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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.
_________________________
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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
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Exhibit F
Exhibit G
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Exhibit H
Exhibit I
Presented by: Logo Integration
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Exhibit J
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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