371 How to Make Your Business Findtable Online (even if you’re starting small)
Daniela Furtado
Founder of Findtable Digital Marketing Agency
In this episode, Kelsey sits down with digital marketing consultant Daniela Furtado, Founder of Findtable, a boutique agency that helps design and construction businesses grow their visibility online.
Daniela shares practical and realistic marketing strategies that work especially for those offering high-touch services, running local businesses, or wanting to build a more premium brand.
From leveraging Google Maps to getting over the fear of asking for reviews, this episode is packed with small shifts that can lead to big momentum.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by SEO, marketing strategies, or wondered how long it actually takes to see results.
In this episode, we also chat about:
The #1 platform you're probably ignoring (and why it still works)
What marketing really looks like in year one
How to get 5-star reviews that actually boost your ranking
What to do if you run your business from home
Timestamps:
[05:20] How using social media as a relationship tool can be powerful for your business
[11:05] She started her business from her parents’ house
[13:18] The power of niching down
[16:35] The key factor that business and marketing advice is not a one-size-fits-all
[21:26] High-Touch Businesses need a different strategy
[22:58] Marketing starts with website foundations and tracking
[25:49] Marketing results are compound-based, not instant.
[31:56] The most overlooked tool for local businesses is Google Maps
[34:05] How you can share your business address safely, get found and start ranking locally
[38:00] Tips for getting authentic, keyword-rich reviews and why video/photo reviews now matter more than ever.
To connect with Daniela:
Email Newsletter: https://www.findabledigitalmarketing.com/newsletter/
To connect with Kelsey:
Access the transcript for this episode:
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You're listening to the Visionary Life Podcast. I'm your host, Kelsey Reidl.
Each week I'll bring you conversations with the most visionary humans on this earth in hopes that you'll be able to absorb their wisdom, avoid their failures, and feel less alone on the roller coaster ride that is entrepreneurship. This season, I'll be chatting with creative thinkers, masterful marketers, brick and mortar shop owners, brand builders, and people just like you who have a story to share or a vision that inspires. If I can share one quick secret with you before we get into the episode, it's that we all have a little bit of visionary inside of us. You know, that spark that nudges us to pursue our full potential in this lifetime. But perhaps somewhere along the line, it got covered up. I'm here to tell you that it's never too late to explore that inner voice and access the brilliance deep down inside of you.Kelsey [00:00:54]:
It's in you. It's in all of us. Let's dive in. Hey, visionaries. Welcome back to the show. I am so excited. We have a incredible guest who's going to teach you all about how she built her agency business. It's called Findable Digital Marketing out of Toronto.
Kelsey [00:01:13]:
And I actually recorded with Daniela Furtado in person. So this is a super, super duper fun episode. Before I get into the episode, I thought I would share a quick little update from my end. So I can't believe we are already coming up to the summer solstice. I don't know about guys, but this is my favorite time of year. It's like my energy, I am nor normally naturally a high energy person. Like even in the winter, I feel like I can pack a lot into a day. Many of you guys know I shared this on Instagram recently.
Kelsey [00:01:44]:
My strength is maximizer. So this is something that I just, I think I was born with it. Like my mom always told me I had ants in my pants. I've always tried to squeeze the most out of every situation and summer brings out like the, the crazy version of me where I'm like, oh my gosh, like we have until 9:30 at night. I want to go paddleboarding. Like last night we, Dave got home from work at 5. We had swimming lessons, then we went to the splash pad, then him and I swam in the river. Which by the way, I got a leech on my foot.
Kelsey [00:02:15]:
Like, oh my God, I almost lost my mind. Um, and then after that I'm like, I want to go paddling, like paddle boarding down the river. After Freddie went to bed. So I just. I love living life outside. You know, I. I mostly share my work life in the online brand that I've built, but there's just so much more behind the scenes. And I really do believe that when you're winning in life and when you're happy in life and you're inspired, everything changes in your business.
Kelsey [00:02:45]:
You're more open, you're more focused and dialed in. You're more intentional about what you want and what you don't want. And so maybe this is a nudge that if you're feeling stuck or like any stagnant energy in business, actually go find a personal win, sign up for a 5k race, do a pottery class, host a barbecue, and theme it. Like, my friend recently hosted a crazy hat night at his house, and I just thought that was so fun. Like, it's something out of the ordinary and just have some fun, right? And. Or just be kind. Like, as I was floating down the river last night, I was thinking, as I always do, about marketing, and. And I'm like, you know what's free as a marketing strategy? Kindness.
Kelsey [00:03:29]:
Being the most kind, interested, curious person in the room. Period. Full stop. That is a strategy. And I know some of you might be like, no, like, what about the Facebook ads? And I'm like, yes, but if you're just not genuinely a nice person and talking to as many people as you can, like, your whole marketing strategy could just be smile and get to know five new people a day. Like, go walk around until you have those conversations, and I guarantee you that would push you into so much more growth and magnetism than anything else. So, anyways, don't give me a mic, because I'll always talk. So today on the show, Daniela Furtado is our guest.
