SUMMER PROJECT REPORT ON Customer Brand perception of various economic dailies At BUSINESS STANDARD Under the guidance of Mr.

Vaibhav Kunwar
Assistant Manager - Market Development.
In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the award of POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT (PGDM) (Approved by AICTE) VIVEKANAND EDUCATION SOCIETYS INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES AND RESEARCH Chembur, Mumbai.

Submitted By: Iyer Deepika Ravi ROLL NO: 14

PGDM 2011-2013

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to express my deep sense of gratitude to my Guide, Mr. Vaibhav Kunwar, Assistant Manager - Market Development, Business Standard, for his able guidance and useful suggestions, which helped me in completing the project work, in time. Needless to mention that Mr. Harshal Pahdnis and Mahesh Gorwar, for all their support throughout the training period, who also had been a source of information, for all their valuable assistance in the project work and for their timely guidance, in the conduct of our project work. Finally, yet importantly, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my beloved parents for their blessings, my friends/classmates for their help and wishes for the successful completion of this project.

Iyer Deepika Ravi

DECLARATION

I, Iyer Deepika Ravi, hereby declare that report on summer training entitled Customer Brand perception of various economic dailies is a result of my own work and indebtedness to work publications, if any have been duly acknowledged.

Place: Mumbai Date:

SIGN: Iyer Deepika Ravi

TABLE OF CONTENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As a summer trainee I have worked in the market development department. My project was

Customer

Brand perception of various economic dailies. The main

responsibility handed over to the summer trainees was to increase the subscriber base and generate revenue to the company by increasing the circulation of the newspaper. I had a favor of many practicalities of marketing from personal selling to institutional selling. I have learnt many strategies on the field. Though there was not target as such was given to complete but the task get new subscription i.e. new customer, which gave me exposure to practical world. Gave actual idea was selling, made me fine tune my selling and negotiation skills and learnt marketing practices in actual and enhanced soft skills like the team work, sharing and caring, personal relations, etc.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Learn different marketing techniques.

Different marketing techniques are introduced in the textbooks of marketing, but it s the time to get into actual world and apply it.

Learn the scratch work of hard core personal selling

This is indeed a necessary task to be done. What we read and what we get is something very different. Reading the subject and applying the same are completely different aspect. When you meet the actual customer the process of communication becomes totally different and in actual world. Normally we people neglect salesperson and dont give them their due respect when they come to our door step for selling their product. We dont even treat them as human but ask them go away. But when I was on their footstep, I understand that how much hard work is involved, and how pressure they undergo.

Strategy making in actual competitive market

To strategize, you need to know your external environment and for this purpose the practical experience in such a renowned firm will be helpful.

Apply the theoretical knowledge in to the practice

Giving a practical approach to any problem has been a difficult task. We as student quiet often neglect the basic realities of the real world. This training will provide us with the best knowledge to overcome these shortcomings.

Understand the customer

Customer is the king; we have to understand their needs and requirements

INDUSTRY PROFILE
The History of newspapers is arguably one of the most dramatic episodes of human experience. The actual origin of newspapers lies in the Renaissance Europe when local merchants used to distribute handwritten newsletters amongst each other. However it was not until the late 1400s when Germany introduced the precursors of printed newspapers. Since then newspapers have evolved dramatically and today there are more than 6580 daily newspapers in the World. A typical modern day newspaper is filled with various materials like editors columns, newspaper classified ads , newspaper display ads, forecasts, comic strips, entertainment section and much more. Unfortunately the sudden economic downturn has also seen the rise of electronic or web-based versions of newspaper journals which automatically resulted in a decline in newspaper classified advertising and circulation.

History and origin of newspapers in India: The history of newspapers in India is equally interesting. The introduction of newspapers in India was hastened by the spreading sense globalization amongst the countrymen who wished to be informed about the recent events in the world. It was during the same time that the first newspaper of the country was introduced in Calcutta (Kolkata). The newspaper titled Calcutta General Advertise or Hickeys Bengal Gazette was introduced by an eccentric Irishman called James Augustus Hickey during the 1780s. 8

History and Evolution of Indian Newspapers: Although there was a flurry of English broadsheets during the eighteenth century, newspapers in regional languages made its way much later during the second half of the nineteenth century. First on the list were two Bengali newspapers called Samachar Darpan and Bengal Gazette while the first Hindi newspaper was Samachar Sudha Varshan. The Hindu newspaper which was launched as a competitor of Madras Mail became the first national newspaper of the country. Soon it became the voice of the nation during the establishment period.

Indian Newspapers: History & Origin Since then many newspapers have been introduced out of which newspapers dailies like Times of India, The Telegraph, Hindu, Hindustan Times, The Statesman, Economic Times, Anadabazar Patrika, The Tribune etc. have become the highest circulated newspapers of the country. This first printed newspaper was a weekly publication. In 1789, the first newspaper from Bombay (now Mumbai), the `Bombay Herald` appeared, followed by the `Bombay Courier` in the following year. Later, this newspaper merged with the Times of India in 1861. These newspapers carried news of the areas under the British rule. The first newspaper published in an Indian language was the Samachar Darpan in Bengali. The first issue of this daily was published from the Serampore Mission Press on May 23, 1818. Samachar Darpan, the first vernacular paper was started during the period of Lord Hastings. In the same year, Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya started publishing another newspaper in Bengali, the `Bengal Gazetti`. On July 1, 1822 the 9

first Gujarati newspaper, the Bombay Samachar, was published from Bombay, which is still in existence. The first Hindi newspaper, the Samachar Sudha Varshan started its circulation in 1854. Since then, the prominent Indian languages in which newspapers had been published over the years are Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Urdu, Gujarati and Bengali languages.

