Fail To Do This And Kiss Your Business Good-Bye

It's true. I know it seems a little, a little over the top of like, hey, if you fail to do this, your business will go up in flames, you're toast. Well, it's kind of true. And I just wanted to share a case study of something that happened with a business that we used to work with and what happened after we left them. Hi, my name is Jeff Harrison with Swingpoint Media. We are a local digital marketing agency and I want to talk about this one thing. If you don't do this as a business owner in today's marketplace, it could literally mean the difference of you staying in business, growing or being someone's thought of the past. In other words, going out of business. So I want to share this example. In 2019, we took on a new client. At that time they were spending a fair amount of money, probably 25 or $30,000 a year in TV advert. And it was okay. There was no way to track it, nothing going on. And they brought us in and at that point they had no content. They had no blogs on their video or on their website. All they had was a website like most, that's just a brochure that says, hey, this is who we are. Here are our services. Call here, call now. Here's my contact information. Pretty typical. Well, we immediately started creating content for them and that was in the form of a weekly blog and a weekly video. And then also we started generating emails for their database and we did things like on Google Business Profile, at that time it was called Google My Business. And we were posting there and some on their social media sites. Well, this is what happened. We first started, you know, we like to kind of draw a line in the sand and say, hey, hey, how are they doing? When we first got there, they had an average of about 300 visitors coming to the website every month. And that's not unusual. You know, a local business will get somewhere between three and 400. Well, in a very short order, we started creating content. And it's not just any content. It was not what I call, hey, I'm a superhero content. It's what I call solution based content. And what I mean by that, it's content. And you might want to write this down, this is content that your customers need answered. In other words, questions they have, they need answered on their buying journey. And it may be something that, you know, as an example, if I were going to buy a car, I might look up and say, hey, in a Ford or model, how many options are there? Or I might find a particular car and I want to know the gas mileage, I want to. How big the trunk is, I want to, I want to know other seat, does it have a bench seat across the front? I know no cars have bench seats anymore. But the idea is these are questions your ideal customer need answered. And by writing content in a form of blogs or making videos or putting social media posts out, these are starting what I call breadcrumbing. It puts little breadcrumbs along the trail that they're on, which as a breadcrumb, what does it do is it leads it back to you. Well, we started doing that and one of the very first articles we wrote, it started getting a lot of traction. Now, again, remember, we started out line in the sand, 300, 300 video or 300 views a month, coming to the website.

And in a very short order, that one email or that one article was getting about 1700. Now, it performed that all the way through to about July of 2023 when we said, hey, we no longer want to work with that business. There had been some things change and we decided it was best. We parted ways. It was all good. It was just, it was time to move on.

The cool thing about this is during that period, we had the most catastrophic thing. Nationwide or worldwide. We had a pandemic. Their business at some point were actually closed, like a lot of us were closed. But their business kept growing because of why? Because of the content that was on their website, the content that was out in the, on the web. So if somebody looked for their, for their business, they could easily find it. In fact, they were number one in almost all the searches. Which means typically Google says when you're number one, you're getting the lion's share of all the clicks. Now, I'm not talking about sponsored content. I'm talking about organic. And that's something, as you see in our corner here, we're a digital marketing agency and we create organic content. It doesn't mean we don't run some ads, but mostly it's content that your customers are already searching for. So we build that content, put it out there, they can find it. You might want to write that down. Find out what your customer's looking for, is there an audience for it? Then build it. Don't do like this and say build it and they will come. Let's make sure you have an audience first that wants to come see what you have. So in that period of time, their business 5x'd yes. Even the owner said, the only thing we did differently is we Hired your company and we stopped doing tv, radio, direct mail kind of ads. All we did was we went all in, just like as if they're a casino, except it was no gamble. They put it all in on content marketing. Now here's that point where things changed. You see, when you make content that answers the questions your ideal customers want, it lives forever. Because here's the thing, there's probably somewhere between 20 and 30 core questions your ideal customers need to have answered for them to make a decision. I don't care if it's a car, it's an air conditioner, it's a do. Is this the doctor I go to? It doesn't matter. There are certain questions or what I'll call their core questions that need to have answered to move forward. And then there's things that, that move them into the decision making process. So the consideration process there's a little bit different. Now you're sharing testimonials from your customers and those kind of things because we need that social proof. But let's just stay focused on the content. In that same period where their business 5x remember, they started out at 300 views a month on their website. We're consistently seeing between 8 and 10,000 views a month to their website. For the last year we were with them. In other words, every time we put a new piece of content out there, what'd it do? It attracted more people and it attracted more of their ideal audience. People who might not even be aware of the name of that company. And that's what, that's what content does. Because I don't say, hey, my name is Swingpoint Media, come see me. No, I'm actually making content that you may be looking for. Like, hey, how do I get more customers without a big budget? Right? So people ask that I'm just starting to open a business. What are three things that I need to do that'll give me the biggest bang for my buck? It's not about me, it's about solving the customer's questions, your ideal customers questions. So again, we went from, from where they were to 10,008 to 10,000 visitors a month coming to their website. Which means it's like this. If you, if you had a store and you got 300 people walking through your store a month and then you had 8 to 10,000 people walking through your store a month, which one do you think you're going to do better profit wise? Yeah, obviously the higher number. Well, here's what happened and this just, it tore my heart out. We were Able to continue to look at their, at their Google report. That's analytics. So Google Analytics to see what their traffic was. And it was still, you know, doing well. And all of a sudden it dropped off and I'm like, wow, I wonder what happened. And I kind of gone on and we were busy. We've got a lot of clients, we're taking care of them. But I kind of checked it out and they built a new website. This person who they had brought in to build a new website didn't move any of the content over to the new website. Well, here's what happens. Google may see that and say, who are these people? They have nothing to give. There's no fresh, unique or relevant content, which is what Google wants to see something about that's fresh, relevant. In other words, you're not writing about something that has nothing to do with your audience and it's timely. You're putting out there on a consistent basis. Well, when they saw the new website, you know, they send the bots over there and they check it out, say, yep, we got it, we got it. Okay, it's all right. Well, what we saw was their number one Google ranking went from 1 to 19. Sorry, you're not going to get seen there online. When you Google their business, the type of business, it didn't show up on the first page, it didn't show up in the first 10. That again hurts their traffic. Well, it went to zero because they didn't move any of that content. All that hard work, hundreds of videos, hundred of articles that were on there really doing the work, they didn't leave it in place.

