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1. Introduction This is an independent learning module assessment assignment, to complete my postgraduate degree as I need one more module of 15 credit hours. So I am writing this assignment of maximum 4000 word limit on “ International Marketing Mix Strategies of Google Inc”. As Google has become the world’s most popular search
engine and can attribute its success to an innovative marketing plan. It found a good market niche and followed the path of innovation to market itself as the strong company that everyone knows today. The company generates revenue by providing advertisers with the opportunity to deliver measurable, cost-effective online advertising that is relevant to the information displayed on any given page. This makes the advertising useful to all of us as well as to the advertiser placing it. Google operates websites at many international domains, with the most trafficked being Google.com.
1.1. Aims The reason to choose this topic is because I want to work on International marketing strategies to get the idea of international marketing techniques adopted by a top branded company and I am very interested in to find out the search engine based companies marketing strategies that how these companies are promoting their brand internationally and generating profit from their business. Google Inc is one of world's largest search engines, who provide best web solutions to their customer while running effective and efficient International marketing strategies. So the discussion on International marketing strategies of Google Inc is the best combination for me as to get my aim. It will give me a huge area of discussion which covers the International marketing strategies of one of a words top branded search engine. As I am critically researching on their system that will provide me some ideas and flaws in their system so that I may can generate some recommendation for their business.
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1.2. Objectives Looking as an advisory point of view following are the objectives of this study;
Critically
analyze
the
international
marketing
systems
adopted
by
the
company and gather some relevant background information.
Find out the international marketing mix that can get the balance right betwe the different elements.
To incidence and regularity of performance of International marketing mix activities of Google Inc in Third World business contexts.
To enhance the marketing mix strategies of Google Inc and generate som recommendation for the better performance of the company.
2. Literature Review Google the world’s best search engine, they have the world’s largest and most scalable platform for developing huge web-based applications. It has taken the last 10 years of systems software research out of university labs, and built their own proprietary, production quality system. It is interesting to know about the policies and strategies that Google has adopted and become best web based brand and one of the world’s biggest Search Engine. Google stands alone in its focus on developing the perfect search engine, understands exactly what they mean and gives us back exactly what we want. The company is still working to provide better functions and services. Google developed its own serving infrastructure and breakthrough PageRank™ technology that changed the way searches are conducted. From the beginning, Google is providing the fastest, most accurate results required a new kind of server setup. Whereas most search engines ran off a handful of large servers that often slowed under peak loads, Google employed linked PCs to quickly find each query's answer. The innovation paid off in faster response times, greater
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3|Page scalability and lower costs. It's an idea that others have since copied, while Google has continued to refine its back-end technology to make it even more efficient. The software behind Google's search technology conducts a series of simultaneous calculations requiring only a fraction of a second. Traditional search engines rely
heavily on how often a word appears on a web page. Google uses numerous factors including its patented PageRank™ algorithm to examine the entire link structure of the web and determine which pages are most important. It then conducts hypertextmatching analysis to determine which pages are relevant to the specific search being conducted. By combining overall importance and query-specific relevance, Google is able to put the most relevant and reliable results first.
3. Theory and Analysis Marketing Mix The International marketing mix plan of Google can be broken down into the seven P’s of marketing;
product, price, promotion, place, packaging, Positing and
People. The Google has unique plans for each one of these areas of International
marketing and used them as an advantage over their competitors. With Google announcing it’s IPO it will need to keep up even more with competitors, now that there are stockholders analyzing every penny of the company.
3.1. Products Product refers to the services that Google provide to their customers. The services includes; advertising and providing their search technology to solve companies search problems within their intranet like; Web search, Book Search with full text of books, Desktop Search and personalize our computer, Earth Explore the world from our
computer, Images Search for images on the web, Maps to view maps and directions, News - now with archive search from which we can Search thousands of news
stories, etc. Google provide some Communicate, show & share services like; Docs that create and share our projects online and access them from anywhere, Orkut to
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4|Page meet new people and stay in touch with friends, YouTube to watch, upload and share videos, Talk that is a Internet messenger so we can call friends through our computer, Blogger to Share our life online with a blog, etc.
