Limerick Gazette

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLANand future of the archive. There will always be a need for an Archive Curatorif Limerick Gazette is to survive long into the future and such an individualmust be paid a livable wage and have sufficient funds to cover maintenanceand upgrading costs as new technologies come into place into the future. Inorder to ensure that systems are in place to do this Limerick Gazette hasidentified 10 possible revenue streams. The following Section explores thesestreams in detail. 99

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN15. Revenue Streams Limerick Gazette service model has identified 10 revenue streams (From A-Z):  App Sales  Commissions (Art Gallery)  Donations  E-Books  Limerick e-Gazette  Google Advertising  On Site Advertising  Online Store  Premium Membership  Radio Advertising For these projections the monthly estimate for each Revenue Stream is kept at a monthly minimum of €100.00 per stream with sales rising by 10% per annum from year 1 to year 5. These are the necessary minimum target figures for Limerick Gazette to succeed as a non-profit enterprise. FIGURE 61: REVENUE STREAMS 100

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLANThe following sections explore the implementation of each of these minimum target monthly/annual revenue streams in greater detail. Ch 15: Section 1 APP SALESLimerick Gazette App for Tablet, iPhone, iPad and Android is currently under development and will provide a 100% emulation of Limerick Gazette website for touchscreen technologies.Limerick Gazette will implement common marketing techniques, as outlined in Section 9, to include Facebook, Forum Posts, Twitter, Own Website, Press Releases, Linkedin, App Review Sites, Blogs, Friends, Contests, YouTube, Flyers, Newsletters, Flash Demos, Physical Networking and Podcasts.The implementation of Constant Contact® software on Limerick Gazette website is now facilitating the construction of an e-mail list to maintain contact via newsletter, email and other digital means of maintaining communication with interested members.With the average sales price for an iPhone App hovering around €1.50, and by the time Apple takes its commission, the average App will generate over €10,000 in sales. Considering the cost of mobile app development, the average iPhone app is just breaking even (Hoeksema, 2015).However, the creation of an App is absolutely imperative for the success of Limerick Gazette as more and more Irish people now turn to mobile devices as a means of accessing the internet (Google, 2016). FIGURE 62: DEVICE USAGE 101

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 63: APP REVENUESTo achieve its target of €100.00 per month profit from the APP revenue stream Limerick Gazette must sell 250 APPS at €1.99 each in year 1 (Sales figures (not price) must rise by 20% per annum) over the first five years. Limerick Gazette’s total sales target is 1526 pieces by end year 5 or an average of 25 APPS (Downloads) per month. iTunes (and other App Stores) share of the sale price (Commission) is normally 30% while 70% returns to Limerick Gazette. Ch 15: Section 2 COMMISSIONS (ART GALLERY) FIGURE 64: ARTISTS GALLERYMost artists sell their work on a commission basis through art galleries and other areas of public display. The general rate of commission varies between 15% and 20% to the vendor. Visual Artists Ireland recently researched the matter 102

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN of payments and discovered that in almost 80% of cases artists received between 50% and 80% fee for their work. (Tipton, 2014).Limerick Gazette will not be involved in the sale of Originals works by the artists but will share the price of superior quality HD jpeg images of each piece of work by that artist. Limerick Gazette aims to encourage artists to avail of the free service and to furthermore promote, through social media and other sources, the availability of the service as a means of supporting the artists themselves.Limerick Gazette aims to offer an opportunity for Limerick artists to display their work in an online gallery with a firm link established between the work and the artists own website. Each image on display in the gallery will also be for sale to download as high-definition images with the purchase price being shared (50/50) between the artist and Limerick Gazette. FIGURE 65: GALLERY PROJECTIONSTo achieve its target of €100.00 per month profit from the Art Sales revenue stream Limerick Gazette must sell 352 images at €1.99 each in year 1 (Sales figures (not price) must rise by 20% per annum) over the first five years. Limerick Gazette’s total sales target is 2149 pieces by end year 5 or an average of 36 pieces per month. Each Artist share of the sale price (Commission) is normally 50% while 50% returns to Limerick Gazette. 103

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN Ch 15: Section 3 DONATIONSThere are two classes to consider under the heading of Donations:1. Members Donations2. FundraisingLimerick Gazette is not very optimistic about Crowdfunding in Ireland although asking individuals for donations is one of the most common fundraising strategies used by startups such as Limerick Gazette. Online operations such as GoFundMe®, Indiegogo® and PayPal® and KickStarter® offer crowdfunding services.However, some Irish projects claim it is difficult to dedicate the resources needed to be successful with crowdfunding and consequently end their campaigns without hitting their funding targets (Worrall, 2014).It has also been found that in a relatively small country such as Ireland, crowdfunding will be difficult, and participating companies should see the process as a \"full-time job\". It has also been argued that Ireland perhaps has a different fundraising culture to that of the US and other nations, where crowdfunding is an exceptionally popular way to raise investment (Worrall, 2014). FIGURE 66: DONATION BUTTONHowever, the idea of crowdfunding is definitely one to be explored and Limerick Gazette in its Main survey posed two questions in relation to raising funds through donations and the responses gave good cause for optimism. 80.4% of respondents thought that having a donate button on the website would be a good idea (19.6% rejected the idea) and this finding suggests that the philosophy of asking for donations is not unacceptable to the majority of members. 104

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 67: DONATION CONSENTFurthermore, when respondents were asked how likely they were to donate to Limerick Gazette there was also a positive response with 45.8% indicating that they were “Likely” to donate to the project and a further 42.3% stating they were not likely but “perhaps” would donate and only 11.9% stating that they would not donate.Furnished with these findings Limerick Gazette on August 1st 2016 placed a “Donate” button on the top left of the Homepage (a most visible location) on an experimental basis to see if any visitors will donate without being pursued to do so (For Results see Appendix 4). FIGURE 68: DONATION AGREEMENTFundraising Events such as Meet & Greet Coffee Mornings and other such events are also a revenue stream option for Limerick Gazette but are categorised here under Donations.The fundraising sector in Ireland has significantly increased during recent years and each year, it is estimated that over €500m is raised in Ireland alone (FEG, 2016). Members of Limerick Gazette were asked if they would attend ‘Meet & Greet’ Events and 87.3% of respondents felt that this was a good idea. At such events a number of fundraising efforts could occur such as a percentage of coffee sales or direct donations. 105

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 69: PROJECTED DONATIONSNaturally it is hard to predict what members are willing to donate (if anything at all) so Limerick Gazette can only project its target figure of €100 per month and what it must achieve to accomplish that target. To achieve its target of €100.00 per month in Donations Limerick Gazette must encourage numerous members to contribute, between them, a total of €100.00 per month at random amounts. This donation rate must rise by 20% per annum over the first five years. Limerick Gazette’s average monthly donations target will be €122.00 per month by end year 5. PayPal’s share of the donation is 2% while 98% returns to Limerick Gazette.In its Main survey Limerick Gazette asked members if they were likely to donate: FIGURE 70: DONATIONS LIKELIHOOD 106

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN Ch 15: Section 4 E-BOOKSThe ability to sell e-books as an E-Publishing site is easier than ever before. A cult like following has developed for self-published e-books among cost conscious readers and many people feel that the downloading of books at cheap prices and helping drive the E-reading revolution is currently most acceptable (Eagar, 2013).Limerick Gazette proposes canvassing its members for submission of completed manuscripts (in electronic format) for publication in our online bookstore. The software to accomplish this is already implemented on Limerick Gazette website. Already Limerick Gazette has been approached by some writers to consider publishing books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction novels and books of essays and short stories.The books would be sold on the same basis as the artwork in the online archive. Namely, on a profit share basis with 75% of the purchase price going to the writer, and 25% going to Limerick Gazette.Research suggests that a large percentage of people who read e-books are extremely price sensitive with most not willing to pay any more than €10.00 (Eagar, 2013). Amazon has created a trend in the minds of many readers. Thus, an independent publisher like Limerick Gazette is best advised to pick up on this trend and use low pricing as a way to get readers to take a chance on new books.There has never been a more interesting time to be an independent publishing company. The opportunities to publish and sell eBooks are unprecedented. Limerick Gazette aims to capitalise on this market while offering members a cost effective way to have their writings made available to a global audience and one cost effective route (and there are many) is through Amazon Direct Publishing. Ch 15: Section 5 AMAZON DIRECT PUBLISHINGLimerick Gazette is exploring the option of outsourcing the publication, sale and distribution of its Limerick e-Gazette and e-book publishing elements. Current research suggests that this may be a far more feasible and cost effective option. While self-publishing through its own site has its benefits, the massive audience of Amazon's Kindle store makes it appealing for Limerick Gazette as a publication option and a means of acquiring new members. However, publishing for Kindle comes with its own challenges, especially in the design and formatting departments and these need to be further explored prior to publication of either the first issue of the Limerick e- Gazette or future e-Books. 107

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 71: KINDLE E-BOOKThe Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform is available to authors in many countries including USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Australia and Japan, and the supporting Kindle store market now stretches beyond 100 countries. The problem for Limerick Gazette is that at the heart of Kindle software is mobi; a series of file formats developed by Mobipocket (owned by Amazon since 2005) to develop the software for Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, web-based Cloud Reader and for the Kindle reading apps for Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Windows Phone, PC and Mac, “This remains both Amazon’s greatest strength and weakness. Amazon might dominate the e-reader market, but the format of choice for most other device manufacturers is e-Pub. Also, despite a wider range of sophisticated colour e-readers, the Apple iPad remains a more suitable device for colour, heavily illustrated and enhanced e-books” (Rooney, 2014). However, Limerick Gazette does not consider this a distinct disadvantage by comparison to the many advantages to taking this, or perhaps, both routes. 108

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 72: E-BOOK REVENUESTo achieve its target of €100.00 per month profit from the e-Book revenue stream Limerick Gazette must sell 1200 books at €10.00 each in year 1 (Sales figures (not price) must rise by 20% per annum) over the first five years. Limerick Gazette’s average monthly sales target is 122 books by end year 5 and a grand total of 7,326 over the same period. Amazon’s share of the sale price is 30% while 70% returns to Limerick Gazette. This final share is then split 50% x 50% between the Author and Limerick Gazette. Ch 15: Section 6 LIMERICK E-GAZETTE FIGURE 73: E-GAZETTE SAMPLE 109

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLANDigital Publishing is a key revenue stream for Limerick Gazette. As more and more consumers use their tablet and mobile devices to consume content, there has been major growth in digital publishing platforms and tools available to online publishers. Limerick Gazette has reviewed many of these solutions and have selected 2 possible options. Amazon Direct Publishing and FlippingBook® which converts PDFs into interactive flipping books with a professional look & feel and then puts them online and instantly shares on selected locations on the web from where they can be distributed or purchased for all types of devices.While both options are attractive the advantage with Amazon is that their service charges are built into their share of the sale price while Flippingbooks demand upfront payment and a monthly fee for their service. However, ultimately both are taking 30% of the sale price. FIGURE 74: E-GAZETTE REVENUES FIGURE 75: PUBLISHING SCHEDULE 110

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLANTo achieve its target of €100.00 per month profit from the Limerick e-Gazette revenue stream Limerick Gazette must sell 150 Magazines at €10.00 each in year 1 (Sales figures (not price) must rise by 20% per annum) over the first five years. Limerick Gazette’s average monthly sales target is 15 issues and achieving 916 issues by end year 5. Amazon’s (and FlippingBooks) share (Commission) of the sale price is 30% while 70% returns to Limerick Gazette.Limerick Gazette Limerick e-Gazette will offer members content, including text and images that will give an insight into what Limerick life was like for past citizens. The idea is to inform readers as to what the media were reporting each month from January 1900 to December 2000 so there would be 100 issues (Each issue contains 12 months/1 year) available for purchasing from the E- Store.When the Sample issue (Illustration below) of Limerick Gazette Limerick e- Gazette prepared as part of Limerick Gazette Strategic Implementation Plan process was posted for viewing/downloading on the Facebook portal on August 1st 2016 the reaction of members was immediately positive and most enthusiastic. 111

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN LIMERICK GAZETTE LIMERICK E-GAZETTE SAMPLE ISSUE 112

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 76: E-GAZETTE PAGES FIGURE 77: E-GAZETTE REACTIONSThe compilation of editorial content is not as difficult as might be assumed. The research resources already exist in online digital archives and are free to use (with References and Citations) for any historical publication.The images are already in the archive and use of them for this purpose is not a breach of copyright. In point of fact, if there was any copyright claim it is a simple matter of replacing the questioned image with another and this takes a matter of merely a few seconds and thus, the “no quibble” declaration in our copyright statement on each page of the website is still in force with the Limerick e-Gazette. However, because the owners of the images are immediately contactable on the site their consent for use of the image will be sought and secured before publication.With the FlippingBook Publisher application Limerick Gazette can create and publish documents, magazines, brochures, catalogs, and books to the Internet and social networks fast and efficiently. The application is available in several editions (Basic, Professional, Project and Corporate) with different sets of options and features however, due to financial constraints Limerick Gazette currently has opted for the limited basic package but we would like to upgrade in the near future.The application comes along with the FlippingBook Cloud service for storing digital publications. The application holds a dominant market position, thanks to its high quality publication design, support of various platforms for reading 113

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN (including mobile devices), high reliability, and services for publishing large documents and publications (FlippingBook, 2016). Ch 15: Section 7 GOOGLE ADVERTISING (ADSENSE) FIGURE 78: ADSENSE APPROVALGoogle AdSense, the search engine companies' advertising program since its launch in 2003 publish ads which appear on third party websites such as Limerick Gazette. Setting up ads on the website is straightforward. Simply placing supplied Google HTML code onto the site, providing the search engine with bank details, earns participants a share of the proceeds paid from ads users click on.However, this as a stand-alone revenue stream is not a lucrative proposition. The downside is that the third-party cut of Google's revenue usually is a minor percentage per click and only 20% of visitors will ever be tempted by the ads, “For new websites where visitors amount to only a few hundred per day, the money adds up to practically nothing” (Irish Times, 2007).However, as membership increases over the 5 year lifecycle, with Google AdSense in place, the monthly commission becomes something more reasonable and sufficient to pay, for example, annual webhosting costs. 114

