The Restoration Rundown Podcast is your "one stop shop on how to grow your restoration business." The show is hosted by Ben Ricciardi, owner of Ironclad Restoration Marketing and author of “The No B.S Guide to Internet Marketing for Restoration Contractors." The show features experts from all over the restoration industry who share different insights and tactics from digital marketing to the best management solutions.
Ironclad Restoration Marketing specializes in helping restoration companies drive customers to their website by improving their SEO and helping manage their paid ads and social media. Their goal is very simple: to provide a ton of value to their partners by increasing their organic leads.
Liftify Founder & CEO, Zach Garrett, joined Ben on the podcast for a 3rd time in February 2024. This episode focused on why Online Reputation is key in the restoration industry and specifically what reviews have to do with that. Here are some key topics they covered throughout the show:
Why are reviews so much more important now?
Marketing used to be what you said about your brand. That has now completely shifted to what consumers say about you, particularly in the past 5 years. So there are a couple of things to consider: you should be great at what you do and you have to be great about sharing that. The power dynamic has shifted so much because consumers have begun to crave and demand peer evaluation and validation. We see that in ratings and reviews.
Why Google?
Last year over 75% of all reviews posted online around a local business were on Google and that is up 25% year over year. 90% of searches for home services is on Google. Google is winning. Over 92% of people use Google over other search engines. The bottom line is that you’re either going to get onboard and win or you’ll be left behind - there is no middle ground.
What can restoration companies do?
Before, there were two options: get your team in the field to ask the customer and get the review or buy an out-of-the-box software that you set and run yourself that isn't specific to restoration. Liftify has brought a third option to the table: we understand the restoration space and we have built a customized solution. The root of it being ask customers when they're the happiest and making it as easy and automated as possible.
Check out the podcast episode here: