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Holiday customer service 101: 8 tips to prepare your team

…riences and give agents time to handle urgent service requests. Technology can be a reliable route when it comes to customer service management. It can also alleviate repetitive or time-consuming tasks your customer service team may have to deal with in influx during the holiday season. This is where AI can help. AI can help route customers to the correct representative through chatbots and initial questions during phone calls. Chatbots can help track packages, provide different options to……ptions Omnichannel support Reframe scalable staffing Personalize your local customer’s experience Your customer’s initial experience with your business likely begins long before they land on your website or set foot in your store. Today, 83% of local consumers are searching daily to find information about businesses in their area – and what they find can mean the difference between conversion to an in-store or online visit or their clicking on to a competitor. For many…

Effective local holiday marketing strategies for seasonal success

…hese personalized touches show you’re paying attention. Leverage social media Social media is a powerful way to make empathy come to life in real time. This is where customers share concerns, ask questions, and look for advice—and it’s where your brand can shine by engaging authentically. Respond to comments and messages quickly, offer helpful advice, and highlight budget-friendly promotions in a way that feels approachable. Real-time engagement builds trust and makes your brand m…… marketing strategies for seasonal success Content Connect with empathy in tough times Adapt to your customers’ new rhythms Tap into your community Keep customers in the know Deliver experiences customers remember Supercharge your strategies with AI Key takeaways The holidays are looming closer, and marketers are well aware that this year’s marketing playbook needs a serious update. Inflation is tightening budgets, labor shortages are stretchi…

A complete guide to local holiday marketing strategy

…A complete guide to local holiday marketing strategy Introduction For most retailers, the holiday season is the most significant revenue-generating period of the year, kicking off around Black Friday and culminating at Christmas. Despite pandemic-related concerns, holiday retail sales reached $777 billion USD in 2020 and $1.2 trillion in 2021. It’s not all about ecommerce, either – not yet. In fact, brick-and-mortar sales surged by 17.3% last holiday season, with ecom…

6 Tips For Building a Successful Holiday Marketing Strategy [Webinar Recap]

…To say holiday shopping will be different this year is an understatement. In the past, retailers have eagerly prepared for the influx of foot traffic coming to their locations months in advance. Now, gathering in crowds is not only frowned upon but also impractical with the lingering effects of COVID-19. As difficult as the year has been for both businesses and consumers, the holiday season is a prime opportunity for brands to recapture lost revenue. However, in order to gain consumer’s tru……ess this holiday season, brands must be prepared to reshape their holiday marketing strategy to account for shifts in consumer behavior. In our recent webinar, we were joined by a panel of marketing experts to discuss how to build a successful 2020 holiday marketing strategy. We were fortunate to be joined by Ross Hudgens, Founder, and CEO of Siege Media, Miranda Miller, Writer/Editor, Content & Digital Marketing Strategist, and Ezekireal Thomas, SEO Strategist with MediaHub. In an effort t…

2022 Holiday Marketing Strategy Best Practices You Need to Know

…2022 Holiday Marketing Strategy Best Practices You Need to Know If your 2022 holiday marketing strategy looks the same as it did last year, you're not setting your business up for success. Each year customer needs and expectations vastly evolve. Consider just two to three years ago. Most consumers hadn't yet leveraged curbside pickup or buy online pickup in store (BOPIS). Think back to ten years ago. Consumers did most of their shopping and services in-person. Now, consumers are shifting t……aigns and prepare for the influx of holiday shoppers to come in the next several months, we recently hosted an in-depth virtual event. We were joined by a fantastic panel of SEO and digital marketing experts to help us discuss emerging holiday marketing trends and strategies to better inform your 2022 holiday marketing strategy. Each year, we’re seeing consumers begin their holiday shopping earlier and earlier, which is why we discussed holiday marketing campaigns in late August. In fact, Th…

11 Tips for Enterprise Local Holiday Marketing Success Despite COVID-19

…x of a certain type of review—on your locations’ social distancing practices, for example, or about temporarily closed locations. Update your pre-approved response templates, assign team members tasked with responding, and make sure your triage and escalation expectations are clear. Learn more in How to Pivot Your Local Reviews Management Strategy in a Crisis. Equip your team with the technology needed to manage listings, reviews, and pages at scale. Multi-location retail brands must hav……It’s difficult to even hazard a guess as to how consumers will behave leading into and throughout the critical holiday shopping season. As we’ve learned throughout 2020, the state of affairs can change near-instantly. What is certain is that enterprise brands will face unique challenges in connecting with consumers at the local level and will need to pivot their local holiday marketing strategies as we near the holidays. As Lauren Freedman mused recently in DigitalCommerce360, “It’s har……h setup where everything we need to collect and interpret our data for over 100,000 locations within a single platform was massive. We have access to a full team of proactive, passionate local search experts, which is huge when challenges and questions inevitably come up.” Update your review management strategy and prepare for a possible increase in review volume. You might experience a period of paused reviews, as we saw this spring. Or, you could have an influx of a certain type of revie…

