Using Google Reviews to Inform Your Marketing Strategy

Patrick McFadden • May 10, 2023

Marketing strategy is an absolute passion of mine, and it has truly set Indispensable Marketing apart from the crowd. While many business owners and CEOs are fixated on tactics, I firmly believe that understanding what marketing strategy is not is just as crucial as understanding what it is.


When I talk about marketing strategy, I break it down into a foundation that has several elements. It’s not just one thing. It’s a handful of things that have to go together to work in concert to make your marketing strategy effective.



Why are reviews important in marketing strategy?

Reviews play a crucial role in the development of a marketing strategy due to their ability to provide valuable insights from customers. By analyzing google reviews for a business, you can understand customer preferences, pain points, and motivations, allowing you to tailor your marketing efforts to better meet customer needs. Reviews also offer a competitive advantage by highlighting strengths and weaknesses compared to competitors. Additionally, reviews contribute to brand perception and reputation management, as positive reviews build trust and credibility, while negative reviews signal areas for improvement. Leveraging a happy or unhappy customer writing a review on google can further strengthen your messaging and enhance your marketing effectiveness. Never underestimate the power of reviews—they're a goldmine of information that can shape our marketing strategies, improve customer experiences, and ultimately drive business growth!


How do reviews affect marketing?

Reviews can make a real impact on marketing decisions! When you take a look at those reviews, you get valuable insights straight from your customers themselves. It's like having a direct line to their thoughts and opinions! These reviews give you a glimpse into what customers love about your products, services, and processes like sales, service delivery, billing and what might need some improvement.


By listening to what customers are saying, you can make more informed marketing decisions. You can tailor your messaging, promotions, and even service offerings to better meet their needs and desires. It's all about giving them what they want and creating an exceptional experience.


So, you see, reviews have a big impact on our marketing decisions. They help us understand our customers better, build trust, improve your process, and create a strong marketing strategy that drives success. It's like having a secret weapon in our marketing toolbox!


4 Ways Google Reviews Inform Your Marketing Strategy


#1. Understanding and Creating Timing Triggers


Let me share with you a neat trick to pull timing triggers or buying triggers from Google reviews! When you dig into those reviews, pay close attention to the language and context customers use when discussing their experiences.


Timing triggers can be identified by looking for phrases that indicate specific moments or situations when customers were motivated to make a purchase. For example, you might come across comments like, "I returned for my routine cleaning/exam," "repaired dining room ceiling after a leak," or "Today we celebrated my son's birthday." These trigger words reveal the specific timing factors that influenced customers to take action.


By identifying these triggers, you can gain valuable insights into the motivations and needs of your customers at different stages of their buying journey. This information allows you to tailor your marketing messages and offers to align with those triggers, effectively capturing the attention and interest of potential customers.


#2. Clarifying The Real Problem You Solve


Reviews are like a gold mine when it comes to learning what customers really think about your business. When people take the time to leave reviews on Google, they're sharing their genuine thoughts and experiences with the world.


The beauty of it all is that you can find some real gems in the actual words customers use in their reviews. They are not holding back—they're telling it like it is. And that's where the gold lies! These reviews provide invaluable insights into the value customers perceive in your offerings.


When you read through those reviews, pay attention to the specific language customers use to describe the experience they received from your products or services.


  • "I had a plumbing emergency and called XYZ Plumbing. They came to my rescue within 30 minutes and fixed the issue swiftly. Their prompt response saved me from a major disaster. Highly recommended!"
  • "I recently hired ABC Landscaping for a backyard makeover, and I'm blown away by the results! They transformed my dull yard into a vibrant oasis with their creativity and attention to detail. The team went above and beyond to exceed my expectations."
  • "I rely on XYZ Dry Cleaners for all my clothing needs. Their pickup and delivery service is a game-changer! It saves me so much time and effort. Plus, their attention to garment care is unparalleled."


By understanding the value that customers see in what you offer, you can leverage this knowledge to enhance your marketing strategy. You can highlight those specific benefits and value propositions in your messaging and promotions. It allows you to showcase what sets you apart from the competition and resonates with potential customers.


