1

REPORT ON

Marketing Strategy
For
Value Added Service
 2

CONTENTS

1. Introduction …………………………03
2. What is VAS?.........................................04
3. Market………………………………….05
4. Segmentation…………………………...06
5. Positioning……………………………...12
6. Market Penetration……………………...13
7. Top five enterprise users………………..15
8. SWOT Analysis…………………………16
9. Strategy Development…………………...18
10. Unique Selling Proposition………….20
11. Some Additional Features…………...21
12. Conclusion…………………………...22
 3

INTRODUCTION

Mobile phones today have moved beyond their fundamental role of

communications and have graduated to become an extension of the persona of
the user. We are witnessing an era when users buy mobile phones not just to be
in touch, but to express themselves, their attitude, feelings& interests
Customers continuously want more from their phone. They use their cellular
phones to play games, read news headlines, surf the Internet, keep a tab on
astrology, and listen to music, make others listen to their music, or check their
bank balance. Thus, there exists a vast world beyond voice that needs to be
explored and tapped and the entire cellular industry is heading towards it to
provide innovative options to their customers. Spoilt by choice, the mobile
phone subscribers are beginning to choose their operators on the basis of the
value added services they offer. The increased importance of VAS has also
made content developers burn the midnight oil to come up with better and
newer concepts and services. To understand where this industry is at present
and where it is heading, we are preparing this report. This report is prepared
from the point of view of a new VAS launching in the states of Orissa, Bihar and
West Bengal (Except Kolkata).
 4

WHAT IS VAS (VALUE-ADDED SERVICES)

Mobile value-added services (VAS) are those services that are not

part of the basic voice offer and are availed off separately by the end user. They

are

used as a tool for differentiation & allow the mobile operators to develop

another stream of revenue. Through mobile value-added services various

schemes are provided to different type of customers. Starting from ring-tone,

caller tune downloads; matrimonial services, job searching, astrology reports,

cricket scores, and GPS technology are catered through this service. This

service is also playing a vital role of media for third parties for launching,

promoting and advertising their products. This service has also become useful

for continuous and quick interaction with the users through various customer

pollings. And the end of all this service has removed the obstruction of distance,

cost, and time factor for the customers to access any product.
 5

TARGET MARKET
The new VAS will be launched in the states of Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal
(Except Kolkata).

ORISSA

This state is one of the growing states in the eastern region as far
as mobile users are concern. Basically mixer of class and communities are
found in this state. On an average most of the users belongs to middle class.
Due to improvement in educational structure nowadays a huge amount of
people, especially students are concentrating in this part of India, so good
amount of customer base is forming here.

BIHAR

In the past few years this state has moved ahead In comparison with other
states with a growth of almost 88% in the year 2007-2008 in case of mobile
users. Like Orissa Bihar is also similar in nature in case of communities and
class. Formation of various industries and businesses are creating new users.
The total number of mobile phones in Bihar increased from 57, 73,370 in 2006-
07 to 108, 69,459 in 2007-08.

WEST BENGAL (EXCEPT KOLKATA)

A microscopic view of west Bengal excluding Kolkata produced an interesting

result in case of mobile users. Availability of some big industries leaded people
to settle down here from various part of nation. West Bengal without Kolkata
most of the users belongs to middle class. But elimination of metro city hasn’t
made a big difference in the mobile user market As far as growth is concern it is
giving a neck to neck competition to state like Bihar with a growing rate of
almost 86% it has also moved ahead if this part is compared with only Kolkata.
 6

SEGMENTATION

BASE OF SEGMENTATION:

Product Basis And Geographical Segmentation

Primary Package: - Here in this package we have divided the market

according to usage of customer. Primary package is the main service provided
to the customer. Through this the actual customer base is formed.

Add-on package: - This type of package is the sub-package of primary

package later on these packages are added with some extra values. After
adding new features some new customer can be added. Add-on packages are
also useful for segmentation because issuing of its special features easily target
customer can be traced.
 7

Market
Segmentation

Orissa West Bengal (Except Bihar

Kolkata)
 8

1) Unaware Mass: Through advertisements in electronic media and other

media channels, we will have to educate the unaware mass about the
benefits of our Value Added Services.

2) Aware:

a) NOT TRIED:

i) Negative Opinion

ii) Neutral

iii) Favourable Opinion

We will have to take steps for educating them about the service and
making them realize that Value Added Service is a necessity of today’s
modern life.

b) TRIED:

• Rejecter

• Not yet repeated

We will try to make them potential customer by knowing what kind of

services they prefer. Then immediately launching that service and
informing them about the service.

