Create a Viral Marketing Treasure Hunt with Google Business View

[Linda Buquet]

Want to get clients more clicks, better stick rates, higher conversions and sales?
Want to attract natural links, social mentions & word of mouth advertising (the best kind)?

Google Business View can help with all of that!
If you make it creative, fun and engaging
Live Interactive Example Below...

<img src="http://marketing-blog.catalystemarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/BizViewTreasureHunt.jpg" alt="BusinessView" width="65%"/>

Now that there is a call to action to "Add a Virtual Tour" front and center at the
top of the Google My Business dashboard, you'll have more clients asking about it.​

Many SMBs lack imagination and just think of doing plain old photos of their store/office. They don't realize with a little creativity Business View could be turned into a viral marketing campaign that could bring in new business, increase click through and stick rate as well as attract natural links and citations for months to come. And as for local word of mouth... done right, it's a no-brainer.

James Pommerening a Google Trusted Photographer shared this Business View with me on Google+.

It looks like a regular Business View and is, however...

The company turned it into a Treasure Hunt with Letterboxing.org as well.

Here is the Company's G+ Post promoting the contest: <a href="https://plus.google.com/113695818043440247775">SWIRLZ Candy & Wonder Emporium</a>

NOTE: The contest does not give a link to their G+ page or Business View. It instructs them to SEARCH FOR THE BUSINESS. (So they have to search and click which likely gives a little Google boost to the business.)

Now before we go to "see inside", let me explain that I live the next town over, but I'm always in Escondido. I have NEVER noticed this place! And if you saw it on Google street view from the outside, you'd pass it right by too. So I want to start by showing you the outside of the store, so you understand the impact that giving folks an inside preview can have.

So to get inside - hover below the name, behind the back wheel, click the little double arrow.

<iframe width="562" height="314" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=SWIRLZ+Candy+%26+Wonder+Emporium&layer=c&sll=33.121723,-117.081090&cid=27429049797791702&panoid=IiYKJH1B2qYAAAQfCRU7SA&cbp=13,130.74,,0,0&hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=&t=m&cbll=33.121683,-117.081075&ll=33.119029,-117.079797&spn=0.005643,0.012059&z=16&source=embed&output=svembed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=SWIRLZ+Candy+%26+Wonder+Emporium&layer=c&sll=33.121723,-117.081090&cid=27429049797791702&panoid=IiYKJH1B2qYAAAQfCRU7SA&cbp=13,130.74,,0,0&hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=&t=m&cbll=33.121683,-117.081075&ll=33.119029,-117.079797&spn=0.005643,0.012059&z=16&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>​

Now that I've seen inside, I'm taking my Grand daughter here for her Birthday this week!

That's one of many creative ideas for Business View. Tons more here:
<a href="http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/google-local-important/20025-dynamic-google-business-view-get-your-creative.html">DYNAMIC! Google Business View: Get your Creative Juices AND Your Traffic Flowing!</a>

Great job James and thanks for sharing with me!

Let them know this great tour got them a whole family full of retro candy lovin' new customers.

What do you think? Pretty Cool???
<meta property="og:type" content="article"><meta property="og:title" content=""><meta property="og:description" content="Want to get clients more clicks, better stick rates, higher conversions, attract natural links, social mentions & word of mouth advertising (the best kind)?">
<meta property="og:image" content="http://marketing-blog.catalystemarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/BizViewTreasureHunt.jpg">

 

[Louis Nava]

Linda, you hit another nail right on the head by starting from the outside. There are so many times where you just don't realize what kind of businesses are right in your own backyard. Business owners shouldn't allow the view from the street to tell their story. Many times the street view imagery is old and businesses are many times misrepresented because it's updated once every 3-5 years for major cities.

Even though we can't change the street view imagery we can get pretty close. Meaning, if you get a virtual tour the tour starts as close to the street as possible and is connected to street view. This allows us to show what the shop looks like during the present time period.

But even on the most basic level of showing off what your shop is and what you have inside is important.

I have a story about a long distance purchase after I did a virtual tour for a local retail clothing shop. A buyer on the East Coast saw some clothing inside the physical retail shop via the virtual tour. The shop had this clothing inside their store and not on their website because they didn't think it would sell online. The tour prompted the East Coast buyer to call the retail shop and purchase everything they had of that particular piece of clothing along with a few other things. This was the shops largest bulk order ever and they had been in business for 10 years prior. In the process they also figured out another product that would sell on their online store.

Like I've said before, the one time investment is small in comparison to other marketing tools and campaigns. If you are a shop owner, this is a must to place into your budget.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Louis, that was a great sales story! Really drives the point home!

Seems like for someone like you, offering the Business View service, a good strategy would be to help them see it from a customer perspective. I know the one above hit me harder, because it's right in my back yard and filled a need I didn't even realize til I saw it.

So you could say to them, let's pretend you are a customer looking for XYZ. Take them to a search for a niche where you have a good BV. Show them 2 other regular businesses 1st. Then 3rd show them your customer. Then ask, if you were the searcher, in buy mode, which of these 3 local businesses would you choose to visit?

 

[James Pommerening]

Linda, Thank you for sharing the Google Business View tour and treasure hunt. It was fun working with Swirlz Candy and making this a fun adventure for kids and adults. Google Business Views is an extremely important tool to help businesses get noticed and making it fun and interactive is a plus!

I hope that you and your Grand daughter have lots of fun. Make sure to have her find the treasure chest and stamp in the book that she found it.