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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF MOVING TO A COMMON PLATFORM?

  • Having all ServiceMaster Restore sites on a common platform has several benefits. From a technical SEO perspective, this gives the local websites more authority as all will be part of the Root Domain. This means it carries more relevance for keywords, which will ultimately result in better placement for your business when customers are searching. This makes it easy for everyone to follow the same brand guidelines and ensure overall brand integrity.

Q WILL WE BE FORCED TO MOVE OUR SITE TO SCORPION?

  • At this time there is no mandate that dictates that franchisees must host their site on Scorpion. However, there are benefits to utilizing one digital platform that go above and beyond brand consistency. If your site is hosted on Scorpion and part of the Root Domain, keywords will have more authority and relevance, resulting in better search results for your business. Today, there are a variety of 3rd party websites with multiple local listings that point to different places. This can confuse the Google algorithm when it comes to giving your location the visibility it deserves. Hosting local sites on Scorpion also allows for better tracking on digital leads and jobs. This level of tracking not only helps deliver better results but gives you as owners a better understanding of what is coming from digital marketing. This will ultimately allow you to focus your efforts where needed to hit your goals. And finally, since this is a NAF-funded resource, hosting your site on Scorpion is already paid for! (vs. having to pay extra out-of-pocket for a third party site).

Q WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF WE DID NOT MOVE AS A NETWORK?

  • Not hosting all local sites on a common platform weakens our ability to maximize SEO and to track/streamline leads. Furthermore, it puts us at risk of losing brand integrity if every location hosts their site on a platform that looks different and does not contain the same basic structure and information.

Q WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE DO NOT MOVE AS A FRANCHISE LOCATION?

  • There is currently no penalty for NOT hosting your site on Scorpion. However, the benefits of doing so include: • Maximization of search results (SEO)
    • Better tracking of digital leads
    • No additional cost out of your pocket
    • Easy adherence to brand guidelines

Q WHAT DOES “MOVING TO SCORPION” ACTUALLY MEAN?

  • Moving to Scorpion means that Scorpion has reviewed your current 3rd party site and moved all valuable content to your microsite on the www.ServiceMasterRestore.com domain. Scorpion already manages most of the local listings through YEXT but they will also review and update things like Facebook, Google and Yelp to ensure everything is accurate and updated to the correct information about your business.

Q WHY WAS SCORPION SELECTED?

  • Scorpion understands franchise organizations and their needs. Their capabilities include website hosting, SEO, digital marketing and an industry-leading dashboard to help you better understand the impact of your digital marketing efforts. ServiceMaster Brands has worked with them for the past 5 years and they have been a key partner for Merry Maids. Finally, they have outstanding partnerships with Google and Facebook that we can leverage to help with our business needs.

Q WHY CAN’T I HAVE MY OWN SITE IN ADDITION TO THE SCORPION SITE?

  • Having two (or more) sites for one location can be confusing not only for your customers, but for SEO. “Double-serving” within a search result could cause you to compete with yourself for paid search keywords, which effectively drives the price up and limits your ROI.

Q HOW MUCH WILL SCORPION COST ME?

  • Scorpion is covered by the NAF so moving over doesn’t cost you anything additional. In fact, if you’re currently hosting on a third-party site, moving to Scorpion will save you money. Please keep in mind that there are additional marketing services you should be reviewing with the Scorpion Marketing team to ensure success and drive revenue.

Q I HAVE HEARD THAT SCORPION IS EXPENSIVE / MORE EXPENSIVE THAN LOCAL PROVIDERS. IS THAT TRUE AND IF SO, WHY?

  • Simply hosting your site on Scorpion is already covered by NAF funds – so is no additional cost to you. Only the additional services such as digital marketing and SEO would need to be covered by your individual marketing budget. However, Scorpion is REIMBURSABLE at 50% through co-op.
  • As for initial pricing, you should be thinking in terms of ROI vs. up-front cost. You should expect around a 12x ROI from the money you spend and should be working with Scorpion regularly to ensure that your plans are optimized.
  • Finally, you get what you pay for in terms of support, franchise business knowledge and partnership. The team at Scorpion works with every individual location to create a custom strategy and budget that fits with the goals you have for your business.

Q WHY CAN’T I HAVE A COMBINED CLEAN/RESTORE PAGE?