• Repeated:

o Loyal to other brands

o Switchers

o Brand Loyal

We will try to attract them towards the service through some interesting
offers. After they use the service once, we will make efforts to keep them
using the service. For brand loyal customers of other brands we can offer
them the service at a discounted rate. This will make them use our
service and they will feel the better quality of our service.
 9

 Light Users: We will have to try and transform them to regular

users. For this we will have to see which services the customer is
using. Then we will have to offer him the services he is
interested in on a regular basis, but on a differentiated form.

 Regular Users: We will have to try and transform these customers

to heavy users. By offering them more and more interesting
services and products, we will have to do that.

 Heavy Users: We will have to try and retain the customers.

These customers are the revenue generators and so should be
retained. They should be offered the services with discounts and
others offer.

Other Segments:

 Demographically Segmented Target Market:

A. Age Group: I) 18 to 35

II) 36 to 50

III) 50 to 60

IV) 60 and above

In the above segmentation, the age group of 18 to 35 is the young

generation who have started earning, who are getting married, and
who have the dreams in their eyes. We have to utilize all the
characteristics of this group and offer them such services which will
attract them. For example, we will have to offer hem services like
downloading ringtones, music, other entertainment products,
matrimonial services, job search, etc.
 10

Age group of 36 to 50 has many responsibilities in their shoulders.

They are very choosy in whatever they buy. So we will have to offer
them such products which will make them feel that they are getting
the full value for their money spent. For example information about
share market, different kinds of news, easy recharge facility, utility
services, etc.

Age group of 50 to 60 is a group who feel that their retirement is

knocking at the door. They feel that they have worked whole life.
They want the products and services at a much cheaper rate, i.e.
the rate they used to get in their younger days. They also become
very religious at this age. So we will have to offer products like
online radio, information about the market, religious and old days’
music and ringtones, etc., and that also at a cheaper rate.

Age group of 60 and above, the people who have retired and now
they want to spend time with their family in peace. For them we will
have products which will be helpful for their family also. Products
like Voice SMS dialing, Operator services, religious music, news, etc
can be offered to them.

B. Gender: Segmenting the market on the basis of gender is another

step towards capturing the market. The male customers have
different demands and females have different demands. For
example a male customer will be interested in a Cricket match’s
updated score while a lady customer may be interested in getting
various cooking recipes. Therefore, we will have to see that the
right service is offered to the right customer.

C. Income: Here we will have to consider the Credit ratings the

customer is having with his telecom service provider. While
determining Credit ratings, various factors like income of the
customer, ability to pay the bills on time, usage of various telecom
services, etc. are taken into account. We will have to plan our
offerings to customers of different credit ratings, differently. For
 11

example, if a customer is using internet through his landline phone

and he is also having a mobile, we can offer him internet on his
mobile phone itself.

D. Occupation: Customer can be a businessman or an employee. To a

businessman we can offer him Share market information, local
market prices of commodities he is dealing with, etc. For example,
to a farmer, we can offer him the service of informing him the
market rate of vegetables. For an employee, we can inform him
about the traffic, the political movements, the news, etc.

E. Society: While delivering the services, we have to keep in mind the

society the customer belongs to. Otherwise, it may also lead the
customer to have a different perception about the company. For
example, a Muslim customer should not be always offered only
Hindu religious things. So we will have o take care of this segment
also.

 Psychographic Segmentation

This can mainly be divided into three parts namely Activity, Interest and
Opinion. Accordingly the following revives should be offered to them.

Activity Interest Opinions

Work Home Social Issues

Hobbies Job Politics

Clubs Community Education

Sports Food Culture

 12

Shopping Media

POSITIONING
CUTTING BARRIERS: - There will be no communication barriers between the
customer and the company. The customer can contact the company directly
which will make the service more fast, direct and simple.

EASY USE: - One of the key features of positioning this type of services is for
any kind of customer from any segment the service can be easily accessed. For
example, NOKIA mobile can be easily handled by any laymen.

ONE CLICK ACCESS: - One of the special attribute of this service is one click
access of any application. So very quickly customer can reach to its desire
program.
 13

ANY TIME ACCESS: - Any information at any point of time is available for
customers. So here time and distance obstruction is reduced by the service
itself.

LOWER COST: - Customers from various segments can enjoy the facility served
to them within a lower cost which will fit their budget.

