If you haven’t heard of Google My Business, or if you haven’t been using it to promote your business, you’re missing out on one of the most cost-effective ways of increasing your brand awareness and of bringing customers into your store front. There are plenty of reasons why you should have a Google My Business profile, starting with the fact that most of your competitors will have one, and they will be steadily siphoning business away from you if you lack that type of online presence. Here are some other reasons why Google My Business should be an essential component of your business marketing strategy.
Easier for customers to find you
If your business is situated in the heart of a thriving metropolis, that means there are undoubtedly lots of rivals who are competing for the same customers you are. Google My Business makes it very easy for potential customers to discover the exact location of your business using Google Maps, rather than having to rely on someone trying to verbally deliver directions.
If you don’t think this is important, just consider the actual locations of some of the businesses in your city. Not all storefronts are situated along a main street or even on a side street. Some businesses are tucked away in the basements or on the higher floors of buildings which look to be completely abandoned, and which certainly don’t appear to be suitable for housing a thriving business.
Some businesses which have low overhead have deliberately set up shop in obscure areas which are well off the beaten path, and not generally known to consumers. Finding these businesses would be virtually impossible without the aid of something like Google My Business which can pinpoint your address to a specific area, and direct customers to you easily. Regardless of where your business is located, when it has been posted in GMB, it will be easily locatable, and there will be no doubt as to where your storefront is.
Increase of your search visibility
When you look at the first page of Google search results, you will see a very prominent panel above the organic listings and all the paid listings. This panel will show some of the top businesses which match your search, and which Google believes is what you were looking for when you started out. One of the great things about Google My Business is that in addition to making it easier for customers to physically locate your shop, it also makes it much easier to digitally locate your business.
That means it can produce a tremendous improvement in your search visibility on Google. Since it is known that when prospective customers are searching for a local business, they are already in the frame of mind to make a purchase, that will increase the likelihood of paying customers being driven to your location.
When people are searching for ‘the best steak near me’, they’re not looking to read a 2,000 word article about delicious steaks – they want to find a really good restaurant which serves what they’re looking for. If you happen to be a local business which offers the goods or services being sought by customers, it’s a very good thing indeed to be discovered by those customers when they are googling.
Promotes more customer reviews
Google My Business makes it very easy for customers to leave reviews of your business, and assuming that you are conducting a reputable enterprise, that should all be to your advantage. It has been demonstrated conclusively in the past that customers looking for a product or service are more apt to place their confidence in other consumers like themselves who have had a positive experience with a certain business.
When people read a glowing review about your business, there’s no better advertisement you could possibly offer than that kind of recommendation from someone who benefited by purchasing from you. In addition to the ease of adding customer reviews, Google My Business allows you to provide a great deal of information about your company which may be useful to prospective customers.
For example, you can use your profile to enter in your company name, what you do, where you are located, your phone number, your website, the hours which your business operates, and any number of pictures showing various aspects of your business, employees, and behind the scenes activities.
Reduced cost for Google Ads
By setting up a Google My business profile and linking it with your Google Ads account, it will become possible for you to make use of location extensions in any advertising that you do. When you use location extensions, it allows you to display your address as well as a map showing your location. This in turn, permits customers to click on the extension, so they can obtain a great deal more information about your business.
All this can add up to a good deal more engagement on your ad, and that will end up significantly improving the efficiency of your ad spend, since you would be reducing the cost per click. Another benefit of setting up a location extension is that it would provide you with access to location-based features which are available in Google Ads, such as campaigns and store visits reporting.
Best of all, it’s free
There aren’t many things you can do in marketing and advertising which have zero cost associated with them, but setting up a Google My Business profile is one of them. For all the benefits that it provides, there is absolutely no cost to setting up a GMB account, and allowing potential customers to find you much more quickly and easily.
In effect, you are receiving free advertising for your business, and free promotion for brand awareness which might cost you a small fortune if you had to pay for it in any other way. At some point that may change, and Google may actually charge for the service, but for the time being there is no better bargain in marketing than setting up your own GMB profile account.