  • As of 2015, ServiceMaster Clean and ServiceMaster Restore branding is different, so your sites have different brand guidelines to adhere to. Furthermore, since these two services have different end consumers, the content and keywords that work for Restore would not work for Clean and vice versa.

Q HOW CAN I BE SURE WHATEVER SEO I DO FOR MY SCORPION SITE HELPS MY SITE AND NOT THE CORPORATE SITE?

  • Your microsite is specific to your business and all efforts you put forth with Scorpion will benefit your location. For example, all SEO work done on the Scorpion microsites is done at a local level with unique content and optimization strategies. This is all done with a custom strategy based on the location goals and needs to ensure your site receives as much Search Engine visibility as possible. The links from your digital marketing spend will link to your location’s microsite only - not the corporate site and not another franchisee’s site.

Q DO I NEED A SEPARATE PAGE FOR EVERY LOCATION?

  • Yes. Since these pages are built to convert a user to a lead, every location needs a unique microsite.

Google is always looking to serve the best results for the user and part of that is physical proximity. The new microsites are built based on your individual location(s). If you have more than one location, you will need to have a separate microsite for each. This follows Google’s best practice and allows results to be as local as possible to the user which will yield the most likely-to-convert leads.

Q CAN SCORPION TIE INTO ALL MY OFFLINE MARKETING I.E., TV/RADIO?

  • Yes! Not only can Scorpion help with any type of digital marketing, they can also help you set up offline tracking numbers for things like door hangers, radio, etc so that you can track any leads that come through your offline media.

Q WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF USING SCORPION VS MY LOCAL DIGITAL AGENCY TO RUN ALL MY PPC/SEO/SEM?

  • Using Scorpion has several benefits:
    • Because all ServiceMaster Restore Scorpion sites will be on the same Root Domain - your keywords in paid search will hold more authority and relevance. You will also avoid unnecessary keyword competition. (i.e. you and another local ServiceMaster franchise or corporate bidding on the same terms on separate campaigns)
    • Scorpion has key partnerships with Google and Facebook that can only come from consolidation of resources.
    • Scorpion will help you set up a custom digital marketing plan specific to your business. They have tons of experience with franchise business models, including ServiceMaster brands, so they know what works and how to meet your goals.
    • Using Scorpion for your microsite will allow for better lead tracking with Restore 365.
    • Scorpion provides dedicated national support resources, including after hours.
    • You can be reimbursed 50% through co-op, greatly increasing your ROI potential.

Q WHAT SERVICES DOES SCORPION OFFER?

  • Services currently included: (NAF funded, no additional cost to you) • Microsite
    • Access to Scorpion’s marketing experts • Basic SEO
    • Local Listing Management
    • YEXT subscription
    • Call Tracking Numbers • Monthly reporting
    • Additional Services: (remember, Scorpion digital marketing plans can be reimbursed at 50% through co-op): • Pay Per Click
    • Local Service Ads
    • Display & Remarketing
    • Social Media Advertising • Custom Blog Packages
    • Local Content Creation
    • YouTube Advertising
    • Over The Top Ads (CTV)
    • Advanced SEO
    • Website Chat (managed by Scorpion’s team)

Q DOES SCORPION PERFORM AS WELL AS LOCAL AGENCIES? DO THEY HAVE THE SAME SKILL SET AS LOCAL AGENCIES?

  • Scorpion will typically perform better than most local agencies, due to several factors: • Larger team of experts managing the account
    • Shared data from the overall network on what works best
    • Hyper-local landing pages for better conversion rates
    • Transparent tracking and reporting
    • Customized local strategies based on your goals
    • Direct partnership with Google which allows a much higher level of support
  • Here are a few success stories from NAC members who have run digital marketing on Scorpion:
    • Case Study #1: - Spent $85k
      • 2.2k leads
      • Generated $1.1M in revenue - 13x ROI • Case Study #2
      • Spent $21k
      • 1.3k leads
      • Generated $712k revenue - 34x ROI

Q WHAT IS THE EXPECTED RESPONSE TIME FROM OUR SELECTED DIGITAL AGENCY?

  • 10 minutes during business hours.

Q IS THERE A CHANNEL WHERE I CAN PROVIDE FEEDBACK ON THE DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY’S PERFORMANCE?

