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NBS8518 Small Business Marketing and Management

MARKETING PLAN
14 May 2018

Alberto Staffini - 170807522

Gaurav Amarnani - 170653871

Ying Liu – 170070425

Marit Uppelschoten - 170807337

Kikumi Uchiyama - 170583682

Word count: 3,251


Introduction
This assignment has been based on WOTJOB. WOTJOB launched an app that helps employers
and jobseekers connect with each other in a totally innovative way. The goal was to construct a
marketing plan for this business, to help the company to achieve its strategic goals. The structure
adopts this flow: overview of the company, buyer personas, business objectives, marketing
strategy and consideration of the budget available. Finally, we would like to thank with Mike
Jurowski, the owner, for the opportunity to work with WOTJOB and all the information given.

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Table of Content
1. Situation analysis .................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Company overview ............................................................................................................................. 4
1.2 Pest analysis ........................................................................................................................................ 5
1.3 Competitors analysis ........................................................................................................................... 6
1.4 SWOT analysis ................................................................................................................................... 9
1.5 Value Proposition.............................................................................................................................. 10
2. Target segments and Product/market fit ................................................................................................. 12
2.1 Employers ......................................................................................................................................... 12
2.2 Jobseekers ......................................................................................................................................... 12
2.3 Advantage for employers and jobseekers ......................................................................................... 13
3. Business Objectives ................................................................................................................................ 14
4. Marketing strategies ................................................................................................................................ 15
4.1 Networking event .............................................................................................................................. 15
4.2 Social Media ..................................................................................................................................... 15
4.3 Promotion in Event sponsorship and trade show .............................................................................. 16
4.4 Working with local universities ........................................................................................................ 17
4.5 Search Engine Optimization ............................................................................................................. 17
5. Budget ..................................................................................................................................................... 19
5.1 Budgeting .......................................................................................................................................... 19
5.2 Measurement of performances .......................................................................................................... 19
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 20
References ................................................................................................................................................... 21
Appendices.................................................................................................................................................. 26
Appendix 1 - Pest Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 26
Appendix 2 - Target segments ................................................................................................................ 36
Appendix 3 - Marketing Strategy............................................................................................................ 38
Appendix 4 - Budget for Marketing Activities ....................................................................................... 40
Appendix 5 - Interview information ....................................................................................................... 42
Appendix 6 - Swot Analysis ................................................................................................................... 47
Appendix 7 – Budgeting ......................................................................................................................... 49

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1. Situation analysis

1.1 Company overview

WOTJOB is a company that provides a mobile app to get employers and jobseekers in contact
with each other. The app provides employers a platform to post their available jobs and interested
jobseekers may then apply for these. Its unique selling point is incorporating twenty second videos
within the app that can be used by employers to provide a job description while jobseekers can
create a short video CV (WOTJOB, 2018). A GPS mode also provides jobseekers with a map of
available jobs in their location (Ibid). The app is available on the iOS platform and the company
is currently focused on the Tyne and Wear county.

WOTJOB has a social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn (WOTJOB,
2018). The chart below indicates the followers on all the platforms. The content posted on these
channels include job offerings from businesses and media from appearances at job fairs. Many
posts are identical throughout all channels and there is some mixing of personal posts within the
WOTJOB pages.

Source: WOTJOB, 2018

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1.2 Pest analysis

An overview of the PEST analysis can be found in appendix 1.15.

Political

The awareness of data protection has been increasing and new regulation is going to be in force
on the 25th of May. WOTJOB must understand and implement what is relevant for them otherwise
they risk huge fines when they misuse personal data. It can be said that WOTJOB is required to
comply with the regulation and clearly announce it to create social credibility among its users.

Economic

There are positive aspects in UK economy despite the economic uncertainty caused by Brexit. The
consumer foodservice industry in the UK is forecasted to continue to grow and therefore will
require good staff, which shows a high potential for the recruitment market. Additionally, the start-
up friendly environment of the UK will be a strong support for SMEs.

Social

In 2016, the population of Newcastle consisted of 296,478 people and the population continues to
grow in the upcoming years. The population is aging however, in Newcastle most of the population
will consist of people between 20 and 30 years old. Additionally, Newcastle’s working population
is forecasted to grow. Thus, the city has a large potential workforce available which includes a
large group of students who are currently unemployed.

