What would Google do?

Notes on how Google approaches buisness:

· If you must explain your value, it's not as great as you think.

· Marketers' ultimate goal should be to eliminate advertising by improving their products and relationships instead. (This is an unreachable Nirvana, but a good goal.)

· Google - and Apple - make money by giving a key part of their business away for free, then making money on something else.

· Too often, companies think that everything they do has value they must capture, charge for, monetize, preserve, restrict, and protect. Instead, the real value may come from the side.

· Invest effort in social tools that enable customers to tell you what you should be producing. Hand over as much control to them as you can.

· Advertising is supposed to tell us about a product or its price so we can save effort, time, and money in our search for it. Doesn't the internet itself replace advertising? Often, yes.

· The fundamental message of marketing must change from "we want your money" to "we share your interests".

· Companies should buy ads on relevant blogs, as a way to underwrite blogs, as they would a PBS show. Share the interests and affections of the blog's readers.

· The more you control, the less you will be trusted. The more you hand over control, the more trust you will earn.

· The powerful must learn to trust the public.

· Networks are built atop platforms. A platform enables. It helps build value. If it is open and collaborative, those users may in turn add value to the platforms.

Umair Hauge gave a talk at BRITE this year on this subject...

Umair Haque at BRITE '09 conference from Center Global Brand Leadership on Vimeo.