Using Google Business Profile to Boost Your Local Marketing Efforts

If you’re a small business owner, then you know how important it is to get your name out in your local community. After all, most of your customers are probably going to be people who live and work near your business. That’s why it’s so important to make sure that you’re doing everything you can to market your business to a local audience.

One great way to reach potential customers in your area is through Google Business Profile. For beginners, this can seem daunting but it needn’t: Google Business Profile is a free listing that allows businesses to provide information about their products and services to potential customers. If you’re not already using Google Business Profile, then you’re missing out on a great opportunity to reach more local people, without spending a huge chunk of your marketing budget.

For beginners, it can seem like one more thing to do, and jump to the bottom of your priorites, but don’t let that happen. GBP is part of the Google Local Pack and can help you get more reach with those who are actually looking for your product or service.

Here are five tips for gettng started with Google Business Profile to boost your local marketing efforts:

1. Claim or create your listing. The first step is to make sure that you have a listing on Google Business Profile. If you don’t have one already, you can create one for free. All you need is a Gmail account. Once you have a listing, be sure to claim it so that you can manage the information that appears on it.
2. Optimize your listing. Once you’ve claimed or created your listing, take some time to optimize it. Make sure that all of the information on your listing is accurate and up-to-date. Include relevant keywords in your business description so that potential customers can easily find you when they’re searching for businesses like yours. You should also add photos and videos to help potential customers learn more about your business.
3. Encourage reviews. Customer reviews can be extremely helpful for boosting your local marketing efforts. Reviews can help potential customers learn more about your business and what others think of your products or services. encourage your happy customers to leave reviews by asking them directly or providing links on your website or social media accounts.
4. Respond to reviews—both good and bad . It’s not enough just to have reviews; you also need to respond to them—especially the negative ones . By responding thoughtfully and professionally to negative reviews, you can show potential customers that you care about customer satisfaction and that you’re willing to go the extra mile to resolve any issues they may have had with your business .

5 Use Insights to track your performance . Google Business Profile comes with a built-in Insights tool that allows businesses to track their performance over time . Insights can show you how many views and clicks your listing is getting, as well as the demographics of the people who are viewing it . This information can be extremely helpful for understanding what’s working (and what’s not) with your local marketing efforts so that you can make necessary adjustments .

Google Business Profile is a great free tool for small businesses looking to reach more local customers . By taking advantage of all of the features that Google Business Profile has to offer , businesses can optimize their listings , encourage customer reviews , track their performance , and much more .

For help with your local marketing, contact our experts at Visible who will be only too glad to help you achieve your goals.