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So, I’m sat having dinner with three friends.  One is a property developer, one is a retired entrepreneur and one is a very senior partner with one of the big four accounting firms.  Between them, they have huge experience in business and are very knowledgeable about lots of things.

The conversation got round to my company, De Leon, (we do Online Personal Reputation Management) and then onto a related subject that is very dear to my business heart i.e. Google.  I was waxing lyrical about Google and how they much money they make and how, with their “cloud computing” initiative, Google are having a “pop” at Microsoft and have the potential to start to chip away at Microsoft’s computing dominance.

During the conversation, I gradually started to pick up on the fact that none of my three friends actually knew how Google have become so successful or how they make their huge profits.  They were very aware of Microsoft and knew that their Operating Systems and their Office software is used as the de facto standard around the world and that they have each personally paid Microsoft hundreds of pounds – leaving aside whatever their businesses have paid to Microsoft.

When I asked them directly; “So, how has Google become one of the biggest companies in the world?” they fluffed around a bit and decided, as a group, that it was probably through “advertising”.  I responded by saying that the Google search page is clean and white and doesn’t have any adverts – they responded with furrowed brows.  Then, when I reminded them that the search response pages don’t have banners and flashing adverts they started to look really puzzled.  They agreed that they have all used Google hundreds if not thousands of times – and they have never seen anything that they recognise as an “advert” – nor had they have never been charged for the Google service!

They represented a very decent cross-section of business brain power but, as businessmen, they were somewhat bemused by the discovery of their lack of knowledge – and frankly, they quickly became intrigued that they had obviously happily accepted the existence and financial success of Google – but that they had never actually stopped to wonder how it has been achieved.

Furthermore, their general perception of the Microsoft “brand” was that of a hugely successful, hard-nosed company that makes billions by charging millions of users millions of pounds.  In addition, words like “very powerful” and “dominant” were used.

On the other hand, they agreed that their perception of Google is as a “warm, helpful and friendly” brand that offers a brilliant service to millions of users – entirely free of charge.  They clearly don’t know who pays for it all and, as long as it’s not them, they really don’t care much either.

Even the companies that do pay money to Google have a somewhat unusual experience.  No one from Google has ever telephoned them trying to sell them the service.  When they use the AdWords service, they know exactly (nearly) how many people have seen their adverts and how many have responded to them – and they only pay to advertise to people that have already expressed an interest in their products or services!

Google’s 4 Ps “Marketing Mix” makes for interesting reading.  i) Product – clean, clear and probably the best, ii) Price – free to users, iii) Place (distribution) available on any PC in the world (and used by 77% of “searchers”) and then there is iv) Promotion.  Do they advertise? Do they have sales staff? Do they do promotions?  Do they do Direct Mail?  Do they ever email you?  No, not really, not to us users anyway – it is their PR machine that does it all!

It is worth stepping back and reflecting that Google have perhaps pulled off the most stunning and remarkable example of branding and marketing that the world has ever seen.

Philip Westerman is the Founder of De Leon Ltd – Personal Reputation Management

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