What to look for in a marketing agency for professional services businesses

Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) are a highly effective advertising tool for professionals like electricians, HVAC experts, plumbers, and contractors, designed specifically to connect local businesses with potential customers in their area.

These ads appear at the top of Google search results when people search for related services, offering prominent visibility. One of the key features of LSAs is the "Google Guarantee," which provides customers with reimbursement for unsatisfactory work, thereby enhancing trust in the listed service providers. 

LSAs operate on a pay-per-lead basis, meaning businesses pay only when they receive a contact from a potential client, making it a cost-effective solution. This model helps increase the number of genuine leads, drives more appointments, and ultimately supports business growth by matching professionals with locals actively seeking their services.

A marketing agency can significantly boost the effectiveness of LSAs for professional services companies like electricians, HVAC experts, plumbers, contractors, and more. These ads are a powerful tool for attracting local clients and generating appointments. Here’s how a marketing agency can help these businesses harness the potential of LSAs:

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Setting Up and Optimizing Local Services Ads Profiles

Marketing agencies can assist in setting up and optimizing Local Services Ads profiles, ensuring all information is accurate, complete, and tailored to target audiences. 

This includes helping businesses earn the Google Guaranteed badge, which builds trust by showing that Google has verified the business and offers a money-back guarantee.

Getting set up and verified can be a significant hurdle for business owners who are too busy or who aren’t familiar with the process, but the right marketing agency can save you time and trouble by managing many of the verification steps on their own and guiding you through the rest.

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How Agencies Help with Targeting and Personalization

Marketing agencies can play a pivotal role in defining the targeting parameters of your campaign to either maximize the number of leads coming in or refine your queries to the most valuable job types.

This process includes selecting the right service categories and defining specific geographic areas where the ads will appear, ensuring that they are displayed to users who are most likely to need the services offered.

Agencies can also help personalize ad content to resonate more deeply with target demographics, such as highlighting specific local challenges or preferences. 

By fine-tuning these elements, a marketing agency can significantly improve the effectiveness of LSAs, leading to higher conversion rates and more efficient use of advertising budgets.

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Improving Local SEO to Improve Overall Performance

As LSAs are heavily influenced by the geographic relevance of the service provider to the customer, improving the company’s overall local search engine optimization (SEO) can improve LSA performance as well. 

Effective Local SEO increases the prominence of a business in both organic search results and LSAs, as Google considers the strength of a business's overall online presence when determining the ranking and visibility of LSAs.

Marketing agencies can improve local SEO for businesses like electricians, plumbers, and contractors by optimizing their online presence to rank higher in local search results. This involves claiming and updating Google My Business listings, and ensuring accuracy in contact details, service descriptions, and operational hours.

The right agency will also help you rank for relevant local keywords by incorporating them into the business’s website content, meta descriptions, and titles to improve relevance in search queries.

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Setting Up Tracking and Analytics for Better Insight

If your lead tracking isn’t properly set up and understood, you won’t know what channels drive performance and are worth investing in. Consequently you won’t know which channels need to be fixed or cut loose.

By implementing advanced tools and strategies to monitor ad performance and customer interactions, agencies can monitor the performance of LSAs, providing businesses with insights into what works and what doesn’t. This data-driven approach enables continual optimization of campaigns for better results.

By integrating analytics platforms, such as Google Analytics, with LSA dashboards, agencies can track metrics like click-through rates, lead conversion rates, and cost-per-lead, providing granular insights into the effectiveness of each ad. 

This data allows for the continuous optimization of LSAs, such as adjusting bid strategies and refining targeting criteria based on which ads perform best.

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Streamlined LSA Services From Marketing Agencies Keep Costs Down

To make sure you get the best service at the right price, keep these tips in mind when it comes to marketing agency pricing.

Before engaging an agency, clearly define what you want to achieve with their services. This specificity helps in getting accurate quotes and ensures that the agency's efforts are aligned with your business needs.

Be clear about how the agency charges, whether it's a flat fee, hourly rate, or based on performance. Understanding this will help prevent unexpected costs and ensure the payment model aligns with your business goals.

Look for flexibility in your contract terms with marketing agencies and be wary of agencies that require long terms with no exit clauses.

Make sure your agencies outline the rationale behind their costs to ensure you know what you’re getting for your money and whether it is a fair value.

When you’re ready to get quotes from marketing agencies for LSA management, contact Manticore Marketing to get started.