If your company isn’t listed on Google My Business, you’re probably losing out on potential leads. Google My Business is an increasingly important tool that all business to business (B2B) industry leaders use, and is becoming more urgent of a priority for marketing teams. This is because Google My Business is a powerful source of information and is seen by many as a company directory with top links, resources, reviews, and other critical details.
There are significant benefits to using Google My Business. Not only is it a great way to communicate with customers, but it also has great features for business administrators.
It’s always refreshing to see a business with a well-optimized Google My Business account. Although it does not require that a business has a great content and search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, it helps to showcase some of the most critical details that customers require. In tandem with a great SEO strategy, a well-optimized Google My Business account can help your business be seen and respected online.
Why Use and Optimize a Google My Business Account: 6 Benefits
The majority of your B2B business’ prospects, leads and customers share something in common – they found or investigated your company with Google. Google Search has become one of the top tools used by business leaders to research potential vendors and shows no signs of stopping. Google Search commands such an incredible market share; this makes marketing yourself on their platform nearly unavoidable.
Google will automatically create a Google My Business listing for your company whether you manage it or not. Make the most out of this opportunity by customizing its information.
Want to start taking control of your Google My Business account and supercharge its ability to support lead generation? Consider the following benefits and think about how you can use them to improve your business’ online profile.
1. Display in Google Maps Searches
When people look for products and services, Google Search plots local results to a map; this can be expanded via Google Maps. Google Maps is extremely useful to locate businesses that supply or carry products that customers are interested in.
Google My Business listings show users where your business is located. In many cases, these listings may even appear above organic search results. This maximizes your visibility.
To rank higher on the list, there are many GMB tips and tricks your business can deploy. These include ensuring your address is correct, that you create interconnected listings for multiple locations, that your hours of operation are available, and that you have favourable customer reviews.
2. Offer Correct Information
Most branding and marketing professionals say that consistency is key. Make sure your business information is displayed correctly and consistently; this includes in your company’s introduction, posts, images, and overall branding look/feel.
With Google My Business, you can update your business name and specific details about your business including office address, phone number, hours.
There’s a wide range of information that can be supported in your Google My Business listing. Unfortunately, some elements are not customizable through your GBM account administrator access. Some elements of your listing, like social media accounts, are pulled in automatically through your website’s structured data. This requires additional work with a specialist that maintains your website.
3. Additional Visibility
Many third-party platforms rely on Google to display company information, so why would you trust any other to get your business featured? With Google’s ability to categorize your business, it’s more likely that you’ll show up on relevant local searches and improve visibility.
Google My Business information is shared among Google and third-party applications. Ensure what these tools show is accurate and supportive of your business’ goals!
Add photos and videos to create more powerful first impression by creating a gallery to show your unique products and services. Businesses that add photos to their listings receive more requests for driving directions on Google Maps and more clicks through to their websites than businesses that don’t.
4. Establish Trust
With buyers researching online before contacting a business, public reviews are a very important way to build trust. Positive reviews are great indicators of strength that highlight brand advocates and build a compelling case for your business. Negative reviews, while painful to receive for small businesses, are still an opportunity to engage with the commenter and attempt to remediate the situation.
Positive reviews are one of many ranking factors that search engines such as Google use to rank you and determine the quality of your offerings.
If you’re delivering quality products and exceptional user experience, you’ll gain a competitive edge over nearby companies. Don’t underestimate the value of strong reviews, and don’t forget to ask your happy customers to give you one!
5. Analytical Insights
No matter what kind of product or service you sell, the more you know about your customers, the better you can appeal to them. As with Google Analytics, Google My Business provides the same analytics showing how, where and what people are searching for.
Google My Business offers additional insights for your listing, including how many impressions it received over a given time time.
It even provides statistics on how many people called your business from the number displayed on local search results in both Search and Maps. Best of all, you can seamlessly create and track the performance of marketing campaigns to spread the word about your business.
6. Posts
Posting events, updates and specials can help encourage viewers to connect further with you. These posts are not social media posts and only remain live for seven days before they become hidden content. Drive traffic by posting items such as:
- Events: Drive in-store visits like live music at a bar or restaurant
- Products and Product Updates: New merchandise
- Offers and Specials: Sales and discounts
- News and Announcements: Any updates related to store hours or general business information
Invest in Cost-Effective Marketing and Sales Tools
It can take considerable time and web development experience to get the most out of your Google My Business account. Despite this, it’s an incredibly cost-effective tool for growing your business.
To learn about other inexpensive marketing and sales tactics that work, please download the Frugal Tactics for Building Your Sales Engine white paper.
