http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15518887

A few years back people would be most likely to select a restaurant or a hotel from a guide or just from passing by, however now people will go direct to Google to locate and compare local restaurants before selecting one. It is therefore imperative that restaurants have a large number of customer reviews (hopefully positive!) as well as the official reviews published in guides – some of which are also drawn into your Google Places listing which will appear when people perform local searches from their mobile devices.

On the Google Places listing (the information published on the Google Map) there is not only the address, description and any relevant images, there are also a summary of reviews from major sites such as Tripadvisor. It is therefore more important than ever before to ensure that you have taken full control over the presentation of your business by Google.

The pro-active part of this process is the creation of profiles with rich imagery and complimentary, concise text. This can be likened to creating and distributing a brochure; it does work but people know it is advertising.

More important is the second phase – the re-active marketing. When people have a bad experience they shout much louder than when they are happy; it is therefore crucial that you know about this and work to calm the situation by responding. Many traditional businesses will refuse to participate in the conversation for fear of detrimental comments, however this is like a child closing their eyes and thinking that no one can see them; the conversation goes on regardless. However negative a comment is, a reply from you can nearly always diffuse the situation and in many cases has been shown to generate even greater customer satisfaction.

Whilst reputation and referral are still the most important elements of any restaurant or hotel’s marketing arsenal, they are needlessly missing out on potential business if they do not participate in the online community thoroughly and carefully.

As a result we commonly receive more enquiries at this time of year as people seek to capitalise on the opportunities offered by the internet by throwing out the old website in favour of creating a more impressive image to the many millions of potential clients who seek to find them online.

Whilst creating an online strategy is a complex and time consuming task we urge clients to consider very carefully exactly what they are hoping to achieve with their broader business goals over the coming years, and how the website and online strategy can be developed to act as a catalyst to aid wider objectives rather than wasting an opportunity by simply creating a pretty website.

If you are interested to discover the opportunities available for your business please feel free to get in touch.

We have just been informed that we have won the digital account for Qdos Event Hire. Qdos is a new entrant to the cabin hire market and has taken the events space by a storm. Their brand new cabins have features that far outstrip those of their competitors and their core mission is to offer a vastly improved service to the events industry. We are very excited to be working with Neil, Amanda and their team on this new project.