Google My Business Categories: How to Pick the Best Categories for Your GMB Listing [Guest Post]

…“Google My Business Categories: How to Pick the Best Categories for Your GMB Listing” is a guest post by Sherry Bonelli, and is the first post in a two-blog post series on Google My Business category selection. Picking the right Google My Business (GMB) categories for your GMB listing is a particularly important step to optimize your GMB profile. Not only do GMB categories have a direct impact on rankings (your primary category especially), but they also play a role in determining which fea……n follow the “how to suggest new categories to Google” article here. Sherry's second, follow-up blog post on Google My Business categories can be found here! Rio SEO’s team of local marketing experts is here to help your business select the right category for the products and services you offer. Get in touch today if you need support or want to take advantage of our free local audit offer. Author Bio: Sherry Bonelli, owner of early bird digital marketing, is a Search Engine Optimization …

From listings to lasting connections: How Market 32/Price Chopper achieved local SEO wins with Rio SEO’s Local Pages

…From listings to lasting connections: How Market 32/Price Chopper achieved local SEO wins with Rio SEO’s Local Pages Tools used Local Listings Local Pages Read now The challenge A need for seamless local SEO management Market 32/Price Chopper, a leading multi-location supermarket chain, faced challenges in managing accurate local listings and providing a seamless omnichannel experience for customers. With 130 store locations and a strong e-commerce presence,…

From outdated location pages to enhanced visibility: How a renowned women’s retailer leveraged Rio SEO’s solutions for strategic wins

…ocation pages to enhanced visibility: How a renowned women’s retailer leveraged Rio SEO’s solutions for strategic wins Tools used Local Listings Local Pages Read now The challenge Boosting local visibility to drive in-store traffic A global retailer in women’s fashion and beauty knew that optimizing its local search strategy was key to standing out in a competitive landscape. With over 800 stores across North America, the brand faced a major challenge—…

Google My Business API V4.9 Update: More Hours Available for Listings

…Google recently announced a new update to its Google My Business API. The latest Google My Business API V4.9 update introduces more hours for businesses that need additional hours types to better inform searchers of their hours of operation. By enabling businesses to add more hours, they can then ensure accurate information is displayed on their listings for unique services they offer that may differ from their regular business hours. For example, a quick-service restaurant may open from 10 …

Why high-quality photos on Google Business Profiles drive clicks and conversions

…Why high-quality photos on Google Business Profiles drive clicks and conversions In local search, first impressions matter—and they’re often visual. High-quality photos on your Google Business Profile (GBP) can mean the difference between a customer choosing your business or scrolling past. Quality images have a measurable impact, too. As Darren Shaw discovered, there is now tangible evidence that photos directly impact your GBP rankings. Great photos don’t just show wha…

Google’s helpful content system to surface hidden gems

…g that it aligns with ethical standards and provides accurate and trustworthy information. While AI can assist in content creation by generating ideas, providing insights, or automating specific tasks, it is essential to balance its role with human expertise. Showcase the expertise of content creators and local stakeholders Local owners, managers, franchisees, and their teams are the heart and soul of enterprise brand locations. These are your public-facing assets and the point of cont……Google's helpful content system to surface hidden gems Content A brief overview of the Helpful Content System The next iteration of Helpful Content will uncover more "hidden gems" How the Helpful Content System differs from other Google updates Best practices and tips for creating helpful brand content Google plans to continue updating its Helpful Content System as it implements AI in Search in various ways. Recently, it announced its "hidden gems" update.…

Hospitality

…First-class local experiences Your guests’ booking experience begins the moment they find your brand in search. This experience extends beyond search—when they engage with your local listings, click to your website, leave your hotel a review, and become an advocate for your hotel brand. A good local experience is built with trusted solutions tailored to hospitality brands. Rio SEO’s Local Experience Platform powers exceptional customer experiences throughout the entire customer jo…

2022 Hospitality Local Consumer Search Behavior Breakdown

… during the global financial crisis in 2009. In March of 2020, listing views for hotels were down 53% MoM, and by April 2020, they were down even further by 63% MoM. Hospitality brands in 2021 were tasked with making necessary COVID-19 adaptations to accommodate evolve, virtual tours, creating a digital environment for consumers to picture themselves in the hotel, and limited cleaning services for multi-day stays. Google also enabled 100 new ‘Hotel attributes’ with the GMB API 4.8 update ……Consumer behavior shifts occur often, given economic changes, current affairs, and other unforeseen disruptions. However, the shifts seen in hospitality local consumer search behavior over the past two years are a reminder that your hotel's local strategy must continually evolve. Keeping a pulse on how others are performing in your industry is one way to recognize ongoing trends and benchmark your success. That’s why each year, we release an annual study on how COVID-19 and other extern…

