Issue 2 of 6
Welcome to the second article in our series about managing your brand through the coronavirus pandemic using Google My Business (GMB). In this installment, we talk about how to make sure that you tell a clear story about what you’re doing to help and sell to customers during COVID-19. Think of this as your “brand message” in general and during the pandemic in particular. Google offers specific advice on this subject, even offering a special page called” Tools and Resources for COVID-19” on the Google for Small Business website.
Remember, these troubled times are not going to last forever. It’s important not only to manage your brand through the current conditions, but to better prepare your brand for when things bounce back. That is the whole point of this series. With life currently going at a slower pace, now is a perfect time to work on your brand message.
The Purpose of this Post
Welcome to the second article in our series about managing your brand through the coronavirus pandemic using Google My Business (GMB). In this installment, we talk about how to make sure your brand message is clearly expressed in general, and for COVID-19 in particular. Google offers specific advice on this subject, even providing a special page called “Tools and Resources for COVID-19” on the Google for Small Business website.
Remember, these troubled times are not going to last forever. It’s important not only to manage your brand through the current conditions, but to better prepare your brand for when things bounce back. That is the whole point of this series. With life currently going at a slower pace, now is a perfect time to work on your brand message and boost your local SEO via GMB.
Good Branding Tells a Story
Every good brand has a story to tell to its customers. What is your story? And how can you use your GMB profile to tell that story (and help your SEO ranking in Google)? Google offers two different ways to do this on your GMB profile…
Your Business Description
The most obvious place to begin to tell your brand story is in the Business Description. You can find it in the left navigation under “Info”. Once you select Info, just scroll down to the bottom of the main column on the right. There’s a menu symbol showing three lines stacked up, with the bottom line shorter than the two above it.
Does your description talk about how easy it is to buy a car at your dealership? It should because people often see that as one of the most important things when buying a car. Do you talk about your commitment to customer service? It should. Studies show that 95 percent of consumers say customer service matters in their choice of business and their brand loyalty for repeat business. Now, have you changed how you sell cars or manage your service bay because of COVID-19? You should talk about this too.
So, what’s the moral of the story? Your Business Description should tell your story in a way that makes you stand out from the crowd, gives your customers useful information, and makes you look like a great dealership that is committed to its customers and community.
Posting on GMB
We’ll be covering GMB posts in more depth later in Part 4. For now, keep in mind that your Posts will provide a place to clarify and reinforce your brand story. They can be used on a regular basis to help to give more texture to your story than what you could provide in your Business Description. Here are some topic questions to consider: Is your dealership helping the community during COVID-19? Are you providing any special services during COVID-19? Are you servicing cars differently during the pandemic? Use Posts to tell your story.
GMB Posts are short stories (or blog “posts”) that you should add to your Profile every 7 days or so (a Google best practice). Posting on GMB gives you the ability to provide information on a timely basis. Mix talk about how you are adapting to COVID-19 for your customers along with more general topics like posts about new models, how your service department works, etc. Posting doesn’t need to be difficult. Have your digital firm handle it or do it yourself. If the latter, make it easy on yourself and keep things simply worded and to the point.
We’re All in This Together
For now, remember we’re all in this thing together. Americans historically unite and shine during every crisis, and this one is no different. Stay safe and take care of yourselves. Most importantly, take care of each other and our communities. If you need help or have any suggestions for ways that your fellow car dealers can weather the storm, please comment here or send them to us so we can get the word out. Take care.
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