As a veterinary business, you have a lot of responsibilities in order to successfully find clients and deliver great services to pets and animals. Part of your job is to make sure that your clinic can be found online when someone searches around for vets in their area. While there are a few different strategies and tips you can use in order to accomplish this goal, one of the best is to focus on your Google Business Profile.
In this article, we’ll help you learn the best Google Business Profile tips for veterinarians so that you can use this tool to help you inform your clients, find new leads, and deliver exceptional experiences to everyone who comes across your profile. Just follow these tips and you can see the difference that a few small actions can have on your business.
What is a Google Business Profile?
A Google Business Profile, also formally known as Google My Business, is an application that allows you to create a directory listing on Google for your business. You can think of it as a more detailed phone book listing, with critical information about your business that people who are searching for vets on Google can discover.
A Google Business Profile helps you get discovered online by your potential customers. It also helps you improve your rankings on Google so that you become more visible, and therefore get more clicks and more business. By spending time and energy on improving your Google Business Profile and using it as a powerful tool for growing your business, you can achieve your marketing goals.
Benefits of a Google Business Profile
There are a few important benefits that you can get by using your Google Business Profile to the highest level. Here are a few of the great rewards you can get from a Google Business Profile strategy.
Increased Visibility
The first ranking is the increased visibility that your vet practice will get with a great Google Business Profile. You can get better rankings in local search results, which can lead to an increase in clicks and business. After all, most customers want to choose the easiest option, so they don’t look very low in the list of results for a local search. By optimizing your Google Business Profile, you can capture more leads.
Get More Reviews
Another important benefit of a Google Business Profile is that it allows you to collect and gather more reviews from your customers. Reviews are an important part of running your business. People tend to believe the opinions of others, and trust word of mouth from previous customers online. They will automatically trust a business with a large number of great reviews, while only one or two reviews might not be encouraging to them.
Free and Easy to Use
The final benefit of using a Google Business Profile specifically is that it is free and easy to use. You don’t need to pay anything in order to get a Google Business Profile set up, and it’s very user-friendly, even for people who don’t have a background in digital marketing or online reputation management. Even if you run into issues, there are plenty of help forums and online tutorials available to help you understand the platform.
How to Set Up a Google Business Profile
Setting up your Google Business Profile is very simple. You first need to log in to your Google Account for Business Profiles. Then you create a profile, add the name of the business, and fill out some basic information about what the business is, what category it fits in, and where it is located. You can then specify your service area, hours, and enter your website URL and phone number. Then all you need to do is finish and verify the profile. Once that’s all set up, you can begin editing your profile and building it out.
Optimizing Your Google Business Profile to Attract More Customers
A Google Business Profile can become a powerful lead generation tool for your vet business. By taking the time to optimize it, you can increase the amount of new business you have coming in and grow your business. Here are a few tips and tricks that you can use in order to make your Google Business Profile as optimized as possible.
1. Complete Your Profile
The first step is to complete your profile. While setting up your account will involve adding some basic information, it won’t complete your profile. Once you’ve been verified, you need to then add additional information. That includes things like your name, phone number, address or locations, attributes, photos, and specific areas of service or specialization.
This information is what helps build trust with customers and prove that you are a legitimate business. If your profile isn’t filled out completely, it might indicate to a potential customer that you aren’t on top of your game or aren’t a professional, legitimate business.
2. Write a Compelling and Authentic Description
The next important tip is to make sure that your business description is both compelling and authentic. You only have a few characters to prove to your readers that your business is the best choice possible for vet services in the area. The description should explain what you are, what you do, and what your differentiator is.
It’s also important that you don’t sound overly complicated or robotic in your description. You want to indicate to readers the core of your business brand, whether that is approachable, friendly, or professional. Your description is a hook to bring readers in, so it needs to be good.
3. Upload Photos and Videos
Photos and videos are another important part of your Google Business Profile. Without photos, there wouldn’t be a featured image of your business, which can make your profile visually unappealing and look unprofessional to potential customers. And photos and videos make it easy for people to see what you do.
You can include images and videos of your furry patients, your staff, or even graphics that showcase your brand. By having these images and videos clearly displayed, you can give your leads even more details into your business to attract them to your clinic.
4. Respond to Customer Reviews
Customers can leave their reviews on Google, which will then show up on your Google Business Profile. A great way to engage with your customers is to respond to all the reviews you get. A simple line thanking the customer and mentioning their pet is a great way to make your business appear more authentic.
It’s also important for you to respond to negative reviews as well as positive ones. By honestly apologizing, offering a solution, or addressing concerns head-on, you can undo the damage that a negative review can do for your business.
5. Answer Questions in the Questions & Answers Section
Another section of the Google Business Profile that needs to be filled out is the questions and answers section. Customers can leave questions about your business, like asking if you have services for exotic pets or if you can handle emergency cases. By answering these questions, you can create a FAQs section right on your profile.
Answering questions also helps build legitimacy in your business. It proves to readers that you are proactive in responding to inquiries and delivering responses.
6. Post on Google
You can also post on Google like you would on other social media platforms. These posts can be about your business, educational information, special offers you have, and more. Posting again proves to potential customers that you are proactive and take the time to address them. It also helps provide critical details that they might need to make a decision.
7. List Your Services or Products
A final tip is to make sure that your products and services are clearly listed on the profile. You can list out the different services you provide, like grooming in addition to vet services. You can also help answer questions people may have about your products by mentioning the medications or brands you work with for things like food and treats. It helps build a better picture of your business and showcases your strengths to readers.
Attend a Surefire Local Marketing Platform Demo
At Surefire Local, we understand that your vet clinic is busy working on helping patients and delivering great services. That’s why our platform is designed to make marketing easier for vet clinics like yours. Our all-in-one platform helps you monitor and manage all of the essential marketing tasks you need from a single location. You can use Surefire Local to update your Google Business Profile, respond to reviews, add new images and videos, and answer questions. No matter what you need, Surefire Local is here to help.
To learn more, get a demo of Surefire Local today. There you’ll learn how the platform can support your vet clinic marketing efforts, including Google Business Profile management. Click on the link above to get started!