wsq strategic plan for digital media assignment (magdalene tan - submission 12 aug)

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

Descrip@on of the Issue/Problem

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.

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.

SWOT & PEST Analysis

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.

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.

Recommended Solu@ons to the Problem

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

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.

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.

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.

Analysis of User and Adver@sing Requirements with Clear

Recommenda@ons

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

•  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.


•  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

•  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).


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.

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.

Analysis of the Naviga@on and Content Requirements

with Clear Recommenda@ons

•  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

•  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

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.

•  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.


•  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.



•  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.

•  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

Recommended Systems Design Environment in which to develop

the website

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.

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.

•  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

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:

Recommenda@on on who will test the website’s usability and quality

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

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.

The End

by Magdalene Tan for

WSQ Assignment in Develop and Manage Strategic Plan for an Interac@ve Media Product

12 August 2016

wsq strategic plan for digital media assignment (magdalene tan - submission 12 aug)

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