Monday, July 8, 2013

Week 6: Advertising, Promotion, and Public Relations in the Web World

Articles/Items Covered
- "Advertisers Face Hurdles on Social Networking Sites"
"The Connection of Online Search and Advertising"

8 July
Executive Summary

            Pinterest is an online start-up that has experienced a meteoric rise with a very unique business canvas.  Due to operating as a social media and networking platform, Pinterest’s key resources, like most other internet companies, are creative human resources, knowledge-intensive human resources, and network platform functionality.    Currently, they serve a very distinct yet broad customer segment.  The term “internet savvy individuals” describes this elusive segment because it is a mixture of both women and men, women being the majority of users, young and old, and differing sociological backgrounds.  However, the common thread is being internet savvy.  The near future holds a new customer segment that is purely business entities.  Using both direct and indirect channels, Pinterest provides a vast array of value propositions to these segments with the most important being the convenience and ease of use and then the individualistic customization and consolidation of information.  Unlike Facebook and other social media platforms, Pinterest offers a very distinct and highly coveted value not only to the individual segment but to the up and coming business entity segment.  As it stands, Pinterest has no confirmed revenue streams, depending entirely on multiple rounds of independent funding.  However, the potential revenue streams stem from its unique value proposition.  Again, unlike Facebook, Pinterest is a collaboration of individuals wants and desires, not just an innate status.  When people utilize Pinterest, they are in the “buying mode” whereas on Facebook, people are there to socialize and not fully engaged with the buyer’s mentality.   Thus, “Pinterest is sending a signal to the multitude of brands and retailers that it's getting ready to open for business itself by unveiling accounts designated for marketers today” (adage.com).  Pinterest’s value proposition is a treasure trove for businesses and a potential lucrative revenue stream through transactions fees tagged to final purchases Pinterest facilitates, Pay-Per-Click fees from click through ads on Pinterest, and licensing fees that Pinterest charges companies to utilize their services.   As with revenues, there are no documented expenses associated with Pinterest.  But, simple extrapolation can be used to make predictions.  The two biggest expenditures with Pinterest are assumed to be R&D ($20,000,000) and the Amazon Web Service ($10,000,000).  Then, with 80+ employees with an assumed $100,000 salary, staff/administration costs are valued at $8,500,000.  Next are network maintenance costs of $5,640,000 ($470,000/month) and finally, property costs of $5,000,000.  This brings total yearly expenses for Pinterest to $49,140,000. 

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