Ask The Experts: Preparing Your Exit Strategy

 

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If you've owned your business for longer than ten minutes, chances are you've considered your eventual exit. Whether it was an exceedingly absurd customer demand or a sense of overwhelming accomplishment that inspired such thinking, we all want to leave at some point. Sometimes multiple times a day!

Business ownership is hard. It's long, frustrating hours. It's sleepless nights and non-existent income but for those of us "in the fight"....there is nowhere else we'd rather be! It's the battle that gets us out of bed in the morning. It's the dance. The delicate balance between aggressive and sensitive. The fine line between obnoxious and informative. 

Eventually, we will leave our businesses. We will sell them for a profit, or pass them on to a business partner or family member. But what can you be doing in the meantime to set yourself, your team, and your future up for the day you decide to call it quits?

We sat down with Mergers and Acquisitions expert Rich Giles and got a few tips from the expert. Enjoy! 

Who's Listening To Your Story?

 

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Who's Listening To Your Story? As business owners, it's easy to get the feeling that nobody is listening at times. It often feels like you're the only one who's just shutting his or her mouth and getting the job done. There's no time to stop and tell the story of how you got there, but maybe that's exactly what we should be doing. 

You've had success. Even if you're still in the initial phases of your company's overall history, you've still had some successes already. Those successes get lost in a sea of to-do lists and scheduled zoom calls as time goes on, but it's important to stop and think about all the "little things" that got you to where you are sitting right now. Tell the story. Share the lessons that you learned and inspire others. 

Mentorship doesn't have to be a formal arrangement. You can mentor those climbing the ladders of your specific industry without ever speaking directly to them. Your wisdom can be the light they are searching for in all that startup darkness. No business has ever "made it" without making some mistakes along the way. Think of it this way....parents do everything in their power to help their kids avoid the mistakes that they themselves made in their childhoods. Even if the parents succeed and steer their offspring well clear of every, single mistake that they ever made, their kids are still going to make their own mistakes. Share your wisdom. The world needs more of it right now. Seriously. 

No matter how successful you may be, there is always someone ahead of you. When those people are willing to share insight into the systems and thought processes that got them there.....LISTEN!

Podcasts, YouTube Channels, Blogs and Newsletters are great ways to find inspiration and we recommend you take advantage of all of them. The information you need to succeed is out there. You just have to connect yourself to it.

ELECTRICIANS: Do You Install Residential EV Charging Stations?

 

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Regardless of political emotions, nostalgia, and the unending flow of misinformation out there, Electric Vehicles (EV's) are here to stay. Every auto manufacturer on the planet has plans to release a 100% Electric Model within the next two years. Most already have at least one on the road. 

The numbers don't lie. 604,638 Electric Vehicles sold in the United States in 2022. That's a 60% increase from the year before which was a significant increase from the year before that. The technology is there. The infrastructure is developing before our eyes and demand is increasing daily. 

$1300 Average Ticket Price for installation. EV's require Level 2 Charging capabilities in most cases, Level 3 Chargers are not typically used in homes but may be requested for commercial installations. They require certified receptacles and a lot of other specific work that make these tickets high value targets. 

Tax Rebates and other Financial Benefits to your Customers. This is a great Marketing Tool. Rebates and amounts differ by state so be sure to read up on your local benefits before marketing to your audience, but in most cases the benefits are significant. If you work with Landlords and Property Managers, this may be a great reason to reconnect. Trending Up can help your team connect these valuable dots for your customers. 

Your customers are buying these vehicles. Dealerships who sell them to your customers are recommending "names from a list" to install the high value charging stations in your customer's homes. Unfortunately, that's all it takes. Once they're in....they're in. They replace you for future electrical needs as well so why expose yourself, your team, or your bottom line to that kind of risk? 

Put yourself in the mind of the customer buying an EV. Everything about the process is new. The financing, the insurance, the vehicle itself....everything is uncharted territory for them. Why would
their brain send them to the "same old electrician" they've used for "old-school" needs? You have to make them think of you as current and ready to deal with their new, expensive toy.

