Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Go to Google Maps and type in "Chicago airport." Clickthe "Satellite" button to view the satellite imagery.Zoom in two or three clicks until O'Hare International beginsto take shape, then travel north a few clicks-bull's-eye!There's the Target store.
Like Target, businesses around airports have been advertising ontheir rooftops for years, knowing that overhead traffic brings anaudience. With the explosion of satellite imagery on the internet,every rooftop in the country is now a trafficked fly zone. Soshould entrepreneurs paint their roofs?
Before you grab your paint bucket, consider the fact that thesatellite images used by Google and others are not live shots-manyare years old. So if you paint your rooftop, don't expectimmediate results.
"If you're going to paint your building, you probablyshould be in a fast-growth area," says Perry Marshall, founderof Perry S.Marshall & Associates, an Oak Park, Illinois-based internetmarketing and consulting firm. Marshall explains that searchcompanies are more likely to update these areas to keep theirinformation accurate: "This stuff costs money, and they'reonly going to update where they need to."
While painting your rooftop may be a good long-term strategy,you can get immediate results by creating a map mash-up. Mapmash-ups combine maps with related information-anything rangingfrom census data to information on American Idolcontestants. For its final season, TheSopranos' website partnered with Google Maps tohighlight the locations of the show's fictional characters-evenlinking to video clips.
A map mash-up could be a great marketing tool for a businesswith multiple locations. Whether you use your rooftop as abillboard or use the power and creativity of mash-ups, one thing iscertain: Cartography hasn't been this hot since the Age ofExploration.
