Latest / The Local Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Small Business, Google Maps, and Local SEO / How a Gift Shop Uses Google Maps to Drive Holiday Sales
Transcript
- Lucas: It's the second week of June, which means retailers are already thinking about the holiday season. And I don't mean Thanksgiving — I mean Q4. I found a great example from a gift shop in Portland called The Painted Pear that used Google Maps in a really smart way last December. Luna: Oh, I love a good gift shop story. What'd they do? Lucas: So, The Painted Pear is a small indie shop that sells curated gifts — candles, stationery, local art, that kind of thing. Their big challenge was that during the holidays, they were competing with every big-box store and online retailer. But they had one weapon: Google Business Profile attributes. Luna: Attributes — those little tags like 'women-owned' or 'free Wi-Fi' that show up under your business listing? Lucas: Exactly. Most businesses just set a few basic ones and never touch them again. But The Painted Pear was more deliberate. They enabled attributes like 'curated gifts', 'family-friendly', 'quick visit', and 'women-owned'. Each one signals something specific to both Google's algorithm and the person scrolling. Luna: And those influence whether someone clicks or walks past. Lucas: Right. But what really moved the needle was how they paired those attributes with seasonal updates. They added 'holiday hours' in mid-November, which sounds obvious but so many businesses forget. And they turned on the 'gift wrapping' service attribute — that alone probably drove a lot of last-minute shoppers. Luna: So they're basically using metadata to answer the questions customers don't even type into the search bar. Lucas: Exactly. And they didn't stop there. They used Google Posts to promote a 'local artist showcase' event every Saturday in December. Each post had a photo of the featured artist's work, a short description, and a call to action button like 'Learn more' or 'Get offer'. Luna: Which all fed into the listing's freshness signal. Lucas: Yes. Google rewards active profiles with better visibility in local search results. So by posting once a week, The Painted Pear stayed at the top of the local pack for searches like 'gift shop near me' and 'Portland holiday gifts'. They went from page two to the top three consistently through December. Luna: That is a huge lift for a small shop. And the cost? Just time. Lucas: Exactly. No ad spend. Just fifteen minutes a week. So what I'd say to any local retailer listening is: open your Google Business Profile right now and look at your attributes. Are there ones you haven't enabled that describe what you actually do? 'Curated gifts' is surprisingly underused. Luna: I'd add that if you have a service like gift wrapping or local delivery, add that as an attribute or as a service. Every little data point helps Google understand your business. Lucas: And don't forget to update your hours for holidays. Nothing kills trust faster than showing up to a closed store. Luna: Yeah, and on that note — the posts don't have to be fancy. A simple photo of a new product with a 'Shop now' button can be enough. Lucas: Right. The Painted Pear's best-performing post was just a snapshot of their gift-wrapped packages with the text 'Need a last-minute gift? We'll wrap it for free.' That one got over 200 clicks. Luna: That's a great example of tying an attribute to a post. Lucas: And it's that combination that works. Attributes set expectations. Posts drive action. Together, they make your listing feel alive. Luna: So for any business, not just gift shops, the takeaway is: audit your attributes, add seasonal services, and post at least once a week during your busy season. Lucas: Exactly. And if you're a local business owner listening and these kinds of marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used, consider supporting the show. It's listener-supported, ad-free, and a couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these going. You can do that at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it really helps us keep bringing you these concrete examples. Lucas: So back to The Painted Pear — they told me that their December revenue was up 30% compared to the previous year. They attributed most of that to being more visible and more trustworthy on Google Maps. Luna: Thirty percent from just updating your profile and posting a few photos. That's the kind of return that makes you wonder why more small businesses don't do it. Lucas: Because it's not flashy. But it works. So if you're a local retailer, start with one attribute, one post, and see what happens. Luna: And don't wait until December. The businesses that prepare in June are the ones that win in November. Lucas: Well said. That's all for this episode. Thanks for listening.