Promotional Development Plan For Mobo Assessment Answer

 

Chapter 3: Thesis Methodology

3.1. Introduction

The process of thesis methodology mainly includes various activities that have to be performed to meet the end result. These are approved in legitimate time sequence for directing examination. Step by step activities are performed to finish the thesis. In this chapter, proper methods and procedures to conduct the thesis is been selected based on the objectives of the thesis. The author here mainly emphasizes on addressing the validity and objectivity of thesis by linking the findings and the results of the thesis with the objectives of the thesis. Each step described below is very important for conducting the overall thesis properly. This would help to develop an effective promotional plan for Mobofree.

The purpose of the study is to make a promotional plan for Mobofree and understand its effectiveness in Africa. Thus, based on the purpose the objective of this thesis is to answer the below mentioned thesis questions:

• What are the necessary promotional strategies that can be adopted by the Mobofree?
• How effective it is to implement a promotional plan in Mobofree?
• What is the order of importance of the promotional strategies?

3.2. Thesis Approach

Generally there exists only two types of approaches to conduct a thesis, one is the inductive approach where the author mainly focuses on the observation and based on that data is collected and analyzed using different analytical tool and another one is the deductive approach, where the author initially tries to find some past studies related to the area of thesis and then tries to give a proper conclusion by analyzing the gap between the present and the previous study.  This analysis is mainly done using the testing of hypothesis, then analyzing the data and also implementing the concepts collected from the previous theories (Ketchen and Bergh, 2004).

In this current thesis, the author has already discussed the theories and concepts important to make a promotional plan in the second chapter that is literature review. Thus, the author has decided to use the deductive approach to conduct the thesis.

3.3. Thesis Design

Thesis design is the process of interpreting the data collected to conduct the research. Four different types of thesis design can be used by the author one is the casual research which is mainly conducted for understand and analyze the cause and effect relationship among different variables. This research mainly includes the video equipments, interview room etc. Then, is the applied research that mainly helps in identifying the right solution of a thesis problem (Newman and Benz, 1998). It mainly deals with the real life circumstances. Then is the exploratory research that is mainly conducted including a group to identify a cause behind an already stated problem and also reduce and proceed with the root cause and fourthly, the descriptive study which mainly uses facts by understanding and effectively defining the present scenario (Hamersveld and Bont, 2007).

Here, the author decides to conduct the thesis by using the descriptive design. The data are collected from the different marketing managers and investors of Mobofree. Through this the author tries to relate the study objective and conclusion.

3.4. Sources Of Data

The author mainly focuses on collecting both the primary and secondary data for conducting the present research. The thesis topic is to make a promotional plan for Mobofree. The primary data for conducting this present study is mainly collected from the marketing managers and investors of Mobofree, who are the people who are dealing with the products. The secondary data is mainly collected from the past records like online journals, books, articles that cover the concept of promotional plan. Both the secondary and the primary data is been collected to wrap different aspects of the study into single point that is promotional plan. The primary data is mainly related to response and behavior of the employees of Mobofree and the secondary data shows the importance and relevance of the promotional strategy concepts. However, both the data have some disadvantages and benefits that can help to conduct the present thesis effectively. These are as follows:

Primary Data: It is the data that is collected by the researcher or the author for conducting the thesis or any specific research. These data are unique in nature and straightforwardly identified with the issue or issue and current information. They are the information which the analyst gathers through different strategies like surveys, questionnaires and interviews etc. However, the disadvantage of using this data is that some respondents might give fake responses to hide the realities that might create issue later on the thesis.

Secondary Data: These data gathered by a gathering not identified with the examination ponder yet gathered these information for some other reason and at diverse time before. On the off chance that the analyst utilizes these information then these get to be auxiliary information for the current user. It gives an approach to get to the work of the best researchers everywhere throughout the world. Furthermore gives an attitude to the scientist that in which heading he/she ought to strive for the particular exploration. Then again, information gathered can bend the aftereffects of the examination. For utilizing secondary data a unique consideration is obliged to alter or change for utilization furthermore raise issue identified with credibility.