So this is why I say if you fail to do this, it literally is like putting your business up in flames when you're saying, I'm just going to build it and they will come. That's not true. More and more of us, and I say us, I'm the same way. I challenge you. I want you to put in the comments. If you're not somebody who, when you think you're going to make a decision on a product that you do not go to Google and do anything, any research whatsoever. I know there's a few of you out there, but the majority of us, we will go to Google and we'll start our research project. And usually what happens is it's like that string on the bottom of a sweater. We answer one question, then we go to another one, we have another one, and all of a sudden we feel like, this is a good idea, I'm going to move forward and all of a sudden I start noticing the articles or the videos I've been watching to gain the information I'm looking for are from the same company. Well, what does that do in our minds? It means, hey, this must be the authority. They know what they're talking about, they've answered all the questions, they've satisfied my needs. So at this point I'm probably either a going to fill out a contact page on their website, I'm going to pick up the phone and call them or I'm going to walk in their door and I'm already kind of pre sold because I probably know everything I need to know about their business to do what I do to make a decision. But if you have a website and you've done what this customer has done and this, this is for new clients as well, meaning new people who say, hey, I just got a brand new website and it isn't working. And I have another video that I've shot on that. You know when you get a website and you don't put any content on there, I think it's almost criminal. You should have content because content is like the gasoline for that website. It's what makes it go. But if you take it off, what happened was their sales have dropped way off their traffic to the website, literally, according to Google Analytics, zero. So for the last year, certainly for the last 10 months, they've had absolutely no traffic, according to Google Analytics, go to their website. That's crushing. How can you stay open if you do that? So I don't think I was overstating this when I said if you are a business, I don't care who you are and you don't make content.

You are literally the day you start business, you've already started a small fire that could burn your business down. Now before I go, because I think I've made that point clear, share a little bonus piece. And this is the whole thing about content marketing that sometimes it's hard for business owners to wrap their mind around because we're used to saying, hey, the reason Sally bought is because she met with John and John sold her and closed that deal. I can make a direct connection. Well, it's not quite that clear cut anymore. You see, even that business I was talking about using as a case study, they couldn't directly, they couldn't directly say that person walked in because of that video you made three weeks ago or that article that they read a month ago or that email they got yesterday. It was a combination because it's just out There, it's out there for the research. Except we control the narrative. Imagine if you had a channel and everything on that channel is about you and your business. There are no other ads for any other companies. You control the narrative. Well, Google did this and said, hey, we want to find out how many touch points we have to have made on average to get to. Yes. So what they did, because, you know, they know everything, is they said when someone. And they use a case study, just like we're talking about today. And they said for a person to make a decision to buy this product, what had to happen on average, they said there were 11 different touch points. Think about that for a second. 11 different touch points. That's a minimum. Often we say it might be somewhere between 20 and 30 for someone to make a decision depending on the price of the product or service you sell or offer.

My point being this. If you, if you hire someone like Swing Point Media and then you sit back and you say, hey, listen, I know my sales are going up, but is it just the economy? Is it just the natural forces? Because I can't draw a straight line to swingpoint Media or another digital marketing agency that creates content. I can't make a direct line to that. So I think I'm going to try something different. You see, that's the mistake this other company, I think the other company made. And I don't hold any negative, negative feelings for them. I think they're a great company. I love them. I love them a lot. It just didn't work out. It's not always as easy in today's digital world as it was even five years ago that I, I used to have a saying, and I've, I've started to make this different. I want to know what makes your cash register ring and I want to be responsible that. We see that started changing when Google and Safari, I. E. Apple, started changing all these privacy rules. And we can't communicate the way we used to or track our customers, potential customers, the way we used to. And I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. That's what we call outbound marketing. I'm out looking for people in. What we do now is inbound. We're there. You find out more about us and then you contact us when you're ready. We're not hammering you with ad after ad after ad. We're providing you what you need to make a good buying decision. Now here's the cool thing about this. And then I'm going to be done.

