The Rooster Den
Business Plan
Prepared by- Morrison Marketing, M. Morrison
Augusta, Georgia

Peebles Enterprises marketing plan 
4/1/11

Michael G. Morrison

Morrison Marketing

            This marketing plan is written out by Michael Morrison for Augusta Technical College under an internship. Michael has worked for this company for multiple years and achieved success there. Worked a high volume corner and sold over 1600 papers in one day at James Brown Funeral. Michael has also worked seasonal jobs with the Augusta Chronicle during the masters.

Company description

     Peebles Enterprises is a hawker newspaper business located in Hephzibah, GA. The owner is Lance Peebles, who is also the executive officer at Tobacco Road jail. The company sells the Augusta Chronicle on multiple street corners in South Augusta, West Augusta, Downtown Augusta and surrounding areas. There are around 125 employees with a commission compensation based pay plan and a daily pay rate. The company has been around since 2003 and has survived through a recession, rising cost of goods, trends towards online papers and competition from other Augusta Chronicle salespeople.

Purpose of marketing plan

            
     To understand the customer of Peebles Enterprises and what strengths/weaknesses the company has.

The mission statement

      To sell as many papers as possible.

Product

The product is an Augusta Chronicle Newspaper. There are around 200,000 circulations daily of this paper. This is the oldest newspaper in the south, owned by Morris Communication, who owns several other newspaper companies. Specifically it is just the Sunday paper. It has a general news section, metro, business, religion, home improvement, sports, comics, sales ads and classified ads. This makes for a very flexible product that can be sold to plenty of people. Everyone has something to look at in the paper. The Augusta Chronicle has won some awards through the year and the product is rated highly amongst its customers. There is no other competing newspaper to deal with in Augusta that is large enough to count.

A print newspaper is the selling point of the business. There are a lot of people who like to feel the physical copy as opposed to reading it online. The thick feel of Sunday circulations and the smell of the ink and paper are two nostalgic aspects of a printed newspaper. This represents all of the revenue for the company.

The cost of a newspaper is 1.50 cent. 1.13 is Peebles Enterprises share and .37 cent is the commission off of a paper.

The Augusta market’s future

Augusta is in a growth period capturing the rebound from a national recession that sidestepped Augusta compared to other cities of business. Peebles enterprises have become more efficient to stay in operations during this time. Overall though the economic activity is increasing and particularly in areas where hawkers are already present.

Tips and increases in sales will be in a multiplier due to the compensation plan established. With increased sales it will be bigger than just that’s day profits. It sets a standard that the force will always try to reach. The factors can stack with a heavy news event or a well timed holiday and produce high sales numbers. Peebles Enterprises is projected to grow and do well for the next 2-4 years, despite online growth of newsreaders and possible rise in cost of goods.

Peebles Enterprises target market is newspaper readers (coupon clipper, business readers, sports readers, people who look at sales ad) who do not have a subscription to the Chronicle but want to read the paper. Most of these customer do not want to buy a subscription because they cannot afford it, are usually on their way to or from church, and enjoy the customer service that’s comes with their paper.

Hawkers can establish a customer base by making himself better than other hawkers. It is competitive in some areas with several hawkers in a 3 mile radius. People that buy a newspaper every Sunday from a hawker have choices. If one hawker does not look motivated or approachable than they will go somewhere else, unless they have to because of convenience of location. Signs, angle of stacked papers to the angle of traffic and a moving hawker will be the first three things to start off with.

 Solid customer service can be given by giving small talk to that particular hawker’s special group of customers. Each hawker is encouraged to play to their strengths. Some of them are young and can pitch it off as the “son/daughter” or something like that and could capture sales/tips from those who are compassionate to teenagers working. Seniors will draw those who admire hard working people that they might envision would sell papers.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths- several established hawkers with customer bases, Sales labor is very flexible and able to fluctuate with demand, gives a fuller paper buying experience, 95% of business activity is on a Sunday, Since work is contract based Peebles Enterprises pays no benefits to employees. Peebles Enterprises is the only hawker business in the city.

