Just got this news:
Google Introduces Local Business Ads Through AdWords
In line with its commitment to add value to advertisers and users through local advertising, Google today announced local business ads, a new feature in AdWords that allows advertisers to promote location-based products and services. Local business ads appear with an enhanced map component on Google Local and in a text-only format on Google.com and other sites in the Google network. Currently, this service is available to any advertiser who targets locations in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.
According to the Kelsey Group, 70% of U.S. households now use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally for products and services (March 2005). With local business ads, businesses can promote location-based products and services to users at the precise moment when they seek local information.
Mix this with Base, add a few bells, whistles, and databases, and hey now, my wine fantasy ain’t so far fetched.
From that:
As you slip your Naiman Ranch tri-tip into your basket and thank the butcher, you head to the wine aisle. What might go with that grilled tri tip? A nice cabernet, no doubt. Whole Foods’ wine aisle, a testament to hierarchy and peer pressure, places the most expensive bottles on the top, and the cheap juice on the bottom. No self-respecting Whole Foods shopper wants to be seen bending down to check out a bottle of wine. Then again, those bottles staring out at you from eye level are exactly the kind that you suspect Whole Foods marks up with the glee of a five star sommelier.
What to do? Not to worry, you’ve got Google Mobile Shop installed on your phone. You whip out your Treo 950, the one with the infrared UPC reader installed, and you wand it over that bottle of 2001 Clos Du Val now lovingly cradled in your arms. In less than a second a set of options is presented on the phone’s screen. It reads:
Clos Du Val Merlot, Lot 21
Stags Leap District, Napa Valley
Average Retail Price: $38 (click here for more)
Price at your store: $52 (more on this)
Click here for a list of prices at nearby stores
Click here for stores selling similar items
Click here for reviews of 2001 Clos Du Val Merlot
Click here for more on this vendor (Ecological Impact, Vendor Labor Policies…etc.)
You’re pretty sure that Clos Du Val isn’t employing child laborers, and anyway you’re really only interested in price comparisons, and the first screen has confirmed your initial suspicion: Whole Foods is ripping you off.
I know of a startup that’s working on this – you won’t have to wait till the 950 generation of Treo’s 🙂
This is a good and practical marketing idea and will drive additional revenue.
But, now the question of the Day???
For a supposedly Brand New Web Page – How did it debut with a
PageRank 8??
“For a supposedly Brand New Web Page – How did it debut with a PageRank 8??”
What are you talking about? If you are talking about this page – https://adwords.google.com/select/localbusinessads.html it has no pagerank, and can’t even be found in google search results.
If you are talking about local.google.com – that’s been around now for a long time.
How long before it’s invite only? …mom and pop aren’t as likely to be forgiving of beta issues.
…and I look forward to the map usage data that this service is likely to generate from Google and Y/M/A (as they roll out similar services).
…ooh ooh and will map mashers get paid too?
…and how can marketers crack the local search to offline action nut with this particular service?
“…add a few bells, whistles, and databases…”
Actually, Google lags wine-specific search engines such as winesearcher and winezap who already have the databases FYI. The first one has retailers pay to input their inventories so it is not complete either but there are usually plenty of choices displayed.
Happy hunting!
PS nobody searches for Merlot post-Sideways, for better or for worse
WineZap is now offering this (sans the image recognition). Text mobile@winezap.com with a vintage and wine name and get back current pricing and a list of local retailers.
Forgot the url: http://www.winezap.com/mobile
it is great for adsense members
…ooh ooh and will map mashers get paid too? thanks