Kelsey [00:04:13]:
Like I said, we got to record in person. She's a consultant, a speaker, a writer, and she talks about how to make your business easy to find online. Hell, yeah. This is amazing. She's actually the founder of a boutique agency called Findable Digital Marketing. She's got a team, and they help their businesses 5x their website traffic and 3x their sales inquiries. So I think that's pretty badass. I know you guys are probably feeling inspired and excited to listen to Daniela.
Kelsey [00:04:41]:
She and I could probably geek out on marketing forever, so really, really stoked for you to dive in. We're sharing lots of her story and her upbringing and how she got into entrepreneurship. We talk about what her business looks like today. Some of the marketing strategies that she's seeing are working and what's not working? And we kind of just geek out on all things, rituals, success habits, and tools that she uses. So, without further ado, let's get into this episode with Daniela Furtado, the founder of Findable Digital Marketing. We're recording. Let's dive right into it. Welcome to the Visionary Life podcast.
Kelsey [00:05:20]:
We met through Jasmine Williams, and, you know, I think it's so easy to have a negative lens on social media, but then in situations like this where I can post, hey, I have a podcast spot I'm recording in Toronto on this day. And then somebody who we mutually know can chime in on that post right away, and that can put me in touch with another incredible entrepreneur. I am just so grateful for social media. It's like this infinite portal where we can just keep connecting and having, you know, new people enter our lives, and it's just amazing. On that note, what's your relationship with social media?
Daniela Furtado [00:06:01]:
I don't use it on a personal level. I don't have personal accounts. I use it for the company and to keep in touch with people I meet through real life or sometimes meet completely new people. I use it really for a networking, as a networking tool.
Kelsey [00:06:19]:
And I've already read kind of the intro on who you are to our listeners. But for the listener who's new to your world, who's just getting to know Daniela, what would you tell them when they say, so what do you do? What is kind of your elevator pitch that you would give back?
Daniela Furtado [00:06:37]:
Yeah, I do digital marketing specifically for design and build. I write, I speak, and I consult on how to make businesses easy to find online so that they can grow.
Kelsey [00:06:49]:
So concise. It's like you've practiced this before. Do you remember what your first foray into the world of marketing was? I feel like we all kind of have those initial nudges of like, oh, I kind of like this topic. And we lean in a little closer. What was that for you?
Daniela Furtado [00:07:05]:
It depends where you want to start. I mean, I. So when I was about 12 years old, I got my first computer and I really like. I love art. I like drawing on my spare time. I have a big appreciation for the arts. And so I was getting into digital art and making websites, and I taught myself very basic coding languages like HTML and css. So I was making websites, and as the years went by, I was making websites for friends and family members.
Daniela Furtado [00:07:38]:
By the time I was about 18, 19 years old, I was making a side income from some of these websites and I was learning about SEO and digital marketing. Around the same time, figuring out how do I get traffic to these sites. I was going to meetups, listening to podcasts, reading books, meeting people that do this full time. And that's when I started to realize, oh, this is a career. Like, it's called digital marketing. And that's when I realized I could do this full time. There have been other experiences when I was even younger where I could see I was a marketer before I even knew what the word was. But.
Kelsey [00:08:22]:
Yeah, what were some of those experiences that showed you that you were a marketer?
Daniela Furtado [00:08:29]:
So my mom. My mom is a cleaning lady. Yeah. And I don't know how old I was, Kelsey. I was maybe nine.
Kelsey [00:08:40]:
Okay.
Daniela Furtado [00:08:40]:
Like grade four. What is. How old are we when we're in grade four?
Kelsey [00:08:44]:
That sounds about right.
Daniela Furtado [00:08:45]:
Yeah, I was about nine. My mom was. She wanted to get into cleaning houses. At the time she'd done a little bit. And so I was, I. I went to the neighbor's house and used their computer. I created a flyer using clip art. Do you remember when they had like, the pole, the.
Daniela Furtado [00:09:07]:
You could like the frills at the bottom and you could.
Kelsey [00:09:10]:
Oh, yeah, of course.
Daniela Furtado [00:09:11]:
Yeah, yeah. And I had heard at school someone say that, like, Portuguese people have a reputation for being clean and hard working. So I use that on the flyer. And I said, like, I can't remember what exactly. It must have been something like hard working Portuguese cleaning lady or something along those lines.
Kelsey [00:09:31]:
And not all the keywords.
Daniela Furtado [00:09:32]:
Not the keywords. And got my messaging. I listened to my target customer and then we went to the Kings Way, a pretty wealthy or upper middle class neighborhood in Serrano, and we put the flyers all around and she got her first few clients. And to this day, she still has one client from that flyer.
