Me and Google are on a first name basis. We're like peas and carrots me and the Googs. Well, I know them on a first name basis at the very least and when I do a search on myself using their magic machine my name comes up front and center. So, like I said, we're on a first name basis. Since we're so close I happen to know a little something about their marketing, too. It's brilliant, but everybody knows that. What people really need to know is what specific marketing tactics made them so successful. Well, here it is - Google's meteoric rise to prominence can be attributed to focusing on one thing and doing it very well. They're an advertising medium that happens to do search very well. But, unlike other search engines they didn't clutter up their page with content and banner ads, no instead they differentiated themselves by focusing on the advertising opportunities with search itself. They made their search capabilities so good that they became the go-to place for information. And not just the information that would fit on a cluttered home page, it was any information you desired.
Google built a good search product and continually refined it. Word spread and soon everybody was using it and everybody wanted to be found on it. Mounds of advertising revenue quickly followed. So much so that it funded Google's research and development into ancillary services built around their search capabilities and they offered them for free because everybody wants something for free and everybody went to Google to get it. More mounds of advertising revenue quickly followed. For the most part Google has held strong to developing excellent search products and most of all they have focused on providing value.
Google doesn't employ a bunch of slick marketing tactics or glitz and glam to attract an audience. Their homepage layout and other website assets certainly aren't designed to inspire; their look is pretty boring when you think about it. Instead, their whole marketing approach has been minimalist and they've stayed true to developing good products that people want to use. They resisted being pulled in many directions to capitalize on different revenue streams that their competitors are still struggling to make profitable. Google has remained focused and keeps their story simple. In recent years Google has started to diversify outside of search related products (Google Docs, Google Chrome, Google Talk, Google Buzz, etc), but each of these products still fits the business model. The new products integrate Google's exemplary search capabilities and are simply just an extension of their advertising platform, which is what it was always originally all about. Google got it right and we're all along for the ride. What product or service can you offer better than anybody else? We're all the best at something. Hopefully you got the Google in you to find it.
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