Recipient name:
Recipient designation
Recipient Address
Dear Mr. /Mrs. Recipient
Enclosed is the recommendation report in response to the investigation that aims to resolve issues being faced by Liveit Inc.This recommendation report will discuss what Liveit. Inc. needs to do in order to ensure that all the students enrolled at the Penn State University campus are well aware of the services being offered. It will also throw light on the some of the features of Facebook, which is the most formidable competitor for the company’s online platform. In consideration of these features, the report will discuss how Liveit can develop a service portfolio that creates attraction for the students to use this platform.
I hope that you will find the recommendations of the report viable for the purpose of addressing the problems being faced by the company.
Sincerely Yours,
Recommendation Report for Liveit Inc.
[Institution’s Name]
Recommendation Report for Liveit Inc.
Abstract
Liveit Inc. is an online interactive platform that has been designed to enable the students of the Penn State University to enjoy a more comprehensive and diverse college experience. The company aims to serve as a platform for Penn State students where they can have complete and instant access to everything happening on the campuses, and the local social activities and events that might interest them. The idea is to create a diverse and integrated society where knowledge of events and experiences can be shared, and students can be invited to participate in those events for creating a more socially integrated college life. However, no platform or business can excel unless it comes to the knowledge of all those who are targeted through it. Liveit first needs to create awareness about the presence of its online platform for the Penn State students, so that the company can attract the students towards the features and services being offered. The report here will present feasible solutions to enhance awareness among the students, along with analyzing the competitors’ strengths and features that Liveit presently lacks. The solutions that have been recommended in this proposal are based on secondary research on the competitive strengths, and based on marketing techniques that are used to create awareness among the targeted audience. The solutions that will be recommended under the proposal here will be based on the criteria of:
Diversity or comprehensiveness of the solutions
Cost effectiveness or feasibility
After analyzing the solutions and evaluating them in accordance with the above criteria, the report suggests that on campus billboards and play card advertisements, direct on campus presentations, and email marketing would serve as the most feasible solutions for creating awareness among the students.
Introduction to the company 5
Introduction to the problem 5
Evaluation criteria 6
Diversity or comprehensiveness of the solutions 6
Cost effectiveness or Feasibility 6
Solutions for Creating Awareness among the Students 6
Target audience and their Demographics 6
Marketing plan 7
First solution 7
Evaluating the solution 7
An alternative solution for creative awareness 8
Evaluating the solution 8
The Challenge of Facebook events and solution 8
Conclusion 10
Introduction to the company
Liveit. Inc. is a comprehensive online engagement platform that has been structured and designed to provide the students with enhanced real life experiences in their 4 year college life. The company aims to connect the students with all the on-campus events and experiences, and other social events in which they can participate. The platform also aims to serve as a means to connect the students with other students and develop social and academic connections.
Introduction to the problem
However, the problem that the platform is presently facing is the lack of awareness. Students are not well aware of what the company offers, and how it can make them enjoy their college life even more. Penn State University is the biggest University in the United States in terms of its yearly enrollments. It features campuses all over Pennsylvania. This means that the target audience of the company is highly identifiable and is geographically spread throughout Pennsylvania. The means the company has to work with a comprehensive market strategy that makes it reach all the target audiences on campuses all across Pennsylvania. Since the company is not a high budget venture, therefore, they need to have a cost effective and feasible marketing strategy that addresses the problem. So the first challenge is to formulate a marketing strategy that enables Liveit to attract students to the company’s online interactive website.
Having defined this challenge, the second challenge or the problem that the company faces is the problem of the competitor such as Facebook events. Facebook as we all know is used by the majority of the students that study at college. Facebook event is a feature of this online platform that allows the users to create events and send RSVPs to their social circles. The platform allows the users to create both private and public events and generate private and open guests’ lists. Other features include sharing pictures and experiences of events both on private and public walls. The other important aspect of Facebook is that it has a far established user base. It offers a wide variety of other entertainment features that binds the users with the platforms. Now it is obviously not feasible for Liveit to compete with Facebook in terms of the wide variety of features that it offers. Therefore, they need to create a distinctive portfolio of services and need to market those services effectively to create awareness and interest among the students.
So Liveit has to address both these problems, and the solutions should be comprehensive, feasible and cost effective.
Evaluation criteria
The criteria for evaluating the solutions that will be recommended later under the report includes:
Diversity or comprehensiveness of the solutions
In terms of the problem of creating awareness or marketing the services, diversity and comprehensive means that the marketing solutions should be such that they hit all the targeted users of the company (the students, staff and stakeholders of the Penn State University Network). This criteria is to ensure that the message of the company effectively reaches all the students that are enrolled at different campuses. In terms of the challenge of competing with the Facebook events’ feature, the solutions should be comprehensive and effective enough to create distinction for the targeted consumers.
Cost effectiveness or Feasibility
The basic parameter of cost effectiveness is that the solutions should be highly effective and appropriate to the purpose. Every solution should be essential rather than an extra cost luggage. So the effectiveness in terms of making the company’s message reaches the majority of the audience will define its cost effectiveness. Similarly, it should be the least costly solutions with the highest possible impact in terms of meeting the purpose.
Solutions for Creating Awareness among the Students
For creating awareness about Liveit. Inc. services, the company should work with a focused marketing plan that caters all the aspects of effective marketing.
Target audience and their Demographics
The target audience of the company is evidently identifiable as it includes only those students who are enrolled at the campuses of Penn State University. As the services of the company will be offered to all, there is no need to break them down into segments in terms of devising separate services. However, segmentation can be made based on academic standing and ethnicity for getting an idea about the diversity of the services to be offered. A survey was carried out to study the social activity level of the students, and to have an idea about how the students use the Facebook events and its features. The survey showed that majority of the participants were females. This points towards the fact the female students from a large potential audience for the company.
