Katie Blacker from Michigan SEO Group has been an active and welcoming Caerusnet member on the Ann Arbor Tuesday 11AM team since first joining in June, 2018. In addition to writing digital content for her company’s clients, she also helps Michigan SEO Group with local relationship marketing. She’s athletic and competitive and is involved coaching a high school volleyball team. She very rarely ever misses a Caerusnet meeting and is active in helping grow her Caerusnet team. She stood out last year as the team’s 2021 MVP. We recently had a chance to connect with Katie about her success.
How long have you been in your profession and what is the best thing about your business/career?
For seven years now, I’ve loved every minute of helping small and medium sized businesses grow. Especially working with family-owned businesses and learning why they’re the best at what they do – 
it’s incredibly rewarding.
How are you different? Michigan SEO Group really strives to help businesses with presence, care, and compassion. We not only work for our clients, we form personal relationships with them and we never treat them like a number on a spreadsheet.
What is it about the Caerusnet model that you like most?
I love that Caerusnet cultivates relationships. In the years I’ve been at Caerusnet, I’ve made great friends, not just partners in referrals.
Share a success story about why giving referrals/bringing visitors are beneficial to you.
Giving referrals and bringing visitors to Caerusnet fits right in with our vision at Michigan SEO Group – helping businesses grow and thrive. When I can bring someone to our team or pass a referral, I know I’m helping that business succeed.
Any tips on learning how to find situations where you can create a referral or invite a visitor?
Active listening is so important. Many organic conversations don’t include the buzz words we look for to pass a referral, but maybe the person is saying it in a different way. If they’re talking about struggling to get the word out about what they do or if they’re having a hard time generating interest, the answer could be visiting a Caerusnet group.
What is your approach to positioning yourself as a resource in the community?
At Michigan SEO Group, we know that there are so many facets to being successful at marketing and SEO. It is generally very overwhelming for most business owners to take on themselves. Our goal is to be a resource for businesses in the community gain knowledge from, even if they don’t ultimately end up working with us. We believe in being abundant and sharing what we know is the recipe to help others succeed.
Tips on how to be successful in Caerusnet?
Have a positive mindset, be a good listener, and practice great attendance! Even if you don’t pass a referral at every meeting, being in the meetings regularly shows the other members you’re dedicated to the team.
Click here if you’d like to connect with Katie.
Additional resources:
Website: https://www.michiganseogroup.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourSEOteam/
David Kelley has been an outstanding Member of the Caerusnet Brighton Tuesday 8AM team since first joining in May, 2013. He attends at least 90% of the team meetings, gives referrals and invites visitors. With every word clearly enunciated, David always delivers fantastic information during his Member Minutes and would certainly be considered one of the heartbeats on the team. Since David has been in Caerusnet for over seven years, we felt this would be the perfect time to get his perspective on his approach to the world of referrals. 
What is it about the Caerusnet model that you like most? As a business person, I’ve always gravitated toward an approach built with the long term in mind. Caerusnet aligns with that approach by way of its scheduled interactions with a finite number of people. Done well, that structure allows the opportunity for deeper connections to be created which in turn should lead to more valuable referrals. A recommendation from a Caerusnet friend should come with some personal conviction about both you as the referral recipient as well as the person being referred.
What is your strategy with your member minute and your spotlight presentation? I try to inform and entertain while mixing in a mild call to action, either for members themselves or for the businesses and/or non-profits they may refer to me, based on the content I’m delivering that day. When I hit on a good “ask”, I usually will get a nice quantity of referrals all at once!
