Aaron Goldman - Everything I Know about Marketing I Learned From Google

Aaron Goldman

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For Lisa and Eliara

Who put up with me during all the time Ive spent
Googling myself

There are many persons, places, and thingsor, as Pat Sajak would say, nounsthat Id like to acknowledge for their role in bringing this project to life.

My family was very supportive during the many months I spent planning, writing, editing, and promoting this book. Special thanks to my wife, Lisa, who bore the brunt of my preoccupation but was by my side every step of the way. Id also like to call out my parents and siblingsthe Goldmans for my pun-derful writing style and the Neimans for, among other things, allowing me to write uninterrupted during our vacation in Mexico. And much love to my daughter, Eliara, whose blog had to go on hiatus while I worked on this book but who was a constant source of inspiration.

Everyone at McGraw-Hill has been a pleasure to work with. Just want to recognize a few folksmy editors, Donya Dickerson and Tania Loghmani, who helped this book take shape, and Gaya Vinay, who discovered me and helped with marketing this book.

More than 100 peoplefrom marketers to agency execs to media mavens to Googlers to authors to researchers to academicsparticipated in interviews and shared valuable insights that informed my manuscript. I wont name them all herejust flip to the index for the rundownbut I hope each and every one knows how much I appreciate his or her time and consideration. If youre long on attention span, check out GoogleyLessons.com for the full text of each interview. I do want to specifically mention Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore, who was more than helpful when it came to sourcing various statistics and research studies.

This project began as a series of bylines in MediaPost titled, Everything I Need to Know about Marketing I Learned from Google. The good folks at MediaPost were quite accommodating when it came to letting me use my column as a forum to flesh out this topic. Publisher Ken Fadner and Columns Editor Phyllis Fine deserve special recognition; Jon Whitfield doesnt, but Ill drop his name anyway.

Sheri Goldstein was my high school English teacher and encouraged me to pursue journalism at the University of Illinois. I ended up dropping journalism after one semestertoo many deadlines!but had it not been for her, I wouldnt have gone to U of I and, in turn, majored in advertising and joined a fraternity where I met two of my best friends and future business partners, Matt Spiegel and Lance Neuhauser.

To everyone not mentioned here, please know that its not because I dont careits because my editors cut you.

Resolution Media HQ: 10 were written at my old desk while the agency was closed between Christmas and New Years 2009. I also plowed through a few too many reams of paper there a few months later while printing out manuscripts for hand editing. (Im old school like that.)

20 were written in this digital creative shop. The talented crew at Elevate also designed many of the images used in the book and developed the books Web site. Props to Larry Bak, Sara Novak, Jason Crichton, and Travis Clanahan for their great work. Thanks also to Kate, Nate, and Joey for pretending not to mind while I creaked in my chair, clacked away on my keyboard, and paced around the office.

Royal Resorts Cancun: was hatched here during a family vacation in March 2010. The staff at Tradewinds was very polite while I sat in the restaurant for hours at a time, ordering only iced tea.

Jimmy Johns on Chicago Avenue: This was my source of sustenance (#14 and a pickle) nearly every day I spent writing. Sometimes their delivery was so fast (I once clocked them at six minutes), I really did freak.

Googleplex: In general, the folks at Google were very cooperative. While making it clear they cannot endorse any book, they certainly opened their doors. Special thanks to Jake Parillo for providing access and approvals, Addie Braun for cheerleading, and Sandra Heikkinen and Sarah Tran for the official tour in Mountain View.