Marketing strategy for books talk

Abstract

As part of this project, we worked closely with BooksTALK Audiobooks Private Limited, an audiobook publishing company based out of Bangalore. Our overall objective of this project was to analyze the current marketing strategy of BooksTalk, emerging challenges for the firm in terms of competition, acceptability of the concept by customers and provide strategic marketing inputs in terms of products, branding, pricing, value proposition, distribution and expansion. We started the project with a discussion about BooksTALK and its business model including value chain, with its founder Mr. Jai M Zende. Based on the study and research we conducted, we understood marketing of incongruent products can be through positioning, functional attributes and bundling. We suggest BooksTALK to concentrate on positioning, brand building and functional attributes as the core objectives while designing their marketing strategies. Our second objective was to analyze what are the various competitive advantages that BooksTalk has in order to take on competitors and its sustainability for future growth in order to scale up its business and customer base. We also looked at the strategy of venturing into regional audio books and if it is acceptable as a product by consumers and feasible in the long run. In order to select a target segment for marketing, we did a market research to understand the market feasibility of audiobooks and factors for inducing purchase and reaching potential customers. Based on our market research, we have come up with the marketing strategies for audiobook/non-audiobook users, value propositions and other recommendations in terms of product, price, place and promotion and how it needs to position itself in the consumer s mind. Books Talk envisions that the market for audio books will grow rapidly but faces the challenge of lack of awareness among general public about audio books. Books Talk is also faced with the challenge of product bundling and pricing to find out which would be apt. We conducted in-depth interviews of existing audio book users and focus group discussions of non-audio book users. The existing users indicated their preference to audio books because of the convenience of listening during leisure and travel. The key insights from both users and non-users were that good narration quality in Indian accent, value added features and regional content are preferred; and there exists a willingness to pay a price premium for audio books. We conducted a survey with both audio book users and non-users and the results were analyzed using market research techniques. The key factors that came out of factor analysis were value and usability, convenience of purchase and credibility of publisher which could be focus areas for BooksTalk. The multi dimensional analysis indicated Local music stores are perceived very high by consumers for purchase of audio books. The discriminant analysis suggests that Narration quality is a very important factor for purchase of audio books. Based on our analysis and research, we have the below recommendations for BooksTalk: ? Target segments Two target segments are suggested. One segment would be the urban young professionals who would be the main segment. The second segment is visually challenged 7 adults/children which is more as a social responsibility. The social segment will help BooksTalk gain a credible image. ? Product The product for the main segment is suggested to have better narration quality, value added attributes and wide range of genres. The product for the social segment is suggested to focus on few knowledge based subjects as they are not value seeking. ? Price The pricing for the main segment can be high due to their higher willingness to pay a price premium. The pricing for the social segment can be low and subsidized as the margins are covered by the main segment. ? Place BooksTalk needs to focus on channels that provide the convenience of buying the audio books like retail book shops and online stores. They can also have their own exclusive stores. For the social segment, BooksTalk needs to spread awareness in NGO summits and events for visually challenged. ? Promotion The lack of awareness of audio books indicates a need for extensive promotion. Promotion needs to be done at events, book shows, NGO events, conducting seminars on audio books etc ? Value Proposition The suggested value proposition for the main segment is in terms of content quality, quality of narration, Indian accent, background music and regional language content, wide range of genres and topics at affordable prices. Suggestions on changes to branding and positioning are also suggested.