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This Blog post is made up of a Business Plan that was developed by The Irish Observer for a new Marketing concept, it is hoped that sharing this information may help others to find employment in what are difficult times. This is the original work of The Irish Observer unless otherwise stated. ©


Executive Summary

This Business Plan is provided for Market-Sweeping a business concept developed by The Irish Observer. This Business Plan will use a number of research methods including primary and secondary research to produce a realistic road map for Market-Sweeping going forward including financial projections.

This report will begin by explaining what Marketing-Sweeping is in terms of a business concept. The background to this business concept will be clearly explained in terms of idea generation, idea screening, concept developing and testing, marketing strategy, business analysis, product service development, test marketing and commercialisation. This report will then go on to explain at which stage of the product life cycle Market-Sweeping has reached at the time of this report being compiled. The characteristics of the life cycle stage will be discussed and what strategy will be used for this particular stage of the life cycle.

In effect this report will examine, investigate and offer a comprehensive analyse of the Marketing Mix for Market-Sweeping in terms of Product, Price, Place and Promotion. This report will then draw conclusions and make recommendations in relation to the best possible marketing mix package for Market-Sweeping.



Statement of Purpose

1. Determine if a market exists for Market-Sweeping

2. To determine the most effective way to meet market needs

3. To establish the costs associated with servicing this niche market

4. Determining the best method of marketing Market-Sweeping

5. To develop a business plan that offers least risk in servicing this market niche

6. To develop a plan of action for Market-Sweeping

7. To identify competition and how that competition is operating in the market place

8. To establish who is operating in the market, who has failed in the market and why they failed

9. To use various business tools to test the market place and demand for the service of Marekt-Sweeping.

10. To establish financial evaluations and projections for Market-Sweeping.



Proposed Business Description

Phase 1

The proposed business is the provision of an e-Marketing concept known as ‘Market Sweeping on the Net’ to various business models including and particularly the Hotel and Hospitality Industry. The business name will be Market-Sweeping an internet based business that will provide an e-Marketing service to various business models based on a primary single e-Marketing package known as ‘Market Sweeping on the Net’.

Market-Sweeping will initially offer an e-Marketing package that will include the establishment and management of social networking sites for a number of clients who operate within the Hotel and Hospitality Industry. The e-Marketing concept known as ‘Market Sweeping on the Net’ has been developed by The Irish Observer.

This e-Marketing concept proposes to use social networking sites to sweep the net in order to drive traffic and potential customers to the generic sites of the client group.

Phase 2

To provide a website building service to customers using Word Press, Word Press has been chosen as it is less complicated than traditional HTML web building. It is hoped that by this stage of Market-Sweeping development a comprehensive e-Marketing package will be made available to clients, this premium package will offer a linked e-Marketing package including social networking sites and a freshly launched generic site build from Word Press tools.

Phase 3

To move beyond the domestic Irish market and offer a range of products and services to a European Clientele, this international dimension would mean that Market-Sweeping would launch a recruitment drive to recruit people who understand the aims and objectives of Market-Sweeping as an organic home grown business concept that is driven by a desire to get best value for money while marketing on the net and to see the growth of e-Business/e-Commerce in Ireland.

Phase 4

This phase would involve further expansion of the business model at which point significant infrastructural investment would be added to the business portfolio. It would be envisaged that the Headquarters for Market-Sweeping would be developed on an industrial site. This new expansion of the business model would see Market-Sweeping working in partnership with other businesses and other local training agencies in order to retrain and hire in locally sourced labour in order to impact on the high levels of unemployment in Ireland.

Proposed Service Description

The proposed business is the provision of an e-Marketing concept known as ‘Market Sweeping on the Net’ to various business models including and particularly the Hotel and Hospitality Industry. The business name will be Market-Sweeping an internet based business that will provide an e-Marketing service to various business models based on a single e-Marketing package known as ‘Market Sweeping on the Net’.