Kelsey [00:09:54]:
Oh, my. I love hearing stories like this because I even think you use the word scrappy sometimes in how you approach marketing. And that to me is the example of, like, just sometimes we need to pause out of the chaos of life and say, what is the easiest thing I could do right now to get my message out and offer a solution to my dream clients. Right. And I love for you, you're like, okay, well, I'm hearing these words. Hard working Portuguese and a poster. Like, it's so obvious. But sometimes in this day and age, we glaze over the obvious things.
Kelsey [00:10:30]:
So I feel like that's such a testament to how much of a born marketer you really are. Like, listening to those words and almost being like a copywriter at age nine, thinking, okay, I gotta put that on.
Daniela Furtado [00:10:41]:
The poster right now probably spelled it wrong.
Kelsey [00:10:43]:
Yeah, that is absolutely incredible. And so how does that lead you into starting findable? Like can you bridge the gap here of how do you then become an entrepreneur? And you're now you have a team that you manage. So take us through some of those steps along the journey of how you got to where you are today.
Daniela Furtado [00:11:05]:
Yeah, I was living, let's go back several years ago maybe, oh my gosh, almost 10. I was living in Spain and I had gone back to school. I did a master's in Spain in digital marketing, worked in, I had some full time marketing positions. I was working with agencies and I had really wanted to start a company of my own. I got frustrated with the ceilings that I was coming across. People telling me what I can and cannot do, what projects I can work on, what I can accomplish. I even just didn't like to people telling me what time to come to work and when I could take my own vacations. Yep.
Daniela Furtado [00:11:51]:
You know, if I get the work done and there are like three hours left, then why can't I just go home? So I was exploring some business ideas. I was looking specifically at creating some sort of subscription box, sending books, children's books in Portuguese and Spanish to North America from Europe. So I was exploring that. I had done market research. I got over a thousand responses to a survey I was putting out. I was traveling to Portugal, I was living in Spain. So I was going to Portugal like five or six times in a year, having meetings with publishers like really trying to explore that idea. In the end I decided not to go through with it.
Daniela Furtado [00:12:31]:
But I had that drive and so went through some big life changes, decided to move back to Canada and I thought, you know, I'm kind of starting from now. I don't want to say from scratch, but starting over. Yeah, I have nothing to lose. Why don't I just, I have, these are the skills I have. Why don't I start an agency? I had never worked in an agency before. I worked with agencies, working on in house. But I had no idea, I had no idea what I was signing up for, what the business models were, how to price, whatever typical difficult processes and services. But I, I, yeah, I did some job interviews and I was like I could do, I could do better.
Daniela Furtado [00:13:18]:
So yeah, it took the leap. I started off by myself on my parents bedroom and got my first handful of clients. I started doing Facebook lives at the time, giving like these weekly webinars and got my first few clients that way. My mom being a Cleaning lady. She told all of the houses that she cleaned and got some clients that way as well. And eventually it snowballed. About six or nine months into it, I realized there are a lot of marketing agencies. The world actually doesn't really need another one, or at least another generic one.
Kelsey [00:13:51]:
Interesting. Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:13:53]:
And I realized I had to take my own advice, the advice I was giving to clients, and work on my positioning and specialize. So I started off with two industries, cannabis and design, because those were the most of the kinds of clients I was getting at the time and where I saw a lot of opportunities. So I thought, I'll run with those and see where it takes me. And time will tell if I need to specialize in one over the other. There were years where most of our clients, like 80% were cannabis, 20% were design. Now it's close to almost entirely design clients. We still get a handful of cannabis. They're fewer, but larger projects.
Daniela Furtado [00:14:31]:
And then sometimes industries, like completely different industries, but it's predominantly design. Design and build creative.
Kelsey [00:14:40]:
There's kind of this blanket business advice that when we're writing a business plan, we should decide on our niche.
Daniela Furtado [00:14:47]:
Oh, yeah.
Kelsey [00:14:48]:
And it's like, almost like you need to magically know that from day one. And then when I'm listening to you talk, and even in my own journey, it's like, for your story, you launched with the general. So it's like anybody who needs marketing services, and then by paying attention to who was saying yes and where your clients were getting the most results, then you found your niche. If you were to go back and do it all over again, would you kind of follow that same trajectory of start general, then go specific or knowing what you know now, do you wish you started in design specifically and never launched that generic digital agency? Because I think it could go either way. But I'd love to know your thoughts on that.
Daniela Furtado [00:15:33]:
So I. I know a few people that have very specialized businesses from the get go. Like, I have one friend who's a recruiter, and he was working in recruitment agencies for years and had done. He was a. He's a cannabis recruiting recruiter. And so he had done a little bit of cannabis in his former employee with his former employer. And so he knew the industry a little bit and was pretty confident when he started. I think, like, those situations make a lot of sense.
Daniela Furtado [00:16:03]:
If you already know the industry, you're kind of in it and you're listening, you know, before it makes sense. But in my case, I was most of my career, most my adult years, at the time were not in Canada, I didn't have a professional network here, didn't have work experience here. So, yeah, I was flying by the sea of my pants. I was figuring it out as I go along. So given my circumstances, I would do it all over again. But someone's circumstances might be a little bit different, their career might be different, and so something else might. It might make sense for them to specialize from day one.
