Google to Local Merchants: Get a Marker, Get Noticed!
A few days ago, Google launched a really smart campaign to create incentives for business owners to register with the Local Business Center: They distributed real-size markers (even though markers only have a virtual size) to local businesses in various cities across the globe. Those lucky businesses - they are getting some local media attention - were selected by ‘local experts’. It is not clear how these ‘local experts‘ were selected though…
I happened to bump into one of those markers at the Butler and the Chef (picture above), and asked the chef how it happened.
It seems that the business owners who received the giant marker knew way ahead of time about this PR coup. Google dropped all of their markers during the night of Monday to Tuesday, around midnight. The Chef even painted the sidewalk blue in front of his restaurant to make the trophy stand out more. A reception was also organized at the City Hall, where the local business owners mingled with Mayor Newsom and a bunch of Google top executives.
I agree with Techcrunch writer MG Siegler who finds the operation :
This looks like a very smart way for Google to promote Maps. It’s also a good way to ensure that businesses list themselves on Maps, for the possibility that they’ll receive one of these markers, which are basically a (presumably) free endorsement of the establishment.
We often wrote about how local business owners should put themselves on the map. Now Google is trying to make it obvious.
Tags: business, google maps, local, marker
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