Final Paper With References

8/14/2019 Final Paper With References

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MARKETING AUDIT

Sara WeinbromBMGT357

August 10, 2007

I pledge on my honor that I have not given or receivedany unauthorized assistance on this assignment.

_________________________



Introduction

As the Internet continues to prove itself as a constantly growing and thriving industry, the

opportunities which it brings are endless. Many successful companies are based entirely online,

and others are taking advantage of the power of online additions. About.com is a leading Internet

property that serves as “America’s single largest developer of original content on the Web”

(About.com, “New Hire” 10). With more than 1.6 pieces of original content spanning across 22

channels, the information offered ranges from “10 Ways You Can Reduce Global Warming” to

“Classic Rock 101” to “Recipes for Greek Food Beginners”. The company operates on a network

of more than 630 topic-specific Web sites called GuideSites. These sites are maintained by

Guides, located in 20 countries around the world, who are passionate experts in their field. By

producing original content, organizing discussion forums, and finding content from other

Internet sources – all delivered in a personal voice - these Guides are the core of About.com

(Meyer).

About.com looks to succeed and expand while maintaining its unique platform and

company culture. Founded in 1996 and launched in 1997 (called The Mining Company at the

time), About.com was acquired by The New York Times Company in March of 2005. There are

three key mission statements of the company, which were originally written in 1999 and still

hold true today. As presented to all new employees in the New Hire Orientation Manual , these

are1:

• About.com is dedicated to creating the strongest possible relationship with customers by providing the most satisfying Internet experience.

• About.com is committed to helping people find what they want and trust what they find –

and doing so with integrity, humanity and community.

• About.com is committed to supporting our global network of Guides so they may provide

excellent service to end-users.

1 The mission statements of About.com are presented as directly stated in the New Hire Orientation Manual tomaintain illustrate the specific beliefs of the company.

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Following these statements allows the company to maintain its strength and reach its objectives.

About.com is headquartered in New York City with offices in Chicago, Seattle,

California, and Beijing. The company is responding to the evolution of the Internet and the

developments within the online industry by advancing its content-type and user resources. Such

advancements incorporate the acquisition of other Web sites and tools, as well as the inclusion of

social networking, newsletters, video content, pod casts, and a development of the site in other

countries around the world. These are merely a select few of the site enhancements recently

established by About.com, both improving the user experience and driving the company’s

revenue.

The unique service offered by About.com is described by Scott Meyer, President and

CEO, as having the breadth of information similar to big portal sites with the depth of the highest

quality vertical sites (Meyer). The power of the Internet is particularly seen through the

expansion of online marketing, reflected in the development of new initiatives and competitive

advancements introduced each day. An examination and analysis of About.com’s marketing

strategy will determine how the company is currently taking advantage of the marketplace and a

recommendation will suggest new opportunities that can be considered in order to improve its

position and success in the marketplace.

Analysis of Organizational Structure

The organizational structure of About.com originates from the Digital Operations

Department of the New York Times Company (see Exhibit A). The President and CEO oversees

that the inner workings of the company – financial aspects, for example - are progressing

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efficiently, and also that the About.com objectives are achieved. However, the functioning of the

Web site is also supervised by the Chief Operating Officer. Beneath him are the Senior Vice

Presidents of the departments who support the operations of the About.com site. These

departments include Sales, Product Management, Product Development, Marketing, Datacenter

Operations, and Content and Guide Operations. Additionally, the General Manager of Health is a

major position, as Health is the largest channel of the About.com site, ranking in the #2 spot,

ahead of Yahoo! Health (“Nielsen Netview Report.”). This organization structure allows for the

cohesive, active growth and success of the company.

The Guides of About.com are not considered employees, but are a community of

freelance, independent contractors who are rigorously trained to be given the guidance and tools

necessary in order to create and develop their sites. The Guide screening process is demanding,

as About.com looks for education, professional experience, a user-friendly writing ability, and

supreme dedication. This process results in only 2% of applicants becoming Guides (About.com,

“New Hire” 11).

