Google Building New Tool Suite for Small Business Marketers
According to a Sunday report from the Wall Street Journal, Google is developing a new suite of services and tools aimed squarely at small business marketers. The new service, which was once known as Business Builder, could be launched as soon as July, according to a “person familiar with the matter.”
According to the newly published Wall Street Journal report the new tool suite will be “based on a mix of internally developed software and recently acquired technologies that the company hopes eventually will bring in billions of dollars a year in new revenue.”
Of course, the report is specifically talking about increased revenue for Google – However, will the new tool suite developed by Google bring in more revenue for small business owners as well?
What Services Can Small Business Owners Expect?
In addition to existing services such as Google+ Local, Google Offers and AdWords Express, Business Builder – or whatever it ends up being called – will include newly-developed and acquired services such as the following:
- Punchd, a unique customer loyalty program
- Google Wallet, a streamlined service allowing for both smartphone payments at point-of-sale and online payments
- TalkBin, a customer feedback tool based on SMS technology
- Delivery, a service designed to streamline shipments of products to consumers
Why is Google So Focused on Small Business?
It’s great that Google will soon be offering so many new services for small businesses, but why place focus here instead of on larger businesses, which traditionally have more longevity, visibility and profitability? The answer is volume.
Google has surely seen the statistics confirming that over 95% of U.S. business are classified as “small businesses,” and they know that convincing as many of these businesses as possible to utilize Google’s services could result in billions of dollars in untapped ad revenue.
Of course, Search Engine Land and other SEO sites have already pointed out services missing from Google’s new small business suite, such as a listings syndication service like SinglePlatform, and a reputation tracking tool. Although these types of services may well be included when the small business tool suite is officially released, Google is already facing stiff competition in this area in the form of the Yahoo Marketing Dashboard, which currently includes tools for business listings, reputation management, campaign and traffic management and more.