How to Sell Your New Local SEO Tech to Leadership

Many of us have been in this situation before - you find the perfect new technology that will solve all of your biggest marketing challenges, but you can't get leadership on board. Whether it's due to the cost of the tool or the fear of the unknown, it can be challenging to bring leadership to invest in new technology, especially when it comes to local SEO. Finding a solution that works for your multi-location business and helps manage various aspects of your local SEO strategy is hard enough, not to mention the added stress of getting leadership on board.

If you're still in the early stages of finding a local SEO solution, our blog on the topic can help. On the other hand, if you already have an SEO solution in mind or narrowed it down to a few, this blog is for you! We'll break down what steps you need to take to sell your new local SEO technology to leadership.

1. Do Your Own Research First

Before presenting a new local SEO technology to leadership at your company, it's essential to do your own research and a quality control check. Most marketing leaders want to know that whoever is vetting the solution has done his/her due diligence. Most managers and c-level execs don't care about the nuts and bolts of a local SEO solution. They are focused on the bottom line and trust you to do most of the leg work. So when it comes to a local SEO solution, what exactly should you be looking for?

When researching a local SEO solution for your multi-location business, you should consider the following:

How will this tool help your multi-location business be more visible online?
Does this tool solve for just one aspect of your local SEO strategy, i.e., listings or local pages, or does it solve for many?
Can this tool be scaled across your business locations?
How has this tool helped other businesses achieve local SEO success?
What does this tool have to offer that competitors don't?

You can expect many of these questions to be asked by leadership as you're introducing the local SEO technology, so it's critical to have answers to them ahead of time. If you understand how and why this tool is necessary, you'll be more likely to sell it to others.

2. Run a Risk Assessment

While it might seem like the perfect local SEO solution for your business, it's also essential to consider risks. Many marketing leaders are risk-averse and want to make sure they can trust a solution before making the investment. Running a risk assessment ahead of time is an excellent way to ensure that your SEO technology is a good fit for your business. When looking at risk factors, you should consider data sharing and privacy agreements. Is this solution going to share your company's data with anyone else? What is included in the privacy agreements? This is good information to have on hand when presenting the new technology.

Other types of risk factors to look out for include:

How long the solution has been available. Is it brand new? If so, there could be issues that you run into early on that could be avoided if you chose a more established solution.
The reviews of the product. Reviews can tell a story and help you avoid a solution that might seem great on paper but has many problems.
The contract agreement. How long does the contract last? Is there any way for your business to get out of the contract if things aren't working?

Considering all possible risks ahead of time is a great way to avoid any significant problems down the road and will also show leadership that you put time and thought into choosing the right local SEO solution.

3. Understand the Cost vs. Value

Almost any marketer signing off on a local SEO solution will ask about the cost. They will want to know that you made a cost comparison with other products and analyzed the cost versus the product's value. It's essential to tie in value here because the lowest price doesn't necessarily equate to the best product. For instance, if a technology allows your business to manage every aspect of its local SEO strategy within a single login, that might be more beneficial than three separate tools. Although the cost might look higher for the tool with a single login, it would probably end up costing less than three independent solutions, not to mention the added benefit of only having to teach your teams how to use one solution. Understanding how this tool differentiates itself from the competition and adds more value to your business is critical.

It's also important to know whether or not there will be any extra fees or that go along with onboarding or added features. If you're going to use a local SEO solution that solves various aspects of your SEO strategy, know the total cost for the product ahead of time. Is the solution based on a cost per user or cost per location? Some technology companies also add charges for you to have a designated customer success representative. Prices can also vary depending on the length of contract your business signs. Having as much information about the cost and added costs that go along with it is vital. You don't want leadership to ask you a question about the price that you don't already know the answer to.

4. Determine Which Problems The Tool Will Solve For

Another great way to get leadership on board with a local SEO solution you want to invest in is to highlight current problems the tool will solve for. Before even looking for a local SEO solution, you should identify which problems your business is trying to solve. Are you currently on the third or fourth search engine result page on Google for relevant searches? Are you having trouble reaching your target audience effectively? These are common challenges multi-location businesses face, and a local SEO solution can help. When presenting new SEO technology to leadership, you must clearly define problems your business faces and show precisely how the solution will resolve the challenge.

If you're having trouble clearly defining your business's current problems, and how this tech will solve for those, you can also turn to the local SEO company selling you their product. They can often point out shortfalls in your current local SEO strategy and explain how their product can help. While these companies may be biased, it at least gives you a starting point of where to look when it comes to where your company is falling short. As mentioned in the previous section, you should have a concise way of conveying the value of your local SEO technology, and highlighting how it will solve current issues your business is facing is a great value-add.

5. Develop Strategy for Tracking Success

Finally, marketing leaders will want to know your strategy for tracking the success of this tool. Most multi-location marketers will want to know whether or not an SEO solution is worth the investment. While monitoring the ROI of your local SEO efforts isn't straightforward, there are tactics you can put in place to measure success. For instance, if a local SEO solution helps your business manage its local listings, you can track your business's:

Phone call volume and click to call rate
Your ranking on Google
Overall website traffic
Photo views or questions received on the Q&A feature

Many of these metrics can be used when tracking the success of other components of local SEO, like your business's local pages. Similarly, you can follow the success of your reputation management efforts by monitoring your local star ratings or the volume of reviews your business receives.

To develop a strategy for tracking success, it's essential to understand where your business is starting. Often, marketers get so excited with a new solution that they forget to take note of a starting point. It's also important to compare apples to apples, so if your business measures success by your ranking on Google, make sure you know how you currently rank. Having a clear plan for how your business will track success will help make it easier for leadership to get on board with the new local SEO solution. Now that you understand how you can sell the best local SEO solution to your marketing team's leadership, it's time to get started. If you're looking for a local SEO solution that is made specifically for multi-location marketers, SOCi has you covered. SOCi is the central command™ for multi-location marketers and the all-in-one platform for your localized marketing needs. From SOCi Listings to SOCi Reviews and SOCi Local Pages, we have everything you need to create a winning local SEO strategy. For more insight into how SOCi can help you crush your local SEO efforts and ultimately win more sales, request a demo today!