Your SEO sales pitch can make or break your success as an SEO agency or contractor. If you don’t nail your SEO sales pitches, you may have a difficult time winning over potential clients.
An SEO sales pitch is not just about delivering a persuasive presentation. It’s also about understanding your potential client’s needs, showing your competitive edge, and building relationships. Here’s everything you need to know about creating effective SEO sales pitches.
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Where to get SEO leads to pitch to
Wait, where do you get the potential clients to pitch to in the first place? You can write the best SEO sales pitches out there. But without leads, they will be useless. Here are the biggest lead sources you should be looking into.
1. Inbound inquiries
If you are offering digital marketing products and services, naturally, you are already in the digital space. You have a website, business profiles in various directories like Google My Business, and social media profiles on the most popular networks like Facebook and Twitter.
It’s important to include important details about you and your business in these digital spaces. Your contact information is particularly important in getting inbound inquiries. Make sure to put your email address, phone number, and other contact information in an easy-to-find location. Potential clients will reach out to you and ask about your products and services.
2. Outbound email outreach
You can also send out emails to get leads. You may think that this is spammy, and you are right – if you don’t know what you are doing. Find businesses first that would benefit from your SEO products and services. Craft them personalized emails, so that when they see your email in their inbox, they won’t go straight to the trash. With enough perseverance and luck, you may get interested prospects who will reply to your emails. You can continue the conversation from there.
3. Recommendations and referrals
Maximize your existing client base and network. Do a good job for them – even when delivering bad news. When your clients are satisfied, they are likely to recommend your SEO products and services to their connections. These connections may also be in the same industry or niche, so this will be a good opportunity to build your authority and portfolio in their space.
To boost recommendations and referrals, you can also offer incentives and referral programs.
4. Content marketing and authority
One way to build authority in a particular space is to create high-quality content and leverage press release services to distribute your most significant updates and achievements. If you have good content, such as blog posts, case studies, videos, or press releases, you appear knowledgeable and authoritative. Publish these materials on your own website, across social media profiles, through press release distributions, and in industry publications where your target leads can easily find them. This enhanced visibility can significantly boost your inbound inquiries, establishing you as a thought leader in your niche.
If you have authority and credibility, you can generate a lot of inbound inquiries. You can give your impeccable SEO sales pitch from there.
5. Networking events
One of the most underrated ways to get leads is by attending events. They can be conferences, industry-specific events, trade shows, or anything else where business owners, industry professionals, and company decision-makers gather. They are all potential clients.
Strike a conversation. Introduce yourself. Understand their business. Share the benefits of SEO. Exchange contact information. And before you know it, you have inbound inquiries in your inbox. This way of getting leads is particularly effective for local SEO.
How to pitch SEO services
Now that you have the leads, how do you actually convert them to paying clients? Of course, you give them an awesome SEO sales pitch. Here are some tips to nail your next SEO sales pitch and win clients.
1. Understand your potential client’s needs and wants
Nobody wants templated messages and replies. They give the impression that you don’t truly care and that you simply blast the same template to everybody. They feel like spam. If you want to win clients with your SEO sales pitch, it has to be personalized. Understand your potential client’s needs and wants and cater your SEO sales pitch accordingly.
- Study your potential client’s business inside out. What is your potential client’s industry or niche? What are their business goals, both short-term and long-term? And most importantly, how can you help achieve these goals? If you answer these questions, you can customize key performance indicators that you can focus on for your proposed SEO campaigns. And if you don’t know the answer to these questions, you can just ask your potential client.
- Conduct an SEO audit. Understand their current SEO situation by conducting an SEO audit. Look for off-page, on-page, and technical issues that may be negatively impacting their SEO performance. Understand their rankings and visibility, especially when compared to competitors. And analyze their content to look for content gaps, optimization opportunities, and potential keywords to target.
- Compile data and insights to support your SEO sales pitch. An effective SEO audit combines the use of manual analysis and SEO auditing tools. Tools like Ahrefs, Google Analytics, Moz, and SEMrush will make it easier for you to compile data and form insights. It’s important to include data and insights in your SEO sales pitch to make it more compelling. They give you a precise understanding of your potential client’s SEO situation.