It is interesting to note that there are separate departments for Product and for Marketing

at About.com. This is unlike many companies, where the product development and management

aspects are components within the marketing team. While the two teams work together to control

new and existing products at About.com, the Product Department is the central point of

coordination for new initiatives, changes, and management of the Web site, while the Marketing

Department develops and manages internal and external promotion and communication to both

businesses and consumers. The main reason that these teams are not joined is that the

responsibilities of each are so vast that their separation will allow for each to focus on specific

areas.

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The Marketing Department works with the rest of the company to create a plan that

allows the team to understand, attract, and retain customers. Its organizational structure divides

the different functions of the department into separate teams (see Exhibit B) that each interact

with certain departments to execute various tasks. The Marketing Department develops tools and

products for the Sales Department to present to potential advertisers; it produces written copy

with requests to be creatively designed by the Product Department for promotional giveaways,

advertisements, presentations, and custom Web sites; it creates excitement and interest about the

company and its Guides; and it satisfies research requests to improve everything from the

structure and navigation of the Web site to the issues on which the Content Department and

Editors should focus and to giving insight on competitors.

A further look at each of the positions within the About.com Marketing Department will

give a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities and how they support the company’s

success. When speaking with Peter Weingard regarding his title: Vice President of Marketing, he

explained that in addition to acting as a liaison between the Marketing Department and the

Executive Team, he gives guidance in the marketing strategy, and leads brand-building

communication efforts. He also assembles and leads the members of the consumer and trade

marketing, sales development, research, and public relations teams and manages agency and/or

client relationships. Another important part of the role of the Vice President of Marketing

includes acting as a consultant for other About.com Departments and for The New York Times

Company corporate communications (Weingard).

The Sales Development Director oversees the Sales Development Managers and

Specialist in order to accomplish the main responsibilities of the Sales Development Team. This

team works during the pre-sale phase to create compelling and versatile advertising sales

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programs for presentation to clients by the Sales Department. Additionally, the team members

train and mentor the Sales Representatives in order to better understand the advertising products

offered and how to position information to different clients. They understand campaign

objectives and develop creative ideas to “make sure that the programs are feasible, scalable and

profitable for the company,” says Marcy Stone, Director of Sales Development. Another role of

the team is to act as the liaison between the Sales Department and the Editorial, Product

Management, and Design Departments. “We work closely with all groups to make sure that the

feedback from the field is turned into actionable opportunities that will help About.com increase

display advertising revenue,” Stone replies, when questioned regarding the influence of Sales

Development on the company as a whole (Stone).

The Director of Research and team of Research Analysts collect, analyze, and distribute

traffic trends within the different channels (verticals) of the Web site, other industry trends,

demographics, and lifestyle data throughout the company. The Research Team tracks and

evaluates consumer behavior on About.com, competitor sites, and within the general marketing

environment. It also develops primary research programs (such as focus groups) to get further

information. A key role is to “organize data from various sources to create a clear report and

provide insights to About.com’s audience, as well as support to the Sales Department by

providing input for Request For Proposals (RFPs)” (Davidson).

Most directly involved with the duties of the VP of Marketing is the Marketing

Coordinator, who manages trade marketing initiatives. In addition to coordinating local market

sales events and industry conferences, this person develops and plans optimal buys for all trade

marketing (as of current About.com only advertisers in trade to draw in potential advertisers).

The Marketing Coordinator works to coordinate and develop the creative for the internal traffic

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drivers, called widgets (to be discussed further later on). Lastly, the promotional items used by

the Sales Department for client meetings and those used for event sponsorships are ordered and

maintained by the Marketing Coordinator, with some decisions involving the Sales Department’s

requests (Ferrao).

The final component of the Marketing Department is the Public Relations Team, which

currently consists only of the Marketing Communications Manager. This position deals with

taking initiatives to inform advertisers and consumers of the About.com products, executive

team, Guides, and other company news. Lisa Langsdorf, the Marketing Communications

Manager at About.com, says that developing the Key Messages of the company allows her to

“work with each business unit to identify and promote the ideas to include in public relations’

plans.” About.com uses a public relations agency to help execute the plan and follow

developments in the media. This relationship is directed by the Market Communications manager

(Langsdorf).

The Marketing Department works to maintain the aforementioned responsibilities and its

organization structure allows for the Vice President to not only ensure that each team is working

in accordance with the company goals, but also to formulate branding and tagline development

based on his expertise and the information and suggestions from the rest of the Department.

Analysis of Marketing Strategy

Target Customer

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Based on the nature of About.com, its target customer consists of two parts: the end-user,

and the business advertiser. The target consumer, or user, is the primary customer, as he or she is

the visitor of the Web site; is whom the site is intended to help and with whom the brand will

create a trust-based relationship. However, the business-to-business market is another component

of About.com’s segmentation strategy, as it is the revenue from the purchases of business

advertisers that allow the company to offer such a valuable service to the consumers for free.

About.com provides advertising opportunities for businesses whose structure and goals are

relevant to its services provided. It is the success of About.com’s target consumer strategy which

drives the success of its target business market.

In order to create an enjoyable user-experience and determine their preferences,

About.com has identified the characteristics of its visitors. These target consumers will be

referred to as “Jane and John About”, representing the average About.com visitor. The

composition of these visitors are 37% male and 63% female, with a median age of 42 years old

and a median household income is $69,504. Further information on About.com’s user profile

illustrates that 60% of users are college graduates; 40% hold professional or managerial

positions; and 58% are employed full time. Married individuals make up 68% of the users on

About.com, and 44% of users have one or more children in their household (About.com, “New

Hire”). Jane and John About are “almost twice as likely to read current technology news, seek

personal fitness information, research products for home purchase, and seek and/or give advice

online that the US average.” 69.1% of About.com’s visitors use the internet to rent movies, and

50.1% use the internet to plan a leisure trip (About.com, “New Hire” 15).

The business targets of About.com fit a particular description in that they are looking to

reach and influence consumers. These companies have objectives that About.com feels its

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services can help attain based on the content and quality of the site. This segment of About.com’s

strategy is comprised of several submarkets, which depend on factors such as the configuration

of the company, its size, and the type of consumer the companies look to target. Many business

targets of About.com are Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and pharmaceutical companies,

reflecting abundant content areas on the site. Other businesses range from large automotive

companies and restaurants to smaller companies offering services such as a free IQ test. The

same general marketing mix towards the submarkets reflects a combined approach, and the

ability to tailor it to the specific differences of certain companies and establish a flexible model

allows it to succeed (About.com, “Media”).

Analyzing the Marketing Mix

Using a multiple target market approach, About.com has two distinct marketing mixes,

each intended to exceed expectations of, and receive benefits from, the customer. An

examination of each element of the marketing mix for the About.com user followed by that for

the About.com advertiser will illustrate the details which formulate this component of the

company’s marketing strategy.

Product

About.com provides an interactive information platform that has created several products,

and included tools and resources to expand the content on the Web site and enrich the user

experience. These efforts and product developments have contributed to the fame of the red ball

in the company’s logo (see Exhibit C). When entering the Web site’s homepage,

www.about.com, users are informed of the 22 channels of information, along with some of the

resources and tools available to them (see Exhibit D). Within these channels reside over 630

GuideSites, each presenting content on a diverse topic in a logically structured manner (see

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Exhibit E) to enrich user experience. Not only can the users read through the articles, but they

are able to view high quality content, including videos and photo galleries, to heighten their

connection with the site. To even further connect the user to the About.com community,

downloadable pod casts, newsletter subscriptions to their favorite GuideSites, and participation

in web logs (referred to hereafter as “blogs”) and e-courses are offered. This product has formed

relationships with other resources to make the site extremely unique. An advantage of this

product is the customer life cycle associated with it, as online users will be searching for

information as long as the Internet is around.

Highlighting some of the resources offered in conjunction with the About.com product is

important to explain its details. Symptom Checker (see Exhibit F), for instance, is an interactive

tool created in collaboration with Harvard Medical School that includes over 100 symptoms and

helps users to determine possible causes and appropriate actions for each. This tool, which also

presents related About.com content, can be accessed on its feature webpage,

symptomchecker.about.com, and it is also embedded in related GuideSite landing and article

pages within the Health channel (“Key Messages”). Another resource used is a Web site called

ConsumerSearch.com that was acquired by About.com in May 2007. ConsumerSearch analyzes

reviews of thousands of consumer products and is used as a product addition in the automotive,

consumer products, software, and electronics categories (Weingard). The two aforementioned

resources are only a sampling of the distinctive, valuable partnerships and ownerships that

About.com employs to continue its complete product’s success.

Along with the vast array of products offered to the consumer, About.com introduces a

similarly wide spectrum of products to its trade clients. After all, the advertisement products

offered to companies are branding and promotional opportunities that will live within the site –

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the products used by the consumers (see Exhibit G). The determining factors of which products

are offered to which companies are the channel relevant to their business, and the objectives

which they aim to achieve. Both basic and custom opportunities are included in the product

collection. All target advertisers can take advantage of standard ad units – towers, banners, and

billboards – but even these can be tailored to be placed in a specific channel. In addition, these

basic models can be made into rich media ads, such as mouse-over expansions: the ad will

enlarge itself when a user rolls over the unit with his or her mouse, click-over expansions: the

same concept as above, but with a click of the mouse, and peelbacks: the ad will appear in the

corner of the page and will undergo an animated peeling back to reveal a full ad when a user rolls

over or clicks on the unit (See Exhibit H). As videos were introduced on the About.com site, a

product was created that allows advertisers to take advantage of brand placement before video

content is played.

Certain products allow the clients to reach their customers with out-of-the-box

techniques. A Roadblock Package ensures 100% share of voice (no competitors within the same

channel will appear) in a selected content area of About.com. The Integrated Sponsorship

product on hand takes the prior option one step further in that it integrates tools. This allows for a

further promotion of a client’s product features. To mention a last custom product, the Editorial

Content Sponsorship presents brands with About.com’s editorial calendar to form a Web site

based around seasonal promotions that will individually reach desired target customers. These

themed specials range from Back-to-School to Mother’s Day to Summer Fun and include distinct

features (About.com, “Media Kit”).

The assortment of products offered to potential advertisers is constantly growing. The

unique custom sites that can be created are an excellent way to reach specific target audiences.

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Add-ons could include mobile extensions, sweepstakes opportunities, quizzes, blogs, and more.

Often clients will explain their objectives and ask for never-used-before products to be

developed. Whether it is the strategically placed standard ads or elaborate custom designs, the

offering of products allow clients to take advantage of connecting with already engaged

customers.

Price

The consumer services provided by About.com can be considered discount in the fact that

they are free. Several related resources and available products in the market charge monthly

subscription fees in exchange for their services, thus positioning About.com at a competitive

price advantage.

The advertising services provided by About.com, however, are not free. These prices set

the company at the moderate to upscale price position in the market. Different products are

priced differently, but all offer competitive pricing that respond to the trends in the associated

channels. After this foundation is determined, prices are quoted based on the options included in

the product and the number of impressions that will be delivered. An interview with Marcy Stone

explains that the basic revenue model establishes pricing based on the rate and the number of

units (Stone).

Promotion

The About.com consumer promotion strategy is in place, but it is very distinct given that

the company does not spend any money on advertising. 80% of users are directed to the site

through search, suggesting that the search engine optimization (SEO) strategies used by

About.com are an essential promotional tactic. In addition to the strategies used, Guides are

writing in a style particularly aimed towards Internet consumers, and these consumers use similar

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expressions when searching for interests. Another promotional tactic to bring consumers to the

site is through the site itself. About.com incorporates existing channels and other product

offerings on the homepage and throughout its Guidesites and article pages.

The messages that About.com hopes its users take away from the experience are not

explicitly stated within the site, but are suggested in the delivery of its product. Among these

include About.com acting as a companion and its offering of trusted information services. The

company refers to itself as the “content you can trust from people who know what matters.”

Within About.com Health (a top-three player), the company trusts that the user will sense

credible information provided with compassion (“Key Messages”).

A large part of the mass selling strategy used by About.com is publicity. The Public

Relations efforts involve reaching consumer media by the announcement of the company’s

services offered. It is through the successful pitching of topics covered and news regarding

About.com that the consumer key messages are communicated effectively. A presence in

consumer media will create further awareness of the company and, thus, increase the user

amount.

It should be recognized that neither a direct marketing strategy nor a personal selling

approach has been implemented for consumer promotion. Seeing that there is little, if any, direct

interaction between the user and the About.com employees, sales promotions are few. About.com

exhibits at a small number of trade shows open to the public, displaying information regarding its

services offered.