MarketSweeping.ie will initially offer an e-Marketing package that will include the establishment and management of social networking sites for a number of clients who operate within the Hotel and Hospitality Industry. The e-Marketing concept known as ‘Market Sweeping on the Net’ has been developed by The Irish Observer.

This e-Marketing concept proposes to use social networking sites to sweep the net in order to drive traffic and potential customers to the generic sites of the client group.



Form of Proprietorship

Initially the business will be solely owned by The Irish Observer and will trade as a Sole Trader. As the business grows it is expected that the business will become a Limited Company. Market-Sweeping will initially be funded by a long term Bank loan, Credit Union loan and a small grant from the Enterprise Board.

Registration

As Market-Sweeping will initially operate as a sole trader that is not exclusively in the name of the owner its name will be registered with the Companies Office and Revenue.

Mission Statement

Market-Sweeping will bring a new and innovative e-Marketing concept to a range of clients and industries with the hope of producing a competitive edge for those companies that have a vision for the future. The advantage will come from increased traffic and potential customers being driven to the generic websites of the client group. Increased profits will be realised as new customers become aware of the products and services being offered by the client group.

Background

The Irish Observer was made redundant as a Foreman/Health and Safety Officer with the collapse of the building industry in Ireland. In order to get back into the work place The Irish Observer decided that he needed to retrain/up-skill and so sought a place on the e-Business program. This e-Business course delivers a combination of up-skilling tools over a year long program. The program covers marketing, e-Business, Start Your Own Business, Accounting, Communication, Internet, Web-authoring, Work-positive, Work-experience and Mathematics.

Several weeks into the e-Business course The Irish Observer was approached by a business person and asked if he could come up with an e-Marketing idea for the Hotel/Hospitality industry in order that new and potential customers could be drawn to the generic web-sites of a number of Hotels, restaurants and so forth, The Irish Observer agreed to research and develop an e-Marketing strategy that could help drive new and potential customers to the generic web-sites of the businesses concerned.

What is e-Marketing

E-marketing is a vehicle for using digital technologies to help a business to sell their goods or services on line. Such new technologies are an essential addition to traditional marketing methods whatever the size of the business style.

Principles of traditional marketing remain the same; a business must create a strategy to deliver the right messages to the right people. The one thing that has changed is the number of options now available to any business. Businesses will continue to use traditional marketing methods, such as media advertising, direct mail and Public Relations. However, e-marketing adds a revolutionary new element to the marketing mix of any business. Businesses are producing additional results with e-marketing and its flexible and cost-effective nature makes it particularly suitable for small and medium sized businesses.

MarketSweeping.ie

This new e-Marketing strategy involved establishing accounts for each one of the client group on social net-working sites. These social networking sites included Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, Blogger, Hubpages and 90 second virals on YouTube. The idea behind the ‘Market Sweeping on the Net’ e-Marketing concept was to use social networking sites in a strategic and coordinated manner as a means to draw new and potential customers to the generic web-sites of the client base.

The idea was to up-date each social networking site or combination of social networking sites on a weekly basis in order to maximise keyword search and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). The idea was to use pictures taken by The Irish Observer so that no licensing or copy right issues could arise. These pictures would be uploaded on the Blogger sites and then notified to the other social networking sites, using keywords, mega-tags, tags and maximising Search Engine Optimisation.

Words and phrases such as Hotels, Short breaks, holidays, Christmas shopping, eating out and so forth were used as tags so that Search Engine Optimization could be achieved. These keywords and phrases were integrated into Blogs and posts so that the SEO would be maximised.

So why is there a need for such a business concept as MarketSweeping.ie

During the boom years of Ireland’s unprecedented economic growth known as the years of the Celtic Tiger, traditional businesses were collectively pushed into spending hundreds of millions of Euros on establishing and developing generic websites for their businesses.

Business executives signed off on large sums of money to newly established IT businesses in order to have websites established. Business executives and boards of directors were told that they would be left behind if they did not throw vast sums of money at establishing an e-Business/e-Commerce aspect to their traditional high street businesses.

