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Nama: Hafiz Bin Ahmad Desa
Matrik: SX110196CJS04Perniagaaan Pilihan : Mobile Games
Berikut adalah plan perniagaan pilihan saya.
1.0
Executive Summary
Mobile News Games LLC
(MNG) develops mobile games relating to current news events. This marketing
plan illustrates our market segments and the strategies we are employing to get
customers and create a solid revenue stream. We are not just any mobile game
developer. Our unique focus of creating games with a news twist gives us an
advantage over our competitors by giving customers a new outlet to enjoy mobile
games. This fills a read need of not just traditional gamers but expands our
reach to people who would normally not play mobile games yet are amused by the
comical angle we use.
We will fund development
of our own games by providing consulting services to create similar games for
corporations who are looking to create mobile games for promotional purposes.
These consulting assignments will come from advertising sponsorship
relationships that we will establish with companies who are interested in
embedding their brand and offers inside our other games and would also like
something more custom that they can offer as their own game. In the first 3
years of the business, we expect consulting to constitute a large portion of
our revenue stream.
1.1 Vision
Our vision is to provide
people with a brief escape of fun over the course of their normal day. We do
this by providing them with timely interactive games that they can access on
their mobile devices - games that are easy to play and have some connection
with current pop culture news.
MNG leverages our team's
software development experience to create timely games quickly. Our marketing
challenge is to attract visibility quickly and we intend to accomplish this by
leveraging a multi-pronged approach that involves social media, email marketing
and search engine optimization strategies to gain market share. As we gain
traction in the marketplace, word of mouth will lift our game downloads
significantly.
1.2 Objectives
1. Generate over $400,000 in
sales by the end of year 1.
2. Increase sales by 100% by
the end of year 2.
3. Land 4 custom consulting
game development projects within 12 months.
2.0 Target Markets
Our ideal customer is
between the ages of 13 and 25 who enjoys playing video games and has a mobile
phone that allows applications to be downloaded, such as the iPhone, Android or
Blackberry. They often have an Xbox, Wii, Playstation or other TV-based video
game unit at home. They may also have a portable gaming unit such as the DS/DSi
and other portable gadgets such as an iPod.
Customers are typically
single and male and own or have access to a home computer, PC or Mac. They have
a wide range of disposable income. Some are teenagers living at home, others
are college students or those who have joined the workforce in the last 5 years.
Our game design
consulting customer is the VP of marketing or equivalent position of a medium
to large organization who is looking for creative promotional methods for their
products and services.
2.1 Market Definition and Segmentation
We target two segments:
mobile game users and organizations that want to reach them. In both of these
segments, customers are computer and mobile phone savvy and enjoy creative
experiences.
1. Mobile Game Users
There are two types of
customers that define the demographic of mobile gamers: teens (including
pre-teens) and young adults, which for the purposes of this marketing plan will
include teenagers age 18 and above as they are considered young adults by the
general population as well as by the law. The primary difference between the
two demographic segments is who provides the money for game purchases.
Free mobile games:
·
We offer trimmed back versions of our games
for free so that users can get a taste of the full game without committing any
money up front.>
·
Some features of free versions are disabled
and advertising is displayed in some strategic locations within the game so
that users are not bothered or distracted by the ads. For example, a soda
company may pay for a sponsorship and we might embed their name as a clickable
(tappable) billboard that appears as if it is part of the game itself.
Paid mobile games:
·
Our paid mobile games contain a broader set
of features. The price range is between $1.99 and $4.99 in order to create very
low price resistance for customers.
·
Paid games are also monetized via clickable
(tappable) ad sponsorships embedded within the games.
Games are available via
instant download on their appropriate mobile platform (i.e., Apple's Appstore
for the iPhone).
2. Organizations That Want
to Reach Youth and Young Adults
Additionally, there is
typically one type of customer who purchases custom mobile game development
services: VP of Marketing or Chief Marketing Officer. Their intent is to
promote their brand and products to the demographic that overlaps with mobile
game users.
2.2 Target Market Segment Strategy
Our strategy focuses on
developing an initial set of libraries containing game attributes that can be
combined to create new games. Upon launching the first set of games, we will
stay in regular contact with our customers via numerous online methods,
including social media and email marketing. After creating these libraries and
games, we will be able to market fast-turnaround consulting services to
organizations who would like their own promotional games.
