If you run a business with its own dedicated physical presence, such as a bricks-and-mortar retail store, you might already be familiar with the process of adding or claiming a Business Profile on Google so that you can customise how your company is listed on Google Maps.
However, you might not have realised that, around the start of 2023, Apple launched a similar system — Apple Business Connect — for the mapping application Apple Maps, which is packaged with the company’s iOS, iPadOS, macOS and watchOS operating systems.
What this all basically means is that, through using Apple Maps to figure out how to reach the entrance of, say, an office or shop you happen to run, a potential customer or client of your business will be able to quickly learn more about it — as long as you have followed these steps…
What has Apple said about Apple Business Connect?
“We created Business Connect to provide Apple users around the world with the most accurate information for places to eat, shop, travel, and more,” Apple executive Eddy Cue revealed in a press release when Apple Business Connect was announced.
He added: “Apple Business Connect gives every business owner the tools they need to connect with customers more directly, and take more control over the way billions of people see and engage with their products and services every day.”
You could be especially heartened to learn that Apple Business Connect is free to use, and would let you tailor your company’s interactive Apple Maps place card by adding and updating photos and logos and keeping location details up to date.
How can you start editing an Apple Maps place card?
Firstly, you will need to register online for Apple Business Connect — a process that will itself require an Apple ID. You can sign up for one even if you don’t have any Apple hardware.
Once you have, as a business owner, logged into the Apple Business Connect website and Apple has verified your business, you will be able to claim its location(s) on Apple Maps and begin making changes to a place card (there will be one available for each corporate location).
The information you can add to an Apple Maps place card includes the location’s ‘typical’ hours along with those that would apply over the festive season. You can also specify a website address, a phone number and primary and additional categories for the business location.
The fact that these categories you input can be specific to a location would bode well for when someone is looking for a particular service (say, rhinoplasty) rather than just the type of company that generally offers it (so, in this instance, a cosmetic surgery clinic).
How else can you increase your brand’s online prominence?
There are various promotional methods you could seriously consider — including SEO, PPC advertising and social media marketing. If you are new to all of this, you could easily feel daunted — but, for business owners in your position, we offer a starter package of digital marketing services.