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 79: ADSENSE CLICK-RATESIn order to make AdSense a functional source of revenue it is necessary for Limerick Gazette to attract an average of 1,000 visitors to the website every day. Having accomplished this it is then required to increase this figure by a minimum of 20% per annum from year 1 to 5. AdSense suggest that 20% of visitors will actually “Click” on an advertisement (CTR – Click through Rate) and depending on the volume of CTR a range of payments, as dictated by the advertiser can go from 1p to €1.00 per click (Depending on what the Advertiser is willing to pay per click and after AdSense has taken its commission). In the Main Survey respondents were almost evenly split on whether Google Advertising on the website was acceptable with a difference of only 4.8% between those who would agree with the revenue stream and those who would reject it. This finding suggests that Limerick Gazette would have a low CTR and therefore projections are based on the absolute minimum of €0.015 per click.However, even with this unoptimistic estimation the revenue stream in the long run remains feasible. In this worst case scenario the projections above assume €0.015 per click in payments to Limerick Gazette. It is also a fact that at these rates of CTR and RPM (Rate per View or/Estimated Earning) it is more than reasonable to expect this low rate per click (AdSense, 2016). Given these facts and figures Limerick Gazette has modest expectations of achieving its monthly target in year 2 and averaging €1337.02 per annum by year 5 or €111.42 per month. Ch 15: Section 8 ON SITE ADVERTISING (CHITIKA)Limerick Gazette will offer on-site advertising to local based businesses associated with various elements of the site including photography, research, genealogy and other factors. There are many good reasons for such businesses availing of the offer. While advertisers are drawn to high traffic numbers, they desire something else even more: high conversion rates. Research suggests 115

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN that 500 to 1000 unique daily visitors is an excellent starting point for a new website to consider advertisers (King, 2015).Limerick Gazette, having considered numerous Online Advertising Agencies, are most impressed with the services offered by Chitika® which is different than other ad networks because it scans the search strings of locations of visitors people who are directed to the website and then directs locally based businesses ads that match those search strings which, in turn, results in a higher click through rate (CTR).With this particular application visitors to the site will only see advertising related to their exact geographical location and related to the website content they are viewing, for example, advertising related to Irish history, photography and a number of other associated criteria as submitted to Chitika® by the metadata of Limerick Gazette website. However, for the purpose of projections Limerick Gazette has applied the same criteria as is applied to AdSense therefore the results are equal. FIGURE 80: CHITIKA CLICK-RATESIn order to make Chitika a functional source of revenue it is necessary for Limerick Gazette to attract an average of 1,000 visitors to the website every day. Having accomplished this it is then required to increase this figure by a minimum of 20% per annum from year 1 to 5. Chitika suggest that less than 1 in 5 (20%) of visitors will actually “Click” on an advertisement (CTR – Click through Rate) and depending on the volume of CTR a range of payments, as dictated by the advertiser can go from 1p to €1.00 per click (Depending on what the Advertiser is willing to pay per click and after Chitika has taken its commission). However, in the worst case scenario the projections assume €0.015 per click. At these rates of CTR and RPM (Rate per View or/Estimated Earning) it is more than reasonable to expect this rate per click (AdSense, 2016). Given these figure Limerick Gazette has modest expectations of averaging €1337.02 per annum by year 5 or €111.42 per month. 116

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLANCh 15: Section 9 ONLINE STORE: PHYSICAL MERCHANDISEBranding is one of the most important aspects of Limerick Gazette because an effective brand strategy gives the Project a major edge in increasing revenues. Limerick Gazette brand tells members what they can expect from the products and services of the Project and furthermore differentiates the offerings from those of competitors. In order to establish the brand Limerick Gazette invited members, through means of Facebook engagement and the survey participation (See Appendix 1) to choose colours, fonts and icons for use in the official Logo.Therefore Limerick Gazette has already established itself with existing members as being what they want and need the Project to be. The foundation of Limerick Gazette brand is the Logo.The website and all promotional materials will integrate the Logo in order to communicate the brand. Surveyed members were mostly in agreement with the idea of buying products such as T-Shirts, Baseball Caps and apparel with the Logo placed upon them. 71.6% of members thought this would be a good idea and 80.3% “Likely/Perhaps” to buy such products: FIGURE 81: BRANDING APPROVAL 117

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 82: POTENTIAL CUSTOMERSLimerick Gazette brand strategy is how, what, where, when and to whom we plan on communicating and delivering on our brand messages. Where we advertise is part of our brand strategy. Our distribution channels are also part of our brand strategy. And what we communicate visually and verbally are part of our brand strategy too. Consistent, strategic branding leads to a strong brand equity, which means the added value brought to the Project’s products or services that allows us to charge more for the brand than what identical, unbranded products command. This added value intrinsic to brand equity comes in the form of perceived quality or members’ emotional attachment to their native city.Limerick Gazette defined its brand with the assistance of the members who already were very much aware of the mission of the project, the benefits and features of the service, their own impression of the service and what qualities they associate with the service. The survey helped to understand the needs, habits and desires of the current and prospective members. It was not sufficient to rely on what we think members think but knowing what members think.Limerick Gazette surveyed 176 of its members (See Appendix 1) to determine what type of Logo they found most attractive. Earlier parts of the same survey determined color scheme and font but it was also necessary to determine what image they felt best represented Limerick. Although all the images were popular with members, we suggest it very much depended on members location within the city, No. 5 depicting St. John’s Cathedral emerged as the most popular of all iconic images.However, in the process of designing the Logo and canvasing members opinions Limerick Gazette realised that there is a considerable demand for all of the images to varying degrees and would therefore make an interesting range of useable icons for printing of merchandisable materials such as t-shirts, baseball caps, keyrings, mugs and other items for sale from the online store.Numerous Irish companies such as PromoTex® and C2O® offer cost-effective outsourcing of manufacturing and distribution services to clients such as Limerick Gazette can automate the task of manufacturing, distribution and supply of goods on a commission basis. 118