Weaknesses-Lack of trained/motivated sales force, high turnover rates, no branch locations for delivering newspapers to sales force, this is the owners side job, Bad reputation of some sales force

Opportunities-resources in place to sell more than 1 product, Events provide extra days to sell papers and can contribute heavily to quarter income statements, A lot of people have worked this job now and public knowledge is pretty high about it, growing economy in South Augusta and Downtown with a presence already ready for growth.

Threats-Rising price of goods, legal contingencies from accidents, Trend of online newspapers, rise of competition in other hawker businesses, Augusta Chronicle going through financial hardship; if they go down then there is no Peebles ENT. Slow weeks and repeated bad weather severely affect sales.

Competition

Augusta Chronicle online, The Augusta chronicles subscriptions, Newspaper vending machines, local corner stores and gas stations that cater to early risers liking their paper and big department/grocery stores.

Big department stores

Strengths

·         Early opening hours, convenient to people who do not want to hold up traffic, loyal customers who the department store has won over, very reliable, time to pick up the paper and hold it, Well placed racks.

Weaknesses

·         No personal selling, requires a trip into the store, usually passes several hawkers on way to store, lines may be long throughout day, people forget to get a paper in the store and hawkers can catch these forgetful customers.

Gas stations/Corner stores

Strengths

·         Opens early, Personal interaction with newspaper, great products to go along with paper (coffee, snacks, drinks and cigarettes), extremely heavy foot traffic through the store in a day

Weaknesses

·         Longer lines in the morning during rush hours, there are more gas stations than papers to go around resulting in heavy competition, cannibalization with to many kinds of newspaper

Vending Machines

Strengths

·         Available anytime, always the same spot usually tied with the same time of day for each purchase, available in remote locations, throughout the city at many developed areas.

Weaknesses

·         Takes change from customers sometimes, no personal selling at all, very easy to walk by and not think about, customer can take 2 papers while paying for one, machine can be broken into, requires quarters instead of dollars

The Augusta Chronicle subscription

Strengths

·         Paper delivered early in the morning, very symbolic walk to get the paper, most conventional way for regular customers to receive paper, Costs less than buying a paper every week

Weaknesses

·         No customer interaction, Requires money up front, lack the ability to sell individual papers, staff has to be consistent in delivery times, Rising gas prices hurting profits is a long term weakness

Distribution

Newspapers are picked up Sunday morning from Downtown Augusta and taken to South Augusta to Peach orchard Road. This allows a central location for hawkers to pick up their papers. There is a problem with hawkers who are further away from the pickup point. Several locations were once used and the cost of having several pickup/cash out spots outweighed the benefit.

On average a hawker can sell from 30-200 papers in a day. With most hawkers landing around 45-120 in a day. There are on average around 80 hawkers present every week. Their locations are spread out in most areas and when they are concentrated it is broken down into flows of traffic.

Hawker stance- Ready with 3 papers in hand and change for a 5 ready in a pocket, papers angled so customers can see it. Hawker should walk close to cars windows to encourage those who do not want to hold up traffic; people will start a buying frenzy sometimes if someone takes the paper. They seem to be scared to be the first one or something. Simple greet with some personalization given to clients. Tips can be made if you ask sometimes, but only the right people. Customers like to give hawkers tips, but hawker should be very careful with choice of words.

Peebles Enterprises recycles the papers that it does not sale. They are taken to the Augusta Chronicle and made into more newspapers. This makes both financial and environment friendly sense for the company. The papers are hauled off at about 7 or 8 P.M after a 14-16 hour workday.

Promotion mix

            Possible use of ads and advertising for the company may do some good. A customer is anyone who buys a paper so an advertisement with the Augusta Chronicle seems the best choice. An emphasis on the strengths of buying a paper from a hawker, and weaknesses of other option is recommended as a theme in the advertisements. Print ads of less than 250 words placed consistently can have a positive effect on sales.

