It takes tremendous consistency and effort to successfully market your local business and brand in today's competitive marketplace.
With this in mind, Local Guides by Google presents an excellent way to streamline your marketing efforts without sacrificing results.
Accordingly, millions of businesses worldwide benefit from this passive form of marketing.
Considering this, recent studies suggest consumers increasingly rely on Local Guides when choosing which companies to frequent.
Thus, this post explains what Local Guides are and how they can help your local business attract new customers.
What Are Local Guides?
Launched in 2015, Local Guides is a community of users who share photos, answer questions about their local area, and update information on local businesses via Google Maps.
Notably, there are millions of guides worldwide, and the platform continues to grow.
With this in mind, Local Guide community members receive incentives such as points, badges, and perks as they progress through ten reward levels.
In addition, as they progress, users can unlock and create additional types of content.
For example, they can begin to generate list-based content at level four.
Considering the above, it is essential to realize that businesses cannot operate as guides.
Instead, you should aim to connect with a Local Guide in your area.
What Benefits Do Local Guides Deliver?
Connecting your business to a Local Guide enables you to:
- Increase visibility
- Ensure your business profile is correct
- Encourage customers to leave more reviews
First, working with a Local Guide can help improve your visibility since most consumers turn to search engines when learning more about local businesses.
Consequently, ensuring your business has photos and up-to-date information on Google Maps will help boost your visibility in local search results.
You'll also be able to ensure that all your business data, including your business name, website, contact information, and operating hours, is accurate.
Considering this, you could miss out on potential business if this information is incorrect.
Finally, allowing users to leave reviews on Local Guides is beneficial since consumers typically read reviews before purchasing from a company.
Hence, the more favorable your reviews are, the more business you can attract.
How Can Your Business Use Local Guides?
For your local business to benefit from a Local Guide, you must first attract them, which can prove challenging.
Yet, there are ways to make it easier.
So, let's look at ways to partner with a Local Guide in your area.
Arrange a Meetup
Partnering with a Local Guide by arranging a meetup allows you to build relationships and engage with guides in your area.
However, before setting a time and place, be aware that there are guidelines you must follow.
Specifically, Google does not allow Local Guides to accept sponsorships as an incentive for positive reviews, nor can they receive payment for hosting a meetup.
Notably, following the guidelines helps ensure your business won't get penalized.
Make Sure Your Google Pages Are Optimized
First, be sure to claim your Google Business Profile listing.
Then, ensure that you optimize your Google pages, including your Google Business Profile and Google Maps pages.
Encourage More Reviews
Again, the more reviews your business obtains via Local Guides, the more customers you gain.
To emphasize, always encourage reviews, but avoid using questionable tactics.
Thus, never pay somebody for a positive review.
In other words, Local Guide reviews must be natural to be effective.
In Conclusion
Given the above points, leveraging the power of Local Guides can be an effective and low-cost way for local businesses to establish a solid online presence, reach new customers, and build a positive reputation.
With this in mind, if you haven't already, now's the time to look into and take advantage of this passive marketing platform.
Hope this helps,
Erik
We implement creative, results-based digital and hybrid marketing strategies for local business clients.
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