Sunday marketing tip: check yourself out newsagents!

Newsagents should regularly research how their business is found and seen online. Given the sales traffic involving some form of online research, having multiple presences is vital.

The best place to start with finding out where you sit online is with Google searches. Let’s say you are in Hobart, do the following searches and see if you come up and where:

1. Hobart newsagency
2. Hobart newsagent
3. Magazines Hobart
4. Greeting cards Hobart
5. Gifts Hobart
6. Ink Hobart
7. Printer ink Hobart
8. Stationery Hobart
9. Photocopying Hobart
10. Pens Hobart
11. Lottery Hobart

These searches and just the beginning. Do them from a computer as well as from an iPhone. Google handles searches differently from these two devices.

Think about what people looking for anything you sell might enter into Google. If you are not sure ask your employees and your customers. Try all sorts of searches.

Flip to the map tab with Google and see how you show with the searches.

If you have done the work and engaged with a bunch of free listing services then you will be well positioned, ideally at the top of the search. This will be generating good customer traffic for you. You have control over how people find you online. Most of this can be exercised without cost.

Some newsagents think having a website is all they need. Sadly, that is old school and just a small part of an online presence.

If you are not sure where to start, ask your newsagency marketing group, this is advice they can provide. They should have training available to help you make the most of the online opportunity. They can also help you access tools which show what people are searching for.

Having multiple digital presences is vital to retail success today. Newsagents need to do this themselves, for their individual businesses. This is not the work of an association. Own your online presences and you can expect to see good traffic as a result.