WSQ Strategic Plan for Digital Media Assignment (Magdalene Tan - submission 12 Aug)
- 1. WSQ Assignment -‐ Develop and Manage Strategic Plan for an Interac;ve Media Product Strategic Digital Media Plan for Harmony magazine by Magdalene Tan 12 August 2016
- 2. Descrip@on of the Issue/Problem
- 3. Key Problems & Issues • Declining revenue from 3 tradi@onal sources: Ø Print Ads, Subscrip@ons, News-‐stand sales • Changing consumer reading habits in fitness news: Ø Fitness industry has become increasingly tech-‐based, leading to more digital-‐based reading habits. • Complacency within Harmony: Ø An internal/human resource problem: Revenue growth is stunted as Harmony did not upgrade staff skills fast enough to meet readers and adver@sers’ demand for online content.
- 4. Key Problems & Issues • Harmony is ‘late in the game’ in ‘digi@zing’ its content, therefore poten@ally perceived as ‘obsolete’ by new genera@on of readers: Ø Both a problem and an opportunity. Need to invest more to build up an online presence from scratch and offer more innova@on to aWract online readers/adver@sers. Benefit of ‘hindsight’ – we can learn from the mistakes of rivals & improve where they are failing.
- 5. SWOT & PEST Analysis
- 6. SWOT Analysis Strengths • Established brand name. • High quality editorial content that is well respected in the industry. Weaknesses • No online presence. • ‘Late to market’ entrant in digi@zing content. • May be perceived as “obsolete” for being ‘late in the game’ in se`ng up an online presence. Opportuni;es • Ability to ‘learn’ from compe@tor’s mistakes and improve – exploit compe@tor’s vulnerabili@es. • Exis@ng base of loyal readers which can be further mone@sed. • Building online communi@es that are different from exis@ng subscriber base – extend the overall readership. Threats • Online readership – more ‘fickle’, not as ‘s@cky’ as print readership. • ‘Late to market’ entry – poten@ally more investment needed in technological innova@on and SEM. • Declining subscrip@ons will lead to declining circula@on – start of a downward spiral in ad revenues.
- 7. PEST Analysis Poli;cal -‐ Favourable government policies for technological development: o Generous funding schemes for skills upgrading of staff, investment in IT development and equipment. Economic • Slowdown in economic growth and consumer spending. • Adver@sers are cu`ng print ad spending, switching to online ads which are perceived to be more efficient in maximising ad spending. Social/Situa;onal -‐ Changing consumer reading habits: o People are switching to consuming fitness/ lifestyle news online due to prevalence of mobile technology; o Lifestyles are more fast-‐paced – people have less @me to read, op@ng for news ‘snippets’. o Convenience and easy access to mobile technology. Technology • Mobile technology – evolved to be more user-‐friendly and convenient, which has caused a seismic shie in consumer reading habits. • Fast adop@on of new technology by Singaporeans due to high awareness/ educa@onal levels.
- 8. Recommended Solu@ons to the Problem
- 9. What we want to do • A new revenue source that complements and enhances the 3 exis@ng revenue sources: • A dynamically responsive website for Harmony that will draw in new revenue sources: • Increase paid content subscrip@on – from readers • Increase online adver@sements – from adver@sers • Mone@se online offerings – from readers and adver@sers
- 10. SMART Planning Specific Increase revenues from 3 online sources: online adver@sements, online products, subscrip@ons. Measurable Time taken for online sources to start genera@ng revenue. Rate of adop@on (how soon exis@ng readers start reading from new website) AFainable Increase unique visitors (= increased circula@on) which will jus@fy higher online adver@sing rates to clients. Realis;c Gauge customer sa@sfac@on (via online surveys). Use Google analy@cs to observe customer behaviour (how long they linger on the website). Timely Set targets & projec@ons: -‐ Achieve x% increase in monthly unique visitors within 3 months.
- 11. USPs – What we can build on • Strong, established brand in the fitness media industry built up from the print business over the years, with highly regarded editorial content compared to its rival, Women’s Health. • Less “persuasion” is needed for fitness readers to consume ‘digi@zed’ content from Harmony. • What is needed to create mul@ple avenues for mone@sa@on.
- 12. Differen@ate from Compe@tor • Analyse the weaknesses of Women’s Health: Ø Difficult naviga@on structure; Ø Lack of editorial quality; Ø Lack of content differen@a@on from print version (90% replica@on of content); Ø Lack of updates (print version is published quarterly only, not monthly like Harmony); Ø Lack of social media pages and plug-‐ins; Ø Not dynamically responsive (no “App” version or mobile phone-‐friendly layout); Ø No reader engagement, e.g. blog, forum, comments. Turn these weaknesses into strengths for Harmony’s website.
- 13. Analysis of User and Adver@sing Requirements with Clear Recommenda@ons
- 14. User Requirements: Recommenda@ons • More regular content, such as daily news updates: Ø Fitness @p of the day Ø Photo of the day Ø Quote of the day • Relayed to readers via push no@fica@ons on Harmony’s social media pages and App news alerts. Regular Content = Enhanced top-‐of-‐mind awareness More traffic to Harmony’s website
- 15. • Provide Reader Engagement Planorms Ø Blog – invite selected readers to write about their fitness/nutri@on journeys which will be edited and posted on the blog, together with other advocates’ ar@cles; Ø Forum – set up a forum for discussion on various fitness topics of interest. Ø Comments – enable readers’ comments for Harmony’s online ar@cles, as well as advocates’/ readers’ blog ar@cles. User Requirements: Recommenda@ons
- 16. • Dynamic responsiveness Ø Content on Harmony website must be dynamically responsive, e.g. have a mobile phone-‐friendly layout and/or an “App” version. Enable news alerts on mobile devices Garner more impressions for Harmony’s website User Requirements -‐ Recommenda@ons
- 17. • Social Media Pages Ø Start Social Media pages for Harmony designed to drive traffic to the website and engage users in different ways. News Driven Visual Driven Event Driven Video Driven Selected online ar@cles featured on Harmony’s pages as well as interest groups’ pages Pos@ng/sharing engaging photos, e.g. advocates in lifestyle shoots, fitness OOTD, new fitness devices, nutri@on meals. Video interviews with advocates, exercise videos, nutri@on cooking. Feature upcoming events (TwiWer), get readers to check-‐in (FourSquare, Facebook), ‘live’ video feeds (Facebook). User Requirements: Recommenda@ons
- 18. Adver@sing Requirements: Invest in SEM • Invest in SEM at the ini@al stage to improve website ranking and eventually enhance SEO: Ø Google Ad Words to adver@se Harmony’s new website and online products.
- 19. Adver@sing Requirements: Digital Re-‐Marke@ng • Partner with Google for digital re-‐marke@ng campaigns • Once readers have visited Harmony’s website, Harmony’s ‘call-‐to-‐ac@on’ ads (e.g. “Subscribe Now”) will “follow” them to other sites.
- 20. Analysis of the Naviga@on and Content Requirements with Clear Recommenda@ons
- 21. • Easy-‐to-‐find Ø Organise content into Primary Naviga@on and Secondary Naviga@on o Primary Naviga@on – Content that most users are interested in – fitness, nutri@on, health & wellness. o Secondary Naviga@on – Content that does not serve the primary goal of Harmony’s website, but s@ll of cri@cal importance to drive adver@sing revenue – “About Us”, “Adver@se With Us”. Naviga@on Requirements -‐ Recommenda@ons
- 22. • Enhanced Primary Content Ø Provide content that is 85% dissimilar + complements the print version. Ø Addi@onal content to include: o Advocacy outreach – invite well known fitness trainers and celebri@es to contribute personal fitness journey ar@cles to a blog page on the website. “Reciprocity Principle” These blog ar@cles are shared on advocates’ social media pages which will extend Harmony’s website outreach. Primary Content Requirements -‐ Recommenda@ons
- 23. Primary Content Requirements – Recommenda@ons • Selected online content on Harmony’s website accessible via premium content subscrip@on. • Partnership with gyms for readers’ online fitness calendar Ø Commission fee for online class bookings. • Partnership with well known fitness trainers for online coaching: Ø Commission fee for online coaching sessions.