Technological

Technological developments have had a huge impact on society (European Commission, 2017).
The technological environment is changing rapidly and new innovations are released on the market
every few months. Because WOTJOB offers its service via a technology device it is important for
the company to stay updated about technological developments. Technological developments will
influence how people search and apply for jobs. Mobile phones are the most used technological
devices in the UK (Statista, 2017). Additionally, tablets are also used by a large part of the

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population which is indicated by the figure below. This implies that a lot of people own or have
access to devices on which the app can be downloaded.

Source: Statista, 2017

1.3 Competitors analysis

WOTJOB’s ability to make a profit will depend on the strength of its position in the market. To
gauge its strength, Porter’s five forces will be applied.

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Source: Prince, 2016

Suppliers Power

Suppliers for WOTJOB will be the companies that oversee maintenance of the app and employers.
Maintenance will cover areas such as scaling the app as WOTJOB acquires new users, adding new
features, keeping detailed analytics and developing an Android version (Chomko, 2012). The
yearly cost of maintaining an app is usually 15 – 20 percent of initial development cost (Ibid). The
suppliers have high bargaining power, as the initial developer will be the best position to perform
all these tasks. Switching developers may involve more work as they don’t have previous
knowledge of how the app was developed. Employers currently have high bargaining power as the
number of users are currently low, as user numbers increase this can then shift into a situation
where WOTJOB can set their prices and gain a higher bargaining power.

Buyers Power

WOTJOB’s model will charge employers a fee to post job availability within the app, so employers
will be the buyer in this case. With WOTJOB being a start up, they currently don’t have a healthy
amount of jobseekers using the app, this lowers their bargaining ability. This is also compounded
by the amount of online job seeking websites and independent job recruiters that are available on
the market. However, their service of video CVs is not currently available on other platforms which
gives them an advantage that they can promote.

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Threat of New Entry

Traditional recruitment agencies in the UK have a low barrier to entry. The lack of heavy
government regulations, industry regulations and start-up costs means that market is attractive for
anyone that wants to get into the business of recruitment (MacDonald, 2016). For the newer forms
or recruitment, online and app, the start-up cost is not as low as with traditional recruitment. For
someone to enter and compete with WOTJOB they must be able to put in start-up capital associated
with new app development which can range from a $25,000 all the way up to $1,000,000 (Business
Advice, 2016).

Source: Yarmosh, 2014

Competitive Rivalry

There are several social network sites dedicated to putting employers and jobseekers in contact.
While not their primary purpose, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter also provide
recruitment services. Major job seeking sites such as Indeed.co.uk and LinkedIn already have an
established user base. With indeed.co.uk at over 200 million unique visitors (Indeed, 2016) and
LinkedIn with over 500 million (Statista, 2016). These sites are primarily free to use for jobseekers,
employers however, can make free postings or can pay a fee that gives them benefits such as
having their listings appear first within search results. Competition therefore is quite intense, and

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WOTJOB needs to seek a competitive advantage or offer new services based on the need of the
consumer.

Threat of Substitute

There are substitutes available for WOTJOB, apart from the aforementioned giant social media
sites there are also more traditional means of job recruitment. From agencies, newspaper classified
section and word-of-mouth. In 2017, there were more than 9,000 recruitment agencies setup in
UK, which brings the countries total to over 35,275 (Dorsey, 2017). The reason for the increase in
agencies is due to a shortage in skill labour which will be compounded by Brexit. The market has
both employers and jobseekers, but for WOTJOB to standout in the field it must give its customers
a service that stands apart from the readily available substitutes.

1.4 SWOT analysis

An explanation of the SWOT analysis can be found in appendix 6.

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1.5 Value Proposition

“Value proposition is the set of benefits or values it promises to deliver to consumers to satisfy
their needs (Kotler & Armstrong, 2016). There are two value propositions one for employers and
one for jobseekers.

1.5.1 Value proposition for employers

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1.5.2 Value proposition for jobseekers

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2. Target segments and Product/market fit

2.1 Employers

The first group consists of employers who are managers of bars, restaurants, hotels or coffee shops.
Employers are male or female and between 30 and 65 years old living in Newcastle or surrounding
areas such as Durham. They are hardworking, friendly, open-minded and regularly use email and
social media. Their goals are to run a successful business and find suitable employees in the most
efficient and cost saving way as possible. They have many responsibilities. Consequently, they are
unable to spend much time on recruitment. Additionally, as most of them are SMEs, they often
have limited resources available. A detailed overview of this consumer segment can be found in
appendix 2.1 and 2.2.

The app would solve the timing and resource challenges. They can connect with potential
employees in a time-saving and interactive way by using WOTJOB app. While an employer is
searching for a new waiting staff, an applicant can easily upload a short video on the app.

2.2 Jobseekers

Jobseekers are between 18 and 35 years old (appendix 5.1, 5.2), students, graduates or people
already working in a hospitality sector. They are male or female, living in Newcastle or
surrounding areas. They are mobile savvy and frequent users of social media. Jobseekers are
friendly and social but reluctant to prepare a cover letter and a CV. They want to find an enjoyable
job without any complex application procedures. There are some challenges for them. First, it is
not easy to find a suitable and relevant job for their study or career perspectives. Secondly, some
people doesn't have enough experience in service sector and it could be a challenge to apply for a
job that requires prior working experience. Finally, they may face the challenge of creating a
successful application video.

The app would solve these challenges. It offers them a free and simple service from searching to
applying for a job on the app. Once they download the app and create an account, they can search
for job vacancies and apply for it by sending a video introducing themselves and their motivation.

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This video app enables the jobseekers to see the atmosphere of the work-place and staff. The app
could also provide information on how to create an effective application video.

2.3 Advantage for employers and jobseekers

A great advantage of the app for both employers and jobseekers is that there is no third party
involved because each party can directly contact one another, meaning they oversee the entire
procedure. This is also advantageous for protecting personal information of applicants. A detailed
overview of each segment can be found in appendix 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4.

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3. Business Objectives
The launch of the app was in July 2017 and so far around 150 people downloaded the app
(Appendix 6). Currently, the biggest challenge is to get a good volume of job vacancies available
regularly. Repeated users are the real challenge for WOTJOB: demand and supply must be built
simultaneously to have always new vacancies and jobseekers (Appendix 6). The core strategic
goals are displayed in the table 1 below.

Table 1. (Jurowski, 2018)

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4. Marketing strategies

4.1 Networking event

To create awareness for the app among employers it is recommended to organize a network event
in Newcastle. Networking events can generate value for a business such as new customers or
business partners (Mitchell, Schlegelmilch & Mone, 2016). For this event all local business owners
of hotels, restaurants, bars and coffee shops should be invited. By sending the local business
owners personal invitations to the event WOTJOB shows the owners genuine interest in their
business which could help to build trust and loyalty with these businesses in the future.
During this event Mike Jurowski should give an informative but engaging presentation in which
he informs the employers about the WOTJOB app and how it could be of added value to them. He
would be able to personally engage with the business owners and discuss the service with them on
a more personal level. This event should be promoted via WOTJOB's social media channels: e.g.
a private event page created on Facebook and LinkedIn. This strategy could provide a way to get
the attention for the app by integrated communication both online and offline. The estimated costs
for this recommendation can be found in appendix 3.2.

4.2 Social Media

Social media channels like Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn can amplify a message that a
company wants to promote and can help a firm to reach a specific consumer target. Furthermore,
family and personal affairs shouldn’t be posted on the WOTJOB accounts.

Instagram

Instagram can help WOTJOB to reach a greater visibility, thanks to the possibility to post videos
of possible job vacancies and experiences that jobseekers had after the utilization of this app. Due
to the high engagement of Instagram posts (Elliot, 2015) (Appendix 3.1), WOTJOB should post
four videos per weeks (two videos with employers and two videos of jobseeker’s tips).

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Facebook

The Facebook corporate page is a very effective channel of direct communication with potential
customers, as it allows them to interact daily with the company, participating in conversations on
shared posts and emphasizing the experience with WOTJOB. The posts should follow the
Instagram flows, with four posts per week.

LinkedIn

Mike has a lot of connections on LinkedIn (500+) (LinkedIn, 2018), which he could contact
directly to show the potential of WOTJOB and increase the awareness of this new job-service and
its easy-to-use features. Moreover, he has the possibility to approach new employers.

A cost overview for this recommendation can be found in appendix 4.1.

