Taylor’s Do It Center

How local hardware stores break through to the next generation of homeowners

Background

Taylor’s Do It Center are locally owned and operated hardware stores with a loyal following and well-established reputation in the community.

For this family-owned business to continue this legacy, they knew they would need to appeal to the growing Millennial homeowner segment.

Problem 

As smaller hardware stores, Taylor’s knew they were competing with nationally-known names. How could Taylor’s Do It Center raise awareness and forge a stronger connection with their younger demographic?

First, we had to know what was important to our growing demographic –

• Highlight our stores as the close-to-home option that can help with any repair or improvement
• Raise awareness of Taylor’s as a local, family-owned small businesses
• Build trust by supporting new homeowners who may not be as handy yet as their Boomer parents

Solution

Mix+Shine planned a strategy that would boost the hardware stores exposure to a new generation. This meant foster discovery with SEO strategy that harnesses the power of Google My Business and the individual location listings on Google Maps.

Once we had their attention, our content would include useful expert advice on everything from painting to gardening to grilling.

There was no time to lose. We got to work immediately managing each Google My Business listing by doing the following:

• Creating a strategy for sharing relevant information for each store listing.
  Google is always hungry for information, so on a weekly basis, we gave it to them. This vastly improved our search ranking and appearance on Google Maps when our local market searched for a hardware store near them.
• Preparing helpful, keyword driven posts for Google My Business.
  A search breakdown revealed keywords that would help these listings continue to expand their reach, including searches for STIHL products, beach chairs, True Value, “hardware store near me”, and “skeleton key.”  These keywords were then used in weekly posts increasing how often the store would appear in search results both in Google Maps and first page results.
• Implementing a system to respond to Reviews with a fresh, authentic voice.
  Not only did review responses boost Google search rankings for Taylor’s, they also provided a direct response to customer contributions – something they will never get from the big-box hardware stores

Result

Our strategy only took a few weeks to have an incredible impact. The March 2021 results by individual store location show a significant increase for every store.

Then the annual results blew us all away –

Discovery Searches are a reflection of Google My Business profile management, and for 2021, Taylor’s an increase of 1,047,240 in Discovery searches which is nearly doubling what they saw in 2020.

This 30 Day view of search results for Taylor’s Virginia Beach off Independence Boulevard in Virginia Beach location shows a boost in branded search – which likely means we have attracted marketshare from national-name hardware stores.

Since then, we’ve continued to help grow the Google My Business profiles with regular posting, information tab cross checking, photo uploading, and timely responses to reviews. Meg Taylor, Communications Manager of Taylor’s Do it Center and Pleasants Hardware, says it best –