In the aftermath of the boom years and now well into economic recession in June 2011 much of that e-Business investment has been exposed as a black-hole. Many companies have been left with nothing more than black holes in cyber space; these businesses do not have and cannot afford the staff necessary to ensure the regular up dating, management and maintenance of their generic websites. Market-Sweeping hopes to be able to offer a value for money service in this niche market.

This dilemma is not simply typical of small and medium sized companies; a cursory browse of the Internet will show that many large companies have websites best described as white elephants. Clicking links on many business websites is like walking through a cyber-ghost estate. Now businesses are being told that social networking sites such as Facebook are the place to have their businesses sited, with 500 million users and a projected 1 Billion users for the end of 2011, Facebook certainly has marketing potential for products and services, however, Facebook must not be, the be all and end all, of any e-Business/e-Commerce marketing strategy.

The Advertising Concept Book from author Peter Barry, the by-line of this book ‘Think now buy later’ Barry suggests that advertising is only great if its roots are in insight-led ideas. This is certainly the case when dealing with social networking, do the thinking first and then decide what you are going to invest on your e-Marketing strategy.

This is not the time to spend tight budgets on salaries to IT companies to set up and maintain social networking sites for your company. Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites are free and with some in-house training or small consultancy investment, staff members could be up skilled to service this aspect of your e-Marketing strategy. However, if you do insist on spending time and money on establishing social networking sites for your business, you must ensure that you get value for your money. Market Sweeping on the Net is a concept that involves establishing several social networking sites in the name of your business, for example, an account for Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, YouTube, Hubpages and so forth.

The type of accounts you establish will depend on your business, for example, if you are an hotelier it will not be possible for people to book into your hotel on Facebook, Twitter or Blogger. However, if you are an Hotelier, Market Sweeping on the Net is ideal for your business. Market Sweeping on the Net does exactly what it says on the tin, you use your various social networking accounts to sweep the net in order to drive potential customers to your generic website where those new and potential customers can book rooms, make restaurant reservations, make inquiries or simply learn more about your business.

It is important to note that your business type will determine the type and number of social networking sites that you should sign up for. You may ask what possible value a Twitter account can have for your business as it only allows 140 characters to be published at any given time. The fact is that Twitter is a free service that allows you to put your brand name into a new market place that is now being shared by over 200 Million registered users worldwide. It is worth remembering that it was a 140 character tweet by a politician that almost brought down the Irish Government in 2010, when that politician used his 140 characters to describe the conduct of Brian Cowen TD on RTE’s Morning Ireland show.

If someone views the name of your Hotel on Twitter and you’re presenting a special offer, that person is only a click away from your generic site. Facebook, Blogger, YouTube and other social networking sites offer similar opportunities for your business. It must be stressed that you need to be certain that you will be able to manage and maintain these accounts once the initial euphoria is over. Facebook is a worldwide social networking phenomena with 500 Million registered users, you must ask yourself will Facebook be worth the time, energy and more importantly the money you will inevitably spend, the answer can be found in the stats from your generic site. If you are not getting the hits can you justify the cost?

Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, Goggle Buzz and all other social networking accounts will not produce an overnight success story, these accounts take time to build, and potential customers will only visit your generic site if it is presented as interesting and up to date.

You must ask yourself, why someone would visit your site rather than the hundreds of millions of other sites on the net. Your sites must be regularly up dated, they must be interesting and they must have Keyword Research at their heart. You must have good quality links both to and from your generic site. Keyword Research is not a science; if you are in the hotel business then your posts must contain Keywords relating to your business, both the pages on your generic website and your regular postings must contain Keywords that will be picked up by the search engines.

Search engine optimisation is important in promoting your business on the net, again it is not rocket science and don’t let anyone tell you that it is. Keep your page and post titles short and to the point, describe who you are, what you are selling and where you are selling it. For example, ‘Europa Hotel Belfast, rooms from £59, luxury you can afford’ (56 characters), you can say so much in so few words. Make sure your tags are relevant to your site/post content.

Continuing with the hotel industry, Market Sweeping on the Net, is ideal, you use every opportunity possible to sweep the net and draw potential customers to your generic site where they can view your range of products, services and special offers. Experiments carried out by Market-Sweeping with ‘Market Sweeping on the Net’ have shown that an increase of up to 30% potential customers can be drawn to generic sites, a 30% increase in potential customers is very significant in the new economic dispensation.

Businesses can no longer afford to spend money on the worthless and the useless, every Dollar/Euro spent must show a return. If applied correctly ‘Market Sweeping on the Net’ could bring significant new numbers of potential customers to your generic site.



S.W.O.T. Analysis of MarketSweeping.ie

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (S.W.O.T.) is an analytical tool used by businesses to gauge their position in a time and place. S.W.O.T. is a tool for planning a business idea or concept. S.W.O.T. is a tool for establishing the viability of the objectives of any given business or business idea. Both the Internal and external dynamics of a business must be examined in order to establish what will help and what will hinder any business when it sets out to achieve its set objectives. The S.W.O.T. tool was developed by Albert Humphrey in the 1960s/70s while he attended Stanford University.



All S.W.O.T analysis must begin with a clear understanding of the desired objectives of the business enterprise under consideration. Any business with a strategic plan in place must incorporate a S.W.O.T. analysis into the plan. The key components of the S.W.O.T. can be broken down as follows:



1. All characteristics of any business idea or concept that give it a leading edge over its competitors could be described as strength of that business.

2. Any characteristic of any business idea or concept that places it at a disadvantage can be described as a weakness.

3. Any opportunity presented to any business idea or concept in the external market that will increase sales and profitability can be described as an opportunity.

4. The world of business is constantly under threat and in the SWOT analysis that threat is identified as any threat in the external business environment that affects a business idea or concept.

The role of the SWOT analysis in the strategic planning of any business idea or concept is central to analysing the potential for that business to succeed or fail in the business world.

The SWOT analysis will give a snap shot of any business idea or concept at a given time and place of the business development process. If the S.W.O.T. analysis shows that the business objectives are not obtainable for that particular business idea or concept then new objectives must be set or the business scrapped.

For the purposes of this report S.W.O.T. will be applied to MarketSweeping.ie which is a business idea being developed by The Irish Observer. This business idea has come about due to new learning and up-skilling of The Irish Observer on the e-Business course.

Primary Research 1

The key primary research for the SWOT aspect of this Business Plan is based on the statistical analysis for page views/hits for those Blogs set up for the client group of xxxxxx.com including xxxxxx.com by Market-Sweeping. As Administrator for these sites it is possible to use Google Analytics to access important and updated market research relating to each site.

For Example: Page views by Browsers for xxxxxx.blogspot.com

Internet Explorer-1,727 (88%) Firefox-169 (8%)

Chrome-20 (1%) Safari-15 (<1%)

Mobile-6 (<1%)



The statistical analysis of the Blogs will give a clear indication as to the volume of traffic, source of traffic, geographical spread of traffic, peak times for traffic, low traffic and correlation between posting and traffic distribution.

On the first page ‘Country of origin by Hotel, it is clear that all five Blogs including xxxxxx.com derived their main traffic sources from Ireland and the USA, this finding was not unexpected as Ireland’s main tourist/holiday traffic comes from both Ireland and the USA (FailteIreland.ie). Both the xxxxxx.com and xxxxxx.com Blogs have the greatest volume of traffic, again this is not unexpected as the xxxxxx.com is a brand name in many countries, and xxxxxx.com has been given most attention during the set up process of Market Sweeping on the Net, more activity, more posts, equals more traffic.

It is very significant that all four Blogs excluding xxxxxx.com have a consistent level of traffic from Ireland; this may be explained as they have a low profile on line and are simply being picked up by internet trawlers, people who simply trawl through the net and are not necessarily looking for the first site that appears on their search.

