The Big Issue magazine is a publication sold by homeless people to earn income and improve their lifestyles. This project is funded by the Big Issue Foundation and it aims at improving the lives of the homeless people in the society. The magazine was first published in the 1990s and is currently sold in four continents in the world. The main aim of the magazine publishers is to improve the lives of its vendors.
It is said to be the world’s most distributed magazine owing to its circulation in countries like South Africa and other Australian countries.
The magazine sellers are able to earn their own money, buy their own homes and become self dependent. They can also afford to purchase basic needs like food and clothing. The vendors of the magazines are encouraged to strive to increase their sales and hence boost their own income (Anonymous, 2012).
In order to carry out a brand audit and assessment of the Big Issue brand, some elements of the brand will have to be evaluated. The brand is the image of a product or a service in the market or how the customers perceive the products. It is imperative to manage the brand of a company so as to control how it will be positioned and capture the target market of a firm.
Managing the brand of a company is also crucial for maintaining a good image of the organization. The elements of the brand include the product itself, pricing, promotional strategy, the marketing mix and the distribution or placement. All these elements will determine how the brand of a firm will perform in the market hence they need to be considered in the evaluation and assessment of a company’s brand.
Carrying out a brand audit will help a firm in developing its marketing communication and in coming up with the best decisions that can enable a firm to position its brand in the market (Brady, 1997).
In order to carry out an audit of the Big Issue brand, we will first asses their marketing and promotional strategy. The Big Issue employs an aggressive promotional mix in its marketing strategy. The Big Issue bases its campaign mainly on their social enterprising orientation in their marketing strategy. The company markets itself on the internet through its website and also on other sites.
This is an effective strategy as it enables the company to reach a wide market all over the world and encourage the growth of its brand. Readers of the magazine can now access the magazine online; this is an effective positioning tool that gives the Big Issue additional advantage over its competitors in the market.
The company’s website shows the firm’s product profile that deals with women, their usual magazine and the scholarly magazine. The Big Issue also has online pages on twitter and face book, they use this as an avenue for engaging with their clients. They also take advantage of free marketing platforms that are available on social media such as face book and twitter (Kennedy, 1994).
The Big Issue magazine also markets itself on other platforms such as television and radio but the adverts here are not as intensive as their online campaigns. Online marketing has given Big Issue greater visibility and positioning especially due to the advancement in technology that allows a large number of people to access the internet.
Big Issue has got an intensive distribution plan that has enabled it to circulate its magazines in diverse markets in four continents. This distribution strategy is a smart move by Big Issue as they have ensured the penetration of their magazines into their target markets.
By using street vendors to sell their magazines, Big Issue is able to reach a wide market owing to the fact that the vendors can reach any part of a city hence enhancing circulation of the Big Issue magazine.
In their pricing strategy, the Big Issue has employed a cost leadership strategy in its marketing mix. They charge a relatively lower price in the market to enhance their sales. The vendors buy the magazines and resell them at double-price hence they get double profit from their sales. This is an effective sales strategy as the vendors will do their best to make sure they sell as many magazines as possible so as to earn more income.
This is important for the Big Issue because they are able to boost their sales through the vendors who in their turn earn more income. Their low-pricing is also a strategy that is aimed at penetrating the mass market because charging a lower price will ensure they take advantage of economies of scale due to huge sales. Their pricing allows low income earners purchase the magazine due to its affordability (Brady, 1997).
The Big Issue magazine has also introduced its own digital version of the magazine. For one to read the online magazine, he/she has to purchase an access card from the street vendors (Lynch, & Schubert, 2010). This has enabled the Big Issue magazine to leverage on the existing technologies and penetrate the internet in order to boost their sales.
This has also led to a reduction in their publication costs as they can now make more sales online. This is a key strength for the Big Issue magazine as the online readers bring in a new revenue stream for the firm hence they can remain competitive and ensure sustainability. This has further provided the company a very good positioning and publicity.
Although this may be a good income earner for the company, the vendors might lose some income as some readers of the Big Issue magazine may decide to purchase the magazine electronically at the disadvantage of the vendor (Kennedy, 1994).
How the Big Issue brand can be improved
Although the Big Issue magazine has already established an effective brand image, they need to improve their branding and positioning so as to maximize their revenue and increase the income of the street vendors. Big Issue magazine should adopt the following measures to improve their brand:
They should intensify their marketing campaign so as to make their brand more visible. This is imperative as it will boost their positioning in the market and improve their brand due to the fact that potential customers in the market may not be aware of the content of their magazines.
The magazines are portrayed as an initiative in helping street vendors while the content of the magazines is not largely focused on the advertisement (Handley, 2011).
They should tailor their products to meet the target audience who are the readers and not the vendors.
The Big Issue magazine also needs to boost their online sales so as to increase their revenue. This is crucial since they can make a lot of money through this platform owing to the fact that they can access a very large market base.
This arises from the fact that people can access the internet from anywhere in the world as long as they have access to internet services. Big Issue can reap a lot of benefits from this revenue stream hence there is a need to perfect it in order to maximum benefits.
The Big Issue also needs to market their magazines as premium products so as to reap more benefits from it as people will view their brand as a high-end product. This way, they will be willing to purchase it at a higher price hence the company gets more profits and the vendors also earn more from the sale of the magazines.
The Big Issue needs to diversify its product range so as to serve wider markets and also cater for special market segments such as the youth. This is important as it acts as a good differentiation strategy for the company and gives the company a competitive advantage over their competitors. Through this, the company will also get new revenue streams and will be able to maximize its income and that of the vendors.
The Big Issue magazine should also venture into new markets so as to get more profits and take advantage of new and existing opportunities in those markets. For instance, they can venture into the U.S. market.
How these recommendations can be measured
The Big Issue magazine can measure the recommendations above by doing the following:
- Measuring customer satisfaction by carrying out surveys and establishing the brand position.
- The Big Issue can also “carry out a SWOT analysis to find out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (Anonymous, 2012, p.23). They need to improve on their weak points and also find ways of dealing with their threats.
- The firm can also measure the above recommendations by calculating the revenue earned from adopting the measures mentioned above.
- The company can also do a competitor analysis to find out whether the measures they have adopted ensure their competitiveness.
References
Anonymous. (2012). Britain: Help the homeless!: The Big Issue magazine. The Economist, 402(8766), 23.
Brady, N. (1997). From rags to street mag: It’s The Big Issue; Magazine: A different kind of circulation: Late Edition. The Age, p.3.
Handley, L. (2011). Why The Big Issue Brand Needs a Rethink. Marketing Week. Web.
Kennedy, D. (1994). Inspectors question founder of Big Issue magazine; John Bird. The Times.
Lynch, J., & Schubert, M. (2010). Funds boost a Big Issue for magazine. The Age, p. 9.