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Five year marketing plan for United Bank For Africa Vision: to be the undisputed leading and dominant financial institution in Africa Mission: to be a role model for African businesses by creating superior value for all our stake holders abiding by the utmost professional and ethical standard Introduction In a bid to continue expanding and reaching our goal as the Africa’s global bank, we have thought it wise to shift our attention to the emerging markets in Asia. This is particularly important given that African governments are increasing their trade relations and volume with Asian countries. It is in a bid to serve as the paying and receiving bank for these businesses that informed this market plan. What the bank will benefit from this plan cannot be over-emphasized. The bank will be in charge with all transfers as there is no bank in Africa that is doing that at the moment. This will reduce the businessmen processing time and late payments for consignments as it will increase our service revenue. We have three products to cater for this market, viz: U-gold, Form M, and Afri-cash-a transfer laden account that uses foreign currencies. We strongly believe that this five year plan will not only improve our customer base but will also increase our COT. BACKGROUND INFORMATION The Asian countries have been on the rise within the past few decades. Their finesse in such areas like electronics, auto, construction, computer and the likes went unnoticed in Africa until the economic shake up in the west. This turned the attention of African governments and businessmen from West to Asia and this opened another opportunity in Africa. But the challenge that is faced by businessmen has been a financial institution that can expressly carry out their financial obligations like form M and other service associated with international trade. This has been their greatest problem as they find it difficult to pay for their consignments. Our presence and high quality service will reduce their problems and increase our service revenue. SITUATION ANALYSIS United Bank for Africa (UBA) plc is not a new brand in global financial service industry; as it is known far and near as a result of its numerous branches and service lines. But UBA plc has always concentrated in the West and Africa, ignoring an important region in the world market- Asian market. And to break into the market, UBA’s marketing skill will be the major determinant. MARKET SUMMARY UBA plc possesses enormous information about how the Asian markets operate and will tap from that knowledge to enjoy a share in this market by providing and meeting the customers expectation. Our target markets are: * Financially exposed persons: those in this category are high volume businessmen, who conduct high level transactions. They include, importers and exporters * Travelers who may need some money to make some transactions in their country of visit like Dubai * Foreign firms that run some contracts in Africa, especially construction firms from China and Korea as well as computer and pharmaceutical companies from India. * Medium and small size international businessmen in Asia. Market Demographics The profiles for a typical UBA customer consist of the geographic and demographic. Geographic: UBA is a global bank, but considering the impact we have in other continents in relation to Asia, we want to focus on Asia. The customers here, must not be Asians but all businessmen that have businesses and business interest in Asia. Our total target population is 200 million customers. Demographics: we have equal chance for men and women, ages 18-60 with 60% likely to cluster around In our world today, business has got the interest of so many age ranges. From those in their twenties that inherited some big business to those in their thirties who have diligently established a business. And the increase in world trade has also increased business interest and participation. MARKET NEEDS: UBA plc seeks to fulfill the following services that are important to our customers.: * Good product: here, our customers will be provided with good products that is simple to understand but with minimal cost for both the customers and the bank * Special accounts: the bank will design a special account system that will be good for these businessmen. Like a kind of U-Gold account. * Quality service: customer service must be at its apex here because these are international businesses and a mediocre customer service is abominable. MARKET TRENDS: the emphasis from an African bank perspective has been to focus in Europe and America for business openings. But the trend has crossed to Asia and most banks are not utilizing this market, thus, UBA plc will serve in this market as basically an African Bank that will connect Asia and Africa business wise. MARKET GROWTH: the increase in Africa-Asia business is as a result of some developmental strides in some Asian countries and this call for aggressive bank marketing. The figures are increasing by the day. This is a growing market for us and we need to leverage on this openings to announce our feet in Asia. SWOT ANALYSIS: the following SWOT Analysis captures the key strength and weaknesses within the bank and describes the opportunities and threats facing UBA plc. Strengths * Experienced in dealing with variegated customers * Excellent customer service * Low COT( cost of transaction) Weakness * Lack of authority in Asia branch wise * Our reliance on master card and Visa card for some aspects of our transaction * Little fun Opportunities * Participation within a growing economy * The ability to benefit from other industries * To connect Asian business to Africa Threats * Slower server for our services in Africa * Competition from some foreign banks that have branches in Africa * The release of information about troubled banks in Africa. COMPETITION Outside foreign banks that have branches in Africa, there is GTB, our highest competitor in Africa. But they are still focusing in Africa and the West thus, the need to move to Asia for us to hold greater market share. Other direct competitors are: * Fidelity bank: they are the biggest threat to us in terms of strategy * Zenith Bank: this is a growing competitor with an extra ordinary image and customer loyalty. They may become our strongest competitor in a short time. MARKETING STRATEGY Our marketing strategies are based on meeting the needs of existing and future customers. We will do this through leveraging on our internal and external business strengths and understanding the competitive environment. All marketing strategies work towards supporting our mission statement and realizing our stated goals. Our strategies fall into these three categories: 1. Revenue diversification including service and industry specialization 2. Fixed fee structure focus 3. Marketing awareness training Value proposition: providing quality service is critical. Our business and individual customers will judge our competence based on how we treat them. This is their primary and most cases their only measurement of our capabilities. Our value proposition to the customer is that we will manage their accounts, form ms, and transfers better to the way they do it now. We will work closely with our customers to make sure we know what their goals are, where they are financially, and where they want to be in the future so that every service we provide is personal and custom-tailored for our customers. Critical Issues: the bank appears to be approaching a “mature” category in Africa and the West. We have relatively low major opportunities, fairly low threat, and limited growth potential and relatively low risk in the West but has the reverse of these in Asia. And that is why we need to explore Asia. Critical issues to UBA plc include: 1. Educating our staff so that everyone takes a role in marketing the bank and not leaving this responsibility to the few ‘rainmakers’ that now account for a large percentage of our new businesses. 2. Focus on key marketing segments that will produce the greatest returns 3. Retaining our customers by maintaining our reputation built upon professionalism, trust, accuracy and timeliness. Our product is an existing product in a new market. The Ansoff’s product market expansion grid explains our products better. It shows that we are in a market development-an old product in a new market. The reason for this can be seen from our Boston’s component Growth Metrics (BCG) As you can see, our presence and market share in Africa is extremely good, our market share in America is high too but with declining market caused by competition and decline in business from America to Africa. In Europe, we have similar problem and in Asia, the market growth is high but our market share is low. And this is why we needed this plan. Financial objectives 1. Revenues of $6.5million by year end to realize growth rate of 10% compared to the previous year. And will keep the growth rate increasing by 2% in the next five years. 2. Non- COT revenues greater than 25% of total income. 3. Increase in form M to increase service revenue. Marketing objective 1. To realize an annual growth rate of 10% percent greater than the previous year. 2. To diversify our revenue stream through increased business activities( form Ms and Transfers) to account for 25% or more of our total revenue. 3. To create a visible profile relationships with manufacturing companies in the continent. 4. Train all staff to understand, appreciate and reinforce their role in marketing the bank. Target market strategy Our target market markets include these areas: 1. Established businesses of more than 50 million dollars transfers yearly 2. Growing businesses that need our help now as we will grow together to increase customer loyalty 3. Companies that has employees in Asia and Africa MARKETING MIX Our experience has proven that the most significant factor in acquiring new customers is a direct result of referrals from existing customer base. So, customer retention when acquired is very essential. People ask other people they know, trust, and share similar financial position to tell them the bank to use. It is as simple as that. Our marketing mix will consistently work to optimize the volume and quality of those referrals. Product marketing: we need to fulfill the promise we make to each of our customer-to provide them with the resource they need to reach their business and financial goals with unwavering confidence in our bank throughout that process and ultimately throughout their lives. Pricing: UBA plc will seek to provide a premium accounts and other products at a premium price that offers the best overall value to our customers. Ultimately, our customers will realize greater wealth as a result of their ability to optimize profitability and minimize their expenditure. Customer billing rates reflects the level of expertise required to perform the work. Our average transactions are shown in the price list below: Item | Description | Per unit price | COT | $1,000 | $50 | Form M | $1,000 | $100 | Transfers (Africa) | $1,000 | $40 | Transfer (West) | $1,000 | $80 | Transfer (Asia) | $1,000 | $70 | Others | $1,000 | $ 60 | Promotion: we will promote the bank through these critical marketing components: 1. Enhance our profile within our target businesses and areas of specialization by increasing unique expertise in these areas. 2. Leverage referrals from the manufacturing industries and customers 3. Continue to use the technology we have including the in-house computer capabilities and our websites. Both possess incredible potential for future differentiation in an increasingly competitive market. Advertising: we will advertise in regional, national and international media like newspapers and magazine, television and internet. We will also make use of our website (intranet) to serve as a lead when the customers visit. Public Relation: it will be important for us to use PR to maintain our image in the community and to remain known as the experts in our industry. We will issue press releases whenever one of our partners speaks in an event, or teaches a class. We will also issue press releases whenever we get a big customer on board assuming we have the customer’s permission. We will use our PR agency to book interviews related to topics in our industry to continue to build the image of our expertise. We must stay focused in our PR efforts as we do not want to spend more than few thousand dollars a month on PR expenses. Direct Marketing: we will send out direst marketing agents to our prospective and current customers. We will send out a quarterly financial planning newsletter. Web Plan, Goals and Marketing Strategy: our website is currently live and working but needs some revamping, both of content and features. The main focus of our internet presence is to serve as permanent, always accessible information and branding tool for prospective customers. With a secondary goal of providing customer-only features. The goals are: 1. Convey professional, expert yet, personal brand. 2. Communicate with current customers 3. Prospect future customers Our website marketing strategy is very simple. We need to have an up to date very professional website that reflects the brand and image of our company. Sales Plan: our sales plan hinges on making a good impression from the moment they customers or potential customers work in our door or call. It cost some fortunate to gain a new customer so we will give those that call the best ever wished. Sales Process: once we get a new customer, we will set up a welcome meeting for them at no charge. This way, the new customer will have time to ask some questions and receive some expert answers. All prospective customers will receive a packet with relevant information: 1. How much we charge 2. What services we offer 3. How we implement those services 4. Happy customers testimonials FINANCIALS Our marketing plan requires annual revenue of 6 million dollars for this year. We anticipate that we will have revenues of more than 12 billion within 5 years. Our marketing expenses will equate to an average of 3% of our total sales throughout. The marketing plan is based on these three parameters: 1. Increasing our efficiency through better use of our facilities and expertise. Variable cost will be reduced as we are able to make use of the capital investment we have in our systems. 2. We will continue to invest in marketing activities based on a percent of total revenues. As our revenues increase, so will our marketing resources 3. We will forecast and track revenues on a detailed basis to provide objective feedback regarding progress in the areas of industry expertise, specialization and customer revenue sources by type of customers. BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS Our variable costs are less than 38% of our revenues. This is a result of our fixed costs including our facility, computer and technology expenses and our salaried staff. Variable costs include temporary/seasonal hires, compensation for bankers based on performance and customers demand that travel and other per-job based expenditures. Variable costs are expected to continue to decrease as a percent of revenues as we strive to further benefit from our technology and trained personnel. A breakdown of our revenue expectation is as follows: Year | Revenue (billions) | 2012 | 60 | 2013 | 100 | 2014 | 140 | 2015 | 200 | 2016 | 260 | Year | COT | Form M | transfers | Total | 2012 | 20 | 30 | 10 | 60 | 2013 | 30 | 50 | 20 | 100 | 2014 | 40 | 50 | 50 | 140 | 2015 | 50 | 60 | 90 | 200 | 2016 | 60 | 90 | 110 | 260 | SALE FORECAST Revenues for this year are based on a 10% growth rate. This is conservative and will be more challenging as we work to diversify our revenue base. EXPENSE FORECAST Marketing expenses will correlate with firm revenues. This is based on a 2.5% factor of annual revenue. These expenses include any customer development activities that promote the firm or any individual within the bank. EXPENSE BY SBU Consistent with our growth strategy, a majority of our expenses are dedicated towards marketing to business rather than individuals. We target first our small business units (SBUs), to branches, regions, national and international. We expense in a way that give our SBU’s the needed independence to market and generate revenue for the bank. LINKING EXPENSE TO STRATEGY AND TACTICS Our marketing expenses represent a small portion of total revenue generated. Regardless, market-based efforts and our marketing expenditures must produce results. Our marketing director tracks this correlation and reports to the partners regarding our progress at our scheduled meetings. We expect to see our strategies impact the bottom line in the preferred areas. Our relatively conservative approach appears to be a good fit. An unexpected decrease in revenues will impact in our marketing budget and we will address this issue if required. CONTROLS The focus of this marketing plan is to initiate action that will generate additional revenues for UBA plc and position her for the future. These marketing challenges exist: 1. We offer intangible products 2. Our costumers evaluate our capabilities based on things they see and hear 3. Marketing is not well received or understood within our profession. Putting our marketing plan into action through the use professional and credible techniques is what this is all about. IMPLEMENTATION We will maintain our focus with brief milestones meetings every month, making sure each partner understands his or her responsibilities for maintaining our image, improve customer relations management and increase our accounts base. MARKETING RESEARCH We will continue to research and subscribe to some research firms to better understand demographic and psychographic data of our market. Additional research will involve tracking competitive activities, gathering data on key customers and their companies and watching the evolution of the software in its impacts in the banking industries. CONTINGENCY PLANNING These are the most likely changes in the marketing plan: 1. Industry or economic downturn: At this time, the target companies are experiencing solid growth. If the company growth do not occur, we will re-examine our select industries and or activities and change our focus and direction 2. Loss of key resources: losing key individuals in the bank could result in lost accounts or lost areas of expertise. We need to review some parts of our strategies if any person in the bank should not be able to perform their function. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY United Bank For Africa (UBA) plc is a banking firm offering banking services and business consulting. The bank’s reputation is impeccable and is known throughout Africa, Europe, and North America as one of the leading banks in African. UBA plc serves the banking needs of businesses and individuals to enable them realize their financial goals. The rationale for this market plan is to diversify our revenue streams by moving to the Asian market that has huge potentials for the banking industry. Our targets are businessmen that engage in Export and import in large volume and contracting firms who has contracts in Africa for constructions. We will serve them by running their transfers, form Ms, and other tariffs that are required in international business with an unimaginable pace. We will record high revenue for this five year plan as total revenue will be increasing by 3% yearly. UBA will also implement marketing tactics to better leverage on the bank’s total capacity throughout the period of the plan.