Situational Analysis of Faithful Hound Media Ltds The Clef (Essay Sample)

Situational Analysis of Faithful Hound Media Ltd.’s “The Clef”
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TIME \@ "MMMM d, yyyy" August 13, 2017
Situational Analysis of Faithful Hound Media Ltd.’s “The Clef”
Introduction
Faithful Hound Media Ltd. is a book and publishing company based in Auckland, New Zealand. Registered on the market in February 2016, the company serves New Zealander authors by providing professional services in promotions and publication. In its roadmap, Faithful Hound Media Ltd. envisions to help new writers get their work to famous retail chains. In addition to this aspired service, Faithful Hound Media Ltd. aims to keep doing what it currently does - selling novels. Today, the company’s efforts are concentrated on the sales of “The C Clef,” the first of a trilogy called “Human Spirit” - a “social conscience thriller.” In relation to this, the current paper will present a marketing plan for the product “The C Clef,” a precedent to books “A Litany of Good Intentions” and “More.” The specific objectives of this marketing plan are to sell 3,000 books within New Zealand, to partner with at least three e-commerce platforms, and to have a total of 25,000 Facebook followers - all by the end of 2018. The marketing plan’s primary target comprises of women residing in New Zealand, aged 35 to 65 years old.
Business Definition and Scope
BizDb, a business information website available in New Zealand, describes Faithful Hound Media Ltd. as a “book and other publishing” company. As mentioned above, Faithful Hound Media Ltd. currently focuses on the publication and selling of “The C Clef” novel. Whilst the company aims to someday expand its services to aiding new writers in their pursuits, Andrew Harris, the company’s director, believes that an establishment of good company reputation is foremost. As such, as of the writing of this paper, they have not delved into other ventures apart from publishing and the release of their very own “The C Clef.”
External Environment
The business of Faithful Hound Media Ltd., just like any other business activity, may be affected by several factors in the environment where the business exists - in this case, in New Zealand. The following portion takes into consideration these factors in the context of the book and publishing company Faithful Hound Media Ltd. in its sales of “The C Clef.”
Macro-environment
Some of these external environmental factors are macro in nature, and as such, influence the entire economy and its participants. Macro-environment factors described in this paper are economic constraints, sociocultural aspects, political situation, technological opportunities, and other environmental elements.
Economy
For this current paper, it is first essential to establish the nature of the New Zealand’s economy in order to aptly apply it to Faithful Hound Media Ltd.’s marketing analysis. It should be noted that New Zealand’s economic profile classifies it as a “developing country.” However, as a developing country, it is, in more ways than one, different with its counterparts. New Zealand’s economy is characteristically small, as it is also significantly far from other major sites of economic activity.  Contrary to popular expectations, New Zealand is actually heavily indebted, with low economic integration, and with production concentrated only on the primary sector. A big deterrent to New Zealand’s economic potential is its inconvenient geography and economic distance. However, according to Di Maio (2012), experts estimate that this constraint will be negligible in the future, and New Zealand ultimately has potential to grow faster than advanced countries, and finally close the income gap with them. Moreover, it is envisioned that international developments will eventually make significant influences that can facilitate economic integration in the country.
Taking the case of Faithful Hound Media Ltd., and in its business venture of producing the first entry of a trilogy, called “The C Clef,” the potential of New Zealand’s growing economy is an advantage for the company. As established, the economic environment of New Zealand is characteristically growing at a rapid rate, relative to advanced countries. In specific, the only major challenges encountered in this aspect are the geographical inconvenience, as well as the economic distance. The production of “The C Clef,” however, presents a variety of solutions to overcome these obstacles in creating a successful business venture. A circulation of the tangible product only takes the local market in consideration. Moreover, other platforms may also be utilized, such as electronic copies which may be accessible online. Furthermore, as it has been specified that the target market is only within the local setting, the challenges of mass production for exporting the goods and allowing circulation in the international market are not major issues.
Sociocultural
Sociocultural factors, as the name suggests, encompass forces in the society, primarily the country’s citizens. Their attitudes, opinions, and interests are taken into account, especially in the context of impacting sales. Businesses, therefore, should be capable in offering goods and services that can benefit the lifestyle of its society’s people. Furthermore, the product must be in complement to the behavior of the customers.
The socio-cultural aspect of analyzing Faithful Hound Media Ltd.’s business venture basically pertains to consumers’ preferences in the New Zealand setting. In specific, this involves interest and purchase decision as a result of an inclination to consumers’ cultural characteristics. The material the company produces must be able to effectively penetrate the lifestyle of its consumers by presenting relevant information and knowledge in relation to their socio-cultural ideologies. This aspect focuses more on the content of the goods produced rather than its physical characteristics. It has been specified that the target market are women with ages ranging from thirties to sixties; therefore, the content of the material should effectively cohere with the particular group’s values and ideologies.
For a publishing and promotions company, such as the Faithful Hound Media Ltd., the production of “The C Clef” must consider the socio-cultural analysis of the macro-environment as one of the most important aspects of creating an effective marketing plan. The boost in sales of such material is highly dependent on how effective it is in stirring consumer interest, as well as the mark it encrusts in their lifestyle, as the goods offered by the company is one for leisure. Purchase is not mainly due to need, so the decision is dependent on a variety of other factors.
Political-Legal
The political factors that influence businesses are also usually significant. Most of the time, these are inclusive of government aspects that make consequential influences to the businesses. Mainly, such influences come about because of the fact that firms are subject to the law. As such, government policy modifications make up a good percentage of these factors affecting companies. It should be noted that the political-legal environment, among all external environments, is generally the least predictable. This can be attributed to the fact that political environments are cyclical and dependent on numerous re-elections. In addition, they are also susceptible to demands from pressure groups.
Politically speaking, New Zealand prides itself as an excellent country for business investments as it is highly “stable and secure” (New Zealand Now, 2017). As primary evidence New Zealand ranks second in countries with most regulatory political environments fit for business. In addition to this, New Zealand is, in fact, ranked as the least corrupt country in the world. More importantly, Forbes ranks it as the third best country for business, following Denmark and Hong Kong. Such statistics are reflective of New Zealand’s characteristic political climate.
As mentioned, New Zealand’s political environment is characteristically stable, offering the advantage of security and stability for business ventures. A sound political environment is an essential consideration for investors. On that note, the publishing and promotions company in consideration may set aside its apprehension that political conflicts may negatively affect the business. This aspect is secondary to socio-cultural and technological concerns in consideration of every aspect’s importance in creating an efficient marketing plan.
Technological
Technological factors are also essential within companies, particularly in improving their operations and functions. It is in these aspects that technology primarily affects companies, and it is for these reasons why companies are always on the lookout for relevant technological updates to their industry. For instance, the current norms enable companies to utilize digital marketing strategies, which had simply revolutionized the conventional marketing approach. Marketo (2015) gives insight on the recent digital marketing situation in New Zealand, highlighting that majority of the firms allocate up to 33% of their budgets to digital marketing, primarily in social media and content marketing.
However, the technological environment does not always exist in the advantage of businesses. Particularly in the case of Faithful Hound Media Ltd., the abundance of digital books, more commonly known as e-books, may threaten the stability of its business. Gaigher, le Roux, and Bothma...