If you haven’t already heard of Google Beacon you may soon. It’s a Bluetooth-enabled information delivery and capture system that allows businesses to deliver highly-personalized marketing to potential customers while gathering precise data on their behavior.
Beacons are small, battery-operated devices, which transmit signals to cellphones when someone is within the device’s range and location services on their device are enabled. Think of it as a super-accurate GPS system.
Google Beacon is the latest in proximity marketing, allowing businesses to interact with potential customers in a highly-personalized and time-sensitize way. Here’s some of what it can do:
- Display your business on personal maps or saved places, if users have location history enabled
- Send precise directions on how to find you
- Collect user-generated content such as reviews and photos
- Show popular times and typical visit duration to help customers plan their visit
- Allow clients to pay without using their wallet or cell phone
- Share timely updates on events, promotions, treatments and services
- Transmit information using specific URLs
The data the beacon collects can also help analyze your search engine marketing and social media campaigns’ effectiveness. For example, the beacon can track which customers visited your medspa after clicking on an ad or social media post. This feature shows the relationship between actions taken online and in real life by your clients, helping you to see the return-on-investment from your Google Ads spend.
Your website’s search engine optimization, or SEO, can be positively, albeit indirectly, influenced by Google Beacons. When clients with location services enabled on their phones upload reviews or photos from treatments received at your medspa, Google algorithms use this information to rank your business within local search results. The more reviews and photos your business receives from Beacon-enabled clients, the bigger the boost to your SEO rankings.
If you are interested in setting up Google Beacon for your business, you can request a device from Google. Your business must meet certain criteria to be considered, including a Google Ads account and a Google My Business webpage. Bear in mind that there’s no guarantee you will be given a Beacon device even when all of Google’s criteria are met.
Google Beacon can help you deliver highly-targeted marketing, gain a better understanding of your customers and help grow your business. For more information on Google Beacon or other marketing strategies for your business, reach out to the aesthetic medical practice marketing experts at Reach Beyond Marketing: 203-315-5055.