The majority of page-views/hits for xxxxxxx.com, xxxxxx, xxxxxx, xxxxxx and the xxxxxx are fairly sporadic with the exception of the Ireland and USA hits, it all appears as fairly hit and miss. This sporadic aspect of the statistics can be explained by the fact that each of the Blogs was only being up dated once per week until the system was fully established.

In order to compare the figures for all five Blogs established for xxxxxx.com, the Statistics for a much more active Blog are presented. The Irish Observer is a news Blog that deals with current and political affairs in Ireland, this Blog in 2011 has over 20,000 page views/hits per month. These statistics are significantly different from the five Blogs established for xxxxxx.com and their client group.

The main reason for the statistical difference is the fact that The Irish Observer is up dated several times per day and offers readers Blogs on topical matters such as politics, business and news. It is this regular refreshing and updating coupled with keyword research, appropriate mega tags and tags, content, that gain Search Engine Optimisation for The Irish Observer.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the tool developed by webmasters in the mid-1990s and is used for ensuring that your website has good visibility on the Internet. SEO is the organic means by which you ensure good visibility for you site. Some companies will pay Google ads or Yahoo in order to have their site artificially positioned higher in the rankings for certain keywords or phrases, however, with hard work, innovation and good keyword research a site can be well placed by organic means.

If a site is high on search result pages then it will get greater volumes of traffic and therefore greater volumes of potential customers. The SEO can search for images, videos, and local or business/industry specific search. SEO presents a website with an opportunity to improve its web presence on the Internet.

Effectively SEO determines how search engines operate and determine what people are searching for, it is therefore essential that any web operator maximises their presence on the Internet by using the correct content that is relevant and up to date, using the correct tags, and where relevant ensuring that all links to and from their site are active. Many companies and web users had and continue to manipulate SEO by using keywords in their posts that are not relevant to their post but will help rank them higher in the search engines. However, Google and Yahoo have made changes to ensure that fresh content is ranked quickly in the search listings. Those who try to abuse the SEO will be punished, in 2006 BMW in Germany were banned from Google’s search list for using deceptive practices. According to Hitwise.com Google have about 90% of search engine hits in the UK and Ireland.

For those e-Businesses wishing to trade outside of Ireland will need to ensure that translation is addressed effectively, that their domain name is registered with a top domain name in the target country, and their web hosting should have a localised IP address. Having addressed these key points the SEO will be equal no matter what the language or country targeted.

The five Blogs established by Market-Sweeping for xxxxxx.com are only up dated on a weekly basis, with the exception of the three weeks 10-28 January 2011 when The Irish Observer was on work placement with xxxxxx.com and are limited in terms of keyword research and therefore Search Engine Optimisation.

A clear correlation has been established between regular site up-dates and traffic volume. Those sites that are only up dated once per week will have much less traffic than a site that is up dated on a daily basis. Sites will also bring more traffic if the posts are topical, interesting and up to date.

It is fair to conclude from this primary research that an opportunity exists for an innovative site that carries both regularly up dated features and a booking element such as xxxxxx.com. While Market Sweeping on the net can be used as a tool to drive increased traffic flow and therefore potential customers to the generic sites of the client group, it is clear from this research that for maximisation of traffic and potential customers, a single focused generic site should be established. This site could be a reconfiguration of xxxxxx.com or a totally new site.

On Line Community

There is a great temptation in the business world to get quick fix solutions to certain Marketing problems or concerns when they arise on the net. In relation to social networking sites there is a perception that you need to have thousands of followers/friends in order to get your goods or services marketed on the net, some companies have went for the easy option and used middlemen to buy ‘lists’ that are presently available on the net.

However, those who follow this trend of creating/purchasing artificial lists are buying a pig in a poke. If a business is serious about using social networking sites as an e-Marketing tool then they must be patient, they must build their online community organically. This will mean hard and often tedious work. This will mean sending follow up e-mails/texts to customers who have already used your product or service, it will mean making special offers and competitions available on line to potential new customers, it will make up dating and refreshing your sites regularly, it will mean answering customer queries and complaints within a short window. All of this activity will help build a sustainable organic online community.

