Joe is our new Account Strategist at Google; he answers all our crazy questions, keeps us up to date with the latest developments and advises how we can best integrate them into our clients’ online marketing strategies. Joe kindly agreed to answer some more of our questions so we wanted to share the results with you.
Joe, you’re one of our Account Strategists at Google, tell us a little bit more about what your role involves?
Working on the SMB Agency team for the UK and Ireland I am responsible for liaising with agencies on a regular basis to ensure that the accounts they manage are running at tip top performance and are delivering the ROI’s and results that agencies and end clients set out to achieve. This can range from reviewing an account and giving feedback on its’ performance to helping agencies implement the latest AdWords Betas.
Silly question; you started off at Google as an Intern – was it anything like the Vince Vaughan film?
Ha ha, not too far off! A lot of similarities including an abundance of very intelligent people from all walks of life from architects to entrepreneurs. But very few people actually said “on the line” like Vince Vaughan does.
Describe the working atmosphere / environment at Google in three words?
Innovative, Colourful, Fast.
At Ambergreen we’re fortunate enough to be involved with many of the Google Betas. How do you select who is involved in beta launches and how many betas never make it to market?
It goes without saying that only the most useful and user friendly betas make the cut. Luckily Google is not a company afraid of experimenting in order to make the search experience as good as possible. Selection criteria vary for each Beta but we are always happy when agencies such as Ambergreen show an interest in participating.
You’ve recently expanded the range and sophistication of Google exams. Do you ever think that that Google Qualifications will be an official academic subject taught in universities or schools – the next Harvard perhaps?!!
You never know! During my Masters in E-Commerce in Dublin City University one of my modules was based around the Google Online Marketing Challenge in which students are required to craft and execute an AdWords campaign for a local business. Over 150 students took part in this exercise demonstrating the value which this university placed on digital engagement in general. On the back of this many participants went on to complete their AdWords exams because they too realised the potential of having this valuable asset entering the work place.
Which industry sector, do you think, makes the best use of the ever evolving technologies and tools developed by Google?
With a keen interest in travel I am always interested in the ways that the travel market uses AdWords along the entire purchasing cycle from attention to action. As a consumer I am always open to the idea of booking my next dream holiday and love seeing the innovative ways that companies try to entice you.
And are there any particular verticals that you think are under using these technologies? Please also explain why you think this is the case.
Some verticals like finance face certain challenges when it comes to using the full suite of AdWords features. In a crowded market place it can be hard to stand out and so staying on top of the latest announcements of new products and betas through the AdWords Blog and Google+ page is critical.
Marketing is (or at least should be!) always about the consumer, recently there has been a lot of emphasis around putting consumers at the heart of your (Google) new developments. What has stimulated this increased customer focus?
Google wouldn’t be where it is today if we didn’t listen to customers who essentially want the right ad at the right time. When this happens everyone is a winner. From our side we try to facilitate this as much as possible so that consumers continue to choose Google products and advertisers continue to see positive ROI’s.
Google has transformed the way in which we all live our daily lives and with advances such as Google glasses and the self driving car life is set to become even more technology driven. What do you think a ‘Google-less’ life would be like?
A lot less interesting that’s for sure! I can’t remember a time that I didn’t have all of the information in the world at my fingertips or in my pocket. I think it’s cool that we live in a world today where companies give so many top quality products and services to consumers for free and I like to think Google has played a large part in this through incredibly useful products like Maps and Gmail.
We agree Joe a world without Goggle would most certainly be a less interesting place! Many thanks for sharing your thoughts with us Joe.
The Internship image courtesy of IMDB.com
