SponsoredLinX: 2015 Google Partners All-Star

Google has never intended to become a conventional company, as Alphabet CEO Larry Page is known for famously saying. With no other company around the world quite like Google, we’d say they’re doing very well in sticking to their guns. The basis of what they do hasn’t changed – to find for you whatever it is you may be searching for. As we demand more information now than ever before, our quickly emerging demand economy means that online marketing agencies such as SponsoredLinX need to work smarter than ever to deliver the services, tools and products to help small to medium sized business owners adapt and prosper.

It’s why when Google announced their Google All-Stars competition that SponsoredLinX CEO & Founder Ben Bradshaw knew we had to enter in order to continue to provide our clients with the most up to date resources, talent and value. The prize for winning was a trip to Google’s Googleplex in Mountain View, San Francisco. We are over-the-moon happy to report that SponsoredLinX won for the second year in a row, and we are the only agency in Australia to have achieved this! Within Australia there were only 15 Google Partner agencies which qualified to meet the criteria, and within that SponsoredLinX was the only dedicated small to medium sized business focused online marketing agency.

This year the conference was a much larger and comprehensive event in comparison to last year. It was held in the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley over the space of three days. Incidentally, the Wearables Exhibition was on at the same time. Ben got to see the evolution of computers and wearable technology, plus he got to see the first ever prototype of Google Glass. He was also privy to Google’s self-driving car and was briefed on the technology driving that (pun intended).

Over the three days Ben was working over-time to keep up with all of the information he was exposed to. He has been able to narrow down the essential key points for Australian business owners and within them you really can build an online marketing blueprint and strategy for the coming year. First and foremost, mobile technology and the way we use mobile devices is not slowing down, which means that mobile search is more important than ever. As a consequence of this, video content is going to continue to rise not only in popularity, but the quality of production. Watch this space! At the end of the day though, it all comes down to getting the right marketing message, in the right format, at the right time to the right people. Google likes to call them Micro-Moments. As business owners, the best way to prepare for these changes is to work with online marketing professionals to achieve this.

Being informed means you can make smarter decisions, so let’s take a look at Google’s three principles of innovation. They are:

• Focus on the User

Google takes the point of view that if a user experiences difficulties in using Google products, this is Google’s problem to solve, not the users. If a user can’t spell or form a search query, or if a user doesn’t know which search terms to use, or if there isn’t enough content on the web; this is Google’s problem to fix. By focusing on the user, Google are able to effectively and continuously work towards a better user experience.

• Freedom

Google knows that if you don’t innovate, you die. It’s that simple. So in order to keep on innovating, they understand they have to offer their employees a level of freedom to do so.

• Ten Times Better, aka 10X

When many companies try to challenge their existing models and processes, their way of thinking often doesn’t go beyond how they can be two times or three times better than they currently are. Google has the 10X principle, which forces them to completely rethink how they do things. In fact, there are special teams within Google which focus purely on this. It is how Google are still the powerhouse they are today.

Too often we hear people blaming the economy, or the tools or services they have available to them, but as we can see, there is much we can learn from Google’s three principles of innovation. If you are prepared to step outside of the status-quo, you can do it. Google has some big changes on the horizon and it is vital that you stay informed so that your business can not just survive, but thrive.  If you’re keen to learn more about the insights Ben picked up from the recent Google All-Stars conference, then join Ben for our October Optimise Webinar on Wednesday 28th October. Simply visit the SponsoredLinX website to register, or call us in 1300 859 600. We can’t wait for you to join us.

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