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11 Ways to Use ChatGPT for Marketing Your Small Business

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6 Ways to Use GPTChat for Small Business Marketing (+6 Ways NOT to Use It)

Netflix took 3.5 years. Facebook took 10 months. Instagram blew us away with 2.5 months.

And then came ChatGPT.

Launched in November 2022, it took just five days for this piece of technology to reach one million users.

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So yes, its the talk of the town. But with so much information out there on it, you may not be 100% clear on exactly what it’s all about and if it has any implications for you and your small business.

So in true WordStream fashion, I’m going to simplify ChatGPT for you so you can learn:

  • What it is and how it works
  • Limitations to keep in mind
  • Six practical ways to use it for small business marketing (with prompt examples)
  • Six ways NOT to use it
  • Let’s do it.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a free informational resource (with encyclopedic knowledge, like Google or Wikipedia—but different, which we’ll get to shortly) that comes in the form of an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. So while you obtain information from Google by typing a search into a box and getting pages of results, you obtain information from ChatGPT by participating in a dialogue. You ask questions and it spits out answers based on your input.

It’s basically just a really advanced chatbot. According to its creator Open AI, ChatGPT can “answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.”

And according to Life Architect, it can do a whole lot more…like pass the bar exam, write bills, and get an MBA.

how to use chatgpt for small business marketing - chatgpt's acheivements

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How does ChatGPT work?

While tools like Google and Siri source information from the web, ChatGPT has its own “brain.” How? As a large language model technology, it amasses large amounts of text data from the internet: books, articles, websites, blog posts, and more.

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And the “GPT” stands for generative pre-training transformer, meaning it is trained on these large amounts of text data and uses the GPT-3 algorithm (called a transformer algorithm) to generate text similar to human conversation.

As you can see, with so much data, GPT-3 soars past its predecessors in terms of learning parameter count.

parameter count of gpt-3

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What is ChatGPT used for?

Since language and communication is used for, well, everything, ChatGPT is also proving to be useful for, well, everything. Some of ChatGPT’s many capabilities include:

  • Write code, articles, marketing copy, stories, poems, emails, essays
  • Generate ideas and examples, multiple choice questions
  • Recommend products, services, movies, a
  • Explain complicated topics in layman’s terms
  • Analyze: sentiment and tone based on punctuation, words, and phrases
  • Translate text in 95 different languages
  • Find data sets and job openings
  • More: the list is ever-growing

Given the above mere starter list, the implications are pretty overwhelming for any one industry. But of course, the one we’re concerned with is that of digital advertising.

Limitations of ChatGPT

You knew this was coming. ChatGPT is not a replacement for, well, anything: It’s not a marketing consultant, doctor, accountant, lawyer, plumber, etc. While it’s an advanced technology, it’s in its early stages, and like any computer, AI tool, or machine learning technology, it does not come with a 100% guarantee of information accuracy.

It is just a computer that can aggregate and summarize data, but other than what you tell it, it does not have the full context of your life, your business, your health, or your house that it would need to provide 100% reliable and fully relevant answers.

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how to use chatgpt for small business marketing - chatgpt limitations

The tool itself says it:

  • May occasionally generate incorrect information
  • May occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content
  • Limited knowledge of world and events after 2021

That being said, it’s important to be as specific as possible with your prompts and then use the responses as starting points only—to iterate on, look into deeper, and explore further.

You’ll even notice that when ChatGPT gives you answers. It will say things like “While X tool is a helpful resource for Y, it’s important to note that it’s just one of many tools” and so on and so forth.

5 ways to use ChatGPT for marketing

The use of AI in marketing—even for small businesses—is nothing new. If you’ve ever run a dynamic search ad campaign in Google Ads, asked a question via Google Analytics Intelligence, or used an AI content generator to write marketing copy, then you’ve experienced it yourself! Let’s review some of the easiest ways to use ChatGPT for marketing:

1. Generate copy for your marketing assets

You can use ChatGPT to help you with creating copy for any of your marketing collateral: Emails, blog posts, product descriptions, ad copy, headlines, website copy, social media captions, and more. Ask it to:

  • Generate the content
  • Modify existing content for a particular tone—like to make it more exiting for a particular persona, or to make it more negatively charged.
  • Improve existing content for a goal (SEO, for example).

Of course, an entire blog post is a bit of a stretch. You may instead want to ask for an outline.