  • You can contact your BDC or reach out to ZenDesk.

Q WHEN SHOPPING FOR AND EVALUATING A DIGITAL AGENCY, WHAT SHOULD I LOOK FOR?

  • No matter who you decide to go with for your digital marketing, you should make sure you’re including these factors in your evaluation:
    • Agreement length
    • Total growth metrics
    • Number of leads - % of quality leads - ROI estimates
    • Trackability & reporting cadence • Management fee
    • Cost for campaign setup
    • Cost for asset creation
    • Co-op reimbursement eligibility

Q WHY CAN’T SCORPION TELL ME EXACTLY HOW MUCH MY COMPETITORS (I.E. SERVPRO AND LOCAL PROVIDERS) ARE SPENDING IN MY MARKET? I’VE HAD LOCAL AGENCIES TELL ME THAT THEY CAN GET ME THIS INFORMATION.

  • It is not actually possible to give an exact number for competitor spend, so it is disingenuous if someone promises you this. Spending by account isn’t something that Google shares (for example) as this is private information. There are tools out in the digital space (ex. www.spyfu.com) that can give a rough estimate, but based on what we have seen these tools are not accurate and shouldn’t be used as exact data. The inaccuracies can arise from several factors:
    • It doesn’t narrow the spend down to particular location or area.
    • We don’t know what their franchise agreement is and or what they can target. For example, some brands do a large co–op style advertising buy in which they push out one large campaign and share leads.

Q IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD CONSIDER WHEN SHOPPING FOR A DIGITAL AGENCY?

  • A There are a few other things to keep in mind as you shop around for and ultimately choose your digital marketing agency partner:
    • While you may trust your current digital agency/provider and they may have your best interest in mind, having them help you in evaluating Scorpion is not favorable. You are, in essence, asking them to evaluate a company that takes business from them so they cannot offer an unbiased opinion.
    • All agencies want your business so keep your analysis realistic and streamlined to what is important to you. Make sure you know your goals before you begin talking to agencies about strategy and tactics.
    • Know what you are buying from an agency. Many digital agencies include plenty of details around activity
    • (i.e., number of blogs written per month) but make sure they ALSO provide measurements of results from these activities.
    • And don’t forget - you can get reimbursed 50% when you use Scorpion for digital marketing which has a major impact on your ROI potential.

Q HOW DO I KNOW THE MONEY I SPEND ON SCORPION IS ONLY GOING TO BENEFIT MY BUSINESS - NOT OTHER SERVICEMASTER LOCATIONS OR THE CORPORATE SITE?

  • The money you spend on Scorpion is specifically tailored to drive leads to your microsite. The homepage of your microsite actually does not even have a “find another location” button on it – so you can feel confident that the leads that land on your page will be contacting you.

Q WHAT IF I DONT WANT TO TURN OVER OWNERSHIP OF MY WEBSITE OR MY GMB LISTING?

  • When you convert your website over to Scorpion, you still own all of your content! If you decide to move away from Scorpion at any time in the future, Scorpion will pull all of your assets off of the current site and provide them right back to you.
  • In order to provide the best results, Scorpion will need to be a “co-owner” of your Google My Business listing. However, YOU still retain ownership and will not lose any functionality or ownership through this process. If you part ways with Scorpion in the future, they can easily be removed as co-owners.

Q WHAT IF I WANT MY SITETO STAND OUT FROM ALL OTHER SERVICEMASTER SITES?

  • One benefit of converting your site to a Scorpion microsite is that you gain the power of the ServiceMaster Restore nationally recognized brand. This helps in many ways, including better paid search results and stronger brand equity. Brand equity is built, in part, by keeping a consistent look and feel across our assets so that we remain instantly recognizable.
  • However, rest assured that Scorpion will work with you to customize your site so that it reflects who you are and what services you offer while still maintaining a strong brand presence.

Q WHAT CAN I DO TO ENSURE ONGOING SUCESS WITH SCORPION?

  • Having your site hosted and running digital media through Scorpion can have major results for your business – with an average ROI of 12x! However, it’s like having a gym membership: you get what you put in. It’s important to pay attention to your dashboard metrics on a daily basis so that you can change or improve upon the tactics you are utilizing. Scorpion is always happy to engage with you if you have questions about anything, are unsure about progress you’re