project report on business standard

Prepared by:-Varun Katara

Identification of potential customer, brand building and market penetration

for

Company Guide : Mr. NIKHIL SRIVASTAVA

Mentor Guide : Mr. HEMESH KUMAR

Project Roadmap

Project DetailsProject SummaryStage 1 : In house training

Print Media process training

Research/Survey

Stage 2 : Field work

Sales

Work planned for last 3 weeks

• Project Details• Project Summary• Stage 1 : In house training

– Print Media process training• Stage 2 : Field work

– Brand building and market penetration– Research/Survey

• Challenges• Achievements• Recommendations• Conclusion• Bibliography

Project DetailsName of the Company

Business Standard Ltd.

Location New Delhi

Mentor Guide Mr. Hemesh Kumar

Company Guide Mr. Nikhil Srivastava

Title Training in print media process, brand building and market penetration.

Duration 4st June 2012 – 4th Aug 2012

Project Summary

• Understand the product (i.e. Business Standard financial daily)

• Understand the competitors• Market survey in Delhi• Field work in Delhi NCR which

includes Sales (Increasing the no. of subscriptions)

Stage 1 4st June 2012 – 10th June 2012

In house training Understanding the print media

process

Market research/survey (Delhi)

To find the potential customers in Delhi NCR

1st Week

2nd Week

3rd Week

4th Week

5th Week

6th Week

7th Week

8th Week

For Initial 2 days we were made to do the analysis of four financial dailies.

1.Business Standard2.Economic Times3.Financial Express4.Business Line

Then performed SWOT Analysis of all the four financial newspapers.

1st Week

2nd Week

3rd Week

4th Week

5th Week

6th Week

7th Week

8th Week

Print Media process training• Our Guide gave a brief explanation

of every department of Business Standard Ltd.

• Also gave many details about the company and how it works.

• Then the personnels from their respective departments explained us the whole working of their department.

1st Week

2nd Week

3rd Week

4th Week

5th Week

6th Week

7th Week

8th Week

Space Marketing (Advertisement) Department

• Types/Categories of advertisements–Display–Finance–Tenders–DAVP(Directorate of Audio Visual

Publicity)–Notices–Special reports, project feature

1st Week

2nd Week

3rd Week

4th Week

5th Week

6th Week

7th Week

8th Week

• Different position and space for advertisement.– Front page left corner small ad – Pointer

ad– Right corner/Half front page – Front page

source– Top of the front page, below title –

Masthead– Middle of the page surrounding by news

– Island position– Gatefold– Jacket– Below Masthead– Center Spread

1st Week

2nd Week

3rd Week

4th Week

5th Week

6th Week

7th Week

8th Week

Learnings

• The sales of advertising space in daily papers is overseen by the advertising department, which is divided into national, classified, retail and creative services.

Editorial Department

• National coverage• Maintained conventionalism• Language – Doesn’t beat about the

bush• Information – Authentic• More sectionized• Each BS reporter covers different

beats

1st Week

2nd Week

3rd Week

4th Week

5th Week

6th Week

7th Week

8th Week

Learning• The editorial department, headed

by the executive editor, is comprised of editors, reporters, photographers, copy editors and graphic artists who provide local, national and international news, sports and features.

Scheduling Department

• Responsible for the layout of the newspaper.

• Uses Quark Express Software for designing the space according to the advertisements which have to be published.

• The data must be in either of the two formats, PDF (Portable Disk Format) or EPS (Ended Post Script).

• These are checked for errors by softwares like Pit Shop (for PDF files) and Fight Check (for EPS files).

1st

Week2nd

Week3rd

Week4th

Week5th

Week6th

Week7th

Week8th

Week

Production Department

• Sambhav press• Paper from Mysore papre mill• 546 mm height and 700 mm width• Use four films – Cyan, Magenta,

Yellow, Black• One machine – 20 pages together

but if coloured then only 6 pages.

1st Week

2nd Week

3rd Week

4th Week

5th Week

6th Week

7th Week

8th Week

Learnings

Systems Department

• System department is responsible for the communication network as well as all the technical related problems in the company.

• The system department at Delhi receives a facsimile copy of newspaper everyday and forwards its printout on the butter paper to the production department.

1st Week

2nd Week

3rd Week

4th Week

5th Week

6th Week

7th Week

8th Week

Learnings

• The many responsibilities of the systems department include overseeing the entire newspaper’s computer network, maintaining security for all department databases, purchasing and installing software and hardware, providing computer training and monitoring new technology for all newspaper departments.

Market Development (Circulation) Department

• Market Development Department generally known as circulation department and responsible for the circulation of the newspaper in the whole region, which comes under the preview of that addition of the newspaper.

• Circulation department also sell and promote the newspaper.

• Market development strategies and pricing strategies.

• Market Development Department handles various functions like Print Order generations, regularity of dispatch and to receive the payment against the bill generated by it for the month.