When someone comes to your business and makes a buying decision because they've, let's use those 11 points, they've done their research. What do you think happens to your product and your service as far as value is concerned and worth in the mind of that same person, has it gone up or has it gone down? In other words, do they come in there and start nickel and diming you and start needling you for a lower price? I would say absolutely not. Because they understand all that went into doing what you do and they have now reached that point and said, hey, your price and my value are in line. Or the value might be slightly higher than your price. And that's a definitive definition of a sale is when the value exceeds the price by one penny, a sale is made. So when you're doing this, I want you to think of this. I want you to think, can I write content? And can I write content that is helpful for my ideal customer? Write this down, please. I'd like you to meet with your team and if it's just you, I want you to think about, hey, when you're working with a customer, potential customer, think about the questions they ask. Think about the questions they ask. Write them down. Every one of those is a potential video, a potential article, certainly social media posts. Because here's another thing that I want you to realize. There was a survey done, I think it was by Forbes. This was about five years ago and I think it's probably even higher now that 71 of us. I think it's 71. I think it might be higher, but let's use 71. I know it's not any lower than that. 70% of us say before I ever pick up a phone, walk through a client's or walk through a door of a business, I'm going to do my research first. Think about that. That means that the other 29% that come in are probably not as well informed. And because they're not as well informed, they don't see what the value in your product or service and what's going to happen, they start trying to lower your price while you're trying to raise your value or of your product. But what happens is they're dragging you down because they have a price that they think in their mind that your product is worth. So that 29%, they're probably not your ideal customer. I'm not saying you don't offer them their products or services. They say, yes, absolutely. I'm just saying the 71% that come through your door or make a phone call or send you an email says, hey, I'm ready to move forward. They're probably more of a long term customer says, I get what you do, I understand what you do, and I want to be a long term customer. So today, content, you've got to be making content. You also have to realize it's harder now to, to go back and say, well, the reason that person bought my product or service is because of that one piece of content I posted yesterday or three months ago. It adds up. It's a culmination, right? We don't know exactly when that tipping point was made, but it is when the value in the mind of that customer exceeds the cost of what you're asking or the investment that you're asking. Now, many of you out there, local businesses may not be able to afford a digital marketing service like myself. You know, it might be 3, $4,000 a month. You're saying I can't do that? Well, here's where artificial intelligence and automation have come in. We have created a program. I don't have an actual name for it yet, but what it allows us to do is to create that content for you. So it's a done with you, not a done for you. Because all of our customers, we do all their work for them, from video production, social media, you know, live shows, whatever it may be, we do all that for them.

But there's a group of people out there who may be listening, maybe you right now. And you're saying, I would like to have that ability to post that content on it, but I'm not sure how to write it, I'm not sure what to write it. I don't know what images to put in there. I'm not sure how often I should post. Where should I post? I'm not even very good on video. I don't have the equipment. What do I do? Well, like I said, we've built this program and what it allows us to do is to create one, one article a week for you. And that article is custom written for your business. So it's not like a, it's not like you might have heard this. It's a content marketing factory. Like, you know, every article is the same and all we did was change your name with another name of your competitors. Nope, the articles are custom written. And because they're custom written, our editors are making sure everything is accurate. In other words, if it has a link to something, we're making sure that link is correct, we're making sure it's the right link. So we look at it and make sure it's accurate. When it comes to your video, we make sure the script is correct, we create that video, we make sure it's all correct. It's probably branded, has your colors, has your logo on it. It's ready to go. And then we create five days of social media content on three different platforms. So 15 times a week, you're on three different platforms with the content that supports that article. So if you're doing an article on, you know, food services for local businesses, then the video's about that and all your posts are about that. Because the idea is to get that traffic back to your website and answer all those questions. Now here's the difference. All of that content is then given to you in a private folder and then you can upload it. Now, I know some of you saying, geez, that's, that's a lot of work. I can't do that. That's okay. We have an option for you. It's very limited because again, we have staff that does all this. Every step along the way, our staff is making sure it's correct.

But here's the thing, if you want to get involved in that, it's not open yet. It's not open yet. But if you've watched this and you have an interest in it, please put your name in the content or in the comments or DM me that you have an interest in it. I'm taking a waiting list or an interest list in that to see how many businesses that would say, yeah, I'd like something that's automated creating my content every week. I can still run my business. I don't have to be an editor. I don't have to be. I don't have to write. But it's doing, it's custom made for my, for my business. Just again, you can comment or DM me and let me know your interest. I'd love to help you. All right with that. My name is Jeff Harrison, Swing Point Media. I'm about ready to start another program, so I need to scoot out of here. Thanks for joining me today. If you have any questions, please put them in the comments. I'll get back to them, I promise. Promise. And look forward to hearing from you. Have a great day.