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLANThe most attractive for Limerick Gazette is SpreadShirt.ie which offers all of these services on a profit sharing basis. Limerick Gazette has already supplied 10 sample designs to the company (See Figure Below) but is not ready to offer these for sale from our website until the site is fully constructed. FIGURE 83: ICON RANGEHaving completed the survey and analysing the results the Logo was developed and placed in a prominent position on both the Facebook page and the website itself.It was also necessary to develop a tagline and submissions were invited from members in a Facebook competition, for a small prize of two T-shirts, to write a tagline in 10 words or less.Having adjudicated the results the following tagline was approved: “Carefully Archiving Limerick’s 20th Century Cultural History”Limerick Gazette followed professional advice that the tagline must be adopted because it was memorable and meaningful and also was a concise statement that captures the essence of the brand, “Using the same colour scheme, logo placement, look and feel throughout the website and implementing the same features into the logo itself gives a consistent feel as to how the project presents itself” (Williams, 2016).Limerick Gazette e-Store will outsource the manufacturing and deliver of physical merchandise to either PromoTex® or C2O® who will fulfill all orders and pay Limerick Gazette an estimated commission of 20% (negotiable).The products will be displayed in the e-Store and the impression will be created that the member is buying the products directly from Limerick Gazette. In order to make the order more attractive and worthwhile for the outside agency to cover logistic costs there will be a minimum order in place of €10.00 (Including Post & Packaging). However, to simply projections Limerick Gazette has calculated an average order price at €10.00 as follows: 119

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 84: AVERAGE PRICESTo achieve its target of €100.00 per month profit from the e-Store revenue stream Limerick Gazette must sell 180 physical items from the e-Store at €10.00 each in year 1 (Sales figures (not price) must rise by 20% per annum) over the first five years. Limerick Gazette’s average monthly sales target is 15 items per month and achieving 916 items by end year 5. PromoTex® or C2O® share (Commission) of the sale price is 80% while 20% returns to Limerick Gazette. FIGURE 85: E-STORE REVENUES Ch 15: Section 10 PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP.To achieve its target of €100.00 per month from the Premium Membership revenue stream Limerick Gazette must sell 12 packages at €100.00 per annum each in year 1. Sales figures, not price, must rise by 20% per annum but this 120

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN figure will include repeat subscriptions. Over the first five years Limerick Gazette’s average monthly sales target is 18 subscriptions and achieving 89 subscriptions by end year 5. FIGURE 86: PREMIUM MEMBERSHIPThe concept of Basic and Premium Membership is best understood as Individuals (Basic) and Donating Institutions/Organisation (Premium). Premium Membership will cost Universities and Institutions/Organisations €100.00 per annum. For this fee they will granted access to an ad free environment when they log in to the website. Individual members (Basic) will have an ad supported environment but may also choose to become Premium Members for the same fee if they so desire.Both forms of membership will offer unrestricted access to the image archive and all services would be available to all members regardless of status. If individual members donate they automatically become premium members and have unrestricted access to all services on the site. However it is also possible for premium members to continue to donate if they wish to do so but no further rewards are given for subsequent donations. Ch 15: Section 11 RADIO ADVERTISINGRadio Limerick Online (RLO) is a 24/7 automated audio stream using VosCast® technology which allows the uploading, Cloud archiving, scheduling and rotational broadcasting of audio. The non-music service aims to archive pre-recorded innovative and professional vocal programming ranging from interview programs, documentaries and other shows of historical interest.In this element of the ongoing project Limerick Gazette will encourage members and friends to provide recordings with a Limerick connection and made by themselves - the people of Limerick. Once a recording is submitted for inclusion it is then professionally edited and permanently play listed for numerous airings over the future. 121

