Sample Business Plan Which Brand

Introducing... Which Brand.om The Internet's Only Global Trade Directory of Branded Products & Services for Consumers. Retailers, Wholesalers & Distributors The BRAND Name Buyer's Bible WhichBrand. Marketing Background com 1 Plan Summary In 1848, gold was discovered near Sutter's Mill, California. By the end of 1849, an estimated 80,000 prospectors, the so called " 49 ers," had flocked to California in search of gold. The on line universe of e-commerce has been aptly compared to the Wild West days when extraordinary fortunes were made merely by staking and mining a fortuitous claim to an unknown piece of land 3,000 miles away from America's population centers. As a result of the total wide-open spaces of cyberspace, the Internet sparked the beginning of a similar gold rush era that will harness the untapped and unknown wealth potential of knowledge and communication in the 21st Century. Paradoxically, the enormous supply of raw unorganized information available in Cyberspace has totally overwhelmed and intimidated the vast majority of web users. Like America circa 1849, major opportunities exist to stake and mine claims in cyberspace by tapping the vein in the form of creating and mining branded consumer franchises out of targeted market niches. Like the Sheriff in the Old West, or the local saloons that often served as quasi banks to their customers, Cyberspace and on line users are in dire need of a simple source and reliable store house of information, order and organization. WhichBrand. corn provides a much-needed sense of order in the market niche of branded product information and will rapidly establish itself as the World Wide Web's leading provider of quality brand and product directory information management. Implications In today's Wild West like market environment, with no real barriers to entry, the potential for the 21stCentury version of a" claim jumper" is not only likely but to be expected in the form of a rapid competitive entry. While entering into a strategic alliance or formally partnering with one of the major cyberspace players e.g. Microsoft, AOL, Amazon,Yahoo, Lycos may be an obvious route, in order to maximize a purchase valuation and stakeholder value it is deemed important to achieve at least a minimal threshold level of market acceptance and critical mass. With success in Year I, it is anticipated that the company will be offered a lucrative early exit strategy package by one of the major players. However, assuming no deus ex machina and or competitive assistance, for the company to succeed in this environment, it must achieve success in a number of critical marketing focus areas: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. A truly superior reliable product advantage with differentiated user benefits Successful high speed product and infrastructure development Rapid scale-up of national and international consumer brand awareness Palpable brand owner value-added proposition and acceptance. Sufficient resources to invest in marketing An innovative marketing strategy with rapid market penetration. Overall Marketing Objective WhichBrand. corn differentiates itself from all its major competitors by providing branded directory focus where there is none. The company provides a form that is very simple, and an easy to use product/service solution that makes sense out of the chaos of the massive overload of information available on the World Wide Web. The company is positioned to quickly establish WhichBrand.com as the informal 2 "Web User's companion and The Branded Products Bible" on the World Wide Web with subsequent rapid expansion into broader areas of branded product and manufacturers' directory information. Specific Objective To Capture the # 1 Market Share Position as the web's leading branded product information directory provider. Specifically, the Company's mission is to become the Intemet universe's primary source of simple brand and product information. Market Size and Trends The total size of the market of on line users is estimated at 25% of the U. S. population or between 60 and 70 Million users. Conservative estimates expect the numbers to double over the next 5 years. World wide growth including the U. S. is estimated to lead to in excess of 500 Million users by the year 2004. More importantly, success of the Interact is dependent on its ability to provide rapid access to the information and websites the end user seeks. A study by Jupiter Research in 1999 indicated that Intemet users ranked search as their most important activity. Over 20% of all Intemet search queries were product related. Unfortunately search success rates are low. A study in 1999 by NPD (National Panel Diary) indicated that search success rates are low. Only 58% of users find what they are looking for most of the time. Even more troubling is the fact that only 19% of users find what they are looking for every time and more recent study indicates that success rates are actually falling. Brand owners and brand users have an extraordinary tool in the Intemet. Unfortunately, the utility of the tool is overwhelmed by the sheer size and current chaotic nature of Intemet searching. The dream of sellers and buyers utilizing the efficiency of the Internet continues to be unfulfilled. WhiehBrand.com largely satisfies this need, not only for the intemet user (private consumer) and the "trade buyer" (Retailer, Wholesale distributor and manufacturer's representative) but also for the brand owner who has historically been frustrated by the inability to obtain any consistency for decent positioning on the results pages of the major and minor search engines and directories. Some of the search engines have recently introduced and offered "sponsored listings" to web-site owners, with the promise that their sites will appear at the top of or high on the results pages, based on the keywords provided. This promise has usually proved to be unfounded, since the search engines are accepting sponsorships from any site owner, regardless of category. This has resulted in a situation not dissimilar from before. It is particularly annoying for brand owners, who have in good faith paid a sponsorship listing fee, to find the links to their sites still too often do not appear on page one or two or even on page three, by which time the web surfer or trade buyer is fed up and has moved on. Also many irrelevant results continue to appear mingled with the appropriate results, causing 3 the links to brand owners' sites too often to be absent under the specific product categories searched. The results found in Which Brand.com, at every level of the hierarchy, appear only on one page. And the brand owners links appear ONLY on one page - under the exact product category searched, with never an irrelevant result. This is enormously appealing to brand owners who are the subscribers. A major market opportunity exists for WhichBrand.com to provide the only specialized vehicle that simplifies the search process of bringing sellers and buyers together through the Internet. Moreover, in addition to simplifying the search, the WhichBrand Portal provides an organized and rapid hyperlink system to brand owner URLs and sub URLs. The Target Market Brand Owners (Sponsors) The estimated size of the brand owner universe is in excess of 300,000. The primary appeal to brand owners is the guarantee of being certain that their branded product will appear in a logical alphabetical sequence for each category in which they participate. For a modest annual subscription and/or slotting fee, they know that every time a web user or trade buyer searches a product category, the link to the brand owner's site is listed on page one and ONLY ON PAGE ONE, since there is no page two. Target Audience Customers (Users) Prime Prospects ( Consumer Buyers) The universe is in effect the entire user population of the world wide web. Since the primary appeal is the ease and integrity of the information, a major emphasis will be placed on targeting early adopters of on line commerce and services. WhichBrand. Corn is positioned as the consummate technology solution that offers a service that is not only" cool" and highly efficient as a search vehicle, but solves a real consumer problem. When just "window shopping" for information, the user will find the most reliable and complete information on the site of the Brand Owner. When shopping on the web, the consumer feels that the most desirable and safest place to buy, in order to be assured of the latest models, product support, warranty and guarantee, is direct with the brand owner. Prime Prospects ( Commercial/Industrial Buyers) The target audience is the commercial buyers and purchasers of goods and services with a size potential estimated conservatively at over 10 Million of such trade buyers. In the US alone. Which Brand is positioned as the retailer's and wholesaler's "Branded Product Bible". In just a few seconds, buyers are able to access potential suppliers, in every industry or product category, in a simple and usable format. THE COMPETITION Overview The competitive framework is filled with major cyberspace players and potential players. Currently a number of traditional companies such as Thomas Register, Ward's Business 4 Directory, A. Gale and others as well as new web companies like Real Names offer directory like services on the web. Unfortunately for the consumer or end user, because of the wide open nature of the web and the directories' inherent lack of brand focus, the user is quickly buried in a sea of names, links, banner advertising and cross links. WhichBrand. tom offers a viable alternative concept that leverages a laser like focused solution to a major cyberspace problem. While the product is superior to anything in the market, realistically the days of being able to capture a lucrative market niche with a good idea and a large dose of enthusiasm are over. The company must and will achieve rapid scalability, critical mass and brand awareness. Establishing a successful blitzkrieg first launch is critical to securing the leadership position. In such a relatively infant industry, being first is a major advantage. However, given the intent of the major players [AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon, Lycos] to achieve mega brand status, the window of opportunity to establish important niche segments by upstart brands may decline within the next two years. MARKETING AND SALES PLAN SUMMARY Which Brand.tom is set to establish and differentiate itself from competition not only as a superior highly focused product service brand but moreover as an outstanding cyberspace marketing company. There is in effect no specific competitive portal, since Which Brand is the ONLY directory engine whose focus