle released a report titled, “Yodle Insights: What Consumers Want from Local Businesses,” that surveyed more than 6,000 consumers. Yodle found that 82% of US consumers use local businesses, and that they use them more than national chains. More importantly, 47% of consumers stated that they used local businesses more this year than last year, and 48% planned to use local businesses even more over the next 12 months. Virtually no one expressed that they would use local businesses less … [Read more...] about 5 Ways To Use What Consumers Want To Boost Local SEO Strategy