In almost every economy, small business enterprises make around %99 of all companies. And they employ somewhere between %60-70 of all employees. Yet their voices are hard to hear. Most of them do not have the budgets or expertise for it.
Luckily, Google Maps is a great platform for SMEs. It’s free and has great tools for SMEs to expose themselves to the potential customers.
I have been going to the same haircut salon for more than 10 years. It is a text book SME and I wanted to help. A couple of years ago, during my haircuts, we were talking about digital tools and social media and I persuaded the owner for building a web site. He was hesitant and did not want to invest it, so I built a web site from my own pocket. It was a responsive themed Wordpress site.
The web site stayed online about a year and by the end of year, I asked him if he wanted to keep it -because the domain renewal was coming. He told me that he still did not want to invest and we shut down the web site. I was analyzing the traffic while it was on and it was mainly people on mobile who were searching for a haircut. I didn’t want to let them down and added the business to Google Maps. (Yes I am the manager of the business profile, although just being a loyal customer) I used all the available tools Google provided.
Since the shut down of the web site and switching to Google Maps, I see that the traffic slightly increased. The business did not explode but seeing new customers keep coming, seeing a few good reviews and new photos being added, I am proud to help a local SME just by putting it on Google Maps. It provided a better context and much more to the point channel for a small company. And it is all free!