By now you or someone in your business has received a mailing from Google. It goes something like this…
“Hello From Google…You might be surprised at the number of people in (your city) who are searching Google for exactly what you have to offer. These are potential customers, looking for a business like yours. Let me explain.”
The letter goes on to explain how your potential customers are looking for information you could easily provide in an ad – be it your expertise, a special offer, or the latest, most sought-after product. Got my attention. 🙂
They offer you $50, $100 and more recently up to $400 back if you’re not satisfied in the first 60 days.
This is just the beginning of the ambitious plans Google has to take on the Local Advertising Market.
Let me explain further…
Today we have Search Engine Marketing (Google) Plus Social Media (Facebook & LinkedIn) Plus Reputation Marketing (Yelp). So, if you’re wondering why Google Places has gone away and switched to Google+ it’s because Google has recognized the power of combining all these powerful forces together.
More Trends That Are Changing The Industry
You may or may not have seen this…it’s been out about a month. Suffice it to say, this is Google’s entire plan to take over the entire local marketing niche. And, it is already happening.
The plan started with Google+ and local pages. They want to give 80 million companies a web presence. That’s a lot of juice.
And, then they have Adwords Express for Pay Per Click. You know quickly set up ad campaigns on Google search.
Recently, Google created “Offers”…a free service. And, as far as anyone knows right now will remain a free service. However, if you were paying attention in the last month, you’ll now see they are competing with the likes of Groupon and Living Social. This area is getting a huge push when it comes to offers. Refer back to my example used when I began this post.
Other developments on the way are Delivery and Drop Service, TalkBin, Wallet and Punchd.
- Delivery is slated to help stores quickly deliver physical goods to homes and businesses.
- TalkBin will allow in-store customers to send feedback via a text message.
- Wallet will let people pay for store goods with their smartphones.
- Punchd will allow consumers to rack up loyalty points using their…guest what…smartphones.
Wow! A lot of new trends that are changing Local Advertising Online.
Just know that as business professionals we are on the edge of a huge shift in the way we conduct business and for that matter ourselves. And, reflecting back on my previous post about Reputation Marketing. It is going to play a big role in all of this.