Executive summary
Get money publishing company deals with publishing and sale of magazines. The magazine is expected to serve the county region within its first year of operation and then expand to the state level. Based in the town of Mason in Ohio State, the magazine is expected to expand its sales through increased customers. The contents in the magazine are mostly financial reports as well as corporate performances in the stock markets and hence increase the investors in stock markets. Its target audience consists of investors as well as corporations, in order to learn about the behavior of the stock market as well as the status of their competitors for the corporations.
To make the paper diverse, it has a portion for scholars, with information concerning investment and financial behaviors and it’s therefore expected to be accepted by the potential investors in learning institutions. Get money expects to publish around 10,000 copies per day within its first year in operation and triple the figure by the second year. The company has three vans that it wishes to use in its distribution. Due to the increased use of the internet, the company has a website for posting daily online papers, with some free contents and others requiring customer subscription for access.
Situation analysis
The magazine sales have been experiencing stiff competition from the already established magazines and despite the contents varying to a certain extent, the magazine has not generated consumer loyalty and recognition. The profits are therefore not being generated as expected and it’s important that a marketing plan be formulated to counter the situation. The customers must be made aware of the magazine’s contents and benefits for it to be successful. With focus on sales, market environment, pricing and customer profiles, it will be easier to break the barriers towards increasing sales and expanding to the state level.
Goals
The goal of the company is to increase the sales to 9,000 copies per day by the end of the year.
The company also wishes to popularize the brand “GetMoney Magazine” and make it the choice of investors, corporations and scholars. The strategic plans also involves being the leading financial magazine in the region by the end of one year and also expanding its offices to accommodate more workers and hence more production of magazines.
Purpose
While modification and remodeling of the existing business strategy is a hard task to undertake, it will enhance productivity, adherence to business ethics and help in the structuring of a corporate culture.
Customer profile
The customers targeted by the magazine will include the investors who would be interested in the stock market as well as the trends being taken by other local and multinational companies. The corporations are also expected to purchase our magazines to be informed about new models being taken by competitors and hence enhance their productivity. The scholars are also expected to purchase the magazines with aims of getting the fundamentals to investment, available opportunities and the operations in the stock market.
Market Needs
The aspect of globalization has caused individuals to crave for investment opportunities but lack relevant knowledge about how to go about it. There are many entertainment magazines that are popular, but rarely give a hint on how to invest (Goldberg, 2008). The market therefore needs a financial paper that not only gives the information concerning investment, but also offers ideas on how to invest. The young generation is also in the dark on financial matters and this magazine is meant to expand their knowledge and ensure that they are well versed with the financial environment.
The market trends illustrate that more people are getting interested in stock investing but lack relevant information about the stocks. In addition, the financial environment is becoming more competitive and both investors and corporations are in need of constant information about the trends and behaviors in the stock and other corporations. The need for financial information in the society illustrates the need to have informative and financial-friendly magazines to replace the saturated entertainment contents in most magazines (Goldberg, 2008).
Competition
The magazine’s biggest threat is “our town” magazine that specializes with sports information, but has several financial pages within its publications. Due to its popularity, most individuals purchase the magazine with intentions of getting sports information but end up getting financial information and hence reducing the chances for sales by Getmoney magazine. The strength however with this company is that it’s comprehensive and published on a daily basis, while the other magazine is published on a weekly basis. The opportunity with the magazine is that if it can maximize on the remaining six days in a week, it can influence the loyal customers to the competitor magazine and hence increase sales.
The weakness with this company is in its concentration with one brand, being financial information. This makes the customers to opt for the other magazines with diverse content, irrespective of the information’s depth. For reduced expenses, customers are going for the magazines mixed contents, just to get a glimpse of the situation. The magazine has however great potentials of increasing sales, if it was to be the leading comprehensive magazine in financial information. This is because investors and other potential customers would always choose the paper over the rest de to the quantity and quality of the information contained therein.
Product Innovation
The product that is expected to be changed for increased sales is the Getmoney magazine. The magazine requires that the presentation be changed for easier penetration of the market. Customers are influenced by the first impression of the product and for this reason, Getmoney magazine need to have a publication change for easier acceptance and penetration into the market. One of the issues that need to be changed is the paper quality. The proposed papers for publication have been found to be of less quality than those used by other magazines. This is one of the issues that may cause customers to change preferences. High quality papers will be used to make the customers appreciate and interested in the magazines.
The contents to be published in the first page of the magazine will always have to be re-evaluated by a group of professional editors to ensure that it influences sales by influencing more customers to buy. In addition, the arrangement of information in the magazine will also have to be re-evaluated to ensure that the customer gets the flow of the contents and is influenced to read more. To remove the monotony of the magazine, there will be addition of several entertainment pages, to encourage more people to purchase the magazine. It will also give an impression of diversity and will hence be at per in competitiveness with other magazine publishers.
