Many Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) suffered during the COVID-19 lockdown and some individuals had started their small business from home. We all know bringing our business online is the only way to survive through the lockdown. Plus, the digital purchasing trend is likely to continue in the post-COVID-19 era.
“I have spread it on Whatsapp and created a Facebook Page to promote my business?” - You did it right, but do you know you can actually DO MORE by using Google?
Here are two features on Google that can widen your customer base and increase sales.
GOOGLE MY BUSINESS
Google My Business (GMB) is free to register and you will be required to fill up your business details such as business category, address, operating hours and phone number.
In Malaysia, 98.2% of internet users choose Google as their primary search engine. After setting up, your business information will be listed on Google search results or map when a user searches for your business or related keywords. This means free exposure to millions of potential customers every day on Google.
GMB provides an insights dashboard reporting the number of views on your business profile, how your business was discovered on Google (via search, Google Map etc) and keywords users input to discover your business. This helps you to understand your potential customers better and identify important keywords for SEO or Google advertising campaigns.
With Google My Business (GMB), customers can leave reviews for your business and you can reply to the feedback. A business that has good reviews or is responsive towards feedback gains higher brand trust compared to others.
GMB is equipped with call-to-action (CTA) buttons such as messages, get directions on Google Map, call the store, visit business websites etc. You can also publish posts via GMB just like social media. With this, businesses can build up good customer relationships by connecting and engaging with customers on Google with just one click.
If you already have an established business website, GMB can direct more visitors to your website and increase engagement which eventually improves the page ranking of your website on the search engines result page (SERP).
But if you do not own a business website, that is totally okay! Because GMB comes with the website builder. This feature will render a customized website for your business based on the information provided on GMB profile. You can edit the website later on with no coding experience needed.
Google My Business (GMB) is the first place customers look up for updated information about your business. Hence, it is no longer optional but crucial for businesses to build online presence.
GOOGLE SITES
If you are a starter and looking for a simple website to showcase information or product, Google Sites will be your go-to tool.
Google Sites is a free webpage creation tool that can be accessed directly from Google Drive. It is stored in Google Drive and can be shared with team members for editing. There are templates and themes ready for different purposes such as help centre, personal portfolio, event, small-medium enterprise (SME) and non-governmental organisation (NGO).
Google Sites is free to use and easy to access even on a personal Gmail account. Google Sites is integrated with Google’s products where you can insert sheets, slides, forms directly from Google Drive, video from Youtube and location from Google Map.
While Google Sites is free and beginner-friendly, it does have its major downside on marketing and sales features. Unlike e-commerce website builders such as Shopify and Easy Store, customers cannot purchase directly and track orders from Google Sites. If a business uses Facebook or Instagram ads, Facebook Pixel cannot be installed on Google Sites for tracking and remarketing. Thus, it is not suitable for business in the long run.
Another disadvantage of Google Sites is limited design features. For instance, you cannot add or edit CSS and any interactive visuals to the website. On top of the limited number of templates and themes, users have less flexibility in editing the templates. An interactive and aesthetically pleasing website is important for brand image and better user experience which eventually impacts the overall customer purchasing journey with the brand.
For long-term marketing strategy, it is recommended to use proper website builders such as Squarespace, Wix or WordPress for business websites as they come with functionality that caters for SMEs at affordable prices.
If you are a registered SME in Malaysia, you are eligible to claim SME Digitalisation Grant up to RM5,000 upon signing up for digital marketing packages which include website development with Gapture Malaysia. Visit here for more information on SME Digitalisation Grant.
Limited slots available for grant applications, so take this chance to upgrade your business website today. Reach out to our Gapture Malaysia team for grant application and build your website now!
Hello everyone, my name is Aliya, I am 22 years old. I am an international student from Kazakhstan and currently pursuing my international business major in HELP University.
I joined Gapture for three months, for my summer semester as AdWords Marketing Intern and I can say that it was an amazing experience to go through.
I have learnt how to set up, manage and optimize campaigns in Google AdWords, Facebook and Instagram through Facebook Business manager. Likewise, I also have learnt how to create the ad copies for the advertising campaigns and I could see the flow of approving the advertisements by the client. I also helped the office manager to do weekly admin tasks and I was happy to help them with it.
I also was very lucky to attend two meetings with our clients and to see how the meetings are held in corporate world which I would never have in my university life.
