Design competitions

Script

Slide 1- Roles/ Introduction

Firstly, I would like to introduce all the members of our Company. First, we have Nick Lovegrove who is the Creative Directo, Ailsa Marrs, the Financial Director and designer, Robyn who is the accounts manager and me, the print liaison and designer

We are a limited company starting on 1st of April which is the beginning of the financial year in 2016.

I will now pass over to Robyn who will explain out vision statement etc

.........................( robyn with vision statement, premises etc, Nick our products )

Slide 6 - I will now talk about our competitors ( names and analysis of competitors on the slide)

We have picked 3 companies that are most similar to VOICE as our competitors, they are 7Nine, Fuse8 and Definitive.

1. We are a much smaller company, unlike Fuse8 and therefore we guarantee a much more hands on relationship with our clients.
2. We also have a print liaison who will have built a strong relationship with the printers meaning that we are involved/ over seeing from start to finish of a print job rather than just handing it over to the printers
3. As mentioned, having just one print and client liaison were guarantee consistency and a friendly face all the way through each project.
4. We are offering a 10% discount in the first year which means that we are cheaper than our competitors especially definitely who's price range is quite high
5. Situated just on the southern outskirts of Leeds ( which means rent is not too expensive) and were are easily accessible via cars and trains
6. We are also situated near printers we are working with such a Team Impression and Duffields

Slide 7- Marketing and Promotion

This is an over view of our marketing strategy analysed using the 4 P's.

Our budget for the 1st year is £ 5000 and we wanted to make sure that we reach as many of our target audience as possible.

Our main promotion is Advertising ( this is where most of the budget is spent)

We intend to advertise with the Yorkshire Post and the Leeds Yellow pages for a more local cliental and the Guardian Newspapers for a more national based group but still targeted at businessmen and broadsheet readers with a higher average income.

We also intend to advertise with design magazines such as Grafik and IdN. We also hope to get publish in such magazines.

(Slide 7.5)

The costings of the ads vary....

For example- for a large business card sized, mono print in the yellow pages is £351 and for a double page advertisement with an offered 70% discount is £1107

The purposes for these ads and publication vary as the yellow pages and newspapers are aimed more at clients directly contacting us and the design magazines is to get our name/ company seen by other designers and to get a reputation via these publications.

Other than that we also intend to....

• put commonly used keywords into our website so that our website appears on the top of the search engine eg. Google.
• enter design competitions monthly
• Entice customers with business cards that stand out
• customised direct mail for specific types of clients

I will now pass over to Ailsa Marrs who will talk abot Finances

Prensentation ( final)

Slide 7- Marketing and Promoting

• set our budget to 5000 pounds
• therefore, try to cover as many of our target audience as possible under that budget
• need to be as effective as possible ( otherwise, waste of money)
• using the communication mix diagram to outline our marketing plan
• also using the 4 p's to analyse our marketing strategy
• We have established our target market to be medium-large commercial and cooperate businesses. with a high average income. Mostly would be regional but we are also aiming to expand our business to a more national based client group. Also, as this is branding design comnay.... most businesses that will be needing an identity and branding would be ones which are starting up

the 4 p's

• Product - our Graphic design services mentioned in the previous slides
  
  
  
  
• Pricing - we have already aimed to charge for our services less than our competitors with the 10 percent discount in the first year
  
  

Place - our advertisement are specified in the wanted areas of our target audience. eg. yellow pages, local news paper etc.

Promotion -...........

I would like to demonstrate this by using the communication mix diagram

advertising, this is where the most of our budget would be spent. we intend to advertise ourselves in the Yorkshire post and the yellow pages aimes for the more local client base. Then for a more national base group we intend to advertise with a broadsheet newspapers such as the Guardian as our target audience are most likely to be broadsheet readers and businessmen.