Kelsey [00:16:35]:
Yeah. That always reminds me of the fact that all business advice is nuance. All marketing advice. Right. It's easy to turn on a podcast or to pick up the latest and greatest business book and to read it and think, oh, I should burn down my business model and copy what guru number 47 did. But it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Without checking in with, who am I? What are the values of the business? What are my skill sets? Where do I feel joy? Like, you can miss so much. Right.
Kelsey [00:17:04]:
And so I think it's so important to always caveat, like, this is my journey, this is your journey. But everybody's specific journey of growing their business and figuring out what works and is going to be trial and error and experimentation, right?
Daniela Furtado [00:17:17]:
Absolutely. I actually got. I had two calls this week where I had to pretty much say that same thing in the. As an answer.
Kelsey [00:17:26]:
Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:17:26]:
One was they. So she was part of a business mastermind and the. The consultant, the interior designer that was leading the call. She's been in business for 30 years, and she's never had to do marketing. She only does. She's only built relationships. And so she doesn't really believe in marketing. And so the.
Daniela Furtado [00:17:50]:
That. That's the leader. And so the person that reached out to us told me this, and she said, the lead, she's like, do I need to do it? This person says, I want a business like hers. And she hasn't had to do it. I'm like, how long has she been in business for? She goes 30 years, and how long has she just been getting referrals that, you know, nine out of ten times are high quality and convert? She said, yeah, only the past 15 years. So what did she do the first 15 years? You know, the first 15 years, she probably. She had to build her reputation so that she has the business that she has today. Or another lead that came in is an architect in New York, and he's at a.
Daniela Furtado [00:18:30]:
He's trying to figure out, does marketing make sense for my business? And he's, you know, pressing me, asking me, you know, does it make sense? I'm like, honestly, I don't know. I don't know if it's going to work for you. It depends how you do it.
Kelsey [00:18:42]:
Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:18:43]:
But, you know, he told me the story of he's asking his peers and he's seeing this mix where his architect peers that are 70, 80 years old saying, yeah, we did marketing, it never worked.
Kelsey [00:18:55]:
Yep.
Daniela Furtado [00:18:56]:
But he also knows it's a different time where it's. We're in a very digital world than when his peers, his architect peers did the marketing and he's asking his other business friends what they're doing and they're in different industries and they do marketing. So, you know, it depends where you are in business, what industry you are in. And that's. Unfortunately, you kind of have to take a risk and sometimes try it and fail and figure it out firsthand.
Kelsey [00:19:21]:
Absolutely. I think one of my favorite reminders to all of my clients is that it's a good thing to experiment. Right. Because we don't know marketing could be the difference between having a $500,000 revenue year or a 2 million dollar, but without running the experiments. Yeah, we don't know. And I think that's the hardest thing to say to a potential client is it depends or I'm not sure. I can't guarantee any results, but we are going to put all of the systems in place to try and achieve whatever output we agree upon or whatever outcome. And yeah.
Kelsey [00:19:54]:
And I think before we go a little further into kind of how you work with your clients and your specialties, do you have a definition for marketing? Like for. When somebody says, well, does marketing work? Or what even is marketing based on your own experience? How do you respond to that question? How do you answer it?
Daniela Furtado [00:20:14]:
Which question? Does marketing work? Or what is marketing?
Kelsey [00:20:17]:
What is marketing?
Daniela Furtado [00:20:18]:
I'd say marketing is being well known with a very specific group of people.
Kelsey [00:20:23]:
And so I almost think like the opposite of that is not being well known.
Daniela Furtado [00:20:30]:
Or being well known to the.
Kelsey [00:20:31]:
Wrong people or being well known to the wrong people. And so when people say, does marketing work? It's like, well, do you want to be more known than you are now? And if so, marketing is kind of the bridge, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And when you think about kind of the specialties that you've brought into findable digital marketing, like, what are some of those key strategies that you guys focus on and how you help your clients? Because there's so many, so many different modalities within marketing. But I know you kind of have your specialties.
Daniela Furtado [00:21:01]:
Yeah. So we started off as an SEO agency But it's really evolved over the years. It's, it's digital. I mean. Yeah, I'll start with that. We do digital marketing. A lot of our clients have, they, they start off with us doing, getting clients almost entirely through relationships. And although that's great, they see there's a ceiling, there's a limit to that.
Daniela Furtado [00:21:26]:
Maybe they want to enter new cities, new markets, they have big goals and they've got to grow beyond their network and, but they also don't need, you know, they're not selling tacos and T shirts. They don't need 200 customers a month or a day. So a lot of our clients, they say to me, you know, Danielle, if I get a dozen projects a year that are really high quality, that to me is a successful success.