2. Develop a clear value proposition
A value proposition is a statement that communicates the value of your SEO products and services. It tries to convince your potential clients to become real paying clients by availing your business. Your value proposition should be clear, concise, and compelling to maximize your chances of converting leads into real customers.
- Highlight the benefits of SEO to your potential client’s business. You will get leads who are in different phases in their business journeys. You may get mom-and-pop shops, local businesses, and entire enterprises. But they have one thing in common – they all want to earn more money. Explain to them the benefits of SEO – how it can get more eyeballs to their business, get more customers, and ultimately, get more sales.
- Address the specific challenges their business is facing. Different businesses have different pain points. The problem of a mom-and-pop shop may be entirely different compared to that of a corporation. You need to create an SEO sales pitch that caters to the problems of the potential client you are pitching to. How will the mom-and-pop shop excel in local SEO? How can the corporation compete with state competitors?
- Explain your competitive edge and selling point. SEO and digital marketing in general is a very competitive space. You need to have an edge if you want to win clients with your SEO sales pitch. Be specific with your SEO benefits. Talk about conversions, lead generation, organic traffic, search rankings, and website visibility. Even quantify them if possible. But avoid using jargon. Use clear language that is easy to understand.
3. Present with a solution-oriented approach
Here’s how to present a solution-oriented approach in your SEO sales pitch – focus on the challenges and pain points of your potential client and offer your SEO products and services as a solution. That’s it. It’s important to have a solution-oriented approach because it immediately demonstrates the value of your SEO business to their business.
- Identify the right pitching channels. You have to connect with your potential client to get through them. But you won’t be able to connect with them effectively if you don’t even know the right pitching channels for their specific case and personality. The most common channels include direct messages, emails, live events, phone calls, and video calls. Elevator pitches are also great, especially when you are attending live events. They can even be more effective than complex pitches. Consider the contents of your SEO sales pitch too to determine the right pitching channel. For example, if you have a visually compelling SEO sales pitch, you may want to choose a channel where you can highlight multimedia content, such as a video call.
- Present an action plan for the potential client’s business challenges. Understand your potential client’s business and goals and their current SEO situation. And then present an action plan that will make this situation better to align with their business and goals. Identify your key strategies, such as content creation, keyword research, local link building, and technical SEO. Break down your specific tactics for these strategies and provide relevant key performance indicators.
- Emphasize the importance of a data-driven approach and continuous SEO optimization. Businesses love numbers. They show that you are detail-oriented and you know what you are doing. They also give business owners quantifiable data to have a better understanding of their SEO challenges and the solutions you are pitching. Here are some key data points to consider – engagement metrics (bounce rate, time on page, etc.), keyword research (relevant keywords, search volume, competition, etc.), on-page analysis (headers, URL structures, etc.), and technical SEO (crawlability, site speed, etc.)
4. Address concerns and objections
Even if you follow the tips above, your potential client won’t automatically hire your SEO business. They may have concerns and objections. You should know how to navigate through these concerns and objections to boost your authority, build their trust, and even mitigate risk.
- Use case studies and testimonials to prove your expertise. One common concern is that you actually don’t know what you are doing. You are just another SEO agency or contractor spamming them with SEO sales pitches. Separate yourself from others by providing evidence that you can be successful. Nail your next SEO sales pitch by including case studies and testimonials. With case studies, you can prove your expertise. And with testimonials, you can show your relevance in the SEO industry.
- Prepare answers to common follow-up questions. You should look prepared when you are delivering an SEO sales pitch to a potential client. One way to emphasize this is to prepare answers to common follow-up questions. How long will the SEO campaigns last? How long will they wait to see tangible results? What ongoing communication and support will they get? What reporting tool are you using? Can you provide examples of your past work and their results?
- Be transparent, but avoid being too technical. Actively listen to your potential client’s concerns and objections. Answer them clearly and truthfully. Use data as much as possible. But be careful in using too much jargon and becoming too technical. The details may go over their head. Remember, you have to establish a clear connection with your potential client. And you will fail at that if they don’t understand your words. With a solution-oriented approach with data and examples, you can be compelling. You don’t need big words.
