Running Head: Marketing Plan 327941

Running Head Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is an operational document that outlines an organization's advertising strategy to generate leads and reach its target market. It includes outreach plans over time and metrics for measuring progress. A good marketing plan considers the value proposition of the business and typically encompasses seven elements: product, promotion, packaging, people, price, place, and positioning. Knowing the target customers is essential for effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the marketing methodology used by a publicly traded company, specifically Google. A publicly traded company is one where shareholders have claims to part of the company's profits and assets. Google, founded in 1998 and headquartered in Mountain View, California, is a leading technology firm with a mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Google's origins trace back to Sergey Brin and Larry Page, students at Stanford University, and have grown into a diverse multinational organization. Its primary product is the world's most popular search engine, alongside products such as Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, YouTube, Google Play, and various cloud and hardware services, including the Pixel phone. In 2015, Google restructured under Alphabet Inc., with Larry Page serving as CEO of Alphabet and Sundar Pichai as Google CEO.

Google's Competitive Analysis

Despite intense competition, Google maintains a dominant position in the online search market. Its main competitors include Yahoo, Bing, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, Facebook, and Amazon. Globally, Google commands approximately 92.96% of the search engine market share, with other competitors holding smaller fragments. For example, Baidu dominates the Chinese market with 76.05%, while Yahoo and Bing share a combined significant portion of the remaining market share.

Bing, owned by Microsoft, holds about 2.34% worldwide, leveraging existing trust and aggressive marketing strategies, including partnerships with Yahoo. Yahoo's market share has declined over the years, but it remains relevant with simple interfaces. DuckDuckGo, launched in 2008, markets itself as an anti-Google search engine focusing on user privacy, maintaining a 0.3% market share despite its niche appeal. Facebook and Google are also major players in digital advertising, with Facebook holding 22.1% and Google 37.2% of the digital ad market, together exemplifying the duopoly in online advertising.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Google

Google's strengths include its market dominance, high adaptability to mobile and Android technologies, and innovative capacities. Its monopoly over search engine usage and continuous product diversification underpin its competitive edge (Noguerol et al., 2019). Conversely, Google faces weaknesses such as privacy concerns, which have resulted in criticism and potential regulatory scrutiny, and employee protests over ethical issues, impacting public perception and internal morale.

Compared to Bing and Yahoo, Google's weaknesses in privacy policies pose a risk, while Bing's strength lies in backing by Microsoft and its strategic partnerships. Yahoo's interface simplicity and established brand image have historically been strengths, but it struggles to compete in the current landscape, losing ground to Google and others.

Google's Marketing Strategies

Google leverages the classic marketing mix framework—product, place, price, and promotion—for its strategic positioning. Product diversification is a cornerstone, with offerings spanning web-based services (search, email, maps), hardware (Pixel phones), operating systems (Android), and cloud computing services. This broad product portfolio enables Google to sustain its growth and capture various market segments (Miklosik, 2019).

Distribution channels are primarily digital, with Google distributing its products via the internet—downloadable apps, browser-based services, and platform integrations—enabling global reach. Retail partnerships for devices like the Pixel smartphones also extend its physical presence.

Pricing strategies are diverse, including freemium models (e.g., Gmail), penetration pricing for new services, and value-based pricing in its advertising products. This approach caters to different consumer needs and maximizes monetization opportunities.

Promotion involves both traditional and digital marketing initiatives. Google employs targeted advertising campaigns, social media marketing, content marketing, email newsletters, and public relations to enhance brand visibility. Its digital marketing techniques are particularly effective, leveraging data-driven insights to optimize engagement and conversion rates (Miklosik, 2019).

Competitive Advantages

Google's principal competitive advantages include its extensive product ecosystem, technological innovation, and dominant market position. Its ability to continuously develop new products and improve existing ones ensures sustained growth. Its adaptive strategies in mobile and cloud technologies provide a competitive edge over rivals. Furthermore, Google's advertising platform benefits from sophisticated targeting tools and vast user data, enabling highly effective marketing campaigns (Arora, Srivastava, & Bansal, 2020).

Despite these strengths, Google faces ongoing challenges related to privacy concerns, antitrust regulations, and competitive pressures. Nonetheless, its capacity for innovation, broad ecosystem, and aggressive marketing strategies help maintain its leadership position.

Conclusion

In summary, Google's marketing strategy effectively capitalizes on its strengths—diverse products, technological innovation, and widespread digital presence—while managing weaknesses such as privacy issues. Its strategic use of the marketing mix elements—product diversification, digital distribution channels, flexible pricing, and robust promotional activities—ensures continued dominance in the search engine and digital advertising sectors. Future success will depend on Google's ability to adapt to regulatory environments and consumer demand for privacy and ethical considerations.

References

• Arora, A., Srivastava, A., & Bansal, S. (2020). Business competitive analysis using promoted post detection on social media. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 54, 101941.
• Hollensen, S. (2019). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
• Kim, D. I., & Choi, S. I. (2019). The Analysis of the Relationship between the Review Scale and Posting Information of Company and Purchasing Patterns—Focusing on Amazon and Google Users. Journal of the Korea Convergence Society, 10(10), 123-135.
• Miklosik, A. (2019). Search engine marketing strategies: Google answer box-related search visibility factors. In Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship and Marketing for Global Reach in the Digital Economy (pp. 189–209). IGI Global.
• Noguerol, T. M., Paulano-Godino, F., Martàn-Valdivia, M. T., Menias, C. O., & Luna, A. (2019). Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis of artificial intelligence and machine learning applications in radiology. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 16(9), 1244–1250.
• Kim, D. I., & Choi, S. I. (2019). The Analysis of the Relationship between the Review Scale and Posting Information of Company and Purchasing Patterns—Focusing on Amazon and Google Users. Journal of the Korea Convergence Society, 10(10), 123-135.
• Hollensen, S. (2019). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
• Kim, D. I., & Choi, S. I. (2019). The Analysis of the Relationship between the Review Scale and Posting Information of Company and Purchasing Patterns—Focusing on Amazon and Google Users. Journal of the Korea Convergence Society, 10(10), 123-135.
• Arora, A., Srivastava, A., & Bansal, S. (2020). Business competitive analysis using promoted post detection on social media. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 54, 101941.
• Hollensen, S. (2019). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.