Marketing challenges: We’ve all made them. But there’s one common mishap local business owners make that keeps their customers from doing business with them.
Can you guess what it is? Read on to find out what the mistake is, and how you can fix it today, without spending a marketing dollar.
Clue #1: It’s not about facebook, twitter, Instagram or any social media for that matter.
Clue # 2: It’s a marketing method that’s 100% free and that millions of users use daily.
Clue # 3: I bet you even used this method to find something yourself sometime in the last days.
…. Any guesses?
Ok, one more clue: Imagine someone’s asking you to quickly find the closest hotel, gas station, coffee shop or grocery store. Where do you search?
Google. More specifically, google maps. Either way, all searches about that a local business will lead you to google maps.
Which is why the #1 mistake that keeps potential customers from walking into a local store can be to have an outdated business listing, or worst, not business listing at all on google. To find out how you’re doing, open google maps and search for your business or business category. See what you find. (link)
If you’re doing to be doing ANY marketing in the next week, make it this:
Step 1. Log in and create, or update your business listing on Google here: https://www.google.com/business/
(tip: if you’re creating a new account, be sure to create it with your business email and tie to google)
Step 2. Update your business hours and contact information. This one is the most important one as it’s the #1 type of information users are searching
Step 3. Browse around and update other content, including creating promotional posts that appear on your listing when people find you. Did you know you can create posts with call-to-action buttons on your google business listing? It’s a new feature we love.
Was this helpful? I sure hope so. Comments, questions, or requests for more info like, this, reply now. I’d love to hear from you!
Anne-Sophie Dumetz
Marketing Manager
DVBA (Or, as we like to call it, Downtown Victoria’s BEST association!)
