Your Review Management Agency Guide: The First 90 Days

You've knocked their socks off.

In your first 30 days, you've delivered quick wins and exceptional results for your clients. You've made them very happy. However, there are still some lingering doubts, a few nagging fears rolling around in your client's mind.

Can my agency continue to deliver results?

The risk to you is the same. Deliver results and your clients continue to renew/extend their contract with you. Fail to deliver results and clients move on.

If you've read my previous 30 day review management agency guide, you've started the agency/client relationship with a plan. When your clients signed on the dotted line, you knew they had their doubts.

So you created a plan.

You have crafted a 30-day plan to accomplish a specific set of goals and objectives:

You've provided your clients with a plan that covers the first 30 days, but they need campaign strategy for a full 90 days. Inexperienced agencies feel this isn't a problem.

"I'll just use my 30-day plan over and over."

If your 30-day plan is comprehensive enough, this can work in the short term. In the long-term, this creates a plethora of problems for your agency and your clients.

The briefcase technique, while effective, isn't enough to persuade clients continually over time. When the results aren't there clients are less open to your suggestions and recommendations.

Clients want growth.

Your clients need a one-to-one return ratio - at a minimum - to feel comfortable with their monthly spend. If they put one dollar into their campaign, they want to receive one dollar in return.

Which is the bare minimum.

Your clients are looking for something more, something many agencies are convinced is impossible. Something inexperienced agencies do their best to dissuade clients from. What am I talking about?

An infinite return.

Agencies and experienced professionals are inclined to believe this strategy is bogus. Clients aren't even able to properly articulate the fact that they want an infinite return.

But they still want it.

Okay, let's slow down a bit here. What exactly is an infinite return?

Let's keep it simple.

That's an infinite return in a nutshell.

When your clients invest in your campaign this is what they want from you. It's something unsophisticated clients struggle to articulate properly. When they receive it, they're incredibly happy and apprehensive.

Why apprehensive?

If you're able to provide your clients with an infinite return they soon realize your agency is atypical. Clients who realize this will be afraid to lose you. Once this happens you've changed the relationship dynamic.

Just one problem.

If you're like most agencies you don't know how to achieve an infinite return. You also don't know how to produce the kind of environment that fosters an infinite return.

What do you need to make this happen?

1. A strong value proposition that provides your client's customers with powerful purchase motivators. These motivators act as psychological triggers that consistently produce conversions.

2. A series of irresistible offers. I've written about irresistible offers before but you'll need a series of them to help your clients drive engagement, develop habits and build relationships with their customers.

3. Precise communication protocols. You'll need to know who your client's ideal customers are. You'll need to know what motivates them to buy and how to increase repeat purchases on your client's behalf.

4. Logistics and systems management. You'll need to be sure you've mastered the economics behind offering a series of irresistible offers. You'll want to profit from this endeavor but you should breakeven at a minimum.

As you can see, this isn't just review management.

That's the point.

Many, many agencies make this very common mistake. They behave as if their client's campaign is an isolated event. If they're offering local search services many feel it's anathema to rely on paid search display or social media marketing to create the campaign lift their clients are looking for.

Understandable but wrong.

It's an unhealthy way to approach client local search and review management campaigns. Especially since an infinite return is a more efficient and sustainable way to attract, win and keep your clients.

Here are a few examples.

How would you create an infinite return with your restaurant or hospitality business?

1. You use retargeting to capture prospects who were (a.) referred by a review site and (b.) visited your site. These customers are warmer and more motivated than those who are unfamiliar with your client

2. You use remarketing ads + irresistible offer #1 to attract these customers to your restaurant or hotel

3. Wow them with exceptional service, creating a wonderful experience

4. At the end of their visit, you offer irresistible offer #2 to bring them back to your business

5. Wow them again

6. At the end of that visit, you follow up with irresistible offer #3

7. Wow them again

8. At the end of that visit, you hit them with irresistible offer #4 to thank them for their loyalty

At this point, they're yours. Don't take my word for it. Watch Jon Taffer, star of the show Bar Rescue, break it down for you, in detail.

The goal here is simple. Follow these steps, then profit. Work with your clients to improve each step of the process.

What about a bricks and clicks client? How would you create an infinite return there?

1. You use retargeting to capture prospects who were (a.) referred by a review site and (b.) visited your site

2. Next, use a combination of online + in-store advertising to attract cold/warm traffic to your client's website

3. Use compelling content as the draw for cold traffic. Go for opt-ins + follows

4. Use in-post/store ads + remarketing to present irresistible offer #1 to warm traffic (i.e. an entry/loss leader product you sell)

5. Present customers with tripwire/irresistible offer #2 via a series of sales/follow up letters after the sale/opt-in

6. Use in-post/store ads + remarketing to present hot customers (those who've made it this far) with irresistible offer #3, a relevant, premium and exclusive offer. Use urgency triggers to incentivize action (i.e. available to the first 50 customers).

Here's an image showing how Survival Life targets customers with their tripwire offer.

See what I mean?

Here's the incredible thing about these optimized marketing funnels. They're straightforward ways to produce an infinite return. This is how you create a campaign that produces these kinds of returns.

The best part?

These funnels work for every business. These offers don't have to be structured around a specific product. You can also create exceptional returns using:

Don't forget, this all begins with your review profiles.

If you're focusing on the strategies covered in my previous post, you should be working on building your review profiles.

If you've done this right you can use your analytics + tracking pixels to segment and remarket to prospects who came from a review site and spent time on your site.

Remember the 30-day plan?

We're going to build our 90-day plan on top of that. Our 30-day plan is the foundation.

Remember the scenarios we covered in my previous post? Here's a quick recap of the likely scenarios you'll face with new/inbound clients.

These scenarios should have already been addressed within the first 30 days. This isn't to say that things are perfect, or that they're even close to where they should be. You should, however, have a handle on these details and a (somewhat) balanced portfolio you can integrate into the marketing funnels we've discussed just now.

Your first 90 days, at its core, is directly or indirectly focused on cash flow.

What creates steady cash flow? Knowledge + outcomes via exceptional returns. Your clients need a one-to-one return ratio - at a minimum - to feel comfortable with continuing. If they put one dollar into their campaign, they want to receive at least one dollar in return.

That's the bare minimum.

But your clients are looking for more, something they often struggle to articulate.

An infinite return.

If your clients invest $10, they want $10 back. Then they want an additional $10 consistently, indefinitely. If you can deliver your agency has a compelling value proposition.

You've delivered quick wins in the first 30 days but the first 90 days sets the tone for the agency/client relationship. Deliver exceptional results and your clients will continue to renew/extend their contract with you. Create the right strategy, perform consistently and you'll create the agency stability you crave.