I posted an article yesterday on my blog about a survey I did on friends, family and random people... It's interesting to see how people who aren't very "tech savvy" use Google. It also gives a fairly good picture of what Google needs to do to gain even more users. Overall, I noticed a couple of trends. First, Google meets and exceeds my expectations as to how popular it's "Google Search" is — almost everybody I polled uses Google as their primary search engine it seems. Second, with Google's massive Internet presence, they are doing a poor job of cross marketing their other services. The Internet is a viral marketing engine, but beyond search Google's services and maps haven't caught fire. The majority of people who answered my questions either don't use, or hadn't heard of many services they provide. As I noted earlier, passing the "mom" test generally correlates with crossing the broader adoption threshold. What do you think about Google sponsoring gatherings -- providing free meals and door prizes -- that are basically used to promote some of their less known services? Something similar to their "Google Pizza Ambassador" program that they have started in universities.
why do you think they invested in AOL? I think they are going for a much broader appeal you don't get more mom than AOL.
Google Pack should also help them market new products and services that they either create, or think is great. However, there also remains a challenge getting people to install it. They really need a strong partnership with a computer vendor like DELL or HP. That way they can pre-install this type of stuff on the systems they ship out.
More often than not now, when a TV news agency uses a sat. image of an area, it's branded with Google Earth or Google Maps - they're no dummies, they're just patient. Spending millions is not necessary - they give these services to others, allow media agents to use them fully gratis so long as they're (Google) given the credit ... slow and steady will win the race. Also, how many times do you hear "Google it" in primetime now?
Have you not heard about the new computer that Google is going to market and sold in the largest U.S. retailer Wal-Mart?
hehe, I assume their Google PC will created by someone like Dell, and probably not in-house... but who knows how far down the road that will be
True, most of their services are in beta... but what really is the difference between a service labeled "beta", and one not? The functionality of these services will remain largely the same, and the fact that people I talked to hadn't heard about them indicates (to me) what kind of popularity they will have after they are out of beta. For instance, Google Local left beta not so long ago, and has there been a significant increase in the number of people who use the service? I certainly havent noticed any extra "buzz" in that department since the beta label was removed. The services that I wish would get broader adoption are: Google Personalized Homepage Gmail Google Groups Google News Google Video GTalk Froogle All of which allow users to be more productive and make the internet a better place in general. GTalk and Google Video need some work, but the rest in my opinion are ready for primetime and Google should spend a little more effort marketing them and giving them the chance they deserve. The problem is that "mom" doesn't know what the advantages of these services are, and how they can make life easier. It will be a challenge to get that point across, but maybe one day it will happen.