Regarding customer service efforts, About.com employs several approaches to ensure

that its products maintain the high quality standard established. For instance, each article

provided by the Guides on About.com is reviewed by an editorial staff member before it is

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posted. To ensure credibility and fact, every article that appears on About.com Health is reviewed

by one doctor and two editors (Meyer). The Guides on About.com are strongly supported and

given the resources necessary to create interesting, traffic-driving content. A Guide online

community has been developed where Guides are able to share advice on topics such as

structuring content and building community within their site. Other efforts include the sending of

regular feedback and usage reports to the Guides, illustrating the most popular pages on their

sites. Ultimately, if Guides use this feedback to create similar pages to those that are popular,

users will be given a better experience (Williams 86).

Along with product support, a user-focused customer service component is applied to

assure that their experience is problem free. This component includes About.com Help and

Customer Care sites that provide basic information, a section answering frequently asked

questions, and a problem form for which details are submitted to Customer Care Associates, who

provide a same-day response.

Different from the consumer promotion strategy, the business-to-business promotion

strategy reflects the traditional nature of the services About.com offers to its trade clients. This

strategy uses media buys in trade magazines and online trade Web sites to be recognized by

potential advertisers. In addition to channel specific advertising, a substantial campaign for

About.com Health has been launched in 2007. This campaign focuses on “The Human

Experience,” illustrating how About.com’s approach to health information services is personal.

This focus on the connection adds value to the user visit, thus providing greater incentives for

advertisers. A yoga advertisement (see Exhibit I) depicts how the personal approach creates a

connection with female users.

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Aside from those used for About.com Health, other messages are used in personal selling

efforts to help the potential client understand the benefits of advertising on About.com. Produced

messages highlight that About.com is one of the 15 most visited Web sites in the US, with 34

million unique visitors monthly. A common way to distinguish its site from competitors is

through comparison: “About.com attracts more women than iVillage, more teens than MTV.com

and more men than ESPN.com”; “About.com consistently places among the top four sites in key

industry verticals, including health, parenting, food, home & garden and computing &

technology.” (“Key Messages”). Certain messages are presented to certain advertisers depending

on a case-by-case basis.

Although direct marketing techniques are not used, personal selling is a big part of the

strategy. Sales Associates arrange in-person meetings with prospective advertisers to inform

them of the opportunities that About.com has to offer. Follow-up communication is continued via

telephone call or e-mail and, if further interest is shown, additional meetings may be scheduled

where campaign objectives are described and custom suggestions are presented. These client-

salesperson relationships are maintained by following up and ensuring that both the workflow

process and the offers are meeting the client’s expectations.

About.com maintains a goal-oriented strategy for revenue and sales growth.

In order to reach target numbers, sales promotion practices are put into effect to leverage an

increase in sales or secure a sale at a higher rate based on newly generated interest. Some

methods used to put these practices into effect include sponsoring and/or exhibiting at trade

shows and conferences. Not only will associating the About.com brand with a particular

conference (Digital Pharmaceutical, for example) cause advertisers to look further into the

company’s ideas and product collection that tie it to the conference topic, but also allows the

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company to reach category specific advertisers. Packaged price programs are anther system of

driving sales. By offering custom sites with extra features, the products will cost more money.

Additionally, allowing 100% share of voice by offering Roadblock Packages will guarantee a

client that their branding will not live next to a competitor’s and will create a price increase on a

simple sale.

Just as thorough steps are taken to support both the About.com user products and the

user-product relationship, providing superior assistance to About.com’s advertising customers is

essential. The Client Services Department provides customer service to advertisers by working

with them throughout each stage of the campaign, from its launch through to its successful

delivery. The use of DART Adapt (a tool used to optimize advertiser campaigns) controls ads and

serves them to the most effective target audience in a way that will provide the greatest value to

the clients. By employing this tool, About.com is able to guarantee the maximized performance

of an advertiser’s campaign (About.com, “Media”).

Being that many campaigns are purchased on an impression-based measurement,

ensuring full delivery is a key aspect of About.com’s business-to-business product support.

Through monitoring the performance of campaigns using data reports, the under delivery of a

campaign can be revealed. When it seems that a campaign may not reach its projected

impressions, other plans can be proposed to improve its delivery. The use of a 4th column widget,

which lives on the right hand column of an article page, incorporates creative copy to promote

these under delivered sites or campaigns across channels to reach relevant targets. This in-house

promotional strategy is a helpful way to drive additional page views.

Place

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The distribution systems used by About.com to reach both the users and the trade

advertisers are direct, as products are delivered to the customer without the utilization of an

intermediary. The distribution of the About.com product to its users is continuous, as it lives on

the Internet. Through direct visits and search results, users retrieve reliable content information at

their convenience. Through an information direct distribution channel, content is developed,

reviewed, and then published on the site (see Exhibit J). The environment in which the user

receives the product is through either the Web site or via e-mail (newsletter products). The

About.com site is designed and organized to be navigated easily and to highlight its extensive

scope (see Exhibit D).

The advertising opportunities that establish About.com’s business-to-business products

are distributed during all 4 quarters and live on the relevant About.com content page or custom

site. The product distributed to the client is the proposal for the advertising to then be purchased.

This ad is then served on the site the amount of times consistent with the amount of impressions

bought. A direct distribution channel is used to see the product from start to finish. This begins

with an established relationship between a sales team member and a prospective advertiser. A

standard flow (projects costing less than $200k) would include the sales team requesting data

from the research team and information on available opportunities from the client services team,

using that information to prepare a presentation for the client. Once the client accepts the

proposal, it is designed into an advertisement in the appropriate channel on the Web site. The

proposal is received by the client at their office accompanied by an in-person presentation from

the sales associate at About.com. Formally dressed and in hopes of closing a sale, the associate

will explain and visually show the benefits which the client will receive by advertising with

About.com (“Pre-Sales Process”).

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Analysis of Environment in Which Firm is Operating

Consumer/Industry Trends

Given About.com’s two-fold customer approach and the fact that the company operates in

the Online industry, many customer and industry trends overlap and affect one another. An

occurrence in the online channel (industry) would also affect the behavior of advertisers

(customer) and, thus, About.com would have the same response. To eliminate repetition and

avoid confusion, these trends will be discussed in conjunction with one another. However, not

every trend presents overlapping and those situations will be analyzed and discussed accordingly.

Additionally, it should be noted that industry trends can be those regarding the online industry as

well as those regarding the marketing industry.

The consumer lifestyle is one which results in spending more time online than with any

other marketing channel (Edelman 1). This trend suggests the importance of advertising online,

and it is likely that advertisers will look into incorporating such a valuable medium into their

campaigns. In another article appearing in the same journal, numbers support this thinking: the

amount of money spent on online advertising in 2007 will exceed $21 billion worldwide, after

tripling in the last five years (Lipner 145). It seems that the growing online industry and its

offering of unique opportunities make advertising in this medium so desirable. Dale Boylston, an

executive vice president of an internet solutions provider for healthcare organizations, proposes

that “those organizations that do not proactively support this evolution – or effectively integrate

traditional and online efforts – will likely suffer vis-à-vis their competition.” About.com’s target

customer, advertisers, will likely begin to integrate or increase their online campaign utilization.

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Recently, Nielsen introduced a new rating system by time spent on site. This industry

trend will not have a big effect on About.com’s market strategy, because its trustworthy and

relevant content organization methods bring time spent. Nevertheless this metric, which will be

used in addition to page views, can more effectively measure user engagement (Fine 22).

As the internet is able to reach consumers in more significant ways, video is being looked

at as a reliable optimization strategy. The Senior Analyst at eMarketer, David Hallerman, feels

that in order to retain an audience, video is especially important to include, as it will cause an

increase in time spent on a site. He suggests that these ads have the potential to bring in the most

revenue, even over banners or text links. About.com has inserted over 500 videos onto its site to

engage the consumer. Scott Meyer, president-CEO of About.com, believes that this incorporation

will be very effective in the site’s ability to reach to blue-chip-brand advertisers. This trend will

affect the requests from advertisers for About.com, wanting products integrated with video

content (Klaassen 18).

About.com uses search-engine-optimization (SEO) strategies to drive traffic to its site.

This is one of two very popular trends related to search engines, the other being the purchasing

of search terms in order to have their brand associated with a concept or word. This strategy has

not been used by About.com mainly because it is too costly for reaching customers that it already

does through its SEO techniques. However, the strategy is also deemed as building awareness of

a search term association in content that may not be relevant and a user may not be interested

(Edelman 132). It makes sense for About.com to promote their SEO strategies and strength in

Google search to advertisers, as these advertisers can be associated not only with a concept or

word, but with content behind it. About.com should try and take advantage of the SEO trend as it

is growing.

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An article from the MIT Sloan Management Review explains the impact of a very

prevalent trend in the online industry today: social networking. The authors deem it to be one of

the most potent ideas to enter the business world from online (Williams 83). Its effectiveness is

recognized by advertisers and users alike. Approximately 79% of Internet users now use high-

speed or broadband connections and want a richer user experience, able to share their

experiences with those like them or those who might be interested. About.com uses blogs within

Guidesites to create discussion topics, staying current on user values. Advertisers are not sure

how to approach their options with this evolving trend, as many fear the threats that could be

arise from outside dialogue. However, it is important to realize the opportunities and how this

trend will change their customer relationship management strategies. Ignoring this development

may create the risk of long-term competitive disadvantage. With almost three-fourths of U.S.

adults online, the “Web lifestyle” era is emerging swiftly (Boylston 34). Users no longer want to

click away and leave, as they spend much time connecting and exploring within their social

networks. David Edelman, the Executive Vice President at Digitas, considers the best strategies

to be branding around content where targets already are or allowing users to bring their content

into online spaces (Edelman 18). The About.com site may attract more advertisers based on the

“Web lifestyle” emergence, and users will also be more attracted to the About.com community.

Furthering the “Web lifestyle” content, many of the 8 million “health seekers” on the

Internet report that the information they are finding is helpful and also directly affecting how

they care for themselves and others (Boylston 35). About.com’s extensive health channel and

reliable information may bring in more clients with a health-based focus.

Technology Trends

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New technology options have developed over the last several years, many of which have

caused the shift away from traditional marketing approaches to online advertising. Among these

include real simple syndication (RSS) feeds, podcasts, and blogs. Others are also developing and

these all will call for marketers to rethink their campaign priorities, as these options are creating

more intimate user relationships (Boylston 34). It is suggested that within the next five years, cell

phone advertising and text messaging will draw in billions of dollars (Lipner 145). About.com

has integrated many of these elements into site or features into their advertising products. A

further in-site promotion could further improve its strategy.

Legal and Regulatory Trends

McDonald’s has become the first major non-alcoholic brand to instill an age constraint to

access its website. The restriction does not allow users under the age of 16 to enter their online

Monopoly site, which will cause About.com to limit and carefully control the channels in which

McDonald’s advertising is placed (MDONALDS ARTICLE). Additionally,

Competitive Situation

About.com competes both for consumers and for ad dollars because of its range of

competitors. It competes with big portals due to its breadth of information, and also with high

quality vertical sites based on the depth within each channel. Examples of these competitors

include Yahoo!, iVillage, and WebMD (Meyer).

About.com competes with Yahoo! and WebMD with regards to content and gains

competitive advantage over both. In comparison to Yahoo!, the content on About.com is much

more reliable. The About.com content is written by highly credentialed experts, whereas Yahoo!

contains consumer-generated content that may include incorrect information. About.com has

editors reviewing Guides’ articles to guarantee its content on many levels. In comparison to

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WebMD, the content on About.com reaches the same audience on a more personal level.

WebMD delivers content similar to an encyclopedia. Despite the fact that both sites have expert-

written information, About.com’s advantage lies in the fact that its content is similar to a

personal visit, creating a more pleasant user-experience. Based on the above overview,

advertisers would be more likely to launch campaigns with About.com because they will better

reach their target audience. Ads on Yahoo! could be placed near consumer-generated content that

may be objectionable, for instance.

Another dimension on which About.com competes with Yahoo! and WebMD is product

and support offerings to advertisers. Not only does About.com offer custom sites across an array

of channels, but standard advertisements will provide a large reach with high quality page views

on relevant content. Unlike WebMD, there is very low overlap of advertisements with top tier

destinations especially due to search traffic. Yahoo! provides undifferentiated traffic with

extended reach. Nevertheless, the advertisers might be getting many page views from Yahoo!,

but they are not served to the right audience. Due to 80% of About.com traffic coming from

search, the users are honing in on the specific content for which they are looking. This, in turn,

creates an extremely high likelihood that the advertiser will reach its target audience.