Facebook: Primary Research 2

Do not be tempted by the quick fix solutions, allow your social networking e-Marketing strategy to build a sustainable community, rather than invest in what is effectively illegal spam. It is also worth remembering that social networking giants such as Yahoo are now in decline and so your investment must be measured when it relates to social networking:

Yahoo warned revenue will again slide this quarter as it bleeds traffic to Google and Facebook and a much-touted search partnership with Microsoft followed that with a declaration it is preparing its biggest year of hiring ever in 2011.

Yahoo reported its third consecutive quarter of declining page views on its websites. CEO Carol Bartz, who after two years in charge is facing increasing pressure to turn the once-dominant internet portal around, promised investors revenue growth will return in 2011's second half once its tie-up with Microsoft takes off. (irishtimes.com, 26/1/2011)

While using Facebook businesses will want to build an organic community of friends/followers, as stated above some companies have went for the easy and illegal option of buying lists through middlemen. It is totally against Facebook rules for any registered user to ‘request’ others on Facebook to be ‘friends’ if they do not know the person whom they are requesting. As a primary research experiment to test this rule on Facebook, Market-Sweeping made 50 friend requests to 50 people not known to Market-Sweeping on Facebook, all 50 people accepted the friend request.

The majority of these friend requests were sent to foreign companies and in reality to have them as friends or followers is a complete waste of time and energy. This is effectively how some companies are building their artificial ‘friend’ base, while other companies are simply buying lists on the cyber black market. Equally some companies are still spending vast amounts of money on advertising on line without any real or tangible results, for example, in their report for the fourth quarter of 2010 which was presented in January 2011, Google said:

Fourth-quarter profit topped analysts' estimates as optimism about the economy led companies to boost spending for online advertising.



Customers on Line: Primary Research 3

It is now becoming common for customers or potential customers to post questions about customer service on social networking sites where businesses have established a presence. This is where businesses who have established social networking sites, but who do not maintain and refresh these sites lose out badly. If a customer or potential customer has a complaint or a query and you don’t answer it then they will go elsewhere, your site if one of millions on the Internet. Customer relationship management processes must be seamless and not frayed. The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) tells us that:

Marketing is the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer requirements profitably.

Many businesses have starting using social networking sites without actually considering the reality of what they are engaging in. If you do not have the time, staff or resource to manage these sites then you are potentially damaging your business. Social networking sites should be used to build visibility, awareness of your business, build an organic community and draw potential and actual customers to your business. It is essential that social networking is not simply viewed as a cheap means of advertising; this approach is doomed to failure if customer service follow up is not build in to your social networking marketing strategy.

Market-Sweeping carried out primary research to establish what customers’ expectations are in relation to social networking sites that are used as marketing tools by businesses. Market-Sweeping surveyed 100 people to establish what potential/actual customers expect from businesses who use social networking sites to sell their goods or services.

In order to establish a number of key points in relation to people using the Internet including when they log-in, their likes and dislikes about business sites, how they make a complaint and how quickly they expect to have their complaints answered, this SWOT Report used an e-mail questionnaire. Due to the low response rate to e-mail questionnaires, this SWOT Report decided to send a large number of e-mails to former customers of the client group of xxxxxx.com.

In order to ensure a significant return this SWOT sent 400 questionnaires to former customers of the xxxxxx.com client group; these customers had previously given their permission for the client group to send up dates and special offers by e-mail. This SWOT Report decided that the first one hundred questionnaires returned would be used as the sample group for the primary research.

The reason that e-mail questionnaires were chosen for this primary research was due to the fact that an e-mail list for the client group existed, it involved no expenditure, it was quick and due to the fact that most bookings for Hotel rooms are now made on line the likely hood was that most if not all of the client group were computer literate.

The e-mail was sent by way of a customer satisfaction/improvement tool and those returning the e-mail questionnaire would benefit from a 10% discount on their next stay with the xxxxxx.com client group if they were signed up as ‘friends’ to the client group on Facebook, this is already a standard discount for ‘friends’ of the client group on Facebook.

