If you don’t currently have a Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) you are missing out on a fantastic, free tool that gives your customers access to vital information such as your business operating hours, contact details, location and much more besides. Google is a huge deal when it comes to search engines - it has 92.66% of the search engine market share (Search Engine Market Share Worldwide - June 2023) indeed its name has become synonymous for searching online for something. Why You Need a Google Business Profile
If your business has contact with customers, including those with a physical location such as a hairdressers, or you provide services requiring meeting with customers at other locations such as a plumber or electrician then you are eligible to set up a Google Business Profile. Google Business Profile gives you the opportunity to list your business location on Google Maps and Google local search results - your target audience will have instant access to your exact location and any other important information they may need:
Getting seen online is not always easy, competition is tough and it’s hard to know if anyone will see your business. A Google Business Profile puts your business on Google maps and Google search making it much easier for customers to find you online and makes your physical business location easier to find too.
A Google Business Profile Can Help Your Business Grow Your business profile will be among the first Google search results after the sponsored ads. Being near the top of the search results has many obvious advantages including increasing traffic to your website. Not only that, your profile will appear higher in local search results - helping you target your audience. Another great advantage of your Google Business Profile is the customer reviews - reviews are essential in order build trust and credibility. Increase Visibility, Increase Awareness, Increase Sales There really are no reasons not to set up your Google Business Profile - if you need help setting yours up we can help guide you through the process, including showing you how to update your business details and add posts to your profile. Recent Update To Google Privacy Policy Google recently updated the inactivity period for a Google Account for two years (across all of their accounts and services). The change is now active and applies to any Google Account that hasn’t been used or signed into within a two year timeframe. The earliest date that inactive accounts (and any content) will be eligible for deletion would be December 2023. You will receive reminder emails if your account is inactive before any action is taken so you’ll have plenty of time to sign-in and prevent your accounts from being deleted if you still wish to keep them. Find out more about Google’s inactivity policy here. Need more help? Contact us for more information.
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When you think of the word ‘brand’ what comes to mind? Do you imagine big brands’ such as McDonalds, Coca Cola or large supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda? They’re all great examples of successful businesses that have managed to build recognisable and highly successful brands. But every business, large and small, needs to focus on building their brand. It’s no small task, brands don’t become successful overnight and it takes hard work, determination and patience to build a strong and successful brand for your business.
What Makes a Brand Successful? Aside from the above, there are steps every business must take to build a successful brand: Market Research Your brand will only succeed if you find out who your target audience is - you need to build trust and a lasting relationship with your customers so it’s imperative you learn who they are and what they want. What is your Mission? What are you trying to achieve? Why did you start your business? In order to create a successful brand you need to pin down what you're trying to achieve- all your branding including logo design will then reflect this ethos to reinforce your message to your audience. What is your USP? You need to stand out from your competitors so make sure you shout about what makes you different. What are your company values? Ethics? Do you offer locally sourced goods for example? Champion what makes your business unique. Great Visual Assets Once you’ve established the above you can get creative and build your brand assets - your logo, colour palette, fonts etc. Why Hire a Designer? A professional designer has a swathe of skills and knowledge to help you build your brand. They know how to help you craft your story and can help you find your audience. Not only that, they can take your story and USP and together create the perfect logo and other visual assets to determine your unique brand style. You might think you know exactly how you want your logo to look but a designer can help you push the boundaries and create something truly spectacular. Their knowledge of colour and how it will work on the web and in print will be invaluable- get ready for hexadecimal triplets and Pantone chats over a cup of coffee! Even after you’ve established your brand image, you need to reinforce that image at every customer touch point. Website, social media, email marketing, in print and your physical premises - all need to give out the same message using the same brand imagery. Your designer will ensure your logo is the correct format for every requirement - print ready and web optimised. Ultimately, a great designer will save you time and money in the long run. They can be on hand at every step in building your brand and can help ensure you stay true to your brand values, message and story. Are you struggling to establish your brand? We can help bring your brand to life, contact us for more information: Contact Creative Remedy If you want your business to thrive and grow you need to invest time and money into great marketing and an integral part of your marketing is content creation. Generating ideas and producing quality content can be time consuming and it can be difficult to know what and when to post. Social media presence is vital for your business to thrive but your posts need to be engaging and relevant if you want to see results. What is Content Creation?