We also wanted to advertise ourselves in design magazine as to get our names out these with all our competitors and on top of that submitting our work ( with an agreement with our client) to magazines such as Idn, Grafik in order to get published.

the costings or these ads vary. For example, for an ad a size of a large business card in black and white in the yellow pages is 351 pounds. For an Idn magazine, we contacted their ad team and for a full page advertisement and a 70% offered discount, the ad would be 1107 pounds but the time scale, readers, location would also be different. the yellow pages is an annual publication where as Idn is quarterly. The purposes of each ad could also be very different, yellow pages for direct client contact where as an ad or a publication in a design magazine would give us the reputation which would be drive the clients to pick us over our competitors.

The most common way for people now aways to search for anything is google. te word is even in the dictionary as a verb!

We could, without extra costs, put in certain key words on our company website so that when people type in common words, anything related to graphic design, our website would be on the first page.

competition briefs is also another one of our promotional strategy. nothing is better than a good reputation. people don't like to be spend hours and hors going through every single potential employee, and the quickest way to judge someone is to see our many awards they have got. we intend to do one competition brief every month. However, some of them are open briefs and you can submit any work that you have done in the pas 6 months in a specific categories and

we need to make our company stand out.....

we need to entice our customers when we first meet them

• a memorable business card ( a play with our company name (VOICE) so that they remember it)
• direct mails to our target audience. we could create different types of direct mails which is aimed at certain type of companies. eg the companies who are more likely to be wanting annual reports, then the mail out would be designed to advertise our company about our annual report service but then also mentiona other services too.
• as our company offers a branding service......most businesses that will be needing an identity and branding would be ones which are starting up...so we could aim to advertise our business with banks. ie. make a deal with certain banks to advertisie our branding service with their packages etc.
• 
  

Lastly, as mentioned in the previous slide, we have analysed our competitors and came up with unique selling points that make us better than our competitors and therefore that is also part of our marketing strategy. ( using the SWOT) analysis)

Write a marketing plan

Your marketing objectives

Your marketing objectives should be based on understanding your strengths and weaknesses, and the business environment you operate in. They should also be linked to your overall business strategy.

For example, suppose your business objectives include increasing sales by 10 per cent over the next year. Your marketing objectives might include targeting a promising new market segment to help achieve this growth.

For more information on how to identify the best opportunities, see the page in this guide on external and internal analysis for your marketing plan.

Objectives should always be SMART:

• Specific - for example, you might set an objective of getting ten new customers.
• Measurable - whatever your objective is, you need to be able to check whether you have reached it or not when you review your plan.
• Achievable - you must have the resources you need to achieve the objective. The key resources are usually people and money.
• Realistic - targets should stretch you, not demotivate you because they are unreasonable and seem to be out of reach.
• Time-bound - you should set a deadline for achieving the objective. For example, you might aim to get ten new customers within the next 12 months.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Plan your marketing tactics

  Once you have decided what your marketing objectives are, and your strategy for meeting them, you need to plan how you will make the strategy a reality.

  Many businesses find it helpful to think in terms of the four Ps:

  • Product - what your product offers that your customers value, and whether/how you should change your product to meet customer needs.
  • Pricing - for example, you might aim simply to match the competition, or charge a premium price for a quality product and service. You might have to choose either to make relatively few high margin sales, or sell more but with lower unit profits. Remember that some customers may seek a low price to meet their budgets, while others may view a low price as an indication of quality levels.
  • Place - how and where you sell. This may include using different distribution channels. For example, you might sell over the internet or sell through retailers.
  • Promotion - how you reach your customers and potential customers. For example, you might use advertising, PR, direct mail and personal selling.

  For a more comprehensive approach, you can extend this to seven Ps:

  • People - for example, you need to ensure that your employees have the right training.
  • Processes - the right processes will ensure that you offer a consistent service that suits your customers.
  • Physical evidence - the appearance of your employees and premises can affect how customers see your business. Even the quality of
    
    
    
    
    
    

    Implementing your marketing plan

    Your marketing plan must do more than just say what you want to happen. It must describe each step required to make sure that it happens.

    The plan should therefore include a schedule of key tasks. This sets out what will be done, and by when. Refer to the schedule as often as possible to avoid losing sight of your objectives under the daily workload.