#3. Addressing Common Objections


Reviews can serve as an excellent resource for creating Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for your business. When customers leave reviews, they often raise common questions, concerns, or feedback that can be compiled into a comprehensive FAQ section. This helps address potential customer queries proactively and provides valuable information to prospects.


As you read through reviews, pay attention to recurring themes or topics that customers frequently mention. These can serve as valuable cues for identifying common questions. For example, customers might frequently mention how your pricing is easy to understand, your response times are great, your installation process only takes days. Take note of these patterns as they indicate areas where customers seek clarification or additional information.


#4. Identifying and Guiding The Referral Stage of The Customer Journey


Reviews can serve as a powerful tool to showcase that people highly recommend your business and, in turn, identify them as a valuable referral source. When customers leave positive reviews, they not only share their positive experiences but also act as advocates for your business.


Pay attention to the language customers use when they discuss your business in their reviews. They may explicitly mention recommending your business to friends, family, or colleagues. For example, a review might say, "I'll definitely be referring XYZ Company to everyone I know!" Such statements highlight that these reviewers can be activated to spread the word about your business and can potentially serve as referral sources.


In conclusion, reviews play a vital role in informing marketing strategy and driving business growth. They provide valuable insights into the perceptions, experiences, and preferences of your customers. By analyzing reviews, you can gather meaningful data and glean actionable information that can shape their marketing efforts and overall strategy.


Contact Your Marketing Consultant at Indispensable Marketing

If you’re a service based business that needs help with creating a marketing strategy or your company’s online presence on Google and other search engines, at Indispensable Marketing we can help. We offer marketing strategy consulting, marketing audits, monthly marketing packages, consultations, exploratory calls or monthly local SEO services. Contact us for more information.

The Missing Layer in AI: Why Judgment, Not Just Data, Will Define the Next Era of Intelligence

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Everyone is scaling outputs. Almost no one is scaling judgment.

Everyone Talks About AI Judgment. We Built It.

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Ask anyone in tech where AI is headed, and they’ll tell you: “The next leap is reasoning.” “AI needs judgment.” “We need assistants that think, not just answer.” They’re right. But while everyone’s talking about it, almost no one is actually shipping it. So we did. We built Thinking OS™ —a system that doesn’t just help AI answer questions… It helps AI think like a strategist. It helps AI decide like an operator. It helps teams and platforms scale judgment, n ot just generate output. The Theory Isn’t New. The Implementation Is. The idea of layering strategic thinking and judgment into AI isn’t new in theory. The problem is, no one’s been able to implement it effectively at scale. Let’s look at the current landscape. 1. Big Tech Has the Muscle—But Not the Mind OpenAI / ChatGPT ✅ Strength: Best-in-class language generation ❌ Limitation: No built-in judgment or reasoning. You must provide the structure. Otherwise, it follows instructions, not strategy. Google DeepMind / Gemini ✅ Known for advanced decision-making (e.g., AlphaGo) ❌ But only in structured environments like games—not messy, real-world business scenarios. Anthropic (Claude), Meta (LLaMA), Microsoft Copilot ✅ Great at answering questions and following commands ❌ But they’re assistants, not advisors. They won’t reprioritize. They won’t challenge your assumptions. They don’t ask: “Is this the right move?” These tools are powerful—but they don’t think for outcomes the way a strategist or operator would. 2. Who’s Actually Building the Thinking Layer™? This is where it gets interesting—and thin. Startups and Indie Builders Some small teams are quietly: Creating custom GPTs that mimic how experts reason Layering in business context, priorities, and tradeoffs Embedding decision logic so AI can guide, not just execute But these efforts are: Highly manual Difficult to scale Fragmented and experimental Enterprise Experiments A few companies (Salesforce, HubSpot, and others) are exploring more “judgment-aware” AI copilots. These systems can: Flag inconsistencies Recommend next actions Occasionally surface priorities based on internal logic But most of it is still: In early R&D Custom-coded Unproven beyond narrow use cases That’s Why Thinking OS™ Is Different Instead of waiting for a lab to crack it, we built a modular thinking system that installs like infrastructure. Thinking OS™: Captures how real experts reason Embeds judgment into layers AI can use Deploys into tools like ChatGPT or enterprise systems Helps teams think together, consistently, at scale It’s not another assistant. It’s the missing layer that turns outputs into outcomes. So… Is This a New Innovation? Yes—in practice. Everyone says AI needs judgment. But judgment isn’t an idea. It’s a system. It requires: Persistent memory Contextual awareness Tradeoff evaluation Value-based decisions Strategy that evolves with goals Thinking OS™ delivers that. And unlike the R&D experiments in Big Tech, it’s built for: Operators Consultants Platform founders Growth-stage teams that need to scale decision quality, not just content creation If Someone Told You They’ve Built a Thinking + Judgment Layer™… They’ve built something only a handful of people in the world are even attempting. Because this isn’t just AI that speaks fluently. It’s AI that reasons, reflects , and chooses. And in a world that’s drowning in tools, judgment becomes the differentiator. That’s the OS We Built Thinking OS™ is not a prompt pack. It’s not a dashboard. It’s not a glorified chatbot. It’s a decision architecture you can license, embed, or deploy— To help your team, your platform, or your clients think better at scale. We’ve moved past content. We’re building cognition. Let’s talk.