WORLD OF SERVICES:- In this process a world of services can be accessed by

the users, starting from playing games in the mobile, listening to music and
setting music for others as caller tune, Watching news and movies, job
searching, matrimonial services, astrology, recharge services, e-banking etc.
leaves a good impression in the mind of customer.

MARKET PENETRATION

EXISTING MARKET -EXISTING PRODUCT: - Here the sms service market

exists in India for a long period of time and this type of services are also
available in the market too. So the availability of good amount of competitors
should be taken into consideration. For market penetration the following
procedures are to be adopted.
 14

A. MARKET CAPTURING: - The Company should focus in capturing the

market by increasing the amount of share it is holding. The necessity of
doing so is to avoid the possible threats of losing customers to its
competitors.

The Company will offer public issue of its shares in the market at a very
less rate. The rate of dividend will be high. In this way, share capital is
received and the company’s goodwill in the market will increase.

B. PROPER LAUNCH OF PRODUCT:-The product should be launched

efficiently and successfully by this process a high goodwill value will be
scattered through its users and at the end of the day it helps the
company to move few steps ahead of its competitors.

The company will launch its products in the market with various offers
and free sample service for a short period of time. This will help in a
strong product launch in the market.

C. DOMINANCE:-The Company should always concentrate in getting

dominance in the growth market. In this process a huge amount of scope
of the competitor to place its product can be eliminated.

A good and strong rapport building with the suppliers, i.e. the service
providers of astrology, matrimonial, etc. will help in achieving dominance
in the market. The rapport will be so good that the suppliers will not like
to provide their service to any other company.

Continuous innovation is another key factor in achieving dominance in the

market.
 15

D. RESTRUCTURE: - Restructure of market is always important. Developing

new ideas to compete with others and small changes is always required.
By this process a company can only drive out its competitors.

It is possible with the increase of the product range. Advertisement is

another way by which the market can be restructured.

OUR TOP FIVE ENTERPRISE USERS:-

REAL ESTATE INFORMATION:-This service is very useful for getting any kind
of real estate information. Nowadays real estate industries are becoming very much
depended on this type of services the reason for this is very simple, suppose a real
estate company is planning to buy certain plots in a particular area within a very short
period of time only through sms and internet services they can get information related
the price of the land, availability of land, size of the land, owners information etc. And
 16

this process is also applied by the customers to getting any such information about
real estate industry.

FMCG CONTEST: - Nowadays sms service has also become an important media for
FMCG industry. Various contests are organized through sms services regarding
FMCG products by getting customer polls.

CARGO AND COURIER TRACKING: - In case of Logistics Industry tracking

system is maintained through internet and sms. This process is very useful for various
level of management to get constant status from their agents about the operation.

EDUCATION AND CAREER INFORMATION: - We all know that here in India

education industry is growing rapidly every now and then a new course is innovated
and offered to eligible students. Internet and sms services are playing the proper role
of being a linker between the students and institutes.

TRAVEL SERVICES AND E-SPACE: - In the Indian economy role of tourism

industry cannot be ignored. Internet and sms services are just placing an appropriate
platform for them to maintain its huge customer data base by interacting, offering,
promoting, Advertising, and launching various packages.

We will emphasizes two way communication between these enterprises and our
customers.

SWOT ANALYSIS: COMPETITORS

 17

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
1. Large customer base 1. Responding time is more
than required.
2. Large Capital
2. Technology used for the
3. Larger Market share
services are a bit back
4. Large & loyal resources dated.
5. Versatility of features 3. Less direct advertisements
6. Good customer relation

OPPURTUNITIES THREATS
1. Capitalizing on websites 1. Perfectly Competitive
market which means new
2. Capturing Global Market
competitor is free to enter
3. Self Internet Browsers and the market.
cell phones
4. Increasing growth rate of
telecom industry
 18

SWOT ANALYSIS: COMPANY

STRENGTHS:- WEAKNESSES :-

1) Mobility. 1) Less Capital

2) Cost – effective. 2) Less resources

3) Mass appeal. 3) Usage of local language can

sometimes be problem for migrated
4) Less time consuming.
mass.
5) Widely and uniformly distributed.
4) Less Customer base
6) One click access.

7) More advertisement

OPPURTUNITIES :- THREATS:-

1) Each service is interlinked, so 1) Huge competition.

scope of new services.
2) Unwanted and the frequency of
2) Consumer behavior of existing single offering can be irritating.
services can be easily channelized
for future use.

3) Provide good employment service

graduated and educated mass.

STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT
 19

EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES:-At first developing any strategy we have to

evaluate the all the alternatives to choose the best possible alternatives.