2.3 Target Market: Mobile Game Users
Our mobile games have a
timely connection to current news events. We release new games within two weeks
of major news stories. For example, if a politician is involved in a scandal,
we can leverage one of our current game architectures and customize it with the
names of people involved in the scandal and even make a comical interactive
spoof out of events. If a celebrity makes a foolish comment, we access our
library of features to put together a game that pokes fun at the celebrity. The
mobile game user market enjoys interacting with games that give them a sense of
power and excitement, allowing them in some way to live vicariously through the
game.
2.3.1 Needs and Requirements
Mobile game users get
tired of games quickly and are constantly looking for new games to play. With
the plethora of news events always in circulation, we will target the news
media so they discuss games related to the stories they are covering. The games
we develop will target stories that are covered by the types of media outlets this
demographic consumes.
The users in this segment
also has limited financial capacity. Teens typically get their money to make
game purchases from their parents, which can be in the form of gifts or
allowances, or from low paying jobs. Older teens and young adults also have
limited financial capacity yet choose to spend part of their disposable income
on games as one of their sources of entertainment.
Very frequently, these
customers talk to each other about which games they enjoy, including strategies
for playing and winning. They also participate in online forums and discussion
groups to gather tips and other information to help them play or to find new
challenges. Additionally, they enjoy being listed as the "high score"
when there is a public setting available for players. We intend to offer this
public setting by allowing the customer to upload their score to our web site
for each game. The highest scores will be posted, giving the player worldwide
"bragging rights". As a result, the word of mouth potential for
timely games is explosive.
2.3.2 Distribution Channels
iPhone games are
distributed through the Appstore which is currently controlled by Apple. One of
the obstacles we have to overcome is the speed with which Apple approves
applications for downloading, which will be important for us since our games
have a time sensitive nature to them as they will be popular as long as a news
story is in circulation.
Google's Android offers
an open source model so they will likely surpass the iPhone in the number of
applications available soon. This also eliminates the need for review and
allows us to post new applications quickly. As more applications come out for
this device, it will gain marketshare. We want to be positioned so that we
provide excellent games for this community.
Blackberry applications
are controlled by Blackberry through Blackberry App World. Their users tend to
be older and more focused on business uses for their mobile devices. Because of
this, we will not focus our initial efforts on Blackberry. However, we do have
the expertise to build Blackberry applications and will create custom games for
this device for consulting clients who would like them.
2.3.3 Competitive Forces
There are many mobile
game developers. However, few are actual companies. Most games are developed by
one person who does not have the marketing savvy to integrate advertising
sponsorships into their games as we have outlined in this marketing plan. Our
unique twist on the types of games is also an advantage because we will not
have to spend as much time and energy thinking of the game themes - the news of
the day will provide that fodder so our efforts can be concentrated on
developing that real-life story into a game.
2.3.4 Communications
We will leverage social
media and word of mouth for the vast majority of our marketing using platforms
such as Twitter, Facebook, Orkut and MySpace. These platforms are widely used
by the customers in our demographic market. We will make announcements via
regular tweets and updates to our fan page on Facebook.
The newsworthy component
of our mobile games also makes it enticing for traditional media to publicize a
game that is related to a current news story.
We will also use our
email marketing list which is comprised of people who have expressed interest
in knowing when we release new games. We have segmented our email list so that
we can send appropriate emails to media and different ones to actual gamers,
our customers.
2.3.5 Keys to Success
Each of our postings to
social media sites will include a trackable link so we know how many people
click on each post. Using online tools like link redirectors (i.e., bit.ly,
tr.im and others), we can also see how many of readers and followers repost or
forward such links. We will also include trackable links within our email
marketing messages.
Those who click to find
more information about a game will be directed to landing pages, which are web
pages that contain more information about a specific game, including details
and links to download the games. These landing pages will be optimized for
search engines (we have SEO, search engine optimization, expertise) so that
when Internet users search on various keywords, our pages will rank highly in
their search results.