Regarding working environment in Gapture, I am very grateful to my mentors who are mostly from Performance team for their kindness and patience as they always were extremely helpful to me. The other staff from Gapture as well as from SalesCandy are very welcoming and kind.
We also had the weekly admin meetings with our boss to discuss ongoing campaigns and informal LALA meeting where we presented and discussed some of the new features in the world of media and technology.
All in all, I can tell that experience and knowledge I gained in Gapture I will always treasure and will definitely use in my future working career. Thank you!
Hi, my name is Ann. I am 21 years old. I am an advertising student from UTAR and this year is my final years. I am glad that I just completed my 3 months internship at Gapture as an Adwords marketing intern.
As an adwords marketing intern, I work with performance team mainly. I have learn how to set up Google Adwords campaign, Facebook ads, Instagram ads and You tube ads as well. After all, I learn how to manage the campaign, optimize the campaign based on Gapture best practice. I was able to help with the Adwords copywriting too. I learn how to write Chinese ad copy and English ad copy as well. From there, I learn how to write good ad copy based on client needs.
Apart from marketing skills, I can say that after this 3 months intern, I had also explore the other department within Gapture. They are very supportive and ready to help you whenever you have doubt on your work. I also help with the admin task once in a week. I am glad that I able to reduce their work load and gain extra knowledge at the same time. The most precious things I have learnt is the opportunity to attend clients meeting with Gapture's CEO, digital consultants and the performance team.
Besides that, we also have our monthly LALA, which is once a month. This monthly LALA is like a bonding occasion whereby everyone enjoy meal with the Gapture's CEO and other department staffs. We will discuss about our ongoing project, and Gapture's CEO will share his extra knowledge to all Gapturions during this monthly activities.
I have gain a lot of experience regarding to digital marketing which I may not able to learn from my college, and I really had a good time here. Lastly, a message to future interns, I would highly recommend Gapture if you are looking for an internship in digital marketing industries.
Hi there, My name is Muhammad Hazman from Petaling Jaya. I’m currently a student of Nilai University completing my dual award degree in Marketing. In completing my course I have joined Gapture Malaysia for an internship program as an Adwords Marketing Intern. I had a great time throughout the 4 months of my internship period here, so let me share with you my experience.
My experience as an intern here in Gapture was very educational and fun. I would say it is not an average internship program where you just clock in and clock out for attendance. I was mainly working within the Performance Team where I learned to use Google AdWords, Facebook Business Manager, Youtube Ads and LinkedIn Campaign Manager. I had the opportunity to be involved with the ad campaigns in all of the platforms from the beginning to the end which includes learning how to set-up ad campaigns, copywriting for ads, optimising ads performance and meeting up with clients once a campaign meets its ending date. I find it very educational because learning it by myself would have taken me ages to understand how things work. This is one of the milestones of the internship program in Gapture. Besides that, I was also exposed to other departments in Gapture and how they work together to complete a client's request. There was also weekly admin tasks that I had to do during my internship period.
Another milestone throughout my internship period here was the activities and meetings that goes on, one of them was the weekly Performance Team meeting and another is the monthly Lala Meeting which was very eventful. The monthly meetings are educational and fun as Gapturions will have a chance to learn something new or be exposed to new business ideas. Besides that, Internship in Gapture can sometimes be challenging yet fun as it builds your character, especially when you have to make hard decisions in completing a task. Everyone in Gapture have been very friendly and one of the take backs from my experience here have to be the core values of the company. One of the core value that deems essential to me was integrity where by living up to the word in every aspect of life, be it your daily routine or work, integrity will always help you achieve your goal. Lastly, it’s obvious everything is turning digital these days so join Gapture for your internship program and learn new things that you will never get in a college education. Thank you!
Gapture® Malaysia's Founder, Stanley Chee was invited to talk about transparency and integrity in the world of digital marketing. The interview, entitled "No More Digital Agency Ripoffs", was aired on Monday, 19th December 2016 at 1:30pm on Marketing Mojo, Enterprise.
Listen to the podcast here.
Gapture®'s Founder Stanley Chee was interviewed by BFM's Angeline Teh.
Hi! I am Sook Yee. I am currently 20 years old and I am from Cheras. I have finished my 2nd year study in Taylor's University. I have been working in Gapture for 3 months. I really enjoy working with Gapturions!
