Have you ever gone to a restaurant or shop and tried to redeem a coupon only to find that you cannot find that little piece of paper? Have you ever tried to print a coupon from the internet but you have run out of ink?
Both things have happened to me and I can tell, you, I was not happy. Thankfully, Google has come to the rescue again. Mobile coupons, coupons that are delivered directly to your cell phone, are nothing new, but now all businesses, no matter your size, have the opportunity to use this service for free.
Back in November, 2009, Google introduced the mobile coupon option to their Google Local Business Center listings. This service provides any business that has a Google local listing the ability to cost effectively use mobile marketing. Why is this so important? Well, appx. 87% of US residents own a cell phone and this is increasing. Using this service allows any business, small or large to take the first steps into being accessible by mobile.
[If you haven't seen one yet, this is a Google Local Listing.]
Could you use this service to promote your business? Can we help you to optimize this opportunity? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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*Photo credit: stevendamron
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I have seen this with some of my local businesses; it’s a very useful marketing technique. Hopefully more companies will take advantage of it (competition is always growing).
Alec Steele, Strong Niche Marketer´s last blog ..How to Easily Find Instant 100% Immediate Commission Affiliate Niche Products To Promote Online
here’s why Google mobile coupons will fail:
I created a places page for a restaurant client. While building their page I created
a coupon. The coupon links to their page. On their page appears like 5 really negative
reviews. I would never connect their coupon or page to any other media due to this
lack of control over who posts what in the reviews sections. Awful execution. This
service Mobilecoupons.com is far more effective and gives you total control over
your businesses image….
Hi Vincent,
I agree it can be a bit dicey in terms of negative reviews appearing on your listings. However, Google is not trying to necessarily provide this service just for your client. It needs to be for the searcher/customer too. If you had the ability to block negative reviews then I feel that many people would not trust these reviews and this page may become less useful.
The fact that your client had negative reviews could actually be a positive. If these negative reviews are coupled with positive reviews then Google is more likely to believe the reviews are real and it may help your local listing appear higher in the localized map results. If they did not have any positive reviews I would first of all question why, then I would try and find a way for them to encourage their patrons that have had positive experiences to post those also on Web sites such as Yelp.com and Urbanspoon.com.