Public Relations Plan Proposal for Newcastle City - Essay Example

PUBLIC RELATIONS PLAN PROPOSAL Topic: A public relations plan proposal for Newcastle City. This is a proposal for the development of a public relations plan for Newcastle City; the plan will include all the communication plans and public relation strategies for the company. Target public The public relation plan is developed in an attempt to improve the public image and perception of the company and to increase the customer base for the company’s products and services. The targeted population includes: The Newcastle city residents. Businesses Suppliers, distributors and other stakeholders The current and prospective consumers of the company’s products and services. Strategy The plan shall be developed by first assessing the situation in the company. This will include identification of the company’s vision, mission, objectives and goals. It will also entail an assessment of the operations and activities carried out in the company, how these operations are carries out and who is in charge of the various activities. This will provide a clear understanding of the communication channels and protocols which are important in the creation of the communication plan. An assessment of the stakeholders, the consumers, shareholders and the prospective customers shall be done to provide an understanding of the range of consumers and their needs, the suppliers and all other stakeholders in order to provide a clear understanding of the public in order to create an effective public relation plan. Research and situational analysis (SWOT) Newcastle City is situated in the New South Wales and has a declining population of over 154,000 people. It is a town famous for coal mining and exports. Other minerals are copper, soap and steel. Strengths: Newcastle City has real concentration of talent where most of its youthful generation and middle age are pro technology and communications. This city has numerous educational and research institutions who are developing the literate digital workforce. Historically, the city is the largest and second oldest in New South Wales. This has provided a great history of business friendliness through provision of talented human resource. It boasts of a world class infrastructure that has been complimented by the unique lifestyle and pace of the city. Weaknesses: The Australian city is still seen as an industrial hub with many people still focused on the aftermath of industrial revolution. The digital readiness is still low as compared to the exposure most residents have attained. Despite being knowledge based economy there is still some reluctance to increase the uptake of digital media and applications. The high speed broadband network is still underway and it seem the residents are yet to learn the importance of digital economic revolution before applying in their daily activities. Opportunities: The city has adorable infrastructure comprising of a rail, air, world class broadband of which it has been prioritized by the National Broadband Network Program of the Australian government. The connection speed is super with connections to many businesses and households. The city is actually a driving steering for Australia’s economy owing to their possession of the knowledge based economy. The government is committed at all levels to support domestic business and academic institutions which are provided with unrestricted access to incubator programs and business support services. The people have the capability to network on both social and commercial environments while enthusiastic on generating new ideas, partnership and innovation. Threats: Economic recession is the common threat to only the city of Newcastle but the global business and transactions. It affects the mode and intensity of business operations which could have been enhanced by the digital connectivity. The area is also affected by earthquakes as the one experienced in 1989 where major buildings were destroyed. It literally eroded investor confidence though many businesses have been re-ignited in the suburban strip. It also faces numerous central coast and hunter region storms which has claimed lives and destroyed property worth millions of AUD. Publics: Segmented The target market is the public which will include businesses, citizens, private investors, government employees and departments. They are classified depending on their potential to supply and consume digital technology. The provider will be the government and majority of the consumers will citizens and businesses. Classification of the target market will also consider age and geographical distribution of the population who are to use this service. Purpose The aim of the digital diversification is to connect a high speed broadband within Australia and abroad to develop a prosperous future with enhanced productivity, improved investment and providing an ideal business environment for entrepreneurs. It is intended to attract investment, entrepreneurs and best talent to Australia. Strategy The business strategy to be adopted will have multiple parts that will include the technical frameworks to assess and analyze organizational performance. The digital installation will utilize market analytical tools, like SWOT analyses, which assists to create market position and enlighten overall strategy. It will also apply the projection mechanisms that offer a roadmap for sustainability or long-term growth. Game theory applications will guide daily business decisions. In addition, tactical moves will inform the competitive pricing schemes. The business strategy will set goals which will need constant retooling or recalibration. The business strategy will also need sound leadership, profound intelligence, precise data, and an engineer-like approach. Objectives To develop a strategy for the overall progression of Digital Newcastle To promote the city’s energetic digital industry sector by attracting, cheering and retaining high growth prospective businesses to the Central Business District. To raise understanding of new opportunities in the international digital marketplace To increase skill levels and domestic business digital literacy To embrace Internet technologies to increase productivity and business performance. Tactics The tactic will involve identifying brand promoters where customer relationship marketing is a significant element to the organizations digital marketing mix. Loyal Newcastle customers acting as brand promoters can improve sales and use word of mouth. Online