1st Week

2nd Week

3rd Week

4th Week

5th Week

6th Week

7th Week

8th Week

Learnings

Market Research/Survey

Delhi NCR

1st Week

2nd Week

3rd Week

4th Week

5th Week

6th Week

7th Week

8th Week

Research DetailsTitle :- Identification of the potential customers of

Business Standard in Dellhi NCR.

Objectives :-1. To find out who are the potential

customers of Business Standard in Delhi NCR.

2. To find out the attributes which are considered important by the customers while purchasing a business newspaper?

1st Week

2nd Week

3rd Week

4th Week

5th Week

6th Week

7th Week

8th Week

• Sample Size :- 100 people

• Sampling Unit :-Stock brokers, Chartered Accountants, Corporate professionals, Bank employees and B-school students and professors.

• Sampling Method :-Simple random sampling

• Source of Data :-Primary DataSecondary Data

1st Week

2nd Week

3rd Week

4th Week

5th Week

6th Week

7th Week

8th Week

1st Week

2nd Week

3rd Week

4th Week

5th Week

6th Week

7th Week

8th Week

Stage 2 10th June 2012 – 4th Aug 2012

Field Work (Delhi NCR)Brand building and market

penetration

Brand Building• Enhancing a brand's equity directly through

advertising campaigns and indirectly through promotions is called Brand building.

• Branding is more than just a business buzzword. It has become the crux of selling in the new economy.

• If the old marketing mantra was," Nothing happens until somebody sells something," the new philosophy could be" Nothing happens until somebody brands something.“

• A brand represents many more intangible aspects of a product or service: a collection of feelings and perceptions about quality, image, lifestyle and status.

• It creates in the mind of customers and prospects the perception that there is no product or service on the market that is quite like yours. In short, a brand offers the customer a guarantee and then delivers on it.

• Therefore, successful branding programs begin with superior products and services, backed by excellent customer service that permeates an entire organization.

Market Penetration• Increasing market share of an existing

product, or promoting a new product, through strategies such as bundling, extensive advertising, lower prices, or volume discounts is called Market penetration.

• You might infer, then, that if you build a powerful brand, you will in turn be able to create a powerful marketing program.

• However, if you can't convince customers that your product is worthy of purchasing, no amount of advertising dollars, fancy packaging or public relations will help you achieve your sales goals.

Work Done

1) Brand Awareness Programme2) Volume Discounts3) Advertising through promotional

offer4) Direct Selling and Mass

marketing5) Reactivation of Brand6) Corporate Scheme

1) Brand Awareness Programme

“Brand Awareness is the extend to which a brand is recognized by

potential customers and is correctly associated with a particular product.”

• At Delhi NCR• Through Questionnaire

Survey

2) Volume Discounts

• We provided volume discounts to the students in colleges under bulk subscription (one spot delivery)

• To get this discount the colleges had to subscribe atleast 25 newspapers, as only then the company can incur the delivery cost at such lower price.

Duration (Mon to

Sat)

Cover Price

Offer Rate You Save

12 Month

EnglishRs. 1144 Rs. 710.00 62 %

12 Month

HindiRs. 1250 Rs. 625.00 50 %

3) Advertising and promotional offers

• We offered 40% discount on yearly subscription of the Business Standard newspaper and alongwith with it also provided four annual magazines free.

Cover Price (yearly)

Offer Price (yearly)

You save

Rs 1092 Rs 650 40%

• Banking Annual – Performances of the banking sector. Annual ranking of banks, exploring the mantras adopted by top rated banks to succeed.

• The Fund Manager – Covers the high points and performances of mutual funds. An annual guide to smartly invest in mutual funds. Includes profiles of top fund managers.

• BS 1000 – A guide to India’s top 1000 companies. An annual reference book on corporate performance analysis and rates top 1000 listed companies.

• The Billionaire Club – Listing of India’s richest businessmen and executives. The only annual listing featuring India’s growing super rich community.

3) Direct Selling and Mass Marketing

• No door-to-door selling.• Reaching our target customers.• People who have reasonably good knowledge

of English.• Government Employees (sp. Bank employees)• Hotels

Corporates CA’s/lawyers

Management Students

Mass Marketing

• Distributed free/complimentary copies of Business Standard with an attached promotional brochure to various places like:

IOCL QuartersBank Of India QuartersResidential Societies Banks

5) Re- activation of brand

• Other than offering discount to new customers, we also provided the same offer to those customer who enrolled in the offer of yearly subscription previous year.

• This made the customers more satisfied and this can increase the customer loyalty for Business Standard newspaper.

6) Corporate Scheme

Under this scheme the corporate company was given 40% discount for its employees and along with it any of the one benefits:

For eg. Zydus Cadila gave business of Rs 10000 through its employess’ subscriptions, so Business Standard offers advertisements worth Rs 5000 in Business Standard newspaper free to Zydus Cadila.