Using online analytics
tools, we will be able to see how many people click on various links in our
media campaigns to go to the landing pages and how many click to download each
game. However, online clicks cannot track users who use their mobile phone to
download the apps directly, which may comprise the bulk of our downloads.
For those, tracking of downloads is
provided by the platform such as Appstore.
2.4 Target Market: Organizations Who Want
to Reach Youth and Young Adults
Mobile game users consist
of young people. Since the youth and young adult demographic is so large, it is
also very lucrative. There are countless products targeting this demographic,
from soda manufacturers to clothing designers to hair product companies. This
segment can also consist of recruiters, which can be for military service or
other jobs. Companies who already spend millions of dollars on marketing to
this group are regularly looking for newer, more creative ways to reach this
market to reinforce their brand and sell products.
2.4.1 Needs and Requirements
Organizations who want to
reach males (and females, though it is a smaller proportion of our defined
customer base) between 13 and 25 realize that this group has a lot of spending
power. This age group is not yet used to saving money so they typically spend a
lot of what they earn. Vice Presidents and Chief Marketing Officers of these
organizations want to reach this market early and need to do so in catchy,
creative ways.
Much to the dismay of an
older generation, teens and young adults are reading less and spending more
time in front of a screen, whether it be television, a computer or a mobile
phone with a variety of applications. The VP or CMO needs to reach their target
market where they hang out. They typically have large budgets to spend on
marketing and are not afraid to try new things, as long as they show results.
The typical tenure of a
VP or CMO is about 3 years so there is a good deal of industry churn. This is a
good thing for us in the sense that when a senior executive like this leaves to
go to another company and they have had a good experience with our products and
services, they are likely to hire us to create similar results for them in
their new position.
Our job is to make them
look good to their superiors by getting them more entrenched with the
demographic they are trying to reach.
2.4.2 Distribution Channels
Reaching senior marketing
executives is typically done through a variety of means. Since we have limited
resources and need to manage our finances very effectively, we will focus on
two: advertising and networking. The advertising will primarily be online via
search engine ads so we can see the results within days instead of not knowing
whether a print ad has any effect. We have identified 4 trade shows and 3
conferences that these executives typically attend over the course of a year.
Part of our marketing plan is to attend these events to network with these
potential buyers. We also will submit responses to calls for papers to be
speakers at some of the events when possible.
2.4.3 Competitive Forces
As with the mobile game
user segment, there are a lot of software developers targeting organizations to
build custom games. Some are developing games overseas at lower costs. Even
some of the larger domestic companies outsource portions of their game
development. In order to keep up with pricing pressures, we have established
ties with two overseas organizations to help us with game development. That will
enable our domestic staff to focus on marketing and on project management as we
release new games and create the game component libraries.
2.4.4 Communications
To get these high level
executives, we will develop an online ad campaign with landing pages containing
lead generation forms that visitors can fill out to get whitepapers on using
mobile gaming to attract customers. Our white papers will include the concept
of embedding advertising within the games as well as examples of custom games
created just for a specific organization.
We also will network at
major trade shows and conferences, including obtaining speaking engagements
where we can discuss case studies to expose our concepts and strategies to the
right level of buyer.
2.4.5 Keys to Success
The primary key to
success is to be able to show case studies in which other companies leveraged
the power of mobile games to reach their market. This can be tracked using
metrics such as the number of times a gamer clicked on an ad embedded into a
game, the number of times a custom game was downloaded or an increase in sales
of the product being promoted. Success can also be tracked by industry buzz.
For example, fast food
chain Burger King created a Facebook application that allowed users to earn
points for "unfriending" one of their friends. The application would
show the image of the friend burning. Upon burning 10 friends, the user would
be entitled to a free burger. Word of this application spread very quickly and
quite a few Facebook users enjoyed participating. This campaign did two things:
generated traffic into restaurants and generated a tremendous amount of media
buzz. It cost significantly less than a paid advertising campaign involving
television time purchases.
3.0 Marketing Plan Strategy
Gamers like to share
notes with other gamers. On our web site, we will create a forum where people
can post and respond to comments freely as well as offer suggestions for new
games.
Forums will require
registration and users who post more frequently will be rewarded with a special
tag, a gold star, next to their avatar to show other users that they are a
"super contributor" to the forums. For our demographic, this is a
badge of honor that they try to attain proudly.
