Benefits of adding internal, external, team, achievements, awards and other photos to your Google My Business Account

Ash Ganda

The images you use on your Google My Business (GMB) account can boost your business customer base big time — provided your images are of professional quality, and the images you upload tell your story in the best way possible to connect with your target audience. Below are some reasons why you should make sure that your GMB account has fantastic images:

  1. Studies show that 90% of information that is conveyed to your brain is visual.
  2. Your brain processes visuals 60,000 times more rapidly than text. As a result, people’s minds respond differently to visuals than it does to text, which takes a longer time for the brain to process.
  3. To maximize on this, choose images that allow your products or services to sell themselves. For example, if you sell a product that solves a problem, your images should show it doing precisely that.
  4. Don’t worry about being image heavy. It’s a very good thing.
  5. Images can provide beauty and depth, in this way stimulating the emotions of your target audience.
  6. Images have great clout on people who are searching for a particular service or product. They can hook customers your way.
  7. Images can sell a product, service, an idea, a lifestyle, or an ideal, among others.
  8. Online  buying does not allow clients to touch products. However, the best way to more than compensate for this, is through your images.
  9. Remember that Google will show your image practically everywhere, so your images should always be consistent with your brand.

Here are the types of photos you must consider for your Google My Business account:

Internal photos.  You want your customers to “feel” what it’s like in your business environment. You should at least have three fabulous interior photos to show customers what your business feels like inside. The photos should be truthful. For example:

  1. Terra Creta  SA sells high end olive oil. One of their GMB interior photos is a top shot inside the factory where the olive oil is made. Next is the packing department, and product shots of its famous olive oil taken inside the company building.
  2. Story. The interior shots of Terra Creta SA portray a feeling of cleanliness, organization, and a serious dedication of workers to retain the high quality of Terra Creta Olive Oil. Terra Creta has won some 29 international awards.
  3. External photos. Exterior photos help customers recognize your business. Your external photos should show your business from different angles and at different times of the day. They should help customers recognize your business.
  4. Good Harvest, an organic food store, has external photos from two different entrances where customers can approach the business, such as:
  5. A frontal exterior , daytime shot.
  6. A second entrance exterior, nighttime shot.
  7. An exterior shot of its outdoor organic plants store, (with a man and his child looking at the plants, while a mother is pushing the shopping cart towards the parking area with her baby sitting in the cart).
  8. An exterior shot of two men, an excavator truck, and artist depiction drawings on easels showing a new store, indicating growth and expansion.
  9. An exterior shot of its outdoor restaurant at night, with a young couple having a meal close to an outdoor fireplace.
  10. Vegetables growing in the vegetable garden.
  11. A woman showing a box of soil to some children, as if to teach them about growing vegetables organically.
  12. Story. Good Harvest has a lot more exterior shots than other businesses usually put in their GMB site. This is because Good Harvest wants to tell the story of its relationship with the good earth. It is promoting organic farming, and teaching the youth about it. The photos convey a feeling of the sincerity of Good Harvest and its dedication to organic food and an organic lifestyle for the future of the earth, and the health of children and families.
  13. Team photos. Team photos humanize your business, especially when the photos are informal. They also present a more personal side of your establishment. You should have at least three photos of your management team and of your employees.  For example:
  14. The Home Depot. The GMB site of The Home Depot shows a photo of its CEO wearing an orange apron. This is followed by two photos of its two EVPs. While the EVPs must convey professionalism, as is shown by their wearing suits, the photos are close cropped so that while you area “aware” that they are wearing suits, you feel closeness because of the tight, close up shots of the EVPs.
  15. Story. The fact that the top people are shown in The Home Depot’s GMB site shows accountability from the very top people who are in charge of the company. This also gives the impression that your “Home” Depot is like a family, almost like a home business because the CEO is wearing an apron while those below him wear suits.
  16. Achievements.  Adding your achievements to your GMB list is a testimony that your company grows consistently, meets targets, and puts a lot of effort into what it does. This raises your company’s credibility. For example:
  17. Qatar Investment Authority lists its assets under management at 335 billion USD (2017).
  18. Walmart includes its revenue of 482.1 billion USD (2015).
  19. The Manhattan restaurant, on Eleven Madison Park, includes reviews from The New York Times, Zagat, and Michelin.
  20. Saks, Inc. is a Fortune 1000 operator of high-end department stores in the United States
  21. Awards.  Showing your awards is another way of raising your business credibility. However, this can be done either in a large way or discreetly, depending on the personality of your product. For example:
  22. Terra Creta SA, despite its 29 international awards, shows only one award in its GMB account, and furthermore, the Gold Award from the Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil competition is show discreetly in the background, with its products on the foreground.
  23. Story. Terra Creta  is a high end product, and because of this, the award is shown only very discreetly, as opposed to showing all 29 photos in one shot. Doing it discreetly and subtly is in keeping with the nature of its brand and its target audience.

Other Photos. You can add other photos aside from those listed above, in order to more completely tell the story of your business. Here are two examples of businesses that include other photos:

  1. Harrods. This store has lush, beautiful interior shots that convey a sense of luxury and  extravagance in every image. The image of the fresh food area shows a lovely, painted ceiling, reminiscent of what you might see in a cathedral, minus the spirituality.  Another image shows the emblematic Harrod’s gold logo on the window awnings along the sidewalk. This is an iconic shot that everybody remembers, whether they have been to London or not. The Knightsbridge detail image, a nighttime shot of Harrods’ exterior, all lit up, and a shot of high tea with champagne, all speak of a lifestyle that only a few of us can dream of. To give a sense of family, Harrods includes images of its sidewalk restaurant, the digital technology department, and the toy department. For adults it shows its Champagne Bar, and fashion department, among others. In sum, Harrods is a luxury department store which has everything expensive for its target audience and their children.
  2. McDonald’s shows an exterior image of a McDonald’s restaurant with its iconic golden arches, aka, the giant M. Another photo is of a customer who looks like a typical mother, rather showing a young fashion model type. Another image shows a child sitting in the fastfood restaurant with an ice cream cone. There are many product shots as well. The story of these shots is that McDonald’s is a family-oriented fastfood restaurant that is affordable and enjoyable for just about anyone.

We hope that these tips and examples can help you to more thoughtfully craft the story of your own business, and choose the best images to most accurately tell your story, engage your customers, and result in that special connection that you want to build with all of your target audience who happen to come across your GMB site.

 

Ash Ganda

 

Six steps to reap full benefits of PPC in your business: Step 2
How to Bulk Verify your multi-store listings on Google My Business

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *