Identification of potential customer, brand

building and market penetration for

1
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I gratefully acknowledge the continuous support and guidance provided to me by Mr.

HEMESH KUMAR and Mr. SANA ULLA KHAN who acted as my guide.

This report would not have been completed without the inputs and words of advice from them

for which I shall always remain indebted to them. I am thankful to other members of Business

Standard for building my research skills and fine tuning my efforts as and when required. I am

also thankful to Mr. Sanaullah for overall guidance and support during the entire study.

2
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 5-8

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY 9-10

2.1 Primary objectives

2.2 Secondary Objectives

2.3 Other objectives

3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 11-12

4. THE NEWSPAPER WAR 13-14

5. COMPANY PROFILE OF BUSINESS STANDARD 19-23

5.1 Brief history 15-16

5.2 Personnel 16-18

5.3 Distribution and format 19-20

5.4 Electronic 20-23

6. Samples 24-28

6.1 English 25

6.2 Hindi 26

6.3 Weekend 27

7. Services and product line of Business Standard 29-34

7.1 Supplements

7.2 Magazines

8. COMPARISION BETWEEN NEWSPAPER AND OTHER CONSUMER

GOODS. 34-35

3
9. MARKETING MIX OF NEWSPAPER 36-38

10. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 39-44

10.1 Research Design 39-42

10.2 Sampling plan 42-44

11. ANALYSIS 44-55

12. LIMITATIONS 56

13. FINDINGS 57-64

14. SUGGESTIONS 65-66

15. SWOT ANALYSIS OF B.S 67-69

16. RECOMMENDATIONS 70-74

17. CONCLUSION 75

18. ANNEXURE 76-79

19. BIBLIOGRAPHY 80-81

INTRODUCTION

4
IMPORTENCE OF NEWSPAPER

-Newspapers hold a very important place in the life of man today.

-They play an important part both in the national and the international arena. They give us

news and views.

-If man wants food for his belly, he also needs news for his mind to keep pace with the

world.

-The latter he gets from newspapers.

-They refresh his knowledge and ideas.

-He learns about the international events from the newspapers which have their ow-n

educative value.

-These newspapers educate the common people.

-They broaden our outlook and change views.

-This is why Mr. Nixon, Ex-President of America once remarked, 'four hostile newspapers

are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets'.

-They shape the opinion of the common people of a country by influencing the public

opinion.

-The newspapers have a very important position and place in a democratic country.

-They are the critics of administration, justice and law.

-They play the part of social reformers.

-They remove the barriers separating man from man.

-They are the advocates of liberty, equality and fraternity.

-They enforce the right and redress the wrong.

-Indeed they are the custodians of public interest.

-Those who seek jobs find the advertisements very useful.

5
 -They are useful to the economists to be in touch with up-to-date knowledge of economy.

-----The politicians find them very useful.

-They inform them of the events taking place in the whole world. And also they serve them

as a good means of propaganda.

-All these advantages confirm the fact that the power of the press is really very great.

-Indeed mightiest of the mighty is the pen.

-Newspapers are today's world's encyclopedias

The age we live in has been described variously as the “Post-industrial age”, The “Age

of Individualism”, the “Capitalist Age” etc. While all these definitions contain an element of

truth, the most complete definition of the age we live in is the term “the information age”.

Never before in the history of human civilization has information been so important and central

.Today, in business, commerce and every walk of life, information is power.

• Information in order to be useful

• Has to be accurate

• Should reach the right person

• Should reach in time

• Should be unbiased

6
Information can change the outlook or the perspective of the people receiving it, as many

people take their decisions on the basis of the information provided to them. Thus the

information has to be true and factual i.e. it should represent the facts.

In this information age, the various sources of information are the radio, the television, the

newspaper, magazine and now more recently the computers (internet).

The invention of computers and the internet facility on the computers have changed the

scenario and brought a radical change in the way people looked at the sources of information.

Computer entered the Indian market with a big bang and now with the internet facility, they are

all ready to take over the other sources of information in terms of its market share etc. The

invention of new technology every other day is providing a real threat to the sources of

information. With the coming of the internet technology, the access to information has become

a lot more easy and quicker.

So there is a kind of fight prevailing between the various sources of information to

capture the market. But the main deterrent to people (usually middle class & below middle

class) accepting computer or the internet facility available on the computer is the high price of

computer being expensive cannot be afforded by all and sundry and hence newspaper are still

the most popular source of information.

7
 So all the newspapers are gearing up for any future competition from internet etc. and are

making all efforts to provide quality service to the consumers

In the newspaper industry the two most important newspapers,

Both popular among the masses, both providing accurate information & both having good

sales are making efforts to increase their target market. This recently led to a war between

these two newspapers i.e. Business Standard & Economic Times. In this research study I make

a comparative study between The Business Standard & the Economic Times studying the

preferences of the consumer.

8
 PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

1) To study the attitude and satisfaction among the consumers for Business Standard

Newspaper, at NCR.

2) Brand building and promotion

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE

1) To study and analyze various factors influence the consumers to purchase business

newspaper.

2) To analyze the factors influencing perception and buying decision of consumers.

3) To find out the effectiveness of advertisements for business newspaper.

4) To find out the effectiveness of various scheme for business newspaper.

Main objective of the research study is the EMPACT ON BUYING BEHAVIOR on the

basis of the product features and schemes of the newspaper.

9
 SUB OBJECTIVES/OTHER OBJECTIVES

The sub-objectives (supplementary to the main objective) are as follows:-

To know the reader’s preferences regarding Business Standard features.

To find the fields in which the B.S is lagging behind.

The other objectives of our research study include Reader’s

perception regarding following:

– Coverage of national international and sports news

– Editorial, cartoon and the entertainment section.

– To know preference of the readers about the supplements etc.

– Finally, to seek suggestions for improvement and value addition, in order to increase

the sales by catering to the needs of the consumers.

10
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

It includes introduction to the project highlighting its objective and sub objectives which is to

have an idea of the present standing of Business Standard in market in relation to other

financial newspapers. To find the fields in which Business Standard is lagging and what

improvements are required in which field also watch the effect of schemes to the reader. This

covers the scope and importance of the project and also the areas that have been covered under

the survey.

After defining newspaper in detail and comparing them with other consumer goods, it also

describes the marketing mix i.e. how the newspaper can be described in terms of various P’s. It

then gives the company profile of The Business Standard, its origin, its evolution various

departments, its functioning and some other services provided apart from The Business

Standard Newspaper. It also incorporates an outline of The Economic Times company profile

and finally it takes into consideration the literature and the concepts which are useful for the

project study.

Then it includes the research methodology giving the sampling methods and the various

analytical procedures used. It also gives the data collection methods used for the research.

SWOT analysis of both Economic times & Business standard is also done.

After that reader’s feedback, recommendations & suggestions are taken. At the end we have

bibliography and then lastly the appendix which includes the questionnaires and the diagrams.

11
At BUSINESS STANDARD,I got an opportunity to work with the market development

department. Market development is the one of the largest revenues generator for the company.

I also got an opportunity to study the distribution network of the newspaper.

This project focuses on the following:

1. Selling subscription of the newspaper to potential customers in various residential

areas;

2. Analyzing customers ‘ response and preference for the financial newspaper

3. Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of other financial newspaper.

THE NEWSPAPER CONFRONTATION

12
Form consumer viewpoints have three factor; cheapness , convenient for read and variety .First

,cheapness is most important factor .In many country ,people can buy newspaper by two or

three cent and don’t play other cost .Second factor is convenient , other mass media especially

electronic mass media that want many thing to support ,for example ,television want electric ,

internet want service cost .On the contrary , you want light only for read it. Finally factor is

variety. Many people want all in one mass media ,for example ,have feature ,cartoon , article

and news in one and the newspaper can be.

Form commercial viewpoints that is divided in to three viewpoints : Form advertiser

viewpoint, form public relation views point. However, They have same reason for send

massage to public. In additional, the newspaper is chosen for many people read it and had

cheaper price for advertising than other mass media.

The Business Standard and the Economic Times being the two top newspaper of the country

are competing with each other for a greater market share.

So to outdo The Economic Times and to further accelerate the growth rate in view of the

existence of a large body of latent readership, the Business Standard adopted new marketing

strategy. This presence of latent readership was perceived, on the basis of the following factors.

1. Considerable increase in the number of middle class families, during the date 80s/90s.

According to recent estimate, the urban middle class comprised 100 million people and was

increasing at the rate of over 10% per year.

13
2. National research shows that the readership of general newspaper (other than financial

papers) is increasing steadily.

3. Rising proclivity of the richer urban middle class to purchase packaged goods supported

by advertising. As a corollary of this trend, it has lead to purchase newspapers.

COMPANY PROFILE OF THE BUSINESS

STANDARD

BRIEF HISTORY

14
Business Standard (BS) is a serious, respected, top-notch, non-frivolous, business daily, which

is founded on the editorial principles of integrity, accuracy and trust.

Growing rapidly & consistently, circulated in more than 1000 cities across the country. This

shows that more readers value Business Standard.

It is regarded as India’s most credible and the second largest business daily. BS has some of

the country’s best economic journalists and columnists working for it

The Editor of BS is Mr. SANJAY BARU Ex. Media Advisor to the PM. Mr.

MANMOHAN SINGH.

Mr. A.K BHATTACHARYA, Group Managing editor is a former editor of The Pioneer

and associate editor of Economic Times.

BUSINESS STANDARD is an Indian financial daily newspaper published by BUSINESS

STANDARD (BSL) in two languages:

1. ENGLISH

2. HINDI

The main ENGLISH-LANGUAGE edition comes from 12 regional centers:

1. Mumbai

15
 2. Pune

3. New Delhi

4. Kolkata

5. Bangalore

6. Chennai

7. Ahmadabad

8. Hyderabad

9. Chandigarh

10. Lucknow

11. Bhubaneswar

12. Kochi

and reaches readers in over 1,000 towns and cities across India.

Started in 1975 in Kolkata by the Ananda Publishers group, Business Standard was hived off

as a separate company in 1996.

It was then bought by Mumbai-based financial investors led by the Kotak Mahindra Bank, after

which began a phase of rapid expansion with the launch of new editions.

Personnel

T. N. Ninan was editor from 1993 to 2009, when he took up the editorship of The Economic

Times. In January 2010, Ninan became chairman and editorial director of BSL and was

succeeded as editor of Business Standard by Sanjaya Baru.

Approximately 200 people are employed in the editorial team, including well-known Indian

journalists AK Bhattacharya, Sunil Jain and Shyamal Majumdar.[1]

16
In establishing a pedigree of strong financial journalism, Business Standard also publishes

articles by:

Bimal Jalan -former governor of the Reserve Bank of India

Shankar Acharya - former chief economic advisor to the Government of India

Deepak Lal - professor of economics, UCLA

Suman Bery - director-general, National Council of Applied Economic Research

Abheek Barua - chief economist of HDFC Bank

Nitin Desai - former chief economic advisor and former under-secretary general at the

United Nations

Surjit Bhalla- chairman of OXUS

Arvind Subramanian- professor at the Peterson Institute for International Economics

M. Govinda Rao - director of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy

AV Rajwade - foreign exchange consultan and

Arvind Singhal - chairman, Technopak Advisors.

A V Rajwade - FOREX expert

T Thomas - Ex. Chairman, HLL

G N Bajpai - Ex. Chairman SEBI

Ravi Mohan - Managing Director, CRISIL

Arun Balakrishnan - Managing Director, Rediff.com

A G Krishnamurthy - Ex. Managing Director, Mudra

17
Distribution and format

Business Standard sells 188,000 copies daily in English, mostly to the business and policy-

making élite. The Hindi edition sells 53,000 copies daily.

ACNielsen's survey of the upper middle and rich market in India places Business Standard

next to The Economic Times in total readership.

The paper has a reputation for reliable reporting and responsible journalism, as well as for its

stimulating page of analysis and editorial comment. It has pioneered the ranking of the

wealthiest Indians (the Billionaire Club) and provides an automobile magazine as a free

monthly supplement.

In 2006, BSL began to produce a Sunday edition that is now published in four centres.

The Hindi edition was launched in February 2008 from seven centres stretching from Mumbai

in the west, running across the Hindi Belt, and to Kolkata in the east.

18
BSL also publishes various periodicals, including BS Motoring, Indian Management and the

Asian Management Review.

Electronic

The newspaper's website, business-standard.com, allows visitors to access the Business

Standard e-paper, with a choice of editions. The Business Standard website receives 1.5

million unique users per month, the highest for any "stand alone" newspaper website in India.

In January 2010, it launched www. Smartinvestor.in an information-cum-trading website for

those interested in the stock market.

There have been traumatic episodes in its corporate history and sharp alterations in its editorial

policy. But none of these has taken away from image of The Business Standard as a reliable

sober, if a little pompous newspaper of record. Even the fact that lately, The Business Standard

has adopted new fashions in keeping with the times has not materially affected the image.

"What has marked The Business Standard generally has been an outlook of relative

objectivity in news gathering, responsibility and even pluralism in expression of opinion and,

by and large, a sober, if somewhat conservative presentation of news and opinion, it has also

been characterized by a degree of liberalism on both political and economic matters, these

features of The Business Standard are reflected in the newspaper as a whole over the long span

of its existence”.

19
 Business Standard

Type Daily newspaper

Format Broadsheet

Owner Kotak Mahindra Bank

Founder Ananda Publishers

Publisher Business Standard Ltd

Editor Sanjaya Baru

AK Bhattacharya
Sunil Jain
Staff writers
Shyamal Majumdar
and others

Founded 1975

English
Language
Hindi

144,000 (English)
Circulation
53,000 (Hindi)

20
 business-standard.com (English)
Official website
Hindi.business-

Business Standard Ltd, which publishes the leading Indian

business newspaper, Business Standard (business-

standard.com).

smartinvestor.in is a special service introduced for investors who can get the latest

business/market information and analysis, as well as use a range of tools for their own

investment analysis, and finally trade through the site with a seamless link to

kotaksecurities.com.

This service comes to you from Business Standard Ltd, which has an established reputation for

providing reliable and high-quality business information and commentary, as seen in its other

offerings: the daily Business Standard, which is published in both English and Hindi from the

14 most important business centers across India, including all its main metro markets. Between

them, the two newspapers sell more than 200,000 copies daily.

The contents of the English newspaper can be accessed at business-standard.com, and the

Hindi paper at bshindi.com. The English paper is also available as an e-paper.

Business Standard believes strongly in independent, fair and ethical journalism, placing the

sacrosanct bond with the reader above all other considerations. The company conducts its

business affairs in an ethical manner marked by integrity in all dealings. All Business Standard

journalists sign on to a code of conduct that is available on this website.

Business Standard has a 230-person editorial team that is led by Sanjaya Baru, and includes

well-known journalists like AK Bhattacharya and Shyamal Mazumdar.

21
Business Standard’s stable of specialist contributors includes some of the sharpest minds

writing on economics and business. Among them: Bimal Jalan, former governor of the Reserve

Bank of India; Shankar Acharya, former chief economic advisor, Government of India; Deepak

Lal, professor of economics, UCLA; Suman Bery, director-general, National Council of

Applied Economic Research; Abheek Barua, chief economist of HDFC Bank; Nitin Desai,

former chief economic advisor and former under-secretary general at the United Nations; Surjit

Bhalla, chairman of Oxus; Arvind Subramanian, professor at the Peterson Institute of

International Economics; M. Govinda Rao, director of National Institute of Public Finance and

Policy; AV Rajwade, well-known foreign exchange consultant; and Arvind Singhal, chairman,

Technopak.

It offers syndicated columns from Martin Feldstein and Dani Rodrick, and content from

Breakingviews.com--with exclusivity in the Indian market.

In addition to two newspapers, Business Standard Ltd publishes two monthly magazines

(Indian Management and Business Standard Motoring), as well as a quarterly (Asian

Management Review). The company also has a books division, which publishes books under

the BS Books imprint. BSL is majority-owned by the Kotak Group, and is run independently

through a board of directors, with TN Ninan (a former editor of the newspaper and perhaps

India’s best known business journalist) as chairman and editorial director.

22
SAMPLES

23
ENGLISH

24
25
HINDI

26
WEEKEND

27
Business Standard English has a circulation of over 184,646* copies and a print order of over

200,000 copies

Published from top 12 locations

Reaching more than 1000 locations

There have been traumatic episodes in its corporate history and sharp alterations in its editorial

policy. But none of these has taken away from image of The Business Standard as a reliable

sober, if a little pompous newspaper of record. Even the fact that lately, The Business Standard

has adopted new fashions in keeping with the times has not materially affected the image.

"What has marked The Business Standard generally has been an outlook of relative

objectivity in news gathering, responsibility and even pluralism in expression of opinion and,

by and large, a sober, if somewhat conservative presentation of news and opinion, it has also

been characterized by a degree of liberalism on both political and economic matters, these

features of The Business Standard are reflected in the newspaper as a whole over the long span

of its existence”.

28
 SERVICES AND PRODUCT LINE OF THE BUSINESS

STANDARD

Initially, Business standard was covering the various events and societal happenings in one

paper i.e. The Business Standard. But later on Business standard found it difficult to reach the

entire target market/ consumers through a single newspaper. Secondly, it become difficult for

Business standard to depict the complete picture because of the increase in activities of society,

growing consciousness of people to know each and every aspects of the happening and also

because of the diverse demands of the people.

So apart from The Business standard, the company started offering many more services and

products which further increased the credibility of Business standard.

The various products and services offered by the company are as

follows:-

29
CONTENT EDITORIAL FREQUENCY

PROPERTY
International News International Business Daily
Infrastructure Infrastructure Daily
Lifestyle, Luxury & Gizmos Business Life Daily

Investing in Stocks, Stock Smart Investors Every Monday

picks etc
Company laws, Tax laws, etc Business laws Every Monday
Marketing, customer The Strategist Every Tuesday

activation, advertising
Corporate social Social Enterprise Every Tuesday

Responsibility
Management Education & Business Education Every Wednesday

Training Avenues-Initiatives

by B-Schools
SME Business SME World Every Thursday

Leisure & Entertainment Weekend Supplement Every Saturday

Automobile & Ancillary B.S Motoring Monthly

segment

BS is published Monday to Saturday in all locations.

On Sundays, the paper is published from Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

30
Additionally, BS offers its readers dedicated, topical magazines, inserted into the

newspaper.

SUPPLEMENTS

1. MONDAY: Smart Investor-which advices people to make the right investments.

Business law- which provides information about the current business laws.

2. Tuesday: the Strategist- which gives the strategies followed by various companies.

Small Enterprise- which provides various kind of information about the

small enterprises

31
3. Wednesday: Business Education- which gives information to various students.

Ice world- on information, communication and entertainment.

4. Thursday: SME World- which gives information about small and medium enterprises.

5. Friday: Mastering Series- on important business topics.

6. Saturday: Weekend- which includes various topics about life and leisure.

MAGAZINES

BS Motoring: A motoring magazines

Bs1000: A magazines which gives the top 1000 stocks. It is an yearly magazines.

The fund manager: A magazines which tells people about various mutual funds. It also

advises people on which mutual funds to invest in.

32
Banking annual: A magazines which rankings of various banking instructions. It is an yearly

magazines.

Bs Billionaire Club- A listing of India’s billionaire.

Indian management: A monthly magazine on management.

33
 A COMPARISON BETWEEN NEWSPAPERS AND

OTHER CONSUMER GOODS

Though newspaper is considered a product, yet it is very different from the normal consumer

goods. As in the case of the process of production, the fundamental purpose of a newspaper is

also totally different from that of other consumer products like soap, cigarette and perfumes

etc.

Newspaper has a limited shelf-life. Infect the buyer behavior is quite similar to the one

experienced in case of fast moving consumer goods. The marketing practices adopted fir

getting more readers or for retaining the existing readers are quite similar to what is practiced

by fast moving consumers goods marketers.

But the speed required to react to the ever changing needs of readers is many times

faster than what is required in case of other products e.g. a newspaper has to capture a news

event just in time, other wise it loses its relevance. This type of immediate response to the

buyers need is not witnessed in case of most of the other consumer product categories.

The reader has to be given newspaper on time. Again the complications involved

specially because of the limited time available are not comparable to any other product or

service.

Any age group can read newspaper. As a result the marketer has to tackle different type

of buyers at the same time.

34
 Sharp segmentation on the basis of age or sex is not possible in case of newspaper. The

segmentation is primarily done on the basis of, likes, dislikes, views, knowledge or language

etc. e.g. from amongst the same readers some prefer the Indian Express, some prefer The

Business Standard while some others may prefer The Economic Times. The differences

between the three newspapers as far as the news is concerned would primarily be of different

views.

Sales only take place because a buyer feels he will receive more value than the value of

money he parts with. Since extra advantage is a matter of feeling, the more cerebral the

product, the more would be its influence on the buyer’s choice. This factor again differentiates

a newspaper from other consumer goods.

The large majority of consumer products are functionally individual satisfiers, in so

much that their use is an individual activity, like that of soap. In the case of a newspaper its

entire raisin d’être is for a group and it strives to hold a group together.

35
 THE MARKETING MIX OF NEWSPAPER

THE FIRST P-PRODUCT

We do not describe newspaper as a product or an object but as benefits which are

offered to the target market. Thus there are two important things to note.

1. Newspaper is a bundle or features and benefits.

2. These benefits and features have relevance for a specific target market.

Hence while developing newspapers it is important that the package of benefits must

have a consumer’s perspective. A newspaper is a product with very low shelf life and

negligible options for attractive packaging.

For developing newspaper we have to assess customer benefits. It is said that people

don’t buy products because of their attributes rather they buy their benefits.

36
The Second P-Pricing

Newspaper, nowadays follow competitive pricing strategy. Pricing strategy is such as to cope-

up with the competition. In setting price, several factors in relation to the overall marketing

strategy should be considered.

The Third P-Place or Distribution

The distribution channel in case of newspaper is very short and direct.

The Fourth P-Promotion

Consumers of newspaper prefer personal sources over impersonal sources of

information. Promotion of newspaper is done basically to make a strong impression of

competency and to manage and maintain a fine image by positive word of mouth.

The Fifth P-People or Internal Market

37
 In a newspaper industry if the employees are not given training in how to go about face

to face customer contact the entire marketing effort may not prove to be effective. Here, in

newspaper organization employees are the contact personnel with the customer and they play

an important role in the marketing operations of an organization. So it becomes essential to

develop motivated and customer conscious employees.

The Sixth P-Physical evidence

The physical evidence shapes the perception of the customer on the basis of which he

makes his purchase decision. Thus managing physical evidence is integral to the marketing

mix.

The Seventh P-Process Management

Process management will ensure availability and consistent quality of newspapers.

Without sound process management, balancing service demand with service supply is

extremely difficult.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

38
RESEARCH DESIGN:

To analyze and design this project this project in the present situation, the following

type of research has been taken into consideration:-

Analytical Research: This has been conducted to collect information through survey

method i.e. preparing questionnaire and interviewing readers of both B.S and others

newspapers on the basis of this questionnaire.

Quantitative Research: This sort of research offered a direction of gathering data and

information regarding the comparative study between the B.S and E.T newspaper to provide a

conclusive report.

SAMPLE SIZE:

The sample size of this study is 600.

POPULATION:

The population of this study is indefinite.

SAMPLING METHOD

39
 The study involves area sampling method. Area sampling method involves selecting a

probability sample of geographic areas and selecting units or individuals within this selected

area for the sample.

SOURCES OF DATA

The study used both Primary and Secondary data.

PRIMARY DATA:

The primary data was collected from the respondents using questionnaire.

SECONDARY DATA:

The secondary data was collected from the company’s official website.

METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION:

Data was collected from the customers with the help of a questionnaire.

40
 DATA ANALYSIS METHOD:

The data was collected from the main study and was analyzed using

Based on the result conclusion were drawn and suggestions were made.

DATA COLLECTION SOURCES

Data collection sources are divided in the following two categories:-

• Primary data: The main source for the study of this project was the questionnaire through

which data has been collected from 100 respondents

So the information gathered through the questionnaire provides the best needed source

for the project.

• Secondary data: Secondary data offered a great help in forming the project as it provide

company profile and other facilities like books on marketing research.

SAMPLING PLAN

41
Sample Size: The data was collected from 100 samples. All the 100 readers were Delhi,
ranging from all age group of 18-65 including student, servicemen and business class and also

others.

The sample report can be written as follows:

Sample size : 600

Students : 134

Service : 330

Business : 130

Others: 6

Further classification

42
Age group 18-25 26-45 46-65

Students 82 52 ----

Service 100 150 80

Business 12 22 106

Others 1 2 3

Sampling Procedure

This sample is chosen on the basis of stratified random sampling.

Analytical Tools

For the project study we made use of many analytical tools such as percentage, pie

charts in order to analyze and depict the data.

43
 ANALYSIS

1. Which newspaper do you prefer to read?

44
-Times of India is the most preferred newspaper among readers. Since it

provides the all news, those want overview of main financial news, they

don’t take any specialized financial newspaper.

-Economic Times is the preferred financial newspaper than B.S.

2. What attributes are preferred by you in a financial newspaper?

-Most preferred attribute by financial newspaper readers is financial news means related to

financial institutions.

-Than prefer economic news related to national, international economy.

45
-they consider supplements helpful.

3. WHICH PURPOSE DOES YOUR PREFERED NEWSPAPER SATISFY THE

MOST?

-Most(45%) readers wants information satisfactory not consider more over other attributes

like printing, graphics, clarity, editorial etc.

-About 50% readers’ want all attribute should be effective because they don’t to purchase

another paper

-Editorial is also an effective attribute which is read by readers of financial news readers.

4. FOR SEEKING BETTER INFORMATION WHICH OF THESE NEEWSPAPERS

DO YOU PREFER FOR FINANCIAL NEWS?

46
 -Economic times is the most preferred financial newspaper

-Business standard has also secured second place in market

5. HOW DO YOU RATE THE FOLLOWING WITH RESPECT TO THE BUSINESS

STANDARD?

-Mostly readers say about Business Standard that it has a good news coverage over national,

international and financial news but it should add some financial supplements & news blocks

in regular newspapers.

-Readers consider this paper as a financial newspaper but they want some news order that can

make news reading more interesting.

6. Since how long have u been reading this newspaper?

47
-Large reading group of this newspaper is businessmen, students and those, who are attached

to financial work or interested to know financial world trends n changing.

-large group is reading it from more than 6 years and is going to more popular and becoming

advantageous need of existing and upcoming readers.

7. WHICH OF THE TOW SUPPLEMENTS YOU PREFER READING MORE?

-the Strategist is the most preferred supplement among reads of business Standard.

Smart Investor has secured second place. It means customers want more interesting and

knowledgeable news about financial world weather it is of present or past.

8. What is your rating of business standard, it is;

48
 -This newspaper has not make good image among whole financial newspapers readers’

market. It is still fighting to be superior.

9. What would u give preference while subscribing a newspaper ?

For purchasing any newspaper news coverage is the most important factor

Readers can think about discount more than gifts in case of competition of good and

preferred newspapers.

10. Are you an investor?

49
 – Investment factor doesn’t work more for reading the financial newspapers, if

someone is not investor than he or she can purchase it for gaining knowledge,

keeping her/himself updated.

1. Do you think that financial newspaper helps you in taking your decision on

investments?

-Mostly readers think that financial newspaper can help them in investing their valuable
money.

- They consider that papers give them valuable news n trustworthiness will be in news.

50
 LIMITATIONS

 The sample size chosen is limited to

600 respondents only, so study may not be able to total market.

 There is a possibility of the respondents being biased; hence the information collected

might not be an accurate one.

 The questionnaire may not be perfect to draw any strong conclusion as the primary object

is to find the people who can be considered as potential customer.

 The consumer’s attitude may change in future.

 The respondents were sometimes unable to spend much time for filling up the,

questionnaire. So, the chances for bias in the respondents answer were on the higher side.

 Project is limited to Delhi only.

 Project is limited to certain categories only.

 This is due to time constraint.

FINDINGS
 Compared to Economic Times, brand awareness of Business Standard is less.

51
  More no. of people prefers Economic Times for financial news. Times of India is

most preferred daily in English newspapers.

 Stock market news is the most preferred attribute in financial newspapers.

 News coverage is given more importance while choosing a newspaper.

COVER NEWS

The data given shows that on the whole the readers feel that the coverage of news on

the cover page is better in case of B.S as compared to E.T. Readers feel that the cover page

of B.S has good presentation of news which created good image among the readers.

Secondly, there is also good understanding of the news on front page which further makes it

popular. But as far as headings are considered people feel that E.T has more catchy

headlines.

NATIONAL NEWS

In this category E.T has an edge over B.S due to its wide coverage of national news.

