What Google Can Teach You About Marketing

Dave Navarro

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• Google
• Marketing
• Communications

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• Publié par: Pub.Buzz
• Publié le: 19 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 154
• Langue: English

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What Google Can Teach You About Marketing

May 01, 2008 | Written By Dave Navarro

With an undisputed command of the search engine market and a jaw-dropping

stock price, no one can dispute Google’s dominance online. But this success

didn’t come by accident—

it was achieved by a collection of important

marketing strategies that reinforced everything Google had in mind for their

brand.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a billion

-dollar company to use the same

tactics to make your company more recognizable. Let’s take a look at 5 Google

-

tested marketing tips that can help your business “rank higher” in the eyes of

your customers.

Only Hire The Best (And Flaunt It).

Google is well-known for hiring brilliant people

–

the best of the best. PhDs

swarm the campus, eager to leverage their diverse backgrounds to solve

challenges and innovate in ways that other companies just can’t seem to

match. The reputation Google has built for hiring only the best and brightest is

something they weave into their brand amazingly well, from the impressively

titled “Google Labs” to the often

-told fact that Google engineers are allowed

20% of their time to work on inventing new technologies.

What it means for your business:

Your people are incredibly good at what

they do. By highlighting the expertise of your people, you can add to your

company’s story and stand out from competitors who don’t build up the

human side of their brand.

Take Google’s example and run with it.

Have a User-Focused Mission.

Google’s mission – “to organize the world’s information and make it universa

lly

accessible and useful” —isn’t your typical bland company mission statement.

Instead, their purpose focuses on delivering value to you while being carefully

written in a way that reinforces the dominance and wide-reaching scope of the

Google brand. An

d by using words like “accessible” and “useful” they

communicate the benefits of their brand in a way that is attractive and

compelling.

What it means for your business:

You mission = your brand. Does your

mission “sound good to you,” or does it answer

the ever present question your

customers have: “What’s in it for me?”

Make sure that your mission statement

gives your customers an exciting reason to buy into your brand, and you’ll keep

them for life.

Do One Thing (Extremely) Well.

Sure, Google has an ever-growing number of side services

–

Gmail, Google

Reader, and over three dozen more

– but that’s not the primary focus of their

company at all. Goog

le focuses on doing one thing extremely well, and that’s

delivering links to relevant content (whether through search results or context-

based advertisement). They know what side their bread is buttered on, and

they pour themselves into over-delivering so they can retain their dominant

market position.

What it means for your business:

You can’t be all things to all people –

so

make sure you’re being the most profitable thing for your most profitable

customers. Offering side services and add-ons is a smart move, but smarter

still is devoting your focus to being an undisputed expert in your industry.

Run Your Business With Style.

Though people claim to make business decisions solely on rational thinking

alone, it’s a fact that emotions play a large part in the decision making process.

They know that if you enjoy interacting with a company, you’re more likely to

do business with it and recommend it to others. Google does a great job of

expressing its sense of style while not making it distracting. From their stylized

logos that change to reflect holidays (and other quirky dates of importance) to

their over-arching attitude that their work environment should be a fun one,

Google knows how to capture attention, communicate a story, and leave you

coming back for more.

What it means for your business:

There’s a story behind your business and its

philosophy

–

likely an untold one. Retell the story in a compelling, exciting way

and let the experience build a brand that attracts the kind of attention that

turns customers into fans.

Communicate With Your Community.

Google excels at interacting with its community and industry, pulling back the

curtain to reveal a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes and what is

coming down the road. An excellent example is employee and search engine

expert Matt Cutts, who blogs about Google on a regular basis. By providing a

“name and a face” that can interact with their customer base, Google can get

the word out about new products and services, solicit feedback from

customers, and build their brand online.

What it means for your business:

You can truly stand out by creating

opportunities to interact with your customers and reinforce your expertise in

your industry. Social media and blogs are powerful ways to build your brand

and fan base at the same time (which makes the task of converting them to

customers that much easier).

You don’t have to be a corporate giant to use the tools and strategies that

make them successful. By using the five tips above, you can add power to your

marketing and draw in the kind of loyal customers that keep your business

growing year after year. Google started in a garage and has grown into the

world’s most powerful brand … where will their marketing lessons take your

business?