- 24. • Online real-‐@me fitness schedule tracking tool linked to mobile devices: Ø Fitness calendar linked to readers’ mobile device calendar; Ø Work with gyms for real-‐ @me booking of classes on this online calendar. • Garner more impressions for Harmony’s website • Increase usability of Harmony’s online offerings. Poten4al revenue source from gyms. Primary Content Requirements -‐ Recommenda@ons
- 25. • Online fitness schedule/nutri@on plan • Enable personalisa@on • Enable linkage to readers’ social media pages with automa@c alerts. • Sharing on mul4ple readers’ social media pages further extends Harmony’s website outreach and SEO. • Poten4al revenue source. Primary Content Requirements -‐ Recommenda@ons
- 26. Primary Content Requirements -‐ Recommenda@ons • Online fitness coach Ø Collaborate with Harmony advocates (well known fitness trainers/ celebri@es) to offer online fitness classes through Skype. Poten4al revenue source from readers.
- 27. • Provide variety of adver@sing op@ons (= poten@ally increases adver@sing revenue) on more online planorms via a dynamically responsive website Ø Ads on desktop view Ø Ads on mobile device view Ø Ads on mobile phone app. Secondary Content Requirements: Informa@on for Adver@sers
- 28. Recommended Systems Design Environment in which to develop the website
- 29. Systems Design Environment: A Logical Design • Ease of Naviga@on: Ø Intui@ve and easy-‐to-‐navigate hierarchy-‐based website structure. Ø Why? – the human mind is inclined to the logical order of a hierarchy Hierarchy = Simplicity = Enhanced SEO Ø Enhanced SEO will aWract more traffic to Harmony’s website = increase poten@al ad revenue.
- 30. Systems Design Environment: Rapid Applica@on Development • Adopt Rapid Applica@on Development (RAD) Ø Given the @me urgency of the website development, adopt RAD to enable incremental upgrades. Ø RAD is a modular system where incremental upgrades can be added upon readers’ and adver@sers’ feedback. Start with Content alone Modular upgrades Add-‐ins such as online fitness coach, online fitness class scheduling etc, to come later to enhance content aeer reaching a cri@cal regular reader base.
- 31. • Incorporate a Content Management System that mul@plies “Reciprocity Principle” – social media plug-‐ins Ø Social media plug-‐ins included in all online ar@cles for easy sharing on users’ social media pages. Sharing on mul4ple readers’ social media pages further extends Harmony’s website outreach and SEO. Systems Design Environment: Incorporate Content Management System
- 32. Systems Design Environment: Incorporate E-‐Commerce • Incorporate e-‐commerce into Harmony’s website and social media pages: • Regular marke@ng posts on online products offered with call-‐to-‐ac@on: “Subscribe now to get the first month off free.” • “Shop Now” buWon to be added on Facebook page to strengthen call-‐to-‐ac@on:
- 33. Recommenda@on on who will test the website’s usability and quality
- 34. Usability Tes@ng & Quality BEFORE WEBSITE GOES ‘LIVE’ • Focused Group Discussions: Ø Iden@fy target customer groups from exis@ng magazine reader base for focused group organisa@on. Ø Contact suitable customers for focused group discussions u@lising a test site: o Gauge sa@sfac@on levels o Wishlist: what other items they wish to see on Harmony’s website
- 35. Usability Tes@ng & Quality ONGOING TESTING AFTER ‘LIVE’ • Incorporate regular online surveys (e.g. pop outs when certain pages are clicked) to constantly monitor customer sa@sfac@on levels and wishlists. • Incremental modular upgrades based on RAD design model: • Enable add-‐in of incremental upgrades such as online fitness coach, online nuitri@on plan etc. to enhance content upon reaching a cri@cal traffic/readership base.
- 36. The End by Magdalene Tan for WSQ Assignment in Develop and Manage Strategic Plan for an Interac@ve Media Product 12 August 2016