Google My Business is an excellent way to give a prospective shopper all of the information about where to find your business, how to contact you, and what services you offer, but did you know that Google My Business (GMB) also provides special tools for its users that can help turn that researching traffic into quality leads? Here are four easy steps to turn those digital window shoppers into a sale.
1. Use your Google My Business as a place to showcase your current sales and incentives.
Google My Business has the option for ‘reviews’ and ‘followers,’ and more often than not, consumers are following businesses that they interact with regularly. GMB has an opportunity to turn those followers into leads. Now when a new prospect clicks, “Follow … Dealership” a welcome offer will populate. In this welcome offer, dealerships can include their most recent sales and incentives that are taking place.
2. Customers can request a quote directly from your dealership’s listing on Google.
If the messaging feature is live on your Google My Business page, then a prospect has the option to “request a quote” when they land on your profile. If you aren’t sure if messaging is set up for your Google Profile, there are two ways to ensure this is set up. The first option is to log into your account on your desktop. The messages option is in the left-hand toolbar. You can also download the Google My Business app, head to “customers,” and then activate messages to “on.”
3. If you still haven’t claimed your URL – do it – and create a short name.
When we say “claimed,” we mean it’s time to verify that your business is your business, and it’s located where you are stating it is. More often than not, the best way to verify your company via Google is to receive a postcard in the mail. Dealers beware – this postcard is often confused for junk mail, but it is not. Make sure your administrative staff is aware that you will be receiving a postcard from Google so that it isn’t unintentionally thrown away.
If you need to verify your dealership’s Google My Business page, click here.
To find where you can add your dealership’s short name head to “info” in the left-hand toolbar of your GMB profile. By adding this option, you are making it easy to share your profile with others, in turn making it that much easier to gain more reviews. The Dealer Authority shortname is “dealer-authority-marketing.” By adding your shortname to “g.page/SHORTNAME-HERE,” just like g.page/dealer-authority-marketing, customers can quickly get to your Google My Business profile and post a review of their experience.
4. Create marketing collateral and posts from the reviews you receive on your Google My Business page using the Google Marketing Kit.
The Google Marketing Kit has options to create social media posts, posters, and even table tents that can be placed in the dealership to encourage customers to rate and review your business. You can even create a Google-inspired video that highlights all the great things that customers have said about your business.
Google My Business is a piece of the marketing puzzle that every business, no matter the industry, needs but at times gets overlooked.
There are so many easy and accessible tools available on the platform. So much time is spent focusing on reviews, but there are even more tools beyond reviews that are available to dealers for their marketing purposes.
You can keep your dealership’s Google My Business profile up to date with your latest sales and incentives, encourage your customers to review your business, and take advantage of the free marketing tools that can be downloaded and posted directly from your Google My Business profile to promote your business.
Google My Business has new offerings to help businesses during COVID.
We have to give it to Google – they jumped into action once shelter-in-place kicked in, offering businesses multiple options to educate their customers. A feature that is so helpful to the automotive community is the “book online” feature. With the simple ‘check’ of a box, dealers can let customers who are searching online know that online appointments are available to them.
Many of your reading this most likely have a “shop online” landing page set up on your website. With a few simple clicks, you can make sure that page has even more exposure, but adding it to your Google My Business profile.
Add Google’s new ‘Attributes’ to Your Profile
The more informed your customer is before they show up to your showroom, the more comfortable they will be completing a transaction with you.
Google has made it that much easier for your customer to know answers to questions like, “Does their staff wear masks?” or “Do they sanitize their showroom?” by adding the “Attributes” options to your Google My Business Dashboard.
If you are unsure of where to find these features and you need help getting these options set up for your dealership, reach out to us. We can make sure that your customer always has the correct information and multiple avenues to get in touch with your sales and maintenance staff.