The Indian language newspapers eventually took over the English newspapers according to the NRS survey of newspapers. The main reason was the marketing strategy that was followed by the regional papers, commencing with Eenadu - a Telugu daily started by Ramoji Rao. The second reason was the growing literacy rate. Increase in the literacy rate had direct positive effect on the rise of circulation of the regional papers. The people were first educated in their mother tongue according to their state in which they live for and eventually, the first thing a literate person would try to do is read the vernacular papers and gain knowledge about his own locality. Moreover, localization of news has also contributed to the growth of regional newspapers in India. Indian regional papers have several editions for a particular state to offer a complete scenario of local news for the reader to connect with the paper. Malayala Manorama features about 10 editions in Kerala itself and six others outside Kerala. Thus regional papers in India aim at providing localized news for their readers. Eventually, the advertisers also realized the huge potential of the regional paper market, partly due to their own research and more owing to the efforts of the regional papers to make the advertisers aware of the huge market. These advertisers paid revenues to the newspaper house and in return publicized their products throughout the locality. Thus, newspapers in India not only acted as news providers but also promoters of certain market products. Some of the prominent newspapers in India in the recent times are The Times of India, The Statesman, The Telegraph, The Economic Times, Indian Express and so on. The Economic Times is one of the India`s leading business newspapers; carrying news about the Economy, Companies, Infrastructure, Trends in the Economy, Finance, Stocks, Forex and Commodities, news from around the world and from the world of politics besides editorial and various other features. The Malayala Manorama releases daily, weekly, monthly and annual publications from Kerala. Started in 1988 in Tamil and Telegu languages, it is 10

now published in other regional languages like Hindi, Bengali, as well as in English. Among the various publications, the Malayala Manorama Daily has the largest circulation, selling about 11 lakhs 50 thousand copies daily. The Times of India was founded in 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce by Bennett, Coleman and Company, a colonial enterprise now owned by an Indian conglomerate. The Times Group publishes The Economic Times (launched in 1961), Navbharat Times (Hindi language), and the Maharashtra Times (Marathi language). The newspapers collected their news from the news agencies. India has four news agencies namely, the Press Trust of India (PTI), United News of India (UNI), Samachar Bharti and Hindustan Samachar. Newspapers and magazines in India are independent and usually privately owned. About 5,000 newspapers, 150 of them major publications, are published daily in nearly 100 languages. Over 40,000 periodicals are also published in India. The periodicals specialize in various subjects but the majority of them deal with subjects of general interest. During the 1950s, 214 daily newspapers were published in the country. Out of these, 44 were English language dailies while the rest were published in various regional languages. This number rose to 2,856 dailies in 1990 with 209 English dailies. The total number of newspapers published in the country reached 35,595 newspapers by 1993 (3,805 dailies). Newspaper sale in the country has increased by 11.22% in 2007. By 2007, 62 of the world`s bestselling newspaper dailies were published in countries like China, Japan, and India. India consumed 99 million newspaper copies as of 2007, making it the second largest market in the world for newspapers.

Newspapers in India have almost created a huge industry in the nation. It publishes the largest number of `paid-for titles` in the world. In 1997, the total number of newspapers and periodicals published in India was around 41705, which include 4720 dailies and 14743 weeklies. However, in the last one decade the news media in India has changed rapidly. All the major news media outlets have an accompanying news website. A new class of newspapers in India is entirely internet based. Newspaper circulation in India maintained its upward trend clocking a growth of over eight per cent in 2010-11 with regional language dailies accounting for a significant rise, despite uncertainty faced by the print industry in the West. Circulation of 11

newspapers in the country grew by 8.23 per cent in 2010-11, as per the 55th Annual report of the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI). ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE The daily newspaper Business Standard (also available as an e-paper) is the preferred choice of serious business readers. It is published from 12 centres - Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Pune, Kochi and Bhubaneswar. A Hindi Business Standard is published from eight centres across northern India: Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Patna, Lucknow, Bhopal, Chandigarh and Raipur. Its content can be accessed at bshindi.com. Business-standard.com is the online property of Business Standard Ltd (BSL), publisher of Indias leading business daily, Business Standard. The website attracts 1.5 million unique visitors every month, the highest such number for any stand-alone business newspaper website in India. Business Standard stands for reporting that stresses accuracy and credibility, comment that is informed, independent and fair, and journalism that is rooted in ethical conduct and defined by a sacrosanct bond with the reader. All Business Standard journalists sign on to a code of conduct that is available on this website. Business Standard sells 144,000 copies daily in English, mostly to the business and policy-making lite. The Hindi edition sells 53,000 copies daily. Business Standard has combined average readership of 226000. ACNielsen's survey of the upper middle and rich market in India places Business Standard next to The Economic Times in total readership. The paper has a reputation for reliable reporting and responsible journalism, as well as for its stimulating page of analysis and editorial comment. It has pioneered the ranking of the wealthiest Indians (the Billionaire Club) and provides an automobile magazine as a free monthly supplement. The content includes international news in 12