Service Innovation
One of the issues that will be addressed under services is price of the magazine. Although the prices are determined by the costs of production and the market status, the magazine will strive to cut the prices if need be, even by the slightest margins to influence more sales. Sticking to the same price might be discouraging to the customers and hence the need to re-structure the prices in a manner that will benefit the company and customers. This will be done through establishment of frequent market surveys to ascertain the status of the market and hence adjust the prices if need be. Pricing would also ensure that competition is dealt with to a certain extent, taking that most of the publishers operate at static prices of their magazines.
The customer service and behaviors of the vendors should be monitored to ensure that the customers are satisfied and hence generate consumer loyalty. Through training, the company will establish a competent workforce that will ensure that customer service is excellent for increased sales of magazines. Courtesy and professionalism are essential in the development of customer loyalty as it influences more customers to purchase from the outlet. The training program is to commence immediately after recruitment of vendors to ensure that as the job starts, the vendors will be competent and offer the best services for increased sales.
Advertising
Advertising is one of the most effective marketing strategies that will be adopted by the company. The customers must be made aware of the magazine’s availability, its contents and the benefits it’s to offer the customers upon purchasing it. The avenue that will be used to advertise the magazine is through electronic media. Televisions and local radio stations will be approached with effective advertisement messages that are to compel the customers to purchase the magazine. The television will be exploited more than the radio, due to its visual influence, that will make it easier for the potential customers to associate with.
The internet is another avenue that will be used to advertise the magazine, especially due to its popularity and availability. Through social sites like twitter and facebook, the publishing company will ensure that many potential customers are made aware of the magazine and hence generate an interest and purchase them in addition, the social networks will act as guides to the customers n how to access either the print or online article and based on the contents of the magazine, it will be easier to gain more customers.
Public Relations
Public relation is another aspect that will be considered by the magazine. Among the business environment, the magazine must be uplifted to be among the highly regarded and hence increase the sales. The magazine will therefore focus on ensuring that the magazine offers certain information relevant to the corporate world, for the development of rapport with the corporate businesses. The financial environment must be assured of up-to-date and certain culture that favors the existing consumer behaviors and trends. Through research, the paper will focus on the best ways to contribute to the already existing and dominating culture in business in order to gain acceptance and more customers.
There should also be a lead generation tracking plan that should monitor the process of the programs proposed in the lead generation plan. The effects of advertising using certain methods as well as the affected population should be analyzed to ensure that resources are protected and that efforts applied yield to the maximum. If any approach is found to be less yielding, it should either be modified or completely removed from the lead generation plan before it’s too late. It enhances transparency and accountability as all the processes are tracked for success rates. The number of copies sold during the generation plan period should also be used as a tracking factor to enhance delivery of services and hence increase sales.
Sales Strategy
The lead conversation plan entails monitoring and enhancing the sales through proper marketing management strategies. The sales strategy should be that prices for the weekdays should differ from the weekend prices. The reason for such arrangements is to ensure that the magazine is aware of both peak and off peak periods and depending on the contents in each publication, the magazine should learn to differentiae the prices. The delivery period is also another issue that will be addressed by the management team.
While most magazines arrive starting from midnight, Getmoney has been arriving at around 3: 00 am in the morning. This gave the competitors ample time to make sales and hence compromised on punctuality and sales volume. The company will therefore embark on shifted sales time, from three in the morning, to midnight like the major competitors. The strategy will ensure that not only will the customers be satisfied, but will also gain an opportunity to select from a wide range of magazines. Making the magazine available will influence the sales as it will increase possibilities of purchase, than it did when the dispatch was at three in the morning.
Sales process
While the strategy may be altered, sales process may cause the sales to be affected. Firstly, there is need for quality services for increased consumer demand. Handling the customers and influencing positive attitudes with them ensures that the customers are satisfied and are at better positions of making similar purchases. The presentation of the employees as well as the transaction processes should be efficient for increased sales, which are to be determined by the relationship created between company and the customer.
Evaluation and Monitoring
The process will serve as a summary of the entire plan at which the magazine will ensure that I has the least of prices based on a competitive framework. This is meant to ensure that all the potential customers get information about the magazine and through increased availability, convince and influence loyalty. The process, which will integrate increased service and presentable magazines, will target the diverse market for increased sales.
The sales targets will also be determined to ensure that proper strategies are applied to attain the goals. The application of feedback loops will ensure that the company settles on the best strategy for increased sales and popularity. Making the magazine the best in the region will require focus in not only the sales, but also the contents that influence these sales.
Conclusion
The marketing plan for Get money magazine will target increased sales and popularity within duration of one year. This will have given the company enough space and capital to expand and serve the state. With the market needs currently being experienced, it will essential to exploit all possible chances that may lead to success. Despite the competition, advertisement and enhancement of product and services delivery will be helpful for the development of corporate goals and realization of objectives and targets.
References
Goldberg, S. (2008). Badly in Need of Financial Education. Kiplinger. Retrieved from http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/value/archive/2008/va0513.htm
