The Greater Minden Chamber launched its new Breakfast with the Experts series Tuesday with Erin “Bristol” Woods of Green Growth Group discussing how changes in artificial intelligence and online search are affecting the way customers find local businesses.
Woods presented “Turning One-Time Buyers into Lifelong Fans” during the September 8 breakfast at the Chamber office. Her presentation covered AI-driven searches, websites, Google Business Profiles, digital advertising, and relationship marketing, with an emphasis on steps small businesses can take to strengthen their online presence.
“We have so much changing in the world right now,” Woods said. “I think we can all agree that the world is changing every day.”
For business owners, Woods said, adapting to artificial intelligence will increasingly become part of operating and marketing a business.
“AI is going to be a part of your business whether you embrace it or not, at some point,” she said.
One of the biggest changes, Woods said, is the way consumers search for businesses. While customers have traditionally turned to Google to search for services, AI tools are increasingly becoming another route for finding recommendations.
That means businesses need to make sure their online information can be understood not only by people visiting their websites, but also by the technology gathering information to answer those searches.
Woods said websites built five or 10 years ago may still look attractive but often function primarily as digital brochures, providing basic information about a company without the underlying structure now important to online searches.
“I’m not saying to go home and scrap that,” Woods said. “I’m saying there are ways that we can make you findable not only by people, but also by AI search bots.”
For local businesses, one relatively simple step is making sure a website identifies all of the areas the business serves. A Minden-based company that serves customers throughout Webster Parish, for example, should include communities such as Dubberly, Sibley, and Heflin in the information associated with its website.
Woods said businesses should also clearly identify who they serve and the products and services they provide, and that information should remain consistent across their website, social media, and other online platforms.
“If you’re saying I provide this service on Facebook, but it’s not on your website, you’re breeding confusion for the technology,” Woods said. “Which actually lowers your authority and lowers your ranking.”
Woods said that need for specificity may give small, locally owned businesses an opportunity because they do not need to compete with large corporations on every search. Instead, they can clearly define the particular services they offer and the communities they serve.
“So I think that this is a place where small and locally owned businesses can really take advantage,” Woods said.
Another priority is maintaining a Google Business Profile, the listing that can display a company’s location, photographs, hours, and contact information alongside Google search results.
“That is probably, second to your website, your second most important thing that you need to do for your online presence,” Woods said.
Woods offered attendees a simple way to evaluate how visible their businesses are online: Search like a customer.
Rather than entering the company’s name, she suggested searching for the type of product or service a customer might want, such as “great coffee near me” or “where can I find a gift near me,” and seeing whether the business appears.
“That way you are searching the way a customer does and see if you are findable,” Woods said.
Woods also discussed the connection between a company’s website and paid advertising. Businesses can spend money creating advertisements and generating clicks, she said, but those efforts may be wasted if customers arrive at a website that does not provide the information or experience they expect.
“You can have the best ad creative, you can have the best graphic, you can even pay for the click, but if you’re pointing to a bad website that’s not going to convert them, you’re actually wasting money,” Woods said. “So it’s like congratulations, you’ve just paid people to be disappointed.”
Woods shared an example from her own business to illustrate the importance of establishing an online presence before an opportunity arises. She said she recently learned about a project potentially coming to Northwest Louisiana and began researching whom she needed to contact.
After finding the appropriate person and arranging a meeting, Woods discovered the prospective client had already researched Green Growth Group and shared Woods’ website with another person before Woods knew the opportunity existed.
Her business is less than a year old, Woods said, and she was competing for attention alongside larger, established marketing agencies.
“Had I not invested in myself and what I could at that point, I wouldn’t have had a seat at the table,” Woods said.
Despite the presentation’s emphasis on changing technology, Woods said traditional relationships remain important, particularly in a community such as Minden. She told attendees that businesses providing marketing and other professional services need to recognize the significance of the money clients entrust to them.
“You know when you’re asking somebody for the marketing dollars that you realize that’s their kids’ tuition and that’s their mortgage,” Woods said.
“This isn’t play money,” she added. “You know you have to be invested in their success as well, and you have to treat it like that’s your money. That’s their livelihood.”
Green Growth Group provides services including website design, Google Business Profile optimization, social media management and advertising, pay-per-click advertising, geofencing, connected TV and streaming advertising, YouTube and pre-roll advertising, streaming audio, and text message marketing. The company is currently offering its DigiText plan, including 1,000 SMS messages, at no additional charge with signup for another Green Growth Group service, according to information distributed at the presentation.
Breakfast with the Experts is a new monthly Chamber program designed to bring local professionals and business owners together with experts who can offer practical information on topics affecting businesses. The Chamber’s theme for the fourth quarter is “Brand, Buzz, & Loyalty.”
The next Breakfast with the Experts program, “How to Pitch Your Business to Local Media,” is scheduled for Tuesday, October 13, from 8-9 AM in the Greater Minden Chamber Boardroom, 110 Sibley Road.
The October program will feature a panel representing local print, digital, radio, and television media. Panelists will discuss how businesses can identify and pitch potential stories to local media outlets and use local coverage to help tell their stories.
