New Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz had her first public appearance at the Morgan St
anley conference yesterday. She took the opportunity to continue her message to Wall Street that the sliding search company is considering a whole menu of options for the future. The operative quote: "Everything is up for evaluation."
The problems with Yahoo begin and end with that attitude. Here are five things Bartz could put in motion tomorrow that will get the company back on track:
1. Instill stability: Nothing worse than working at a company where everything is in flux. It can be a signal of new innovation. But here it means "everything is broken." Yahoo has strengths, they can provide a foundation for growth.
2. Play the strong cards: It still has a worldwide audience of 146 million people. That counts.
3. Forget Microsoft: Bartz should proceed as if Microsoft is not going to buy the company. This bully knocked you down and took your lunch money. Find another buyer, already.
4. Innovate: Semantic search, new social applications, new content - something has to be out there to get consumers refocused on Yahoo. The reason Google cleaned Yahoo's clock is because they innovated.
5. Rebrand: This is a tired brand. It needs some new color, new imaging, and new energy.
John Gaffney is US Editor at Econsultancy. Follow him on Twitter.
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4:25PM on 4th March 2009
I completely agree with the 5 steps above.
The focus needs to be taken away from the negatives and directed to the positives. Yahoo is a real strong brand and they can become the dominant player they once were.
Freelance Web Consultant at architxt.net
9:44PM on 4th March 2009
I don't agree with your 5th point.
I think that an old brand in new media has credibility and suggests continuity.
Yahoo! hasn't done much wrong. It offers good products to many people. What it has done wrong is not develop Overture in an competitive product. Where would Google be without AdWords?
I think Yahoo! needs to work on changing the perception people have of it from a fledging internet company trying to take on Google to one that is more about its relationship with its users reproposing some of the values that have been lost with the commercialisation of the net over the last 10 years.