For a solid decade now, Google Street View has been helping us get where we’re going. It’s helped us arrive at our holiday destinations, dental appointments, job interviews, and parties. And it’s helped your customers arrive at your brick-and-mortar location. The developed world has gotten rather dependent on Google Street View since it was launched ten years ago. Paper maps are now the mark of eccentricity rather than a pragmatic tool to find your way from A to B. Yet some brands still haven’t copped on. Some websites include static maps, or worse still, no maps at all.
If you want people to come to your location, you have to make it easy. And including a Google map on your website is an easy way to make it easy. Because it is interactive, people can study various routes to reach you and with Street View, they can even see what your shop front and the street actually look like.
This visibility does more than just make it easy for customers to find you. It also instils trust. Google Street View shows people what you have on offer. Seeing is believing.
It’s not just a mantra for home buyers. Your location matters to your potential customers, obviously. Beyond making it easy to find you and giving them a preview of what awaits them, your location can be a central part of your marketing. Can you capitalize on people’s desire to buy local? Is there something special about your location that is part of your brand identity?
Location is a critical factor in marketing for Irish businesses. If your market is local, people do like to support their community. Connection is an important value in Irish culture. When we meet someone new, we tend to ask about where they are from and try to think of any possible connections or anyone else we know from that area. If your business exports or markets to tourists, then Ireland is part of your brand identity whether you capitalize on it or not. Ireland has a very positive reputation in most of the world, so it makes sense to capitalize on that, no matter what your product is.
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By Irene Hislop
By Aoife O'Driscoll