3.1 Emphasize Creativity, Service and Speed
to Market
Since our games will be
tied to current news events, we will emphasize our focus on creativity along
with spectacular service and speed of development for our consulting clients.
It is important for us to get to market quickly in order to capitalize on the
news event that is associated with the game. The longer the delay between game
conception and game release, the less the penetration of that game.
3.2 Emphasize Fun
Our goal is to establish
a reputation for games that poke fun at what many would consider humerous or
ridiculous actions by well-known people. Each game will contain a link to our
web site where users can find out about more games and subscribe to our email
list and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Additionally, to help
promote games via word of mouth, each game has the option to notify a friend.
So, a user can send a text message to a friend instantly to share their
excitement or recommendation about the game.
4.0 Expense Budget Summary
Marketing expenses are
mostly for staff required to do the marketing activities listed. The vast
majority of the software tools needed to implement the activities, such as
analytics and landing page creation, are available for free. The exceptions to
this are for specific tools like email marketing and forums.
4.1 Expense Budget by Month - Year 1
We do not expect an
increase in marketing staff requirements during year 1 because one person can
actually do a lot of these activities. Once they have put marketing plan
processes into place, the marketing activities upkeep becomes easier and can be
handled by junior staff. Below is a breakdown of marketing expenses by month
for year 1.
4.2 Expense Budget by Year
We anticipate second and
third year marketing expenses to increase, again mostly for covering the cost
of additional staff to help facilitate the additional requirements for
marketing activities. We expect sales and marketing expenses to be around 15%
of total sales.
Table: Marketing Expense Budget
5.0 Sales Forecast
Sales will come from three sources:
1. Game downloads - this includes free and
paid downloads. The free downloads are monetized from embedded advertising
sponsorships
2. Embedded Advertising
Sponsorships
- ads embedded in both free and paid games
3. Custom games developed
for companies
- this would be consulting projects to develop iPhone, Blackberry and Android
promotional games
Sales costs relate to the
fees charged by our channel partners for carrying the games, such as Appstore,
or for our estimated costs for staff to sell ad sponsorships or develop custom
games.
Below is our first year's
sales forecast broken down by product type, estimated unit pricing and costs:
6.0 Progress Measurement and Monitoring
In order to make sure
that we are on track, we have created a variety of key metrics that we will
measure on a regular basis. These may require adjustments and fine tuning as we
progress. They are our best estimates based on currently available market
research.
6.1 Key Marketing Metrics
We estimate that 1 of
every 10 people who visit the landing page or see a tweet or Facebook post will
download a game. Other metrics include the average sale price estimated based
on paid downloads as well as sales of advertising sponsorships and custom game
development.
Table: Key Marketing Metrics
Below is a breakdown of key marketing
metrics measured by month for year 1:
6.2 Other Success Metrics
Other key metrics we will measure to
monitor our success are as follows:
·
Number of speaking engagements
·
Five star game reviews
·
Industry awards
·
Number of games developed
·
Number of game feature libraries created
·
Number of deals with channel partners
·
Email list size
We will also pay
attention to the number of tweets we make and the number of followers on
Twitter as well as the number of Facebook fans we get. Below is a breakdown of
other success metrics by month for year 1:
7.0 Marketing Organization
Mobile News Games is a
small company with very focused aspirations. Our team is comprised of two
unique individuals who have a solid background in mobile communications and
marketing. Together with a team of local and international software development
staff, we are able to bring to market a wide array of unique mobile games that
provide an experience that other gaming companies do not.
Bill Philips, President,
oversees the general management, including game development, of MNG. Prior to
forming the company, he was Vice President of Products at a major wireless
telecommunications provider for 5 years. He is also a member of the Mobile
Marketing Association.
Donna Paster, VP
Marketing, is responsible for all areas of marketing. She co-founded MNG with
Bill Philips. Donna's prior experience includes developing the key marketing
plan that launched several mobile versions of games for a large video game
producer. Donna will be assisted by 2 marketing interns hired from local
universities as co-op students throughout the year. These students will handle
the more routine aspects of the marketing efforts while Donna focuses on the
key strategic relationships.
