Let me show you how the owner of a garage door company where I work has turned an ordinary problem into a $0 cost brand building bonanza.

Here was the problem… everyday he would get a ton of phone calls for garage door problems that did not really require a garage door technician; like changing the battery on the remote. Not knowing this he would send someone out who only needed to change a 9-volt battery and charge a service call.

Here lies the problem. People resent like hell having to pay a service call for things like that and so the reputation of the business suffers. And the business LOSES money, because the service call charge can’t cover the cost of the technician, gas etc.

So, a series of videos was made on how to solve simple garage door problems and they are distributed in 2 ways: via the website and by video email.

We feel that any marketing should use nice packaging and giving something away shouldn’t be any different. Nice packaging makes the solution more credible so more people will use it and more people will pass it on. Here is a picture of the how the video email looks when being viewed by a “customer.”

The video is optimized to load and play in that format and its container is optimized so the customer will remember the name of the garage door company that helped them out.

You’re probably thinking this is all well and good but will this really effect the way people think and talk about a business. I’ll let you be the judge. These 2 testimonials came in just hours apart last Friday…

Thank you very much for your assistance in “fixing” my garage door today. Your explanation as well as the helpful video certainly helped me to solve my problem. So far, all is well and my whole family is thrilled. Your diagnosis over the telephone and your honesty are certainly appreciated in today’s world. Thank you for listening to me and taking the time to help me.

I will certainly remember your company and refer you in the future.

You rock.

I was moving some stuff around the garage the other day and inadvertently moved my son’s bike right in front of one of the eyes. I moved the bike and we’re go to go.

Thank you so much for helping me to avoid the cost of a service call. If in the future I need anything done on my garage doors you’ll be the first one I call. Great customer service.

How often does someone say that a garage door company rocks?

Now, all that is left to do (I’ll use the words of Seth Godin) is to amplify these voices.

I included:

• Prices and Set-Up Fees
• Ad formats; i.e PPC, Fixed Fee Pay for Call
• Ad features
• Links to add free business profiles or listings on all the sites that offer that feature.
• A graphic of how advertising will appear on each of the sites with a rather large thumbnail
• And how it will appear if placed through a network

It is my hope to keep this page current, accurate and helpful. Any help you can provide to that end will be appreciated. I am also concerned about load time; if that is a problem, you would be conferring a favor to let me know.

My goal is that this document can serve as a checklist for busy search marketers when they begin a new campaign.

AOL

• Advertising on AOL is distributed from the
  Google Search Network
• 3 local listings presented on Search
  Result Pages From AOL Local Organic
• Organic Results are from Google

AOL Local

• Ads on AOL Local are blended results
  from AOL Media Network and the Google
  Search Network
• Pay for Call Ads are Distributed from
  the Ingineo Network
• Organic Results are from AOL Local (Mapquest)

AOL Yellow Pages

• The Advertising on top of the results is from AOL Media Network
  and the Google Search Network
• The Pay for Call Ads are Distributed by
  the Ingineo Network
• The search results are from Yellowpages.com.
  Tiered Advertisers followed by listings.

Ask

• Ask Sponsored Listings
• Ask sponsored listings are PPC.
  Minimum Bid: 5 ⊄
• Initial Deposit (refill amount): 3x daily budget for
  all campaigns
• Automatically opted into Ask Content Network. But
  you may disable it.

Ask City

• Ask Sponsored Listings
• Ask sponsored listings are PPC.
  Minimum Bid: 5 ⊄
• Initial Deposit (refill amount): 3x daily budget for
  all campaigns
• Sponsored Listings are placed at the bottom of
  the results on Ask City
• Reviews from Citysearch are displayed with stars
  at the listing level

Google

• Google Adwords
• Adwords are PPC.
  Minimum Bid: set for each keyword by Google
• Initial Deposit: $5.00
• Automatically opted into Google Search Network and
  Google Content Network. May disable both.
• Placement-Targeted Ads (formerly site-targeted) allow you to choose from a list
  of websites across the internet to place your ads

Google Maps

• Add your listing to Google Local Business Center
• Up to 1 ad is placed on top of the search results. More ads displayed
  after Map’s organic results
• Must have an Adwords Account
• Must be opted into Google Search Network and
  create a Local Business Ad

Local.com

• Up to 7 ads are placed above Local.com’s results
• Top 3 Sponsor Links are from the Yahoo! Content Network
• 3 Feature Sponsors are PPC ads from Superpages.com
• Next Sponsored Link is either a PPC from Superpages.com or
  a Pay-for-Call ad distributed by Ingenio
• Advertising on Local.com is $49.95/mo.. it includes
  “top placement” on Local.com with your listing in red and link to your website
• Add your Business Profile to Local.com for free.

MSN

• Up to 8 PPC ads are placed on the first page of results with
  up to 3 appearing above the organic listings
• Microsoft adCenter
• Initial sign-up fee: $5.00
• Automatically opted in to the adCenter content network but
  you may disable it.

MSN Local

• Add your Business Profile to MSN Local (Live Local)
• 3 PPC ads from Superpages..com are placed above the local organic results on MSN local

Superpages

• A blend of up to 8 PPC/Pay-for-Call ads are displayed first; followed by fixed-fee placement priced by tier and geographic reach
• Initial deposit for PPC/PFC ads: $50 (applied to clicks/calls)
• $15.00 monthly minimum spend
• Automatically distributed out to Superpages Network. Cannot opt out.

Add your free Business Profile

Yahoo!

• Up to 12 PPC ads are placed on the first page of results with
  up to 4 appearing above the organic listings
• Yahoo! Sponsored Search
• Initial deposit: $30.00
• Automatically opted in to the Yahoo! Publishing Network content network but you may disable it.
• You may pay $49 annually to
  be indexed by Yahoo!; includes up to 5 urls

Yahoo! Local

• Add your listing to Yahoo! Local
• Up to 3 ads are placed on top of the search results. More ads displayed
  after local organic results
• Pricing is Fixed Fee and Priced by Reach & Category.
  Example: Power Washing Bergen County NJ =$30/mo.
• Must have an enhanced business listing in order to purchase
  advertising: $9.95/mo.

YELLOWPAGES.COM

• Advertising results are tiered and pricing is fixed fee, based on geographic reach and placement.
• Add your free listing. You must
  sign up to add your free listing to yellowpages.com