Logging On

Facebook and other social networking sites are similar to the M50 (main road into Dublin City), there are times when they are quiet such as 6am on a Sunday morning and there are times when they are busy like 4pm on a Friday afternoon. It is therefore important to be on line when the traffic is there to engage with potential customers or simply to expose your service or product. The jury remains out on the news feed feature of Facebook which for many is nothing more than accepted spam?

Market-Sweeping found in their research that there are significant numbers of people who will log on to social networking sites during the day when the opportunity is presented. However, it was clearly established that 43% of respondents check their social networking sites before they retire for the night, that 20% check their social networking sites first thing in the morning and that women are the most prolific users during lunch breaks.

Customers and potential customers have their likes and dislikes about advertising and communication on social networking sites and so it is important that businesses understand these like and dislikes.

Customers and potential customers according to the respondents are attracted to competitions and give-a-ways and have the potential to attract an organic community on your social networking site/s. However, in these difficult economic times can businesses simply give stuff away? Your social networking content plan should constantly test the needs, wants and desires of your online community. Respondents said they were looking for products and services to be professional, friendly, creative, respectful and innovative.

So how do customers complain about products or services?

The one-hundred respondents when asked how they complained about a product or service said that 46% of them would complain on the businesses generic website, 26% said they would complain on the phone, the remainder of the respondents said they would complain by a letter, social networking site or discussion forum. The good news is that 20% of respondents had never made a complaint.

Respondents had this to say about response time to their complaint

Respondents were very clear that they do not like to be kept waiting for an answer to their complaint when they lodge such a complaint. Most respondents expect a reply within one day; they did not distinguish between working days and weekends. This was extended to three days depending on the type of complaint lodged. 27% said that three days was reasonable on social networking sites, 16% said three days was acceptable on Twitter.

20% of all respondents said that they would expect a response within one hour if they lodged their complaint on Twitter or Facebook. It is clear from this survey that businesses must have a plan of action to manage customer complaints queries on their social networking sites.

It is clear from this research that any e-Marketing strategy must include a customer service element. If any business thinks that they can simply establish a presence on social networking sites and ignore their customer service responsibilities they are badly mistaken and it will in the long term do damage to their business and reputation. On line purchasing may be easier than traditional high street shopping; however, it is also a place where reputations can be damaged irrefutably at the click of a button.

Initially it is envisaged that Marketing-Sweeping will begin life with a client base of five Hotels, each client being charged one-hundred-euro per week for the basic Market-Sweeping package. This charge for the basic package will generate an estimated 500 Euro per week or 2000 Euro per month as set out in the projected cash flow.

It is expected that Market-Sweeping will be funded by a long term bank loan of 5000 Euro, a 3000 Euro Credit Union loan and it is expected that a 1000 Euro grant will be received from the Enterprise Board for website development.

It is expected that rent and rates will cost 200 Euro per month with the renting of a small office space. Light, heat and power are expected to be in the region of 100 Euro per month. Telephone, post, selling are costs not expected to exceed to 90 Euro per month. Distribution and selling are expected to remain at a level not exceeding 50 Euro per month. Travel will be a significant cost and is estimated to be in the region of 100 Euro per month. Loan repayments and interest are expected to be in the region of 60 Euro and 30 Euro respectively per month.

It is estimated that in Phase 1 Market-Sweeping will have an annual income of 24,000 Euro per year and it is not known if VAT registration will be desirable or necessary. PRSI will be paid in order that the Sole Trader continues to pay into the national fund.

It is estimated that Market-Sweeping will be able to operate in Phase 1 with the Sole Trader as the only employee in the company; it is expected and anticipated that as Market-Sweeping gains market share that the company and the number of employees will expand accordingly. It is expected that drawings from the company during Phase 1 will be limited to 400 Euro per month.

There is also a significant marketing mix attachment to this Business Plan if you would like it posted here just ask in the comments.