Crossing the Digital Divide

Over the years Ben Miller attempted to invest advertising dollars in the digital realm, but time and again these initiatives quickly became stale and out of date.

“We just really struggled for a long time in trying to identify the best way to reach customers in the digital platform,” said Miller, the president of AAI Pest Control, a 35-year-old, family-owned business in Salida, Calif. Like many owners, he wanted to focus on delivering the best pest management, not on an “ever-changing marketing beast that we really didn’t understand.”

The rise of smartphones added to the challenge, especially when search engine Google announced on April 21, 2015, it would stop listing websites in mobile search results unless they featured a more mobile-friendly design.

Miller said this “hit us a little bit off guard,” especially because about 45 percent of traffic to the AAI website was coming from mobile devices. After the April 21 cutoff, “we definitely felt a major drop in new incoming visitors to our site,” he added.

A NEW MOBILE WEBSITE. Miller had to act, so he brought in digital marketing expert Lauren Edvalson of Edvalson Marketing to develop a digital strategy for AAI and craft a new, mobile-friendly website, which launched in July.

A key element of the site is a prominent interactive contact form, which is “capturing a lot of traffic” — an average of 25 form submits a month compared to two per month on the old site, said Edvalson, who specializes in working with service companies.

The form appeals to busy people who increasingly “want to connect that way,” she said. People are at work and “can’t really pick up the phone to make an appointment” or don’t want to be overheard talking about bugs in their homes, she said.

AGGRESSIVE CONTENT INITIATIVE.The website also features a new blog. Edvalson tracks hot pest topics that local consumers are searching for online to develop two blog posts each week.

AAI’s aggressive strategy is helping consumers more easily find the website. “Google looks for businesses that are creating regular content on their website that’s valuable and relatable to what people are searching for” and pushes these listings higher in search results, explained Edvalson.

The blog also plays an important role in the consumer buying process: It educates people about the pest problem and the steps required to solve it. Once educated, customers begin looking for the right company to hire and because they’re already on the AAI website, they start there, said Miller.

ACTIVE REVIEW PROGRAM. AAI’s new online review program now comes into play. Consumers want to know what kind of relationships a company has with its customers; getting “honest feedback and criticism” is a key part of their investigation, said Miller.

Previously, AAI had a handful of old reviews — some good, some bad — on the review site Yelp. In comparison, the new proactive review program generated 61 five-star reviews on Yelp, Google+, Better Business Bureau, Facebook, Angie’s List and other sites in less than three months.

Technicians ask customers to rate their service on reviewbuzz.com (their business cards give step-by-step instructions). Customers enter the company name, select the technician’s name, review the service and choose where to post the review (or complete a survey if they don’t want to share their reviews publicly).

Because reviews are tied to individual employees, “we’re able to reward technicians based on their hard work” with incentives such as gift cards, tools and iPads, said Edvalson.

The program is having a huge impact on AAI’s 30 employees. Not only are they engaged in some friendly competition and are upping their game to ensure five-star service delivery, but they are getting some well-deserved recognition.

Miller said it’s great to see the smiles when good reviews come in; when Mrs. Jones has said fantastic things about a technician who’s had a great relationship with her for years “but nobody’s ever known” until now.

The business benefits can’t be overlooked. Other than helping customers choose AAI, having reviews on multiple platforms “is really great for search engine optimization. Google wants to see that you’re not just getting reviews on one platform but that you’re using multiple ones,” said Edvalson.

A BUSINESS BOON. People now contact AAI “with a decision that’s already been made to do business with us,” said Miller. They’re signing up on the website for service on a particular day or calling to schedule by phone, compared to people calling five companies to find out price, he said.

Since August, the company’s online visibility has increased almost 8 percent, growing consistently each month and pulling AAI to the first page of Google’s search results for almost 30 key words, said Edvalson. (Previously, the only key word that ranked was the company’s name.)

And this year the company is testing a paid Google search ad campaign to complement its organic search efforts.

Miller is “extremely excited about 2016” now that everything is up and running and Edvalson is leading the company’s digital charge. “I think it’s going to be a fantastic year for us,” given the “record number of new customers” who came onboard in the traditionally slow first quarter, he said.

Still, connecting with digital customers in a savvy way is an “an evolving process; an ongoing effort that we’re going to have to be committed to as we move forward,” said Miller.

The author is a frequent contributor to PCT magazine. Email her at anagro@gie.net.