It’s no secret that Google is the world’s leading search engine. After all, what do people say when you need an answer to a question? “Google it!” Among their many features is the ever-evolving Google Business Profile, a way for businesses to display information about their brand or storefront and to increase both in-person and online traction. Yet despite this excellent feature being on a platform that almost everyone uses, not nearly enough businesses are taking advantage of this! Let’s go over what a Google Business Strategy looks like and why you need one too!
GBP provides customers a way to organically find your business through the search function or Google Maps, and to learn all the essentials in a quick snapshot. These include your store’s location (if you have one), website, phone-number, photos, and reviews! In addition, there’s a space for you to fill out a small description about your brand – think of it like an elevator pitch. Now, some of you might be thinking “I have an online store, I don’t need to list my business hours” or something similar. However, that’s not accounting for customer service, so if a potential buyer had a question and wanted to reach out, they might not realize they’ll have to wait a while for an answer, and more than likely, they’ll just move on.
Filling out each section of your profile with accurate and succinct information boosts your business’s chance of being found through Google’s features, as well as making sure that the customers who find you take that next step towards making a purchase. Since the most common way you’ll be discovered through GBP is organic searches, it’s integral to optimize your categories, information, and keywords in a way that’ll make sure you’re found frequently and by the right people.
GBP is a completely free platform that isn’t as susceptible to fads or trends that go away in a few months like certain social media platforms. By not putting yourself out there on a search engine as popular as Google, you’re missing out on countless opportunities to make connections with any number of would-be customers. Not only that, it’s a great way to gain insights about your audience. How did they find you? What did they respond well to? What didn’t they respond well to? All this and more is data that GBP can provide you with.
When our founder, Mindy Lundy Kramer, faced a health crisis in 2019 with no answers from her doctors, she did everything she could to find medical support through online searches and other social media, but kept coming up empty. Eventually, her only choice left was to leave her home and come back to Colorado. She loves her home, but she still wishes that she would have been able to find the right connections through Google to help her out. There are many customers out there like Mindy who could be just a few clicks away from finding your business, as long as you’re building your profile the right way!
If this is all sounding like a bit much, don’t worry – 20Degrees Media is coming out with an Online Marketing Workshop all about walking you through each step of your own GBP strategy! To learn more about that, as well as our next workshop going over keywords (which you should be integrating into your GBP) click here!