Google’s latest accomplishment: refining marketing practice

Citation

(2012), "Google’s latest accomplishment: refining marketing practice", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 29 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm.2012.07729caa.002

Google’s latest accomplishment: refining marketing practice

Article Type: Internet currency From: Journal of Consumer Marketing, Volume 29, Issue 3

Edited by Dennis A. Pitta, University of Baltimore

Occasionally, a marketing technique emerges on a particular website that has far reaching applications. This column details one such development that offers the potential for changes in the strategic landscape.

About thirty years ago, there were rumors of a successful but questionable marketing practice. It focused on automobile retailing. Since automobile retail prices are not fixed consumers expect to negotiate the final price. Purportedly, a new car retailer placed a listening device in a sales room. It was aimed at overhearing the discussion between couples shopping for a vehicle. In practice, a salesperson would identify a car for a pair of customers and quote a price. Customers would make a lower counteroffer and the salesperson would leave the room to consult with the manager. In fact, both the manager and salesperson would listen in to couple’s conversation hoping to assess the level of commitment to their counteroffer and any hint of flexibility. Armed with that information, the salesperson could offer the dealership’s own counteroffer with the intent to close the sale and boost potential profitability. The story is probably apocryphal but it illustrates a desire of most marketers to really understand what is in the customer’s mind and to make a perfectly crafted market offer. Over the years, there have been other efforts to refine the selectivity of marketing communication.

The most recent is a brainchild of Google, whose engineers have delivered an evolutionary technique that may revolutionize marketing. It is based on the premise that individuals who seek information about a problem are interested in solving the problem and are more likely to purchase products and services that offer a solution.

Applying the technology

Google has acknowledged that it keeps messages in its free G-mail application indefinitely. The practice is explained in its user privacy policy. Consumers can weigh the benefits of the free service against the cost to privacy. Apparently, many value free G-mail accounts since they are quite popular. In fact, retaining messages for future consumer use is one of the selling points of the free service. Separately from email, Google also has the ability to save Google searches along with pertinent identifying data.

One example of one analysis illustrates the power of the information that Google collects. The foundation for the example rests on the nature and scope of Google’s data collection procedure. Google collects numerous data items every time a user initiates a search. The relevant items for this example are the location of the user, the date and time, and the content sought.

As concerns about influenza and a possible influenza pandemic have increased over the last several years, users have searched the web to learn about the disease. It is logical that regions with higher internet connectivity generate more search traffic. It is also logical that users search for specific health information when they are concerned about that specific issue. Google based its efforts on a premise that one should see more “flu-related searches during flu season, more allergy-related searches during allergy season, and more sunburn-related searches during the summer” (Google, 2010). When a user searches for information using Google the search engine records numerous data points including, the user’s location, date and time, and the general category of information sought that focused on the flu and epidemics.

During the period from 2003-2008 Google collected data on searches for influenza information. They then correlated the data with contemporaneous data from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The results were startling (Google, 2010). Google compared both sources of data and found general agreement with one exception: Google’s results came about two weeks before those reported by the CDC. The findings were published as a letter in the scientific journal, Nature (Ginsberg et al., 2008).

The results are interesting and might be dismissed as a specialized application to health care. However, the marketing applications are straightforward. Knowing the interest of consumers in seeking information or in purchasing is a critical element in marketing success. Some practitioners have called it the “law of readiness.” It is not a law but the term illustrates the importance of consumers who are at the higher levels of the promotional hierarchy of effects. Using Google data, one can customize promotion for flu related products locally, as the disease spreads from region to region. The products can range from consumer items purchased over the counter to deal with symptoms, or products like flu inoculations dispensed by a professional.

Simply possessing data, even enormous volumes of data is no guarantee of converting it into useful information. Notably, humans ask the same question in a variety of ways. The questions may be similar but computers have difficulty in distinguishing the information content and then in grouping the content of similar questions into a category. Analyzing search data requires a framework to help organize the information.

Broadening the value of knowing the content of searches, Google has provided a tool that can aid most marketers. Called Google Insights for Search[1] users can gauge interest in specific search terms. Users ranging from small to medium sized businesses to large multinationals, from advertising agencies to universities can find levels of interest in topics relevant to their products and services.

Notably, Google Insights for Search focuses on the search term used and gauges interest in the “term.” The link between search term and the underlying concept seems robust enough to be useful. Google notes that researchers can use Google Insights for Search, for some basic purposes such as comparing “search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties” (Google, 2011).

Insights for Search allows examining data in four major ways. One can focus on specific categories, seasonality, geographic distribution, and properties. Using Insights for Search is about as easy as an ordinary Google search. Users are presented with a template in which they can enter one or more search terms, with filters which include a timeframe, geographic location and specific categories like health, finance, law and government and other preset categories.

As a test, a search for electric vehicles worldwide brought up a timeline with the number of searches per quarter from 2004 to 2011. Remarkably, Google provided some insight into the results by charting significant events that occurred simultaneously including factors such as the introduction of new electric vehicles and political initiatives related to them. In principle, the search results might indicate specific areas where consumers are “ready” to consider those vehicles.

Implications for marketers

It seems rare when marketers uncover the true preferences of their target audiences especially when there are many competing demands for their loyalty. Google Insights for Search is not a magical tool for mind reading. It does provide a picture of what is important that requires careful interpretation. The searches are so simple to conduct that the technique is assured of being used and in providing insights for many marketers, not just those with sophisticated research capabilities. Combined with a sophisticated understanding of the behavior of target audiences, the insights it provides can refine marketing efforts.

Reader requests

Please forward all requests to review innovative internet sites to: Dr Dennis Pitta, University of Baltimore, 1420 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201-5779, USA. Alternatively, please send e-mail to: dpitta@ubalt.edu for prompt attention.

With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties.