I work a lot with independent business owners in both entrepreneurial/solopreneur and retail establishments. Local market is where I spend a lot of time and I’ve seen some interesting phenomenon over this pandemic shut down the past year.
One thing I thought would happen would be that those stores or small business owners with local facilities would turn to online versions of their business so they could ship product, allow for curbside pick up, or other methods of marketing their business and selling product.
But what happened was not what I expected.
What really happened, at least in my local area, was not much of anything.
Nothing remarkable.
Only a few local businesses I know of made a a quick turnaround to try and save their business and move product.
Why?
Well, I have been asking myself that for over a year now. It is puzzling, but I think I know some answers.
1) Lack of Know-how
2) Fear of the unknown
3) Defeatist Thinking
4) PPP or EIDL Payouts
5) Gave up and shut down
Here we are now and local business and the local market is trying to recover. Maybe you are one of those retailers and independent business owners that needs help immediately.
What can you do right now to help your business?
Sign up for a Google My Business Account.
Why Local Businesses Need to Use Google My Business
The Why’s are huge for this action:
1) Believe it or not, Google’s business is dependent on us. We are their customer so it behooves them to help us develop our business. With that, they give businesses so many free tools to use, it’s crazy!
2) You get a free portal that connects to maps, websites, ordering options, Call to Actions
3) You can run sales and updates right in the portal that are live within minutes
4) Use strong keywords and categories to describe your business
5) You do NOT have to have storefront – This one is HUGE! You can be an independent business owner like a plumber, insurance agent, retailer that has a home address and not list your home address on your listing, just your town.
6) and More!
You probably have seen an image similar to this one while doing your searches. I blocked out the local info to protect them, but look at the options!
Have you ever booked a table or called a business direct from this app? Maybe you looked a the menu online. Why isn’t it your business using it?
Personally, I have clients that swear by the traffic from this. They are getting more than the website brings sometimes. Definitely something to explore and think about. Your business may already be featured. All you have to do it claim it if it is yours and then go through the steps.
Want help? Connect with me and we can walk through it together.
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