4.3 Promotion in Event sponsorship and trade show

WOTJOB can employ event sponsorship by supporting a local event as one of their promotion
tactics because “effective event marketing links events and sponsorship to a brand’s value
proposition” (Kotler & Armstrong, 2016). The event should be locally held and related to foods or
drinks considering that they target employers in the victualler industry. The aim is to have more
awareness among local people and business owners.
This sponsorship is not about raising money, instead, it offers the event organizer free usage of
WOTJOB app to hire temporary staff for the event. The WOTJOB name will be exposed at the
event site, on the web page or in brochures. Considering WOTJOB's limited budget, this
sponsorship can be a financially feasible activity. Additionally, a possible advantage for
sponsorship is to gain secondary association to the brand by “third-party sources” (Keller, 2013).
According to Keller (2013), “endorsement can improve perception of and attitude toward brand”
and “third-party source is credible”. If WOTJOB sponsors a locally popular event, they can gain a
positive image on their brand name by its endorsement. SMEs such as WOTJOB often have
“limited financial resources and restrictions over scale of their promotion activities” (Chaston,
2014). Therefore, this sponsorship is recommended for WOTJOB because it owes less cost and
can generate positive image by its endorsement.

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Furthermore, WOTJOB can exhibit at a local business trade show such as the North-East Expo to
find potential customers. This event offers free entrance, with opportunities to meet over 1,000
delegates, and most participants are from North East area (North East Expo, 2018). The 20 percent
of the visitors are in the retail or hospitality sector (North East Expo, 2018) so it would help to
meet local business owners. The cost breakdowns for these activities are shown in appendix 4.3
and 4.4.

4.4 Working with local universities

University students are WOTJOB's target because they seek part-time jobs (Gil, 2018). It is
recommended to work with local universities to captive students for the app users. Distributing
flyers at a freshers-fair held at the beginning of every term or at student accommodations all over
the city can be helpful in increasing awareness. It is also recommended to participate at job fairs
in which students come to find part-time jobs. The advantage here is that WOTJOB can regularly
meet its target because students turn over every few years, and it can be expected that students
create word-of-mouth to introduce the app to their friends.

4.5 Search Engine Optimization

Research shows that 93 percent of online experiences begin at a search engine (Ahern, 2018).
Research also shows that websites on the first search engine results page receive almost 95 percent
of web traffic (Sharp, 2014). It can be difficult for a new business to find its way through these
results and to the customer. An option would be search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO refers to the process of improving the position that your website appears at in the "organic"
search results returned by sites such as Google (Lines, 2014). In 2014, Google search updated to
give preference to local businesses when a user’s location is available and businesses that had good
SEO immediately moved to the top of these local searches (Ahern, 2018). If WOTJOB is to move
up in local Google searches, then SEO would be a key strategy to implement. Of the marketers
who are using SEO as part of their marketing strategy, 66 percent find it “very effective or
effective” (DeMeres, 2014). The higher up in the results your business appears, the more likely it
is for a user to follow that link to your site (Lines, 2014). It has been shown that 70-80 percent of

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people ignore paid search results and instead choose the results just below the paid listings, these
results are known as “organic” results, and tend to have a higher click rate (Ahern, 2018).

Budget considerations; the biggest benefit to note here is that SEO can be done entirely for free.
There are many free pieces of software that help SMEs run their own SEO. Tools such as
SEMRush can be used to improve SEO standing and monitor traffic coming from search engine
results (Tabler, 2018). When considering WOTJOB’s marketing budget, SEO seems like an ideal
solution to gain visibility while not making a dent in the budget.

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5. Budget

5.1 Budgeting

To create a strategic plan forecasting income and expenditure for a year, firstly, WOTJOB needs
to properly grasp all fixed and variable costs and overheads incurred through their business
operation, and then, set an appropriate price which is beyond the break-even-point and secure the
stable profit. Costs for recommended marketing activities (such as social media campaign or
participating a trade show) should be considered in the planning. The budget should be periodically
evaluated based on the variances between the actual performances and expected results (Drury,
2009). This budgeting practice helps to plan annual operations, communicate it to stakeholders,
control activities and evaluate the performance.

5.2 Measurement of performances

Considering the current goal for WOTJOB is getting more downloads, their performance can be
measured by the number of downloads by employers and jobseekers. As the number of downloads
doesn’t always mean generating actual profit, it is crucial to measure how much revenue was
enjoyed from employers, and how many employment contracts were concluded. Therefore,
WOTJOB must develop a system to gain such information periodically. In addition to the practical
measurement, monetary measurement is mandatory. ROI (return on investment) can be used to
assess the cost-benefit performance of marketing activities implemented (Drury, 2009). To
measure financial and non-financial performances, it is recommended to employ “balanced
scorecard”, which evaluate a company’s performance from four perspectives; financial, customer,
internal business and learning and growth (appendix 7.1).