Google also sell tangible items along with its service or hybrid offers and also sell “pure” products like Pack that is a free collection of essential software to make better computing and Web accelerator to speed up the web. In the product plan of International marketing mix of Google it categorizes their products into three classes;
Advertising solutions Business Solutions Google Store Advertising solutions: In this plan they offer Google’s AdWords, which is actually a
text-based ads that are precise to the search on the site of the user and the customers pay Google every time when internet search users click on their site. So the Google is helping there customers to set up their site as the volume of visitors to the customer site’s increases. The example of this plan is; when we tend to search online buying on Google search engine then on the top and left side of the page there come some kind of sponsored Links like; Buy online with www.Ask.com ,Groceries Online at Tesco, Buying Online at Amazon, etc. Business Solutions: In Business solution plan Google offers a search appliance to
companies, which provide their customers a solution to hardware and the software problems regarding Google’s search technology and intranet. This plan includes three models of the Search Appliance: the GB-1001 for departments and mid-sized companies, the GB-5005 for dedicated high-priority search services such as customerfacing websites and company-wide intranet applications, and the GB-8008 for centralized deployments supporting global business units. For example if a client wants to install intranet connection in their office then Google support team will install best intranet connection including hardware and software that suits to that company along with advisory solutions.
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5|Page Google Store: In this service plan Google sells tangible items to increase their brand
image such as shirts, notebooks, bags, caps, lava lamps to almost anything that they can print their company’s name on. Like Google caps, Shirts etc.
3.2. Price It’s an important tool International marketing, which is the price that a company charges for the product that can be a door-opener, a word-of-mouth generator, a publicity-getter, or a loss-leader. It’s far too critical a weapon to leave entirely to the accountants. It is not only the price of an item, but also to the value offered by the product. Thriving organizations, such as Google, take into consideration list price, discounts, allowance, payment period and credit terms as relevant elements to consider when setting the price. Ad Word s plan of Google is set on the amount of advertisement per day it provides to its consumers. In Google’s case the list price is at five cents per day, however it can go as high as $50.00 per day. The price difference will depend on the amount of advertisement per day that the consumers are willing to pay and the amount of times individuals click to see the ads and how high these ads rank on a search page. The payment period of Google is based on its relationship with their customers. New customers located in specific countries need to make their payments with a credit card or by direct debit payments. As soon as the finance department receives the financial information and it is approved, the ads begin to run, yet if a customer has a long and positive relationship with Google its financial department might be able to set a monthly account. This is based on the credit history of the customer. The credit terms required by an organization to finalize the product price and Google’s structure tightly relates payment periods with credit terms, yet each organizations credit terms vary depending on the type of industry. The old and reliable customers with having a good financial record enjoy a monthly credit. The credit limit starts at $50.00 a month and it can increase to more than $500.00 a month. (The Four P's of Google: Marketing Mix Price, Castelar articles 2005, Source: http://articles.castelarhost.com/google_four_ps_marketing_mix_price.htm)
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3.3. Promotion Promotion is a tricky way that helps in the business to communicating with customers. Successful promotion increases though increased promotional activity is often a sign of a response to a problem such as competitive activity, it enables an organization to develop and build up a succession of messages and can be extremely cost-effective. (Marketing mix, By Sunil on 19 December 2008. Source: http://mmsnotes.blogspot.com/2008/12/marketing-mix-4ps.html)
Google mainly focus on search they dislike the idea of more ads that affect search results. The image of Google is still as a best brand of search engine. The more credible a brand is, the more widely its reputation will spread. The simple and speedy loading page of Google search engine made it one of the world’s best-known brands. It offers a minimal homepage, which loads immediately without annoying advertisements. Most of the people like Google more because of its simple and direct approach. As a result of Google’s outstanding results it has compelled its dedicated users to inform everyone else about their remarkable search engine. So Google’s growth is proof of the power of viral marketing, without the need for massive advertising budgets. The example of this strategy is one of a product Froogle, which is a product search. Froogle is a separate site from Google. When Froogle was first introduced, Google did not display an advertisement or a link to Froogle. Rather, they relied on providing a quality free service and backing it with good public relations. Another example would be A dSens e and A d Words. Google does not even advertise this offer on its homepage. The displayed advertisements are designated as “sponsored links.” Google has also partnered with Amazon.com to make available Google’s search technology and sponsored links on their site. The offers and ads are shown secretly and we can email the offers and ads to our friends and family. So it is a way of Google to pass a message of their offers through one friend to another.