Marketing plan
First solution
As the audience that the company intends to target are the students, this suggests that the college campuses are the best place to employ a marketing strategy for the company. So the first solution that the company can use to create awareness among the students is its on-campus marketing activities. For this purpose, the company can organize free presentations and briefs at the campuses. They can advertise their website and services at the notice boards and electronic news feeds of the campuses. Apart from the on-campus advertisements, the presentations and briefs that the company would give at seminar halls, needs to be rigorously advertised before the presentations take place. This can be simply done through student notice board advertisements and through word of mouth persuasion from all the teachers in the classes. The company should select an individual who is an excellent presenter and orator, so that he/she can bind the audience at the brief. The individual should be well aware of the services being offered and the strengths and weaknesses of Facebook events, so that he/she can handle the questions from the audience. The orator should use projectors and slides to present animated layouts of the company’s website.
Evaluating the solution
According to the evaluation criteria, the solution is comprehensive in the sense that it will allow the company to reach a large number of students at the campuses. Its diversity and comprehensiveness is also viable in the sense that direct presentations will enable the students to get answers to any questions that they might have. On-campus advertisements and presentations would create more hype among the students and would invite queries and discussions. In terms of cost effectiveness of the solution, the first cost that the company will have to bear is the cost of on-campus advertisements. No additional cost needs to be incurred for the orator as the company can use their marketing officials who are paid fixed salaries. The other cost will be the cost of transportation for the presenter or presenters to move from campus to campus. Liveit first needs to develop an alliance with the management of the university by making them realize the importance of the platform for the students. This will enable Liveit to use the campuses’ technology for presentation without any cost. Similarly, the faculty at the colleges will propagate the company’s services in their lectures free of cost. So this means that the only cost that the company will incur is the cost of travel and the cost of on-campus advertisements.
An alternative solution for creative awareness
An alternative to the solution mentioned above can be email-marketing. Under this solution, the company can obtain the official email addresses of all the students at different campuses, and send them emails about the company’s services. The email addresses can also be used to send audio/video presentations about the company’s website and its use. Similarly, the email-marketing technique can also be used to send in notifications about events and briefs, along with persuasion messages.
Evaluating the solution
This solution will be even less costly because the company would simply send emails that can be prepared with animation software that are freely available. As the company can develop a strategic alliances with the management of the Penn University, they can easily avail the email addresses of the students without any cost. An incentive that can be offered to the management is that the services of Liveit will be propagated as an affiliation with the university. This would create more value for the students of Penn University and would enhance the university’s brand value. There will be no on-campus advertisement costs under this method. The solution is also very comprehensive in the sense that the emails would go to the inbox of all the students. However a drawback with the solution is that it will not create a hype in the campus because many times the students do not read their emails properly. They tend to skip details that might be of value. On the other hand, having a continuous display of advertisements on the campuses will repeat the message again and again for the students. The on-campus presentations would create a more personalized feel for the students and would create more interest. The word of mouth persuasion from the teachers during their lectures would create a sense of affiliation for the students with the website.
Though the second solution features a lesser cost, the first one seems to create more value for the company, as it will connect them more directly with the audience.
The Challenge of Facebook Events and solution
After a solution is devised for creating awareness among the students, the next most important thing is to ensure the strength of the message being given, and the distinction of the service portfolio. Facebook events offer different features where the users can create and propagate events in a more personalized manner. Users can create open or public events where they can invite a large number of people. They can enable the public to talk about the event and post pictures at their discretion. Similarly, those who are invited can further invite their friends and social circles. Now in contrast the public events, the users can also create private events where they can invite only the people they wish to join. Facebook events for this purpose also offers priority settings where only the guests would be able to see the description of the events, and share their views on the event’s wall. This renders a personalized feel for the users and creates more value. Moreover, Facebook is an established brand which is being used by majority of the students. They spend a lot of time on this platform because it renders a lot of social and entertainment services, apart from the Facebook Events services. So making the students to spend time on an alternative platform is a challenge for Liveit.
Liveit cannot compete with Facebook in terms of the wide variety of services it offers. However, it can create distinction in terms of the services being provided and propagate those distinctions with an effective marketing strategy. The company should propagate the idea of having a personal platform that is solely dedicated to the Penn State students. As the platform will be only for the students at the campuses of Penn State, it would create a more personalized and affiliated experience for all the students. The company should propagate the message that the students will be able to have more diverse connections at their college, and will thus enjoy a rich campus life. Liveit should rigorously propagate those services that are not being offered by Facebook. For example, the company has affiliations with many retailers in the Pennsylvania region. These retailers include clubs, massage points, restaurants, art galleries, cafes and traveling agencies. Therefore, the company should propagate the idea that the members of Liveit would be able to avail the services of these retailers at discounted prices. So the basic theme or idea is to create distinction and an incentive for the students. These aspects can help the company to encourage the students to join the platform. However, there are certain aspects that the website should have as a necessity. This includes the feature of creating both public and private events. Allowing users to control the display of information for creating a sense of privacy is highly essential. The reason is that a large number of students at the Penn University also comprise of females who are generally more conscious about privacy.
Conclusion
The purpose for formulating this recommendation report was to identify and study different options that Liveit can use to create its brand awareness. The report also intended to give recommendations as to how Liveit can create distinction to compete with Facebook events.
The solutions given under the report include:
On-campus advertisements and presentation for creating awareness among the students.
Using email marketing for creating brand awareness.
Propagating the distinct features and incentives that come with using Liveit.
Enabling users to control the privacy of information.
Creating and propagating the message of a personalized community for the Penn State students.