Deciphering The Metrics - Part Four: KPI's

 

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This journey of ours comes to an end with this final piece of the four part series, but this really should be the tip of the iceberg as far as your Digital Marketing Strategy goes. These are the stats. These are what allows you to demand bigger contracts. 

It's not easy. The fact that this information required four, separate articles to effectively translate the information should give a clear indication of how delicate the digital marketing world actually is. It's not as simple as posting to social media and writing an occasional blog. It's not as inconceivable as many Marketing Agencies would have you believe either. This is not an impossible world, it's just a demanding one. It's not one you should try to "do on a budget." If you're going to play in this world, assemble your team and take the field. Just know that taking the field with inferior equipment and inexperienced play-callers can cost you more than you can recover. Get someone like Trending Up Digital Services on your side early in this game and give yourself a shot at victory. Our strategies are "Win-Win." You win. Your clients win. We win. 

Today, we look at KPI's. Key Performance Indicators are probably things that you're measuring already, even if you don't apply nerdy language to it. You own an HVAC company. Chances are you've looked at sales once or twice. That's a KPI. In fact...let's start there.

Sales - Everybody measures this one. In terms of marketing, sales need to account for the cost of acquiring that customer. How much did you spend in content to attract that customer. In order to accurately track this information, you need to know where they came from. Without a trusted Digital Marketing Partner, you're playing right into our grandfather's old "half your marketing dollars are wasted" strategies and there is clearly a better way. 

Leads - Sales Teams must communicate with the Marketing & Content Teams to know where their leads are coming from. Don't settle for a sales force that simply expects leads to multiply. Sales create ad-budgets and the cycle continues. Make sure that process is communicated or it falls apart quickly.

Profit - How much did you make? If this one needs to be explained, a marketing strategy is the least of your problems. Profit cures everything but sustainable profit comes from precision and strategy. Trending Up Digital Services doesn't do cookie-cutter marketing strategies. We get to know your company and the people within it so that we can aim at higher profits through proven marketing efforts. 

Members - If your site or business requires membership, pay close attention to any volatility in the numbers therein. Whatever direction the arrow is travelling, we want to know why. Capture success and avoid costly mistakes. Are there fake groups out there pretending to be you? Are they gaining members? Think that's something you should pay attention to? The best Marketing Directors catch that stuff in it's infancy and we have those on our team. Do you? Want to? Let's Talk.

Downloads - Does your company offer an e-book or some other kind of download-able information. Track where those downloads are happening and identify any opportunities presented in that data.

Recommendations - Make it easy for your happy customers to refer you. Invest in advocacy at all stages of your business. There is no better form of marketing out there than word-of-mouth advertising from trusted circles. Make sure your marketing team is on top of any platform that gives the public the ability to leave feedback. 

Key Pages - Always direct visitors to key pages within your site. Product pages, Registration Forms, Blogs, etc. Search Engine Optimization is not just about them finding you. It's about where they go and what they do once they're there too.

Retention Metrics - Keep the flock happy! If you've got existing customers, don't allow them to feel that you care more about getting new money than keeping theirs. New business is always the goal, but new sales can often come from existing customers if they feel that they are treated well after the credit card is run. Follow up. Respond quickly. Treat every customer as if they were a loved one. No matter how many times they call. Don't ignore them, or they'll be gone long before you realize it. 

There are a lot of other metrics that go into a successful, long term, marketing strategy but hopefully you have an idea of what goes into making this a component of your business. As we stated, this isn't a "try it on your own" kind of endeavor. You wouldn't fly a plane without a pilot. Trending Up is always ready to be your pilot.

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Deciphering The Metrics - Part Three: Positioning Metrics

 

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Over the last two pieces, we've discussed the Eight Basic Metrics as well as the Twelve Engagement Metrics necessary for success in this ever expanding online world. While the internet may seem wide open and free of regulation, there are certain rules that must be followed if you want your business to enjoy any of the benefits of Digital Marketing.

