Hey there, friends!

Summer’s winding down, but we’re just getting started. With Back to School around the corner, plus live demos and tools to help you fight fake reviews, here’s everything you need to stay ahead.

🏫 Back to School for Digital Agencies – Virtual Event

September 24th | 10 AM ET

It’s our biggest event of the year, packed with strategies built for agencies and multi-location brands. Expect insights on proving ROI, protecting trust, and future-proofing your playbook with sessions from top voices in local search and reputation management:

• Opening Keynote — Future-Proofing Agencies: Winning in the Age of AI + Authenticity
  Speaker: Michael Yules
  Consumer expectations are shifting faster than most agencies can keep up with. In this keynote, Michael will break down how AI, evolving local SEO, and authentic reputation management are converging to redefine digital marketing. You’ll walk away with clear, actionable strategies to help your agency stay indispensable—and ahead of competitors—in a landscape where authenticity drives real ROI.
  
• Future-Proofing Your Google Business Profile: Strategies for 2026 and Beyond
  Speaker: Claire Carlile (Whitespark)
  Google is reinventing local results with AI, new search surfaces, and stricter policies—and yesterday’s playbooks won’t cut it. Claire will share a forward-looking GBP strategy built for 2026 and beyond. Learn how to combine always-on content, review recency, and bulletproof data hygiene to keep your clients visible, trusted, and measurable no matter how Google evolves.
  
• Navigating the Minefield: Advanced Google Business Profile Issue Resolution for Agencies
  Speaker: Brad Wetherall
  AI-powered search is changing how local customers discover and choose businesses—and with it, the rules for managing Google Business Profiles are getting tougher. In this session, Brad will cover advanced tactics for resolving GBP issues, from zero-click search disruptions to policy-driven suspensions. Get the insider know-how to keep your clients visible, compliant, and competitive in Google’s ever-changing local search reality.

🎓 Save the Date + Register Now

📝 Listing Management Info Sessions – Ongoing Weekly Demos

Want to see how listings + reputation work better together?
Our team is hosting weekly live demos where we’ll show you how GatherUp powers visibility, consistency, and automation at scale.

💡 Book a Time

✨ New Content You Might’ve Missed

• The Cooler Crowd: Fresh Perspectives from Agencies That Get It
• How to Incorporate SEO Into Your Digital Marketing Agency’s Services (And 5 Tangible Tips to Get Started)
• The Google Review Purge: Why Legit Reviews Disappear and What to Do About It
• The One-Star Bomb: What to Do When a Fake Review Attack Hits Overnight
• The Hidden Cost of Fake Reviews 
• Why Fake Reviews Are Driving Customers Away

📚 Catch up anytime on the GatherUp Blog

Release Radar + Office Hours

Request Modes are getting simpler (sunsetting Sept 30, 2025)

We’re cleaning up Request Modes. Same power, clearer names, fresher UI. On Sept 30, the old page retires and your settings will carry over automatically.

What’s changing (names only):

• Ultimate Mode → Surveys & Reviews Flow
  
• Review Mode → Ratings & Reviews Flow
  
• Direct Mode → Public Reviews Flow

Try it today in GatherUp, click the “Launch New Request Mode” banner under Request Setup.

Have questions about the new setup? Join us for office hours every Thursday at 2 pm or send your questions to [email protected].

New: Additional Survey Questions (more signal, less guesswork)

Capture richer feedback right inside your request flows, with no extra tools needed. Add follow-ups to pinpoint issues, segment by location, and trigger the right next step.

How to set it up: Help Center: Adding Additional Survey Questions

Live Help (bring your questions!)

• Customer Success Office Hours:  Thursdays at 2:00 PM ET
  Bring any GatherUp questions (big or small). We’ll workshop them live, share best practices, and unblock you fast. Save your spot: Sign up

On the Horizon – Coming Soon!

Industry Benchmark Reports
You’ll see a new Benchmarks module inside your reporting dashboard that lets you compare your review health to peers in your industry: think star rating, review velocity/recency, response rate, and NPS-style signals. Pick your industry, filter by location, and we’ll overlay anonymized, aggregated data so you can see where you’re ahead or behind, then use data to drive strategy changes that show results. It’s a quick way to set credible targets, highlight progress, and make the ROI case with numbers that actually hold up. Learn more.

Multi-location Landing Page
This will surface in-app as a lightweight panel you can open from your dashboard and location views to show where customers are already talking, reviews, surveys, and other connected sources, so you’re not hunting across tabs. It automatically bubbles up new or at-risk feedback, lets you jump straight to respond or assign, and helps your team close the loop faster. 

The takeaway: fewer blind spots, faster triage, and more wins caught in the moment.

💬 Reminder: We’re Here to Help

Need help with client strategy, setup, or showing ROI? We’ve got your back.
📩 [email protected] | 💻 Schedule a call with your account team anytime

Stay sharp, stay growing
Team GatherUp