5. Discuss pricing and terms
Discussing pricing and terms will show transparency to your potential client. It will signify that you are upfront with costs, and you don’t have hidden charges and fees. This will help give them an idea of the value you bring to their business. It can also help manage and set up expectations and avoid misunderstandings.
- Share your pricing structure. There are many different pricing structures for SEO products and services. You can go with project-based pricing, which is a one-time cost. You can go with a monthly retainer, especially for continuous SEO campaigns and optimizations. And you can even do an hourly rate. The important thing is, you are catering your pricing structure to your potential client’s needs. Make adjustments where necessary.
- Provide different pricing options. Your pricing structure should be flexible enough to accommodate different client budgets and needs. One way to show your flexibility is by providing different pricing options. You can also offer package pricing that will bundle different SEO products and services. These packages are most of the time cost-efficient for potential clients.
- Discuss terms and conditions. Break down your packages and prices, so your potential clients know what they are getting for every cent they shell out. But don’t focus on the dollars alone. Also include the duration of the agreements, confidentiality, payment terms, non-disclosure agreements, and SEO content ownership rights. There should be a mutual understanding between you and your potential client when it comes to these things.
6. Follow up and build a relationship
Following up regarding your SEO sales pitch has a lot of benefits. It helps you stay at the top of the mind of your potential client. It’s also a great way to gather feedback and make the necessary adjustments to cater to your potential client’s needs and wants. Building a relationship with them also has a lot of benefits. It nurtures trust. And this can lead to employing your SEO business and recommending you to their peers.
- Follow up shortly after pitching your SEO services. This can be tricky. If you follow up too soon, you may appear pushy. But if you follow up too late, you may appear like you are not that interested. Generally, you should follow up about a week or two after delivering your SEO sales pitch. But the time period can be shorter or longer, depending on various circumstances. Look at the complexity of the project. Make sure you are giving enough time for the potential client to review your SEO sales pitch.
- Be with your potential client in their decision-making. Your potential client’s decision-making process can be simple or complex. Give them time to absorb everything and come up with a decision on whether to get your SEO products and services or not. Follow up promptly. Provide additional information when necessary. Address their concerns and objections. You can also offer a consultation session to make their decision-making process smoother.
- Build a relationship even if they don’t commit immediately. This nurtures trust. They may not immediately commit or outright reject you for now. But this doesn’t mean that they are not a valuable lead. Your potential client can be a real paying client in the future. They can also refer you to their peers. Maintain communications with them. This will put you on their radar, and when SEO challenges arise, you may be the first one they think about.
7. Hone your SEO skills
It’s not just about nailing your next SEO sales pitch. It’s also about delivering results, impressing your SEO clients, and getting new leads through their recommendations. To achieve this funnel, you will have to hone your SEO skills. You have to know what you are doing.
- Stay updated on SEO trends. You are an SEO professional. Of course, you have to stay up-to-date with all industry trends. SEO is a constantly evolving industry. There is always an algorithm update, a new technique, and new practices that change the landscape. You have to remain sharp and maintain your competitive edge. If you don’t, you can nail your SEO sales pitches, but you won’t be able to satisfy your newly converted clients.
- Avoid internal issues that can compromise your SEO products and services. The lack of expertise may be the most crucial internal issue you have to address. Keep your team trained. You don’t have to enroll your members in courses. You can brainstorm among yourselves too. Don’t forget about other internal issues, such as poor project management and team coordination. Use project management tools like Asana and Trello and analytics tools like Ahrefs and Google Analytics to smoothen your internal processes.
- Consider outsourcing some of your work. One way to avoid internal issues is to outsource some of your SEO products and services. Hire a white label digital marketing company that offers the SEO products and services you need to outsource. You can let them do the work. And then rebrand the products and services as if you are the one who is doing them. Outsourcing can save you money. It can also make your digital marketing business more scalable.
Win SEO clients by pitching the right way
Getting leads is just the first step. Converting them into paying SEO clients is the next. Convert your leads now into clients by giving them an amazing SEO sales pitch.
Understand their business and their goals. Show them the value of SEO. Explain their current SEO situation. Emphasize how you can improve it. All the while, be clear with your words, be transparent, and most of all, be genuine. That’s how you nail your next SEO sales pitch and win clients.
