Google + #digday11 at Engauge

New Ice Cream Sandwich logo unveiled at Google I/O 2011

On the heels of the excitement of Google’s I/O conference today (as well as its ninja-like focus on mobile), I want to share some treats that Google brought to our humble abode (Engauge) last week at Dig Day 2011 by way of Google’s Head of Industry – Technology, Tom Lowry.

About Dig Day

Drew Hawkins, another member of the Digital Innovation Group, did a great job outlining key highlights of Dig Day.  We hosted panels and speakers on emerging technology, including (the future of) television, location-based services, micro-local couponing, Augmented Reality, and of course, mobile.  Check back for interviews with Dig Day guests on the DIGThis: Podcast.

Announcing Google’s Tom Lowry

Lowry dissects the current marketing approach from an ROI perspective.  He says that currently, ‘the “holy grail” metric is offline conversion.’ That is, online marketing results are quantified based on the extent that online actions motivate brick-and-mortar conversion, such as foot traffic or in-store sales as a result of an online coupon.

Instead, Lowry says that Google is working hard to ‘quantifying the online benefit’ of online marketing tactics.  Instead of quantifying the offline result, we need to take a reverse approach by framing results according to online actions (e.g. 1 sale online drives 5,10, or 15 sales offline).

He then transitioned into his best-developed argument: Mobile first.

“Marketers and developers first need to curate the user experience in mobile.  Only once the mobile experience is established, finessed, and refined should a brand then evaluate the user experience on a desktop.”

Here are the stats:

• Currently. one in three searches on a mobile device is local, versus one in five on a laptop.
• The pushback from brick-and-mortar is that the online (eCommerce) team doesn’t want to circulate offline promotions online because they’re losing an online sale.  However, the offline store is currently investing their dollars into traditional marketing, such as on TV or in circulars.  The model is changing, and brick-and-mortar need to adjust.
• Youtube
• The 2nd largest search engine
• He proposes to go to youtube and search for a brand.  Compare the presences of those who have a presence versus those who don’t. The proportion of positive to negative content will be significantly lower for those who do not have a presence.
• Consumer outreach needs to be reframed to FIRST think mobile (that is, think about how people will search for the product, what information is available and how the product will be available to purchase).  Only then should a brand consider the desktop experience for the product. Even then, the desktop experience needs to be an extension of the mobile experience (instead of vice versa – which is the current trend).

Dig Day was a phenomenal success for us as staff to connect personally with leaders in technology, and we beamed with pride to see our clients impressed with our work.  Thanks, Engauge!