Prompt: Write a promotional email for 50% off custom framing for the month of October.

how to use chatgpt for small business marketing - answer to prompt for promotional email

Here’s a good example of using the output as a starting point only. This is far too much text for a promotional email.

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Given the ol’ disclaimer I mentioned above, here are some additional (and call me biased, but reliable) resources we have to help you with generating great marketing copy:

2. Get marketing tool recommendations

But you can also use it to get recommendations for tools. After all, there’s a vast sea of “top ten” lists for just about any tool out there on the web. For example, ask about the best keyword research tools.

The answer spits out a similar list to our roundup of the best free keyword research tools:

Prompt: What are the best free keyword research tools for small businesses?

how to use chatgpt for small business marketing - prompt for keyword research tools

Except it’s missing one tool: Our Free Keyword Tool! As an aside, I did ask it to tell me about our Free Keyword Tool:

Prompt: Tell me about WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool

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chatgpt's answer to prompt about wordstream free keyword tool

Not bad. Lots of accurate statements in there, like how it “allows users to enter a primary keyword or phrase related to their business and receive a list of related keywords and their respective search volume, competition, and estimated CPC data.” But there are some outdated features mentioned in there as well.

3. Content ideation

There are several ways to use ChatGPT to get ideas for your blog posts, guides, whitepapers, and ebooks. You can ask it for post ideas based on topics or existing content, use it to perform research on a topic, curate the top articles on a topic, or have it simplify a complex concept for you so you can simplify it for your readers.

Prompt: Explain how the Google Ads auction works

how to use chatgpt for small business marketing - chatgpt explaining complex process

Based on our post on how the Google Ads auction works, you can see this isn’t too shabby!

4. Learn shortcuts and formulas

While you shouldn’t leave it to ChatGPT to do your reporting and analytics (we’ll get to that shortly), one way it can help you is by teaching you shortcuts that can help you in the process. For example, you can ask it for spreadsheet formulas, regular expressions, and other strings that aren’t impacted by time.

5. Generate customer surveys

Your target audience is, well, a moving target. While you should do your own thorough research to find your target audience, you could use Chat GPT to help you generate a survey or poll to continue getting to know your audience and customers and collecting customer feedback.

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how to use chatgpt for marketing - response to prompt asking for survey to help identify target audience

6. Get chatbot ideas

Adding chat to your website is a great way to generate leads, engage customers, and gather feedback. Use Chat GPT to get ideas for prompts and answers for your own!

Prompt: I’m building a chatbot for my website. How should I greet customers who come to my pricing page?

how to use chatgpt for marketing - answer to prompt about how to greet customers

You can also use our chatbot examples to get ideas.

There are several more applications from the broader small business standpoint, such as with sales workflows, customer service, customer retention, and automating parts of workflows.

5 ways NOT to use ChatGPT for marketing

As you can see from the suggestions above, it’s best to use ChatGPT for marketing tactics that involve content and copy. For marketing strategy, on the other hand, your best bet is to stick with tried and true resources such as a marketing partner or professional—which you could even supplement with Google research. As mentioned above, ChatGPT’s database has limited knowledge past 2021.

That being said, here are some areas where you should not look to ChatGPT for help with your marketing.

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1. Don’t ask for marketing strategy recommendations

Looking for the best ways to promote your business? You may be tempted to ask ChatGPT but ultimately, the best marketing strategies for your business are going to depend on your unique goals and challenges as well as the resources you have.

Prompt: What are the best marketing strategies for local businesses?

chat gpt - answer to prompt about best marketing strategies for local businesses

For the prompt above, ChatGPT recommends claiming your “Google My Business” listing—which is out of date since it is now called Google Business Profile. Social media is a good marketing strategy but there isn’t anything in the response that discusses how to use social media for local marketing specifically.

 

1678126172 413 11 Ways to Use ChatGPT for Marketing Your Small Business

Our Local Social Media Marketing Lab is a free course on local social. Check it out!

2. Don’t let Chat GPT organize your Google Ads account structure

While you can use ChatGPT to help with headline and description writing for your Google Ads, leave the strategic stuff up to the pros. Like your account structure, for example.

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Prompt: What ad groups should I create for a Google Ads campaign for a chiropractor?

how to use chatgpt for small business marketing - answer to prompt for google ads ad groups

The way your Google Ads campaigns are organized directly impacts how relevant your ads are to their keywords, which directly impacts your cost per click which directly impacts your ROI. While Chat GPT has the right idea in the example above, it does not know what other campaigns you have running, what your business objectives are, or how big your account or budget is.

google ads account structure map

It’s important to take all of these factors and more into account, and then carefully build out your campaigns from there. We have a free guide below that you can use!

