Elance.com is a freelance website that allows customers to solicit work from a variety of outsourcing services, which include programmers, designers, office support, translators, marketers, researchers, and many other disciplines. In marketing, the marketing mix consists of product/services, placement, price, and promotions.
Elance.com allows a business to post a job opening and invites freelance workers who believe they have the requisite skills for the job to make a bid. The company charges a $10 fee to each business to post a job, and also takes a small portion of what gets paid to contractors. Below is an analysis of Elance.com’s marketing mix:
Service – Elance.com allows businesses to post a job opening to freelancers at potential savings.
Placement – All transactions occur on the website.
Price – The company charges a $10 fee to each business to post a job and also take a small portion of what gets paid to contractors. It is considered low-to-medium cost.
Promotions – Much of the effort appears to be publicity and ‘Word of Mouth’ promotions.
The following questions would be asked as a marketing professional (suggested answers are also provided) when analyzing Elance.com:
Elance.com aims at two clients, employer and freelancer. Clearly, you must know your customers. Paul Peter and James Donnelly, authors of Marketing Management, argue that successful businesses understand customer needs.
With that said, potential employers see a website that attracts over 500,000 talented freelancers. For the freelancer, there is an opportunity to bid on 48,000 jobs, worth $480K. It is recommended that the website be more tailored for employers and freelancers, since they have different needs. This could be done with distinct website buttons.
For potential employers, Elance.com provides ratings and tested freelancers whose profiles and ratings can be evaluated. For freelancers, it is real-time feedback. When Elance.com gets repeat business or new business, this is also a good indication of superior services.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBrhowRb0n4]
Through the rating process and feedback, Elance.com can obtain feedback. Likewise, freelancers get paid and get feedback. Michael Solomon, author of Consumer Behavior, suggests that consumer response is the ultimate test of whether a marketing strategy will succeed. Therefore, Elance.com is the top freelance website that has to support a variety of consumers.
Please discuss Elance’s marketing strategy from your own professional experience.
© 2013 by Daryl D. Green
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November 20, 2013 at 12:53 pm
Maybe the marketers for Elance could divide into groups to market more effectively. One group could focus on marketing toward the freelancers and another toward actual customers or employers.
December 5, 2013 at 1:36 am
Traci,
You make a great point in saying that outsourcing is a critical component of an internet marketing strategy. The more freelancers that sell themselves through elance.com the more visitors there are to the website in general. Also, it helps the customers in that if there are, for example, 25 photographer pages, the customer could have 25 different types of photography and also comparative analysis. One great thing about Elance is that, while they knew that competitive pricing within the same job listing would eventually bring down the quality of the work. [1]”As a freelance website, it’s rare to find a job offered at a very low price or freelancers bidding for very low prices. One of the simple restrictions Elance has put in place is that no bid can be lower then $20. This prevents people from underbidding quality workers with low pricing” (Tampa, 2013).
Tampa , B. (2013, January 28). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.mdesignmedia.com/blog/business/7-benefits-of-using-elance-for-your-freelancing-needs/
November 21, 2013 at 8:09 pm
Hey would you mind sharing whbich blog platform you’re using?
I’m going to start my own blog soon but I’m having a tough time deciding between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
The reason I ask is because your design and style seems different
then most blogs and I’m looking for something unique. P.S My
apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!
December 26, 2013 at 3:42 pm
Thanks for visiting our blog!
I’m using WordPress. It was recommended by my publicist. She gave me several; I selected WordPress due to the ease of usage.
Wish you the best.
Take care,
Dr. Daryl D. Green
December 3, 2013 at 10:33 pm
Elance is an amazing concept and has been implemented wonderfully. It presents a business environment for professionals to see and seek services. It serves as a marketplace where jobs and workers can meet. I can see this saving both the business and worker money. The business won’t need to pay someone to search for a freelance worker for a project. Meanwhile the freelance worker has a more visible platform and can save money marketing themselves in order to be seen on the internet or in adds. This is something that would be attractive to me as time is always precious when searching for competent help on a project. Being able to see reviews of previous work is a great feature.
How elance can help your company save significant money. (2012, May). Retrieved from http://practicalpmjournal.com/2012/05/how-elance-can-help-your-company-save-significant-money/
December 5, 2013 at 10:39 pm
Tyler,
Before you consider something like Elance.com, I would highly recommend analyzing some of the reviews online. Although many have taken to the internet to express their positive experience with Elance.com. there are still many others that claim it is nothing but a scam and a fake promise. Some very unhappy individuals have claimed that many of the jobs posted do not even exist?!
One blogger who claimed he felt “demoralized” by Elance.com wrote:
“It sounds like a great idea, except it’s marred by sharks on both sides and a massive price war that is simply demoralizing. Here’s how it works: a client posts a job and then freelancers bid on the job (you get ten free ‘bids’ with your account, thereafter you have to pay for bidding.) The client goes over all the bids (and there are plenty – 100 bids on one job is not a rare occurrence) and picks the freelancer they want to work with.” (Peter).
So, I guess we should always examine both the pros and cons when considering something like Elance.com
http://ryanpeterwrites.com/2013/06/i-try-elance-i-feel-demoralised-should-i-forget-it/
Leave A Reply
It seems like Elance has found a great way to connect workers with potential employers. By doing this, Elance has been able to make a name for itself (brand awareness) which is key for marketing.
Outsourcing is the next most critical internet marketing strategy a marketer or business owner needs to ensure success. Elance uses outsourcing as part of its marketing strategy. Elance also uses its strengths as part of that marketing strategy. Its strengths: Elance does have a high variety of providers (freelancers) and a very extensive network of projects being offered than other sites in the outsourcing category. Buyers pay no fees and can review skilled talent quickly and easily from around the world. Elance is a useful tool as part of internet marketing strategy to reduce work load significantly (Net Marketing Advice, 2013).
Source: Net Marketing Advice. (2013). Outsourcing with Elance. Add This to You Internet Marketing Strategy. Retrieve from http://netmarketingadvice.com/internet-marketing-strategy-outsourcing-with-elance.
Traci,
Great points! Elance.com must appeal to the freelancers and also the actual customers who purchase the services. That’s a big challenge for marketers in the organization.
Any comments?
Professor Green