reviews where calls predict opinions of the consumers will help influence purchase decisions. Customer support community identifies and amplifies the voices of loyal customers so as to give a moderated customer support community. In addition, social engagement and monitoring will reinforce and re-affirm the conversation regarding competitors, brand, consumer segments, and industry. Besides, email campaigns and SMS will idealize the capability of social media has sucked up a lot of air in the room. However, given that 88% of Australian online consumers get at least one authority-based email daily. Domestic and mobile search advertising will oversee a huge increase in mapping-supported smart phones and GPS. Budget ID Digital Marketing Mix Item Cost ($) 1 Product Administration costs 1500 Office space 550 Salaries ( managers and support) 1000 Branding 680 2 Promotion Travel costs 250 Marketing communications 700 Design 550 Packaging 590 Safety 540 3 Distribution Promotion 1020 Transportation 1160 4 Pricing Discounts and incentives 860 Tariffs 230 Exchange rate fluctuations 340 Total 10,000 Evaluation The success of the digital economic revolution is pegged on the pace of change and uptake by the target population. If the consumption is below the set standards say 80% of the target population, it will be deemed as below bar in performance. The project will need a review or change to ensure that the resources and skills committed to the cause are commensurate to the returns on investment. The exercise needs evaluation of cost, schedule and time to be measured against the results every six months. This will inform whether it is economically viable to set up a high speed broadband network abroad. Academic Essay: Justification and Evidence Newcastle City is without doubt one of the fastest growing cities in Australia. It is a hub of foreign investment for foreign companies and domestic investments. Several studies have established that smaller firms entering a foreign country are dubbed to be successful as compared to larger companies (Grönroos, 2004). When entry is done in good time, success is bigger with rising control in the mode of entry and brief economic and cultural gaps between Newcastle City, others areas in Australia and the world over. The city’s economy has growth rates of over 6% annual, indicating that the New South Wales economy is the second in purchasing power parity in Australia. By 2016, according to forecasts, indicates that Newcastle City will pass Sydney in digital economic progression. NewCastle City will host one of the largest digital connections in the country thus; will greatly influence its performance in the global market (Grönroos, 2004). Digital Newcastle will consider organization strategy and organizational resources which will constitute mode of entry and entry timing to be determined in organizational size. NewCastle City differentiation abroad will need to evaluate host country character like candidness and risk. Entry mode largely influences the organizational marketing, new skills deployment and strategy of production. Consideration of entry mode is based on; i) Export: Digital connectivity produced in Newcastle and lay out through Newcastle City and entity Australian cities. ii) License and franchise: This involves a formal permission by the city or agent situated in Newcastle City to employ Australia’s proprietary technology or alternative resources in anticipation of payment. iii) Alliance: Treaty or concession between digital Newcastle and the larger Australian market and an organization situated in Newcastle City to share activities in New South Wales. iv) Joint venture: Ownership which is shared in Newcastle City by two partners (Lunaticks and digital Newcastle), one in Sydney and another in Newcastle City. This is more advisable to use in Newcastle City owing to lower risks. v) Wholly owned subsidiary: Complete ownership of a firm in Newcastle City by a firm situated in Australia to make, undertake value addition or digital connectivity outside Newcastle City. Digital Newcastle can choose one or many of the combinations to make grand entry into Newcastle City (Grönroos, 2004). The extent of which Newcastle City gives digital connectivity control over its significant marketing resources will establish the entry mode to be identified. Digital export has the lowest degree of licenses, occasions of joint ventures and franchises gives a degree of organizational control (Grönroos, 2004). Wholly based subsidiaries in the city provide the highest controls. Entry timing constantly hurts or favors success, where early entry gives more benefits since one can block access to suppliers and distribution platforms. They can also bring about consumer preference patterns, take advantage of Australian government concessions and incentives as well as benefit from a growing market which is capable of observing and learning for a longer period of time. Despite this, a first entrant may miserably fail by collapsing into pitfalls not earlier known, and returns on investment (ROI) may be dismal or inconsistent as earlier predicted. Late entrants have the benefit of taking lessons from the earlier entrants and their resulting failures (Grönroos, 2004). Larger organizations are steeped to succeed than smaller organizations owing to their resource strengths. They had service specific and wealth of knowledge uniqueness when compared to smaller organizations. Immense organizational history of global expansion and ability to cushion from adverse performance are the advantages of wealthy organizations. However, size does not guarantee benefits, bureaucratic organizational structures, dampens innovativeness and creativity. The economic gaps between Newcastle City and other cities in Australia ought to be close, thus helping a great deal. Near economic distances share common market segments for average consumption. Other similar infrastructural similarities are in roadways, railroads, seaports and airports. It will provide similar efficiency scales and costs, share similar knowledge based resources and competencies to their benefit. Common values and behavior of society members influences consumption behavior, strategies of marketing and marketing implementation (Neef, 2009. Cultural diversity influences consumer behavior, attribute levels of products, as well as the meaning derived from the product or brands and the digital marketing mix. Determinant of linguistic nature is bigger than economic factors in establishing cultural consideration growing into an