Bike shop growth in 2025 starts by winning Google search - embrace that Engagement = Growth

Today is the first episode of a series for 2025 focused on helping bicycle shops effectively market and grow their businesses. We’ve always talked about marketing on the show however, we saw in 2024 that merchants who proactively promoted their businesses, the ones who engaged with the tools available to make their stores more visible to shoppers, those stores had impressive wins while business owners who took a passive or underresourced approach lost ground and saw shrinking sales year over year. As the head of our Google Ads Team, Matt Viara says, “Engagement = Growth” and that was certainly true in 2024 and will continue to apply in 2025 and beyond. We iterated Engagement = Growth during this episode and came up with E=G3 (that's G cubed) because there is leverage in engagement and it is significant.Let’s move on to the first of eleven Around the Workstand episodes this year focusing on a specific action area. For February it’s Win Google Search.Welcome Around the Workstand!Blog post for reference Website, website, websiteMaintenanceLocalize your contentPage titles/meta descriptionsControl how you show up - Google Business Profile (GBP)Leverage free shopping listings Compete for the best placement with Google adsSearch - great for awarenessShopping - connect with ready-to-buy customersRegional or National is possible for a fewCash flow was the focusFree shipping - start at $100, can always lower the threshold Retailers were special buying and discountingLocalWhere the majority of bike shops see great ROASBig plus: shipping, discounts, advanced processes not requiredAttribution Making shoppers aware is the goal We meet people where they are, people buy lots of waysBudget - the most general level$20 a day - advertise bikes - the bigger footprint you want the more budget required for successGeo depends on your area$500/moLocal ads - $125/mo + 10% of ad spend Monthly call, unlimited email, no contracts Specificity - granularity thwarts successEngaged = growth or E=G3Be sure to email your questions to [email protected]. We read all emails sent, and we look forward to hearing from you.If you're a Workstand client with questions about your subscription, email [email protected] or call 303-527-0676 x 1. If you are not currently a Workstand client with questions about how our programs work, email [email protected] Us on LinkedInMark Still, Senior Business DevelopmentDavid Martinez, Key Accounts AdvisorWe also publish Around the Workstand on our YouTube channel if you'd like to watch while you listen. Here is our Around the Workstand playlist.If you have any questions about the topics discussed in this episode of Around the Workstand or if you have ideas for new topics we can cover, schedule a time to meet with Mark Still here or email [email protected].