Monitoring performance as it relates to the metrics outlined in this series is a good start, but it is also a task that shouldn't be taken lightly. If you're going to deploy an online marketing strategy on behalf of your business and the people who make it work....do it right. It's not an expense, it's an investment. If the agency with whom you choose to partner feels like they sell more than they listen, get a new agency. You wouldn't keep spending money at a restaurant that served you what they wanted you to eat, would you? 

In part three of our four part Metrics discussion, we'll discuss the Eight Positioning Metrics to which your attention should be paid. Positioning Metrics let you know how you're being found. Growth or reduction in any of these metrics can be a key indicator and can serve as either warnings or green-lights. You won't know if you're not giving these details the attention they deserve in your overall marketing strategy.

Search Metrics - Search Engine Optimization is one of the most commonly deployed marketing strategies. If prospects can't find you, they can't hire you, so this is a critical metric. Pay special attention to your search rankings and any volatility therein. That data can be priceless in planning your next move, 

Brand Metrics - What are they saying about your brand? This is a cumulative metric that measures brand traffic in search, social, content, etc. This metric is most commonly used to measure the ROI of long-term campaigns. 

Reputation Metrics - Are they saying nice things about your brand, your products, and your people? This metric focuses on the feedback and comments received across all platforms. Companies who live and die by sales numbers alone will often miss the signs of impending doom by ignoring this metric. A tanking reputation drags sales with it. Always. If you wait until the slide starts to address it, it's too late.

Follower Growth - What did you post that resulted in follower spikes? If it grabs them, repeat it! There are many reasons to monitor the patterns of growth in your fanbase, but this is a critical component in the customer acquisition math. Likes are Leads....until they buy something, they're just an expense investment.

Keyword Value - Whether you're Team Apple or Team Android....Mac or Windows....doesn't matter. Google rules them all and we play by their rules. One of the rules we must all follow is Keywords. Google invented them and we all use them. Determining the value of a keyword lets us know if it is worth pursuing or not. 

PR Metrics - Most HVAC & Plumbing Companies aren't doing a ton of traditional Press Releases unless something has gone terribly wrong, but this metric is still important. Instead of journalists, most HVAC companies should measure the interest of manufacturers, hosts, and other entities that can help in "broadcasting" your news the way the press does for whatever company owns their station that week!

Reach Metrics - Awareness of your brand, until you're so big you are truly a household name, goes well beyond your logo and tagline. There's a reason McDonalds and FedEx still advertise and spend millions on marketing. How many times does an average customer see your ad? How long did the ad run? This metric measures across platforms, devices, etc. 

Competitor Metrics - What are the other guys doing? Is their campaign taking focus away from your company? Does it happen every year? Think we could use that to come up with a defense? The answer is yes. We could.

Trending Up Digital Services is ready to help you navigate these rough waters. Our brand is flight related, so we don't do boating analogies, but you get the picture. These metrics are a lot to deal with. Especially if you're running a successful HVAC business. We want to be your agency, so give us a call and let's setup a 30-45 minute Video Chat. At the end of that chat, we'll know if we're a good fit for each other. No sales tactics. No confusing jargon. Just getting to know each other, 

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Deciphering The Metrics - Part Two: Engagement Metrics

 

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In Part One of this Four Part series, we discussed the Basic Metrics. Those were the foundation for your digital marketing strategy. They're critically important because without them, nothing we discuss from this point forward will mean a thing. Essentially, the eight Basic Metrics we discussed previously are the concrete slab below your house. Not pretty...hard to tell what the rest of the house will look like when starting at it, but even a child can understand it's function.

Now it's time to dig deeper. It's time to start building a structure on top of that foundation. Today, we look at the Engagement Metrics. Just like the name suggests, these metrics measure the "engagement" your customers and prospects have with your company during their visit. There are twelve Engagement Metrics to which your attention should be paid. 

Shares - There are numerous ways to measure this component of engagement but no matter how you do it, it's critical. You could measure total shares of all content across all platforms or get down to a micro-level analytics with shares. The content that gets shared is important, but it's just as important to know why it's being shared. How is it being used when received?

