Digital marketing is a complex landscape, with many factors influencing success and many fields of technical expertise. The role of an Account Executive (AE) is to be your guide, walking you through all the terrain, explaining what you’re seeing, and ultimately getting you where you want to be.
Ryan MacDonald has been at LinkNow for seven years. Having started in the Marketing Department, he has spent the last couple of years as the AE for Elite clients, those clients who have reached a certain monthly investment threshold. He acts as their primary point of contact, listening to their concerns, explaining their results, and working on strategies to improve.
The idea behind the AE role, Ryan explains, is to provide a solution for clients to “the challenge of speaking to three different people.” You’ve likely had the experience before of being transferred between different departments, trying to get an answer to your questions, and having to explain your situation every time.
Instead, Ryan “gives the client a familiar person to work with who knows the history of the account.” This familiarity offers two key benefits: it simplifies the process of making strategy changes and gaining information and allows for greater customization of services.
Ryan’s role is to make sure your website reflects the entirety of your business. “I try to tailor clients more to their needs,” he says, “I help them with their website, discuss social media, add services, or open up a new program.”
The role requires extensive marketing knowledge, including the ability to understand important metrics and design successful campaigns. However, the most important part is communication. A great AE needs the ability to listen to clients, understand their unique concerns, and break down complicated data into manageable, actionable strategies.
Ultimately, it’s getting to know the individual clients that Ryan finds the most enjoyable part of being an AE and what makes him so uniquely suited to his role. “Personally, I find chatting with people easier,” he says. “I like having a relationship with customers. I like seeing people do well and grow. I work with a smaller number of customers, so I can understand their businesses more. The idea is that we have different options, and there are different things we can do, so my role is to listen to them and figure out if different programs will accomplish their goals.”
Success Stories
A Commercial Cleaning and Janitorial Company in Florida
A memorable success story for Ryan is a commercial cleaning company in one of Florida’s major cities, who signed up for the Complete package, LinkNow’s most comprehensive collection of services. Meeting with the client, Ryan was struck by his personal story of perseverance and dedication on the way to setting up his own business. Ryan encouraged him to lean into this aspect of his company, customizing his site to share more of his unique journey.
Of course, the working relationship also included the digital marketing strategy. Under Ryan’s guidance, the client was very proactive about soliciting reviews and providing photos to enhance his site and ads. Once the client started to see success, he sat down with Ryan again to go over the specifics of what was working and what wasn’t. Together, they determined the areas to scale up, and the client gained the rewards. He’s currently among his city's highest-ranking commercial cleaning and janitorial services and has secured a contract for a large convention center.
The client’s success enabled him to open a new location in another major Florida city. He has also started two other businesses, one as a business coach and one maintaining a business directory in his home city. Ryan works with him on all four, offering a central touchpoint to coordinate and strategize his digital marketing efforts.
A Commercial Cleaner in Hawaii
This client joined with a unique problem. They had previously been working with a different digital marketing company that had encouraged them to increase their exposure by setting up several phony business listings on Google in their home city. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to generate new business online, and Google caught on and suspended their business profile.
When they signed up for LinkNow’s Complete package, Ryan met with them to discuss this issue and how to rectify the problem. We'd be able to reinstate their profile, but it would take time, and the client would need something in the meantime to get their digital marketing off the ground.
Working together, they settled on a strong Google ads campaign, which paid dividends. Now fully reinstated on Google, they’ve done very well in their main area, showcasing the benefits of having a personal contact who can understand and help work through the specific difficulties of an individual case.
An Auto Repair Shop in Pennsylvania
This client joined on a package that included Google ads and less Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but they saw success in their Google ads campaign and scaled up their services, eventually signing up for the Complete package.
The client’s rankings improved to the point that he was able to open another location and then a third. Ryan is the client’s primary contact, keeping tabs on his digital marketing, preparing calculations on his cost per lead, and guiding him toward the strategies that are working.
What Can a Small Business Owner Learn From These Examples?
There are a few key points you can take away from these clients’ stories. Ryan highlights the importance of reviews and photos. These are small time investments that pay dividends for your online presence, increasing trust in your business and providing evidence of your great work for ad campaigns and website content.
The biggest takeaway, though, might be knowing when and what to scale up and down. All these clients waited the requisite time for their approaches to pay off and strategically scaled up their services when they did. “Both Google ads and SEO tend to scale well,” Ryan says, “once you get over the initial hump.”
Still, you don’t always know what will work and what won’t ahead of time. That’s why Ryan prefers to operate on a case-by-case basis, evaluating the data, listening to concerns, and deciding where clients can most effectively spend their money. That’s the great advantage of personalized service. That’s the great advantage of having an AE.
When you want to increase your online presence and generate new business with the guidance of a dedicated, attentive account executive, LinkNow is here to help. Book a consultation with us today to get started.