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Conclusion
After an initial overview of WOTJOB, the environment and its target segments, it was observed
that the task of developing a marketing plan for the company would be challenging, however, not
impossible. The company is attempting to operate in a very competitive market that contains many
established competitors as well as low barriers for new ones to enter. However, the company does
offer a good value proposition for both employers and job seekers. So, if the aforementioned
recommendations are implemented it can certainly help to increase the company’s market share
and bring eager jobseekers and employers to this new platform.

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Statista (2017) Which, if any, of the following devices do you currently use? Available at:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/362521/electronic-device-usage-uk/ (Accessed: 8 May 2018)

Tabler, Z. (2018) Our Favorite Free SEO Tools for 2018, LunaMetrics. Available at:
https://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2018/01/25/2018-favorite-free-seo-tools/ (Accessed: 25 April
2018).

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https://www.ukcisa.org.uk/Research--Policy/Statistics/International-student-statistics-UK-
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https://www.facebook.com/pg/wotjob/posts/?ref=page_internal (Accessed: 3 May 2018)

WOTJOB (2018) [Instagram] 5 April. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/wotjob2017/


(Accessed: 3 May 2018)

WOTJOB (2018) [LinkedIn] 04 March. Available at:


https://www.linkedin.com/company/wotjob/ (Accessed: 3 May 2018)

WOTJOB (2017) Available at: http://www.wotjob.com/ (Accessed: 3 May 2018).

Yarmosh, K. (2014) How Much Does an App Cost: A Massive Review of Pricing and other
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25
Appendices

Appendix 1 - Pest Analysis

Figure 1. (Office for National Statistics, 2017)

26
Figure 2. (Office for National Statistics, 2017)

Figure 3. (Office for National Statistics, 2017)

27
Figure 4. (Office for National Statistics, 2017)

Figure 5. (Know Newcastle, 2017).

28
Figure 6. (Know Newcastle, 2017).

Figure 7. (Know Newcastle, 2017).

29
Figure 8. (Know Newcastle, 2017).

Figure 9. (Office for National Statistics, 2018)

30
Figure 10. (Office for National Statistics, 2018)

Figure 11. (Euromonitor International from World Bank 2018)

31
Figure 12. (Euromonitor International 2018)

Figure 13. (Euromonitor International 2018)

32
Figure 14. (Euromonitor International 2018)

Figure 15.

Political

It is crucial to be aware of data protection laws that are in place in the UK considering the nature
of WOTJOB service requiring users to sign up with their personal information. The data
protection act in the UK controls how an individual's personal information is used by the
government, companies and organizations (Gov.uk, 2018d). When a company collects data from
its consumers they are responsible for this data. The company has to follow strict rules which
are also known as data protection principles. When a company collects data, it is obligated to
tell their consumers who they are, how the data will be used and that consumers have the right
to see and correct the information if it is wrong (Gov.uk, 2018d). Moreover, the company must
tell its consumers whether the data will be used for any other purposes, for example the sharing
data with other organisations. Finally, the company must inform the Information
Commissioner’s Office (ICO) how personal data will be used. Not informing ICO could mean
that your company is committing a criminal offence (Gov.uk, 2018d). In addition, GDRP
(General Data Protection Regulation) will become effective on 25th May 2018. This regulation
also targets establishments in EU and outside EU (European Commission, 2018), therefore

33
WOTJOB has to understand and implement what is relevant for them otherwise they risk huge
penalty when mishandle personal data. It can be said that WOTJOB is required to comply with
the regulation and clearly announce it to create social credibility among its users.