E.T. has more diverse and in depth coverage and hence among E.T readers 24% feel that it is

excellent and 48% feel that it is good, whereas in case of B.S only 18%feel that it is excellent

52
and 47%feel that it is good. The readers also feel that the national news in E.T is factual and

is delivered on time whereas B.S sometimes delivers the news late. The B.S also has

comprehensive view.

Further classification shows the similar trends by students, servicemen as well as

businessmen i.e. they all feel that as compared to B.S, E.T gives better coverage of national

news

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

In international section B.S far excels E.T due to its interesting and diverse coverage.

The B.S covers all the major events in the international arena and is considered the best

newspaper for accurate international news.

The readers feel that E.T is far lagging behind B.S in case of coverage of international

news, as very less space is devoted to international news in case of E.T.

The data shows that in case of B.S 22% of B.S readers feels that international news

extremely good but only 9% of E.T readers feel that coverage of international news is

extremely good.

EDITORIAL

B.S has carved a niche for itself in the editorial section. It has interesting articles and

good editorial sections. In E.T the educational section is good enough with the section letters

to the editor but still it is lagging behind B.S in case of educational section.

53
 The editorial in B.S is adored by all its readers for the quality of language and the

contents.

Further classification on the basis of occupation shows that though all the segments

favors B.S for editorial but it is seen that businessmen are biased towards E.T and

servicemen are biased towards B.S.

SPORTS SECTION

In the sports section also E.T is the leader. E.T is the leader because of its diverse and

current coverage whereas in B.S diverse news is given but the current coverage of the sports

news is not so good. The reader feel that in case of E.T apart from coverage of major sports

event it also keeps publishing regular sports analysis on relevant events which are not only

written by their regular staff and senior editors but also by sports personalities. Further

classification shows that the students feel that B.S despite having daily two pages for sports,

is not able to deliver much to its readers. Secondly in B.S most of the news in sports is not by

its own correspondents and they depend on the news agencies.

ENTERTAINMENT SECTION

54
 In the entertainment section though B.S is better than E.T but the difference is not very

perceptible as the performance of both the newspapers in case of entertainment section is

similar.

The data received on the basis of questionnaire shows that 42% B.S readers feel that

entertainment news is extremely good whereas 40% of E.T readers feel that cartoon &

entertainment section is extremely good. So this clearly shows that there is not of much

difference between the two newspaper regarding entertainment section.

BUSINESS NEWS

E.T is leading in case of business section. As per the findings, this is mainly because of the

stock listing. Though the readers feel that E.T is leading both in case of business news and

stock listings but stock listings is given very good coverage in E.T which has led to excellence

of E.T in Business section.

Readers of E.T also reason out the good performance of E.T in business news by

saying that E.T gives views of general public as well as experts with respect to business

matters.

CLASSIFIEDS

Classified have better coverage in E.T, than in B.S. B.S is lagging behind in this

section as more and more readers feel that the information given in E.T is varied and the

amount of information is also more in case of E.T. Further E.T is leading in this section mainly

because it provides information with respect to UTI bulletin & Magazine and tenders. Though

B.S is lagging in this field it is sometimes preferred because of its day wise concentration as

55
B.S provides classifieds on a particular topic on a particular day whereas E.T provides mixed

classifieds on all days.

ADVERTISEMENT AND NEWS RATION

Today, print media is getting fewer ads compared to in the past because of the

visual media, T.V. However it is not hampering its economic front because revenue wise print

media is quite ahead though not share wise at present. Despite the influence of other media,

people still prefer print media because of its impact, though limited.

The ration of news to advertisement is less in case of E.T and more in case of B.S

i.e. in general the number of advertisements is less in B.S as compared to E.T.

Because of high % of advertisement more than half of the revenue earned by E.T

comes from the advertisements placed in it.

The research shows that whenever more advertisements are to be placed in the daily,

the number of pages of the newspaper are increased but no ads are missed out but the

authorities at E.T say that though E.T is carrying more advertisement and may be that is one

way of making profits, but at the same time the readers are being benefited by advertisement

(both display & classified). The authorities also feel that E.T is not carrying more ads at the

cost of news. The people at E.T say that the season for E.T being popular among the

advertisers could be its high circulation because advertisers always look into readership of

the publication while placing an advertisement.

A newspaper to maintain good standard in terms of ratio between news and

advertisement should maintain the ration at 60:40.

56
 Daily newspapers in INDIA

Over all, the total number of daily newspapers continued to decline for the fourth straight year.

In 2007, the most recent year for which data are available, daily newspapers were down to

1,422 in that year from 1,437 in 2006. Of the total number of daily newspapers, evening papers

continue to decline, while those in the morning continued a trend of growth. In 2007, the

number of evening papers declined by 49. This compares with a drop of 31 evening papers

from 2005-2006.

Morning newspapers, on the other hand grew by 34 in 2007, continuing a trend of

growth after adding 16 from 2005 to 2006.

57
Readership continued to steadily decline in 2008. Across all demographic groups PEJ looks at-

age, ethnicity, education and income-fewer people across the board are picking up daily and

Sunday newspapers.

Among readers of all ages, readership declined between 2007 and 2008. Young

people in the age groups of 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 continue to have the lowest readership levels

of daily newspapers. Among readers 18 to 24 years of age, 31% say they read a newspaper

yesterday, according to data from Scarborough Research. This represents a drop of two

percentage points from the prior year.

Those in the 25-to-34 age group do not demonstrate much better numbers. Readership of daily

newspapers was down to 32%, also down two percentage points from 2007.

58
 Those aged 35-to-44 and 45-to-54 also showed declines in readership in 2008.

Readership of daily newspapers was down to 41% and 51% respectively, among the age

groups.

And even the most faithful readers of newspapers, older people, or those ages 55-to-

64 and 65-to-above have shown sharp drops in readership since 2000. In 2008, readership was

down to 57% among 55-to-64 years olds, a drop of nine percentage points since 2000. Those

65 and older showed an even greater drop. Although 64% say they picked up a newspaper

yesterday, this number has declined from 72% in 2000, an eight percentage point difference.

59
  The company should do

more brand building activities to increase brand awareness.

 The Stock Market analysis in Business Standard is excellent and considered to be

the best among all the papers. So must use this strength in marketing.

 The company should focus on retention of customers because getting a new

customer is more costly.

READER’S SUGGESTIONS

Reader’s suggestions and recommendations with respect to value additions to Business

standard.

1. The Strategist should be printed more than once a week;

2. Should improve upon its printing;

3. University result & results of medical examination and other professional colleges should

be printed from time to time;

4. News should be closer to the truth;

5. Update the sports section;

60
6. Information regarding competitive examination;

7. More space should be provided for the business news and financial news;

8. Improvement in stock listings required;

9. Newspaper should be printed on Sunday;

10. It decrease interest on Thursday since no supplement on that day

11. Annual report magazine should be given to brief all good n necessary news.

Brand awareness programme:

“Brand Awareness is the extend to which a brand is recognized by potential

customers and is correctly associated with a particular product.”

 To convince the administration staff and the principal to allow marketing of another

brand in their college was really a tough job.

 Students were highly co-operative and even some of the teachers showed their

enthusiasm.

SWOT ANALYSIS
61
 Strengths Weaknesses

 Company reputation  High price

 Quality of analysis  Less no. of pages
 Honest and in-depth reporting  Less advertisements on
 Distribution effectiveness supplements

Opportunities Threats

 Foreign tie-up with financial times  Market downfall

London (As Mint has  Competitors may further

collaboration with wall street lower the price

journal)

On the basis of SWOT analysis:

62
Other challenges are;
Regarding competitors- 1. THE ECONOMIC TIMES

➢ It has better editorials and better analysis of news;

➢ The combo offer with times of India is much more beneficial;

➢ Some customers are availing offer of Rs. 500 which is more economical;

➢ Supplements of ECONOMIC TIMES are better;

➢ It gives political news as well i.e. “POLITICALTHEATRE” which is not provided by

BUSINESS STANDARD;

➢ The most no. of inside stories/ or spicy bits of companies;

➢ The best prediction of economic trends/business houses.

2. MINT

➢ It has collaboration with WALL STREET JOURNAL

➢ It provides better analysis than business standard

➢ The format of the paper is attractive;

➢ Fancy

➢ White paper

➢ Half the size

Other challenges those can be used as opportunities

63
 One of the truths of modern business is that there is almost nothing that your competitors

can't duplicate in a matter of weeks or months. If you have a great idea, you can be

certain that somebody will copy it before long. And not only will they follow your lead,

but they may also be able to do a better job or sell the product or service at a lower

price.

 The question then becomes, "What competitive edge do I have to offer that cannot be

copied by anyone else?"

 Increased awareness of print media- Getting enough knowledge and latest updates

from internet and not like newspaper in which they to wait for one day for the latest

happenings and changes in the market.

“So progression & changes are necessary to e-paper related to technology”

64
 RECOMMENDATIONS
 Can increase the number of centers from where the news paper is available and improve

the distribution system.

 The company can also start a Customer Care department.

 Management can design a vendor Relationship Management programme and should

come up with some motivational offers and scheme for the vendors, so that they are self

motivated and hence will push Business Standard from their side and would help in increasing

the trade sales.

-Business Standard should start its Sunday copy in all the editions with some

better strategies than its competitors who are charging more for the Sunday edition. The

following recommendations are made to B.S in order to improve its circulation:

-More attention should be given to sports news, classified and advertisement

where the readers preferred to read Economic Times.

-Newspaper industry is dependent on the hawkers and vendors because the

newspaper is a product which reaches at customer’s door and the supply of the product is

totally dependent on them. Therefore the company should express that Business Standard is

interested in offering more benefits to their dealers

-Incentives should be given to those dealers who are increasing the sale of the B.S

so that other vendors also got motivated by this and increase the sale of B.S.

-The cover page should contain less of advertisement so that readers get an

impression that B.S offers more news than advertisement.

65
 -More advertisement should be published to make people aware of their product

features and leading strategies.

-Earlier when the B.S reduced the price of their newspaper it had affected the

entire industry. It also reduced the profit of the hawkers and there are a number of dealers who

still have some grievances. The Business standard, company should take care of that and

should arrange some profits for them so that they can feel comfortable with the company and

they get an impression that company cares for them.

-Delhi Times is well accepted by the reader but they still complain about the less

news and more of advertisements in this supplement.

-The supplements of Saturday and Sunday should be planned in such a way which

can entertain readers in a better way.

-A few readers have complained that some times, the news is delayed by one day,

this delay is a curse for the newspaper company and it always gives a negative impression.

-More news should be provided in the newspaper, company should maintain news

and advertisement ratio at 60:40 respectively.

-Ascent information is being given one date late and if possible should be printed

twice a week.

-Detailed & more current sports news should be incorporated. Also articles by

professional on prospects & future of various sports should be included which will make the

sports column more interesting to the sports lovers.

New Audience Strategies

66
➢ Raw numbers do not tell the entire audience story. Changes in strategy are at

work that mirrors the aspiration of newspaper organizations to transform themselves into

diversified publishing ventures on multiple platforms. Besides the basic news audiences in

print and online, the companies are looking for additional audiences that will interest local

advertisers and build revenues.

➢ For a start, many newspapers have ditched the traditional circulation department

in favor of a broader audience development and marketing department. Some of the traditional

functions, including delivery and customer service calls, are prime candidates for outsourcing

to save money. What remains crucial for the newspaper is to identify groups of audiences to be

served with in its market and a suite of products that will deliver those audiences to advertisers.

 Most papers have specialty publications, distributed to high-income ‘ZIP codes

and driven by advertising for luxury goods. Health and fitness or other topics with advertising

support get the same niche publication treatment.

 Besides the main website, papers typically have specialty or micro sites with

distinct ad bases and topics that will draw reader participation and comment. At Gannett’s 85

community newspapers the big three are moms, high school sports and nightlife.

 A few papers-the Chicago Tribune, St. Petersburg Time and the Dallas Morning

News are notable examples- have free distribution print products targeted at youth audiences or

other groups.

 All this may seem to have little to do with traditionally defined news, but it

gives the newspaper organization’s sales force, some of them now specialists in online options,

a briefcase of solutions to sell the prospective advertiser.

 One other factor could also affect circulation. United States Newspapers are

notoriously underpriced – selling a single copy typically for about half the going rate in Europe

67
and Asia. As a result, circulation generates only about 15% to 20% of the typical newspaper’s

revenues here; abroad a 50-50 split between circulation and advertising revenues is common.

Even with the recession, many papers are becoming more aggressive about pricing – most

McClatchy papers went to 75 cent a copy in the fourth quarter—which can drive circulation

down but may strengthen the paper.

 Online, the continuing strategy is to build out websites with even more breaking

news, multimedia content and user participation. Newspaper are reconciled to having many

visitors arriving by search or from sites that aggregate news reports from many sources, at the

same time hoping to have enough to offer that local users will linger. The companies seem to

be betting that online advertising, disappointing in the last several years, will increase in

volume and command higher rates with better targeting.

 In 2009, new rules from the Audit Bureau of Circulations will be phased in. Paid

circulation will mean paid by individuals. Paid distribution by third-party groups or distribution

at hotels and conferences now count as separate categories.

 That is consistent with the industry’s story that it wants quality circulation and

recognizes the other categories are of less worth to advertisers. However, there is a loophole-

paid circulation can be for any amount, allowing a return to deep discounting should a paper

choose to go that route.

 A final strategy might be called a roll of the dice by drastically scaling back the

daily print product. Most metros are now producing a paper smaller in every dimension than

the one they were publishing three years ago- thinner paper, narrower page width, less space

for news and smaller staff covering a shrinking geographic area and range of topics.

 We have expressed skepticism about a less-is-more editorial report in previous

editions of State of the Media. Logic and empirical research by Phil Meyer in his 2004 book,

68
The Vanishing Newspaper” suggests that a bare bones newspaper will have difficulty holding

marginally committed readers.

 The cutters are probably right in suggesting that hurried readers will accept a

tightened report- to an extent. But the deep cuts of 2008 raised concerns among observers

beyond the usual academics and media critics. Goldman Sachs analyst Peter Appert asked A.H

Belo CEO Robert Decherd during an earnings conference call in July,” how do you maintain

editorial relevance and quality as you are doing such dramatic cuts in staff?” Decherd replied

that the right mix of materials would keep “our products more than relevant, actually essential,

to the local news and information needs of our communities.”

 In addition to a diminished daily product potentially alienating readers, the

strategies at some papers to reduce print delivery to a few days a week (Detroit is a prime

example) also will test whether cutting some of the daily print cycle brings big advertising

losses.

 Throughout the industry, 2009 circulation results will bring a fresh test of

question-are newspapers still substantive enough to hold readers? Or is their skimpiness going

to drive deeper audience losses?

CONCLUSION

 The distribution channel plays a very important role in newspaper industry. In some

cities the distribution system of Business Standard is not proper.

 Promotional scheme offered to the customers helped increasing the circulation of

Business Standard.

69
  Looking at over all publication process, we came to know the whole process of printing

till the final delivery of the newspaper. Understanding the theoretical aspect makes it

look much easier but practically the publication process is very difficult and requires

integrated efforts from all the departments.

Finally looking at the acceptance of promotional scheme of Business standard, I conclude that

the scheme offered was mostly liked by the readers and ultimately most of them were

subscribing to it.

ANNEXURE

70
 QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Do you read any newspaper?

(A) YES (B) NO

1. If yes, which newspaper/s?

(A) BS (B) ET

(B) FE (D) BL

1. On what criteria you buy a newspaper?

(A) Wide coverage of events

(B) Reputation of editorial brand

(C) Quality of analysis

(D) Price

(E) Brand name

1. Do you read business standard newspaper?

(A) YES (B) NO

1. If yes, for how long you have been reading it?

(A) >1 year

(B) 1-3 years

(C) 4-6 years

(D) 7-9 years

71
 (E) <9 years

1. Which section/s of business standard you like most?

(A) Finance news

(B) Economic news

(C) Company news

(D) Stock market news

(E) Supplements

1. WHICH PURPOSE DOES YOUR PREFERED NEWSPAPER SATISFY THE MOST?

(A) Printing

(B) Graphics

(C) Clarity

(D) Information

(E) Editorial

1. HOW DO YOU RATE THE FOLLOWING WITH RESPECT TO THE BUSINESS

STANDARD?

(A) Business

(B) National

(C) International

(D) Sports

(E) Entertainment

72
 (F) Classifieds

1. What would u give preference while subscribing a newspaper ?

(A) Discount

(B) Gifts

(C) Price

(D) News coverage

1. Are you an investor?

(A) YES (B) NO

1. Do you think that financial newspaper helps you in taking your decision on investments?

(A) YES (B) NO

1. Suggestions to improve Business Standard newspaper.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Personal details:

Name

__________________________________________________________________

73
 Address__________________________________________________________________

Age group

(A) 20-30 years

(B) 30-40 years

(C) 40-50 years

(D) 50 or more

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTERNET

 http://www.business-standard.com/

 http://www.wan-press.org/

 http://www.historicpages.com/nprhist.html

74
 http://www.newspaper-industry.org/history.html

 http://www.media.herald-dispatch.com/nie/newspaperproces.html

 http://drypen.in/branding/brand-awareness-a-brand-building-concept.html

➢ Marketing Management Phillip Kotler

➢ Annual Report, Business Standard 2009

➢ Business magazines - India Today Annual Edition, 2004

Business Today, August 2004

Business World, August 2004

75