As an AdWords Marketing intern, I mainly work with the Performance Team. I have learned how to set up, manage, and optimize ads campaigns through Google AdWords and Facebook Business Manager. Besides, I have also learned how to track conversions by using Google Tag Manager. The Performance Specialists are friendly and willing to teach. Sometimes, I will need to help out on some admin tasks too.
Beside those technical skills, my soft skills have also enhanced throughout the internship. I am lucky enough to attend Google Ignite Career Fair and promote Gapture’s internship program to people who are looking for one. Also, I have the opportunity to conduct an internal Performance Team meeting and attend 2 clients’ meeting along with Digital consultants.
Other than that, I have done a presentation to Performance Team about AdWords Scripts – which is suggest a few scripts that could help save time on managing campaigns. This small project really deepens my interest in AdWords and I am willing to explore and learn more on that.
We also have events like Monthly LALA, Townhall meeting, On-boarding FREE Lunch etc. Gapturions share their experiences and information on different topics during those activities. It was fun to involve in it!
All those hands-on experience help boost my confidence in work. If you are a person who is thirst for learning and also have passion in digital marketing, Gapture is definitely the right place for you! So, join us now!
Hello! My name is Nadine, and I am 21 years old. I graduated from Lancaster University in the UK last year, with an honours degree in Marketing. I just completed my 3 month internship at Gapture as an AdWords Marketing Intern, and I had a very good time here!
I gained a whole range of experiences. So as an AdWords Marketing Intern actually I worked within the Performance Team mainly and this was where I learnt how to use Google AdWords, Facebook Business Manager, LinkedIn Campaign Manager. We set up loads of different campaigns, so search campaigns, display network campaigns, Youtube campaigns and also Facebook ads amongst a whole load of other things. I was able to get involved with these campaigns from start to finish, so I saw their set up and then what it was like when we sent reports to clients. I was also able to help the team monitor, optimise and report on them during the last three months. I also explored the other departments within Gapture, so I got an extremely well rounded view of what a digital marketing agency is like. I attended client meetings with Gapture’s Digital Consultants and I also completed admin projects once a week.
Everyone at Gapture is incredibly supportive, encouraging and it’s a very fun environment to work in. If you want to explore a particular area of digital marketing at Gapture everyone will try and help you achieve that goal. You will also be challenged at Gapture, and there will be opportunities to make crucial - and sometimes difficult - decisions, which is what I think differentiates Gapture’s internship programs from a lot of other internship programs in Malaysia. You will manage real advertising campaigns, meet real clients and learn things about digital marketing that you won’t be able to find in textbooks. So, if you’re looking for a reward internship experience then I highly recommend Gapture. Thank you!
Hi. My name is YiQian. I’m currently studying Graphics Design and Multimedia in Universiti of Tunku Abdul Rahman. I live in Kuala Lumpur and I’ve been doing my four months internship here in Gapture.
So what I learned from my internship here… First and foremost, is that I got to see how digital marketing campaigns are carried out, from start to finish, and what role a designer gets to play in a process like this. I also learned how digital marketing ads are made, how they’re optimized, how their success is measured… But I think my biggest takeway is that I got to see how the dynamics of a team can affect a design outcome, and by extension, a campaign’s outcome. I think it’s a really valuable experience for anybody or any designers who are looking to work in a team or departmental setting in the future.
Departments in Gapture communicate quite well in my opinions, and even I as an intern was afforded the privilege to observe and learn about what everybody else is doing. It’s great because it helps me see the big picture and keeps me from becoming too focused on the design aspect of the whole work process. I think it’s great as well that they don’t hold back from teaching you and explaining how things work, such as what they do, how they do what they do – how their tasks are carried out, which is great because I think it benefits to learn about what goes on outside of the department that you work in, as it’s really important to realize your place in the equation and from there you can figure out how to maximize your contribution to achieve the collective goal that everybody else is working towards.
As for any words for future Gapture interns, I’d say… Know your expectations and you’ll leave happily with exactly what you came for. Thank you.
Our Founder, Stanley Chee, was awarded the “Most Influential Digital Marketing Leaders 2016” by World Brand Congress. The World Brand Congress is the single largest rendezvous of best brains behind the world's most successful brands.
The ceremony was held at Pullman Kuala Lumpur City Centre Hotel & Residences, on the 11th of April 2016, coincidently on his birthday!