Economic:

UK real GDP has been slightly declining (appendix 1.13) and is forecasted to go down to 1.4
percent in 2018 and to 1.3 percent in 2019 (Euromonitor, 2018b). The consumer confidence has
also been downward since 2014 (appendix 1.14), which show negative perspective about UK
future economy. Meanwhile, Euromonitor (2018) has a positive forecast about future business
environment after Brexit. In their report, the UK will not be restricted by EU law after Brexit
and can have more freedom, for example, firing redundant staff. Although the UK has been the
most popular country for international students to study so far comparing to other major EU
countries, there is a concern that the number of international students will decrease due to Brexit
(appendix 1.11). The 82 percent of EU students responded that the UK will be less attractive
after Brexit and it will cause not only losing the opportunity of earning foreign currency but also
the serious shortage of educated workers in future (Burns, 2016). With regards to the start-up
environment, the UK is a start-up friendly country compared to other leading European countries
(appendix 1.12). As for the UK victualler industry, the statistic shows that pub dining has been
the most common leisure activity among the UK people and the number of people who dined
out has increased (Mintel, 2016). The market size of the consumer foodservice has been
increasing from £54,968.6 in 2012 to £64,426.9 in 2017 (Euromonitor, 2018a). It can be said
that the consumer foodservice industry in the UK will continue to grow and will require good
staff. Thus, there is a high potential for the recruitment market which WOTJOB targets.

Social

In 2016, the total population of the UK consisted of 65,6 million people (Office for National
Statistics, 2017). This is the largest population ever in the UK. The population continues to grow
and is expected to surpass 74 million people by 2039 (appendix 1.1).

WOTJOB is targeting Newcastle, thus a closer look at the demographics of this city is required.
In 2016, the population of Newcastle consisted of 296,478 people (Office for National Statistics,

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2017). Of the total population 50,7 percent was male and 49,3 percent was female (appendix
1.2). Like the general population of the UK, the population of Newcastle also continues to grow.
By 2026, the population is expected to reach 310,389 and 323,915 by 2036 (appendix 1.3, 1.4).
Although people are getting older, in Newcastle the majority of the population is aged between
20 and 30 years old (appendix 1.2). This is because of the many students that live in the city.
This age group is expected to remain the majority of the population at least until 2036 (appendix
1.3,1.4). Furthermore, the forecasted growth of the working population indicates that there is a
large workforce available in Newcastle which means that there are a lot of potential users for the
app (appendix 1.5, 1.6).

The majority of the people that live in Newcastle also work in the city (appendix 1.7). The level
of education in Newcastle is quite high, 27.2 percent of the population has attended higher
education and 17.1 percent has completed a-levels (appendix 1.8). The employment rate in
Newcastle is lower than the average Great Britain rate (appendix 1.9). In Newcastle, 66.8 percent
of the economically active people are in employment compared to 74.5 percent in all of Britain
(Office for National Statistics, 2018). A proportion of 28.6 percent of the people in Newcastle
is economically inactive (appendix 1.10). Noteworthy about these statistics is that 43.3 percent
of the economically inactive people are students. This means that 24,900 students are not
working at the moment.

To summarize, the population in Newcastle continues to grow in the upcoming years. The
population is aging however, in Newcastle the majority of the population will consist of people
between 20 and 30 years old. The city has a large potential workforce available which includes
a large group of students who are currently unemployed.

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Appendix 2 - Target segments

Figure 1. (Hubspot, 2018)

Figure 2. (Hubspot, 2018)

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Figure 3. (Hubspot, 2018)

Figure 4. (Hubspot, 2018)

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Appendix 3 - Marketing Strategy

1. Social media
According to Schaller (2017), there are 5 different types of cost that are related to the way of
reaching the people targeted:

1. Cost-per-click (CPC): the company pays based on the total click reached
2. Cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM): the company pays based on the reach of 1.000
impressions
3. Cost-per-view (CPV): anytime someone views the ad, the company will be charged
4. Cost per action/conversion (CPA): the company pays based on the action that the user will
have (e.g. downloading the app or signing for a newsletter)
5. Cost per like (CPL)
Differences between Facebook and Instagram

According to Elliot (2015), ads and posts on Instagram reach a greater engagement with its public
than Facebook, but overall these 2 social networks are the best to create interaction and awareness
with the followers and fans.

Source: Elliot (2015)

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LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a different type of social network compared to Facebook and Instagram, that is mainly
used in the development of professional contacts, through publication and dissemination of
curriculum vitae, and in sharing of specific contents related to the labour market.