Kelsey [00:21:52]:
Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:21:52]:
So we've created this 12 month program with that in mind. And the end goal is to increase their website traffic by five times and inquiries. Hopefully. I mean, not hopefully, I should say hopefully triple, but usually almost always double. We have KPIs or milestones along the way to accomplish that. And like I said, we started off with SEO, but we do a lot more than just that. We start off with positioning, setting up a CRM, making sure that we're tracking sales properly, sales inquiries, because what's measured is managed. So.
Daniela Furtado [00:22:27]:
And then we work on the website foundations. Creating a funnel on the website, making the contact page is usually the most important. Making sure that that's. You're asking the right questions to get qualified leads and that the path to the contact page at the website is clear. Clear. And then we're creating content on a regular basis. Traditionally with SEO, that's blogs and sometimes clients prefer that because they don't have to put their face on it. And it's a little bit easier to delegate.
Daniela Furtado [00:22:58]:
But I really try to push other mediums like video, like audio, like public speaking, if the client has a personality for it or the. They like that type of thing. But the idea is that on a regular basis you got to put yourself out there, you got to talk about the work that you do, you got to talk about your expertise. Yeah, that's, that's in a nutshell, a little bit more than that.
Kelsey [00:23:17]:
But yeah, yeah. And I even think like the, the name of your agency findable, it just gives such a good image of what all businesses and especially the type of clients you work with, they want to be able to be found. Right. But I think sometimes as an entrepreneur and as the type of clients that you might be working with, they're so Busy in the day to day operations, when they have clients, they have so much on their to do list that sometimes having a marketing strategy besides just showing up and trying to do your best each day, it can be a little bit overwhelming, right. To even carve out the time to sit down and really think from a high level perspective, like, where are we at in our journey and what is the next step if we really want to enter into a new level of brand awareness.
Daniela Furtado [00:24:07]:
Right.
Kelsey [00:24:07]:
And I think that often what hinders business owners is that that time they don't carve it out. Right. So to actually think strategically about where they're going and how they're going to get there is not there. And then the other part of that too is that even if they know, okay, I want to be found on Google or I want to start showing up on podcasts and doing interviews, it can feel so overwhelming to know who to talk to or what to do or what agency to invest in. So for the person listening to this podcast right now, who, who feels overwhelmed with marketing, what is kind of that first step of finding a sidekick or finding someone that could help them?
Daniela Furtado [00:24:48]:
I'd say talk to multiple people, as as many people as possible. Don't let anyone rush you into a decision. Ultimately what you're looking for is a partner as a relationship, someone that's willing to grow with you and someone that is obviously knows the work as well, is competent and professional, punctual, so on and so forth. But ultimately you got to like the person because you're going to work pretty closely together. So get to know as many people as possible. Maybe start off with a one hour consultation or a short term service. Yeah, I'd start with that.
Kelsey [00:25:27]:
Amazing. And for clients that come to you and they, they know, they want to be more visible and perhaps they don't know, like what is the time expectation? Yeah, like how long does it take to get results? When you're working with a client, I know you have multiple different packages. Like what is a reasonable amount of time to see if a strategy is going to work for them?
Daniela Furtado [00:25:49]:
Well, it depends how we define results. What kind of results are you looking for? It's always got to start with your historical data. I would be surprised with how many people don't have it.
Kelsey [00:26:01]:
Yeah, I feel like nobody does.
Daniela Furtado [00:26:02]:
Right? Yeah. So like how many inquiries did you get last year? And then let's start from there and define what is realistic. It's realistic to double that number, but five times it with a limited budget? No. So we start there like Start with understanding your historical data and that will help us define what is realistic for the next year. And then we break it down into milestones. But typically with our process, we, it is realistic within a 12 month span to double the amount of online inquiries that you, you, you had the year before. And that actually doesn't come. It's not like if January of last year you got five inquiries and we start this January, you're going to get 10.
Daniela Furtado [00:26:58]:
It's going to compound with time. So you're actually going to get most of those increase towards the end of the year. Because it does. Yeah. Marketing compounds. It takes time for us to have momentum.
Kelsey [00:27:09]:
Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:27:11]:
Something I always need to remind people is if your service or product is expensive, if it's premium, it's going to take longer to see an ROI because you're going after a niche. Capturing the data is also very important because you may find as you start to do this, you have cracks in your sales process, your sales packages and you have to be open to adapting your sales pitch, your sales process, your packages to the market. So there's going to be a lot of learning and growing pains in the first year. But if you're serious about growth, then it's, I think it's really worth it. I look at the clients that we've, we've had that have done the first full year and it's been pretty, it's been pretty successful for all of them. And the second year just gets better and the third year even better.
Kelsey [00:28:08]:
Yeah. Because like all those seeds that you're planting, there will eventually be not just a small harvest but over multiple years, like that really starts to compound. I've seen that with the podcast growth. I've seen that with my SEO traffic. I've seen that with like, yeah, just almost everything that I started eight years ago. It just continues to get easier and better and systematize. And so I always remind clients, if you don't see results in 30 or 60 or 90 days, like stay the course for some of these strategies because they are more of that long game. And like you say, they compound.
Daniela Furtado [00:28:46]:
Right. I would say if you're creating a marketing strategy. Yeah. Start with historical data, create a one year plan plan and break it down into milestones and that will help you stay the course and stay patient when you know, okay, we haven't achieved that, you know, the, we haven't reached the pot of gold. But if you have those milestones, you know that you're on the right path because it's terrifying in the Beginning to do something completely new and you're not getting any sort of compensation or reward, but you got to keep going. Yeah, like that's, that's scary.
Kelsey [00:29:19]:
It absolutely is. And I think inherently we want those quick wins and those successes. That's why I always think too, having some short term strategies or short game strategies and playing the long game, it's like we know we want to be in business in 20 years. And so all that work that we're doing, planting seeds is going to pay off. But also get out and network.
Daniela Furtado [00:29:37]:
Yeah.
Kelsey [00:29:38]:
Meet clients, you know, to find those first few clientele.
Daniela Furtado [00:29:41]:
Yeah. I would say with digital marketing, you just gave me, you just reminded me, gave me an idea. Like, I know in the first three to six months, the goal shouldn't be really to close the sale. I mean, that's really great. The goal should be knowing are people reaching out complete strangers that don't know you are. They're reaching out and inquiring about your services. That's a sign that it's working.
Kelsey [00:30:01]:
Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:30:02]:
Maybe they don't have the budget, maybe it's not a good fit. But a complete stranger felt confident enough to say, oh, let me ask more. This complete stranger I've never met. So that's a good sign. That's the first sign. And then gradually, with time, you can increase the expectations and the kind of quality. But first you just want to know that people are inquiring.
Kelsey [00:30:27]:
Yeah, that's such a good point too. And I was talking to someone this morning actually about a concept called design thinking. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but he was telling me, and that's sometimes about changing the product or the packaging of it in order to fit the marketplace that's right in front of you. And I think so often we think, oh, I just need a different marketing strategy or my content's not good enough on Instagram. But it's like, maybe lean into the people who are paying attention and really learn. What do they want? Are you missing something? Have you packaged up your product with too high of a price point and you need to lower it because they're more junior clients, for example. And so I think sometimes we can flip that narrative of maybe it's not the wrong marketing or that it's not landing, it's just that you don't have the right product or you're not presenting it in the right manner.
Daniela Furtado [00:31:20]:
Could be, it could be, yeah.
Kelsey [00:31:22]:
Yeah. There's so much that can go into it. So for someone listening, a lot of our Listeners are in that early stage of launching a business, they want to get some quick wins. Maybe they are just hearing about SEO and oh, you should have a Google my business profile or you should update your website with better copy. I'm curious, from your perspective, what are some quick ways to get some extra traction in business or what are some missed opportunities potentially that a business owner has maybe skimmed over and has never even thought about strategies? What would you share with them?
Daniela Furtado [00:31:56]:
I'm glad you asked because I just this past month we launched, you talked about like meeting people where they're at and creating packages for them. We just launched a 30 day program to help people build that relationship, get a taste of marketing, build a foundation and so in that, and I would recommend this to everyone. Google Maps, it's such a low hanging fruit. People really oversee it. I've seen people, they had a Google Maps listing, but they didn't really optimize it. And they made not a few, maybe a dozen small changes but, but they made them and they went from number 21 to 7.
Kelsey [00:32:41]:
Oh my gosh, that's huge.
Daniela Furtado [00:32:42]:
In just a week. And then from there when you get to seven to top three becomes much easier. So yeah, I would say a Google Maps listing, optimize it as much as possible because everyone is on their phone and if you're a local business and people are searching for something close to them, then Google Maps is the tool that a lot of people are using and it's not really affected by AI. So that's, that's, that's a clear one. And for that you're gonna need an account. You need to get reviews, reply to every single review, upload photos and make your location clear on your website as well. Put your address in the footer, put in your about page, your contact page. Yeah, if you're, do you want me to give an example?
Kelsey [00:33:26]:
I would love that. Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:33:27]:
Do you know what, like common businesses, is there a common business that your, your listeners have?
Kelsey [00:33:32]:
Yes, and I was actually going to ask you this because a lot of them are running say a Reiki practice, but it's out of their home, for example. So they're the only one in their town of 20,000 people who's offering Reiki or holistic head massage and they're running it out of their home. So there is an address, but maybe they feel scared.
Daniela Furtado [00:33:52]:
Yeah.
Kelsey [00:33:52]:
And, but they're not showing up. When people go to Google and type in Reiki in Toronto, Reiki in Milton, Reiki in Hamilton, they're not showing up because they don't have the proper website and they don't have the Google Maps set up.
Daniela Furtado [00:34:05]:
Yeah. If you don't want to, that one's a little bit tricky. That's a good example. Okay, so let's workshop through that. So give me a name of a place like let's say Alliston or Barry in Ontario. Let's say you do Ray K. Reiki in Barry. You do it out of your house.
