Magazine Journalist Business Plan

Write Bike faces competition from the two previously mentioned sources, other freelance writers and staff writers. Write Bike will leverage Kraig’s competitive edge of extensive experience and wealth of contacts within the industry. Write Bike will undertake a marketing campaign that uses networking as a source of new jobs. This will be quite valuable because of the depth of Kraig’s contacts. The sales campaign will concentrate on delivering quality, expert level writing on time and at fair prices. By providing these aspects of a product, Write Bike should be able to win over most publishers after their first interaction, building a constant flow of future projects.

5.1 Competitive Edge

Write Bike’s competitive edge is Kraig’s comprehensive level of industry experience. This level of expertise is manufacturer, retailer, and individual racer based. Typically, someone in the industry comes from one area, they either have worked for a manufacturer or they are a racer, or they have managed/owned a retail establishment. It is very rare for one individual to have such a deep cross-section of experience and perspective. By drawing experience from a variety of sources, Kraig can offer a comprehensive service that has significant depth of perspective.

Kraig’s personal relationships provide him with ready access to the industry and different riders. As the industry has grown in size, it has lost to some degree, its close knit familiarity and camaraderie. Over the years Kraig has developed an extensive list of personal contacts, people whom he can use for personal favors as well as help in establishing his freelance writing company.

5.2 Marketing Strategy

Write Bike’s marketing strategy is based on the wealth of networking contacts that Kraig has developed during the years of his comprehensive involvement with the cycling industry. Kraig is able to use his network contacts to generate interest in his availability as a freelance writer. His contacts know his depth of knowledge as well as his intelligence so they are able to offer a glowing recommendations both for Kraig and his articles. The old saying “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” is quite accurate within the bicycle industry. If you have a positive relationship with someone they are generally willing to go out of their way to assist you. In conclusion, Kraig will use his contacts and the contacts of his contacts as a way to get writing assignments.

5.3 Sales Strategy

The sales strategy will focus on Write Bike’s commitment to consistently produce high quality writing products on time and on price. There is a somewhat limited list of desirable customers and it will be Kraig’s need to impress each of them with his first assignments. The sales effort will therefore concentrate on impressing first time customers enough that they funnel a future stream of projects to Write Bike. This will be an effective strategy because it takes into account the reality that it requires a lot more time and money to attract a new customer than it does to impress a current customer and transition the current customer into a long-term source of revenue. The conversion of customers into long-term assets will use Kraig’s work products as well as a feedback mechanism to capture valuable information regarding the customers’ needs.

5.3.1 Sales Forecast

The sales forecast indicates that growth in revenue will be steady but slow. This is a reality since the marketing effort is based on networking. Inherent in the use of a networking system is the time necessary for it to develop. This is analogous to the building of a spider’s web. It is a somewhat slow, methodical process, but each block builds on the prior one and the end product is a widely dispersed foundation that is quite strong and valuable. There will be a couple of articles sold within the first couple of months, with the number of articles sold increasing over time. Because this is a home-based business, measures of profitability are somewhat inaccurate since the bulk of the overhead costs are absorbed in the household expenses.

5.4 Milestones

Write Bike has established a set of milestones which will serve as ambitious yet achievable goals or benchmarks. If met they will be positive indications of a healthy business.