When we talk about content creation we are specifically discussing written or visual content (images or video) based on topics that would appeal to your target audience. This content could be in the form of a blog, email marketing, social media posts, websites and landing pages. All content needs to be relevant and interesting - your aim is to build engagement and provide information to your followers/audience. Social Media Creating content for social media requires a bit of thought - each platform has its own rules, e.g. Twitter has a character limit if you have the free account and to get the most out of Instagram you need to make sure your images are at the correct size/aspect ratio. Websites & Landing Pages Landing pages are a great tool to have in your digital marketing strategy - the main purpose of a landing page is to convert visitors into leads or leads into customers. Unlike a standard website page, a landing page is a stand alone page without all the distractions of links and navigation, its sole aim is to collect contact information from your visitor in exchange for something such as an offer, ebook etc. Content for landing pages needs to be compact, concise and have the all important call to action! Email Marketing Newsletters and email marketing are a great way to engage with your customers, let them know about what’s happening in your business and share personalised offers. Why you Need a Content Creator? If you struggle to come up with amazing content for your social media channels, blogs or email newsletters then take heart- you are not alone. Running a business is hard enough without trying to keep up with digital marketing and the need to keep feeding the beast known as the algorithm.
Do you struggle to come up with exciting, interesting and relevant content? Contact us to find out how we can help. You can’t have failed to have noticed the buzz surrounding the recent launch of ChatGPT. Initial excitement may have waned a little but with version 4 recently made available to paying subscribers, it is certainly making its mark. Its release took the world by storm as us mere humans watched in awe as the AI spat out written content based on carefully constructed prompts. First thoughts for those who rely on creative jobs in order to earn a living may well have been ones of dread and fear, afterall, if AI can write content or produce images in a fraction of the time it takes a human, is there any need for the human to have this job at all?
It’s a complex question and the answer will no doubt change as time goes on and AI becomes even more intelligent. But, for now at least, although AI is absolutely a tool that can aid the creative processes of many jobs it is a tool that still requires the human touch. Using AI For Content Creation Struggling for ideas for content creation? It can be hard to be able to keep up with the constant need to post content and AI is a great tool to help when you’ve got writer's block. Just one prompt can yield multiple ideas for content, saving you valuable time and allowing you to get on with the writing/creating part. With design and art, AI can create ideas you might not have thought of. Instead of seeing AI as a way of producing the finished piece, it could become more a part of the ideas process, speeding up the initial ‘thinking’ part before you execute the final design. AI is a great tool that is advancing at great speed. But we need to be sure what we are posting or creating is safe and legal. Plagiarism One obvious yet often ignored problem with using AI for content creation is the risk of plagiarism. If you ask a chat bot to write you a blog it will scrape content from multiple sources and will not provide citation. If you choose to write content in this way you run the risk of plagiarising published work. Misinformation Because AI doesn't provide evidence or citations you have no way of knowing if what it has written is actually true. We are all painfully aware of the dangers of misinformation so to avoid posting false information it is very important to check anything written using AI. Content creation is a huge part of a brand’s identity. In order to build a loyal customer base, brands rely on having a unique voice and message that conveys their brand ethos. If this voice isn’t consistent or the messages don’t match the brand values then customers will lose trust. In order for AI to produce unique content it needs to be told how to do it. No matter how good AI is it still needs to be trained to be able to write in the unique voice of an individual business. For small businesses in particular, that unique voice and message is what will set you apart from your competitors. When creating content and designs for your business you need to ensure you are delivering:
AI for Design There has been a lot of backlash from artists and creators surrounding the training of the technology, as it scrapes images from the internet and mashes them together to answer the prompts. Artists rightly protest their work being used without consent or credit. As well as potentially infringing copyrighted work there is also no way to copyright any work produced by AI- so even if it produces something you want to use as a logo for example, there would be nothing to stop anyone else using the same image for their logo. Adobe’s hotly anticipated release of Firefly may answer some of those concerns as they have trained their technology on Adobe stock images, openly licensed content and public domain content where copyright has expired. In a bid to help creators produce great designs regardless of their skill levels, Adobe’s Firefly could be a tool that allows users to improve their working practices. It has to be noted that it is not currently possible to opt-out of data set training for content submitted to Stock, although Adobe do say they are looking at ways to make this a possibility in the future. Personally, I’m a little worried that AI will make it harder to tell what is fact and what is misinformation eg. when doing web searches or reading ‘news’ on social media platforms. AI is constantly evolving and is definitely here to stay, but for now, is it best used as a tool to help optimise our workflow to avoid running the risk of producing soulless and generic creative work. And, if content is wholly written by AI do you think it should be credited as such so that readers can verify its accuracy? Written by Louise Lockhart at Creative Remedy All Small business owners know the importance of a consistent social media presence. Even non-business owners know that if they don’t post regularly they’ll get eaten alive by the algorithm and disappear into the ether! OK, a bit dramatic maybe, but it can’t be denied that if you don’t keep up with your postings then you’ll get noticed less by your followers. Recently there have been a few changes to some of the popular platforms, notably Twitter, with many users finding it increasingly difficult to stay relevant. How to Handle Twitter Twitter has always had a bit of a Marmite reputation, with many users either loving it or hating it.It’s is a fast-paced platform with 500 million tweets being sent every day! That’s a lot to compete with but there’s no need to feel overwhelmed- with a bit of planning you can make Twitter work for your business but first you need to know when and what to post. Marketing Strategy Make sure you have a specific plan for Twitter within your strategy. Set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound) and make sure these align with your overall business goals.It’s pointless just aiming for more likes or a viral tweet- you need your posts to lead to a Call to Action. For example, if you are aiming to get more traffic to your website then you need to think about what you can post to encourage that. Perfect Your Profile When was the last time you updated your business profile picture? Does it reflect your brand image or is it out of date and in need of a revamp? Ideally your handle should be consistent with your other social media accounts so you are recognizable to your customers and followers.Use the header as a way to advertise your latest campaign (make sure you change it when the campaign ends) or to reflect your company values. Make sure your bio is up to date and true to your brand and that your website URL is correct. Be Consistent With your strategy in place it’s also a great idea to plan your content and create a calendar so you know exactly when and what you need to post. It might seem time consuming but it will be worth it in the long run. You’ll be able to ensure that you have a nice mix of content- sales, stories and helpful insights. Check out Twitter's calendar for key dates to add to your plan. Stick a Pin in It Pinning a tweet to your profile means it will always be at the top of your feed when followers visit your profile. It’s a great place to put a bit about your company values or something you want to highlight about you or your business. You can use it if you want to showcase a particular campaign you’re running, just remember to unpin it when the campaign finishes. Share the Love When it comes to getting the most out of social media there is a lot to be said for joining a Twitter community (or even starting one yourself). Communities are a great way to share knowledge and build lasting and meaningful relationships. Less about sales and more about support. These communities are amazing resources and a great way to network. It’s All About the List If you find Twitter too overwhelming and you’re fed up with missing tweets from businesses and individuals that you follow, you need to get yourself a list. Once you’ve spent a bit of time setting up a list with your select accounts (a bit like a VIP feed), you’ll never miss an important tweet again. Stay on Trend Following trends on Twitter is a great way to connect with your audience and understand their current interests. Don’t Forget the Hashtag Hashtags are a great way to boost engagement and reach a wider audience but do use them sparingly- 1 or 2 relevant hashtags is all you need in your tweet. Make sure you use the right hashtags for your business, you can even start your own unique hashtag- a great way to advertise a campaign and create user generated content. Above all, stay true to your voice and brand values but remember you are a person too- to really get the most out of Twitter you need to really engage with your followers. Twitter is a true social platform, full of chatter and a great place to build relationships, so make sure you respond to DM’s and reply to tweets swiftly. Do you need help with your marketing strategy or social media management? Contact us for help and advice. |
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