Bag OR Advertisement

Challenges• One of the truths of modern business is that

there is almost nothing that your competitors can't duplicate in a matter of weeks or months. If you have a great idea, you can be certain that somebody will copy it before long. And not only will they follow your lead, but they may also be able to do a better job or sell the product or service at a lower price.

• The question then becomes, "What competitive edge do I have to offer that cannot be copied by anyone else?"

Arrival of Mint - Fancy- White paper- Half the size- Collaboration with The Wall Street Journal- Offer price Rs 399

Bulk subscription offer of Financial Express

• Providing at Rs 150 for 6 months, while we increased our price to Rs 175.

Increased awareness of internet media • Getting enough knowledge and latest updates

from internet and not like newspaper in which they to wait for one day for the latest happenings and changes in the market.

To save the bread and butter of the company

• To stay away from the existing customers paying monthly.

• It was a big hurdle in planning marketing activities.

Data Interpretation

Which newspaper do you read ?

Navbh

arat

Tim

es

Hindu

stan

Timee

s

Am

ar

Uja

la

Navb

hara

t Tim

esHi

ndus

tan

Tim

es

Since how long have u been reading this newspaper ?

Which of the following financial newspaper are you aware of?

What attributes are preferred by you in a financial newspaper?

What would u give preference while subscribing a newspaper ?

Are you an investor ?

Do you think that financial newspaper helps you in taking your decision on investments?

Would you switch your newspaper if any special offer is provided to u?

Findings

• Compared to Economic Times, brand awareness of Business Standard is less.

• Times of India is most preferred daily in English newspapers.

• Stock market news is the most preferred attribute in financial newspapers.

• News coverage is given more importance while choosing a newspaper.

Suggestions• The company should do more brand

building activities to increase brand awareness.

• The Stock Market analysis in Business Standard is excellent and considered to be the best among all the papers. So must use this strength in marketing.

• The company should focus on retention of customers because getting a new customer is more costly.

Limitations

• The sample size chosen is limited to 100 respondents; the study may not be applicable to the total market.

• There is a possibility of the respondents being biased; hence the information collected might not be an accurate one.

• The questionnaire may not be perfect to draw any strong conclusion as the primary object is to find the people who can be considered as potential customer.

Achievements• To get great experience while working on the

project.

• 6 copies of subscription.

• Successful Brand awareness programs and presentations.

• Implementation of mass marketing idea.

• Successful renewals and solving their problems and issues which the company was not aware of.

• Appreciation from Gujarat Head for gathering information of our competitor MINT.

Recommendations• Can increase the number of centers from

where the news paper is available and improve the distribution system.

• The company can also start a Customer Care department.

• Management can design a (Vendor Relationship Management programme) and should come up with some motivational offers and scheme for the vendors, so that they are self motivated and hence will push Business Standard from their side and would help in increasing the trade sales.

• Business Standard should start its Sunday copy in all the editions with some better strategies than its competitors who are charging more for the Sunday edition.

Conclusion• The distribution channel plays a very important role in

newspaper industry. In some cities the distribution system of Business Standard is not proper.

• Promotional scheme offered to the customers helped increasing the circulation of Business Standard.

• Looking at over all publication process, we came to know the whole process of printing till the final delivery of the newspaper. Understanding the theoretical aspect makes it look much easier but practically the publication process is very difficult and requires integrated efforts from all the departments.

• Finally looking at the acceptance of promotional scheme of Business standard, I conclude that the scheme offered was mostly liked by the readers and ultimately most of them were subscribing to it.

Questioner

Name :Age :Address/Place :Gender :Contact No :E-mail Id :Occupation :

Q1. Which newspaper do you read ?

1. Amar Ujala2. Times of India3. Hindustan Times4. Business Standard5. Economic Times6. Navbharat times7. The Hindu8. Sandesh 9. Business Line10. Financial Experess

Q2. Since how long you been reading this newspaper?

11. Less than 1.12. 1 – 413. 4 – 614. 6 – 915. More than 9.

Q3. Which of the following Financial newspaper are you awair of ?

1. Business Standard2. Economic times3. Business Line4. Finacial Express

Q4. What attributes are preferred by ypu inn a financial newspaper ?

5. Company news6. Economic news7. Supplement news8. Financial news9. Stock Market News

Q5. What would like to preferance while subscribing a newspaper ?

10. Gifts11. Discounts12. Price13. News Coverage

Q6. Are you an Investor ?

1. Yes2. No

Q7. Do you think that Financial newspaper helps you in taking your decision on investment ?

3. Yes4. No

Q8. Would you like to switch your newspaper if any special offer is provided to you ?

5. Yes6. No

Bibliography• http://www.business-standard.com/• http://www.wan-press.org/• http://www.historicpages.com/nprhist.html• http://www.newspaper-industry.org/

history.html• http://www.media.herald-dispatch.com/nie/

newspaperproces.html• http://drypen.in/branding/brand-awareness-

a-brand-building-concept.html