3.5. Intruments For Data Collection

For collecting the primary data, the author decides to use questionnaire that will be send to the target audiences through mail. Questionnaire is a situated of inquiries has been readied to solicit a number from inquiries and gather answers from respondents identifying with the examination theme. Various inquiries for the most part in printed or electronic structure are to be replied by the people. The structures regularly have clear spaces in which the answers can be composed. Sets of such structures are circulated to gatherings and the answers are gathered identifying with examination theme. A Questionnaire is a progression of inquiries asked to people to get measurably helpful data around a given point. At the point when appropriately built and mindfully controlled, polls turn into a key instrument by which articulations can be made about particular gatherings or individuals or whole populaces. Unseemly inquiries, mistaken requesting of inquiries, wrong scaling, or terrible Questionnaire arrangement can make the review valueless, as it may not precisely mirror the perspectives and assessments of the members (Hamersveld and Bont, 2007). A helpful strategy for checking a Questionnaire and verifying it is precisely catching the planned data is to pretest among a littler subset of target respondents. In an exploration or overview inquiries asked to respondents, and intended to concentrate particular data. It fills four fundamental needs: to (1) gather the fitting information, (2) make information practically identical and amiable to investigation, (3) minimize inclination in detailing and making inquiry, and (4) to make inquiries captivating and shifted. For our study reason a set of inquiries has been readied to gather data identifying with the theme of the study. In this study an organized poll has been utilized with diverse sorts of inquiries, for example, shut finished and open finished. Exceptional case has been taken to choose the scales for the inquiries for gathering of reactions successfully (Brace, 2008).

Figure 1: Gender composition

(Source: created by author)

Among the total number of respondents interviewed the gender composition of the respondent’s shows that more than 65% of the respondents were male and around 33% of the respondents are female.

Question 5. If Mobofree is endorsed with the celebrity from Africa, will it affect the purchasing behaviour of the target audience in Africa?

Options	Total respondents	Number of responses	Percentage of responses (%)
Yes	30	19	63.33
No	30	11	36.66

Table 11: Celebrity endorsement by Mobofree

(Source: created by author)

Figure 2: Celebrity endorsement affecting consumer behavior

(Created by author)

The data findings shows that around 63% of the respondents confirmed that celebrity endorsements will be helpful for Mobofree however 36% of the respondents opined that celebrity endorsements will lead to further promotional expenses and there is no security about the success rate of the same.

Question 8. How does Mobofree decide the promotional budget? What factors are generally taken into account for arriving at promotional budget?

This question had two parts. In the fisrt part the researcher’s motive was to acquire responses to the process in which Mobofree decides the promotional budget. In the second part, however the researcher wanted to focus on the factors that Mobofree should keep in mind while framing the promotional budget.The overall responses collected from the 30 participants are summarized below for the two parts of the questions together.

• Media of promotion (high for traditional media like newspaper)
• Setting of objectives
• Industry and financial reports
• Composition of Target population
• Advertising frequency
• Product suitability
• Competitor analysis

Question 9. What kind of support does Mobofree provide to buyers and service providers?

The overall responses collected from the 30 participants are summarized below:

• Provides online selling opportunities for consumer electronics and consumer durables like PCs, laptops, phones (both old and new)
• Provides exchange services between the users of the application
• Allows users to access necessary background information about on another in order to make friendships
• Provides enhanced customer care services
• Provides a combined service of social network along with classifieds from different fields

Question 10. What plans does Mobofree devise in order to create stronger and long lasting relation with customers?

