Google Feature: Lookup Calories in Wine

I'm sure this set of features has a name for it other than a Google search index feature; but I thought it was pretty neat to see. Besides instantaneous information on earthquakes, currency exchange rates, and basic math formulas, did you know that you can lookup how many calories in a 5 oz glass of cabernet sauvignon too?

Nutritional Information on Wine using Google Search

This is what comes up with the basic query of "wine calories"; but when you add more qualifiers to the search box, the standard output of search listings just shows. So, no nutritional display for queries like "white wine calories" vs "red wine calories". There's a mix of types of red wines in the caloric drop-down box; plus a general entry for "wine" which isn't terribly descriptive nor helpful. But, that said, who is really going to drink 5 oz of wine at dinner? A typical dinner with wine will run you at least 400-500 calories per meal. Hope you are adding in extra exercise to burn off those additional sugar calories.

New and Vastly Improved Google Maps

Looks like Google engineers have been busy adding some interesting features to how directional maps are served up. Besides the usual car, transit, and walking routes, there is now a route for bikes which takes you between cities on surface streets. A good feature to have in bike friendly neighborhoods like Portland, Minneapolis, or Boulder.

The addition of clickable icons on a street map is nice to have. If I had to guess, I'd say that the companies, parks, bus stops that appear on the map are from existing data points that users either put in themselves (like adding a company's office or HQ to the map) or Google was able to bulk upload to their data universe. The fantastic feature here is being able to pinpoint a company's location within a complex of buildings, like at a mall. The example below is of the Bellevue Square Mall in Bellevue WA.

2013-06-23, Bellevue Square Mall Snapshot

2013-06-23, a pretty clean list of driving suggestions

The biggest quirk I can see is when the map engine tries to give a solution to a transit route that makes no sense. If you don't start with a transit center as a starting point, you could get transit routes that take up to 8 hours. The custom date/time setting for a future route is a bit clunkier than what was there before with a separate popup for it. Transit to Everett is not an option with wait times and in-transit time being up to 1.5 hours each way; who has that kind of luxury? It is still faster by fossil-fuel-burning car, though mostly because it would be a reverse traffic commute.

Ugh. Most of the time, you see, is from walking!
I am not going to walk 2.8 miles a day when it is
25 degrees out and sleeting.

Electric Mirror, used in this example, is a topic for a different post. The company manufactures Vive(tm), which is a Bluetooth-enabled TV mirror (a mirror when not in use, a television that fits in the space of a mirror; how neat is that??) Their global HQ is in Everett and I am just using their location in this example.

I wonder if hills are taken into consideration for walking directions. The walking route is impractical in this scenario.

2013-06-23, Walking directions from Bothell to Everett

Indirectly asked: what could we be doing better?

This is a nagging topic on the minds of a lot of marketers this year; in addition to making marketing automation work like a mad SQL (sales qualified lead) generating tool. With respect to direct, email, or online marketing, what seems commonplace to me as a marketer might not be apparent to others who have had mixed results with their campaigns. Let's start with a basic approach: email marketing.

Batch and blast works well for generalized content or for product announcements. But, for that personal touch, as in do it with customer service like you really care... try sending your customers a personalized, non-sales oriented email about a birthday, anniversary, or a special gift just for them.

Ask customers to engage with you in online conversations, participate on polls or surveys, or get feedback on their experiences. It doesn't hurt to ask for their input. What do you think about the new features we put into ___. How does your website redesign look?

When I ask other marketers how many touches they send out to their prospects and active customers, I get a variety of answers. The most I've heard of (including autoresponders from newsletter signups or web form submissions) on the B2B side is 15-20 touches per prospect per month. Ouch, I don't think I'd want to be on the receiving end without an unlimited data plan for my connected devices. This is when planning out content and using a scheduling calendar really helps when releasing time-delayed content. Some premium features of marketing platforms even offer limiters on how many times a lead or contact can be contacted within a set period of time. And, you can also manage frequency when setting up a demand automation funnel as well for handling MQLs and recycled SQLs.

And last of all, your prospects and customers are just like you and me. We have a finite amount of time to devote to activities like reading email; especially promotional or content that adds some richness to our daily lives. Be mindful of how (often) you send out content.

/stepping off the soapbox/

Shared Office Space

I'm a bit intrigued by the shared office workspace being pitched by PivotDesk at Seattle Tech Meetup. Seems to take the contract management and billing hassles out of subletting office space, coupled with the host office providing other services (utilities, high speed internet, conference room, etc) which might not defray actual overhead costs.

Certainly there are far more pros than cons for the Guest; I'm not sure what else the Host office gains out of this arrangement other than a monthly sublet fee paid to them.