John Lincoln on Scaling National-to-Local SEO, Smart Acquisitions & the Future of Digital Marketing | Ignite Visibility

1. What investments has your company made in enhancing national-to-local digital marketing performance, particularly in local SEO and hyper-local targeting?

We’ve acquired Rallio, which connects national companies to their locations through local social media marketing, review generation and analysis, employee advocacy, industry ecosystems, and local listings. The technology is groundbreaking and fully powered by AI to get more done faster. In addition to our software Rallio, we also have playbooks for brands that ensure they target Google Business Profiles, local pages, and digital PR in a way that drives results. All of this is tied together with our national-to-local dashboards that provide a view of both national and individual locations. Furthermore, we offer enterprise sites, local landing pages, paid media, conversion rate optimization, tracking and more, all integrated with local SEO.

2. How does your organization prioritize partnerships or acquisitions to bridge gaps between marketing strategy and technical execution?

Ignite Visibility is always looking for the best solutions for our clients to deliver the most value from our platform. We currently offer enterprise websites, a full suite of digital marketing services, and our powerful software to tie it all together, Rallio. But the digital marketing world is increasingly complex, and when we don’t have a solution internally, we love working with partners who are the best at what they do. Whether that means working with a reporting solution like Looker Studio or Tap Clicks, an enterprise paid media or SEO platform, or a project management system, we are always partnering with the solution that is best for the client outcome.

3. How prepared is your technical team to implement custom solutions such as Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), advanced APIs, and automated workflows?

Our team is very prepared, especially with our recent acquisition of Outliant, a premier web development company. We are really leaning into custom solution architecture and development that meets the needs of the business’s customers. Out-of-the-box solutions do not always work for enterprise businesses. They often need their own technology, and when they have that, it sets them apart from the competition. I’ve always said the future of the internet belongs to those who can convert traffic for less. Our company understands the importance of Progressive Web Apps, advanced APIs, owning your data and automated workflows. When the solution architecture demands something custom, we are more than happy to map it from start to finish.

 4. What tools or strategies have been most effective in maintaining a consistent brand experience while adapting content and campaigns to local market needs?

Brand guidelines are critical, and with our platform software Rallio, we’re able to upload those guidelines and ensure they’re followed. We see a lot of different levels of regulation with multi-location businesses that might come from the industry or individual brands.

Some companies allow their individual locations to run their own marketing campaigns while others have incredibly strict guidelines. Our company works with the business to execute the vision they have for control.

When it comes to local markets, it’s important to localize SEO content and social media content as much as possible, in addition to paid media ads. We have manual and AI solutions that can create local content at scale. It’s important to have themes built out by major markets, and then localize the content as much as possible for the best results.

5. What factors are most critical when evaluating the strategic fit of an agency or partner for digital transformation initiatives?

Over the last five years, there’s definitely been a shift toward agencies that specialize. For example, at our company, we work with enterprise brands, multi-location businesses, and franchises. We also build custom solutions for unique opportunities where we have experience.

If you’re evaluating an agency or partner, it’s important to fully understand what they’re best at and the experience they have. Generally, somebody who specializes in making TV commercials is not going to be the same person to do your local social media. Additionally, someone who specializes in SEO or paid media for one location businesses is not equipped to run an enterprise campaign.

I expect this trend to continue, resulting in agencies gaining more and more of a competitive advantage in certain niches. My advice is to find an agency that you feel comfortable with, and that will go above and beyond for you. They should understand your industry, be able to show proven results, and have unique technology and strategies that get you excited.

6. How does your leadership team assess the long-term ROI of agency acquisitions or integrations from both marketing and operational standpoints?

When it comes to acquisitions and integrations, you need to think about it a few different ways.

●     Is it a partnership?

●     Should we build it?

●     Should we buy it?

Finding the right solution for the customer will come from one of those three areas. Of course, there’s always the option of sending business to another partner or simply saying you don’t offer that at all. But at the end of the day, the main goal is to offer the most value to your clients who utilize your platform. And that is what Ignite Visibility is, a platform that connects our customers with the best answers to their problems.

When looking at the long-term ROI of each of these items, it simply comes down to the bottom line of the business overall and the contribution margin from the acquisition, the partnership, the build initiative or saying no. All of these things have value, and many times, simply saying no to a category or opportunity can be one of the best drivers of revenue growth.

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