Zach Garrett (Liftify) returns to the Restoration Rundown podcast.
Podcast Date: Friday, February 9th
Time: 9:00 AM (EST)
Where: Youtube and LinkedIn Live
About Liftify:
Liftify Founder and CEO Zach Garrett created Liftify with a single mission: Uplift businesses and highlight their incredible products and service through accelerating online reviews.
Ben: Can you walk us through, kind of, from that stages to now where we are now in 2024 with the anti spam stuff and all the AI prevalence that’s happening right now, not to go too far into the weeds, cause I want to spread this out a little bit with a few more questions that I have, but maybe start from the beginning to kind of, hammer home anybody that hasn’t been listening to this or reading or staying in tune, how much more important they are than they used to be and why.
Zach: Yeah, great question. So I’ll boil it down to this marketing used to be what you said about your brand. Yeah, you can do traditional marketing. You tell the market about what your, it is like to work with your company. And that power has completely shifted to the consumer. Your customers now hold the power to tell the story about your business.
So one, you better be great at doing the work that you do, because if you don’t do good work, people are going to know about it, right? But if you do good work and a lot of the businesses we work with do, you have to be great at sharing that with people as well and telling them that. So, you know, that power dynamic has really shifted over the last five years.
And it’s because in our online buying experience with things like Amazon to local restaurants, to now, you know, Google consumers crave and demand pure validation, right? They want to understand what are, have other people’s experience been with this product or service before I buy it. And so you just have to first recognize that there’s been a huge transformation in the way that people buy and look for a company.
They’re not looking at your advertising necessarily. And even if they do, that’s fine. But they’re going to validate that, right? And that validation for them is ratings and reviews. And so, and the reason why it’s on Google is that’s where people are searching, right? 90 percent of home service searches start on a Google search, right?
So it could be different in the future. And so it doesn’t really matter if it’s Google or anywhere else. I think it’s most important to understand the world has just changed and you don’t control the message anymore. The places that people look to see peer validation that controls the message now. So wherever people are going to validate or find your product or services, you have to look really great there.
And so because of that trend of consumers craving that feedback, you know, or peer validation. Companies like Google have really prioritized these things like ratings and reviews, right? It’s so influential in the search and stuff because that’s what the Google consumer wants, right? Google’s trying in the business of making their consumers have what they want to quickly get answers. And that is a huge part of it today.
And so that’s why it’s changed so much, you know, it’s not because it was even Google’s idea, right? It’s a broader consumer trend on just, Hey, I want to see what other people say about something. Before I buy from it. And so Google’s meeting that need through ratings and reviews.
And I think I’m obviously biased in this Ben, but I think it’s the lowest hanging fruit for any business. Like marketing is hard. Getting new customers is hard. Having your happy customers tell the great experience they had with you should be the easy part.
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Benjamin Ricciardi is the founder of Ironclad Restoration Marketing, A digital marketing agency that specializes in the Restoration and Cleaning industry based in South Florida. Benjamin is the author of The No Bulls**t Guide to Internet Marketing for Restoration Contractors and hosts The Restoration Rundown Podcast, a podcast that is focused on everything related to marketing and owning a Restoration and Cleaning Business. Connect with Benjamin and Ironclad Restoration Marketing on social media for the latest tips and tricks on how to grow your Restoration Business.