Financial Implications or Required Budget:
The financial implications for these marketing strategies are very cost effective. One of the most costly part of the strategy is likely to be the initial revamp of the company website, with hiring a seasoned web content writer, for the new SEO content creation. PPC advertising is very reasonable in price. In some instances, such as advertising via Facebook, the PPC amount is left up to the discretion of the advertiser, with a minimum of 1 cent per click. Currently, their suggested rate is between 47 cents and 69 cents per click. An additional cost to this advertising will be the design of the ads themselves. With Facebook, a simple image and text is allowed in their advertising, or they do offer higher priced banner ads. GoogleAds and other advertising sources, however, will need banner ads designed. Multiple designs should be created, and evaluated for efficacy. In addition, a writer will need to be paid to create the company blog posts. Hiring a contract writer to create blog content can cost as little as $2 per post, and can be created whenever the company wants the blog updated.
Operational Considerations:
The operational considerations for this marketing plan will be an increased need for employees. Clearly, an increase in sales revenues will lead to a need for more editors on staff. The initial increased demand can be handled by current part-time and contract employees who have expressed a desire to increase their workload. However, when sales expand beyond those current inhouse capabilities, more editorial staff will need to be hired. Although contract employees are more expensive, per hour, than their direct hire peers, there are both financial and operational benefits to pursuing contract employees at first, before bringing them on board. Items such as benefits do not need to be paid to contract employees and the ability...
In addition, a staff member may eventually need to be assigned to not only implement these programs, but also monitor their effectiveness.
Conclusion:
AAA Editorial Services has grown from a one-person home office to a half a million dollars in revenue, due to its quality editing services. By promoting those services with the tools now afforded with the Internet, the company can make the next organizational leap, and increase their sales revenues by 20% over the next fiscal year. Currently, the company does not take advantage of any of the marketing opportunities available through the Internet, as such the first action will be to revamp the company website to be SEO. PPC advertising, which is both cost effective and efficient, will also be utilized. Social networking sites will be used for advertising and promotion of the new company blog, which will also drive visitors to the company's site. Each of these strategies will need to be monitored to ensure they are being used to their fullest advantage. Although current staff members can handle the expected increase in revenues, eventually new staff members will need to be hired to handle the increased workload. In addition, a marketing employee will likely need to be hired to continue the implementation and monitoring of these strategies.
References
Kharif, O. (17 May 2005). Web-based self-publishing explodes. Business Week. Retrieved January 5, 2009, from http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2005/05/web-based_self-.html.
Rich, M. (27 Jan 2009). Self-publishers flourish as writers pay the tab. New York Times. Retrieved January 5, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/books/28selfpub.html.