Share Ratio - Always good to know if a piece of content is outperforming expectations. For your company, when just starting, this metric may take some time to produce meaningful data, but when it does....live by it! 

Engagement Rate - On Twitter, your company's Engagement Rate is the total number of followers divided by the number of Social Actions taken from your content. (Retweets, Likes, Comments, etc.) Other platforms have similar calculations so it's important to create and publish content that appeals to all sections of your database. 

Premium Shares - Shares with comments and other means of emphasis are always more highly ranked than generic ones like the ones your mom sends you. Post exciting, visually pleasing content that appeals to a very wide range of prospects. 

Comments - This seems like a no-brainer, but it is one of the most often overlooked segments of effective digital marketing. Control your commenting, folks! If you don't have the staff to monitor all of your social platforms for negative comments, then turn off commenting wherever possible. Respond quickly and professionally to all comments. Don't allow emotion to get ahold of your typing fingers while performing this task. Be genuine. Be up front, but no matter what....don't ignore them. Good or bad, keep up with comments. On the flip side....if you're producing and posting a ton of content, but not generating comments at all....something's wrong. Let's get together!

Bounce Rate - Pay attention to how long people stick around once they find you. If you get lot's of "Window Shoppers" then something is not right. If you're getting traffic to your site through SEO or your own, personal prospecting efforts, but they're just seeing your landing page and leaving without engaging....we need to talk. You're not grabbing them. They're not really engaged, they're just being courteous. Courteous doesn't pay the next Quarterly Tax Bill. 

Time on Site - Much like the bounce rate, the Time on Site metric will help you analyze what content is grabbing their attention and keeping them engaged. If one of your "Completed Project" videos is being watched from start to finish and being shared widely....it may be a good idea to post some relative content in the upcoming days. Figure out what draws their attention and GO!!

Completion Rate - Completion Rate measures the percentage of visitors who complete the form to which you are trying to direct their attention. (Or watched the video all the way through....or played the game.....or completed the survey....or voted....you get it, right?)

Clickthrough Rate - All those links you take the time to put into your content....are they worth it? Are people actually clicking on them? If not, why? Is it the positioning? Is it the relevance? You need to get a handle on this one quickly. This metric is the exact reason that our grandfather's old "half your marketing budget is wasted" philosophy is no longer relevant in today's business world. We can measure almost everything we do for our brand with real-time data. 

Amplification Metrics -  Social Amplification will extend the longevity of your content. In other words, boost that thing! If you're paying to "Boost" your posts, you better see how that spend is working, right? 

Influencer Metrics - Who's in your niche market? If you're in HVAC, has any of your content been shared by any manufacturers or trusted experts in the field? Is it being circulated by people who are popular in the circles in which you desire to be popular? Yes...it sounds like digital high-school because that's essentially what Digital Marketing is....you're just trying to get the cool kids to like you.  Guess what....the cool kids think we're cool! Let us help get you past their bouncers and into the inner-circle.

Feedback - If your content is generating feedback, they're engaged. But what kind of feedback are you receiving? Is it negative? Are you just looking at numbers going up and ignoring the fact that you're going viral for embarrassing reasons? Feedback is the pulse of your audience. Keep your finger on it.

Running an HVAC business or a successful Plumbing Company is hard enough without having to devote hours per day measuring metrics that could be handled by a professional marketing partnership. 

We've looked at the Basics.  Now we've discussed the Engagement Metrics. Next up, we'll discuss the Positioning Metrics that make the Engagement Metrics possible. If they can't find you, they can't engage with you so we'll discuss the metrics to make sure your company is on the right trajectory....one that is Trending Up! (See what we did there?)

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Deciphering The Metrics - Part One: Basic Metrics

 

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Digital Marketing looks easy, right?

Digital Marketing looks like a fun and creative way to fill your day with stress and outbursts. Much like golf. But digital marketing is more complex than even the best of golf swings. 

We'll break this down into four different articles to make it a bit more easily digested. This is the first of four, but there is critically important information in this section. Buckle Up.

