A DIGITAL MAP PRESENCE - THE FORGOTTEN LOCAL MARKETING POWERHOUSE

AGoogle Maps listing is truly a misunderstood, overlooked, and underutilized digital marketing and revenue-generating powerhouse for any retailer or mall operator.

Set aside your focus on Instagram and TikTok for a moment! The traffic and views that you believe your brand or mall’s Google Maps listing garners on Google could be vastly underestimated. In fact, it’s likely that the actual figures are at least 100 times greater than what you might currently perceive. Yes, you read that right!

Did you know that more than 50% of Google Maps references are just for store or mall opening hours of operation? True.

Did you know that adding photos of your business to your Google Maps listings as the owner can boost click-through rates by over 40%? True.

Did you know anyone (including your competitors) can edit your Google Maps listing details? True, anyone can change your business phone number, map pin location, operating hours and even your business name.

Did you know Huawei mobile phones don’t have access to Google Maps or Google Search? True, they use the Huawei search engine and mapping platform called Petal Maps and Petal Search.

Did you know that Yandex Maps and Yandex Search are known as Russian Google? True, it is the official Russian homegrown Search Engine and mapping platform.

It is fair to say that nearly 100% of shoppers have a mobile phone in their possession.

It is also fair to say every one of those mobile phones has a map and search engine installed and is used frequently.

Trevor Nadeau Founder & Managing Director Local Knowledge

Trevor is a Canadian from Montreal, now splitting his time between offices in Dubai and Cairo. For the past 20 years, Trevor has lived and worked in the local listing and local search industry in the GCC, Egypt and Turkey. Prior to founding Local Knowledge in 2013, Trevor held senior management roles with Egypt Yellow Pages, STC Yellow Pages, Etisalat Yellow Pages and Turkey Yellow Pages.

Local Knowledge, the MENA region’s leading Digital Location Management Agency is on a mission to help retail brands and mall properties to understand the importance of a managed digital location presence not only for revenue generation and new customer acquisition but for customer service excellence as well.

Have you ever searched for a business on Google, only to be frustrated by inaccurate information on their listing, such as the wrong location or hours of operation? This is a common issue that can result in negative reviews and damage to the brand’s reputation, ultimately leading to lower search rankings and lost revenue.

Imagine driving down Sheikh Zayed Road and seeing a compelling billboard for a new shoe brand. Excited by the prospect of checking out their products, you turn to Google to find their locations, only to be met with incomplete and unreliable information. Would you go out of your way to visit a store with an address listed as ‘Unnamed Road’? It’s a crucial detail that’s often overlooked by creative OOH agencies - once they’ve captured the buyer’s attention, it’s important to make the journey to the store just as effortless and straightforward.

Think of the Google Maps listing or any maps listing as the final mile between your brand and a sale. Google is a very generous platform. The more information you feed it; the more customers Google will give you. The Google Maps listing, also known as a Google Business Profile (GBP), is a powerful tool that enables potential customers to quickly find, learn about, and engage with a business.

In many cases, the brand owner’s marketing team is burdened with the responsibility to claim, update, geocode, optimize, and manage their multiple retail locations on Google Maps and other platforms like Apple Maps, Siri, Petal Maps, Yandex Maps, Bing Maps, WhatsApp and more. It’s not fair to ask the marketing person to do this. What do they know about geocoding, addressing, category optimization and Local SEO? That is why Local Knowledge is a “We Do It For You” service.

You would not be your own dentist, why would you be your brand’s digital location management specialist? Ask your marketing team “What are we doing to optimize for the Google 3 Pack?” If you don’t get an answer, Local Knowledge would be happy to talk about it. For more info, you may visit www.localknowledge.ae