Here’s what we learned.
A few months ago, on a wet and rainy night, members of the Shortcuts team and Australian hair and beauty community braved the weather and gathered at WeWork in Sydney to celebrate a new collaboration between Shortcuts, search engine powerhouse Google, and online marketing agency DigitalMaas.
It’s a warm, inviting venue that sits a high above one of the busiest streets in the CBD. Push open the doors and you’ll discover a haven for creative thinkers and hard-working entrepreneurs who are ready to take on the world one groundbreaking business venture at a time.
There’s a unique energy to the space – a buzz that only comes from the meeting of the sharpest minds. In short, it’s an inspiring place to spend a few hours.
The guests arrived, the Champagne corks popped, the Insta-worthy cheese platter overflowed, and the audience was treated to a panel discussion featuring Shortcuts’ own co-founder Joanna Burgess about the complex and at times mystifying world of digital marketing.
Also speaking were Google Strategic Partner Manager, Aleksandra Wocial, and DigitalMaas CEO, Andrew Thorn. The conversation was visionary, covering everything from the latest tech tools to consumer trends. Here are our top three takeaways from the evening.
1. There are so many potential clients waiting to find you.
30 million of them, in fact. That’s right, the number of searches for hair and beauty-related topics online is growing faster than ever before, and if you’re not taking advantage of this trend you’re basically kissing goodbye to more profits (each to their own, but that sounds a little crazy to us!).
2. Make it easy for them and you’ll reap the rewards.
If you don’t appear in top spot when a potential client is searching for you on Google, you’re missing out on bookings (and dollars!). It all comes down to your SEO, which is certainly easier said than done, but there are a few quick wins you can work on yourself, and when it’s time to call in the experts we’re here to help.
3. Reserve with Google is the hottest buzzword around.
And we’re not exaggerating when we say it’s going to be one of the biggest shake-ups our industry has seen in years. Your favourite restaurant has probably already jumped on this bandwagon. Be one of the first salons to harness this powerful feature and let your guests book directly from Google.
Want to find out more about how Google and Shortcuts are working together? Click here.
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