Hi,
I sincerely hope that you, your family, your friends and colleagues are safe and well, and that they stay that way while we get through this tough time.
I’ve been trying to find the right sentiment and words for this message ever since it became clear just how much coronavirus would impact us, our customers, their businesses, and their livelihoods. We have all worked so hard to build our businesses, and to see them put in jeopardy by something beyond our control is incredibly frustrating and downright unfair.
Therefore, I didn’t want to send a simple ‘business continuity’ message – although I should point out that we are fully functional, just from our home offices. Instead, I wanted to wait until we had something unique and positive we could offer to really help agencies and businesses get through this.
We can’t do everything, but we’re committed to doing what we can to give the local search community what it needs to weather the storm ahead, and to put you in a position to kick-start your business and get back to growth as quickly as possible.
First up, here are a couple of helpful things for our agency customers, but if that’s not you, scroll down to see our new learning and education offerings that we’re confident will help businesses and agencies alike.
1. We’re helping agencies and consultants close sales easier, faster and with reduced costs
Closing a sale quickly and cost-effectively is essential for agencies and consultants at the best of times, but now it’s more critical than ever. To help agencies do this, we’re making two significant changes:
Free white-label agency pitch decks and sales walkthroughs
We’re giving away our prized white-label pitch decks (normally reserved for our premium agency customers) that make it easy for agencies to pitch and sell local marketing services to prospective clients. These decks come with a full sales script, and can quickly be branded to suit your agency and provide a compelling proposition for SMB clients. You can view and download the pitch decks here.
If you’re not sure how best to use these, don’t fret: we’re also offering a free online walkthrough to all agencies who need it. Simply get in touch and one of our agency experts will be in touch to arrange a time to talk.
Reduced cost of local SEO audit/sales reports
Many of our agency customers make use of our comprehensive Local Search Audit reports to pitch and win new clients.
We recognize the value and importance of these reports at a time like this and so we’ve reduced the cost of credits by up to 90% (for example, it’s now just $1 per report if you buy 50). Just log in to BrightLocal now to purchase your credits.
2. We’re providing more free learning opportunities for future growth
For many of us, time is usually a scarce commodity, but now we have more of it than we know what to do with! Why not take the opportunity to develop your skills and services now so you emerge from this crisis in a stronger position?
Here are some of the learning and knowledge-sharing initiatives we’re putting in place:
A Local Search Clinic every week
From next week, I’ll be joined by a local SEO expert for a live, online Q&A-style webinar every week. You can submit your questions in advance or ask them live and we’ll help you with your biggest challenges.
We think it’ll be a fantastic opportunity to regularly come together as a community with shared interests and needs, get some expert advice, chat to each other, and just stop being so in our heads for an hour or so a week.
The first of our weekly Local Search Clinics will be with Dan Leibson (Local SEO Guide’s VP of Search) next Wednesday, April 1st, at 8am PDT / 11am EDT / 4pm BST. Click here to save your seat!
BrightLocal Academy
We were planning to develop this later in the year, but in light of what’s happening we’re fast-tracking our dedicated online training center to help you up your local SEO game.
The training materials are being created in conjunction with well-known and highly experienced local SEO experts, and will be made available free of charge to BrightLocal customers upon launch and for the foreseeable time after. Watch this space for news on our launch date.
3. We’re cutting through the information overload
One thing we’re not short of right now is information! There is so much being thrown at us that it’s hard to know what to focus on and what to ignore.
To save you time and headspace, we’ll be publishing a weekly roundup of only the most important updates, announcements and creative ideas emerging from the world of local marketing. The first roundup just went live today – take a look for yourself!
We’re confident this roundup will help keep you abreast of what you need to know about what the big tech companies are up to, as well as inspire you and your clients to find innovative ways to make the most of the current situation.
We’ll be including these roundups in our newsletter, so if you’re not already subscribed to our mailing list, there’s never been a better time to get us in your inbox.
What more can we do to help you?
Along with our staff’s safety, helping you is our top priority right now. So if you think we could, and should, be doing more to support you during this time, I would really like to hear your suggestions – please email us at [email protected] and help us to help you.
I’d just like to finish by thanking you for being a BrightLocal customer or subscriber, thanking my colleagues across the world for their tireless efforts during this difficult time, and by offering my sincerest best wishes to you, your businesses, and those close to you (even though they might be a little too close right now).
Many thanks,
Myles Anderson
Founder and CEO, BrightLocal