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLANThe objective is to gather 8760 Hours of Limerick recordings (1 full year) and archive all of these in a rotated list to permanently air on Radio Limerick Online long into the foreseeable future.Modern technology has simplified the automation of such a service as a home based project. Placing of advertising on the service is also automated though the nature of the advertisers will be very specific as is the audience for such a service.According to February 2015 research conducted by eMarketer internet radio is set to increase as consumers spend more time listening to online radio. In all, they estimate that audio streaming listening hours would grow to 42.7% by 2017 (eMarketer, 2015).Spending on advertising in Ireland has grown by 10 per cent in 2016, the first double-digit growth since the recession, according to a forecast by Accenture Media Management Ireland and digital will be the fastest-growing medium (Accenture, 2016). Accenture expects growth of 15 per cent in digital in 2016, with a continued surge in mobile advertising leading the way. Volumes of programmatic advertising – the purchase of online ads through automating software – will also intensify. They estimate that between 20 to 25 per cent of digital spend at the moment is programmatic and this is set to increase to well over 30 per cent in 2017 (Slattery, 2016)Limerick Gazette with the provision of an educational and informative audio stream with a long term relevance will be strategically placed to avail of this increasing market for digital advertising into the future. FIGURE 87: ADVERTISING DEALSFrom previous knowledge and experience in the profession of Radio Broadcasting Limerick Gazette is aware of the reality that Radio Advertising is best sold in package deals. RLO will offer 4 deals (as shown above) and with each deal (with the exception of Deal 1) comes an offer of an equivalent period of free advertising to entice clients to extend their advertising time periods. The average price across all packages is €175.00 and this price is used to calculate projections over 5 years, assuming absolute minimum sales of, for example, a total of 6 packages per annum with prices and sales rising by 10% each year. 122

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 88: ADVERTISING REVENUESThe recording of advertisements will be outsourced to RPC Audio (UK) because the service is online and automated and the professional production of a 15 second advertisement can be completed for clients at an additional cost. Production costs vary from between €20.00 to €30.00 depending on Advertisement duration and are usually delivered in MP3 format within 24 hours of RPC being supplied with a script (RPC, 2016). Ch 15: Section 12 ONLINE STORELimerick Gazette has already set up an experimental but fully operational Online Store offering on its website and offering a range of 5 digital products for sale to website members. The reality of selling online is that e-commerce takes time, effort, and some technical preparation to set up. The most important technical factors to be considered include site software and security to payment gateways.However, as a digital store all of the products are electronic and immediately downloadable which eliminates the need for shipping and other logistic issues. Forthcoming products could include eBooks, music, graphic designs, and computer applications. Digital products also have the distinct advantage of unlimited stock and are permanently available if and when a customer demands.The inventory costs are non-existent and this significantly decreases the cost of launching and maintaining a digital store with no additional costs for shipping, storage and offline management systems.Unlike physical products, digital products don’t have barriers such as customs or shipping restrictions. As Limerick Gazette sells downloadable products, it doesn’t matter how far away customers are as they can be reached as long as they have internet access. Local, National and International orders are very similar. 123

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLANHaving considered a number of software providers Limerick Gazette opted for SiteBuilder E-Commerce Solutions® which is a byproduct of the hosting and website development/construction providers SiteBuilder®. The SiteBuilder® software can be configured so that products are available for download automatically after each purchase/payment. All Limerick Gazette must do is monitor and ensure the system is working properly.The key benefits are never running out of stock with digital goods, benefits from lower inventory costs, shipping and warehouse costs, reaching international markets with less hassle and automated functions make selling easier.For the purpose of these projections an average price of €5.00 is calculated across 5 digital products at €1.00 each. FIGURE 89: DIGITAL SALESTo achieve its target of €100.00 per month from digital sales it would be necessary to reach 20 sales per month which, as is shown above, would not happen until year 3, assuming sales successfully increased from zero to 242 in years 1 and 2. Ch 15: Section 13 REVENUE STREAMS ANALYSISIn the final analysis as a non-profit business Limerick Gazette needs to generate some turnover in order to meet its annual costs. By setting the targets low it can be seen that the business can eventually sustain itself but it would take the full 5 years to complete both the project and to establish all revenue streams to the point where the business can break even which is the purpose of this, or any other, non-profit organisation. 124

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 90: MINIMUM REVENUESIn conclusion there are certain factors that emerge by this analysis of potential revenue streams. The most effective way of implementing differentiation between Basic and Premium membership plans is with the inclusion of Advertising on the former and no advertising on the latter. Basic membership will offer unrestricted ad-driven access to the image archive and premium members will also have no-ads unrestricted access to all services on the site. Google AdSense, offers a small revenue stream to Limerick Gazette and deserves further consideration as to whether the existence of such advertising would compromise the enjoyment factor for members. As a stand-alone revenue stream it is not a lucrative proposition. However, as membership increases with Google AdSense in place, the monthly commission becomes something more reasonable and sufficient to pay, for example, annual webhosting costs. Modest projections suggest Google Ads could generate €1200.00 per annum.Through its survey and Facebook portal Limerick Gazette has already established itself with existing members as being what they want and need the Project to be. Limerick Gazette defined its brand with the assistance of the members who already were very much aware of the mission of the project, the benefits and features of the service, their own impression of the service and what qualities they associate with the service.Limerick Gazette has determined that there is a considerable demand for variations of the Logo images to varying degrees and would therefore make an interesting range of useable icons for printing of merchandisable materials such as t-shirts, baseball caps, keyrings, mugs and other items for sale from the online store. As already mentioned, Irish companies such as PromoTex® 125

