Search engines like Google essentially created the SEO industry. But with the incredible competition today, it has become extremely difficult to rank in general. It may be a good idea to niche down, particularly in a specific neighborhood.
Local SEO has become more interesting than traditional SEO because of the unique factors you need in order to rank. But how do you actually sell local SEO to potential clients, especially to those who don’t even know what they are missing?
Table of contents
- Explain the benefits of local SEO
- Establish yourself as an authority
- Understand that different clients have different needs
- Manage their expectations
- Give a good pitch
- Provide case studies and testimonials
1. Explain the benefits of local SEO
In your journey as a digital marketing agency, you will encounter different kinds of businesses with different levels of marketing budgets. Some businesses may not even have a dedicated marketing department.
Sell local SEO to potential clients by explaining the benefits of optimizing for a specific neighborhood. Explain to them how local SEO can help improve their online visibility for searchers in their area, and how this can lead to more leads, conversions, and sales. Explain to them how it can also help with brand awareness, reputation building, and trust.
If they know the benefits they can get, they are more likely to see your pitch in a positive light.
2. Establish yourself as an authority
Even at the local level, it’s not easy to establish yourself as the go-to SEO provider. Competition can still be hot at a state or even city level. What you can do is put yourself out there by building relationships.
You can attend business network meetups, speaking events, webinars, and other events where local businesses gather together. Additionally, utilizing press release services to announce your participation or insights shared at these events can further solidify your reputation as a local authority. This approach not only enhances your visibility but also provides a tangible demonstration of your active engagement within the community. Remember, when speaking or using press releases, ensure the focus remains on providing value rather than appearing overly sales-oriented. Business owners appreciate authenticity and can easily discern genuine expertise from a sales pitch.
Another way to establish authority is to do a good job for your current clients and your own website. If you can satisfy your current clients, they can help spread the word about your expertise. They may even refer you to some of their friends. If your website ranks locally for certain keywords, it can also show your competence.
3. Understand that different clients have different needs
When you are making a pitch to potential clients, understand that generic templates are not likely to work. This is because different businesses have different needs. One potential client may already have an in-house SEO department, and it just needs a push in the right direction with your help. But another potential client may not even have a marketing department. And there are those who don’t even have websites.
If you can, make a quick audit to know their situation and how you can make it better. And then share your findings in a report. This will show that the report is personalized and not just a generic template you share with anybody. It will also show that you know what you are doing because of the technical details of the report.
4. Manage their expectations
An audit is really important because it helps you understand your potential client’s pain points. It will also give you an idea of what kind of goals you can establish. You can share these with your potential clients. But remember to be reasonable. Don’t make false claims and guarantees. Set realistic goals to manage their expectations.
Many businesses think that digital marketing agencies are magic bullets that will solve their problems immediately. As an agency, you know better than them. You know that results may take time. Make sure to share these sentiments with them. If they have unreasonable expectations, they may not be satisfied with your results, and this may end up hurting your agency’s reputation in the long run.
5. Give a good pitch
When making an audit, pitch, or report, remember that being complicated is not always the way to go. Even a simple pitch can be a good one. For example, if you try to search for local barbers and you find out this one barber doesn’t even have an SSL certificate on their website, you can email them about it and how you can help.
It’s such a simple pitch, but it solves the local business owner’s problems and shows your expertise in the matter. It also doesn’t take that much effort, especially if you think writing complicated pitches and reports and making extensive audits are not worth your time.
6. Provide case studies and testimonials
Another way to prove your authority and competence to potential clients is to provide them with the results you have gotten in the past. Give them case studies with numbers to show how you have helped other local SEO clients. Some businesses appreciate very specific key performance indicators. But others just want the juice – more sales. Make sure to highlight those.
You can also cherry-pick the best testimonials from other clients. If you can, show testimonials from clients in the same industry or locality. This will show that you know your way around and you are confident in solving your potential client’s pain points and achieving realistic goals for them.
You can also showcase how you can handle and manage multiple clients at once, just in case they have doubts that you are overly shopping around for more clients.
