A study on enterprises’ STP process utilizing search engines

在網路上找資料或造訪特定的網站，對現在的人來說是已經是生活的一部份，許多民眾習慣去入口網站看新聞，規劃週末出去玩時先在網路上查看氣象資訊，安排同學會聚餐時會先查一下餐廳資訊及網友評價，買數位單眼相機時會先在評比網站比較各廠家不同型號的優缺點，最後再在網路上比價一番才做購買決定決定。而我們的使用過程及方式也一直因為新的裝置及服務而一直在改變，或許在不久的將來，我們使用網路的方式會與現在孑然不同。 隨著網際網路的盛行，企業行銷的管道也開始產生明顯的消長，企業現在能夠掌握更多的消費者資訊，如地理位置、性別、年齡、購買記錄及消費能力等，讓精準行銷更上一層樓。不過也由於這些資訊越來越透明，企業間的行銷戰爭，已不只是競賽經費的多寡，更重要的是如何聰明的駕馭當下的主流趨勢及影響力，以相同或更低的經費來達到更大的效果。 而拜科技之賜，搜尋引擎業者也提供了許多相對應的工具，幫助廣告主找出客戶的喜好，提供即時的市場資訊以及網站到訪者資訊來協助企業做市場區隔之依據。用這些客觀的數據在選擇目標市場與市場定位時也可以減少假設與猜測，並能夠與資深行銷及業務人員的經驗互相搭配，進而幫助企業快速的瞭解市場以及洞悉客戶的需求。 本研究探討一美國上市之高階軟體公司，如何以搜尋引擎為自變項，企業STP為應變項，運用搜尋引擎進行其企業STP。Searching for information online or visiting a specific website has become a part of people’s everyday lives. Many people have a habit of checking the news on a portal website. When arranging outings, many also turn to the Internet to check the weather forecast beforehand. People look up restaurant information and go through customer reviews when deciding the venue for their upcoming get-together. People tend to surf through digital camera review websites when they are interested in buying a DSLR; and often check price comparison sites to find the best deal before buying one. The way we utilize the Internet has been evolving because of new gadgets and innovative services. As the Internet prevails all over the world, it has dramatically changed the way enterprises market their products and services. Nowadays, enterprises are able to grasp more and more detailed information from their prospects and customers, such as geographic locations, gender, age, purchase history and purchasing capabilities, etc. The information we are able to gather from the Internet users takes the precision marketing capability to a whole new level. But because of the huge amount of detailed information we can gather, the marketing competition among enterprises has become more and more sophisticated. A company that spends more money on marketing campaigns will not guarantee achieving better results than their competitors. Contrarily, those who can harness the new marketing techniques enjoy better results while spending the same or even less amount of marketing budget. Advertisers and marketers can utilize the tools that search engine service providers offer to help with their marketing strategies and of course, their sales. Some of the tools provide up-to-date market and website performance information which can help an enterprise for its segmentation purposes. With the information, a company can also be more precise on targeting their market and positioning their products and services. This study explores how a US public software company takes advantage of search engine tools for their STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning) process and in result, have the ability to sell products and services that are normally only affordable by big companies