emerging market. Country risks have environmental reservations attributable to financial, political and economic elevations. Political risks reflect on negatively on foreign firms that consider laws and regulations. Tariffs imposition and political regimes unrests cause asset confiscation less compensation (Neef, 2009. Economic and financial risks weigh down market downturns, dampens currency and galloping inflation. Country risk may critically cause delayed investment, loss of revenue, devaluation, and or underinvestment of organizations The country openness decreases or increases entry success, by invigorating demand hence, increases product variety in the market (Neef, 2009. Benign growth of the economy improves efficiency by lowering pricing and increases demand. Growth acceleration in Newcastle City is tied with opening up of markets in major Australian cities like Canberra, Sydney, and Perth among others. It is significant to perform due diligence when recruiting staff especially when initiating base for the first time. This assists to verify partners and staff trustworthiness thus revealing ‘concealed time bombs’ this will need business intelligence, risk analysis consultancy and individual background checks (Neef, 2009). A huge amount of resources to grow from a local market in Australia to international market needs a feasibility study to take into account the trading policies of NewCastle City, hiring strategic management to oversee the transition process more so, distribution, procurement, promotion and advertising. These able personnel believe in doing right first time. The business should be able to flow back the profits earned to reinforce the mother organization in Australia (Doyle, 1995). Launching of digital Newcastle service line in Newcastle City needs a standard marketing mix to go with business transactions in Newcastle City. A sound budget accounts for all sort of marketing costs. Newcastle City Digital Media Release The digital campaign has been established in Newcastle city, Australia to triumph the support of residents and businesses in the anticipation to install and run a superfast broadband to Newcastle. It is expected that the city council has succeeded in the earlier stages of its intention for utmost £6m of Australian Government revenue to kick off the next generation of broadband. However, to secure the financing it needs to express that it has the support of businesses city and residents from across the entire city. Advantages to businesses will comprise assisting them to build up new services and products and attain new markets. There is a measurable and improved profile on the web, as well as access to education and training for employees. The merits to residents will include highly reliable and consistent internet connection, increased access to broader and cheaper services and finally increased access to employment opportunities. The Cabinet Information Communication, Technology member, Councilor Stephenson Hazel, stated that: “Super broadband will be a great boost for business and provides residents with immense new opportunities to gain cheaper services and access to more job opportunities. “I recommend residents and business to guarantee their support for our mission of let’s talk digital website.” It will now be possible for people without internet access to visit their local library, a platform which can help assist them to make a guarantee online. On the other hand, they can post their guarantee in writing to running Freepost, Let's talk Newcastle. To do this, the applicant needs to state the name, postcode and the guarantee. Last month, the Australian Cabinet made an approval over £965,000 for installation and improvements of the broadband infrastructure cutting across the city, thus widening internet access for communities presently underserved by broadband as scheme of the strategic Local Broadband Plan. Self-evaluation The most significant assessment and evaluation of the digital Newcastle was in carrying out the SWOT analyses. I was a thrilled by the competencies in environmental evaluation where looking into the domestic market of digital technology creates a platform to make informed decisions where positioning of the city abroad will bring in more business opportunities to residents and business at equal footing. SWOT analysis has always been my area of interest when it comes to assessing market diversification of a product or service. It is possible that with digital Newcastle, odds and setbacks can be learned to smoothen the way to increased connectivity in the future. The necessity of driving connectivity and reaching the globe is to identify the objectives, tactics, goals and the budget to boosts the planned activities. It is with this premise that digital Australia will make in the city and grow to permeate other areas of the sub-continental Australia. The most difficult part was coming up with activities to apportion a smaller budget of $10,000. The success of the digital connection is engaging the triple constraints of project management. The Gantt charts will apportion the responsibilities to the financial resources available. It is not possible to make a super connection with a lean budget so as to include more activities. The digital marketing mix is significant to provide a strong citywide connection which becomes an example to the world. The people and businesses should also demonstrate readiness and objectivity when using the internet. An opportunity to review this assessment will mean involving market research and using PESTEL analysis. I would also increase budgetary allocation to most vital activities. References Doyle, P. (1995). Marketing in the new millennium, European Journal of Marketing, 29(12), 23–41. Drucker, P. F. (2008). Management Challenges for the Twenty-first Century, Woburn, MA: Butterworth Heinemann. Grönroos, C. (2004). From marketing mix to relationship marketing: towards a paradigm shift in Marketing, Management Decision, 32(2), 4–20. Kandampully, J., & Duddy, R.( 2005). Competitive advantage through anticipation, innovation and relationships, Management Decision, 37(1), 51–6. Keegan, W. (1960). Marketing Management: Policies and Decisions, Boston, MA: Houghton Mohamad, M. (2002). Globalization: Challenges and Impact on Asia, in Richter, F.-J. and Mar, P. C. M. (eds.), Recreating Asia: Visions for a New Century, Singapore: John Wiley & Sons (Asia), pp. 5–11. Neef, D. (2009). Making the case for knowledge management: the bigger picture’, Management Decision, 37(1), 72–8. Read More