The summary of ‘Is Yelp Advertising Right For You? Interview With Jessica Carlin of Yelp’

This summary of the video was created by an AI. It might contain some inaccuracies.

00:00:0000:24:10

The video features an in-depth discussion with Jessica Carlin, Partner Sales Director at Yelp, about leveraging Yelp's platform for business success. The conversation underscores the importance of Yelp as a modern-day Yellow Pages for local businesses, highlighting its broad reach and integration with platforms like Google, Apple Maps, Yahoo, and Amazon Alexa. Key topics include effective Yelp advertising strategies, such as using category-based ads and new features like negative keyword targeting and custom location targeting. The speakers emphasize the high purchase intent of Yelp users and the value of enhancing business profiles with verified licenses, highlights, and portfolios to increase conversion rates. They also discuss the best practices for managing reviews, adhering to Yelp’s content guidelines, and subtly encouraging customer feedback without violating anti-solicitation policies. Businesses and agencies are encouraged to keep up with Yelp’s evolving features and analytics to optimize their marketing strategies. Jessica Carlin remains available on LinkedIn for further inquiries and assistance.

00:00:00

In this segment of the video, the host introduces Jessica Carlin, Partner Sales Director at Yelp, who has previously presented at the Ignite Visibility office. Jessica shares her journey with Yelp, having joined them six and a half years ago. Originally from the Midwest, she ended up in Arizona after recognizing Yelp at a career fair. She describes her progression from a local sales role to the mid-market division, and ultimately to her current role in the partner division. This role involves building and maintaining partnerships with marketing agencies to help them effectively use Yelp’s tools for their clients, both free and paid. The host appreciates Jessica’s background and their professional partnership, highlighting their close work with Yelp for ad spend and integration into marketing strategies. Jessica is then asked to clarify the right type of business for utilizing Yelp.

00:03:00

In this part of the video, the discussion focuses on the importance of Yelp as a business directory, likening it to the modern-day Yellow Pages. The speaker emphasizes that people turn to Yelp for local services and products. They mention how businesses in all categories can perform well on Yelp if they have a local presence, but the effectiveness can vary by market. For instance, areas like California have high Yelp usage, while rural areas might see less activity. The speaker highlights the value of Yelp advertising partners having access to market data and inventory reports, which can help justify the investment in Yelp by showing search volume for relevant services. They note that home services have seen an increase in searches, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, as more people have been at home and tackling home projects. The conversation also touches on the integration of Yelp ad spend and strategy into business plans moving forward.

00:06:00

In this segment, the discussion revolves around the importance and strategy of using Yelp in an omni-channel marketing approach. It emphasizes that Yelp often appears at the top of Google search results for local business queries, making it a crucial platform for visibility. The integration with Apple Maps, Yahoo, and Amazon Alexa highlights Yelp’s broad reach in local searches. For businesses with a local presence, especially those with multiple locations, having a profile on Yelp is portrayed as essential. The video also touches on Yelp’s unique advertising platform, which is category-based rather than keyword-based, facilitating targeted ads for businesses within specific categories, such as an Italian restaurant under the ‘Italian’ category.

00:09:00

In this part of the video, the speaker discusses the benefits of using Yelp’s advertising features for businesses, particularly within the categories of Italian food and plumbing services. A significant recent addition is negative keyword targeting, allowing businesses to exclude specific irrelevant or low-return queries from their ads. They also highlight the new custom location targeting feature, which lets businesses target ads to multiple specific locations more precisely, such as a ski resort in Tahoe targeting visitors from the Bay Area. The changes are aimed at boosting ad effectiveness and expanding service areas without creating multiple Yelp pages. Lastly, the speaker touches on Yelp’s tracking capabilities and the importance of working with an agency to optimize ad performance and attribution.

00:12:00

In this part of the video, the speaker discusses how businesses can sign up and advertise with Yelp. Single-location businesses can use a self-serve platform without needing a representative, while multi-location brands typically require rep assistance. Emphasis is placed on the importance of tracking ad performance, including implementing call tracking and UTM codes to monitor actions and leads generated from ad campaigns. The speaker highlights the high success rate of Yelp ads, as 93% of users who search on Yelp end up making a transaction. They also tease a discussion on the benefits of profile enhancement for businesses.

00:15:00

In this part of the video, the speaker discusses the strengths of their platform in terms of purchase intent, emphasizing that users on their business directory are more likely to be ready to make purchases compared to platforms like Google or Facebook. They highlight the importance of profile enhancements designed to improve business conversion rates, including new features like verified licenses, business highlights, and portfolios. These features appear on the business’s Yelp profile, ad copy, and organic listings, helping businesses stand out and attract customers. The speaker also stresses the importance of responding to reviews and updating photos to maintain a strong profile. Additionally, they mention that while Yelp cannot manipulate or remove negative reviews, businesses can flag inappropriate reviews for evaluation.

00:18:00

In this segment, the discussion focuses on handling negative reviews and encouraging positive feedback on Yelp. The speaker emphasizes the importance for business owners to familiarize themselves with Yelp’s content guidelines to identify and flag inappropriate reviews. They also discuss the strict anti-review solicitation policy on Yelp, highlighting that Yelp’s goal is to maintain the integrity and reliability of reviews on their platform. Instead of directly asking for reviews, it is suggested businesses employ subtle methods, such as using Yelp stickers or including feedback options in email follow-ups, to guide customers towards leaving reviews. This way, businesses can avoid violating Yelp’s guidelines while still encouraging feedback.

00:21:00

In this segment, the speakers discuss the importance of incorporating Yelp into marketing strategies and highlight how businesses often overlook its advertising potential in favor of organic efforts. They emphasize that Yelp has significantly evolved, particularly in its ad targeting capabilities, which have changed even in the last six months. They encourage businesses and marketing agencies to stay current with Yelp’s platform by regularly interacting with it, exploring new features, and updating their listings. Finally, they advise leveraging Yelp’s analytics and keeping an open mind about its evolving capabilities to maximize marketing success. Jessica Carlin is available on LinkedIn for further queries and assistance.

00:24:00

In this part of the video, the speaker expresses gratitude to the viewers for their time and support, and concludes the segment by saying goodbye and looking forward to seeing them soon.

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