Ch. 5 Developing a Global Vision

 

Global Marketing

One of the biggest advantages that online companies have is the ability to reach all the world with just a "click."  Yes, there are limits. For example Facebook is limited in communist countries like China, where the government tries to avoid mobs as much as they can in order to avoid its overthrow. But luckily for Airbnb there are not geographical boundaries to target different markets. Actually, the possibility of expand globally is in the company's best interest. The company is now in 192 countries in more than 19,000 cities all over the world. Airbnb is a global network of people interested in renting other places rather than just hotels, and these travelers are the tool to expand the company's market. It creates a cycle that starts with guests who become hosts that receive new guests and keeps going, on and on. 

                         

 Global vision 

Recently, Airbnb was all over the news due to its report of 5 millionth nightly booking. In 2011, the travel network raised $112 million and generated $1.3 billion in revenue. The company is just 4 years old and is already changing the way that people travel. Certainly behind Airbnb's success is it's Global Vision with various strategies. 

After a marketing team was formed, the founders focused on the development of the business in the Unites States. Once the managers knew the functionality of the market in the U.S, they introduced it to the rest of the world.
Airbnb learned its lesson due to past issues like cases of users homes been vandalized. The strategy to avoid this problems was to focus on the costumer service part of the company. With a call center and a $50,000 insurance policy, Airbnb believes that they will be able to avoid bad ratings and improve its reputation. 

In order to expand globally they opened new offices in new locations all over the world. They got more investors like the popular actor Ashton Kutcher and advisors like LinkedIn (a professional network) to work in the company's behalf.
Airbnb also tried to create a way to inspire users to travel. They came out with "Wish Lists", a strategy that refers new users to explore Airbnb when current users post their dream places on Facebook. 

The management team realized that Airbnb was been used for more than just renting rooms. Users started to rent out cars, parking lots and more unexpected things. This factor helped them to envision the possibility of a new market. Basically they want to become the new Ebay in a concept where users can rent all kind of physical assets through their service. 

Airbnb goals are on the right path. Hopefully very soon we will be able to appreciate a new 

concept. It is just a matter of time.