Let's take a look at the Basic Metrics that you should begin to focus on when developing your company's Marketing Strategy. These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to metrics and the all-powerful algorithms that determine your online fate, but they are a good foundation and a great start to our conversation about metrics. 

1. Page Impressions - Impressions are not the same as clicks. Impressions are kind of like billboards. Each car on that highway each day is an impression They "potentially" saw your billboard, just like anyone who visits your website "potentially" saw your content or advertisement. They don't need to click or scroll down to the actual element of content, they just need to be in the vicinity. In order to effectively use Page Impressions, you must create quality content....give them a reason to be impressed. 

2. Unique Visitors - If a prospect visits your site and views a few pages, leaves, and then comes back later; he is still considered to one, individual, unique visitor. The overall number of Page Visits doesn't matter much if they're all the same dude.

3. New vs. Returning Customers - Pay close attention to the kind of content that attracts new customers and the kind that attracts returning customers. One group represents fresh leads, which we all love. The other represents Brand Loyalty. Both are tremendous assets for any business and deserve to be treated as separate groups. This is a key metric. 

4. Quantity of Content - How much content do you need to publish each month? Do you have a Marketing Calendar? How is broken down? How many pieces of content does each member of your marketing team need to produce in order to maintain an effective posting schedule? These are crucial questions that you need to answer before launching an overall Marketing Strategy for your company. Too much content makes you look desperate. Too little and they forget you. Find the rhythm and stick to it. 

5. Visits Per Post - Managing your audiences is a big part of your digital marketing success. Not every post is going to go viral and that shouldn't be your expectation. Low volume content still gets your brand out there so stick to your schedule and analyze every visit. Which posts get the biggest result. Plan the next strategy around these results. Keep getting better. Keep getting more accurate. 

6. Views Per Visit - The number of pages a visitor views within your site is important. It lets you know if your messaging is landing or not. If they only look at the bio pics of your female staff....don't call that one back! If they spend several minutes on each page and ask questions related to what they saw...you're hitting the mark. If they just spend 2-3 minutes on your landing page without ever clicking on anything, don't waste too much time chasing that one....if  they give you their contact info in the first place. 

7. Sources - Where are your visitors coming from? How are you using that information? If all of your visits are form a part of town where you haven't had much luck, then start figuring out what problem they now think you can solve for them. You haven't had luck there in the past, but they're knocking on your door again, right? Make this one a better encounter than the last with data and metrics in your arsenal. Understanding where the visitor came from will help prepare you for any known issues that arise from that particular source. 

8. Devices - What percentage of your audience is coming to your from a smartphone vs a tablet? Why is that important? Do you think it might help to start designing your content around the device where it is most often viewed? You now have the ability to see that data...use it. 

As we stated earlier, these are only the Top Eight Metrics on which you need to focus for Digital Marketing Success. They're the basics. If your overall strategy was a football team, you've selected the uniform colors. That's it. You have no playbook. You have no practice under your belt. No team chemistry. Any wins you come by are most likely the result of dumb-luck if these are the only metrics to which you devote attention so like any endeavor; don't quit after mastering only the basics. 

Here's a quick preview of the next three articles to come:

Part Two: Engagement Metrics - Shares, Share Ratio, Engagement Rate, Premium Shares, Comments, Bounce Rate, Time on Site, Completion Rate, Clickthrough Rate, Amplification Metrics, Influencer Metrics, Feedback

Part Three: Positioning Metrics - Search Metrics, Brand Metrics, Reputation Metrics, Follower Growth, Keyword Value, PR Metrics, Reach, Competitor Metrics, 

Part Four: Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) - Sales, Leads, Profit, Members, Downloads, Recommendations, Key Pages, Retention Metrics, CRO, Audience Metrics, Longevity, Email Metrics

We look forward to diving even deeper into Deciphering The Metrics with you in the coming days, but hopefully it is clear that real success in Digital Marketing is going to require a lot more time, energy, and expertise than one person can possibly possess. Especially if that one person is busy servicing the HVAC or Plumbing needs of his clients. Let Trending Up be part of your team. We know this stuff.