Top 5 Super Common Mistakes Local Businesses Make That Kill
Lead Generation and Profits
GMB not claimed or Optimized
Today, Google is the search engine of choice so you need to be as high up in the rankings as possible. And Google Maps Listings are on the very top of most keyword search pages. So you need to get in the top 3 for the most traffic.
The majority of clicks go to the Top 3 listings and the top 3 organic listings. Basically if you aren’t on the 1st page, don’t expect much traffic to your website.
So you need to go to google.com/business and claim your business asap. Don’t let a sneaky competitor claim your place.
Once claimed, take the time to fill it out completely. Google loves data so you need to give it to them. The better you optimize your listing with data the higher you will rank.
Now you need to add photos, short videos and an informational post about your company and what you do.
Who gets listed in the top 3 is based mainly on your reviews. How many 5 star reviews you have matters so get more reviews.
Add an appointment link to your listing- helps rank you higher.
Social Media Not Claimed or Optimized or Posting often
When Google looks at your business, they want to see an online presence. The more places you are listed the better.
Which means back-links pointing to your website. Social media is the easiest to take care of. It makes you look more like a real business, there are a lot of fake business websites out there.
Any successful business is going to set up social media accounts. So look successful by adding Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram pages. Just get them started and linked to your website. Make them look pretty and have a couple of posts with some good information.
Now the easiest way to do all this is to choose one social media channel to be your primary. Just make basic pages on the rest and point them to your primary social media page and website. Tell them “You can find and reach us on Facebook Daily”
Now keep your primary social channel active with a daily post as often as possible. Even a quick tip is useful. You want visitors to see you just posted recently.
Optimize your social media with both great information and promotions. Don’t only sell! Keep it entertaining and fun.
Not Getting Enough 5 Star Reviews
Reviews are where it’s at today. Get as many reviews as possible. Ask your customers to leave you a review on Google or Yelp. Make it easy for them; have a business card or postcard printed up with the link to your reviews page.
Go to your Google listing and find the review page with the link to add a review. Copy that page URL and go to bit.ly and make a short nice looking link.
Like bit.ly/reviewforjoe and put this on a nice looking postcard/business card that says “How’d We Do?” Please take 2 minutes and leave your feedback here… bit.ly/reviewforjoe
We’d really appreciate it.
Now keep those in your pocket and hand it to the customer while you are completing business. Or mail one to them after they buy anything. This is when they are thinking about you. It’s not begging for something. It’s asking how they liked working with your company. Just feedback so you can improve.
If you get a poor review, reach out to them and see what you can do to fix the problem. Offer to fix it. Get them happy and ask them to change the review. It will pay off in the end, to even give them something for free to get rid of that poor review. Poor reviews can hurt your business for years.
In the case where the person is just unreasonable, don’t lose it on them. You can get more 5 star reviews to push the 2 star review down off the first page eventually.
No Video Content
It’s 2021 now and the world has moved on past simple reading blog posts. We are just too busy now to read 50 pages of content, the internet is full of it today. Video is what people want, it’s what people spend the day watching online.
Quick helpful and entertaining videos that tell stories and give a glimpse behind the scenes.
Your website, social media and YouTube channel need short videos to attract more visitors to you.
They don’t have to be movie quality. They can be little cellphone videos you make in the office or as you drive around town.
You want them to show off what you do and how you do it. What makes you the person to work with? Who are you? What is your goal? What do you stand for? Insights. A peek inside. Special things only you offer your customers. Tips that help your perfect dream customer. Who do you work with and why? What’s your story?
Just a handful of 5 minute videos will make a huge difference in your business results. Drop a new one every month. Or drop one every Monday. Video is the in thing now.
And don’t stress about what it looks like. Just get it good enough. You will get better with each video.
No Email Marketing to Customer List - IE. Followup/Back-end Sales
I am still amazed at how many small businesses only open the doors and wait for customers. That is not marketing.
Or they get a new customer and then only sell them one time. The most expensive customer is the new one. You had to pay for advertising (in most cases) to get them in the store. Or pay with time(waiting for them to find you).
The profits don’t come from new customers or leads. The big profits come from current customers you already have, who buy more and more from you. Up-selling and repeat back-end sales are the road to more money in your business. Because you have no acquisition costs. It’s all profit.
Take your current customer list of everyone who bought from you in the past and put them on an email list. Send a weekly entertaining and informative newsletter with your new promotion and new offers.
Offer them special deals if they buy more. Loyalty discounts for vip customers only.
A weekly newsletter is one of the best ways to get repeat buyers. It reminds them to come in again. Any business can do this.
I offer a complete email list setup for you.
Bonus Mistake:
Zero Advertising Budget
Every business out there could be making more money if they just budgeted money for advertising every month. The more people who see your ads the more they will come in.
You don’t have to spend $1,000’s but you should spend something. Look at where your competitors are advertising and do the same thing. Test it out, track if it is working and always ask your new customer how they found out about you.
Set aside a marketing budget and buy more ads. Sponsor a local team. Team up with a charity and advertise that. Place ads in local school papers or church newsletters. Get noticed.
Sponsoring a team is great because now you have the perfect social media content to share that isn’t salesy. Talk about supporting a charity on social media as well.
Next Step:
We have gone over some of the top marketing mistakes in this short report. But it will take a little more time and a lot more space to go in depth and offer enough for you to get to work without fumbling or getting stuck.
I offer more help in several ways if you want a little help with this...