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Google Marketing
Strategy.
Google Inc., starting from just a smart algorithm,
has developed a totally new business model,
has become in a few years the world leading
search engine, has developed winning applications
as Google Earth, Google Video, Google Maps,
Gmail, and is enjoying a huge success. Google,
starting from scratch, has won the challenge
against a giant like Microsoft and against the
previous search engine market leaders Yahoo,
Lycos, Altavista, Excite.
Google Market Capitalization.
In nov 2007 Google Inc. was the 5th biggest
US company, considering stock market capitalization.
In nov. 2007 Google shares had topped $700.
Google stock market capitalization in nov 2007
was $230 billion, in July 2008 was $170 billion.
By comparison in July 2008 Microsoft stock market
capitalization was $240 billion, General Electric
market cap was $270 billion, Exxon stock market
capitalization was $450 billion.
The key question is:
why the Google Business Model won?
The answer is a complex one, and involves more
factors. It's a mix of smart decisions, excellent
marketing strategy, great advisors, highly innovative
and risky business model, and great products.
These are the key resons why the Google Business
Model won:
1.- Google had - and still has - a simple, clean,
clear, minimalistic user interface. no frills,
just the logo and the search box - easy and
fast to load. And this was a key feature with
the slow internet connections of the early years
1999 -2001 - while Yahoo and most of the other
search engines were more like generalistic portals,
full of confusion, full of useless features
and useless links, full of annoying banner ads,
heavy and slow to load.
Google had a clear understanding on psychology
of perception, and how the interaction eye/brain
works, while the bigger competitors didn't.
Bottom line is: If the user visits a search
engine, what he wants to get is simply that:
just a search engine.
A search engine which is fast and reliable.
If the user wants a generalistic portal, he
goes to a portal, not to a search engine.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the Google Executives,
understood this, and this was what they delivered.
And made their users happy.
2.- Google had - and has - reliable search results
(not always, but most of the time). Page and
Brin's PageRank algorithm worked well.
3.- Google got good advice from VC's and from
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Larry
Page and Sergey Brin have been advised and assisted
from the beginning by John Doerr, VC Partner
of Kleiner Perkins and by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich
& Rosati, the leading law firm of Silicon
Valley
Insight on Google Business
Model
4.- Google introduced a smart, innovative and
quite risky business model - Adwords - and the
pay per click concept. The risk proved winning,
and the innovative business model worked. Still
today Adwords is Google main source of revenues.
5.- In the following years, Google became a
powerhouse with an impressive pipeline of new
great products - Google Maps, Google Earth,
Google Video, Gmail. And slim revenues.
6.- Google worked very hard on Brand Building.
It seems that brand building was much more important
to them than just revenues and profits. The
strategy worked. And it was a key asset in the
subsequent IPO at the Nasdaq.
7 - Google was an innovator of the Business
Model. Google delivered all these great new
products basically for free, enticing and luring
million of users worldwide, with the result
of building the Brand in an outstanding, quite
unbelievable way - and did it so fast.
Eric Schmidt was made CEO of the company, David
Drummond, an attorney of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich
& Rosati who had advised Google founders
since the early days, joined Google as Chief
Legal Officer, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich &
Rosati took care of the IPO at Nasdaq.
At the IPO in August 2004 Google share price
was set at $85, which to many financial analysts
seemed eccessive and unreasonable. In nov. 2007
Google shares had topped $700.
And in nov. 2007 Google stock market capitalization
reached $230 billion, while annual revenues
reached $16 billion and profits $4 billion.
An excellent return for Google shareholders.
A question comes forth:
Who is the Mind behind Google?
Who is the Mind behind the stunning Google success?
Who is the mind with the Vision and giving the
direction and the strategy?
Have your say on Google
If you wish you can give your opinion on Google,
cast your vote on Google applications as Google
Earth, Google Maps, Google Chrome, Gmail, on
the Google Search Engine, about the Google Marketing
Strategy and about the Google Business Model.
vote using numbers from 1 to 10:
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1 = poor |
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5 = medium |
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10 = great |
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If you don't want to vote on a certain application,
or you do not have an opinion about it, simply
leave the space blank.
Give your vote on Google applications:
your vote on Google Earth:
your vote on Google Maps:
your vote on Google Video:
your vote on YouTube:
your vote on Gmail:
your vote on Google Adwords:
cast your vote on Google Chrome:
your vote on Firefox:
your vote on Microsoft Internet Explorer:
your vote on Apple Safari:
cast your vote on the Google Search Engine:
How do you rate the overall Google Marketing
Strategy? vote with numbers from 1 to
10:
How do you rate the Google Business Model?
vote with numbers from 1 to 10:
In your opinion who is the mind behind
Google? Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Eric
Schmidt?
Do you think that Google is faithful to
its "Do no evil" motto?
if you have additional comments about
Google:
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If you want to invite your friends to cast their
vote on Google applications,
please click
here
You can link to this page from your website or
blog. The link to this page is
http://www.vertygoteam.com/google_marketing_strategy.php
The Google Chrome
Browser.
In September 2008 Google has launched its new
browser, named Google Chrome. Google Chrome enters
the browser competition challenging Microsoft
Internet Explorer, which has the 73% of the browser
marketshare, Firefox, which has 19%, and Apple
Safari, with 6% of the browser market. Under the
marketing point of view it's a risky move on the
side of Google. If Google Chrome is not going
to be definitely superior to Firefox it could
undermine Google brand value.
Analysis on Google Chrome at the Google
Chrome Browser page
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