    Resources

    It should also assess what resources you need. For example, you might need to think about what brochures you need, and whether they need to be available for digital distribution (by email or from your website). You might also need to look at how much time it takes to sell to customers and whether you have enough salespeople.

    Cost

    The cost of everything in the plan needs to be included in a budget. If your finances are limited, your plan will need to take that into account. Don't spread your marketing activities too thinly - it is better to concentrate your resources to make the most of your budget. You may also want to link your marketing budget to your sales forecast. See our guide on how to forecast and plan your sales.

    Control

    As well as setting out the schedule, the plan needs to say how it will be controlled. You need an individual who takes responsibility for pushing things along. A good schedule and budget should make it easy to monitor progress. When things fall behind schedule, or costs overrun, you need to be ready to do something about it and to adapt your plan accordingly.

    From time to time, you need to stand back and ask whether the plan is working. What can you learn from your mistakes? How can you use what you know to make a better plan for the future?

Researching your potential customer base

Once you know your groups of customers, you can look to conduct further research to see if there are any types of customer with more specific needs than others. For example, older customer groups may buy different types of products to younger groups.

'Market segmentation' can be an effective tool for this. It involves splitting your customer groups into smaller segments to find the sections of your customer base that will be most profitable to your business. You can segment customers by:

• lifestyle
• social class
• opinion
• activities and interests
• attitudes and beliefs

You should also consider the factors such as the following when deciding which marketing segments to target:

• Is the segment large enough to support your marketing goals?
• Does your business have the skills and expertise to deal with the chosen segment?
• Is there growth in the segment?

Slides

SLIDE 1

Roles:

Nick Lovegrove- Creative Director

Ailsa Marrs- Financial Advisor, Designer

Sai Uennatornwaranggoon - Print Liason

Robyn Russell- Accounts manager, designer

We are a limited company

SLIDE 6

Competitors:

who are they ?

3 main design for print agencies in Leeds

1. NINE

• offer a range of services similar to us ( identity, branding, editorial etc)
• It is a larger company than VOICE and employ freelancers
• hands on intecration
• high end sophisticated
• strong relationship with clients

2 FUSE

• west of leeds off the M1, a bit further out of town but easily accessible
• also specialise in design for print (branding, exhibition, billboard, editorial and publications)
• again, they are slightly bigger than VOICE
• unspecified client base
• strong relationship with clients

3 DEFINITIVE

• based more in central of leeds along Kirkstall- good area as accessible both car and train
• near printers such as Duffields
• quite a large company therefore they can afford a big range of media
• they produce, promotional materials, publications, packaging and branding
• high price range

how are we different?

• 20% discount
• smaller company ( perhaps a more intimate relationship with clients)

SLIDE 7

Promotion and Marketing plan :

• using local newspaper ( yorkshire post)
• Yellow pages ( also local )
• National press with Guardian and their magazine ( broadsheet readers, to draw our targeted client)
• become the top of google search ( this doesn't cost anything and can be done ourselves)
• Design Magazine ( both advertising and trying to get featured)
• design competitions, once a month
• 20% discount vouchers

with all these > 5000 which is our budget for the first year for promotion

Other promotional material :

online yellow pages

radio

mail outs

networking events

relationships with clients > recommendation

business card

Enterprise Meeting: start on presentation

Basic: structure?

1 Intro ( logo)

2vision statement

mission statement

objectives

strategy

charge rates/ /USP, Mark up

Equipment

premises ( location)

competitors

promotion

marketing plan

finances / 2 slides

future forecast (if financial forecasts are met)

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narroowed down

1 Logo +our names

2 Roles: Skill employed byt Ltf

3 Vision, mission, objective, - SHORT TERM

4 Examples of works

5 Premises, location, equipment, finance + reasons

6 Competitors SWOT ( names, what the product, how we different, on USP)

7 Promotion +marketing plan

8 Finance- rate sheet, discuss,, GPM salary

9 legal, charge rates