• Provides 24 hours customer service
• Keeps a detail database of the users so that the purchase and exchange transactions can be successfully and reliability made

 

Chapter 5: Data Interpretation

5.1. Statistical analysis

Multiple regression analysis for questions 5, 6 and 7 shows that the coefficients 0.810565899, 0.463013055, 0.322671 for the questions respectively indicate that the co relation among the variables of independent variables of the dependent variables is positively valued. Therefore the dependent variables effectiveness of promotional tools, effectiveness of collaboration and effectiveness of social network promotion is positively linked with the independent variables as mentioned.

The coefficient of determination (R) is valued at 65%, 21% and 10% respectively. From this, it can be concluded that 65%, 21% and 10% of variation that is related with the value of dependent variable is analyzed by the variable of independent in order to come to a feasible point.

The adjusted R square, which is considered as a measure of explanatory power, is valued at 0.585562301, 0.186323271, and 0.072121 respectively. The interesting point that can be related with this statistical data is that it is neither considered s a percentage such as R square nor as a significance test that is F statistics. Therefore, it can be represented as adjusted R square and are not generally explained.

The standard error of regression is valued at 0.594126747, 0.905145454, and 1.423892 respectively. This value indicates the variation estimate in relation to the observed changes in the dependent variables. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows the calculation where the dependent variable is broken down into unexplained portions and explained portions separately. From the estimated regression lines, it is seen that for question number 4 the independent variable public relation is positively linked with the dependent variable showing that majority of the respondents supports public relations as an effective way to promote Mobofree.

The SS regression is the variation that is outlined by the regression line and SS residual is the variation calculated based on the dependent variable. As per the calculations the SS regression for the questions are 16.22832, 6.259927798 and 6.597518 respectively. The SS valuation is followed by the F static. F static has been calculated based on the mean square regression in relation to Mean square residual. After the calculations, it can be suggested that the proposed regression line comprises of the approximate co efficient, coefficient standard errors, computed statistic, corresponding P value and confidence intervals. Thus the relationship between the dependent and independent variables are positive. In the open-ended questions, the researcher is able to understand the opinion of the customers regarding the services, products and other plans of Mobofree. The suggestion in relation to providing of 24 hours customer service will help Mobofree to attain the customer satisfaction levels. The company can thus make use of the following responses to develop the market for the newly launched app.

5.2. Data analysis

The researcher uses the quantitative excel sheet calculation and research philosophies and academic references in order to analyze the data of the remaining questions.

Question 2: Analysis of the gender composition of the respondents

The researcher framed this question in order to determine the gender composition of the target customers. The promotional strategies are generally framed keeping in mind the demographic composition of the target customers. Gender determination is an important part of demographic profile analysis of the respondents. The collected data shows that more than 65% of the respondents are male which suggests that the male respondents are majorly the users of the services and products of Mobofree. From the gender of the respondents, it is confirmed that females in Africa are still not comfortable with the use of online apps. Although 35% of the respondents were female however, majority of the female respondents opined that they use Mobofree only for the social networking purpose. Hence, they are not aware of the other services of Mobofree. Thus the company should formulate two types of promotional strategies. Firstly, the promotional strategies should be generated in order to make the exiting male customers aware of the services of Mobofree and provoking them to use the services. Secondly, the promotional strategies should be directed towards the female population of Africa. The low percentage of female users gives Mobofree an opportunity to focus on a new target customer segment. Thus the company should use new and effective promotional strategies like celebrity endorsements by female celebrities in order to connect with the female population of Africa so that they should equally avail the services of Mobofree.

Question 5. If Mobofree is endorsed with the celebrity from Africa, will it affect the purchasing behaviour of the target audience in Africa?

The researcher framed this direct question in order to understand the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements in case of initial promotional strategies for an online app company. The responses shows that majority of the respondents opined that celebrity endorsements will be helpful for bringing Mobofree in the front line

Since Mobofree is a company targeting the young age population of the country hence the celebrity endorsements should be made accordingly. The company can use sportspersons or any celebrity from the entertainment industry to endorse the services and applications of Mobofree. With the help of celebrity endorsement, the company will be able to attrct the attention of the target population and thus the customers will register themselves with the services of the company. It is to be noted that appropriate celebrity endorsements helps the company to gain the confidence and loyalty of the customers from the very beginning. In case of Mobofree thus the endorsements will help the company to generate loyalty from the customers at the initial stage of the company and this will act as a source of revenue for the company.

