Hi.
I'm Maile Ohye.
This is the third video in our series
to help local business owners reach customers online.
Thus far, we've determined your business' unique value-add,
defined conversion for your business,
and set your goal to increase revenue.
This video's focus is finding potential customers.
How would potential customers find and select your business
online?
Talk with new customers to learn how
they heard about your business and the criteria they
used to make a selection.
Go ahead and jot down a few of the ideas.
These pathways to finding and selecting
a business we'll call customer journeys.
Each of the journeys identified should
include a potential customer having a need,
like help buying a house, and should
end with the customer converting.
Let's examine a couple of sample customer journeys.
Scott's research shows him that his most common customer
journey starts by word of mouth.
A potential client wants help buying a house.
The client talks to a home-owning friend,
who recommends Scott.
The potential client performs her own research
on the recommendation, perhaps by searching on Google then
reviewing relevant channels online, such as a Google+ page,
LinkedIn page, and Yelp.
Scott's conversion happens only if the potential customer
verifies that Scott is a good choice
and decides to call or email him.
Marni, my sister who owns a jewelry store in Hawaii,
may identify her most common customer journey
beginning with a tourist who wants a souvenir
to bring home from her vacation.
On a mobile phone, the customer opens a maps app
and searches for jewelry store.
Several stores are returned in the local result,
and she reviews a few that are closest to her location.
If the store looks desirable and is open,
she gets driving directions.
The conversion happens when she walks
through Marni's storefront.
You will probably create different journeys
to answer the question, how would a potential customer
find and select my business online.
It's likely, though, that there's
some overlap between the channels I've described
and those of your potential customer.
I'll discuss some of the most popular.
Let's begin by looking at journeys
that involve potential customers referencing reviews.
If your journeys included a potential customer checking
for other satisfied customers or not satisfied customers,
sites that offer reviews like Yelp, Urbanspoon,
or TripAdvisor may be important online channels
to reach your audience.
On sites like Yelp, business owners
can create a business page, provide their hours, website,
and contact information, as well as upload photos.
Once a business pages is in place,
customers can enter reviews.
Yelp business pages may also surface in the Maps app
on Apple devices.
Or perhaps in your journey, customers used a search engine
to look for local businesses.
If they performed a Google search,
it's likely they'll see local web search results.
Local results often appear in a different format
from regular web results and may include a map
with pins showing the business locations.
To appear in Google local search results,
businesses create a Google+ page.
Creating a Google Plus page is like filling out
an online form.
Google Plus pages also allow you to write posts
for your potential customers, share photos, and videos.
Creating a Google Plus page may require
a few weeks to complete, because to verify your business
location, Google first sends a postcard with a PIN number
to the address you provided.
You must then submit the PIN to validate your location.
When creating your Google Plus page,
include in the business description your value-add.
But make sure to include the words your potential customers
would use when they search online.
For example, for Scott, including key words
like realtor and real estate agent and Campbell,
California is more likely to connect him
with potential searchers than home seller extraordinaire
in the best little city on the West Coast, which,
although descriptive, probably isn't used as a search term
by potential clients.
If your business is anything like my sister's jewelry store,
customers-- especially those from the United States--
would commonly use a maps app on their smartphone
to find local businesses.
Google local search results, Google Maps,
and the Maps app on Apple devices
are common online channels where you will want your business
to have a strong presence.
To increase your odds of appearing in Google local
search results or the Google Maps app,
a Google+ page is useful.
To reach potential customers using the Maps app on Apple
devices, a Yelp business page is helpful.
If your customer journeys include
users who check for credentials or connections
before selecting your business, then
consider building a presence on networking sites.
Professional networking sites like LinkedIn
highlight education, qualifications, connections,
and recommendations.
If you provide a service where verified qualifications are
important, your potential customers
may already be using online channels such as LinkedIn.
Creating a LinkedIn profile doesn't
require much technical expertise.
Once your profile is published, you
can begin accepting recommendations and skill
endorsements from happy clients or customers.
Speaking of checking for connections,
if you find that your potential customers are
likely to ask friends and family on a social network for advice,
then it's useful to begin investigating social networking
channels.
For example, you may wish to create a Facebook page.
With a Facebook page for your business,
you're eligible for Facebook Graph Search by Facebook users.
You can include your contact information,
write posts, upload photos, include
videos, accumulate likes, and have your updates visible
in your potential customer's news feed.
To sum up, in the past, creating an online presence literally
meant build a website.
As you can see, with so many online channels
available today, that's no longer the case.
There are many online channels that
require less technical skill, lower upfront
investment in time and money, and display nicely
for customers on their desktop computer or their mobile phone.
Consider creating a website if you
need total control of page layout, content,
and expanded functionality, such as selling items.
My sister's jewelry store's online presence
includes a website because she needs shopping
cart functionality to sell items.
But even with a website, Marni still benefits by having
a Google+ page.
There are certainly positives to having a website.
But be aware of some of the downsides
as well, such as the time and resources required
to design and implement the site for desktop and mobile
and keep the site secure and free from hackers.
Now that we've covered where you might find potential customers,
in the next video we'll begin implementation.