Starting the Research Process

Investigating the relevant marketing metrics of Compete Now

BE201 Marketing

The Players (Group 8:6)

Fanny Bohlenius: 25732 Sofia Maaø: 25572 Althea Liewendahl: 25751

Vilgot Hassbring: 25780 Fabian Hribsek: 25651 Lykke Tolstoy Beckvid: 25657
Marketing - Assignment 1
Compete Now is a family business that creates up-to-date trivia games. It all started with four
friends on a vacation, where they noticed a gap in the market - there were no games that
could easily be taken on a trip. They decided to create MIG - “The quiz you bring”. Six years
later, MIG was Sweden's most sold trivia game, and today, 20 years later, the company is still
growing and thriving. References to “The Effectiveness System” by Sveriges Annonsörer
will be made throughout the research process.

Media/Investment
Reach
Compete Now’s business strategy is largely defined by releasing relevant and up to date
games. Of course, this has to be communicated to their customer base and potential
customers. In order to be able to communicate new games efficiently, it’s important to reach
as many people as possible.

Share of voice
In order to be a market leader, it’s crucial to be able to compete in marketing
communications. It’s reasonable to assume that if competitors have more effective and
sophisticated communication, their influence will be superior. Thus, it’s relevant for Compete
Now to invest properly in marketing communications in order to stay relevant.

Marketing/marketing communications
Similar to above, but internally rather than externally. It’s interesting to measure the
relationship between investment in marketing communication and sales. This allows for
identification of areas of improvement/weak links in the company’s growth funnel. Is the
money Compete Now invests in marketing represented in the sales? The opposite can also be
asked: Are the sales that Compete Now is generating what would be expected from a certain
level of investment in marketing? Are they (under) performing?

Marketing communications
It’s clear why a long/short term balance must be upheld. Of course, Compete Now needs to
maintain a certain level of performance in the short term in order to fulfill its obligations and
stay in business. Simultaneously, more long-term marketing strategies such as brand-building
are essential for the survival of the company.

Digital
Opening rate
E-mail communication is a fundamental component of Compete Now's marketing strategy
and serves as a significant platform for engaging a considerable amount of the organization's
clientele. The recipients of email correspondence are primarily composed of loyal customers
who are targeted during the launch of new games and other promotional campaigns. E-mail
communication seems to be an effective means of reaching their customers, which could be
measured by the opening rate.

Requests for quotation

The majority of requests for quotation submitted to the company originate from larger
retailers, including Akademibokhandeln and Åhlens. Given that Compete Now primarily
distributes its games through retailers, this constitutes a substantial proportion of the firm's
overall sales. As such, the estimated total business value represented by requests for
quotation, therefore, represents a crucial metric in assessing the financial performance of the
company.

Share of search
When conducting Google searches for products in the same segment, Compete Now's
visibility in the search results is relatively low compared to competitors. The concept of share
of search is a crucial KPI in terms of attracting prospective customers and tracking the
performance and brand recognition of the company over time. Improving Compete Now’s
share of search would be beneficial for their success.

Campaign
Campaign liking/Ad liking
Compete Now has an “out-of-date” campaign strategy. They are confident in their intimate
Instagram posts and Emails. To gather data regarding ad liking, Compete Now can conclude
if they should stick with their campaign format or alternatively switch to a more modernized
campaign approach. Do customers like personal emails, should they be even more personal or
would they prefer a more professional campaign format?

Sender identification
To understand how strong Compete Now is as a brand and how unique its campaigns are,
sender identification is a relevant KPI. The company is going through a shift in their
marketing design. One of their challenges is to create sender identification, which currently is
more or less non-existent. Does their new marketing investment show any results?

Differentiation
Compete Now´s intent is to create personal and word-of-mouth marketing. They aim for
unique advertising in contrast to today's typical campaign approach which is minimalistic and
elegant. With a newly added role of a marketing manager, Compete Now reasons whether
they should start launching more professional-looking campaigns. Therefore it’s relevant for
Compete Now to review how much their campaigning actually differs from competitors.
They can further evaluate their uncertainty and identify which direction their campaigns
should take.

Brand
Awareness
Do people know about the games and how they are connected to the company? One potential
change is to uniform the company by simplifying the accessibility and thereby creating more
awareness. In short, the company offers two different popular games, that people rarely know
are connected. Their instagram is called “migfragespel” and their website “playmig.com”. Is
this really optimal and beneficial for people's awareness of Compete Now? Does the
company need more uniform branding?

Relevance
One of Compete Now's Unique Selling Points is their up-to-date questions. They ensure that
the games are relevant to everyone by regularly renewing questions. Can they use this USP in
a marketing context, to emphasize that the games are relevant so that people are aware of it
before they buy the game by highlighting their up-to-date questions more in their marketing?
In addition to this, the games are fit for the purpose “traveling game”, which might be a good
indicator of relevance.

Specific associations/attributes
Since the company's slogan is “The quiz you bring”, one relevant measure is to look at
whether or not people actually utilize the mobility of the game and associate the games with
traveling or going out, or if they most often just play at home. If people don’t associate the
games with the intended purpose, Compete Now could improve, or even revise, their specific
associations.

Business
Sales revenue - value
It is possible to highlight the sales revenue and its value for the firm. Notably, the increase or
decrease should be considered, as it is a particularly critical point for the survival of the
business. Observing historic results help indicate how to operate in the future.

Market share - value

It is both interesting to see how the market share has changed compared with the previous
periods and in absolute terms. For Compete Now it is relevant to stay market orientated, and
as competitor orientation is one of the main components to achieve this capability, it is
important for Compete Now to understand its competitors and keep track of what is going on
in the market. Hence, market share will indicate not only how the business is operating in
itself, but also how the business is growing in comparison to competition.

Number of new customers

It is relevant to measure the number of new customers in a specific period of time in order to
be able to identify casualties - recognizing patterns and seasonal changes for instance. It is
interesting for Compete Now since it can help the company recognize its achievements, while
also enabling the company to pinpoint their patterns of weakness.

Purchase process interactions

It is relevant to track at what stages activity increases in order to more efficiently take
measures that funnel customers to finally purchase products. If store visits increase
drastically, but are not added in the cart, what does that indicate? Perhaps, the in-store
product placement or the product design needs to be revised. To conclude, it’s relevant for the
success of Compete Now to measure where interactions decrease in order to increase sales.

Relationship
Repurchase frequency
The repurchase frequency is an interesting KPI, as it reveals the stability of the customer
base. Identifying the length of the customer relationship can indicate the level of
performance. The more customers Compete Now attracts, staying within the repurchase cycle
for a long time, the better.

Customer Satisfaction Index

CSI is a fundamental KPI, as it can be used to identify potential improvement areas. It can
help the company recognize whether customer expectations are met - for example if the
games are appropriate and challenging enough for the target group. The index enables
Compete Now to evaluate customer satisfaction. Customer orientation is one of the main
components required to develop a market oriented organization. CSI and the index which
follows will be crucial in developing future games enjoyed by customers.

Recommendation (Net Promoter Score)

Recommendation is a KPI of high importance for Compete Now, as the product is
customized for social environments, in which all the players involved will be able to
recommend the game to their acquaintances. It is beneficial for Compete Now to have
word-of-mouth recommendations, hopefully resulting in increased sales. Thus, the NPS
would be an interesting measurement.

Conclusion
The metrics mentioned are not of equal importance, nonetheless they all contribute to
nuanced analysis of the marketing aspect of Compete Now.