Airbnb’s Growth Strategy

The purpose of this memo is to study Airbnb’s growth from a startup to an international
company .The memo will pinpoint the facts and issues surrounding the company’s growth as
wells evaluate the marketing approaches it has adopted to deal with them. First, the company
lacked enough financial resources to finance it growth in the early stages. Their lack of finances
was aggregated by the fact that their business model did not seem viable, which meant that
investors were unwilling to invest in the company (Teixeria & Brown, 2018). Second, Airbnb
lacked an effective platform and strategy through which to reach the target market. Finally, the
business did not have an international expansion strategy, which ultimately meant that it operated
within the confines of the United States market.
Identified Facts

Through the adoption of following marketing approaches, Airbnb has managed to expand from a
startup to an international company. First, in its initial stages, the founders earned their first
clients with a simple web page that contained pictures of their San Francisco apartment (Teixeria
& Brown, 2018). From there, they conducted market research by listening to the views of
potential clients and ultimately created the international version of their website. To fund their
operations and expansion, the founders adopted an innovative approach; they created the limited
edition of presidential cereal campaign (Teixeria & Brown, 2018). This creative marketing

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promotion informed much of the company’s growth strategy when it came to penetrating the
United States market.

Analysis of the Key Issues

Four key issues surrounded Airbnb’s marketing strategy and growth. First, the company lacked
financial resources to undertake meaningful marketing. To resolve the issue, the founders took
advantage of the 2008 U.S. presidential elections to create awareness in the American market
(Teixeria & Brown, 2018). The creation of the cereals packed Obama and McCain branded
cereal boxes not only helped them to raise finances but also acted as a marketing campaign.
Secondly, Airbnb lacked a proper platform to reach the market. To resolve this issue, the
company used an unconventional approach; they hacked and integrated the Craigslist platform
with their own, and used it to gather consumer information, which they later used to market their
products (Teixeria & Brown, 2018). Thirdly, in addition to the integration of Craigslist’s
platform, Airbnb used email harvesting and mass mailing technologies to target Craigslist’s
customers with Airbnb services, which is a form of digital marketing, and one that helped he
company to grow its customer base at minimal costs (Teixeria & Brown, 2018). The fourth
challenge that the company faced is that of expanding into the international market. The main
challenge stemming from the international market was the fact that each region had unique
customer needs and behaviors, which made it difficult to penetrate.
Evaluation of Arguments

In analyzing the issue faced by Airbnb in its growth, several features of growth emerge. First, for
a company to enter and penetrate a new market, it requires financial resources, which is
something that Airbnb lacked, as it was a startup. Second, business growth is highly dependent
on the ability of the company to reach its potential clients. In the case of Airbnb, the business

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lacked an effective platform through which to reach the market. Finally, as a company grows
into the international market, it needs to appreciate the social and cultural differences that exist
on the international front, and subsequently tailor its products in such a manner that they meet
the needs of their customers in the different markets. Airbnb managed to use innovation to
circumvent successfully the challenges it faced in its initial phase of operation to become an
internationally recognized business.

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References

Teixeria, T., & Brown, M. (2018). Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Acquiring the First Thousand
Customers [PDF]. Harvard Business School.