is on branded products and services. A Unique, Relevant and Believable Product Positioning ( Which Brand. com meets and exceeds its customers needs) WhichBrand.com is positioned as the only rational solution to the problem of securing rapid and easy to use brand and product information and URL brand access in the Wild West and ongoing chaos of cyberspace. The search-engine directory expects to quickly develop a deserved reputation for providing brand owners, users and purchasers with a no nonsense highly targeted approach to the major problem of wrestling with far too much information in an inconvenient and difficult to use format. In six seconds or less, WhichBrand.com "delivers the goods" in the form of the desired summary of brands and high-speed hyperlinks to their respective websites. WhichBrand delivers information and access, thereby saving time, money and frustration. Major Strategies The fundamental marketing strategy is to rapidly and persuasively convince the user and brand owner that WhichBrand.com is a simple on line service/product solution which is superior to all conventional search engines for brand and product directory needs. The company will concentrate its major marketing strategic efforts in five critical areas that will have the greatest impact on the success of the business as follows: Product Simplicity and Utility Both product and communication present WhichBrand. com as the only fast, easy, clean, logical and reliable source for accessing branded product information. The company ensures customer interactions with the directory to deliver value and meet needs quickly and efficiently. The site eschews clever graphics, color photos and images or clutter that can take more than 5 a few seconds to download, even on slow modems and with slow connection speeds. The presentation on every page is clear, clean, simple - and uniform, making search rapid and painless. (Best Practice Market Leader - Yahoo) Branding The WhichBrand.com Brand name must be synonymous with cyberspace brand/product directory information excellence. The company expects to establish itself quickly as "the Branded Products Bible". With a solid head start and sufficient investment, the Brand intends to lock in a leadership image in its niche - albeit a very large niche. In addition, the company will seek to expand brand offerings and capabilities through strategic partnerships, acquisitions, licensing and minority investments to quickly access required external value and resources. (Best Practice Market Leader- AOL) Stickiness Simplicity does have a downside. If the visitor finds the information he is looking for in seconds and immediately departs the Portal, conventional wisdom indicates that this represents some kind of commercial failure, based on so-called stickiness alone. However, Which Brand's consummate efficiency and speed of performance will be so memorable to the consumer that he will return time and time again whenever he is looking for information on any product or service in the world. Indeed this is expected to lead to the development of an on-line community where visitors will become participants in the directory subculture. Because of WhichBrand's well structured hierarchy, it is simple to surf up, down and across the Portal for information or shopping - in seconds. Every page enables an instant cross-link to anywhere in the extensively populated portal, either through the hierarchy or through the search boxes. Brand owners do not expect so-called stickiness, since there are no banner ads for users to hover over and usually not click on. The moment the brand owner's name appears on the product category page searched, the brand owner is satisfied, Which Brand.corn has done its job for the Brand owner and has justified the modest annual listing fee. (Best Practice Market Leader - ebay) Capturing Eyeballs The success of the business model is dependent on drawing in millions of visitors. The major challenge is to build and sustain a meaningful user audience. The company plans to invest heavily in its on and off line direct marketing efforts to entice users to log on and surf the Portal and encourage brand owners to sign up. In addition, the company is actively seeking to accelerate the sign up process via strategic alliances with major inter and intra net site owners. Capturing eyeballs and ensuring frequently returning visitors will be a major driving force in the company's organizational culture. (Best Practice Market Leaders - AOL, Lycos ) Establishing Value The business/revenue model is structured so that critical mass can be achieved at a "can't refuse" pricing threshold for the brand owner. The listing fee level has been established based on extensive interviews with brand owners, many of whom indicated they would pay any fee for a guaranteed page one listing, so frustrated have they been. The company has identified and expects to secure commitments from the key high profile earlyadopters to gain critical visibility and legitimacy. (Best Practice Market Leader - Yellow Pages) 6 Specific Tactical Actions 1. Create a Memorable Advertising Campaign The company is initiating an advertising agency search to identify, screen and select the best agency to create and execute a highly memorable advertising communication positioning for on and off line executions that will guarantee recall, trial and usage of the WhichBrand .corn service. 