Daniela Furtado [00:34:24]:
Start with a Google Maps listing. You're gonna have to have a public address.
Kelsey [00:34:29]:
Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:34:29]:
If you don't, it's pretty tough. There's an option to just say you serve Barry, but it doesn't work so well in the algorithm.
Kelsey [00:34:36]:
Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:34:36]:
So you're gonna have a public address. Maybe if you're in an apartment building to point the the unit. Yep. You can state on your Google Maps listing by appointment only. So you don't have people just showing up. That's also very rare by the way. Most people just don't shop. Most people don't even phone call anymore.
Daniela Furtado [00:34:55]:
So people usually will contact you first. So start with a Google Maps listing, have a public address, have operating hours, have a complete description in your description. Use Reiki in Barry throughout it a couple of different times. Use it in the title. Then start getting reviews. Start with low stakes types of people. So this could be friends and family members that have used your services but before and since you have trust with them, ask them, say this is the best Reiki teacher or session I've had in Berry. You want them to use that combination of the service and the location in the review.
Kelsey [00:35:33]:
Smart.
Daniela Furtado [00:35:34]:
So that whenever people are searching for those keywords come up and then reply to every single review. And also try to use the keyword Reiki and Barry in your review. Hopefully they're five star reviews.
Kelsey [00:35:48]:
Yeah, we can't help you if you're getting one star reviews.
Daniela Furtado [00:35:52]:
Can't help you there. Hopefully they're five star reviews and if their photos or videos, even better. Google's algorithm is paying attention and noticing that a lot of fake reviews are common. People are buying reviews, a lot of it is AI generated and so they have a lot of spam filters now than ever before. So having photos or videos are an indicator that you're not fake, that you're a real person and that will gives your review a lot more weights as well. So optimize your listing. And then every week or every month there's this feature on Google Maps where you can upload updates. It's like a social media post.
Daniela Furtado [00:36:27]:
So if you post something on Instagram, you can repurpose it and post it there. So that's. You start with that. Start with your Google Maps listing. Keep it like beefed up. Then your website put on your homepage, say Reiki in berry, sprinkle it, pepper it through the copy on your website. Try to aim for 1% of every of the copy. So if you have a thousand words, use it 1% of the time.
Daniela Furtado [00:36:53]:
Sprinkle it through your about page or comp contact page, service page. Especially if you have some blog posts, use it the keywords there as well. And your footer, put the address in the footer. Those are some principles that you could do. And the last step I would say are getting on directories. So submitting it to yellow pages, Apple Maps. If there's like a business directory in Barry for small businesses or businesses in the health and wellness space, get onto that. If every time you search Reiki and Barry there's like a local magazine or newspaper that has like a list like top 10 and email them and pitch yourself and you're.
Kelsey [00:37:34]:
That that's bold.
Daniela Furtado [00:37:35]:
Well, it works. Yeah, it really works. And people don't really know that. That's. Sometimes those lists are kind of rigged. Yeah, it's.
Kelsey [00:37:44]:
You pay to play.
Daniela Furtado [00:37:45]:
Yeah. Or sometimes they're. You don't even have to pay. You just got to pitch yourself. And a lot of people would be willing, especially once they see that you have so many reviews and you're a legitimate business and that adds a lot more credibility. So those are, that's my starter pack for you.
Kelsey [00:38:00]:
Those are such helpful tips. And for anybody who doesn't have their Google listing set up, I would rewind this part of the episode and it's all quite simple. Right. And even just getting the confidence to ask for reviews because most of our listeners, they have helped five or 10 or 20 people, they've served clients. But we're often shy to ask for the review. I don't know if it's because we're afraid of feedback or we think we're inconveniencing people, but if you have given them a great success or experience with you, they'll be happy to offer that five star review. And that goes a long way. Like how often do we go on Amazon or go to buy something and immediately we scroll down, read a few reviews and then say, okay, I feel better about my purchase, like that really matters.
Kelsey [00:38:46]:
Where we need that social proof in order to feel like we can trust a stranger on the Internet or trust a digital business where we don't know everything about them. Right. So reviews do tell a lot. So I think those are practical. Very. Tips.
Daniela Furtado [00:39:00]:
My brother uses them like the Bible. Yeah, yeah.
Kelsey [00:39:03]:
Some people are obsessive. My cousin is the same way. Like, he will read a thousand reviews of a bike and then he'll compile, like, all his data and then make all of his decisions. Not based off of the product itself and what the product page says, but about the reviews and how people are, you know, finding their own experience.
Daniela Furtado [00:39:24]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. It's a. It's a great tool. A lot of people oversee it. It's super effective. And if you're scared to ask her for review, what you can do to kind of soften the blow. Soften the ass.
Kelsey [00:39:36]:
Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:39:37]:
Is offer one in exchange if you've.
Kelsey [00:39:40]:
Oh, I love that.
Daniela Furtado [00:39:41]:
If I don't know, if it's a yoga teacher that's taking your session and you've taken her classes, then say offer to leave her a review as well.
