It’s just one more thing to do, am I right? Forgive me for adding to your workload. Perhaps you’ve avoided doing anything about Google My Business because it seems more suited to physical businesses, like restaurants and shoe shops, but, actually, Google My Business is important for service based companies too. 

We’ve come up with 5 reasons why, though there are probably more. Let’s see if I can convince you to take some action.

But, first of all, I don’t mean to patronise, but I want to make sure we are all on the same page. 

You might not be sure what Google My Business is. You’ll know it when you see it, but you might not have heard it referred to in this way.

So, Google My Business (GMB) is this…

Yes, it’s that thing you see whenever you Google a business, or look one up on Google Maps.

Every business has one or can request one, but not many small, service-based businesses bother. If you are the latter, we’d like to change your mind. Google My Business is important for service businesses too!

Okay, the reasons…

1. It provides a shop front for a service business, telling people searching for your service that you sell it.

When you’re a service-based business (as opposed to a shop, or a restaurant, for example) you often don’t have a physical shop front.  You have your business card or brochure, you have your website, you have your, er, face…?

For any business selling an intangible service, it’s already a challenge getting your potential clients to understand exactly what you’re offering because there’s nothing to see. It’s important to make the intangible tangible so that they can see something.

Having a polished GMB listing gives you a fantastic opportunity to add an additional ‘shop front’. One that potential clients will see a lot! 

2. It legitimises your business

I said anyone can have a GMB listing, but most searchers don’t know that. So, the fact that you have one gives your business extra legitimacy. It helps them to take another step towards trusting you, and that helps them to buy from you.

3. It allows you to share social proof about your service.

On GMB, your reviews are right there. Your audience can read them without even having to visit your website. You can reply to them instantly, creating an easy connection point with your clients. You can even get messages and answer questions.

4. Regular posting on GMB can help improve your ranking on Google search

If you need no other reason, this one should be enough! We’ll do anything to improve our ranking, no? This will help!

5. It’s totally free…..yes, a marketing activity that costs nothing

I literally need say no more about this. So many marketing activities are hideously costly. This is free. Why wouldn’t you?

Hopefully, that’s enough encouragement to get your attention. Now, here’s how you go about making Google My Business important to your business…

• Claim – verify your listing on Google or ask it to add one for you.

If you have a website, your listing is probably already there, you just need to find it and click the ‘Own this business?’ button. Then you’ll have to go through a verification process, that can be done by postcard, email or by phone. Here’s a useful video on how to take this step, or request addition of your listing if there isn’t one there.

• Personalise – adapt your listing so it reflects your brand

Once you’ve verified your listing, it’s time to pimp it so it looks and feels like your place. 

• Make sure your address is correct, and if your business address is your home address, we recommend getting an official registered address for this purpose (that’s what we do). Your accountant or local business services company can provide this.
• Add your logo and other images that share information about you and your business.
• Add a description of what you provide and to whom.
• Reply to any reviews that you might already have.
• Add details about your open hours and other details about your service.

• Manage – keep things running smoothly

Once your listing is all polished up, it’s good to keep it looking fresh. Regular posting, ideally once a week, is the best way to get your listing to rank near the top of search results. You can add your latest blogs, images or links to other content you’ve created here.

Always reply to reviews as quickly as possible and keep it polite. If you happen to get a bad review (I’m sure you won’t!) you can address it here, but you can’t delete it, so keep that in mind.

Request reviews from your past clients so that you’re continually adding to your collection of reviews. You can easily share a personalised link to enter a review on your page by clicking on the ‘share review form’ button on the homepage of your GMB account.

Easy isn’t it? Hopefully that whirlwind tour has convinced you that Google My Business is important to your business and worth taking the time to do.

I’m sure you have questions. Email me (pip@marketingarchitect.co.uk) or book a chat with us to get them answered and if you’ve already worked with us, and you fancy leaving us a review, here’s the place to do that!

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