We Found the Missing Layer AI Has Been Waiting For

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
In every era of innovation, there’s a silent bottleneck—something obvious in hindsight, but elusive until the moment it clicks. In today’s AI-driven world, that bottleneck is clear: AI has speed. It has scale. But it doesn’t have judgment . It doesn’t really think . What’s Actually Missing From AI? When experts talk about the “thinking and judgment layer” as the next leap for AI, they’re calling out a hard truth: Modern AI systems are powerful pattern machines. But they’re missing the human layer—the one that reasons, weighs tradeoffs, and makes strategic decisions in context. Let’s break that down: 1. The Thinking Layer = Reasoning with Purpose This layer doesn’t just process inputs— it structures logic. It’s the ability to: Ask the right questions before acting Break down complexity into solvable parts Adjust direction mid-course when reality changes Think beyond “what was asked” to uncover “what really matters” Today’s AI responds. But it rarely reflects. Unless told exactly what to do, it won’t work through problems the way a strategist or operator would. 2. The Judgment Layer = Decision-Making in the Gray Judgment is the ability to: Prioritize what matters most Choose between imperfect options Make decisions when there’s no clear answer Apply values, experience, and vision—not just data It’s why a founder might not pursue a lucrative deal. Why a marketer might ignore the click-through rate. Why a strategist knows when the timing isn’t right. AI doesn’t do this well. Not yet. Because judgment requires more than data—it requires discernment . Why This Is the Bottleneck Holding Back AI AI can write. It can summarize. It can automate. But it still can’t: Diagnose the real problem behind the question Evaluate tradeoffs like a founder or operator would Recommend a path based on context, constraints, and conviction AI today is still reactive. It follows instructions. But it doesn’t lead. It doesn’t guide. It doesn’t own the outcome. And for those building serious systems—whether you’re running a company, launching a platform, or leading a team—this is the wall you eventually hit. That’s Why We Built Thinking OS™ We stopped waiting for AI to learn judgment on its own. Instead, we created a system that embeds it—by design. Thinking OS™ is an installable decision layer that captures how top founders, strategists, and operators think… …and makes that thinking repeatable , scalable , and usable inside teams, tools, and platforms. It’s not a framework. It’s not a chatbot. It’s not another playbook. It’s the layer that knows how to: Think through complex decisions Apply judgment when rules don’t help Guide others —human or AI—toward strategic outcomes This Is the Missing Infrastructure Thinking OS™ isn’t just about better answers. It’s about better thinking—made operational. And that’s what’s been missing in AI, consulting, leadership development, and platform design. If you’re trying to scale expertise, install judgment, or move from tactical to strategic… You don’t need a faster AI. You need a thinking layer that knows what to do—and why. We built it. Let’s talk.
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