• FAQs

          Search engine optimization (SEO) helps businesses drive visits to their website through organic search traffic. Given that the top organic search results receive a third of the clicks, a decline in ranking could be detrimental for your business. Implementing SEO best practices on your website will help to ensure that your web content is seen by as many potential customers as possible. The more visitors you have, the better your chances are of converting those visits into sales!

          Local search engine optimization (SEO) helps local businesses gain visibility by optimizing their local business listings for local search. A business that leverages local SEO will include its address, phone number, local opening times, and exact location in the form of a local citation. The goal is to rank for local searches which are usually performed by people in a specific geographical region looking for a business near them.

          We typically see results within the first 30 to 60 days, but when it comes to SEO, there are many factors at play. It's important to remember that SEO is a long-term strategy and results may not come as fast at you wish.


        • FAQs

          Digital advertising uses the internet to send advertisements to customers who are online through different websites and social media platforms like Google, Bing, LinkedIn and Facebook.

          The price for Google Ads management depends on the monthly ad spend. For accounts with $1,000 in monthly ad spend, the price is $550/month. Between $1,000 and $5,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $950/month. For $5,000 to $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $2,000/month. For more than $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $4,500/month.

          The price for Social Media Ads management depends on the monthly ad spend. For accounts with $1,000 in monthly ad spend, the price is $550/month. Between $1,000 and $5,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $950/month. For $5,000 to $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $2,000/month. For more than $10,000 a month in ad spend, the price is $4,500/month.


        • FAQs

          This depends on the complexity and size of a redesign and if eCommerce is needed. On average, it takes around 14-18 weeks from the web design intensive stage to launch.

          If your website experiences the following issues: it’s not responsive on all devices, has a slow loading speed, the design appears old and tired, users don’t spend long on the site, sales are stagnant, or your business is going through a rebranding - your website needs a redesign to boost your brand awareness and sales.

          Sometimes there’s no need to rebuild a website. Minor edits, refreshing page content and images, or restructuring page layout for SEO best practices can boost traffic and sales.


        • FAQs

          Semantic search launched in 2013 with the release of Google's Hummingbird update. Since then, Google's search engine has become more complex. The integration of machine learning, with RankBrain, and NLP, with BERT, has enabled the search engine to better understand the context of a query and deliver more personalized and targeted results. Semantic SEO is the process of creating machine-readable content using structured data and linked open data to help search engines better understand your content.

          On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing individual web pages in order to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. On-page SEO refers to both the content and HTML source code of a page that can be optimized, as opposed to off-page SEO which refers to links and other external signals. From meta tags to page content, website structure, and HTML, on-page optimization services are focused on making your website more visible to search engines.

          Structured data refers to any organized data that conforms to a certain format, such as information in a relational database. When information is highly structured and predictable, search engines can more easily organize and display it in creative ways. Structured data involves using a piece of code that is laid out in a specific format easily understood by search engines. The search engines read the code and use it to display search results in a more dynamic way.


        • FAQs

          An SEO agency has experts in different areas of search engine optimization that may be out of the realm of your marketing team's abilities. SEO can be very complex and time-consuming. Furthermore, as search engine algorithms change it can be difficult to stay current on the latest ranking factors and strategies for improving online visibility. You will likely see a greater return on investment and better results from using a professional SEO agency than you would from tackling this on your own.

          As a digital marketing agency, SMA Marketing provides products and services in four areas: SEO, Local SEO, Digital Advertising, and Web Design

          We focus on building authentic, long-lasting relationships with our clients. We’re goal oriented and results driven and believe in doing good and making a difference in the world.

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4 Ways to Leverage Customer Success Stories in Inbound Marketing

4 Ways to Leverage Customer Success Stories in Inbound Marketing

How are you using customer success stories in your inbound marketing?

In inbound marketing, customer success stories directly address your customers’ pain points while providing social proof of the efficacy of your products or services. If you are only using them on the Testimonials or Customers page of your website, you’re missing an opportunity to leverage powerful marketing content.

In a recent article titled Stories Sell: How to Write a Powerful Customer Success Story, we shared the process of writing customer success stories and why you should include customer stories in your marketing content. In this article, we’ll go a step further and explore the ways to use customer success stories, or case stories, in inbound marketing. While this article focuses on customer success stories, the same opportunities exist to leverage case studies and testimonials.

Ways to Leverage Customer Success Stories in Inbound Marketing

Blog

A customer success story is a celebration of a customer’s success that tells the story of how they overcame obstacles by finding a solution to their problem and achieving their goals. Use these stories on your blog to shine the spotlight on your customers while also providing insight into how real companies are using your product or service and the reason they chose you over the competition. Case stories provide an opportunity to earn your potential buyers’ trust while they are considering their options.

Ways to write blog articles around customer success stories include interviews, guest posts from customers, and articles featuring customers in a particular niche who have a common need and are similarly using your product.

Video

The power of video in marketing is undeniable. There are many ways to use customer success stories in video marketing. Video testimonials provide compelling proof of your service and can be brief or expanded.  Include them in customer stories that dive into the company’s history, their growing pains, and how your service solved their problem and allowed them to overcome their roadblocks. Or, simply produce a short but impactful video showing the company, its problem, the solution, and its success.

With one customer success story, you could create multiple videos of varying lengths, which can be hosted on YouTube, embedded in web pages and blog articles, and shared on social media.

Social Media

Sharing customer success stories on social media is an excellent way to highlight your customer while expanding your reach. Tag your customers’ accounts so that their followers can engage with the post and celebrate their success as well. Be sure to avoid being self-promotional. Focus on your customers for better engagement.

Types of social posts you can create from customer success stories include links to blog articles, videos, “Customer of the Week” posts, and quotes.

eBooks

When creating new resources and eBooks for your inbound marketing campaigns, don’t overlook the power of case stories. There are many ways you can include them in marketing resources, including:

  • Create a compilation of customer success stories into one eBook.
  • Use customer success stories in your eBooks as examples of how companies have successfully implemented the methods laid out therein.
  • Write an in-depth case study and offer it as an eBook or white paper.
  • Conduct a research study using data you’ve gathered from your customers. Add case stories to bring the data to life.

Bonus: Sales Content

When you map content to the buyer’s journey, don’t forget to leverage the power of case stories.

The use of content is a prime opportunity to align marketing and sales. Customer success stories should be made available for use by your sales team when working with buyers. They will appreciate being able to use customer success stories in outreach and follow-up emails, sales calls, and pitch decks.

Now that you have a few ideas for using customer success stories in inbound marketing, we’d love to get your feedback. Have you tried this? What has been successful for you? Share your comments with us so we can learn from you!

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