The Importance of servicing your small SEO clients well
Having recently left my position of SEO Manager for a reasonable sized Digital Agency in Yorkshire, I am now in the process of setting up my own SEO/PPC Consultancy. One thing that has become abundantly clear since I started actively trying to recruit clients is how many small to medium sized companies are dissatisfied with the level of service they are receiving from their existing SEO/PPC company.This is good for me because i’ve been able to poach 4-5 new clients on the back of a simple promise to provide a better level of communication than their previous consultancy. It is a very poor advertisment for the industry as a whole though, because it causes a great deal of ill feeling and suspicion that ends up affecting the whole industry. IMO it comes down to pure complacency – an arrogance born out of working within one of the world’s fastest growing, most dynamic and certainly most exciting industries.
I’ve been involved in Digital Marketing for around 3 years in which time i’ve seen a number of companies cutting their teeth with small to medium sized clients before abondoning this strategy to chase the big fish. Now this is completely understandable but it does tend to leave the original (smaller) clients receiving a poor level of service through no fault of their own, while the agency concentrates their efforts on ensuring the newly acquired bluechip clients are satisfied.
The vast majority of UK companies fall into the SME category so this is a potentially lucrative market if a company positions itself correctly. Unfortunately all many of these companies can expect, as things stand, is a poor level of service and substandard communication
If, as predicted, digital marketing moves increasingly in-house with larger companies creating internal teams to oversee their integrated digital marketing strategies what does this mean for agencies?
Firstly I think it’s safe to assume that a lot of agencies will lose employees to client-side roles – higher salaries, greater profile, improved job security and better perks will prove too tempting to resist.
Some agencies will certainly go under. Those agencies who’s turnover is reliant on 2-3 key accounts are most at threat.Most significantly though I think it will lead to a huge about turn with agencies returning to providing SEO for small businesses because this is where the greatest concentration of potential clients will be found. Afterall, how many small companies have the financial resource to employ in-house digital marketing teams? affordable SEO is the future!
What this article is attempting to highlight is the perils of neglecting your existing smaller clients, especially when we could all be relying on the SME market for our salaries in future. Care for your small clients as you would any other and watch them grow with you. Alternatively you could just keep neglecting them, in which case I’ll nick them from you and they can grow with me.