Question 8. How does Mobofree decide the promotional budget? What factors are generally taken into account for arriving at promotional budget?

Advertising budgets are assumed to be expenses for the organization without any or vague returns for the company. However, for companies like Mobofree who are in their introduction stage of the industry product life cycle, extensive promotional strategies are very important. On being asked about the necessary factors that Mobofree should consider in order promoting the services various opinions were obtained. Majority of the respondents suggested that primarily Mobofree should first set the objective of the business that is the company should try to analyze the vision and mission of the company. This will help the company to promote the vision and the company will be able to connect to the customers readily. The other important factor is the choice of the suitable advertising media based on the composition of the target population. Since the majority of the target population and users of Mobofree are males, hence the company can adopt social media promotion, mobile alerts and hoarding promotions outside golf and swim clubs, bars etc. Moreover, some percentage of the respondents opined that analyses of the promotional strategies of the Competitors are also important for Mobofree in order to use different techniques and make the product and service competitive. Finally, a certain percentage of the respondents opined that to make a promotional campaign successful the advertising frequency should also be included within the promotional budget. Since Mobofree is a new company, hence, the frequency for advertisement should be high and thus the promotional budget should be framed accordingly. Promotional budget is a repetitive process and Mobofree needs to repeat the budget making process for all new products and services and for each financial year. Thus abiding by the stated factors will help Mobofree to construct a feasible budget for the product and service.

Question 9: What kind of support does Mobofree provide to buyers and service providers?

On analysis of the data in relation to the services of Mobofree it was noted that the customers have provided with the various services that the online market place provides. This shows that the customers are aware of these services of Mobofree only and hence the company should frame the promotional strategies for the other services. On being asked that service of Mobofree that is frequently being availed by the customers, majority of the customers opined that the online swap deals are generally the most availed service of Mobofree followed by the social networking services. However, the secondary analysis shows that the customers are not aware of two important services of Mobofree. Firstly, Mobofree provides services like horoscope readings, information for domestic help, repair services, health beauty and fitness services. Secondly, the company also provides access to easy product formulas for the FMCG products like automobile cleaning products, soaps and body washes, detergent powders, house cleaners, fabric softeners’ etc, which helps the customers to manufacture these products and start an independent home business.

Thus, the company should focus extensively in devising strategies for promoting the new services to the customers. If Mobofree is able to promote these two services then the company will be able to attract more visitors and registered users for the application. Mobofree acquires around 80% of its revenue from the registered users. Thus in order to increase the user base the company needs to promote these services in a successful manner. The product formula for the FMCG product is an innovative service provided by the company that is not available with any other competitor online companies. Thus, the promotional technique should exclusively focus on creating awareness of this service not only in Africa but also in other countries where the facilitie of online mobile classifieds are not available.

Question 10. What plans does Mobofree devise in order to create stronger and long lasting relation with customers?

The researcher produced this question in order to analyze the customer relationship strategy of Mobofree. The customers were of the opinion that Mobofree generally has a 24 hours customer care service facility and has a good personal database management. This shows that the company’s users are satisfied with the plans that the company employs for managing the customers. However, during the survey it was seen that the customers are more satisfied with the data base management policy of Mobofree. Since majority of the company’s products are traded online involving the online transactions require the financial as well as personal information of the user. Moreover, the company also provides a social networking facility that requires the users use the personal information of each other. Thus, security and assurance of relevant data are the two major features of Mobofree. Thus from the opinions of the users it may be analyzed that because of the data security plan the company is experiencing high volume of registered users. The other customer relationship policy of Mobofree is the 24 hours online customer care service. This service helps the users to make online purchases and exchanges at any time of the day. Effective customer care service helps the company to interact effectively with the customers and solve their problems readily at any point of the day.