            Signs used to show the price of the Augusta Chronicle are to small and flimsy to use actively. Handheld signs are not recommended in my opinion. It is so much better to just have the product in your hand to show to the customer. The decision to buy a paper has to be made fast and a readily displayed paper is better than a though provoking sign.

            Personal signs made by the hawker are recommended. The earlier a customer the customer is aware there is a hawker around the faster they can buy a paper. A lot of times I have rode right past hawkers and barely noticed them. A presence must be felt even though the client is in their vehicle. The price should appear as 1.49 instead of 1.50 on the sign for odd pricing.

Recommendations

1. The top selling hawker advertisement could be used to stir competition in the company. The top hawker each week could enjoy the limelight in the Chronicle and also the enjoyment of their customers noticing them in the paper. This could be a human resource/ sales and public relations reaching advertisement in the Augusta chronicles part of the business section. This will inquire thoughts about the business and associate award with good salesmanship.

2. Hawker stance- Ready with 3 papers in hand and change for a 5 ready in a pocket, papers angled so customers can see it. Hawker should walk close to cars windows to encourage those who do not want to hold up traffic; people will start a buying frenzy sometimes if someone buys the first paper. They seem to be scared to be the first one or something. Simple greet with some personalization given to clients. Tips can be made if you ask sometimes, but only the right people. Customers like to give hawkers tips, but hawker should be very careful with choice of words.

3. A second main point needs to be established closer to other hawkers on the east side and the west side. The main office is close to the most concentrated markets right now but future growth is unable to happen without another spot to conduct business for that side of town.

4. Recruitment is essential to keeping the business with the talented labor it needs. Networking skills can be continued to be used by the owner and stakeholders of the company to attract labor. A $5 referral bonus is currently given to hawkers who bring in new labor. This is essential to promotions as a lot of people have had someone in their family who has sold papers, whether a retired grandparent or a young teenager.

Thank you for reading this marketing report

Morrison Marketing is dedicated to other businesses in Augusta

If any questions or comment need to be made Michael Morrison can be reached at

MichaelMorrisonAugusta@gmail.com 

706-504-5754

(A competitive analysis that I am working on for my cousins business, let me know what you think)

Marketing Plan

Competitive advantage

The competitive advantage that J&M’s studio will have other studios will be the professionalism of the studio, quality of music production and atmosphere of music

1.      Professional studios- The main theme of the business will be a professional environment where clients can come up with their music. A professional studio has more restrictions than just some musicians in a garage making music.  The studio will use modern world class equipment with training from Full Sail University, a prestigious recording university that is the industry standard. A lot of recording studios are packed with people who are involved in the music production process. There will not be a environment where people just hanging around will be tolerated. When the studio is open and clients are paying money there will not be a packed studio. This will get more work done and make sure only those who are really interested in doing music come through. Loitering by the owner’s family and friends will be kept down to a minimum. The studio will be cleaned nightly by the owner to keep a orderly business. A business that is cluttered and has things all out of place is not 100% efficient.

2.      The owner and leader producer has attended Full Sail University for the past 4 years. Joshua Slater has a bachelors degree in musical production. He also has over 10 years of music experience working multiple softwares and musical hardware. The owner has been working with artists throughout the area already and has connects and referrals already set up. The owner has his distinct preferences  already set out and his own producing style. The owner also has a expericene with handling creative clients that recrding studios get. Josh Slater has ahd to deal with plenty of different clients before and knows the common themes amongst giving the artist a good experience.

3.      The studio is to be designed for a music atmosphere. Black carpet and dark colored wood panels will provide a non-distracting surrounding. There will be a lack of props in the studio to keep the musicians and producers concentrated with the work in front of them. The booth will be outfitted with sound dampening material to keep the recording quality high, the control room is the same. The lighting in the studio is to be minimal except for a sitting room where writing, brainstorming and other business matters will be done.