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3.4. Place Place refers to how an organization will distribute the product or service to the target consumer. It must be delivered to the end user at the right place and the right time. The platform of the Google is the internet. The best way to target the consumers on the Internet is Google. "The rate of the adoption of the Internet in all its forms is increasing, not decreasing," says Eric Schmidt, Google's C.E.O. The search results of Google on the web are more accurate then any other search engine because Google always concentrate on quality rather then quantity. For example; As of July 2003, Yahoo owned Overture, Alltheweb, AltaVista, and
Inktomi, and finally dumped Google in February 2004. Everything needed to turn Yahoo into a major search engine and pay-for-inclusion ad agency, at a level that can compete with Google, is under Yahoo's roof. Early evidence suggests that Yahoo will shoot themselves in the foot with all of this firepower; their desire to monetize everything appears to be high on the agenda. Google, on the other hand, has been selling out only recently, and still shows some "pure search" residue from its early roots. Because of this reason Microsoft tries to buy Google as a way out but Google is not for sale. The language addition which was introduced in April 2000 with eleven languages, which was expanded as of Aug. 2000 to 24. As of July 2001, Russian was added. In Nov. 2001, Arabic and Turkish and then in early 2002 Catalan, Croatian, Indonesian, Serbian, Slovak, and Slovenian joined the group for the following 34 language limit options. These are available on the Advanced Search page and their Language Tools page. Good search engines need many months of practice before they can crawl the web effectively, and order the results so that searchers perceive them to be relevant. Google provide 75 percent of the external referrals for most websites which gives more search results coming out from different search engine including Yahoo and AOL. (The Four P's of Google: Marketing Mix Price, Castelar articles 2005. Source: http://articles.castelarhost.com/google_four_ps_marketing_mix_place.htm)
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3.5. Packaging The fifth element in the marketing mix is the packaging. Develop the habit of standing back and looking at every visual element in the packaging of particular product or service through the eyes of a critical prospect. As we know first impression is the last impression so physical looks does matters a lot. It includes the physical appearance of products, Offices, Employees, brochures, correspondence. The look of the Google’s home page is very simple and clear with no extra formatting. The reason for providing simplicity in the page is to avoid extra loadings, which may reduce the downloading speed. All the search pages and software are in a form that customer can easily understand them and can utilize maximum out of it. The offices of the Google Inc are ideal places to work. They provide very neat and clean environment to their employees with almost all the necessities of life. There are different relaxing rooms and gardens. The entrance and the reception rooms are well decorated and looking awesome. The middle management uses casual dress as to feel free in their jobs and there is a proper dressing for lower management and bottom line staff. Importantly; in all the products and services which Google Inc offer comes with a unique Logo, which shows the picture of Google as;
(Source: http://jkontherun.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/google-logo.jpg)
We can see this Logo on each and every product, offices, brochures, buildings, buses and software which company owns. Infact the unique idea of packaging plays a very important role in the success of Google Inc which represents one of the worlds best Logo and brand name.
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3.6. Positioning The next P is positioning. It is the habit of thinking continually about how the product or services are positioned in the hearts and minds of the customers. How do people think and talk about the company? What positioning do the company have in the market. Google’s founders often state that the company is not serious about anything but search. So the focus of the Google is to remain in the top position in the names of worlds best search engine. Many people say they can’t remember what life was like without Google and with its continued innovation, there will be many more people added to that list. When ever I want to search any thing on internet I always prefer Google, which is also set as my home page. This reflects the popularity of Google that the most of the customers are using Google as their default page. The Google is always around the idea that work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun. They are aware of their future as they know the future needs and demands of their customer. They are highly focused to provide better and safe internet environment. To retain in that position Google is continuous increasing its volume of search in terms of quality and quantity. (The 7 Ps of Marketing, By Brian Tracy, May 17, 2004. Source: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/701284.html)
3.7. People The final P of the marketing mix is people. It refers to develop the habit of thinking in terms of the people inside and outside of the business. It is extremely hard to think through every element of the marketing strategy and the marketing mix, and then pay little attention to the fact that every single decision and policy has to be carried out by a specific person, in a specific way. Google puts users first when it comes to online services and puts employees first when it comes to daily life in its offices. They are selecting, recruiting, hiring and
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10 | P a g e retaining a good combination of different people from different backgrounds and attracting and putting the right person into the right position. They provide a standard package of fringe benefits, but on top of that are first-class dining facilities, gyms, laundry rooms, massage rooms, haircuts, carwashes, dry cleaning, commuting buses; just about anything a hardworking employee might want. “Let’s face it: programmers want to program, they don’t want to do their laundry. So we make it easy for them to do both.” Eric Schmidt, CEO Google. They strive to be innovative and unique in all services they provide both to customers and employees, including there benefits and perks offerings. They realize and celebrate that their employees have diverse needs, and that this diversity requires flexible and individually directed support. Their priority is to offer a customizable program that can be tailored to the specific needs of each individual, whether they enjoy ice climbing in Alaska, want to retire by age 40, or plan to adopt 3 children. (Google Jobs and Benefits, Source: http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py? page=benefits.html)
4. Recommendations The most common roles for all new graduates include:
An up to date technology is a must for a company such like Google. The must keep an open eye on the web based technology and knowledge.
Google is currently letting spammers (electronic messaging systems) advertise their blog spamming software via AdWord. Just Google for " blog burner" (publishing tool from Google for easily sharing our thoughts with the world) and the Rick with blog spamming software is being advertised through Google's AdWord. I think it's about time Google makes its position clear on where they stand when it comes to blog spam.
