Are you trying to get more customers to your store in town? Then it’s high time to do some promotion. But don’t start printing flyers – use Waze instead. It’s the mobile advertising for local businesses that everyone is talking about. In this review, we’ll find out how it works and the benefits of using this smart tool.
What Is Waze?
Waze is a navigation smartphone app that helps drivers navigate around places in real time. It is a community-driven map data which currently has a full based map in 13 countries. When you advertise on this app, it will put your business on the Waze map to attract drivers around your community.
How Does It Work?
First, you’ll need to register as a user at Waze Advertise. Entering a username can be a bit tricky if you are using common names such as Cathy or Rob. Somehow, the system doesn’t recognize two users with the same name.
Anyways, once you are able to get over that, follow this process to list your business on Waze.
Step 1 – Search For Your Business Address
Waze will provide you with a world map where you can point to the approximate location of your business address.
Step 2 – Create a Business Logo
In this step, you’ll need to create a pin at the size of 60×48 that would act as your business logo to put on the map. Now, you don’t have to hire a professional for that. Just go to Canva and customize your logo design for free.
Step 3 – Add Location Information
Next, you’ll need to add your business name and the specific address. In the description, you want to be a bit creative because this would make your business look more appealing to the users. You will also be able to add a banner image at the size of 200×200. Again, you can use Canva for this purpose.
Step 4 – Add Additional Location information
Over here, you would add a landmark, phone number, website address (if you have one) and opening hours to complete your listing.
Step 5 – Choose Your Budget and Bid
Advertising on Waze goes by cost per thousand impressions (CPM) and you only pay when your pin or search is shown on the map. No additional charges will incur if the drivers click on the pin or visit your website.
The minimum bid is $1 per CPM and the minimum monthly budget to advertise is $50 (USD). Waze will automatically spread that budget so that it will last you through the month.
Your location will also appear as a sponsored result when drivers are searching for a relevant business. If there are competitions, the business with the highest bid will be displayed at the top of the search results.
In the dashboard image below for example, this company has set a budget of $50 per month and had 3,862 views (made up of pins and search) so far. That would cost about $3.86 based on the CPM calculation.
Step 6 – Pay For Your Campaign
After setting your budget, you would pay for the campaign via your credit card payment.
Mobile Advertising for Local Business – Does Waze Work?
Since most of the successful businesses we see today are born out of traditional marketing, it’s easy to doubt if a mobile app can do the same job. Well, consider these advantages when using Waze;
1) On average, TV or print ad’s CPM cost $100; online ads cost $3.50. Your Waze ads only cost you $1, which is way cheaper and affordable for small businesses to start their own advertisement.
2) It can be applied to any type of business – mom and pop shop, law firm, hair salon, etc. As long as you operate from a physical location, you can go on Waze.
3) Most drivers in major cities use Waze for traffic navigation so it’s a great tool to build awareness for your business brand.
4) By targeting the nearby community, you offer convenience for drivers to check out your business through phone calls or visiting your website link.
5) Unlike other type of mobile advertising formats, business pins on Waze are less obtrusive, but still a great method to stand out from your competitors in a more personal way.
6) In case you don’t know, Waze has been acquired by Google in 2013. Who knows, maybe someday, you could also use keywords to rank for your business on the app. So you definitely want to mark your spot on the map now than later.
Despite the hype in mobile marketing, there are still some limitations to expect when it comes to Waze.
1) Countries that don’t have a full-based map could suggest the lack of mass users, therefore, you might want to check out Waze popularity in your local community first before advertising.
2) Business pins could appear quite small on mobile screens so they could be easily overlooked or don’t have any appeal.
3) Waze has yet to integrate with Google search. So users who are searching for direction to a place on Google would not find your business if they are not using Waze (unless you also have your business listed on Google).
4) In impression advertising, you pay for people to see your brand. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they would take any action. So, just like billboards, people may just drive pass by your shop.
Reach Out to Your Mobile Audience
In summary, if you are thinking about enhancing the mobile advertising for your local business, Waze is a great app to use. As I have demonstrated, it’s very easy to implement without needing any help from the professionals.
So, this is certainly something to take advantage of sooner than later.
Besides reaching out to your mobile audience, creating a mobile responsive website is just as important, if you haven’t already done so. With a business website, you can;
- Direct Waze users to check out more of your products and services.
- Allow customers to contact you even after business hours.
- Write blogs about your business niche.
- Get your articles to rank on Google search engine.
- Create social followings which will boost your engagement with customers.
- List your business on Google map to reach out to a wider audience.
If you like to learn more about creating a business website, do check out SiteRubix and I’ll personally walk you through the process.
Have any questions or thoughts about growing your business online? Just leave them in the comment area below and I would gladly get back to you.
It’s always awesome to read about unique, outside the box advertising methods for business owners – whether it’s an online business or a brick and mortar business.
Waze definitely has the feel of something that can pay off in a big way for folks who are trying to spread the word about their new business on a tight budget.
I would definitely heed your advice and check for saturation in my area before deciding to advertise on Waze, but otherwise it seems like a great way to reach out to the community where your business is located.
Wow sounds like a great app. My first question is – since you said Google acquired Waze, is it the same as Google maps? Also can you be an affiliate of Waze if you don’t have a physical business? I have some friends that have businesses and I will share this link with them. Thanks.
Hi Dennis, I would say that Google Maps and Waze are competitors. While both serve as mobile navigators, the user interfaces are very different. As of which is better, it’s really the matter of preference. If you don’t have any physical business, it wouldn’t make sense to list on the app.
Hope this helps.
This is a wonderful app! I don’t have a business to put on Waze, but it seems like a great app that I can see many used with. Especially when they show up on the map itself. So, if I start Waze, is it going to give me all the businesses in the area that I am in that advertise with Waze? Is this app very well known? I haven’t really heard of it.
Waze is a community-driven app which means, the more people in your area use the application, the more popular it becomes. In other words, it’s only practical to advertise on Waze if your community highly depends on it for navigation. I hope that makes sense to you.
Hey Cathy,
Although I don’t have a physical business, I could see using this as a way to help businesses in my local area. It could be used as a conversation starter. Get their attention and then talk about other services that you believe could help their business.
I wasn’t familiar with the service, so I am glad I came across your page.
Best Regards,
Jim
Hi Jim, mobile advertising is still in its infancy, but I believe like anything else with technology, it’s just a matter of time before their services become recognized and accepted by the general public. I could see a lot of potential coming for mobile advertising in a few more years. Definitely a conversation starter 🙂
First off love the title of your blog, I think too many people forget that money is more easily replaced than time.
This was a great insight into a tool that would be helpful for small businesses. I used to work at a local restaurant and helping them establish an online presence greatly improved their business. We were able to more effectively reach new customers as well as make our offerings easier and more convenient for our current ones. Every business, no matter how small, should invest in building an online aspect – the cost to benefit ratio makes it well worth it.
Interesting mobile advertising is starting to become very popular it seems, this is new to me I am not up on all these apps and mobile technology.
I suppose this Waze is only for physical business. You cannot use this for an online business?
This app is essentially for small business owners with a physical location. For online businesses, I would recommend that you create a Google Plus page instead.