Chapter 6: Profit Of Organization

Profit of an organization depends on the budgeted expenses and the amount of assests and liabilities that the company is able to maintain in the financial year. Mobofree is a new company and the company is aiming to spend considerable amount of financial resources for promotional strategies in order to attract more number of registered users. In the initial stage, the company may have to incur high expenses however; the expense will be compensated when the company starts earning considerable amount of revenue. Since the services and policies of Mobofree are promising and the company has no competitors in Africa thus there is prospect of revenue growth for the company. Hence, the company can take the risk of investing in promotional expenses.

Due to lack of any appropriate financial data or annual report of the company, the following budgeted financial statement and balanace sheet has been generated based on certain assumptions as stated below. The following projected profit and loss for the three years will show the projected profit of MoboFree. For calculation of the profit and loss, it is assumed that revenue will grow by 5% every year with no assumption of the inflation rates.

Estimated Profit and loss for three years based on the above assumptions for Mobofree

Particulars	Year1 ($)	Year 2 ($)	Year 3 ($)
Revenue	300000	315000	330750
Cost of sales	1000	1100	1250
Production expenses	0	0	0
Total cost of sales	10000	11000	12500
Total revenue	290000	304000	318250
gross margin	234300	239650	246850
Expenses
Selling expenses	500	1000	1500
Office and administrative expenses	8000	8500	10100
Social promotion expenses	10000	12000	11000
Customer care services	5000	5500	6200
Insurance	1200	1350	1400
Website expenses	10000	12000	13000
Salaries	15000	15500	17000
IT expenses	4000	5000	7000
Other operating expenses	2000	3500	4200
total expenses	55700	64350	71400

The projected profit and loss statement for Mobofree shows that the company starting from year 1 will expect to earn gross profit at the rate 80% , 78% and 77%. The gross profit rate is gradually forecasted to decrease because the company has estimated that the gross profit margin will also be affected by various factors like inflation rates, changes in the purchase behavior of the consumers and other variable factors.

Estimated balance sheet statement for the three financial years of Mobofree

Particulars	Year 1 ($)	year 2 ($)	Year 3 ($)
Assets
Current assets
Cash incomings	100000	250000	350000
Investments	50000	80000	120000
long term assts	150000	180000	220000
Total assets	300000	510000	690000
Liabilities
current liabilities
accounts payable	11500	35000	85000
Current borrowings	0	0	0
long term liabilities
paid in capital	150000	190000	210000
Retained earnings	0	0	0
Total liabilities	161500	225000	295000
Net worth	138500	285000	395000

The balance sheet is formulated keeping in mind the low level of liability and loan that the company is anticipating it will incur in the initial years of transactions. The net worth is calculated by subtracting the total liabilities from the total assets. Based on the above budgeted expenses and above net worth estimation the company can effectively use the promotional strategies in order to generate more customer purchase response.

Chapter 7: Conclusion And Recommendation

This thesis study was conducted to develop promotional strategies for MoboFree in Africa. Therefore, this chapter summarizes the overall study conducted by the author by synthesizing all the findings given by the respondents. This present study sought to respond to four objectives, first to determine the target population of Mobofree for creating and carrying out the promotional activities of their products and services, second to determine the promotional mix that Mobofree can utilize, third to evaluate the promotional factors that influences the sales of MoboFree and lastly to identify the issues or obstacles that Mobofree can face while designing the promotion mix.

From the first objective, the MoboFree mainly decided to target the African market before making its promotional mix, the reason behind this is that the market is still untapped by similar companies. By making a good entry in the African market, the organization would like to take the first mover advantage. By making such an entry, the MoboFree can become the market pioneers. Further the advantage of pioneering in the African market is that it would help to increase the profit of the organization overtime. Additionally, they can also benefit from the technological factors, where they can apply their patents for the required or necessary technology so that other companies do not try to copy it. Also, they can have control on various resources that are essential for the organization. They can also enjoy over the switching cost from the buyers side. If the customers find that the switching towards the new brand is costlier, they will stick to this brand. This helps them to dominate the market for a longer period.

