Abstract
This paper presents a business plan for TeraNova Advertising, which is an advertising and marketing company that will be based in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The United Arab Emirates has one of the fastest growing economies of the world with developments in virtually all industries (The Emirates Group, 2013). The aviation, technology, tourism, and telecommunication industries have experienced unprecedented growth in the recent times. Further, because of the strategic location of the UAE, the business is in a good position to tap into the Middle and Far East, African, and European markets and hence the lucrative nature of this market. As the paper reveals, one of these gaps is in the advertising and media segment where organizations have difficulties in finding advertising and marketing agencies that can understand and solve their marketing and advertising needs satisfactorily.
Introduction: The Plan
TeraNova Advertising Company will mainly focus on the development of email advertising and marketing strategies that will start from original email conception to post-marketing and advertising evaluations for companies. The company will also offer advertising services for customers. These services will include billboards, newspaper ads, online ads, branding, and development of marketing strategies. In email advertising, the process will include the designing of campaigns, personalization and targeting, email list management, development of email deployment systems, testing of advertising and marketing plans, implementation of plans, tracking of the adverting and marketing progress in real-time, return-on-investment analysis for the company, and post-marketing and advertising campaign evaluations. The company will work collaboratively with its clients to ensure the desired advertising and marketing services are offered satisfactorily to ensure maximum returns on investment.
The business area for the company is informed by the fact that despite the enormous growth of the economy of the UAE and the influx of companies, the main challenge for companies is gaining visibility in a highly crowded market place where there is cutthroat competition. Email advertising and marketing has not been well utilized despite its potential to reach hundreds or even millions of potential customers not only in the UAE but also across the world. Although studies show that email potential is only at 15% and that only 15% of email recipients read an email in its entirety, TeraNova Advertising Company understands that email advertising and marketing is a science, which has processes and approaches that are able to increase the success rate of marketing. This plan will lead to increased sales for the companies and customer satisfaction. The other areas of advertising and marketing such as billboard, newspaper ads, online ads, and branding are well covered in the UAE. However, TeraNova Advertising Company will strive to acquire a significant share of the market through sustained media campaigns that will be complimented by email marketing strategies. Further, the company will work towards customer satisfaction that will in turn lead to loyalty, which will make it easy to market other services to the existing and new customers.
Media Communication Methods
As a new entrant into the advertising and marketing industry, TeraNova Advertising will adopt media communication methods that will ensure that it attains visibility in its market. The first method of media communication will be email marketing that will be applied selectively to reach people and organizations that are likely to demand the services of the company. While using email marketing, the company will set an example, which will be used as a benchmark for future interactions with other companies that will require its services.
The internet is also a very important media communication method that has the ability to reach millions of people not only in the UAE but also across the world (Mullins, Walker, & Boyd, 2009). As such, the company will design well-targeted messages to be relayed on popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to ensure that the company’s brand continues to grow as more and more people become aware of its presence and products. The company will use Google ads and a well-maintained website to ensure that it has a formidable online presence. The company will participate in events such as expos, conferences, and other gatherings of professionals that may make it easier for it to meet potential clients.
Integrated marketing communication theory will be applied to the company to support its marketing activities accordingly. Integrated marketing Communication ensures that a company’s marketing objectives are met through a well-coordinated communication and promotional process that integrates customer identification, valuation of customers, creating and delivering messages and incentives, estimating returns on customer investment and budgeting, allocation, and evaluation (Hooley, Saunders, Piercy & Nicoulaud, 2007). The company will use both internal and external strategies that will involve partnerships to help in the creation and delivery of promotional messages to reach the targeted markets effectively.
Production Report
The production report for TeraNova Advertising constitutes different areas of activities that will be carried out to ensure that the company is up and running. The production plan puts into perspective periods that are required for successful completion of different activities. Further, the costs of different activities have been factored in the production plan.
Research Document
Budget Estimate
The process of starting TeraNova Advertising Company will require a capital of approximately USD$10,800, which will cater for different company activities as identified in the above production plan. Funds amounting to USD$6,500 will be sourced from personal savings while the rest will be from a short-term loan. The evident low cost of starting this company follows since it is resource sketchy. The most important assets are the IT equipments, which allow the company to roll out its email marketing activities for its clients in and beyond the UAE.
