Advertising Agency (Target Market)

Executive Summary

Products & Services

Market Analysis

Target Market

BlueIsland.com is targeting radio stations and small businesses (below 500 employees) as the primary selling and buyer markets.

1. Radio Stations

The 12,375 radio stations in the U.S. are BlueIsland.com's critical customers. BlueIsland.com will create a strategic alliance with Radio Advertising Bureau to reach their 4,800 members, which represent 80 percent of annual advertising revenues.

2. Small Businesses

BlueIsland.com will target a cross section of small business segments that represent 1.) Industries that advertise on the radio, 2.) High-growth sectors, and 3.) Firms that are currently on the Internet. The top 10 industries that purchase radio include: retail, business and consumer service, automotive, entertainment, media, food, travel, hotel, real estate, computer, and snack sectors. Because the decision-making tools that support radio advertising purchases are currently costly, time consuming, and require familiarity with radio, BlueIsland.com's services will provide the most value to the buyers who are time, money, and data impoverished and are in a growth phase. High-growth small business sectors include high-tech and computer retail, new businesses, and the consumer service industry. Internet companies represent a niche within this sector and on average ".com" companies spend 60 percent of their advertising budget on radio. According to a study by Visa of 350 small businesses, 34 percent of small businesses are early technology adopters and represent those potential online customers. The profile of the owners of these businesses are typically 30-49 years old, and male. BlueIsland.com will seek owners meeting this profile.

Competitor Analysis

BlueIsland.com has defined a unique competitive space as the high-service, low-cost provider of advertising and advertising services for small businesses. However, the market is not devoid of competitors. Our key direct competitor includes radio advertising sales websites. BlueIsland.com also has identified indirect competitors: traditional radio sales people, media representative firms, advertising agencies, market research firms, and other advertising sales websites.

1. Direct Competitors

Radio Advertising Sales Websites—As of October 29, 1999, the major national online resellers included: AllMedia.com and AdDeals.com. AllMedia.com caters to the needs of 2,500 media buyers representing major clients and advertising agencies and sells premium television and radio advertising space. AllMedia uses an Internet and fax-based purchase system and operates on an auction-negotiation model. AllMedia does not offer discounts or comprehensive advertising tools.

AdDeals.com sells leftover advertising space in a number of mediums including: billboards, television, and radio. AdDeals does not offer discounts or comprehensive campaign planning tools and targets high-end media buyers.

2. Indirect Competitors

Traditional Radio Sales—Although the partnership of BlueIsland.com with radio stations is critical to the success, the continued traditional radio sales channels (local and representative firms) represent a competitive threat to BlueIsland.com. However, BlueIsland.com will position itself as the low-cost, convenient, high customer service center for small business.

Advertising Agencies—Advertising agencies, primarily small ad agencies, will compete with BlueIsland.com for customers. Although many small business ad agencies do not target a national market, they do offer highly customized services for their clients at the national level. BlueIsland.com will replace much of the outsourced services for a fraction of the price.

Market Research Firms—Market research firms that provide market research data to high-end media buyers will be threatened by our ability to aggregate data across the country and provide it to customers in the format that meets their campaign planning needs on an "as needed basis." There are a number of market research firms that service the radio industry including: ASDM, Telmar, Arbitron, and LNA Market Research.

Advertising Websites Selling Other Media—A number of websites offer services for the Internet, television, billboard, and outside advertising. Although not direct competitors, these sites are substitutes for radio advertising and do compete for ad dollars. However, most of these websites do not target small businesses, but rather fairly sophisticated or high-dollar customers.

Meeting Customer Needs

Small business owners and small advertising agencies have needs that BlueIsland.com will meet better than our direct or indirect competitors:

1. Information—Our customers need information on advertising buying decisions, ratings, customer/radio station demographics, reach, costs per rating, trends and ad space prices. BlueIsland.com will provide users with access to a depth of information not found elsewhere on the Internet or in other channels.
2. Speed and Ease—Our customers are using the Internet to increase the efficiency of their buying decisions and reduce transaction costs. BlueIsland.com will provide customers with a friendly, easy-to-use interface that delivers advertising package options to meet the needs of the client.
3. Radio Ad Space Selection—BlueIsland.com will forge partnerships to secure premium and discount advertising space from a majority of radio stations in the top 260 markets. In doing so, BlueIsland.com will provide the user with the best selection of spaces available for a discount.
4. Pricing Options—BlueIsland.com realizes that the technique of negotiation used in traditional advertising purchasing deals may provide the buyer with a discounted rate on advertising. Because BlueIsland.com's mission is to reduce transaction costs by eliminating negotiations, BlueIsland.com will price all ad space at 10 percent below market rate, discounts for bulk purchases, and deep discounts for "over capacity space." This will provide more flexibility to the customer at a discount in one-fourth the time of traditional pricing negotiations.
5. Community—BlueIsland.com will bring together a community of small business owners and marketing directors with experienced advertising agency account managers to provide one-on-one consulting. In addition, small businesses can participate on the company's chat board and exchange questions and ideas with each other.

Marketing Plan

Operations Plan

Management

Financial Summary

Financial Statements