Google Helpful Content Update: Tips for Enterprise Brand Success

… crap “trying to game the system” and write quality content for your customers that answers questions and provides quality information they care about! Two of the questions Google says you should ask yourself are: Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge? Does your site have a primary purpose or focus? To me this means that the days of writing random content about the latest “hot” topics that don’t particularly relate to your core business a……Google Helpful Content Update: Tips for Enterprise Brand Success A new Google Search update is rolling out, and, understandably, enterprise brands have questions about if it will impact their local search visibility. Google updates are no cause for panic. The search giant is constantly updating its algorithms and testing hundreds of thousands of improvements each year, sometimes daily. However, when it publicly announces an update as they recently have with its Google Helpful Content updat……erience-centric approach to begin with. This update will have the greatest impact on websites and pages designed and optimized to appeal to search engines at the expense of human experience. What the Experts Are Saying There has been a lot of speculation as to how big of a deal the Google Helpful Content Update will actually be, says Sherry Bonelli, SEO & Digital Marketer, Google Business Profile Platinum Product Expert. So far, most SEOs have not seen many changes in their clients’ ranki…

Google’s helpful content update: A guide for enterprise brands

…Google’s helpful content update: A guide for enterprise brands Introduction The Google Search team constantly innovates, running hundreds of thousands of tests each year and launching updates as often as daily. Each test is designed to improve the search experience. Many of these algorithmic updates go unnoticed. However, Google has made an effort in recent years to take at least some of the mystery out of larger updates that may prove impactful to many users. Its recen…

Local Holiday Marketing Checklist for Enterprise Brands

… claimed, accurate, and optimized with all features and attributes available. Check the URL listed on each social profile and business listing. Are you directing shoppers to the best place to engage, ask questions, place orders, or otherwise fulfill their needs? If your brand is inactive on one platform – Pinterest, for example – claim the listing and use the description to recommend people join you on an active channel where you provide support instead. Track search rankings and be aware of……il sales are expected to rise 2.7% to $1.093 trillion this year, and it officially kicks off on Black Friday – or does it? A new consumer trends survey recently found that 31% of U.S. consumers say they’ll begin shopping for the holidays before the end of October. How can you get your local marketing efforts in order to get ahead of the upcoming surge in demand? As Google says, “...we are on the brink of comebacks —in-person celebrations, in-store shopping, and global economic recovery. …

Preparing your post-pandemic holiday local strategy for multi-location brands

… post-pandemic holiday local strategy for multi-location brands Introduction After a 2020 holiday season rife with uncertainty due to economic turmoil, retailers must solidify their local marketing holiday strategy to come out on top in 2021 and rebound from lost sales. Post-pandemic success can be achieved, however, to capitalize on these opportunities marketers must begin to plan now. And, with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and potentially another October Amazon Prime Day…

Emergency Help Google Attributes for Ukraine

… your Google Business Profile. While the question and answer section might not be the most efficient way to answer questions at the moment for those needing a quick reply, you can add any frequently asked questions that you commonly receive through chats to this section later. Use attributes to highlight available emergency help As we mentioned earlier, attributes are a vital way to communicate information. If you have more than one location and use Google Business Profile APIs, you can do a ma……As Russia continues its war on Ukraine, businesses and people worldwide have been looking for ways to help those affected. There's been a widespread emergency appeal since the invasion launched. Now, organizations are seeking to provide information and resources for incoming refugees, and Google has stepped up to help businesses deliver up-to-date information to those who need it most. Google has created new ways for brands to efficiently and effectively communicate with those looking for assis…

5 Data-Backed Marketing Tips to Prepare for a Successful 2020 Holiday Season

…Retailers have felt the lingering effects of COVID-19 for months as sales began to slip and consumers began to save. Concerns of a slow 2020 holiday season are top of mind as we close out a tumultuous year. The question top of every marketer's mind seems to be how can we have a successful 2020 holiday season amid a global pandemic? Yet despite the struggles our global economy has collectively faced over the course of an unpredictable year, retail spending is, in fact, primed to top the 2019 hol…… spending increase by 3.4% to $1.042 trillion. While retailers once expected consumers to line up outside their doors for holiday bargains, this year we will see a sharp decline in in-store shopping. Experts agree E-commerce will be the shopping method of choice as consumers continue to practice social distancing and avoid face-to-face interaction. E-commerce growth is expected to accelerate to nearly 14%, reaching $156.69 this holiday season. Knowing that retail sales will be at an all-time …