Marketing Mix: Google IT Industry - Research Paper Example

Marketing Mix: Google IT Industry Founded in 1997 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google is one of the most prominent IT companies in the world at present. Google entered the IT industry through search engine business. Even though Yahoo entered the search engine business much earlier than Google, they are currently struggling for survival. On the other hand, Google is developing rapidly and causing troubles to all major IT companies such as Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon etc. In 2005, Google joined the list of 100 most powerful companies in the world. While most of the other IT companies struggling, Google is one company which develops gradually. One of the major success factors of Google is its effective use of marketing mixes. Product, Price, Promotion and Place are the four P’s of marketing mix. Nowadays, Package, Process, Physical evidence and People are the added elements in the marketing mix by many companies. In the case of Google, the first four elements are more relevant. This paper analyses marketing mixes; Product, Price, Promotion and Place, by taking Google as an example. Product Search engine was the product or service offered by Google when they started business. However, at present they have plenty of products or services such as Google plus, Google books, Google health, Android Operating System etc. Google’s android operating system is currently used by plenty of mobile phone manufacturers such as Samsung, LG etc. many people believe that Google developed Android OS to counter the challenges from Apple. Until the entry of Android in the market, Apple’s IOS was the leading OS in the smartphone market. Google Chrome is Google’s answer to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Google talk and Gmail are countering the challenges from Hotmail. It is believed that Google is going to enter the smartphone manufacturing business also. The recent acquisition of Motorola by Google is believed to be the first step Google taken to enter this regard. Amazon was the leader in online book store until recent times. However, Google established world’s largest online book store or Google Books recently to challenge Amazon. Facebook was another company which challenged Google’s supremacy in IT industry. In order to resist challenges from Facebook, Google has started Google plus social networking website. Even though Google plus is not a big success, it is causing big headaches to Facebook. Google is a socially committed company and its products and its products helps people all over the world in one way or another. For example, “Since its launch in 2005, Google Earth has been used to circulate information about various conflicts around the world, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its most high profile conflict layer has been the ‘‘Crisis in Darfur” (Parks, 2009, p.536). Google maps, Google ears, Google now, Google Goggles etc are some of the latest products introduced by Google to cater the needs of consumers. All these products and services are the helping the people all over the world in many ways. In fact Google delivers more than what they promise. Personal health records or PHR is another service offered by Google recently. Archer (2011) mentioned that “Electronic personal health record systems (PHRs) support patient cantered healthcare by making medical records and other relevant information accessible to patients, thus assisting patients in health self-management” (p.515). In short, diversified products and services are the major elements which increase Google’s competitive power in global market. Price Google is generating revenue from advertisements placed on its websites. It should be noted that user, need not pay any price while taking information with the help of Google search engines. Thus, Google search engine is a free service to users, even though Google generate revenue through other means. A special advertising program called AdWords is helping Google to generate advertising revenues. Every time a user clicks on the advertising banners displayed, Google gets paid by the advertiser. The prices of Google products are extremely low. It should be noted that Google provides lot of innovative services through its Android OS and charging nothing for them. For example, Google Now is one of the latest features added to its Jelly Bean OS. Jelly Bean customers are getting such services free of cost. Same way, Google Maps in Jelly Bean helps users to locate places accurately. This service is also provided free of cost by Google. In short, Google is building confidence among the consumers with the help of freebies and lowly priced products and services. Place Place is an important element in marketing mix. It is necessary to market products and services in the right place to taste success. The right product at the wrong place always brings failure whereas the right product at the right place always brings success. For example, BMW, Ferrari or Benz like expensive car makers may not try to market their products in Somalia or Ethiopia. They will try to market their products in wealthy American and European countries. Same way, Google is keen in introducing their products and services in the right place. They have established business units all over the world. At the same time, they are keen in keeping morals, values and ethics in its business strategies. For example, Google recently announced their decision to withdraw from China. It should be noted that China is the most rapidly developing nation in the world at present. All prominent companies are looking for opportunities in China. Yet, Google decided to withdraw from China, because of China’s information censoring policies. “Google Inc.’s recent withdrawal from China marks an important event: human rights activists have attacked Beijing’s controversial censorship policy for years but Google’s decision to shut down google.cn is one of the first actions by a major corporation to boycott China’s large internet market”(Shi). Google’s reputation as a socially committed company increased a lot after its decision to withdraw from China. Promotion Promotion is another important element in the marketing mix. Even better quality products and services may fail in the market in the absence of adequate advertising and sales promotion activities. On the other hand, even poor quality products and services may excel in the market, if effective advertisement is given. In short, promotion can make or break a product or service. Google is operating international at present. Even though they are offering same products and services all over the world, sales promotion strategies are different at different places. It is not necessary that the promotion strategies effective in one place may become effective in another place even if the product remains the same. It should be noted that global markets are different in terms of culture, environment, economy, politics, geography etc. David Beckham could be a good brand ambassador in UK or Europe. He need not be so in India or China. In India, Sachin Tendulkar could be a better brand ambassador and in China, Jackie Chan would be a better bet. Google know these facts very well and they are keen in formulating customized promotions strategies for each market. Conclusions Google became one of the prominent IT companies in the world with the help of effective use of marketing mix elements. They offered the right product at the right place and the right time. They never tried to charge more for their products. They have shown their commitment to ethical business practices; not through words, but through actions. They had no hesitation is withdrawing from China when Chinese authorities tried to restrict their activities. Google is using customized promotion strategies for each market. In short, effective utilization of marketing mix helped Google to become a prominent IT company in the world at present. Works Cited Archer, N., Fevrier-Thomas, U., Lokker, C., McKibbon, K.A. and Straus, S. E. Personal Health Records: a scoping review. J. Am Med Inform Assoc. 2011;18: 515-522. Print. Parks, Lisa. Digging into Google Earth: An analysis of ‘‘Crisis in Darfur”. Geoforum 40 (2009) 535–545. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2009.04.004. Print Shi, Tim. “Google Withdraws from China”. 2010. Web. 12 March 2013. Read More