3. Do not use it for keyword research

Yes, ChatGPT is a tool in and of itself. And above, we talked about using it to get tool recommendations. But one way you should not use it for marketing is to do keyword research. Remember, it’s not a real-time platform connected to the web, and it has limited data post 2021. So while the below example looks promising, the data is going to be outdated and unreliable.

Prompt: Do keyword research for me for custom framing.

how to use chatgpt for small business marketing - answer to prompt for keyword research

Prompt: Can you give me search volume, competition level, and cost per click for each of those keywords

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how to use chatgpt for small business marketing - answer to prompt for keyword research with metrics

4. Don’t use ChatGPT for web development

Let’s say you want to create a lead magnet for your website—a free tool in particular. There are examples out there of asking ChatGPT to generate Javascript code for an ROI calculator…

Prompt: Generate javascript code for ROI calculator

how to use chatgpt for small business marketing - answer to prompt for creating javascript for an ROI calculator

Prompt: How do I implement this on my website?

how to use chatgpt for small business marketing - answer to prompt for how to implement javascript on website

But you still have to know that you need Javascript to implement it on your site. And it may not even be Javascript that you need. Creating a free tool is a complex process in and of itself, let alone implementing it on your site. There are so many considerations, like whether it will impact page speed and site security and other ranking factors, or how the user experience will pan out—in terms of the brand feel and whether or not you want to collect lead information.

Your website is at the heart of all your marketing efforts—it’s best to leave projects like this to your web team so you don’t risk anything.

5. Don’t use it for reporting & analytics

GPT can analyze data, but the current functionality behind this is very limited.  Just like the best marketing strategies will vary from business to business, the right KPIs and goals will depend on your unique situation. And the best way to identify trends, patterns, and insights in your data is to come up with your own consistent reporting routine. Continue using tools like Google Data Studio (now Looker Studio), Google Analytics and Google Ads for your organic traffic and PPC reporting.

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how to use chatgpt for small business marketing - answer to question about kpis

Note that Google Ads has its own AI features like the Insights and Recommendations tools, both of which should also be taken with a grain of salt!

6. Do not use Chat GPT to run a competitor analysis

A SWOT analysis examines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a competitor with respect to your business. Again, ChatGPT’s data is not the most recent, and it is based on aggregating a bunch of text data from across the web. It doesn’t have context. So while it may spit out some good information about your competitors, you are better off running the analysis yourself using real-time platforms and apps.

Prompt: Run a swot analysis on hasbro

how to use chat gpt for marketing - swot analysis example

A SWOT analysis is used to help you build out your own marketing strategy, business model, and more. ChatGPT should not be your source for something so foundational to your business! Use our SWOT analysis template to run your own SWOT analysis that you can truly rely on.

Stick with content & copy when using ChatGPT for marketing

Remember, while it’s a source of information with a fun interface, ChatGPT is still in its early stages and has its drawbacks, limitations, and risks. There are integrations, ads, information accuracy, privacy, and more to reckon with. All that being said, it’s best to stick with content and copy tasks if you’re going to use it for marketing, and even then, the output should be used as a starting point only.

To recap:

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Use ChatGPT to:

  1. Generate copy for your marketing assets
  2. Request marketing tool roundups
  3. Brainstorm and research content topics
  4. Get formulas and shortcuts
  5. Generate polls and feedback surveys
  6. Get ideas for your own chatbot

DON’T use ChatGPT to:

  1. Ask for marketing strategy recommendations
  2. Structure out your Google Ads campaigns
  3. Do keyword research
  4. Implement website changes
  5. Do your reporting and analytics
  6. Run a competitor analysis

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PPC Advertisers Guide To Google Consent Mode V2

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PPC Advertisers Guide To Google Consent Mode V2

This update is not merely a technical enhancement but a robust response to the stringent privacy regulations and changing user preferences. With a compliance deadline set for March 2024, it’s crucial for websites utilizing Google services to understand and implement Google Consent Mode V2, ensuring alignment with global data privacy standards.

