I have been watching as local businesses have struggled with all the digital marketing options available to them but have had real difficulty obtaining actual customers that pick up the phone to buy something. By speaking with a plumber in Phoenix who used to spend $3,000 on a monthly Google Ads campaign, I was converted to see things differently. He was paying $45 for each lead that came from his Google Ad campaign.
Upon switching to a Pay-Per-Call campaign and utilizing proper local SEO, he was able to spend only $28 for each real customer that called him as a result of the Pay-Per-Call campaign. To compound the ROI issue, he was closing 67% of the phone calls as compared to 23% of the forms filled on his website from the Google Ad campaign.
This gap represents the magic in local businesses.
Deficiencies in Traditional Lead Generation are Causing Local Businesses to Lose Out
The majority of local businesses are playing the incorrect game and are primarily focused on getting clicks, impressions, and website visits from organic search traffic. In reality, the ideal customer for most local businesses is someone who needs to speak to a human being immediately. That would be someone with a burst pipe at 9 PM, or someone who needs a Lawyer before the end of the day tomorrow.
I am noticing this pattern repeating itself time and time again. A roofing contractor had 200 people visit their website but only 8 people completed forms. A locksmith is ranked #1 for "emergency locksmith", however, half of their online quote leads are just tire kickers or those looking for just prices.
Here's the hard truth: For service-based local businesses, your website can be your biggest hurdle when trying to acquire new customers.
The Reason Why You Should Consider Pay-Per-Call NOW
Pay-per-call is not something that is new; however, the way local SEO works with it has changed dramatically, so you are not just buying random calls like before, but you are building an ecosystem of local searchers that are in a state of high intent for your service, which allows them to call your business when they need help.
It is critical to think about your customer's journey. An example of this would be someone types "emergency dentist near me", at 11 PM with a severe toothache, and they do not want to wait to receive a reply to the contact form. They want to "talk" to you "now".
By running pay-per-call campaigns that are set-up and optimised for local search, you are essentially putting your phone number directly in front of people that are ready to buy. This eliminates the landing page friction and the potential add-on sell, "we will call you back in 24 hours". You are making it easy for customers to connect directly to you, immediately.
The Foundation of Local SEO
Where most struggle is to treat local SEO and pay-per-call as two separate marketing strategies. That is akin to having a Ferrari engine in a golf cart.
The companies who are out performing the rest are doing the following things well:
- Google Business Profile optimization (not just completed but optimized). They post frequently, respond to reviews promptly (within 24 hours), and have pictures of their completed jobs. For example, an HVAC company I know posts pictures of all jobs completed, giving them tremendous engagement on their Google Business Profile.
- They have a much deeper understanding of search intent. There is a significant difference between "how to fix a leaky faucet" and "emergency plumber open now." The second search indicates that the consumers will be spending money. Therefore, in local SEO, it is important to target appropriate intent instead of high-volume keywords.
- They have consistent NAP citations everywhere. Although it seems tedious, NAP consistency across all directories translates into increased trust with Google, resulting in higher rankings and greater opportunities for visibility in local packs.
- They build legitimate local backlinks, not spammy niche directories. They build authentic relationships within their local communities. ## Understanding the Numbers I don't blindly trust marketing claims that look too good to be true. So, I looked at the actual performance data of companies that are using combined pay-per-call and local SEO strategies. One example is a personal injury law firm in Dallas, Texas. After implementing call tracking in conjunction with local SEO optimization, the firm saw their cost per qualified lead decrease by 41%. Another example is a home services company in Seattle, Washington. By adding additional prominence to their phone number across all local search touchpoints, they increased their booking rate by 34%. However, the real measure of success is customer lifetime value. For most service businesses, phone leads convert at 10–15 times the rate of web form leads. Since most repeat customers and referrals come from having a direct conversation with your sales team, return on investment becomes quite clear. ## How to Set Up Your Systems To utilize this approach effectively does not require a huge investment. You'll be able to utilize these strategies without spending a lot of money, but you will need to take time to develop a clear plan to identify what metric you want to improve on. The first step is to implement call tracking. You need to assign different phone numbers to each of your marketing channels so that you can see where your calls originate. This concept is fairly basic, but there are still far too many companies that do not utilize this strategy and are operating blindly in this area. Second, utilize call actions on your Google Business Profile. You want to optimize your profile for calls, so you should add in a couple of additional action buttons to make it easier for potential customers to call your business. Landing pages should be optimized for phone calls rather than form submissions. They should display big, bold, clickable phone numbers, include social proof at the top and clearly outline what the caller can expect when calling. A roofing company redesigned their mobile landing page around the phone call action, resulting in a 28% increase in calls. Use Google Ads call extensions heavily. Mobile users often call directly from the ad on the mobile search results page, producing highly qualified leads for the business within seconds. ## Pitfalls of This Strategy This approach won't work for every business. Some businesses aren't suitable for pay-per-call advertising. If your business is an online retailer, forget about this strategy. If you sell products with profit margins of less than $100 and don't require consultation, this approach probably isn't worthwhile. If you can't answer the phone during normal business hours or don't have an after-hours support service for emergencies, you may be leaving money on the table. Your phone-answering skills must be excellent. Many marketers have been very successful with their promotions only to have their calls go to voicemail or to be answered by someone who clearly doesn't want to be there. Your phone presence is your business. ### Local Service Marketing: A Vision for Future Success My crystal ball says this: the local service companies who can effectively blend (1) local search optimization in terms of visibility and (2) instant access to their business via phone, will own their respective marketplace in just a few short years. The reason for this is fairly simple. Other companies are attempting to be "search friendly" by optimizing their websites and social media for all of the current search engine algorithms, while local service companies focus on being "people friendly" and connecting with their customers more easily. Rather than being the largest spender on paid promotional ads (i.e., Google or Facebook) or having the best-looking website, the local service companies with the greatest success are ensuring their motivated customers have minimal barriers to contacting them by creating a seamless flow from customer inquiry to conversation. To be honest, in the age of chatbot technology, forms that require you to fill out personal information before communicating, and companies saying "we will respond to your inquiry in 48 hours or less," simply being available when a potential customer needs assistance is such a significant competitive differentiator.
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