Getting Your Business on the Map with Nokia Prime Place (Formerly Navteq Locations)

Consumers are increasingly turning to their mobile devices to Navigate the real world… Will you be there? (Source: Ending line in a Powerful Nokia Advertising Video – Nokia Advertising).

Click on image to see full resolution version – opens in a new window.

 

Not too long ago, all GPS devices obtained map information from one of two primary map data sources here in the United States: Navteq and Tele Atlas, the largest providers of mapping location information in the US market.

A previous employer had relied on Navteq and Tele Atlas map data to power their GPS/GIS enabled OSS (Operations Support Systems), otherwise, how would one know as neither map data providers were/are consumer brands?

Getting found by those who shop on the go with the assisance of personal navigation devices means having your business information in the primary source databases that feed those 10s of millions of personal navigation devices.

Shopping On the Go with Personal Navigation

Think about your own shopping behaviors using personal navigation devices when your are shopping on the go. Have you ever found yourself looking for local venues by searching your devices (POI) Points of Interest data to discover meal options, entertainment options, lodging options while traveling, then making a decision about where to eat, where to go for entertainment, where to buy gas and where to sleep based on proximity and other factors like reviews? If you are like me and millions of others, then the answer is YES!

If you’re a business owner, this shopping on the go is a growing segment of your target market and for some businesses, is way too big to ignore, whether they know it or not. If your business information is not within the POI database accessed by these devices, then you’ll be excluded from the universe of possibilities the shopper on the go will be discovering and  considering at the time they are in market for what you offer (i.e. sales-ready consumers), resulting in lost revenue and opportunity due to the invisible business syndrome.

Business owners, especially restaraunts, auto repair centers and other products and services businesses serving shoppers on the go, need to ensure that their business information is readily accessible to all personal navigation and location-aware applications and devices.

In the remainder of this post, we’re going to show the reader how easy it is to get their business information into Nokia Prime Place in 11 easy to follow steps. Nokia Prime Place, as mentioned above, is one of 2 key source of map information with local business information layered on top, feeding tens if not hundreds of millions of devices and thier onboard points of interest databases, in the US and worldwide.

Adding your Business to Nokia Prime Place in 11 Easy Steps

1.) Go to Nokia Prime Place – http://primeplace.nokia.com/app/home

2.)“Claim” your business listing by clicking the Claim button. After clicking Claim, you will be asked to sign up or login.

3.) Register on Nokia Prime Place. If you already have a Nokia Prime account, then log in otherwise, Click Register to register a Nokia Prime Account.

 

4.) Create your Nokia Prime account. This account is required to upload your business location information in the Nokia Prime database. Enter the required information in the form as shown below, and then click the Register button.

5.) Add your business information to the Nokia Maps. This includes your business name, address business category and subcategory. For the example shown, the Business & Services category and Communications/Media subcategories where chosen. If you can not find a perfected match for category and subcategory, then pick the closest based on the available choices. Make sure to add all the required information.

6.) Verify the location of your business with Map Preview on the Nokia Maps. Make any adjustments by moving the push pin on the map to show as precisely as possible where your business location is.

7.) Map Preview – Once you have verified that you business is in the correct location on the Map Preview, click the Add place button to add your place to the Nokia Prime Place database.

8.) Add additional information such as phone number, website address (important for SEO), email, fax and other relevant business information. Remember that this information will be syndicated to applications that rely on Nokia Prime Place GIS/Map and related business information.

9.) Add relevant images (up to 5 on the basic listing), hours of operation, annual closings (holidays, vacation, other), public transportation and languages spoken.

10.) Add Additional business information that can be added to your Nokia Prime Place business listing includes: payment methods, wheelchair access, parking information, smoking policy and keywords (also good for SEO and search discovery). Once the desired information has been added, hit the Save button to save your business information to the Nokia Prime Place database.

11.) Now it’s time to verify your business. This step in the process is designed to protect the business to ensure that only authorized personnel can create and edit a business listing on Nokia Prime Place. When creating the eBiz ROI listing, the phone option was not available and so the post card verification method was chosen. Three post cards later, each failing to get the job done, the phone option became available. The phone option is immediate and the post card verification can take up to 6 weeks to receive he necessary verification code by snail mail. The post card method for eBiz ROI, did yield joy even after 3 attempts and 18 weeks later. Maybe that is why it took me like 18 weeks and one day to finish this blog post 🙂

Summary

While for eBiz ROI, most of our clients are not Shop by GPS clients. However, if you are a business whose clients are comprised of shoppers on the go, like restaurants, hotels, motels, auto repair shops, entertainment venues and others, this kind of visibility is getting increasingly important.

So remember, as consumers increasingly turning to their mobile devices to navigate the real world… Will you be there?