Kelsey [00:39:52]:
Yep. That's such a, such a great tip. I love that. So, as we wrap up, Daniela, I'm curious. What is something that is really interesting to you right now as it relates to digital marketing? We're seeing the rise of AI. We're kind of coming out of, you know, just a changing time with the ban of TikTok and all this chatter about the future of social media. So as someone yourself who is very interested in digital marketing, curious, what is your pulse check on marketing as a whole? Something that is exciting or that you want to share with the listeners?
Daniela Furtado [00:40:24]:
Yeah, I, I feel like I'm supposed to say I find AI super interesting.
Kelsey [00:40:31]:
You're not supposed to say anything.
Daniela Furtado [00:40:33]:
I, I used. This is controversial, but I use chat GBT a lot. I use AI tools a lot. Some marketers are really against it. Some are.
Kelsey [00:40:42]:
They're gonna fall behind then, right?
Daniela Furtado [00:40:45]:
Yeah, some people. Yeah, some people have a strong opinion. Opinions about the. The use of ChatGPT or AI in creativity. I think it really enhances. I'm a big fan of it. So it's not really. I'm already on that boat.
Daniela Furtado [00:40:57]:
I don't really, like, think too much about it. Something that really interests me. I. The relationship between sales and marketing fascinates me specifically around luxury marketing and selling premium services. Yeah, those are things that I find fascinating and I don't see a lot of people talk about it or at least very candidly. So I like to. To peel back the. The curtain with that one and get stories from people that are doing It.
Daniela Furtado [00:41:28]:
Luxury marketing. Luxury sales. Yeah, that, that excites me.
Kelsey [00:41:32]:
Do you by luxury you mean more high ticket items?
Daniela Furtado [00:41:35]:
I'm talking.
Kelsey [00:41:36]:
And the way you show up to sell something like that versus a tube of toothpaste. Right, right.
Daniela Furtado [00:41:41]:
Something that's minimum $50,000 and upwards. How do you sell and market to the wealthy, to the ultra wealthy? What expectations do you have? How do you do it differently? And it's a lot, it's nuanced, it's a lot more subtle and the advice that you read in generic marketing books and, or business books apply, but there needs to be tweaks and differences and expectations. And so that's the kind of stuff I, I like. I like nuanced things.
Kelsey [00:42:12]:
I love that. Well, we're going to have to have you back for a part two to dive into the world of luxury marketing. That's actually a topic that I'm really interested and fascinated with because as a new mom I'm seeing that maybe I don't want to be working with 10 or 20 or 30 clients at a time chasing smaller packages, but what if I could just have, have a few luxury clients and really like sit with them and go deep with them. And I just love this idea that, you know, the more value I can offer to one single business, I could potentially grow the business revenue without taking on more clients. So yeah, I think that's really interesting. And a totally different approach to marketing. Right.
Daniela Furtado [00:42:59]:
Yeah. Different kind of worms.
Kelsey [00:43:01]:
Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:43:01]:
A business point of view, you're more likely to come across client concentration problems.
Kelsey [00:43:05]:
Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:43:06]:
Cause some financial difficulties.
Kelsey [00:43:08]:
Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:43:08]:
It's a very high risk model. So it's not.
Kelsey [00:43:11]:
Yeah.
Daniela Furtado [00:43:11]:
Just because it fascinates me doesn't mean I think it's the best.
Kelsey [00:43:14]:
Yep. Yeah. But certainly a conversation that I don't think is being had. So yeah, we'll have to get you back on for a part two. Daniela, if people want to connect with you or they want to learn more about findable where are the best parts, places for them to connect with you?
Daniela Furtado [00:43:28]:
You can connect with me on LinkedIn. You can go to our website. I have a weekly email newsletter that I is like my creative outlet.
Kelsey [00:43:37]:
Oh, cool.
Daniela Furtado [00:43:39]:
So if you're interested in the kind of things that I've said in the podcast here today. Yeah. Join the email newsletter. It's a Q and A format so every, every week I people can submit their question and every week I pull a question and answer it in the email newsletter. So yeah.
Kelsey [00:43:56]:
Cool. Well we will link all of that in the show notes. I for one will be subscribing to that email because I always find that, you know, email marketing can get a little sticky. So when you bring in a format like Q A or something that you're excited about, I think it just re energizes the inbox, which is really, really cool. So thanks Daniella for coming on the show. This has been such a blast. Can't wait to stay connected and all the best in 2025.
Daniela Furtado [00:44:21]:
Thank you. Thank you so much, Kelsey for having me.
Kelsey [00:44:24]:
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Visionary Life. I love bringing you these conversations on a weekly basis. So it would mean so much to me if you could help me out by rating and reviewing the show on either itunes or Spotify. It just takes a second. And if you don't want to rate the show, you could also just take a screenshot of the episode and share it on your social media platform of the choice. Tagging me at KelseyRidal. I'll catch you in the next episode
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