daily basis, Lifestyle and gizmos about technology, Smart investor for trading calls, stock and sector analysis on Tuesday to Friday. Interesting articles about Business law, news about digital consumer appears on every Monday. The Strategist, the weekly supplement for Marketing, Customer activation, advertising appears on Monday. Covers management critical issues through case studies, rich in content, it relies heavily on highly researched articles so that the readers gets a complete understanding of the subject. BS Weekend Covers the topics lifestyle, art, travel, portraits of wealthy people, real estate, golf, book reviews among others. Business Standard has a 230-person editorial team that is led by AK Bhattacharya. Business Standards stable of specialist contributors includes some of the sharpest minds writing on economics and business. Among them: Shankar Acharya, former chief economic advisor, Government of India; Deepak Lal, professor of economics, UCLA; Suman Bery, director-general, National Council of Applied Economic Research; Abheek Barua, chief economist of HDFC Bank; Nitin Desai, former chief economic advisor and former under-secretary general at the United Nations; Arvind Subramanian, professor at the Peterson Institute of International Economics; Parthasarathi Shome, former advisor to Finance Minister; and Indira Rajaraman, former member of Finance Commission. It offers syndicated columns from Martin Feldstein and Dani Rodrick, and content from Breakingviews.com--with exclusivity in the Indian market. In addition to two newspapers, BSL publishes two monthly magazines (Indian Management and Business Standard Motoring), as well as a quarterly (Asian Management Review). The company also has a books division, which publishes books under the BS Books imprint. BSLs website properties include bshindi.com, bsmotoring.com, and smartinvestor.in. This last is a dedicated information-cum-trading site for investors.

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BSL is majority-owned by the Kotak Mahindra Group, but is run independently through a board of directors, with TN Ninan (a former editor of the newspaper and perhaps Indias best known business journalist) as chairman and editorial director. BUSINESS STANDARD CONTENT Business Standard is published from Monday to Saturday in all locations. On Sundays, the paper is published from Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore. The paper has extensive coverage of the markets has been forte and is eagerly consumed by investors big and small. To cater to needs of the retail investor, special focus has been provided in the form of extensive coverage on Personal Finance.

CONTENT

EDITORIAL PROPERTY

FREQUENCY

International News Lifestyle and Gizmos Company laws, Tax laws, etc. Marketing,

International Business Technology Business Law

Daily Tuesday - Friday Every Monday Every Monday

Customer The Strategist

activation, Advertising Management Education and Business Education Training Avenues SME Business Automobile Segment Brand Strategies Brand World Monday, Wednesday and Friday Trading calls, Stock and Smart Investor Tuesday - Friday and SME World Ancillary BS Motoring Every Tuesday Every Saturday Every Thursday

Sector analysis Fresh look at news and people Take Two Tuesday - Friday

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News on the Digital world

Digital Consumer

Every Monday

BUSINESS PUBLICATION ALONG WITH THE NEWS PAPER:

BS 1000 It is a detailed guide to Indias top 1000 companies which includes its industry wise performance and ranking. The issue of BS 1000 chronicles those depressing times, providing a wealth of data on the impact of the slowdown on corporate, the deterioration in their financials and how they coped with the crises. At the same time they also record success stories through these were few and far between. The magazine also contains the details of BS award. It also takes a peak in to the future where new industries such a biotechnology, retailing and business process outsourcing may change the face of India. In short BS provides the reader not only with a snapshot of Indian corporate as it exists today. With all its strengths and liabilities, but also charts a road map to its future. FUND MANAGER The magazine focuses of facts and figures on mutual fund. The business standard fund manager magazine seeks to rank mutual fund schemes and also rate the best fund manager for the year. It gives the risk and return rating of over 600 mutual funds. Along with this provide information on new and fund offering and also the best fund pick. BANKING ANNULY It contains all the data related to the banks of the public and private sector. This magazine talk about the bank valuation both undervalued and overvalued. It also 15

contains the list of the top bankers of the year and the innovations being these days.

brought

INDIAN MANAGEMENT Indian management is Indias most contemporary and authoritative monthly magazine on management. Experts contribute regularly on the latest in the world of management. Well researched articles provide the needed depth to get a grasp on the sector. The readers of this magazine are the management students, executive and working professionals. BS MOTORING BS Motoring is considered to be Indias most regarded magazine automobile sector, which is led by a team who are passionate about automobile which reflects in the loyal readership that it commands.

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VISION AND MISSION

VISION The company believes in providing information that creates wealth and thus enriches life. MISSION The company would become leader of the business daily in India by the distribution and providing quality and service to our reader.

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Financial Newspaper Segment and major players in Indian market A business daily has an important role in the life of an MBA graduate. Come placement time and the subscription of these dailies zooms ahead like a Ferrari on the racing track, on other days the poor pink colored paper lies in the corner of some shelf unopened, crisp and covered in dust. At least I can say that is the case with most of us, respect for those who respect the paper. Choosing the business daily is a matter of prestige for some, simplicity and clarity for others and unbiased reporting for many. These swinging trends have been witnessed and tracked by many in the business and after being associated with a media company for the past few months I do understand it a lot better now.

An interesting aspect of this business is that, going alone by the revenues of the sales of the main product, all publishing houses would have sunken within a few years of operation. A business daily (or any other daily for that matter) sells for a lower price 18

