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Communication Strategy Anisa Badr, Diviya Khanna, Cynthia Kumar, Christina Hua & Magda Makarewicz

From Information to Insight M.S. in Communications Practices

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Content

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02 Methodology

Introduction

04 Market Insight

03 Introduction

01 Executive Summary

Communication Plan

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Executive Summary

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Executive Summary

Yahoo! Inc. •  American multimedia

corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California

•  It is globally known for its Yahoo! search feature

•  Other notable services: - Yahoo! Mail

- Yahoo! News - Yahoo! Finance - Yahoo! Entertainment - Yahoo! Sports

- Yahoo! Answer - Yahoo! Weather - Yahoo! Maps

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Yahoo! is a multimedia

company

Perception Perceived as a search engine

News Focus on Yahoo!

News

Creator Highlight that

Yahoo! is a content curator

Users Increase traffic to Yahoo! website

To continue growing as a company, Yahoo! should focus its efforts on curating more original content on Yahoo! news platforms and increase marketing efforts for such platforms.

Ads Increase ad sales

and revenue

Executive Summary

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A Guide To The Internet 1994

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A Guide To The Internet - 2012

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Methodology

Photograph is public domain. License info: All photos published on Unsplash are licensed under Creative Commons Zero which means you can copy, modify, distribute and use the photos for free, including commercial purposes, without asking permission from or providing attribution to the photographer or Unsplash. CREATIVE COMMONS ZERO: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

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Initial Hypothesis

Identify Target Audience Draw Key Insights

Qualitative Analysis Quantitative Analysis

Focus Group Study Survey Research

Review Secondary Research

Organize Key Findings

Social Media Research

Desk Research

Formulate Strategy Develop Tactics

6 Participants New York Age 23-51

500 Participants National Survey

Age 18+

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Introduction

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Sources: Yahoo Finance

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What is Yahoo? What is Yahoo! – Observations from the Focus Group Study the Focus Group Study

Yahoo! is perceived only

as a search engine

Google is considered

Yahoo’s main competitor

Yahoo! is an outdated

revolutionary

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Search Engine Market is Google Dominated

Source: Greenlight Marketing Ltd., http://www.greenlightsearch.com/, 2010

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Yahoo ranks #8 in the email market and is still decreasing.

Source: http://emailclientmarketshare.com/, March 2015

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As a leader in global daily habits like email, entertainment, news and sports, we strive to inspire, delight and entertain. By infusing our products with beauty and personality driven by our users, every Yahoo experience feels made to order.

- Yahoo! Website

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Yahoo! is Not Google, But a Multimedia Company

“Turning it [Yahoo!] into Google or Facebook wasn’t on the list of options.” -- Benedict Evans, Fast Company, 2015

“I’m going to take a whack at it and say that Yahoo! is a media company, mostly by accident.” -- David Carr, New York Times, 2012

“Marissa Mayer…is going to try to stay, as Yahoo! has tried to be over a few generations, a media company.” -- Jeff Jarvis, NPR, 2013

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Market Insights


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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50% is kind of sexy

is very innovative

can be quite clever

is old-school The people behind this siteare really smart

is antiquated

is more for older people

Yahoo!

01 Yahoo’s defining feature seams to be its age. (Q.24).

q24: Yahoo!: For each word or statement, please indicate whether or not you think that statement describes each of the websites, or not.

Source: Yahoo! online quant survey, March 2015

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28%

35%

16%

19%

16%

30%

14%

19%

9%

5%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Someone whose best years are past them

Someone who's old school

% of Surveyed Population (N=500)

Yahoo Huffington Post Bing Google Buzzfeed 01

More so than companies like Google, Huffington Post, Bing, and Buzzfeed. (Q.25)

q25: Yahoo! - Imagine for a moment that the sites below were actual “people” that you knew. Please indicate which of these “people” you feel that statement describes.


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An email provider 40%

A search engine 30%

Yahoo! News 12%

Yahoo! Sports 6%

Yahoo! Entertainment

6%

Yahoo! Finance 6%

An email provider

A search engine

Yahoo! News

Yahoo! Sports

Yahoo! Entertainment

Yahoo! Finance

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People perceive Yahoo! as Email/Search more than original editorial content. (Q.29)

q29: When you think of Yahoo, which of the following comes to mind first.


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None of these 11%

Yahoo! Mail 28%

Gmail 40%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% % of Surveyed Population (N=500)

Gmail Yahoo! Mail Hotmail AOL Mail None of these 03

Gmail is the most used email provider. (Q.13)

q13: And which of the following e-mail systems, if any, would you say you use most often?


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None of these 5%

Yahoo! 12%

Google 72%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% % of Surveyed Population (N=500)

Google Yahoo! Bing MSN AOL None of these 03

Google Search is the most used search engine. (Q.18)

q18: And which of the following search engines would you say you use most often?


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03 E-mail & Search satisfaction (Q.14 &Q.19)

Satisfied Not Satisfied

99% of surveyed population is

satisfied with their default E-mail

service provider.

Satisfied Not Satisfied

98% of surveyed population is

satisfied with their default search

engine.

q14 &q19: overall, how satisfied are you with [pipe: q13&q18]?


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03 Search is a habit. (Q.6)

75% 73% 58% 42%

Choosing a Search Engine

Brushing teeth Before bed

Choosing your Route to work

Whether to get Your coffee/tea

q6: Listed below are some things that people have told that they do “as a matter of habit”, meaning they don’t really think that much about it, they just do it, and some things they put some thought into.

% of Surveyed Respondents Do This Completely or Somewhat As a Matter of Habit


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04 Yahoo! News is popular and worth pursuing.

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04 In regards to news, CNN is Yahoo!’s biggest competitor. (Q.20-22)

Which of the following websites, if any, q20.have you ever visited to get news? q21. in the past 3 months to get news? q22: most often to get news?

CNN 46%

CNN 29%

CNN 10%

Yahoo! 46%

Yahoo! 30%

Yahoo! 18%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Ever

Past Three Months

Most Often

% of Surveyed Population

Yahoo! CNN Huffington Post Fox News Google News BBC ABC


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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Always knows about the latest and greatest

Could give the best toast at your wedding without planning it

Is someone who always shows up when they say they will

Is someone you would always have a good time with

Is someone you would follow to get out of a burning building

Is someone you'd have over for dinner with your parents

It would be easy to start a conversation with this person

Someone I'd like to spend an afternoon with

Would be very likely to give a homeless person a few dollars

Would tell you the truth no matter how much it might hurt your feelings

You know what to expect from them

18-24

25-49

50+

05 The Millennial is not a viable target for Yahoo! (Q.25)

q25: Imagine for a moment that the sites below were actual “people” that you knew. For each statement below, please indicate which of these “people” you feel that statement describes. by Age


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Communication Plan

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Yahoo!’s Current Perception

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• Highlight how old, lapsed, and non-Yahoo users perceive the brand and its various services.

• Draw in greater advertising opportunities for revenue, by increasing the audience base.

• Establish Yahoo!’s legacy and thus, its credibility, to the newly-identified target audiences.

Research Objective

Business Objective

Communi- cations Objective

Objectives

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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Even though it’s an older site, they’re trendy now

Is great for entertainment news

Is great for general news

Is great for news on finance

Is very innovative

Is very practical

The people behind this site are really smart

Was one of the original innovators

Under $40K $40K-$89K $90K+

q24: Yahoo! - Now we’d like to get your opinions about a few different websites. For each word or statement, please indicate whether or not you think that statement describes each of the websites, or not. By Household Income

Opinions of Yahoo! by Household Income (Q.24)


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25-30 31-43 35-40 41-44 45-49

Lapsed Yahoo! Users

Target Audience

Household Income: 40K-89K

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Target Audience Persona

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Strategy

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Strategy

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Strategy

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To men and women between the ages of 25 and 49 years, Yahoo! is the only news

brand that offers them original, timely and objective content for the ultimate news

experience.

