America Online (AOL) - Article Example

A.O.L The contemporary era is the age of scientific and technological advancement. The marvelous inventions made in the fields of communication and information like mobile phones, computer and then internet, in their wake, have brought revolutionary changes in the world of today turning it into a small global village with easy and economical access to the farthest distances and articles. The digital age has transformed the very foundations of modern life. The use of computer has become order of the day and all the educational, commercial and industrial institutions have applied this technology in their everyday life to get a systematic, transparent and speedy service. The Internet has opened spectacular avenues for the users in all directions of interest. Services are being provided in respect of finding references, books, personalities, places, events, incidents, sports, geography, literature, economics and much more. Now, it has become very much simple to enter a library or to read a document even while sitting thousands of miles away from it. The web search engines have performed great job in this regard. The most prominent search engines include America Online (AOL), MSN, Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Google, Yahoo, Yandex.ru and Answer.com etc. These search engines are not only trying to provide better services, but also they contain rivalry for one another and thus creating a healthy atmosphere of perfect competition. Among these all, AOL maintains a prominent place, and facilitates its customers and users the best of the ISP, entertainment and information services. The US based America Online (AOL) is a well-reputed online service provider and media company. It has made wonderful achievements since its establishment in 1985, and has established its regional branches all over the globe. It maintains a remarkable history of long and continuous struggle that is the proof of its unabated success. “The company”, Mukerjee and Verma (2006:3) note, “was the largest internet service provider (ISP) in the world within the market capitalization of $143.7 billion, and over 20 million subscribers across the world in 1999.” According to the survey conducted by the Search Engine Watch in October 2006, AOL stands at the fifth position among top search engine service providers in the world. However, the administration is not satisfied with its services. They want to run the engine parallel to the Google, Yahoo and MSN, which carry far more business volume than AOL and contain longer list of advertisers and subscribers. The administration obtains the precedent of the steps taken by the ex-CEO Jonathan Miller, who had taken innovative steps for the uplift of the company, though he had to face the music from the management and ten out of seventeen executives quitted the company all together. Though AOL had obtained the Time Warner in 2000 through a complete stock deal, and its popularity was in constant increase, yet it had to undergo lesser profit and was somewhat in wane in August 2002 at the time when Miller took charge as new CEO of the company. The new CEO felt the urgent need of overhauling the company in the pattern of Yahoo and Google search engines. Miller acknowledged the very fact that the customers always looked for product differentiation and it had become a difficult task to comply with the challenges in the state of aggressive competition. “He modeled the company,” Mukerjee (2006) observes, “like a pay television network by offering its users exclusive programming and services.” Not only this, but also he introduced a low price access of DSL services to the customers. In addition, he launched prepaid internet cards and music subscription service. Nevertheless, all his efforts dashed to the ground, as he could not maintain the organization in more profitable position. One of the reasons for the failure included the decrease in web advertising, which got a boost in 2003. Still, the companies were looking at Yahoo and MSN, to have access to the customers to introduce and sell their products. Companies devise many methods and initiate latest techniques to enhance their business range. Marketing has special significance in this regard. The phenomenon of marketing has won applause for the last many centuries. It is in the nature of man to display his product in a different and prominent way, so that it could capture the attention of the buyers and customers. “Marketing is the most critical business discipline in many organisations”, states Oxford Brooks University (2006), “providing the integrative element that binds together disparate business activities and ensures that the focus is where it should be - on the needs of customers.” With the passage of time, the phenomenon got more and more popularity and became an integral part of commercial activities. The companies established marketing departments and allocated noteworthy percentage of amount for the marketing purpose. It got gradual increase and other terms including advertising, brand manufacturing, publicity and telemarketing were introduced. No method or devise is formulated on permanent foundations. Rather, the vacuum of change for betterment is always there. The same is the case with marketing. New ways of marketing got place in the modern era. At the time when almost all the companies are offering the same products at nearly the same rate, there is the need of public relations or PR. Moreover, business goes to the person and company who contain a appreciable number of permanent clients in their list. These techniques affect all the market including the network providers. Therefore, the companies look always engaged in drafting innovative ideas for the uplift of their product. “Large companies”, Miller (2006) observes, “are in a better position to make money from online content through advertising or pay-per-view business models”. Taking the example of Google, it is evident that the company formulates more and more methodologies to keep its worth in the fast growing market. Recently, Google agreed to purchase online advertising network Sprinks, the NEWS.com reports. “A deal that gives the search giant new customers and distributors while knocking out a key competitor.” Moreover, the buyout supports Google a lock on a method of delivering content-targeted ads to Web pages thats radically different from its own contextual advertising system, which needs improvement, analysts said. AOL’s broadband strategic marketing can be declared a scheme towards the path of safe journey while mgenerating commercial activities. The focus of the management is not on millions of subscribers now. Rather, the concentration has been focused on one single point i.e. to access the advertisers as MSN, Yahoo and Google search engines are working. “AOL is reorganizing partly to respond to the loss of 2 million customers”, Mike (2004) notes, “who are running to broadband providers, AOL has made the strategic move to tell their broadband customers theyre switching them to dialup”. Drafting of marketing plan is very much necessary to promote the business activities. Levinson has presented traits of a marketing plan, according to which include high level of commitment to the business, treating marketing as an essential part of investment, consistency, patience, innovation, allocation of experienced and learned staff, integrity, honesty and fulfillment of contracts and promises made by clients, customers, fellow-workers, competitors and general public. Targeting the customers and communicating the product to the target customers are the two points around which the market phenomenon revolves. The right product sold at the right price in the right place using the most suitable promotion is also taken as key to business promotion. Promotion, product, price and placement are the four famous Ps, that are considered guarantee for the triumph of a product. AOL must knit a detailed plan to capture advertisers’ attention. In this regard, following steps must be taken: It should hire the committed and competent marketing staff, for its regional offices, which has vast range of experience of working at the largest websites in the business promotion sector. The teamwork of experienced professionals always supports the companies in accelerating their commercial activities. Secondly, the management should improve its search engine and must enter into contract with the libraries and authors so that the users can get access to the documents with paying minimum charges. It will not only distinguish the AOL with other websites of the world, but also millions of the users are sure to focus their activities here at this website. Thirdly, free access and sign up system is an essential to broaden the range of subscribers. The wide range of subscribers always opens the doors for the wide range of advertisements at large. Fourthly, the AOL should promote the IQ and career oriented tests, which may easily catch the eye of the advertisers. This exercise will be helpful in offering a healthy mental activity from its platform. Fifthly, AOL can offer the services of drafting advertisements for the companies from its own advertising department. It will help a lot for the small and medium advertisers to get innovative slogans, logos and ideas. Thus, AOL will arrest the attention of both the subscribers and the advertisers to a great extent. REFERENCES LaMonica , Martin. AOL chief: Established media to dominate. Quoted in www.news.com.com. Levinson, Jay Conrad. Marketing Plan Components. Writing a Marketing Plan(2006). Authentic Promotion. org Mike. AOLs Broadband Strategy: Kick Customers Off Broadband. Tech.com, November 2004. Mukerjee, K & Verma, M. AOL IN 2006. Redefining A Global Internet Service Provider. ICF AI Business School, Bangalore. http://www.brookes.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/january/marketing. 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