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN and C2O® offer cost-effective outsourcing of manufacturing and distribution services to clients and can automate the task of manufacturing, distribution and supply of such goods on a commission basis.Limerick Gazette is not very optimistic about Crowdfunding in Ireland although asking individuals for donations is one of the most common fundraising strategies used by startups such as Limerick Gazette. An online cooperation between PayPal® and Limerick Gazette was setup on August 1st 2016 and a “Donate” button is placed on the Homepage on an experimental basis but this will not become functional until after the website is officially launched.Limerick Gazette has already set up an experimental but fully operational (but not yet trading) Online Digital Store offering a small range of products for sale to website members. One offering is pre-ordering Limerick Gazette App for Tablet, iPhone, iPad and Android which is currently under development and will provide a 100% emulation of Limerick Gazette website for touchscreen technologies.Limerick Gazette also intends to use this document as a basis for funding to numerous venture capital companies to which Limerick Gazette project falls within the remit for investment. FIGURE 91: START-UP FUNDING 126

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN16. Member Acquisition Limerick Gazette goals and objectives are important as they clarify the purpose of the project and will help identify necessary actions in order for the project to succeed. The main goals involve areas such as profitability, efficiency, customer service, growth and marketing (Section 9). Having a comprehensive list of project objectives creates the guidelines that become the foundation for Limerick Gazette project planning. Ch 16: Section 1 PROFITABILITY Limerick Gazette must aim for immediate profitability in order to survive. The revenue objective consists of increasing sales by 5% each month over a 5 year period January 2017 to December 2021. Expense objectives involve decreasing costs by at least 1% each month in the same period. Maintaining profitability can only be achieved by ensuring that revenue stays ahead of the costs of doing project. Limerick Gazette will focus on controlling costs and maintaining the profit margin on products and services sold on the website (Summary of Financials Section 18) Ch 16: Section 2 CUSTOMER SERVICE The primary customer service goal is to develop a perception that Limerick Gazette is easy to do project with and to improve response time to customer complaints. Objectives to help meet these goals will be increasing customer online services and implementing highly visible policy where customers are guaranteed to receive an immediate response to all enquiries. By offering good customer service Limerick Gazette can retain clients and generate repeat revenue. Keeping customers happy will be a primary objective of Limerick Gazette. Ch 16: Section 3 EFFICIENCY Limerick Gazette aims to become a most efficient operation as a way to enhance customer enjoyment and engagement with the service. To achieve this new technologies and software will be continuously reviewed and tested and, if successful, implemented on the website. Such software is already under 127

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN consideration and will, if implemented, provide a greater range of digital products for the Gazette Store. Ch 16: Section 4 GROWTHThe greatest room for growth for Limerick Gazette will be to increase the product range on the store facility. Numerous deals with suppliers (as outlined below) can be put in place for the sale of additional goods and services from the store and these include: 1. E-Books 2. T-Shirt Printing 3. Souvenir Printing 4. Music Sales 5. Software and AppsGrowth will be planned based on historical data and future projections. Growth will require the careful use of company resources such as finances and accumulating data to identify and set growth goals. Ch 16: Section 5 MARKETINGLimerick Gazette has already invested in professional software solutions, including Constant Contact®, to assist in marketing strategies. This software will give greater insight into buying trends and identifying partnerships that will help the project to improve market share.Limerick Gazette is an online project because this is an incredibly powerful and cost efficient means of building the archive. Limerick Gazette further acknowledges that the project is about creating a community, using social media networking such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and blogging to build rapport with members. It is net profit, not gross revenue, which Limerick Gazette wants to focus on and to do this we have created a unique competitive advantage which will be the primary factor of all our marketing strategies. 128

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN17. Project Development Limerick Gazette at (www.limerickGazette.com) is a website or virtual archive which provides online access to seven separate portals offering visitors free access to the following services:  Gazette Store: An online store offering a range of digital goods for sale including the online journal Limerick e-Gazette, numerous books, audio and video products and software applications (Apps).  Image Gazette: An image archive of 20,000 unpublished images of Limerick in the 20th Century.  Artists Gazette: A collection of jpeg representations of artistic works by Limerick artists which can be sold (with commission paid) to Limerick Gazette. However, the primary objective now is to build the gallery to 1,000 painting. Currently there are 200.  Poets Gazette: Limerick Poets will share their poetry in the Poets Gallery and the collection will form the basis of forthcoming publications on a profit sharing basis with the Poets and Limerick Gazette.  Writers Gazette: Limerick writers will share their writings in the Writers Gazette Gallery and the collection will form the basis of forthcoming publications on a profit sharing basis with the writers and Limerick Gazette.  Audio Gazette: An automated 24/7 pre-recorded Audio stream of Limerick based programming. This element will eventually provide opportunities to increase revenue through advertising sales.  Video Gazette: An automated 24/7 on-demand video stream of Limerick based programming. This element will eventually provide opportunities to increase revenue through advertising sales. Ch 17: Section 1 MARKET COMPARISON Naturally the internet is full of International Image Archives including leading global companies such as Shutterstock®, 123RF®, Fotoloia®, Flickr® and Getty Images® to name but a few. Each of these Archives and many others do offer access to royalty free or paid images of Limerick with the largest collection available at 123RF® offering in excess of 1,000 images. 129

