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In this new episode of the Social PR Secrets Podcast, host Lisa Buyer sits down with Bryan Clayton, co-founder, and CEO of GreenPal, an online marketplace that connects homeowners with local lawn care professionals. Also called the “Uber of lawn care,” Greenpal was started from nothing over eight years ago. Today, Bryan and his associate grew it to over 200,000 active users completing thousands of transactions a day.
Bryan and his co-founders had a simple but genius idea: allowing homeowners to find a lawn care professional, hiring them, approving their work, and potentially hiring them for the whole system. Like Uber, it made a service easily available. But unlike Uber, the model allows all actors to win from it. Not only are customers satisfied. But the app also allows small companies with no marketing to find customers effectively.
Once the idea was there and the first app prototype was built, all that was needed were customers. So Bryan went old school and went door to door to hand out flyers and get his first users for feedback.
Of course, in the digital age, flyers weren’t going to be the long-term solution. So Bryan focused all his marketing efforts on organic search. By optimizing SEO, he was able to slowly build his presence on Google. The best way to do that? Start local! In the beginning, Bryan and his associates only operated in Nashville, TN. That enabled them to figure out how to rank on search terms. Once the strategy was done, they were able to expand.
But the first two years of SEO barely yielded any results. In the first two years, you will be doing so much but not getting immediate results, said Bryan. Just stick with it and it will end up working out. Another one of Bryan’s tips is to create content that might not create conversion but that will put you on customers’, media, and search engines’ radar.
Bryan admitted to barely using social media to promote his app. One thing he does love about social media is Facebook groups. All the 10,000+ suppliers using his platform are on a Facebook group where they share advice and tips, building a community around the service. On Instagram, Bryan has no sales objective but uses the fun content he produces to improve his branding.
For more tips about growing your sprouting business, make sure to listen to this episode. Lisa and Bryan also cover how to stay fit while running a business, using meditation to release stress, and book recommendations!
“SEO is like marathon training: you only get results if you stick with it” - Bryan Clayton
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