The free Biznology newsletter is delivered straight to your e-mail inbox or feed reader each month, covering a topic in digital marketing. Check out our recent back issues:
Image via CrunchBase
Many of you probably got an e-mail last week from Google announcing its new privacy policy. Every site has a privacy policy, and as a marketer, I understand the need to make some use of the information. After all, Google gives a lot of stuff for nothing–I depend on Gmail, Google Calendar, and many other free functions–so it is only fair that we give something back. I personally am fine with allowing Google use of my data, but I do like to read exactly what they are allowed to do. That’s where I ran into trouble. more »
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Every time I come to New York City, I see the same scene. At the subway stations and on the street, I pass multiple people yelling, “AM New York” to passersby, as they attempt to hand out free newspapers to commuters. But very few people take them. Lately, the hawkers are adding more come-ons to the pitch (“Coupons for 20% off electronics”), but I don’t think it is markedly increasing the uptake among commuters. As someone who grew up devouring newspapers, and did so daily for 35 years, it saddens me a bit when I see this. And even fewer are buying newspapers. more »
Image via Wikipedia
Mastercard and VISA certainly hope not, but Larry Page wants to be in your wallet. Well, not exactly–he wants to replace your wallet. Last month, when I talked about Google’s new strategy–we do everything–I mentioned that Google is working hard to unseat PayPal, the online payments leader, but I think that I undersold Google’s ambitions. Google wants to be the leading form of payments anywhere, not just online. more »
Image via CrunchBase
Several years ago, I wrote a post called What’s Google’s Strategy? where I broke down the search giant’s real business model: advertising anything everywhere. And while I have had more to say over the last few years, I never really felt the need to redo that post because I hadn’t seen anything fundamentally changing about Google’s strategy. But with Larry Page now at the helm, I believe that we have enough evidence that Google’s strategy is changing. It’s not that Google is moving away from advertising, which will comprise the lion’s share of revenue for a very long time. But Google is turning into more than a one-trick pony, and its strategic moves are as much defensive as offensive. more »
Image via CrunchBase
I talk to folks about social media all the time. One of the things that I notice right away is the fear. Most people are worried that they don’t know what to do in social media. They are afraid that they will make a mistake. That they will say the wrong thing. Or, they fear that they don’t know what to say at all–even that they have nothing to say. All these fears are real and you might be experiencing some of them yourself, but you don’t need to. I’d like to convince you that you really do know what to say in social media. more »
