Googlejuice

“They lost their next generation of customers. They lost their destinies because they wanted to save their pasts. Protection is not a strategy for the future.” Taken from What Would Google Do? Written by Jeff Jarvis, American journalist.

In his book What Would Google Do? Jeff Jarvis describes the impact that the Google-fication of the world has had on the markets, the economy and our social structure. His compelling book drove me to look at our industry and how Google has impacted it in particular. Google has impacted our industry. If you or your business is not searchable, in many ways it doesn’t exist. The next generations of consumers are dependent on their PDAs, smartphones, and laptops, and those are the mediums through which they get their information. 99.9% of them utilize Google to help them find information like phone numbers, addresses and the like. What does that mean to you, the operator?

While the yellow pages are not obsolete, they are dangerously close to becoming so. More often than not, I turn to the internet for my information rather than a 2 inch thick book of addresses, names and numbers. I can get the info I need in a few keystrokes, and most of the time my laptop or my blackberry is handier than the yellow book. How many of us are still paying good money to advertise in the yellow pages? How cost effective is it? I am sure that there is one or two of you who are raising your hands saying “whoa, you don’t exist if you aren’t in the yellow pages!” That may have been so, but it isn’t anymore. The next generation goes to google.com and types in the name of your restaurant to get your phone number or address. Becoming searchable is far more important nowadays than being in the yellow pages.

What does being searchable mean? Simply put, it means that when I type your establishment’s name (or yours) in the search bar on Google, something pops up that will help you achieve your goal. If you can’t get found on Google, you need to figure out a cure for that and fast because opportunity is passing quickly. Consumers want things now. Google provides that information in under a second. You need to be a part of it.

Not only can potential customers get your vitals (phone / address) but they can get other information about your establishment just as quickly. Google has helped the world order its information, and that can help you more than you think. Chowbaby.com, Chowhound.com, yelp.com, mangia.com and urbanspoon.com are just a few websites that allow the public to go online and write a review about your establishment. Google takes all of those reviews and orders them so that when I type in your restaurant’s name in the search bar, they will all pop up almost instantaneously. Talk about a marketing opportunity. Talk about a tool to help you not only grow your business, but to refine what you are already doing.

I encourage all of you to get your customers to leave reviews on those web sites because those reviews can be the lifeblood to your restaurant’s success and growth. As an operator, you need to be checking out what those reviews are saying about you – you get firsthand information about what works and what doesn’t. FOR FREE. You will get excellent feedback on your menu – what is a home run and what is a dud. This is the type of feedback that can help you shape your menu and refine your business into exactly what the public wants from you. Also, the more reviews, the more searchable you become – the more of a web presence you gain and as a result, the more people are directed your way. Embrace these web services, if you use them properly, there is practically no downside to them. So what if someone says something unflattering – get on there and comment back, thanking them for sharing and telling them how you have corrected the problem. Turn the negative into a positive – you are more likely going to get a return visit from them, and you will show the public that they are being heard and that their opinions matter. Invaluable. That is how you turn a customer into a business partner – telling everyone all about their experience and how you responded differently than everyone else……the potential is limitless.

The world is changing, and with it so is the successful business model. These are tough times, and the business that adapt and respond to these changes are going to be the ones leading the charge into recovery. Be a part of it.