than its cost. For every copy of newspaper that is circulated, the company actually makes a loss. With the advent of online mediums and their gaining popularity, the pressure to lower the price is on the rise. So, what is the revenue model of the product? The answer is simple and probably you have guessed it already. With almost 24 full sheets full of content available, which have the power to hold the attention of the premier customer for at least a few minutes, all that is required is placing another product in between the content. Well, is someone losing because of it? I believe, none. As long as the contents quality is uncompromised and the user has the choice to ignore the added advertisement, the game sounds fair. So, advertising is the name of the game for the newspaper industry, more so for the business papers as they have the elite clientage: people in the top bracket, the highest earners and the decision takers. This makes this category both exciting and challenging. Advertisements themselves are of various categories like display ads, tenders, notices, audited/unaudited financial statements (a compliance by SEBI which mandates all listed companies to share their quarterly results with shareholders by publishing results in national daily). But today, with advertisers having multiple mediums (television, print, online, radio, hoardings, events) and thousands of choices (number of channels, slots, types of newspapers), getting a fair share in a market for anyone is tricky. Even though the space is large, yet the competition is very stiff. With growing pressure to reduce product prices and rising inflation, the competition is fierce than ever. The competition has led to reduction in yields (price charged per square centimeter of newspaper space) throughout the newspaper segment. On the brighter side, focus is now to increase the volumes by roping in newer clients and proposing larger advertisement spaces. However, this tradeoff between yield and volume needs to be kept balanced to ensure not to lose readers interest. Thus newer opportunities are being sought by marketers to get in revenue and inflate the top lines. Such searches have lead to various innovative ideas like events, book launches, summits, expos and many such activities. The basic idea behind these activities is to bring in business houses to collaborate with the newspaper for mutual brand building 19

and profits. Media acts as a facilitator to bring like-minded people together under one roof to share ideas and discuss issues. Such events have been very popular lately generating huge corporate interest and also proving to be money spinners. Mint luxury summit, Times Property expo, Leadership summits a few such popular examples for the case. Surveys and awards have also been received well as they help in engaging business groups and building relations. But no business comes easy, and credibility and innovation are the pillars for this model. Give one of these key elements a miss and the whole concept would fall apart. Managing a newspaper brand today is like managing an amalgamation of various brands comprising of the main daily, the various supplements and the events. The challenge of the business is come in every day with an empty cart, make blocks out of imagination and build a castle out of nothing.

Figure 1 : The State of Mind of a Business Daily With the increasing penetration of internet in the country, the online medium is also being explored and tried to be monetized. Though these are early days for the internet model in India, it is rampant in the west and has cannibalized the main print brand to a large extent. Know The Product: Pick your Business Daily! The business daily segment in the newspaper business is dominated by five major players. These players nearly take up around 100% of the market share across India. 20

The total number of registered newspaper dailies in the country is 82222 which comprises of English, Hindi and vernacular language dailies. Being noticed, read and respected in this segment is a distinction that the following business dailies hold. Here is a synopsis of the premier brands in the Business daily segment.

Business Daily & Publication Editions The Economic Times Times Group, 11 Editions

Positioning

Circulation (All India)

Readership (All India) 800,000

Supplements & Events

Strength &Weakness

Leading Business daily in India. Largely content is news oriented and opinion is derived from the masses point of view. Clarity in Business. Focus on opinions and not just news. Tie up with the Wall Street Journal, New York.

630,000

Brand Equity, Corporate Dossier, ET Travel, ZigWheels, ET Realty, ET Wealth, Investor's Guide The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence

Mint Hindustan Times Group, 9 Editions

258,000

Indulge, Lounge, Mint Money Luxury Summit, Clarity for Thought Conclave

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Business Standard Business Standard Limited, 12 Editions

Highly valued for its editorial content and strong reporting ethics. It is an 71,000 expert in international business and financial news. Oldest financial newspaper in India, has a tie up with economist of London Very 185,000 popular in copies South India, it boasts of a staff that consists of reporters and researchers and is the only newspaper having a research bureau. Known for economic policy making, corporate

226,000 The Smart Investor, The Strategist, SME World, Motoring BS Weekend, Brand World 117,000 Brandwagon, PSU Power, FE@Campus, eFE, Investor, Commodity Watch Personal Finance and Corporate Review; FE Profile, FE Edge, FE Gadgets BrandLine, Leisure and Lifestyle : Life Online Medium : eWORLD Smartbuy

Financial Express Express Group, 11 Editions

Hindu Business Line Hindu Group, 14 Editions

Financial Chronicle 5 Editions

Invest, Edge, Estate, and Roar!

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developmen ts and market trends. DNA Money - 5 Editions 6,76,000

COMPETITORS ANALYSIS
Economic Times Times of India as a brand higher market value over other newspaper being one the oldest newspaper has a strong leadership position in the market. Times of India along with Economic Times is available to consumer at Rs 1000 on Annual Subscription basis. Marketing combination offered by them acts as a strong competition and also they offer Sunday edition which makes them stand out from the crowd. Gujarati edition also has good coverage among the Gujarati business crowd. This marketing combination has captured major market of premium class readers. In the regular price also it is one of the low cost newspapers in financial segment available at Rs. 2.5 HT Mint Hindustan Times along with Mint is available to consumers at Rs. 600 for Annual Subscription. Hindustan Times also has a strong position in the market with such combination it targeted to attract the working executive and professionals who look for international news. Mint is available at Rs. 2. But they dont offer Sunday editions. Hindu Business Line It is backed by the Hindu group. It is published from 14 prime location. The price of the new newspaper is cheapest on Sunday as compared to other English financial dailies. The Annual Subscription is available at Rs. 650 for a year.

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INTRODUCTION
My summer project with Business Standard limited gave me exposure to what is actual sales and phenomenon about the consumer and their behaviour pattern. Today the newspaper industry is on the face high completion each and every player in the market are trying to capture competitors market and attain a leadership position in the print media segment on the economic dailies category. It was not easy to do survey and research about the organization and business standard news paper, because the news paper market already have the good competitor specially in financial newspaper, but we have to do field work and we have to understand consumer perception about financial newspaper, it gives you experience how to communicate with people, how to handle critical situation and how to sell your product in the market where already competitor has captured the market and identify the untapped market segment. Then place the product in that market and sell it to them.

