Marketing in the Age of Google: Vanessa Fox on Search Strategy
It always feels strange to buy a hard copy of a book about something that’s changing rapidly, but Vanessa Fox‘s Marketing in the Age of Google was worth it.
Vanessa’s book’s value lies in:
- Case studies of what works and what doesn’t
- Descriptions of tools and tactics
- Insight into how Googlers view various issues and challenges
- Presentation of search marketing within the larger historical context of marketing
- The idea it presents of an “Age of Google”
I liked the last item so much that I put it in this site’s tagline.
I’d list the key elements of The Age of Google as an age where:
- Starting an information-based business or hobby is about as easy as putting up a lemonade stand. Profitability is hard of course, as it is with a lemonade stand. But it’s remarkably easy to put up a site, get it found, and monetize it.
- Information is often very easy to find and usually free.
- Smart geeks are given tremendous opportunities to do great things and are treated well.
Google of course didn’t create all of that, but they probably played a larger part than any other individual company. And “Age” may not be the right word. Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft are contemporaries but their worlds are each different.
If you want to learn how best to market in the Age of Google, read Vanessa’s book. If you’re interested in how other management and product management issues are affected by the Age of Google, I hope we can explore the questions and answers together on this site.