Still struggling with this one! The article you sent seems to be comparing an old school Google+ Places page with the newer Google+ Local pages? The confusion I am having is over the difference between a Google+ Profile and a Google+ Local Business Page.
Here are examples of what I understand to be the Moz.com G+ Profile, and what seems to be their G+ Local Business Page:
Moz.com G+ Profile: https://plus.google.com/+SEOmoz
Moz.com G+ Local Business Page: https://plus.google.com/101479834534380514124
These pages serve both purposes well, with the Local Business Page appearing in Google Maps, and the Profile getting it's own listing in the SERPs when searching for the Moz brand.
Why then does my clients G+ Local Business Page seem to be an amalgamation of both?
Pareto G+ Local Business Page: https://plus.google.com/+paretolaw
This page appears in Google Maps, but is also listed as their G+ page as a sitelink under their branded search listing. Their local business page has all of the Google Places stuff in it, but also has circles, followers, posts etc.
Can I go ahead and create a seperate G+ Profile for them, or have they somehow combined the 2 already? If they've combined the two then creating another account will be really confusing for people. Which one would they follow?
My client has hundreds of employees and clients, and I want them all to interlink and promote the various social media profiles to help them rank. However, trying to get their G+ local business listing to rank seems futile as Google has just bundled it into their P1 listing as a sitelink, and that isn't going to push the other sites down the rankings.