Again, Google has impressed me with one of their Google Places demo videos! Here’s the last one that tickled me pink.

This one, which simply explains how to give your favorite places (restaurants, bars, painters, contractors, photographers, lawyers, chiropractors, etc.) a best ever medal in your rating. It’s the simplicity and the cheerful music that makes it so awesome! This music is reminiscent of the Conan movie score.

Regarding the idea of the gold medal itself … we like that, too! It’s a nice way to show appreciation for your favorite spots and to help give them the recognition they deserve. It’ll help those businesses rank higher in search and it’ll make it easier for your friends to discover your “best-evers”.

And Google’s +1 recently became accesible without having to be signed into your Google account – which makes another form of rating that much easier!

LOCQL. It’s similar to Quora or other Q+A user-generated sites. Right now, it looks like the site could benefit from some more legitmate users but the intent for a location-based Q+A social network is positive.

Questions based around given cities can help users find local eateries, bars, attractions and other things to do while traveling or even if you just want a fresh perspective on your own town.

If you’re thinking the site would be a good platform for marketing your small business, take precautions – like any link-building or blog commenting strategy, it’s best to have a real interest in the subject matter you’re looking at. You should offer a real solution for people’s needs. You’ll want to provide helpful tips and insight rather than just throwing your name into the mix without being respectful of the platform and its users, meaning that you want to build trust and establish credibility as a community member rather than as a name dropper or free advertiser.

Here’s a link to another post that explains how it works. Here’s a link to LOCQL itself.

Today I came across a Mashable post discussing brand identity in the digital world. Ron Rogowski talks about how brands used to use their actual product to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. But now, the tech landscape is so crowded with similar products that it’s much more of a challenge to compete.

The mobile takeover has provided unique opportunities to market your brand and, frankly, if you don’t get on the bus, you could very easily get left in the dust. We’ve discussed check-ins and location-based apps where businesses offer coupons when you make a purchase or track your spending so you can accrue points for discounts and special offers later. These are some of the most common uses where businesses focus their marketing efforts into the mobile market.  The post on Mashable suggests using the same tools, but using them differently in order to stand out. Rogowski says the experience is the differentiator.

Check out his post for some ideas on where to begin.

Stay true to what it is that you do by incorporating promotions that will be useful to your demographic, rather than doing something like hosting a giveaway of a popular item that has nothing to do with your brand or attracting a network interested in YOUR product or services.

Experiment with different outlets to find what works for you and what draws the highest level of interest and, more importantly, response from consumers.