PPC Advertisers Guide To Google Consent Mode V2

Understanding Google Consent Mode V2

Google Consent Mode V2 enhances the initial version by introducing refined mechanisms for managing user consents related to cookies and data tracking. Key to this version are the new parameters: ad_user_data and ad_personalization, which join the pre-existing analytics_storage and ad_storage, providing users with greater control over their data. This tool communicates user cookie consent preferences to Google’s suite of services, ensuring data is handled in compliance with privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA.

The integration of these parameters signifies Google’s commitment to bolstering user privacy, offering a consent-based approach to data insights. For businesses, this means navigating a landscape where user consent directly influences data collection strategies.

The Significance of Compliance

The mandatory implementation of Google Consent Mode V2 underscores the importance of adhering to digital advertising and data privacy regulations. Its significance is twofold: it aligns website operations with legal requirements, particularly in the European Economic Area (EEA), and preserves the integrity of user privacy. For website operators, the practical aspect of compliance involves the strategic implementation of consent mechanisms that do not undermine the data’s value for insights and analytics.

Implementation Strategies

To leverage Google Consent Mode V2 effectively, website owners can opt for Basic or Advanced implementation options. The Basic approach ensures full data collection upon user consent and halts it otherwise. Advanced implementation, however, allows for the transmission of anonymous, cookieless data for modeling purposes even without consent. This method hinges on employing a Consent Management Platform (CMP), adjusting website configurations to respect consent choices, and enabling cookieless data collection for analytics and advertising purposes.

The Impact on Data Tracking and Privacy

Implementing Google Consent Mode V2 has profound implications for data tracking and user privacy. It allows websites to maintain a balance between collecting valuable user insights and respecting privacy preferences. The mode’s design ensures that user consent directly influences how data is collected and used, facilitating a privacy-compliant approach to digital marketing and analytics.

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The Role of AI in Consent Mode V2

AI and machine learning play a critical role in bridging the data gap when users opt-out of cookie tracking. By analyzing patterns from consenting users, Google can model the behavior of those who decline, enabling advertisers to gain insights while adhering to privacy standards. This AI-driven approach underscores the potential of Consent Mode V2 to revolutionize data analysis in an increasingly privacy-focused world.

Beyond the Cookie Banner

A key aspect of utilizing Google Consent Mode V2 is the requirement for a compliant cookie banner. This necessitates the implementation of a CMP that aligns with both Google’s standards and privacy regulations. The consent banner acts as the intermediary, signaling user preferences to Google services and adjusting data collection accordingly.

Preparing for the Future

As the deadline for Google Consent Mode V2 implementation approaches, website owners and advertisers must take proactive steps to ensure compliance. This involves understanding the intricacies of Consent Mode V2, integrating a compliant CMP, and reevaluating data collection strategies in light of user consent.

In essence, Google Consent Mode V2 represents a pivotal development in the realm of digital privacy and data management. By embracing this new standard, businesses can not only ensure compliance with global privacy laws but also foster trust with their audience, building a foundation for sustainable digital practices in the years to come.



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11 Actionable Ways to Build Client Relationships That Last

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11 Actionable Ways to Build Client Relationships That Last

Some agencies manage to build a steady client base that strengthens over the years, while others ride roller coasters and eventually close up shop. What’s the difference? Client relationships. Strong client relations make for greater success with projects and campaigns, loyal clients who stay with you longer and refer new clients, and a better reputation for your brand. Even better, they make everyday work more enjoyable for all.

So what makes for a strong client relationship? The same traits that define any good relationship: awareness, communication, empathy, dependability, accountability, honesty, and the list goes on.

In this post, I’ve compiled 11 ways your agency can demonstrate the above and more to achieve the best possible outcomes for you and your clients. I’d say happy endings, but good relationships don’t really end.

Table of contents

Why are client relationships important?

It’s easy to skim over the importance of creating a strong relationship with your clients—you know you have to do it. But when you dig into how it helps your agency grow, you can be more strategic about it.

Reduces churn

It can be 25 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one. You also have a much higher probability of selling a new agreement to a current client than closing a deal with a new one.

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A strong client relationship helps you weather rough patches and identify clients who are at risk of leaving. Both will help you reduce customer churn.

Increases referrals

Customer referrals are an extremely important source of new clients for your agency. That’s because referred customers are more likely to buy, are more loyal, and spend more on average than non-referred customers.

When you have a strong relationship with your clients, you can ask them to give reviews and refer other businesses. That’s especially helpful if your agency serves a niche industry where everyone knows everyone else.

