Vietnam Case

There are countless articles sprawled across in print and on web about the newspaper industry, this certainly won't be one of those. Critics and contemporaries have often concluded that journalism is dying; my opinion on the other hand is that journalism is expanding with social media platforms and technology playing an incisive role increasingly. This article is an attempt to throw some thoughtful insights as to what should newspapers be aware of in order to survive, sustain, and evolve with today's technology-driven, short-attention-span and fast paced world.

As in most of the other industries, there is no single Mantra that could ensure success for a Newspaper looking to expand to newer markets. The foremost aspect is to adopt an incisive, well thought out strategy and think out of the box to widen the reach and connect with readers. The success stories written by Patrika have not just been a fluke; instead, a plan that was tactically thought out and well structured. The near perfect execution of the pre-launch and post-launch strategy ensured that Patrika's route to the No.1 position in MP was shorter than most critics and contemporaries thought. This post is about the 'Seven Things a Publication must know before entering a new market.'

Well Defined Target Audience: Before entering a new market, a newspaper must ensure that it has a well defined market in terms of the target group of buyers. The target buyers need to be carefully and analytically defined with a clear approach to satisfy their needs that have thus remained unmet. The extensive market research gave a clear insight into the huge gap that existed between the market leader and all the other Hindi Dailies in MP. The pattern was clearly Monopolistic as reflected by the soaring ad rates and declining readership over the years. The huge gap called for a new credible newspaper in the state and it is only fair to appreciate the intensive research uncovered the fact that the situation was ripe for its entry.

Laid out Organizational Objectives: This aspect goes a long way in laying down the right foundations for any newspaper entering a new market. What is most important for the management is to link the organizational objectives with the unmet needs of potential buyers. It goes hand in hand with the first point that we discussed. The rightly designed objectives would go a long way in connecting with the target buyers as it would attract more involvement making it easier for the target buyers to identify with the newspaper. Organizational objectives are something that Patrika Group was always clear in its approach since its inception. The pre-launch market survey done by the Patrika team revealed an immensely important finding; per copy literates in Madhya Pradesh being more than three times that of Rajasthan. Where as, the ratio of literates over newspaper copies circulated in Madhya Pradesh were as high as 33 (per copy); hence, there was a clear space of more newspapers. Unlike other existing players at MP, Patrika was founded exclusively by Journalists based on the highest journalistic values. Patrika Team had a clear vision that the MP market was relatively unexploited, which in itself was an adequate incentive. Additionally, there was a huge volume of new set of readers; the wait was for a reliable and credible newspaper as per the analysis of Patrika Team. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh presented huge opportunity to increase circulation and advertising revenue by more than 100% in a short span of time. The projected targets have already been achieved and advertising revenue will follow soon as per estimates. Interestingly, as per the latest ABC findings (Jan-June 200), Patrika is the No.1 newspaper of Madhya Pradesh.

Identifying and Zeroing-In on Potential Customers: Before Patrika entered the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh market, the market had huge gap between the erstwhile leader and the other players. Thus, indicating a clear potential of positioning for Patrika- the light of true journalism. If the readers are the eyes and the reflection for any newspaper, the advertising revenue is the Life and Blood that helps attain sustained success. So, it's important to understand the aspects and features of existing newspapers that the readers and advertisers are dissatisfied with. Every distinct feature needs to be carefully evaluated in order to draw the scope of improvement and then ensuring the delivery of the improved features that stand up to the expectations of all stakeholders (readers and advertisers). Some of the features from the readers' perspective that need to be carefully analyzed are the satisfaction levels with length, breadth, depth, and integrity of information dissemination. On