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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Business standard is a renowned financial daily standing 2 nd after Economic Times in Mumbai. Business standard is targeting towards the at least 25% growth in the existing circulation base in Gujarat in the next financial year. But now when HT Mint, Hindu Business Line has targeted the economy class audience , the position of Business standard is very critical. Because on one side they have to fight with a high brand valued Economic Times , serving to the premium business class segment and on other side HT Mint, Hindu Business Line is giving a tight price war. Thus if they want to survive in the market they need to pull up their socks. I as a summer trainee was given the task to increase the subscribers base. Not just this I was given chance to do brain storming to increase the brand awareness. After the half of the training period, I was given the opportunity to work on institutional marketing to get the mass subscriptions. Thus I would define the problem in to 4 parts:1. 2. 3. 4. Lack of brand awareness Not easy to increase the customer subscription base Hard to increase the mass subscription from the institutions and the virgin market. Understand the customer perception regarding financial news paper, like different feature, price, language,

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EXPECTED BENEFIT
Here, I would like to segregate the expected benefits in to two perspectives: o This will increase the overall subscription of business standard in Mumbai and Suburbs o This will help the company to get the good number of advertisement due to higher circulation of the English edition, which is actual bread earners for the company. o This will increase the brand awareness amongst the targeted audience. o Reduction in the distance between the market leader and company. o The enthusiastic, young and dynamic future managers are easy to train and motivated and can come up with new innovative ideas. o Opportunity to learn different marketing techniques prevailing in actual market o Opportunity to learn the scratch work of hard core personal selling. o Opportunity to learn strategic management in actual competitive market o To apply the theoretical (Class room) knowledge in to the practice. o Training to cope up with the several kinds of pressures faced in the corporate. Example: Pressure of achieving the target on time, time management , mail to personal relationship with the client , handling the critical situation strategy o Opportunity to develop and apply out of box thinking and get maximum ideas o From the industrial experts.(My superiors and competitors) o Develop ability to understand competitors strategy beforehand.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROBLEM Increasing Subscriber base is very difficult because the competitors have come with offers which are highly competitive in nature. Times of India and Economic times combination of newspaper is available to people 1000 Rs for a year on annual subscription basis. Hindustan Times along with HT Mint is available at cost of 600 Rs; Hindu Business Line is priced at 650 Rs for year on annual subscription basis. But our offer was Monday Saturday Newspaper and 12 monthly small edition BS Motoring and 3 Annual Magazines i.e. Banking Annual, BS 1000, Fund Manager with laptop bag free with it at 740 Rs.

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PURPOSE
Increase the subscriber base at a mass level which increases the circulation of the paper and the revenue of the company. STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS The hypothesis was to test the offer of the company would work in the existing competitive market ASSUMPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS Our offer was Monday Saturday Newspaper and 12 monthly small edition BS Motoring and 3 Annual Magazines i.e. Banking Annual, BS 1000, Fund Manager with laptop bag free with it. This offer would attract customers and help to increase the subscriber base. Assumptions Increase the number of subscribers Identify loyal customers and generate leads To provide the customers with all benefits assured to them at the time sales

Limitations Highly priced amongst other competitors Low brand awareness level

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LITERATURE REVIEW
I have discussed here about 3 different cases, first two cases are about Economic Times - one with quality i.e. about the content, one with service is not provided to the customers and other about the subscription offer of Business Standard Case 1:- It has gone down in quality big time. They do not care about grammar anymore. There are glaring spelling and grammar mistakes on Page 1 so often that you wonder whether the editor is really existent or not and they seem to be completely hung up on advertisements. They would do anything to put an extra ad into the paper. So many stories appear to be so badly edited at times that you wish why you are even bothering to read this paper. Economic Times is not realizing the fact that its quality has drastically gone down the last few years and if they know that then they dont care too much for the readers. They believe that whatever trash they dish out will be consumed by the readers. Unfortunately, the numbers also justify their thinking. They also forget that they are not an entertainment or general newspaper. They are a business paper. At times they behave more like tabloids than a serious newspaper. Hindu business line is miles ahead of them and is by far the best business paper in India and not the Economic Times. Case 2:- Having paid annual subscription on 22.12.2010 till now no delivery of the economic times assured to supply from 01.01.2011 from such a reputed company "Bennet & Coleman" no response. Infact a news paper addict like me should not have fallen for these type of gimmicks. But what to do. I thought every day morning it will be at my doorstep by 6 am. My day will not begin without reading the newspaper. Even i can leave coffee but not the paper. Times have changed but not the times of india or economic times is an illusion only. Case 3:- Discounted BUSINESS STANDARD SUBSCRIPTIONS @ Rs. 710 a year Your Financial Daily with Special editorials and Magazines every week and month 29

respectively + Business Standard Travel Trolly Bag FREE! I have myself shifted to BS from ET after reading it for a week. Its much easy to understand and they are to the Point and unflashy news conveys info clearly. I recommend you all to use BS. Its much better and simpler!

