Cool Rules Pronto

“I’m so full of action, my name should be a verb.”
- Big Daddy Kane

While doing the consulting thing in Silicon Valley, I met far too many execs and entrepreneurs who said that marketing was not necessary. “Just look at Google,” they’d tell me with smug grins. True, Google never spent a dollar on advertising their product, but they did invest time and imagination into creating wicked strategies. Let’s examine how Google came to rule the search universe and, eventually, the world…

1. Google picked a short, memorable name that was fun to say and easy to spell: The name “Google” fits all the naming criteria spelled out by Marty Neumeier in his book The Brand Gap, and by Trout & Reis in their classic tome Positioning. Who doesn’t enjoy saying “Google,” and how can you forget it? Compare that to “AltaVista,” which was my favorite search engine in the early days of the Web. The problem: nobody could remember its name. Living in Southern California, we kept thinking “Loma Vista,” “Altadena,” “Buena Vista” or more likely “Hasta la vista” (in an Austrian accent).

2. Google focused on one capability: Today Google excels in everything from mail to mapping, but while they were still establishing themselves, they did search and search only. This translated into a very clean intuitive appearance: you landed at Google.com and saw a nice search window, compared to the fustercluck at Yahoo.com and Excite.com - sites that tried to do everything when most consumers were still learning what they were. As a result…

3. Google became synonymous with “search”: Yahoo! did everything and became a portal. But when non-Yahoo! users wanted to search something, the first word that popped into their minds was “Google.” Google achieved the same positioning in the minds of consumers as Kleenex, Thermos, TiVo and other brands now synonymous with their categories. Even better, they became a verb with one brilliant tactic…

4. Google related their technology to a personal benefit: Yes, Google’s technology was arguably better than the technology of other search engines, but (repeat this three times), great technology alone will not win any competition with consumers. Consider Sony’s Betamax, which was technologically superior to VHS, but suffered such a humiliating collapse in the face of superior marketing (distribution-wise) that it became a negative verb, as in a great technology that’s been Betamaxed out of existence. Current companies with great technology but minimal market share include Subaru, Fujitsu and OKI Data - if only these engineer-driven Japanese companies would invest in strategic marketing! Google didn’t run around talking about the algorithms behind their technology (most Americans think an “algorithm” predicts their emotional and physical cycles). Google was positioned as ideal for finding yourself, your friends and your exes on the Web. Now nobody could resist trying Google out. Who hasn’t Googled themselves? Who hasn’t Googled an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend? And these days, it’s mandatory for HR people and other hiring managers to Google job applicants. After that, Google became the default search engine for everything.

5. Google distributed their product everywhere: One of the first applications Google created was a downloadable toolbar that could live near the top of your browser window or on your desktop. Now you no longer had to go to their website to conduct a search.

6. Google promoted themselves as a cool company: They didn’t advertise their product, but they did advertise their company with creative full-page recruiting ads. Unlike the competition’s boring recruiting ads, which rattled on about employee benefits alongside generic stock photos of grinning models posing as employees, Google’s ads featured tough brain teasers. How could any geek resist? I worked at a dot-com where geeks and non-geeks gathered around a lunch table trying to solve the teasers. In addition, Google promoted its unofficial motto, “Don’t Be Evil,” which was memorable and fun to say, and a far cry better than the corporate-speak that passes for vision and mission statements at most companies. As a result, Google invented more than a great tool; they invented a great brand.

So when I hear Silicon Valley execs smugly proclaim that they’re following the “Google model” by not spending money on marketing, I just think to myself (in an Austrian accent), “hasta la vista, baby, hasta la vista…”