2. Integrate On Line and Off Line Direct Response Marketing The company plans to utilize a totally integrated on line and off line direct marketing approach to building user and brand owner communities. Present the concept to the Brand Owner Just after Labor Day 2001, the company plans to kick off the subscription sign-up process with an initial CD-ROM mailing to a segment of over 300,000 brand owners and manufacturers. This will be followed up with an extensive direct sales approach against high profile early-adopters to gain critical visibility and legitimacy. An aggressive telemarketing campaign beginning in mid September through December will be utilized to cover the balance of the market. Introduce the concept to the Consumer/User A similar CD-ROM launch will be initiated after Labor Day whereby a pre-screened early adopter group of over 100,000 will receive a CD-ROM targeted to their interests. A program is being developed to provide early adopters with unique advantages and rewards. Kick Off Strategic PartnersCampaign A targeted list of potential non-competing web partners with both Internet and intranet sites has been compiled and prioritized for an August or September kick off. The company has identified and intends to utilize a strategic partners enrollment strategy to assist in accelerating the branding and capturing eyeballs process through co-operative marketing efforts. Launch Broadcast and Print Media The broad based media campaign will kick off towards the end of 2001 with a major emphasis on capturing eyeballs for the site. A heavy emphasis on cable and narrow cast targeting is planned. The company will utilize a remnant space strategy in media buying in both print and broadcast. By utilizing a media buying strategy of remnant space in both print and broadcast, it is estimated that media costs of 70-80% off existing rate card structure may be achieved. 3. Build a Small and Effective Domestic and International Sales Organization A major organizational priority is to identify and recruit a top field sales executive to be in place by September 2001 to begin the process of launching the subscription sales drive against major multibrand/product accounts. This individual will be responsible for building an effective national sales force in the USA. An international sales executive will be targeted for an October start date although initial concentration is on the massive U. S. Market. The international operations will be conducted out of Bermuda, where the company's corporate head office is located. Substantial tax benefits are likely to be derived by this. 4. Generate Proof Positive By measuring what's in it for the consumer/buyer and brand owner, the effort serves as a means of enhancing customer intimacy. Research measurement provides a major opportunity to create and present irrefutable quantitative and qualitative evidence of the product's utility. 7 In addition, while the company is confident that the experience of accessing important information is positive, conducting an on-going independent evaluation of the site and service is a critical aspect in developing a superior product with its inherent advantages. The initial areas planned for evaluation are as follows: Consumer/Buyer a. Speed Measure how long does it take to get the information I need vs. my alternatives? b. Satisfaction What was my satisfaction level vs. alternatives? c. Utility What value did it provide for me as a user and Brand buyer? Brand Owner a. Visits How many visits were recorded to my category, my brand(s) and products? b. Linkage How many hot links were generated to my site? c. Value What value did I get e.g. exposure, sales results, leads, and feedback? 5. Establish an International Beach Head in Critical Industrial Nations in Europe and Asia In light of the major growth of the on line community in the international marketplace, in 2002 the company plans to establish an operational office presence and foreign language directory sites for the key countries in Europe and Asia. By the year 2003, the company expects to establish an office and foreign language directory sites in Latin America. 6. Kick Off An Aggressive, Effective Public Relations Program In light of the uniqueness of the product, the company is most optimistic that public relations will play a major success role in generating favorable local and national awareness for the product. The founder's and the president's personalities and the product's unique approach provide the ideal platform for a major public relations travel campaign, beginning in September. A public relations agency with extensive on line experience will be selected and charged with kicking off the campaign. Marketing Budget Adequate funds will be made available to achieve the required brand awareness and usage. 8 The emphasis on both on and off-line direct marketing will provide an excellent measure of marketing spending productivity and efficiency. The cost per brand owner, per consumer and per commercial buyer acquisition will be systematically monitored and measured to allow for course corrections and resource allocation. In terms of marketing spending priorities, the emphasis will be as follows: 1. Establishing the awareness and use of WhichBrand.com as a brand 2. Rapidly expanding the paid subscriber base 3. Building selected long-term strategic alliances and marketing initiatives 9