Marketing Pilgrim

Google Looks to Distance Itself From Its Competition Amidst NSA Data Leak Fallout

posted on June 19, 2013

In the wake of the leaks by Edward Snowden, many tech companies have been looking to distance themselves from the controversy by releasing how many requests they receive for information from the US government. The latest to take that step was Yahoo! yesterday which followed suit with the likes of Microsoft, Apple and Facebook.

Google is taking this battle to the next level as reported in the Washington Post

Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests the court makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it is forced to give the government.

by Cynthia Boris

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Small Business Lessons from the Lemonade Stand

posted on June 18, 2013

Like many kids, I once tried selling lemonade in my neighborhood on a hot, sticky, New Jersey summer day. I was excited when customer after customer handed me a dime in return for a short Dixie Cup of overly-sweetened drink mix. When the lemonade ran out, I was rich! What to buy. . . what to buy. . .

Then my mother informed me that businesses have to pay expenses before claiming the profits. She tallied up the cost of the cups and napkins, sugar and lemonade mix and presented me with the bill. Whoops. Guess I should have charged more per cup. Rather than revise my business plan, I filed for bankruptcy and closed up shop. Thankfully, the bank of mom agreed on a greatly reduced settlement.

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by Cynthia Boris

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Study Shows Young Millennials Are More Like Katniss, Less Like Harry Potter

posted on June 18, 2013

Baby Boomer, Gen X, Millennials – each label stands for an age group which, in theory, has similar wants, needs and goals. But a new study commissioned by MTV shows that there’s a big difference between the upper and lower age brackets that fall into the Millennial category. Keeping with the theme: older (or first wave) Millennials are like Harry Potter but younger (age 13-17) Millennials are more like Katniss of The Hunger Games.

At first glance, these seem like cutesy pop culture references designed to capture the search engine spiders. But when you dig in deep, you’ll see that the comparisons fit – sadly.

The study, “The New Millennials Will Keep Calm and Carry On” leads us to these two points.

The Harry Potter Crowd:

by Frank Reed

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Google’s Local Search Carousel Comes to Desktop

posted on June 18, 2013

Local search, especially for restaurants, is getting much more interesting as Google rolls out its local search ‘carousel’ to desktop search. It is available in English in the US only for now.

Basically, how one ranks in the carousel will be the new ‘victory’ for local search. The post on Google+ announcing the update tells us

Starting today, when you search Google for restaurants, bars or other local places on your desktop, you’ll see an interactive “carousel” of local results at the top of the page.

Give it a go—type or say “mexican restaurants,” or try any similar search for restaurants, bars or hotels. Click on one of the places in the carousel to get more details on it, including its overall review-based score, address and photos. If you want to see more places, click the arrow at the right of the carousel. And you can zoom in on the map that appears below the carousel to restrict your search to only places in a specific area.

While some iPad and Nexus tablet users have seen this new look since December, we’re excited to expand to desktop. The interactive “carousel” is rolling out in English in the U.S.—we’ll add more features and languages over time.

Take a look for a search I did in Raleigh.

by Frank Reed

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Most Serious Mobile Concerns Around Navigation, Screen Sizing and Forms

posted on June 18, 2013

On occasion I get a report that is ‘pitched’ to me that is really well worth the read.

Today, that report comes from Econsultancy in association with IBM Tealeaf. The report titled “Reducing Customer Struggle 2013″ covers a lot of ground. Too much in fact for one post so I cherry picked one piece of data that might be either reassuring (as in “Phew, we are not alone!”) or upsetting (as in “I want that problem to go away now!”) to those concerned with the mobile aspect of your company or brand.

Apparently, some of the biggest issues of the mobile space are regarding navigation and screen size with an increasing level of concern around filling out forms on a mobile device (which usually sucks for me at least). Not a surprise but it is something that needs to be brought to the forefront so that it can be handled by the industry. Personally, I can’t tell you how many times poor mobile navigation or improper sizing has hurt my experience with a brand.

Here are the most serious issues the companies see facing their customers in the mobile space according to the findings.

by Frank Reed

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by Cynthia Boris

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Half of Small Biz Owners Say Running a Business is Tougher Than Ever

posted on June 17, 2013

According to Constant Contact’s “Small Businesses: Then and Now Survey”, 59% of small businesses believe it’s harder to run a business today than five years ago. That’s a sad, sad fact.

Running your own business used to be the American dream. It was your ticket to an independent lifestyle. A way out of the 9-5 madness. Or maybe that’s what we all hoped it would be.

The truth is, running your own business is tough, especially when you’ve grown large enough to have a couple of employees on the payroll. I’m a company of one. If I have a bad week, it’s not fun but at least I don’t have to consider laying off an employee.

When asked why things have taken a downturn:

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