METHODOLOGY / APPROACH ADOPTED

In any marketing program the importance of sales force is not debatable. We were first selected through an interview, then trained for 2 days, then worked under the supervision of our immediate guide Mr.Vaibhav Kunwar. We were continuously motivated and appreciated for the work done. We were acting as the demand creator in the company. We have to do hard core selling but along with that we used other creative methods to sell the subscription of the newspaper. The company has designed a subscription offer according to which a customer can subscribe the news paper for one year and for this advance payment of the newspaper they avail some benefits. These benefits include the 40% discount on the normal cover price. Along with these customer will get free 15magazine namely BS 1000, Banking annual, Fund manager and 12 monthly edition BS Motoring. Then the customer does not have to pay for the newspaper to the vendor and his copy will be recorded as the subscription copy in our records. We were evaluated on the basis of time and duty analysis. We have to submit a daily report a proper format sheet given by the company. We have to specify the number of calls made in a day mentioned the details of the calls which include the name of the firm and its contact details. We have to mention the person whom we met in the company and what was the final result of the call. In case of follow up we mention the same on the report. At the end of the report we have total the number of calls and write the number of calls which were converted.

RESEARCH DESIGN
Considering the objectives of the study, sample survey was conducted and accordingly analysis of information was made. Descriptive research design is used in present study. 30

TYPE OF DATA
Primary data had been used in present study.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD

Survey is used as data collection method

DATA COLLECTION TOOL

In this project structured questionnaire is used as data collection tool.

TARGET POPULATION
Target population of this project is- financial newspaper reader.

SAMPLING FRAME
Not used.

SAMPLING UNITS
Sampling units of this project are - Financial newspaper reader, cities of Dombivli, Kalyan, Ambarnath, Badlapur and other suburban cities of Mumbai. And customers like, stock broker, investor, banker and individual, Bank employees, Management students, Businessmen and Chartered Accountants and Tax consultants and working people.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
Non Probability, Convenience sampling technique was used to select respondents from different departments.

SAMPLE SIZE
Sample size refers to the total number of respondents targeted for collecting the data for the researcher. The sampling size of my study is 50 respondents and this sample 31

size was selected on the basis of time constraint and employees availability. Most of the readers in the financial newspaper segment i.e. maximum it is read by males than the females

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONAIRE
Do you read financial daily? Yes / No

Which financial daily do you read?

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How frequently do you read a financial daily?

How much time do you spend reading a newspaper?

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Which language will you prefer of your financial daily?

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Which factor you will consider before buying financial daily?

Which are the important sections of a financial daily that you read?

Which are the important attribute you will consider for your financial daily?

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Are you an Investor?

Benefits you derive from the Investing decision from the financial daily

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Do you purchase financial daily on regular price or under scheme?

Are satisfied with the existing financial daily?

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If you were given option to change to some other financial daily, will you accept it? To which financial daily you will opt for under Annual subscription scheme?

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If you are already into the Annual subscription scheme, are satisfied with the service from the existing financial daily?

Do you have any complaints regarding the service from the existing financial daily?

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SWOT ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS STANDARD

SWOT is good tool for a sales man, like a thermometer and stethoscope is for a doctor. The needs and objective mind a good genuine friend/ colleague that can help you to do SWOT analysis quarterly, and we know that the key to success is in knowing yourself.

Building Strengths:
Enable you to put your best foot forward The newspaper is second largest financial newspaper after the Economic Times. The analysis provided by the newspaper is the most detailed than any other newspaper i.e. it provides 8 stock pages which no other newspaper provides. The guidelines provided by the newspaper for the stock news is more detailed and can be easily understood by a layman The newspaper provides with BS 200 which compares the top 200 traded share in NSE and BSE along with 22 parameters. The newspaper detailed analysis on quarterly result of the companies and holds the top position in providing the best quarterly result

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It dominates its presence on its reader through the loyalty it has built among the English leaders. The supplements of the newspaper like, The Strategist and weekend which has captivating power to adhere its readers. The annual magazines offered by Business Standard is highly attractive to financial reader segment

Overcoming Weakness:
Who does not have them? Only when you recognize them you can do something to correct them The high price of Sunday edition i.e. Rs.8/The quality of paper used for printing the newspaper is poor. The font size of the stock is very small. The newspaper contains a lost so advertisement Except for the new pages there is no fixed pattern of news. The news like stock and declaring of bonus and companies annual report information are not printed, where newspaper like Economic Times gives. The vendors are not paid much commission , so they are not willing to sell newspaper Provide monthly coupons on time to the subscription customers and distribution of gifts promised at the time sales should be done properl

Exploring Opportunities:
We can entice young readers who can adapt to Business Standard early. 41

The newspaper can come up with an edition on Sunday also The newspaper can plan for Gujarati newspaper also. We can also provide higher incentives to vendor.

Minimizing Threats:
They are like ticking time bombs: defuse them by anticipating and taking preventive actions.

BS is facing threat from business magazines The increasing number of other media like television like CNBC,TV18, internet etc. The media is facing indirect competition from the supplements of other vernaculars newspaper. The newspaper is facing threats from Economic Times and other competitors like financial express The newspaper of Economic Times has captured a major market

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EXPLORATION OF ALTERNATION:There are many ways to increase brand awareness and develop markets. Here I have compared attractive alternative for the same. And to evaluate those I have taken following factors in to consideration: 1. Budget 2. Companys target 3. Strengths and Weakness of the alternative 4. Expected outcomes 5. Risk of failure of the alternative . Alternative 1: The company should come out nationwide campaigns with a bang. They should come up with a mega event which can give Business Standard nationwide mileage in brand building. Like a nationwide seminar on some business issues inviting few renowned speakers or any finance or industry minister as speaker and marketing their product will help them a lot in building their brand. Alternative 2:The other alternative for the same would be printing their offer in the news paper itself, promoting the annual subscription offer in all the prominent location via different medium like hoardings, road shows etc.

