Google: It provided $196M of economic activity to R.I. biz in ’14

DISPLAYS2GO in Bristol was highlighted by Google in its annual Economic Impact Report as a business that is succeeding with the help of the Internet. / COURTESY DISPLAYS2GO
DISPLAYS2GO in Bristol was highlighted by Google in its annual Economic Impact Report as a business that is succeeding with the help of the Internet. / COURTESY DISPLAYS2GO

PROVIDENCE – Google helped provide $196 million of economic activity for 6,100 Rhode Island businesses last year, according to its annual Economic Impact Report.
It also provided $274,000 in free advertising to Rhode Island nonprofits through the Google Ad Grants program.
The report, which highlights economic benefits received by businesses and nonprofits across the country through the continued growth of e-commerce, includes business examples from all 50 states.
It highlighted Displays2Go in Bristol as one business succeeding with the help of the Internet.
According to information provided by Google, DisplaysGo founder George Patton founded the business in 1974. Back then, he used a handwritten brochure to market his custom acrylic display products, and later switched to direct mail catalogs.
When he sold it to his sons in 1992, they realized that the Internet “was the wave of the future,” said vice president of marketing Greg Banks.
“We always tried to stay on the cutting edge of things instead of being reactive,” Banks told Google.
Displays2Go also launched an e-commerce website early in the ’90s. It uses AdWords, Google’s advertising program, which helps them target known customers and discover new markets.
“The bulk of our advertising consists of text ads and product listing ads through Google shopping,” Martha Dias, director of multi-channel marketing, said in a statement. “We knew we had decent retail and finance markets, but we didn’t realize how many churches we were reaching until we saw the Internet orders.”
Displays2Go’s social media presence includes a Google+ page.
“People can leave us comments, whether it’s something they appreciated or a problem,” Dias said. “We can correspond with them on social media. It’s like having a 24/7 presence.”
Displays2Go continues to enjoy steady growth, spending about 80 percent of its marketing budget online, company officials told Google.
“If you’ve got a website, you have an immediate connection with customers,” she said. “I can’t imagine us being anywhere near where we are now if we didn’t have a website.”

Google is well-known for helping people search for and find the information they want, Margo Georgiadis, Google’s president of Americas sales, said.

“Through our search and advertising programs, businesses find customers, publishers earn money from their online content and nonprofits get donations and volunteers. The Economic Impact Report details how millions of businesses use our tools to make money. It’s these solutions that make Google an engine for economic growth,” Georgiadis said.

Last year, Google reports its tools helped provide $131 billion of economic activity for 1.8 million businesses, website publishers and nonprofits across the country.

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