Category Archives: Business & Marketing

Google Audio: About Your Ad form

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In another lifetime I wrote radio “spots.” A lot of ’em. So please feel free to skip this “shop talk” post.

TechCrunch is getting reports from advertisers that Google Audio Ads have been added as an option to their Adwords accounts. Interesting to see the data collected  with the “About Your Ad” form (Goal of ad; target customer; key messages; call to action; etc.).

And this from the comments on the post: “I’ve been using Audio Ads for months now. I like how you can listen to the actual snippet of your ad being played on the station. I don’t like how you can’t choose a specific radio station, only the type of format and DMA.”

Wonder how they’re getting the mini-air check? I can see how advertisers would love that.

Bonus link: “Analysts Peek Into Google’s Pitch to Radio” (Radio World)

Apple gets retail

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Apple Store

Roger points us to this New York Times story on the success of Apple’s retail stores:

“Mr. Jobs understood, however, that his stores would sell not merely products but also gratification. He told the trade magazine Chain Store Age Executive in 2001: “When I bring something home to the kids, I want to get the smile. I don’t want the U.P.S. guy to get the smile.”

Customer response is told in the numbers. Last month, Apple released results for the quarter ended March 31. More than 21.5 million people visited its stores, which now number more than 180. Store sales were $855 million, up 34 percent from the quarter a year earlier, and they contributed more than $200 million in profits.”

If you decide it’s time to buy your first Mac, take the time… make the drive… visit an Apple store. It is a unique retail experience.

PS: Received this little reminder while posting this from the home office Dell.

Missouri Lottery blogging

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The Missouri Lottery is blogging. According to the release, you can "ask questions about games and promotions, watch videos from the new Reel Lottery video series, get updates on Lottery winners, and read posts from Lottery employees and players."

Chief Blogger in Residence is John Wells. He’s been with the Missouri Lottery for some time as Videographer/Satellite Coordinator. John has been wading in the blog pond since October of 2005 and has managed to turn it into his day job. Good for him. From time to time, John does part-time work for The Missourinet (a Learfield company).

The lottery should have been blogging years ago, but for many (most? all?) state entities, the blogosphere is a mysterious and scary place. I have to believe that John lobbied long and hard to help make this happen. On the other hand, it’s getting harder and harder to ignore the Power of the Blog. Good luck, John.

Google reaches out

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Google ReaderOkay, make of this what you will. A few days ago I posted a couple of lines about having a problem with the “Share” feature in Google Reader. I did not report the problem to Google. But within about 24 hours, I received the following email:

“Hi Steve, if you send me your email address I’d be happy to take a look at your account to see what’s going on.

Justin Haugh
Google Reader Engineer”

Justin subscribes to a search feed for “google reader” at blogsearch.google.com, saw my post, and reached out to see if he could help. (The issue had already resolved itself.)

Think about it. There must be a bazillion people using Google Reader. I didn’t ask for help, but someone at Google took watch for users needing help and take time to offer. Does your company go that far? Does mine? Do the Google Fan Boy T-shirts come in medium?