Provides opportunities to learn

Have you ever wanted to know how a new regulation would affect your clients? Or how to best sell a service like PPC? When you have a rock-solid relationship with your clients, you can ask them.

It takes time to build that sort of comfort, but when you do, your best clients become your agency’s de facto advisers.

📣 Learn how 300 marketing agencies manage services, pricing, and challenges in our State of the Digital Marketing Agency report.

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How do you build client relationships that last?

In the following list, you’ll find actionable ways to improve client satisfaction and build mutually beneficial partnerships, with input from PPC agency experts like Mark Irvine, Francine Rodriguez, Akvile DeFazio, and Susie Marino.

1. Gather “hard” and “soft” information

A strong agency-client relationship starts before the client even becomes one. You know that you need as much information as possible about your client to come up with a winning proposal. But the solution you come up with isn’t going to establish a meaningful connection between you and your potential client. It’s how you present that solution with respect to both the business’s goals and the personalities and values of the team you’ll be working with.

This means collecting “hard” information like:

  • Products and services they offer
  • Target audience and the end-users of their product or service
  • Top three competitors
  • Prioritized list of goals and challenges
  • Strategies that have worked and not worked in the past
  • Software are they currently using
  • Budget

But also “soft” information like:

  • What they define as success
  • Their future hopes or anticipations, like scaling, adding on new offerings, etc.
  • The company’s mission, beliefs, and values, and unique selling proposition
  • What makes them different from their competitors
  • Hobbies, interests, and preferences of the individuals you’ll be working with

strengthen client relationships emotional vs logical intelligence

Think with both sides of your brain when gathering information about your client.

Building emotional intelligence about the team you’ll be working with will help you to make communication more personalized as you move through these initial phases of your journey together.

Side note: Be prepared to answer their questions too! Even their non-PPC questions.

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2. Internalize that information

This is the information you’ll be not only including in your proposal, but applying throughout your actual execution and ongoing communication with your client. Take the time to really internalize it so that it shines through organically in everything you do.

  • Gather the information in person (or video): Body language and facial expressions tell a lot. Take note of what gets them excited (and not so excited). Also, be sure to send out a list of the questions you’ll be asking far in advance so the client can have time to think about answers and produce follow-up questions.
  • Iterate back: As you listen, iterate back to your client what you have interpreted so you can make sure you’re crystal clear on the information you’re receiving. Remember, incorporating the tiniest details into your proposal and execution is what will give your clients confidence that you truly understand their needs.
  • Templatize: Have an internal templated document where you can collect all of the information you’ve gathered in one place. This gives every team member something to continually refer back to, and the uniformity makes it easier to internalize.

3. Go above and beyond with your proposal

    From a project standpoint, your proposal shows what you’re going to do to achieve your client’s goals. From a relationship standpoint, it’s your opportunity to reinforce, once again, that you have a deep understanding of your client—both the business and its team members. Speak to both the client’s business goals as well as the more personal pain points and desires of its employees.

    To do this, think in terms of “what,” “why,” and “so that.”

    • The what refers to what you’ll be doing from a process standpoint.
    • The why ties the process to one of the business’s specific goals.
    • The “so that” speaks to the pain point it will address for the business’s team members.

    For example, we’d like to ramp up ad spending in the latter half of the month to drive more signups so that your sales team isn’t scrounging for leads. Just be sure to use the language that your clients used in the initial information-gathering process.

    This strengthens that partnership feel. You’re not just looking to achieve goals, you care about the individuals impacted by them.

    how to strengthen marketing agency client relationship with a winning proposalhow to strengthen marketing agency client relationship with a winning proposal

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    4. Have an onboarding process

    This is one of our customer retention strategies as well. Once you get started, there will be more points of contact added to the roster for both sides. A streamlined onboarding process will set the stage for the clear communication and seamless execution needed for a strong and long-lasting client relationship to form. During this process, you may want to:

    • Mail them a welcome kit: Send along some giveaways like branded swag, a greeting card, and additional goodies based on the more personal information you’ve collected.
    • Take care of housekeeping: Make sure each of you has the access needed for tools, accounts, and dashboards.
    • Have a kickoff meeting: This is to ensure everything is lined up for perfect execution. You’ve also become pretty familiar with one another at this point. This is a good time to have a more informal atmosphere.

    🛑 Free guide >>> The 6 Absolute Best Strategies to Grow Your Digital Marketing Agency

    5. Treat clients like partners

    Treating your client like a business will make your relationship purely transactional (i.e., no relationship at all). Treating them like family leaves too much room for miscommunications and unmet expectations.

