Is Google Going to Start Marketing?

Marketing often gets a bad rap. It sometimes is described as ways of manipulating customers so that they buy products they don't really need. However the existence of bad drivers doesn't mean we should all give up driving. Equally the existence of bad marketers doesn't mean we should all give up on marketing. Marketing in its most useful sense is the process whereby suppliers determine the true needs of their customers. They then use that information to satisfy those needs in the best way possible. Done correctly, marketing can create win/win situations for both suppliers and their customers. It's all about being customer-centric rather than product-driven. That's not to say that product-driven companies like Microsoft or Google do not produce good products. Apply enough money and talent and good products should result. However they will not be as appropriate as they could be to meet customer needs if customers aren't part of the dialogue. That dialogue process can be very well served by the blogging process if senior management is self-confident enough to allow it. Of course the Titanic cannot turn on a dime. A huge organization does not change culture in months but rather in years. CRM Magazine suggests how it can be done in an article: Contrast that with the somewhat surprising Google decision to close down Google Answers recently as described by David Sarokin, one of the researchers, as described in an article, which appears in today's issue of the Can Google Get More Bloggers In 2007? Time Magazine nominated You (that is all of us) as the Person of the Year in 2006. It shouldn't be a hard sell to persuade Google to talk to the Person of the Year. SMM Strategic Marketing Montreal works with business owners and senior management on Internet Marketing strategy and action plans to grow their companies. He is a moderator at the Cre8asite Forums and writes on current issues on the Internet and on the Mobile Web in three blogs, StayGoLinks and