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Appendix 4 - Budget for Marketing Activities

WOTJOB social- Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Total


media campaign

People reached 200.000 100.000 500+ More than


300.000

Costs £740 £510 Free £1.250


(CPM £3.70, so (CPM £5.10, so
3.70*200=740) 5.10*100=510)

Number of weekly 4 (2 and 2) 4 (2 and 2) Every day More than 10


posts (for (potentially)
jobseekers and
employers)

Focus target Focused Not so focused Really focused


Figure 1. Overview of the total costs and number of weekly posts (Gotter, 2017; Lacy, 2018)

Cost

Venue hire: Baltic kitchen £300 +VAT

Venue: Equipment package (optional) £230 +VAT

Catering (optional) 50 x £4.00 pp. = £200

Total £730

Figure 2. (BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, 2018; Sheer Elegance Catering, 2018)

Cost

Sponsorship Barter (Offering free usage of WOTJOB app)

Figure 3. (Cost for sponsorship)

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Cost

Standard space (3m x 1.5m) £180

Figure 4. (North East Expo, 2018)

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Appendix 5 - Interview information

1. Interview notes:
● Recruitment
● Self-serving
● Moral issues some people don’t get the job. All about money.
● You can share the job. Can share via email, WhatsApp.
● Filter option according to location.
● Primary city centre employers.
● High turnover so they don’t want to pay recruitment agencies.
● App connects the two parties.
● Employers just say accept and they can just use instant messaging
● No more cv which is time consuming
● It's more about the practical experience you don’t need a cv.
● App increases efficiency because you can already get a feel for the people. Trying to
develop a marketplace → Demand and supply.
● We need to build both sides simultaneously. Marketplace liquidity. People need to use
the app.
● Bar and restaurants. More suited to industries that have high turnover.
● We are changing the basic generation process. Ask people to record a video for every
job they want to apply to. You are more motivated if you have to videotape every
time you apply for something.
● Focus on owner managers businesses because they can make decisions easier. So first
small and medium businesses because they are the owners and thus the decision
makers.
● Snapchat features so video will delete when the job has been filled. Makes sure for
privacy and trust.
● We want the people that are committed → How to get the people. Come up with a
barrier so that the quality of jobseekers is high. Jobseekers allowance. If it’s free its
more prone to abuse.
● Videotaping.

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● Creativity is allowed. E.g. cocktail making.
● Trust is important.
● Time and efficiency.
● Employers can also show their property.
● Employers have the control over the process.
● No advertisements on the app. For e.g. real estate. Not looking to sell other
information.
● Blue ocean strategy.
● Repeat users is the goal!
● That is challenge. If you have a job you might not want to go back to the app. You got
to get as many people back.
● In app notification system → Prompt sufficient interest in the app.
● Maybe get more creative content on there. E.g. events but don’t get too distracted
from the recruitment side.
● You can track everything. You and see that someone clicked apply but does not
upload a video. Notification system might work to remind people later. Maybe
because they were not in a suitable environment.
● Value proposition: first they said sign up for this job but people got turned off by that
because they did not want to sign up. They changed it to find for a job.
● Only iOS now but it would take 5 weeks to develop the android app. We need app
liquidity to that.
● E.g. why don’t you like this? If they have successfully used it.
● Most important demand and supply.
● Now only focus on Newcastle. Maybe later go into retail as well. But for now, only
bars and restaurant.
● Pricing perspective. Subscription plus model.
● Maybe pay 100 pounds for 50 job adverts. But free for jobseekers now. Maybe later
charge 2 pound for jobseekers to keep quality high.
● Prejudice is removed because they are in direct contact.
● Analytics you can see trends for example that an employer is only hiring females.
● Content will be the job adverts from employers

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● Now only website but later they might want to develop a desktop.
● Jobseekers 150
● Employers
● There are currently around 10.000 people looking for a job.
● Next launch maybe contact 500 people.
● 50.000 part-time job each year in Newcastle.
● You can report inappropriate videos.
● The app is not advertised yet. Initial thought was to buy the numbers and send them
the text message.
● Going viral. Important to get a balance between jobseekers and employers.
● How to get into contact with employers?
● Went to bars etc.
● In the next week maybe 50 jobs on there.
● Maybe later email. But this is the challenge!

2. Email Questions

1. How many downloads does the app have at the moment?


We did a very soft launch in July 2017 to around 150 people who downloaded the
app. Part of the reason for doing a small test launch was to get some initial feedback. I
have been doing some other work around jobseekers since we met and now have
mobile phone numbers for around 70,000 (seventy thousand) people who are looking
for work in bars, restaurants etc.
2. Has your pricing strategy become clearer? How much do employers need to pay
to advertise? How much would it be for one advertisement? Is it possible to pay
only for once for the advert on an as-needed basis?
My thought is to charge £20 for a single advert or alternatively an employer could pay
a monthly subscription if they have multiple ongoing recruitment needs. This would
be £100 per month for up to 20 jobs per month and £200 per month for up to 50 jobs.
3. Is not possible to use the app for companies such as McDonald’s, Burger
King…? Why? (they are looking for several employees really often)

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Yes, it is possible but larger companies take longer to make decisions because of their
policies. Some of their concerns might be around how they control the quality of
adverts that their employees publish, others might be concerned that it could be
perceived as discriminatory to use video, or consistency around how applicants are
responded to might be an issue. Big companies are very protective of their brands.
4. Why don’t develop the app in such a way that it can also be used on a computer?
You already have a website for it.
We might do that in the future but before we commit to spending money on such a
development we need validation that that is what customers want. The original
decision to have it purely mobile was down to the fact that we all carry a mobile
device around with us but we don’t always have a PC/laptop etc with us.
5. Currently, are you the only investor?
Yes, although I am open to potentially sharing some equity if there are people out
there that are interested in getting on board. Any decision about this would not be
based purely on whether they can bring money with them but also what other skills
they can bring. I can get some more traction I might consider a crowdfunding
campaign.
6. Are you the only one who is promoting the app to employers or there are other
people? If you are the only one, have you ever thought about looking for ‘sale
agents’ to help you out?
Yes it only me at the moment. Sales agents would be great but cost is prohibitive.
This might become a realistic option once we have more validation of the idea (i.e.
paying customers). However, as mentioned above if I can secure some investment
then this is a possibility.
7. How do you promote your app at the moment? Online/offline? Only via word of
mouth?
My focus so far has just been bars and restaurants in the city of Newcastle. I found a
growth hack to get the aforementioned 70,000 job-seekers but my single biggest
challenge at the moment is getting a good volume of jobs on regularly. Of those 70,00
approximately 20,000 are in Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham areas.

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8. Looking at the app there are vacancies from August / September. Are they still
available or the app is not up to date?
Yes, those are old jobs. As mentioned above, before I potentially contact those 70,000
jobseekers to download the app (I would probably do this via SMS) I need to get
LOTS of jobs on. My focus would still be the North East to begin with. I don’t want
to contact thousands of jobseekers with only a handful of jobs on the platform.

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Appendix 6 - Swot Analysis

Strengths:

The exclusive feature that WOTJOB offers is scalability, accessibility and the flexibility. Thanks
to the video recording aspect, the time efficiency can be observed for both jobseekers and
employers, without having any intermediaries between them. Jobseeker's privacy is protected
because no third party is involved in the transactions.

Weaknesses:

One of the main concerns of the current situation of WOTJOB is the scarcity of the vacancies that
can be found exploring the app: jobseekers won’t use it in case of no job-possibilities. Furthermore,
employers won’t be inclined to pay for a service that doesn’t work.
The costs of developing new software (Android) and sales agents are primary problems that have
to be resolved if the goal is to reach the maximum number of users, finding the right balance
between jobseekers and employers. The facility of being copied and the utilization on this app just
for specific jobs can represent two more hurdles.

Opportunities:

Currently the app does not generate revenue, introducing ads can help with this “one-third of
revenue for top mobile publishers comes courtesy of video advertising” (Koetsier, 2017).
Developing an Android app opens up WOTJOB to a currently unused market segment. According
to Statista (2018), Android OS currently holds 44.75 percent of the market. Improved feature set
of the app may lead to more people interacting with the app, an example of this would be direct
video chats for jobseekers and employers within the application. Currently WOTJOB is attempting
to gain a local presence, to further grow the company they may also decide to expand to the rest
of the UK and also the EU states.

Threats:

As there is no patent on the type of software that WOTJOB uses it is possible for established and
also new entries into the market to use the idea of video CVs within their apps and or websites.

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The barriers to entry into the online/app job search market are relatively low making it easy for
new entrants into the already crowded market. Brexit is a double edge sword, it will open the
market for jobs that were previously held by EU citizens but also creates issues if WOTJOB would
like to expand into EU states.

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Appendix 7 – Budgeting

Figure 1. (Drury, 2009)

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