    Treating your clients like partners, on the other hand, sets the stage for a healthy mix of personal, purposeful, and transactional encounters where both your and your client’s identities are preserved, and each of you supplies the essential ingredients for success.

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    • Embrace the truth: Remember that at the end of the day, both of you are businesses that want to make money. There’s no need to skirt around that. They need your service to generate revenue, and you need their continued business to generate yours.
    • Maintain structure with some fluidity: Keep deliverables clear and stick to the intended plan as much as possible, but always leave the door open for input and feedback.
    • Let them in: While some of your tools and processes may be proprietary, give them access to dashboards and data when possible. Let them in on (non-confidential) tidbits about your agency that “outsiders” wouldn’t know. Their earning your trust is just as important as you earning theirs.
    • Stay honest: This means giving pushback on your client’s desires or requests that may not be best for long-term success (wants vs needs). A good partnership is not one where both parties constantly agree; it’s one where the two parties come together with different perspectives to bring to the table, resulting in better output than either one could have achieved on their own.

    6. Be proactive rather than reactive

      Akvile DeFazio, President of AKvertise, makes this a priority with clients.

      Her team makes sure to proactively:

      • Share ideas and propose new campaign strategies.
      • Forewarn about upcoming platform changes and any action required.
      • Educate the client to empower them further.

      “This shows care and builds trust, and our clients share that they appreciate our diligent proactivity,” she says. “When we work with clients, we aim to be a seamless extension of their team and genuinely embed ourselves as so. When they win, we win, and proactive communication is the key to success for all.”

      7. Be empathetic rather than defensive

      This recommendation from Mark Irvine, Director of PPC at Search Labs Digital, ties back to the partnership mentality in tip #5. The scenario here is that your agency is doing great work. Performance metrics continue to climb. But the client is upset. They aren’t seeing new business come in.

      “A wrong response here is to dig your heels in,” Mark says. “Telling them that their business is doing fine is at best tone-deaf. Instead, let them talk it out and listen to them. This may even lead them to discover the problem is in their other marketing or sales teams.”

      If this ends up being the case, Irvine recommends that you take yourself out of the problem to prevent it from becoming an “us versus them” situation. Take the approach of teaming up together to come up with a solution. Use language like:

      • “I see what you’re talking about.”
      • “This is a valid concern.”
      • “That really is frustrating, we’re glad you brought this up with us.”
      • “Let’s make a plan to review this and report back with some solutions to remedy this.”

      Position yourself as a partner in their campaigns. Value their feedback. Even if you’re an expert, allowing them to work with you will help build a long, trusting relationship.

      “And remember,” Mark adds, “if you dismiss or fight their concerns, there’s an agency sales rep somewhere else who will be happy to listen to them vent about you all day.”

      8. Establish structure around communication

      Brett McHale, founder of Empiric Marketing, LLC, provides some great tips around communication and setting boundaries:

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      Stay away from being “always available

      Being always available, whether through Slack or other forms of direct communication, blurs the ever-important work-life balance. It can also distract you away from other clients.

      Hold regular meetings with actionable takeaways

      Instead, establish weekly or bi-weekly meetings to check in, review performance, and answer questions. “I always have some takeaway or action item from those meetings,” Brett says. “This keeps me accountable, and when I deliver on things that I say I’m going to do, it helps build trust with the client.”

      Use email and instant messaging

      Brett says, “Email can be very robotic, and I try not to be too professional or polished all the time. Communicating with clients directly via a messenger helps to build rapport and have a more laid back ‘human-to-human’ relationship.”

      He suggests designating instant messaging for urgent matters and email otherwise. This cuts out the back-and-forth emailing and also reassures your clients that while you may not always be available, you will never leave them hanging.

      how to strengthen relationships with clients the seven c's of effective communicationhow to strengthen relationships with clients the seven c's of effective communication

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      9. Share your concerns early

      This suggestion from Mark Irvine is particularly relevant to the many changes happening in the advertising realm lately. The scenario here is that your client has big plans and aspirations, and you want to say yes to everything they want. But in the back of your mind, you’re not sure if they can create that audience in Google or build that campaign on Bing. You’re unsure of how the new iOS updates will impact their Facebook targeting.

      “Don’t nod, say yes, and then stress,” Mark says. “You lose trust with your client if you say you can do something and then can’t, even if that’s not your fault.”

