I hope you had a great Thanksgiving despite all the challenges 2020 keeps bringing us. It’s been rough, no doubt, but if we acknowledge the worst of it and keep our eyes on the future, we’ll come out stronger, so let’s keep at it.
And on that note, here are articles to help you navigate what’s coming next in the world of marketing:
- Search Engine Watch recently published “The Rise of Vertical Search Engines.” You might not think of LinkedIn, Zillow, or Kayak as search engines, but they are examples of vertical search engines for their respective audiences. Will the Google antitrust action open new opportunities for these vertical search engines, especially in the B2B space which we know could benefit from some user segmentation? Let us know what you think.
- Miss traveling? Google is now offering 360-degree Street View Virtual Tours of 100 global museums and cultural sites. Find your place (or palace) here….
- We lost a marketing pioneer this past weekend. Tony Hsieh, retired CEO of Zappos, passed away this past weekend. Are you familiar with his work? He strove to improve customer service through employee enrichment and experimented with many variations on how to make that work. This news story contains links to some of the concepts he pioneered. And like all great innovators, he learned to pivot from what didn’t work to create lasting successes for others to build on. Thank you for inspiring us, Tony!
- Have you heard about The Dan Nestle Show podcasts? They’re casual conversations between brilliant thinkers from all areas of business. Many are marketers who talk with Dan about what they’ve been learning, and the conversations go off in all kinds of directions. You can find the Dan Nestle podcasts here.
- With everything going on in the world, we could all use less to worry about, right? And while Google core algorithm updates don’t keep most people awake at night, it is good news that SEO-ers can concentrate on some other things during the upcoming holidays….
- Google has been pushing Local Services Ads, which includes its two underlying “trust certifications,” Google Guaranteed (home services) and Google Screened (professional services). Now the Google Guaranteed badge available to businesses for a monthly fee, outside of participation in Local Services Ads (LSA). Check it out.
- Insider Insights released a report outlining 2020’s biggest US shocks in forecasting. Examine the difference between February 2020’s predictions and 2020’s actual data. Here’s a teaser for you: “We now forecast that 189.0 million US adults will participate in digital banking this year, an unexpected additional uptick of 22.8 million people compared with our pre-pandemic forecast.” Here’s more.
Do Good Spotlight: Giving Friends
For the 23rd year, Giving Friends, a 501c3 nonprofit, is running its annual toy drive. This organizations provides Christmas gifts to children of vulnerable families living in NYC recovery-based housing, shelters, and other underserved communities. The founder, Lynne Corry, began the toy drive when she was homeless and addicted to drugs and alcohol. She and her infant son lived in a residential home for women in recovery and their young children. Via a link to the charity’s page on Target.com, you can select a gift that will be delivered to a child to help them feel the love in the world. We donated and you can too. You can donate to the organization, learn more here. Or you can purchase toys via Target, here’s that link.
Special shout out to long-time DBE/Owlthena friend Jim Siegel for telling us about this organization!
Bonus Story: Want some instant happiness? Here’s a list of songs scientists say make you happy.
Hope the rest of your week goes smoothly!