Market Analysis
It is estimated that over 2500 billion emails are sent across the cyberspace in a given year (Kotler & Keller, 2008). However, this figure is just 15% of the internet potential. Hence, there is still a lot of potential for emailing to grow even further (Mullins et al., 2009). In the United Arab Emirates, there has been rapid economic, technological, and telecommunication development. This progress has increased the adoption of online marketing as companies strive to gain competitive advantage. It has been reported that since online advertising and marketing is very powerful, it is highly underutilized in the UAE (Mullins et al., 2009). Very few companies focus on providing online marketing and advertising services in the UAE and hence the likelihood that TeraNova Advertising Company will succeed by offering differentiated services.
On the success of other advertising and marketing methods, 60% of businesses express dissatisfaction and their desire to try new strategies to ensure maximum return on investment for their marketing and advertising efforts. As such, by offering email-marketing strategies, TeraNova Advertising Company seeks to capture the underserved market segment by to offer it services that will satisfy its needs. The company will majorly target small and medium companies that are looking for low cost whilst deploying highly effective advertising and marketing strategies with high returns on investment.
The company will focus on both offline and online companies. The aim is to serve 3000 businesses annually. With over 5 years experience in the industry, the proprietor of the business will be entering a market where there are few experts. This situation will provide competitive advantage for the company.
Management Plan
Due to the electronic nature of the activities of the company, the company’s activities will be low cost-low, labor intensive and hence requiring a small number of personnel and management. TeraNova Advertising Company’s management structure will constitute only six positions as shown in the following organizational Structure:
Survey and Results
Survey Questionnaire
The following is a questionnaire for the survey carried out to determine the viability of the planned advertising and marketing business:
Results and Summary
During the survey, 100 questionnaires were distributed where only 66 of them were returned. This finding reflects an effectiveness of 66%. From the findings of the survey, it is evident that many organizations have not considered using advertising and marketing companies to handle their marketing and advertising needs as follows:
It is also evident that most companies use referrals from friends and business associates when looking for advertising and marketing providers.
Although the price or value of services is an important aspect of decision-making when choosing the marketing and advertising service to use, influence from friends and business acquaintances plays an important role than other decision-making factors.
The frequency of using advertising and marketing shows that most companies do not have a specific pattern. This finding indicates that most companies use such services on need basis as follows:
On price sensitivity, many companies are willing to be offered an option of negotiating the terms and prices. However, a higher number is also willing to pay between $250-500 for such services.
On the qualities that companies can consider important in selecting an advertising and marketing company, 68% of respondents consider regularly scheduled services important. The main reason for this finding is that they prefer flexibility of services to be offered on need basis and conveniently for their company. Although guarantee of services is an important aspect, many of them are concerned that it is an indication that there is a possibility of failure, a risk that they are not ready to take.
On other services that respondents wish to be offered, email marketing and the capability to track the progress and reach of marketing campaigns are rated highly. The market survey also seeks to know if respondents are willing to consider TeraNova Advertising Company to provide advertising and marketing services. However, the feedback is not encouraging partly because the company is new or the respondents are not considering using advertising and marketing services in the next one year. Only 15% of the respondents express willingness to consider TeraNova Advertising Company if the company proves that it can deliver on its promises.
Lastly, only 6% of the respondents are okay with giving contacts while 38% have accepted to be given a brochure. In terms of the people the company should contact, many respondents advice that it is important for the company to attend expos and other media and advertising events to market itself.
Conclusion
The business plan will enable the establishment of an advertising and marketing company that will be called TeraNova Advertising Company that will offer email-marketing, branding, billboard ads and online ads among others to the UAE companies with the potential of expanding to the neighboring regions of the Middle and Far East, Europe, and Africa. From the above business plan, the business will require a capital of USD$10,800, which will cover important areas of the business such as recruitment, office rent, office repairs, and IT equipment. The company will utilize various media communication methods to ensure that it gains presence in the market. Lastly, the market research shows the important areas that the business should address to ensure it is successful in its business.
Reference List
- Hooley, G., Saunders, J., Piercy, F., & Nicoulaud, B. (2007). Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning. New York, NY: Prentice Hall.
- Kotler, P., & Keller, L. (2008). A framework for marketing management. Chicago: Pearson Education.
- Mullins, J., Walker, C., & Boyd, H. (2009). Marketing Management: A Strategic. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
- The Emirates Group. (2013). Leadership. Web.