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Evaluation criteria and alternative: This option will indeed reach to the mass but here the competitor will also understand the strategy and will react according , compare to the guerilla marketing being used by the company, where competitor doesnt have chance to react, the market is captured before that. The other disadvantage in this method is the existing reader will come to know about the offer and they will surely opt for the same and this offer will harm the business instead of helping as existing clients will be paying less amount and this will result in to a decline in the existing revenue generating. So this alternative doesnt set in to the companys target. Thus the company has no other option but to keep differential pricing for the existing and new customers. And according to the strategy have opted is the best suiting according to the target.

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CONCLUSION
If you prefer to make just the same dish every day. You cannot be successful in marketing, it can be the best dish one can ever have but in long term that will also now work. Marketing is a continuous learning process. One has to be in touch with the market to keep own selves updated. We had long discussion with senior along with the other team member regarding the different aspect being discussed above. It was the team which worked towards the objective set by the company. With proper discipline, hard work and commitment we started toward s our objectives and by the end we were more than successful in achieving our targets. It was the mixture of the experience and innovative ideas which helped us in achieving out targets. The company did employed some different strategies and innovative concepts to come up with some substantial outcomes in their association with the summer trainees. We made a complete blueprint of the approach to be followed and then followed the steps like stairs. Since we tried to leap alone stair at each step fumbling was not possible. This kind of pre planning of the schedule brings me no confusion and makes the journey smooth. The methodology varied from customer to customer as this was real life personalized marketing projects. We planned different methods like mass distribution, tie ups, subscription offer etc. according to the target market and most important follow up is the most important thing not just in marketing but in the any field of the world, if you are keen on following up your life will become smoother not just that will make a good impression.

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Application of concepts, tools, techniques and skills learnt at the institute of management.
When I started my training I was very excited by getting the chance to apply my knowledge in Print media (newspaper) industry of Mumbai. This industry in Mumbai is facing sudden change in scenario specifically after the entry of the Economic Times, specifically targeting the middle class by giving good features in both Gujarati and English newspaper. During these two months I understood the learnings which I had from my MBA course and most importantly their actual implication in real practical life. Following are the learning outcomes: SWOT analysisWe did the swot analysis of the company and the competitor like Economic Times, Business Line, financial Express. Undifferentiated marketing:The product and the price offering to the entire customer base is the same. There was no differentiation in any segment of the market. The company follows a consistent strategy. Potential market:We identified the potential market in the corporate who could understand and benefit from the newspaper and then mover further. Mainly target business newspaper readers and approach them and explain the benefits what do they derive from the offer. Customer relationship management:Maintaining good customer relationship is very important as the world these days have become a GLOCAL market and a small bad experience with one customer may lead to be trouble in the future ahead. Along with that we, while going to make any professional call are representing Business Standard, so 46

whatever happens effects the company directly. But one more important aspect is that now a days in the market there is cutting edge competition so we need to maintain continuous relationship with our customers; which is highly important. Grass root marketing:The term is basically used for the local marketing and here we were focusing on the city of Dombivli, Kalyan and nearby cities. Transactional selling:They want value through the lowest price. While dealing with the institution what we went through was this kind of selling. We as seller are able to offer them cheaper prices as there is one point selling associated with it. This reduces our distribution cost and thus we can also manage to offer them lower prices. This kind of selling is beneficial to both the parties. Experiential marketing:The idea is not to sell something but to demonstrate how a brand can enrich a customers life. Whenever we were going out to make calls we were highlighted on one concept that dont try and forcefully sell your product. Make the customer feel and need for your product and then he will surely buy. Forcing customer will never help rather you should try and explain the customer why this particular product can be very beneficial for him. Try to convey him what is there in your product which will satisfy his need and he will be your customer forever. Social Media Marketing Increase your visibility in online social media networking websites like face book, twitter, and LinkedIn.

Telemarketing:-

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Business Standard uses the technology in the customer care department. They take a regular follow up of their entire customer regarding the delivery of the newspaper. Sometimes there are problem in starting the delivery of the newspaper, hawkers are sometimes inconsistent or unaware of the scheme and etc. The company is very prompt in follow up, the follow up ends only when the issue is resolved. The company uses telemarketing for the purpose of the subscription renewal of their existing clients whose previous years annual subscription is getting over. This is a very convenient and fast method which saves time, money and man power. Relationship marketing:This is commonly known as referral marketing. It is a marketing and sales technique used by business that encourages people to pass on a sales message to other potential customers. Personal selling:We were persuaded to go for personal selling for a little time frame to understand the scratch work. The basic field work makes you understand the strengths and weakness perceived by your actual customer.

TOOLS, TECHNIQUES I HAVE PICKED UP:

1. Consistency in quality
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If your product is having the actual quality then you dont have to worry much. Once a customer purchases the products he will realize the worth and wont feel that he was persuaded to buy the product and cheated. The quality speaks for itself and for the company.

2. Competitive pricing
This is very much price sensitive so this part is very important. Their need to be constant watch on the pricing strategy of the competitors. Accordingly, though price is considering as the most flexible of marketing but in this industry we are not allowed to make any changes in the prices to be notified to ABC before going any changes.

3. Marketing is the core of the business.

We are aware that these days however good the product maybe but we need to market the goods properly to survive. Marketing has become the core of any business. Here Business Standard being a media industry has to be on their toes to continuously promote their product marketing. Thus altogether becomes very important.

4. Proper follow-up of all your pending clients.

Follow ups forms a very important part of the marketing. Follow ups tend to do miracle work in the trade. Regular follow ups helped us in the way that you dont have to search up the new client or new potential areas. If you concentrate properly on these clients only. Then a major of your business can be achieved from here. This process of follow up saves the time of the staff as he is already familiar with your product and company. The telephone is remarkably effective follow up weapon. Use the phone to follow up all your customers, but research has proved that it will always boost your sales and profits. Sure, telephone follow up is tough task. But it works.

