Marketing Pilgrim

I’m always amazed when Google does something in the mobile space that they produce for the iPad but not for Android devices. Do they do that because they want regulators to see that Android doesn’t get preferential treatment? Or is it that it’s a real pain to make sure your Android app works with the many iterations of Android that exists? Either way, it always strikes me as odd.

The latest way that Google is helping retailers utilize the tablet space is with the Google Catalog apps. It’s just like it sounds. Take a look for yourself.

The Google Mobile blog describes the apps capabilitities as follows:

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In order to measure how really powerful you are in the social media realm, Klout has added five new networks. The original networks are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare and YouTube. Now, you can link up to your accounts on Blogger, Tumblr, Flickr, Instagram and Last.fm.

Blogger and Tumblr represent two ends of the blogging spectrum. Blogger is the classic free host which is still widely used. Tumblr is the choice of a new generation of bloggers who prefer quicker, more visual posts. Obviously absent are WordPress and LiveJournal.

If you’re a photo fiend, Flickr is king, so I get that, but Instagram? This hot new mobile app  uses a variety of filters to create works of art out of those lunch and puppy photos that people like to share on Twitter. Is this really a service that figures into a person’s online influence?

When I was a kid, flipping through the newly delivered Sears Christmas Catalog was one of my biggest joys in life. My sister and I would work our way through from beginning to the toys, playing “pick” on every page. (We did allow ourselves to skip the men’s clothing section and the tools.) When we were done, we’d each sit down with pencil and paper and make a wish list with page numbers and color options.

Fast forward to now where Google is breathing new life into the old catalog, via their new Google Catalogs app for iPad.

It begins by choosing the catalogs you want to receive. LL Bean, Williams Sonoma, Urban Outfitters. . . the catalogs update automatically just like when you used to get them in the mail.

There is a clothing store, Syms, that has forever had the tagline for their advertising “An Educated Consumer Is Our Best Customer”. A noble idea indeed and one that implies that the more a consumer knows about what they are looking to do the better decisions they will make. In the retail industry, that can make a lot of sense and can help the right retailer.

Now, take that same mindset to the behavioral targeting world and there may be some consternation at the idea of a consumer knowing just how much advertisers know about them. This semi-secretive agenda is the game that behavioral advertisers and providers have to play all the time because the perfect world for them would be one where the consumer doesn’t know squat about what an advertiser knows about them and doesn’t care.

Google has been busy as of late with the introduction of Google Related and now its rolling out of an expanded version of sitelinks.

Google’s Inside Search blog gives a quick history of sitelinks in search results that really shows how different the new approach is.

The first generation from 2006 looked like this

More recently, an expanded list of links in two columns has been more the norm.

Now, with the new announcement you get this.

The inclusion of URL’s and snippet text use almost looks like paid ads. I wonder if this is a way to get people more used to clicking on this kind of result thus making them more likely to click on paid search which is where Google makes its coin?

Today Google unveiled its new extension for Chrome called Google Related. The option is also available as a new feature for Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer.

This is a pretty big deal for those SMB’s that are paying attention these days. Watch the Google provided video here.

While the additional information is striking for the end user it can be a web site owner’s worst nightmare. Why? Well, Google’s Related Places from their Place Page data is put front and center for your visitor to see. Now we are seeing what Google had planned for some of the information they recently stripped from their place pages.