Put a
timed moratorium on newly created blogs. Make it so that newly
created blogs will not be indexed by search engines or show up on Next Blog ring for the first 30 days or whatever the appropriate time may be. This will be enough to identify and delete spam blogs before it sees the light of day and do 10
11 | P a g e anything to pollute the search indexes. Currently a spammer can create dozens if not hundreds of blogs and they will just show up on Next Blog ring and get indexed immediately.
Google
should
continue
to
be
innovative
and
try
new
things.
They
are
constantly using technology and bright minds to come up with useful tools for everyday use and bring some more features in their search result to avoid the bogus information and fraudulent activities in the search results.
Its time for Google to introduce their own operating system to provide the platform for the best supports of all their products and services.
A
list
of
software
is
needed
from
Google
to
support
their
services
and
products, Like; Media Player (just need wma/wmv, mp3, mpg, and avi) FTP client (no need for SSL support), Torrent Client (downloading with Azureus takes a lot of system resources).
One area of Google where it's poorly done today is
real estate, where mos
real estate sites today remove listings once sold rather than pointing people to related properties that are still on the market. Using search engines, a person could run queries that generate relevant results as well. Try coming up with comparative phrases that may be mentioned on product review sites or blogs to generate appropriate search results.
They have to advise their customers on how to get the best out of services by providing some help and support system on their web.
5. Conclusion Google operates in IT sector, which becomes increasingly important as a key driver of business competitiveness, increasing emphasis is placed upon the development of skills such as relationship management, business process analysis and design, project and program management, business change management, systems architecture, networking, risk management and security. Google is doing a great job of refining results to bring up stuff that we like. It should be able to overcome even the most volatile market; tech stocks. Google must have
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12 | P a g e an ongoing plan for marketing now that they have filed to become a public corporation. All eyes will be on their every move now and they may have to modify their marketing plan in order to satisfy their new customers, the shareholders. Google has 31% of the online advertising market revenue, and 56% of the market share for online searches. The company has nowhere to go but up, Google spends 20%-25% of its resources pursuing new ventures. (Is Google too powerful? Posted by: Rob Hof on March 29, 2007. Source: http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2007/03/is_google_too_p.html? chan=search)
Google and Microsoft are currently both pursuing the acquisition of double-click, which is the words best online ad agency. More likely Google has come out with its own productivity software suite including word processors, spreadsheets, database software, presentation software, instant messaging and video conference software to compete with Microsoft in the corporate arena. Most of the software are free of charge and other are very cheap in price. It is constantly expanding its massive server farms and fiber-optic capacity. Google may eventually be an alternative to the internet, by providing the same network that runs faster. Google is also currently working on Artificial Intelligence systems, an example of that is its spell checking system, its language translator, and eventually a search engine that almost knows what we are looking for as soon as we start looking for it. They are also trying to create the first online ad marketplace, like an eBay for anyone who wants to advertise. Google is also looking into revolutionizing television commercials, so that television commercials can be custom-tailored for each
household, based on the ages and the people living in them, as well as their hobbies, interests, likes, dislikes, and shopping habits.
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13 | P a g e The world is much bigger than we thought so the Google still have some more areas to improve. They should not stop their journey but take their products and services keep going in the new dimensions. The new creative features Google will produce and offer to the public will prove to play an important role in their long lasting success.
Bibliography Books Marketing Insights from A to Z: 80 Concepts Every Manager Needs to Know
By Philip Kotler Published by John Wiley and Sons, 2003 ISBN 0471268674, 9780471268673 Page 108, 109 and 110 FROM MARKETING MIX TO RELATIONSHIP MARKETING
By: Gronroos Christian, Management Decision, 00251747, 1997, Vol. 35, Issue 3/4 Source: Business Source Elite Marketing
By David Steuart Mercer Edition: 2, illustrated, revised Published by Blackwell Publishing, 1996 ISBN 0631196382, 9780631196389 Page 29, 30 and 31
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Articles Marketing and the 4P's
May 07, 2007 By Andrew Gettler Source: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/233129/marketing_and_the_4ps_product_p rice_pg2.html?cat=35 The 7 Ps of Marketing
May 17, 2004 By Brian Tracy Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/article70824.html Worry about your margins (or not)
December 3rd, 2007 By Joe Source: http://www.pondermarketing.com/category/4ps-price Is Google too powerful?
March 29, 2007 By: Rob Hof Source: http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2007/03/is_google_too_p .html?chan=search
Web sources http://learnmarketing.net/Place.htm http://www.cim.co.uk/mediastore/FactFiles/Factifile7ps.pdf http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=benefits.html http://mms-notes.blogspot.com/2008/12/marketing-mix-4ps.html http://www.google.co.uk/corporate/tech.html
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