An integration of traditional relationship building and word of mouth marketing
Google. Its massive search engine capabilities and plethora of applications have helped to make consumers' lives more organized and efficient while enhancing how people connect to information. With this intent, the powerhouse has also become adept at connecting people, whether through offering directions by way of GoogleMaps, sharing photos through Picasa, or encouraging user generated content through eBlogger.
To capture all of this activity and the many ways that users reach out to friends on the web, Google has also recently promoted its Google Profile pages through the printing of personalized business cards.
Google Profile pages act as brief snapshots of a user's online presence, aggregating all their social networking and personal websites into one easy list, while providing as much information about the user as they'd like. Just one click, and they're re-directed to Facebook, Flickr, or Twitter. Just one quick glance, and other users can see how technologically savvy their friends really are by searching for names in Google's search field.
The new promotion for Google Profiles partners with iPrint.com to give away 10,000 sets of 25 personalized business cards, complete with the coveted rainbow Google letters adorning the 3.5x2 inch space. The card will also have the Google search field as seen on the website, with the user's name and profile URL included. The offer is only available in the continental U.S., and users will have to create an iPrint.com account to place their order.
This interesting tactic for spreading word of mouth seems surprising for the almost paperless company; however, it provides an excellent way for bridging the gap between a user's physical and virtual reality. Not only has Google created an excellent buzz marketing campaign for connecting users, they are identifying key influencers by limiting the number of business cards printed. The only catch is hoping that whoever gets one of the prized 25 cards then visits Google Profiles to create a page of their own.
What's next for Google? It seems that if Google Profiles could gain enough traction among users, it very well could metamorphosize into a larger community where access to all social media platforms and applications lies at the click of a finger. Organized, complete and above all, searchable in the larger Google network.