S.W.O.T. Analysis and Recommendations

Strengths Weaknesses

-Breadth of information available -Many competitor Web sites exist

-Quality and reliable products -No consumer trade campaign-Guides are rigorously screened and trained -No direct marketing efforts used-Editors review content before publishing -80% users come through search-80% users come through search (1 in 5 users do not know they are at(reaching appropriate target customers) About.com; weak brand recognition)

Opportunities Threats

-Extend to overseas market -New competitors enter market

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-Develop new products -Competitors have new developments-Grow user base -Price competition arises-Land campaigns for high-level clients -Page views do not perform as projected-More money allocated to online marketing -Blogging negatively could occur -Develop more video-based products

-Create a social networking component

Recommendations

Based on the above analysis, several recommendations can be made for About.com to

further succeed, reach its objectives, and surpass its competitors. In order for About.com to

thrive, it must be a recognizable brand. If users are coming to receive information and they do

not take note of where they are, they will not know how to return. Thus, the beginnings of a

branding campaign should be put into effect. It is not logical to attempt to create a full-scale

marketing consumer campaign after having had nothing, but a slowly developed campaigned

should be employed over time. Additionally, further promotional strategies should be employed

to drive consumers to About.com first. A foundation may even be for the company to attend

several more consumer trade shows to begin to make itself known.

Since About.com has an extremely unique and strong product and support strategy for its

business advertisers, Sales Team members should meticulously create presentations to exemplify

this.

With certain changes in the marketing mix and the confidence behind the strength that

already exists, About.com can increase its ranking over time and, eventually, has the potential to

become one of the top 5 visited Web sites on the Internet.

References

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About.com Media Kit. n.d. 30 Jul 2007. <http://advertise.about.com>

About.com New Hire Orientation Manual. New York, 2007.

Boylston, Dale. “Join the Evolution.” Marketing Health Services 27.1 (2007): 34-35.

Cooper, Will. “McDonald’s takes age checks online.” New Media Age 5 Apr. 2007: 1.

Davidson, Debra. Personal Interview. 25 Jul. 2007

Edelman, David C. “From the Periphery to the Core: As Online Strategy Becomes Overall

Strategy, Marketing Organizations and Agencies Will Never Be the Same.” Journal of

Advertising Research. 47.2 (2007): 130-134.

Ferrao, Marissa. Personal Interview. 26 Jul. 2007

Fine, Jon. “A New Web Order.” Business Week 30 Jul. 2007: 22

“Key Messages.” Sales Toolbox Wiki. 2007. About.com. 21 Jul. 2007

<http://haven.team.about.com/wiki/docview.php?document_id=2795>

Klaassen, Abbey. “Facing Web 2.0, About goes straight to video.” Advertising Age 12 Feb.

2007: 18.

Langsdorf, Lisa. Personal Interview. 25 Jul. 2007

Lipner, William E. “The Future of Online Market Research.” Journal of Advertising Research.

47.2 (2007): 142-146.

Meyer, Scott. “Capabilities Presentation.” About.com, New York, NY. 29 June 2007.

“Nielsen NetView Data: Netview Report.” Marketing Wiki: Research. 2007. About.com. 20 Jul.

2007 < http://haven.team.about.com/wiki/catview.php?category_id=24>

“Pre Sales Process.” Sales Toolbox Wiki. 2007. About.com. 21 Jul. 2007

<http://haven.team.about.com/wiki/catview.php?category_id=101>

Stone, Marcy. Personal Interview. 26 Jul. 2007

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Weingard, Peter. Personal Interview. 26 Jul. 2007

Williams, Ruth L. “Four Smart Ways to Run Online Communities.” MIT Sloan Management

Review 41.4 (2000): 81-91.

Exhibits

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Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

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Exhibit D

Exhibit E

27



Exhibit F

Exhibit G

28



Exhibit H

Exhibit I

Presented by: Logo Integration

29



Exhibit J

30



About.com GuideDevelops content

Visitor End user of

product

About.com Editor Reviews content

and approvesfor publishing

Sometimes usersmay provide

feedback whichspurs Guide to

develop new content

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