Positioning Statement

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Identified Barrier by Survey Respondents (Q.39)

36% It doesn’t seem as good as other sites

14% It’s just not as cool as others

36% I didn’t know many people still use Yahoo!

31% This site is just too cluttered

25% It just feels a bit old- fashioned

q39. which of the following reasons, if any, are reasons why you haven’t used Yahoo! recently?


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old, dial-up, yodeling

Picture of businessman in tie can be downloaded here: http://photodune.net/item/cool-businessman-portrait-on-grey-background/3628885 Sorry! I can’t include it in the template; there are copyright restrictions. But it’s super cheap, and a very nice photograph.

Q.29: When you think of Yahoo, what three words come to mind first?

- Survey respondent


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Yahoo is very outdated and I don't connect with friends through there anymore

Picture of businessman in tie can be downloaded here: http://photodune.net/item/cool-businessman-portrait-on-grey-background/3628885 Sorry! I can’t include it in the template; there are copyright restrictions. But it’s super cheap, and a very nice photograph.

Q.38: You mentioned that you have used Yahoo! in the past, but not recently. Why haven’t you used Yahoo! recently?

- Survey respondent


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02 From the beginning

We have been with you

04 There is more to us than just that

Email & search engine?

05 We know what we are doing

Here for a long time

03 To deliver great news

Our Focus

01 Nor are we trying to be

We are NOT Google

Messaging

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Inform

Persuade

Remind

We are the ORIGINAL.

We are creative. Yahoo! creates original content.

Non-stop improving. Constantly working on widening our journalistic talent.

Key Communication Messaging

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“Admit & Frame” Key communication focus

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02 STEP

Promote news among Yahoo! Finance & Yahoo! Sport loyal users

01 STEP

Social listening & responding

03 STEP

Viral video 04 STEP

Traditional print media

05 STEP

Collaborative contests

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Key Takeaways

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Thank You


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Appendix

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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Always knows about the latest and greatest

He/she usually gets their way

Is someone who knows the best restaurants in town

Is someone who would do well on Jeopardy

Is someone you could tell a secret to

Someone who would help an elderly person across the street

Would be very likely to give a homeless person a few dollars

Would do very well in a chess tournament

Under $40K $40K-$89K $90K+

q25: Yahoo! - Imagine for a moment that the sites below were actual “people” that you knew. For each statement below, please indicate which of these “people” you feel that statement describes. By Household Income

Participants w/ household income of $40K-$89K are more likely to agree with these statements for Yahoo! (Q.25)

a.1


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a.2 Online new has become a more lucrative industry.

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65% 54%

49% 48% 48%

40% 32%

29% 25%

23% 21%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Yahoo! News Yahoo! Messenger

Yahoo! Sports Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo! Weather Yahoo! Games

Yahoo! Shopping Yahoo! Travel

Yahoo! Groups Yahoo! Movies Yahoo! Health


a.3 Yahoo!’s service with most general awareness (Q. 37)

q37. Prior to participating in this survey, which of the following had you seen or heard of before?


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a.3 More people are reading news online these days. (Q. 8R2)

37%

37%

58%

34%

45%

48%

38%

34%

22%

11%

3%

22%

10%

4%

1%

10%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

18-24

25-49

50+

Overall


Agree Strongly Agree Somewhat Don't Really Agree Don't Agree At All

q8r2: These days, I get more of my news online as opposed to TV, newspapers, or magazines - And please indicate how much you personally agree or disagree with each of these statements? By Age


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a.3 Social media as a news source becomes more prominent.

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a.3

Because CNN is Yahoo! News’ biggest competitor, this means Yahoo! News is viewed as credible and valued news source.

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