5. Competition is unavoidable evil so be competitive

The newspaper is facing competition from two main competitors i.e. Economic times and HT Mint and also from DNA Money, continuous track has to be 49

maintained on their strategy and adopt a strategy such makes Business Standard more visible from others.

6. Know your competitors well

The knowledge of your competitors will help in making your own strategy. When you know the industry trends then you tend to mend yourself accordingly. The sooner you know the faster you will be able to react. In this competitive world you need to move with the double pace than your competitors to beat them.

7. Viral marketing:The definition of viral marketing or viral ad is promoting information or product that other customer are compelled to give to other friends, colleagues and family but the definition viral marketing is a way to promote a service or product exponentially.

LEARNING FROM THE SUMMER TRAINING

Augmentation of soft skills Soft skills like the soft S form the silent part of yourself. You dont realize it but when you communicate they are always reflected. Till now we were talking in 50

terms of the organization but when we come to the field then soft skills form a major part of your learnings. It takes a lot of experience and soft skills to stay calm and reply when the customer is constantly banging on your head. There is no doubt that we can acquire these skills, though we have already acquired a few of them. Handling the pressure of target and performance We have not given the monthly targets to be achieved. There was a kind of competition with the team members and the better part of that competition was that it was healthy. We have to work hard to achieve the internal targets and that creates the pressure. We have to perform and that too in that gives time frame. This all used to create a lot of apprehension within us. Team work In Business Standard we were a team of about number of persons working towards the same goal of increasing the circulation of the newspaper. The students belonged to mixture of institutes and diverse cities. Due to their culture differences everyone was very distinguished in their personality. We have to work together as a team and come out with the result. We learned the art of moving together under different circumstances. Skills to understand the potential from the mass:This skill has been fairly understood when we were almost half done in our training period. The skill enables you to save your time and manpower. This ability of distinguish your target client will prove very beneficial in the long run.

Conceptual thinking :During the training period we were always given the freedom of thinking. We were motivated to come up with something innovative and creative. We were told by Mr. Vaibhav Kunwar to think out of the box and try to cross the roads now as later when we join the corporate world after our course we have to show result. This was the only time when we can experiment

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Customized Communication:It is the delivery of the same product in different packing according to your target customer. This is again a very important skill learnt by me during training. The product and price remain the same but according to the place we have to do the promotion. We have observed the time and mood of the client when we are in conversation with them. As we know the right time and right place are very important, this very well fits into the practical scenario.

RECOMMENDATION:From the study out and analysis of the result obtain from the survey; the following suggestion can help the firm Add new stock market news and information of bonus of different companies Increase the number of centre from where the newspaper is available Increase the font size 52

Provide higher incentives to hawkers Increase the circulation service Promote Business standard through each and every possible way i.e. in case newspaper vendors provide them with rainproof sheets to take care of the newspapers in the rainy season

Enquire the existing customers, every month so that they get their complaints resolved easily and maintain consistent relationship with the customers. Which actually helps to sustain the existing customers with you for a longer time

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Websites: www.businessstandard.com http://www.business-standard.com/india/common/aboutus.php www.mothshut.com www.wikipedia.com

Text book: 53

Kotler Philip, (2010) Marketing Management A South Asian Perspective, Fourteenth Edition, New Delhi, Pearson Education

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ANNEXURES QUESTIONNAIRE Name: Address/Place: E-mail Id: Do you read financial daily? Yes / No Which economic daily do you read? 1 2 3 4 a) Economic Times c) Business Standard e) DNA money g) Other(please specify) b) Financial Express d) HT Mint f) Hindu Business Line Age: Contact No.: Occupation: Gender:

How frequently do you read an economic daily? 1 2 3 a) Daily c) 2 times a week e) Monthly b) 3 times week d) Once a week f) Other(Please specify)

How much time do you spend reading a newspaper? 1 2 a) 0-30 minutes c) 60-90 minutes b) 30-60 minutes d) More than 90 minutes c)Gujarati

Which language will you prefer of your economic daily? a) English b)Hindi Which factor you will consider before buying economic daily? a) Price b) Content c) Brand Image d) Discounts and Offers e) Service f) All of the above

Which are the important sections of an economic daily that you read? a) Editorials b) International News c) National News d) Banking related News e) Financial Markets News (Share market, Commodity Markets. Etc) f) General News Which are the important attribute you will consider for your economic daily? a) Language b) Content c) Service d) Unbiased Information 55

e) Detailed Analysis tips g) Editorials by experts Are you an Investor? a) Yes b) No

f) Stock Market coverage and investment h) Useful Supplements

Benefits you derive from the Investing decision from the economic daily
a) Yes

b) No

c) Average

Do you purchase economic daily on regular price or under scheme? a) Under Annual Subscription Scheme b) Regular price Are satisfied with the existing economic daily? a) Yes b) No

c) Neutral

If you were given option to change to some other economic daily, will you accept it? To which economic daily you will opt for under Annual subscription scheme? 5 a) Economic Times b) Financial Express 6 c) Business Standard d) HT Mint 7 e) DNA money f) Hindu Business Line 8 g) Other(please specify) If you are already into the Annual subscription scheme, are satisfied with the service from the existing economic daily? a) Yes b) No c) Neutral Do you have any complaints regarding the service from the existing economic daily? a) Yes b) No c) Average d) Neutral

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