Latest / The Local Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Small Business, Google Maps, and Local SEO / How a Local Farmers Market Doubles Foot Traffic with Google Maps
Transcript
- Lucas: So Luna, I want to talk about something that feels almost too simple to matter, but the numbers are kind of wild. A farmers market in Columbus, Ohio, managed to double its foot traffic over two seasons, and the biggest lever wasn't a billboard or a social media campaign. It was Google Maps. Luna: Okay, I'm intrigued. But isn't a farmers market temporary? I mean, they set up on a Saturday morning in a parking lot and are gone by noon. How does Google Maps even handle that? Lucas: That's exactly the thing. Most seasonal or temporary businesses think Google Maps doesn't apply to them, so they never claim the listing. But this market manager, her name is Sarah, she treated the listing like a living storefront. She set it up with the correct category, which, by the way, matters more than people think, and she updated her hours every single week. Luna: Every week? That sounds like a pain. But I guess if you're only open on Saturdays, you need to make sure people don't show up on a Tuesday and find an empty lot. Lucas: Right. And Google Maps rewards that kind of attention. Sarah told me that when she started updating her hours consistently, she saw a noticeable jump in 'directions requests'. Over three months, those requests went up by about thirty percent. That's a direct lead for foot traffic, not just page views. Luna: So the hours thing is a real signal. But what else? I imagine the listing photo is pretty important for a market that's all about fresh produce and flowers. Lucas: She posted at least one new photo every week. And not just random shots. She focused on photos of the stalls, the produce, the crowd, even the parking situation. And she told me something interesting: photos with people in them got way more engagement than photos of just vegetables. Like, a shot of a kid holding a giant zucchini outperformed a perfectly staged basket of tomatoes. Luna: Because people can picture themselves there. That makes total sense. But I have to ask about reviews. I feel like every episode we talk about reviews, but for a market with dozens of vendors, who leaves a review for the market itself? Lucas: You'd be surprised. People do review the market as a whole. And Sarah made it a habit to respond to every single review, good or bad. If someone mentioned a specific vendor, she'd tag them in the response. That personal touch went a long way. She also put up a small sign at the information booth with a QR code that linked directly to the review prompt. Luna: Smart. And I'm guessing she didn't just sit back and wait for reviews to come in. Did she use any of the Google Maps features that are a little under the radar? Lucas: She used the 'Your match' feature, which is basically a filter people can use to find businesses that match their interests. She made sure her listing was tagged with things like 'organic' and 'local produce', so when someone searched for 'organic farmers market near me', her listing popped up even if they were a few miles away. That alone brought in a whole new crowd. Luna: Oh, that's a feature I don't think we've talked about on the show. And it makes sense for a market that has a strong identity. But what about the seasonal aspect? Like, in the winter, when the market moves indoors or goes on a break, does the listing just go dormant? Lucas: That's the trap Sarah avoided. Instead of just switching to 'temporarily closed', she updated her listing with winter hours and even changed her primary category to 'indoor market' when they moved into a community center. She kept the listing active all year round, and that consistency paid off. Google loves consistency, and it helped her rank for searches even during the off-season. Luna: So she was thinking about the year as a whole, not just the Saturday morning rush. That's a great lesson for any business that has peaks and valleys. Lucas: Exactly. And it's not just about the listing itself. Sarah told me she also used the Google Maps Q&A section to preemptively answer the questions she got asked every week. 'Is there parking?', 'Are dogs allowed?', 'Do you accept cards?' She put those answers right in the listing, so she saved herself dozens of phone calls and texts every weekend. Luna: That's such a small thing, but it's like customer service on autopilot. And I bet it made her look more professional, too. Lucas: It did. And here's the kicker: she didn't spend a dime on ads. Everything she did was organic, just putting in the time to manage her listing properly. The return on that time investment was huge. She said that in the second season, she had to add a second parking lot because they were getting so many 'directions requests' that they were worried about congestion. Luna: That's the kind of problem you want to have. So what would you say is the single biggest takeaway for someone listening who runs a similar type of business? Maybe a pop-up shop or a seasonal event? Lucas: I think it's this: don't treat Google Maps as a static billboard. Treat it as a living document. Update it, respond to it, and use every feature it offers. Sarah's market didn't have a big marketing budget, but they had a manager who understood that the map is where customers make decisions. And she made sure her market showed up in the right place, at the right time, with the right information. Luna: And if that sounds like a lot of work, remember that it's a few minutes a week. I think that's a trade-off worth making. Lucas: Absolutely. And speaking of trade-offs, if these kinds of conversations have sparked something you've actually used in your own business, we'd love it if you considered supporting the show. Honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, that's the link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's a small gesture that keeps us going ad-free, and we really appreciate it. Lucas: So, back to the market. One mistake Sarah saw other vendors make was not listing their individual stalls on Google Maps. She encouraged her vendors to create their own listings, with their own categories and photos, and then link to the market as a parent. That way, if someone searched for 'organic honey near me', they'd find the beekeeper, and then discover the market through that listing. Luna: That's a clever way to build a web of local relevance. It's like the market and the vendors help each other rank. Lucas: Exactly. And it's something any business district or co-op could do. Create individual listings for each member, and then cross-link them. Google sees that as a strong signal of relevance and trust. Luna: But wait, wouldn't that create a lot of duplicate listings for the same physical address? Isn't that against Google's guidelines? Lucas: It can be tricky. The key is that each vendor has a distinct name and category, and they're not trying to game the system. As long as each listing represents a real, distinct business, it's fine. Sarah worked with a local SEO consultant to make sure everything was set up correctly, and they didn't run into any issues. Luna: Good to know. So let's talk about the photos again. You mentioned she posted every week. But what about the quality? Did she use a professional photographer or just her phone? Lucas: Mostly her phone, believe it or not. But she had a few rules: good lighting, no cluttered backgrounds, and always a human element. She'd take a shot of a vendor handing over a bunch of flowers, or a kid trying a sample. Those candid moments resonate more than a perfectly composed product shot. Luna: It's about capturing the vibe. And that's something any small business can do with a modern smartphone. Lucas: Right. And she made sure to geotag her photos, which is something a lot of people forget. When you post a photo from the market's location, it reinforces that your listing is real and active. Luna: So we've covered hours, photos, reviews, Q&A, and even the 'Your match' feature. Is there anything else that really moved the needle for her? Lucas: One more thing: she regularly checked her insights. Google Maps gives you data on how people find your listing, whether they call you, visit your website, or just look at your photos. Sarah noticed that most people found the market by searching 'farmers market' rather than the market's actual name. So she made sure to use that exact phrase in her business description. That simple tweak boosted her visibility even more. Luna: That's a great reminder that you should speak the language your customers use, not just your official name. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the thing about Google Maps – it's not just a map. It's a search engine for your local area. The businesses that win are the ones that take the time to understand how their customers search and what they need to see. Luna: I think we've given our listeners a ton of actionable ideas today. If you're running a seasonal business, don't hide from Google Maps. Embrace it. Lucas: And if you have a success story of your own, we'd love to hear about it. You can find us on the Fexingo Business network. But for now, thanks for hanging out with us on this episode of The Local Marketing Podcast.