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      Instead, show your expertise by sharing your concerns. Practice saying:

      • “That’s a really good idea. I know that some ad policies might come into play as we explore it, so let me double-check those first.”
      • “This new change could pose some challenges to us. I’ll keep an eye on it as it changes over the coming days.”
      • “It’s tough to say what this means for us yet, but I wanted to make sure we all knew about it in advance.”

      If you really have to put your foot down, try something like:

      “We agree that this is a great idea, but we can’t in good conscience proceed with it until we know that it won’t cost you in the long run.”

      Be transparent and ask them for their trust. Most of the time, you’ll come out as the person who helped them navigate through uncertainty, and they won’t forget that.

      10. Embrace small talk

      Small talk often gets a bad rap, but Susie Marino, WordStream’s Senior Content Marketing Specialist and former Customer Success Specialist, has found that it actually helps with building strong client relationships.

      “I know it can feel cringey or uncomfortable at first, but just go for it,” she says. “You’d be surprised at how receptive clients are. Next thing you know, you’ve got a great rapport going, and the banter at the beginning of meetings becomes more meaningful.”

      “People love to talk about themselves, and clients are no different,” Susie adds. “When you ask them about how that home garden is coming along, they’ll be pleasantly surprised. These conversations reveal how much you truly care.“

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      Clients are people who like to work with real people who also have personalities and personal lives. If you don’t show a touch of personality with small talk, it will be harder to stay connected and to demonstrate your genuine care, outside of campaigns and metrics.

      11. Establish quarterly business reviews

      Francine Rodriguez, former Senior Manager of Customer Success at WordStream, believes that quarterly business reviews are essential for client retention.

      “I think all agencies get into a cycle of monthly reporting and proving that deliverables were completed,” she says. “It is important to take that step back once a quarter and have a focused conversation on high-level strategy.”

      The QBR allows the agency and the customer to reflect on new goals, the efficiency of strategies taken in the past, and what needs to pivot for the future.

      It is also a time to allow your customer to provide insight into how their business goals are changing and perhaps what strategies outside of the agency’s scope they are also planning in the near future. Having that dedicated time to talk without existing action items on the table is a great way to strengthen the relationship, create trust, and become better partners.

      It may also lead to surprising discoveries, where an agency could find opportunities to upsell its customers into new services. If your agency is doing QBRs now and your conversations don’t look any different from your regular monthly check-ins, it is time to change the format!”

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      Start cultivating strong relationships with your clients today

      Strong agency-client relationships are built on virtues like trust, reliability, transparency, and personability, and they result in greater outcomes for everyone involved. If you find that you’re lacking in productivity, loyalty, or the overall feel of harmony with your clients, see if you can adopt or improve any of these strategies for your agency:

      1. Gather “hard” and “soft” information about your client
      2. Internalize that information
      3. Go above and beyond with your proposal
      4. Have an onboarding process
      5. Treat clients like partners
      6. Be proactive rather than reactive
      7. Be empathetic rather than defensive
      8. Establish structure around communication
      9. Share your concerns early
      10. Embrace the small talk
      11. Have quarterly business reviews

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Google change the meaning of “Top Ads”

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Google change the meaning of “Top Ads”

What is Top Ads in world of Google? well it’s changed. Today Ginny Martin, Ads Product Liaison at Google shared a subtle but potential significant change of definition of Top Ads. If your deep in the detail of paid search campaigns on Google this is the kind of tweak that’s easy to miss.

Now Google’s documentation reads;

Google change the meaning of Top Ads

Top ads are adjacent to the top organic search results. Top ads are generally above the top organic results, although top ads may show below the top organic results on certain queries. Placement of top ads is dynamic and may change based on the user’s search.

Google’s official documentation

Ginny clarified on LinkedIn that this is a definitional change (as ads can appear above the organic result or below for certain queries) and doesn’t affect how performance metrics are calculated. And that the definition update clarifies that top ads may show below the organic results for certain queries. Although, for most queries, ads will continue to appear at the top of search results.

Why make the change? Anthony Higman suggested it might be due to the change in how some ads are being presented like in the screenshot below and the general shift towards more SGE on the SERPs and the consequences that change in user experience might have on ad placement. And does seem part of increased amount of experimentation on where ads appear on search engine results pages.

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1711605382 993 Google change the meaning of Top Ads1711605382 993 Google change the meaning of Top Ads



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