For second objective, data collected signifies that public relations is the most essential promotional mix element for MoboFree that would help the organization to increase the organizational sales. The Public relations helps the in developing and increasing the reputation of MoboFree and also retain the African customers for a long period of time. This public relation can be done social networking sites. The reason behind this is that there is rapid increase in the use of internet based tools and applications. In few years, the social analysts have found that the internet penetration in Africa has increased by 5% compared to last year. Creating online public relation through social media empowers moment imparting of data and, as the quantity of individuals utilizing the Internet keeps on climbing, with numerous blogging themselves, discharges you post can be effortlessly grabbed and posted by different bloggers and online writers. This offers you more extensive scope of your news and guarantees it achieves a bigger target audience. Further, everyday individuals can post their musings on a mixed bag of subjects. Social Networking sites permit MoboFree to make inquiries and get answers rapidly from any number of customers, with shifting enthusiasms and experience. By utilizing these correspondences channels, MoboFree can create associations with customers, which MoboFree can then use in PR movement and partner focusing to guarantee MoboFree posts are significant and of investment so more prone to be perused. Expanding on this introductory relationship to connect with and keep customers, and anybody they forward MoboFree site connection to, builds activity to MoboFree site, issuing it a superior remaining on web indexes and drawing in much more customers. MoboFree additionally ready to recognize what individuals are saying in regards to their business so they can react rapidly to anything that emerges or utilize their adherents to disperse terrible “WOM(Word of Mouth)".

Discussing the third objective, from previous data it is found that as there is no specific way of conducting the promotional mix strategies, various factors MoboFree need to consider while planning to make its customized strategy. Factors like the characteristics of the product or service determines the information that is need by the customer, the direct competition        and also the target market. Different stages of product life cycle, distribution channels and also communication strategy plays vital role in determining the promotional strategies. Addition, the budget and resource allocation also reflects the objectives of the promotional mix. From the chapter 6, it is clear that MoboFree is expecting to earn gross profit at the rate 80% , 78% and 77%. The gross profit rate is expected to decrease because the gross profit margin may also be affected by various factors like inflation rates, changes in the purchase behavior of the consumers and other variable factors.

However, the accomplishment of the plan is not very easy due to several obstacles. These obstacles give answer to the fourth objective. Firstly, Africa is a developing country and finding the potential customers is quite difficult. Though MoboFree can be used by anybody of any ages above 18years, still there is issue of how many people would understand the significance of the organization, and how its services is beneficial to them. The campaign implementation within the target audience is quite scattered, this reduces the overall promotional output. Additionally, MoboFree is a startup and is trying to target the untapped market. It requires lot of financial resources. Therefore, cost is also an obstacle. Further, thought various recent researches show that there is a rapid growth of internet, however, the country still lacks in penetrating the social networking. This is due to lack of affordable, available internet.

From the above discussed objectives, the following recommendations can be made:

• The management of Mobofree should determine their choice of promotional mix that would actual serve the objectives of the organization
• MoboFree should emphasize on periodic measurement as this has a strong impact on the promotional activities. This would help them to gain more advantage.
• Since, the thesis findings report that cost is an obstacle for MoboFree. The organization can think of collaboration. As the data proves that collaboration can help the organization to boost its profit margin and also get access to various resources.
• Further, it is also recommended that MoboFree can offer free applications initially to help the African users to have easy access in their mobile itself. This would help the non-internet users also to get aware of MoboFree.
• MoboFree can start off with online Public relation strategies using social network. However, they should not stick to only one strategy. They should give a try to all the other strategies to see if the present one is more beneficial compared to previous one or not.

 

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