LOW PRICE : - When the service is in its introduction stage a low and attractive
price will help the company to reach its users. The Vas service rates are already low in
the market. But we will make them cheaper. For example, the P2A SMS costs Rs.3
per SMS for other operators. We will give them the service at Rs.2 per SMS. Once
they start sending the SMS, there we will be sending a series of interesting SMS’s by
which the customer would be bound to read that and reply. Thus the revenue will
increase and the customer will also be satisfied. This has to be properly informed to
the customers. Low prices will be a kind of attacking our competitors in the market
from the front.

FREE SAMPLE: - Free samples and various attractive offers will give the customer
an opportunity to test the product without paying for it. For example, we will offer the
customers to use our ringtone/singtone download service absolutely free of cost
tapped up to 5 tones. Thus, the customers will get a glimpse of our service and will be
bound to use it because of its several other features that we will inform him. Since
ringtone download is the most popular VAS, so we will attack our competitors
directly from the front.

ADVERTISEMENT MEDIA: - Choosing a proper advertisement media is very

important. This type of services can be launched through electronic and printing
media. Today electronic media is the most popular media. One can very easily place
him in the market through a good advertisement. Another way of advertisement can
be a tie up with a DTH TV service. This will be a big advertisement and will also help
increase the revenue. Tie up with a newspaper, may be a local daily, will also work as
a big advertisement. This will be our time to time pricks on the competitor’s arsenal
which will be our initial phase of Guerilla attack.

INTERACTION:-Customer taste should be frequently examined by this process so

that any deviation can be traced and rectified. In India, maximum portion of the
population is distributed in the rural region which is an unguarded market segment of
our competitor. We will attack this segment by informal way of communication
through our operator service with our target customers.
 20

REWARD:-In this process any loyal customer will be rewarded through organizing
various contests and games. Certain features will be automatically added with the
services provided to our loyal customers. Example if some customers is accessing our
web services heavily for 6 months, automatically free night access of internet will be
upgraded with his or her service.

SPECIAL SEGMENT:-Tracing a special segment of customer is always important.

Here in this type of services maximum users belongs to youth group. So according to
the need of this segment offer should be designed and served. For example chatting,
romantic messages, adventure trips, sports and entertainment related services will be
available for them.

UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION

1. The Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal have such markets whose
literacy rate is moderate. Our alternatives of customers can be
 21

literate as well as illiterate. Literate customers can easily access

the services we are about to provide to them. But the illiterate
mass will not be able to access the services so easily. So for the
illiterate mass, we will launch a service where they will call us
and ask for the service. This way we can transform the illiterate
mass into our potential customers who may, in future be our
brand loyal customers. The line will be named Operator’s
Line.

2. There are many customers who do not know how to operate the
mobile apart from receiving and making calls. There are old
people who cannot use the mobile services at all. For all of
them, there will be the Operator Line, which will be a hotline
and will never be busy.

3. In today’s market scenario rural market cannot be ignored. The

people in the rural area are mostly uneducated and familiar with
their local languages. Many of them cannot even read messages
or access services offered to them. So, the Operator Line acts
as unique platform for them to access in their local languages.
They can call the Operators Line and leave voices messages to
activate the service and to send it to his acquaintances. Our
operators will record the message and will act as linker between
the rural people and their unsatisfied needs.
 22

SOME ADDITIONAL FEATURES

1. Safety and emergency services will be quick to access. In this crisis period
even a miss call will work and we will respond to them as early as possible.
Even the customer is running out of balance this facility will be provided to
them on credit also.

2. Market and “Mandi” rates will be sent to interested customers who subscribe
for the service.

3. Updates of road , air and rail traffic reports are to be sent to the interested
customers on a frequent basis.

4. Customer feedback will analyzed and strong and effective action will be taken
against their complaint.
 23

CONCLUSION

After adding up all the features we can conclude that VAS industry is day by day
becoming a proper platform or media for advertising, Promoting, Launching,
Offering, and selling various products and services. Quick survey through various user
polls has made it a useful proposition for both the service provider and customer. This
service is also engaging various companies with the consumers by playing a role of
linking path through frequent interaction with the consumers. Person to person, person
to application, And Application to person SMS are maintaining the co-ordination and
balance of the business. Maximum users are derived from the Youth segment so quit
naturally this industry is targeting them to increase their user base by designing
packages according to the need of the segment. One click use of application is the key
feature of this service. So at the end of all by catering world of services at one go this
industry is aiming to reach to its utmost volume.

THANK YOU