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLANIn Ireland the main players are the Irish Photo Archive, The National Library of Ireland and The National Archives of Ireland and the vast majority of the images in these archives are for sale and previously published. These collections are not dedicated to Limerick which usually only forms a small part of each of the collections. Other Irish image archives online such as Irish Image Collection®, RTE Archives® and Irish Times® Photo Archive are all commercial projects aiming to sell mostly mid to late 20th Century, early 21st Century to modern day own products to consumers.At a local level Limerick Archives (Limerick.ie) offers less than 100 images while Limerick Leader® has the largest collection but these are only available to the public for purchasing but primarily consists of post 1970’s images as a result of a fire on the Limerick Leader® premises that destroyed previous files. Limerick Museum and Archives (LM&A) joined forces with the Limerick Leader newspaper to present a major archive of Limerick during the 1970’s. This is a community archive containing over 25,000 images of daily life in Limerick in the late 20th Century.At international, national and local level there is no other archive dedicated to the publication of such a large amount of previously unpublished Limerick images of the entire 20th century. Ch 17: Section 2 PROPRIETARY RIGHTSNumerous guidelines intended as a general introduction to some relevant aspects of copyright, but not an authoritative interpretation of the law are offered to archivists by the National Library of Ireland (NLI, 2016) governing their own collection and such guidelines must also apply to Limerick Gazette.Limerick Gazette provides digital (not original) copies of images and other material in its collections and does so on the understanding that no copy will be reproduced without the copyright owners’ written permission. Many items in the collections are still in copyright by the owners of the images, not Limerick Gazette, so written permission from the copyright holder must also be obtained by the person seeking to reproduce the item. This a matter between the copyright owner and the intended user and therefore does not involve Limerick Gazette as the publishers of the digital images.In Irish Law as a general rule, the photographer owns the copyright of all his/her images. This is true even if one person has commissioned and paid for the photograph – as in the case of wedding, communion, confirmation and baptismal or other family or social celebration photographs which are heavily featured in Limerick Gazette Archive. In Law if the subject of an image wishes to enjoy the copyright, he/she must agree with the photographer that the copyright will be transferred to him/her. The subject of the photograph should make sure that the agreement and any transfer are in writing – or they may be 130

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN ineffective under Irish law to transfer the copyright (Digital Rights Ireland, 2006).The main exception to this principle is where photographs are taken by a photographer in the course of a contract. Therefore, in the example of a family wedding (or any such event) if the subject employs a photographer, then the photos taken by that photographer in the course of his/her work belong to the client and not the photographer and cannot be used by the photographer without the clients permission (Digital Rights Ireland, 2006). For Limerick Gazette this, in effect means, that most of the professional images submitted by family members are actually owned by them.In the age of the Internet and the global marketplace Image Rights are often illegally commercially used and exploited. It is generally accepted by commentators at home and abroad that Ireland is one of the most Intellectual Property friendly jurisdictions in the world (T.I.P., 2016). Limerick Gazette in its code of conduct, as expressed on the footer of every page on the website, intends to comply with all laws in relation to Irish and International Copyright Laws and will do so by implanting a strict policy of removal of any image, without quibble, from the archive upon written report, request or complaint. 131

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN18. Project Evolution Ch 18: Section 1 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT Over its proposed 5 year Life Cycle from 2017 to 2021 Limerick Gazette as a project will be changing. With the passage of time, the company will go through various stages of the project life cycle and must anticipate future focuses, challenges and financing sources in order to succeed. FIGURE 92: PROJECT GOALS Thierry Janssen’s 7 Stages of the Project Life Cycle can be adapted to Limerick Gazette (Janssen, 2016). Over its first five years which will lead to final completion (automation) of the project by December 2022 the roadmap can be envisioned as follows: FIGURE 93: LIFE CYCLE The current stage of development for Limerick Gazette is the seed stage of the project life cycle where the project is just a proposal. As with most seed stage companies Limerick Gazette will have to overcome the challenge of market 132

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN acceptance and pursue its one niche opportunity, namely, the acquisition, development and completion of the Image Archive which is the centerpiece of the website. It aims to achieve this by year end 2017. Ch 18: Section 2 SEED STAGE (PRESENT)At this stage of the project the focus for Limerick Gazette is on matching the project opportunity with the skills, experience and passions of the entrepreneur and creator, Gerard J. Hannan whose current focal points include: deciding on the project structure, researching new resources to accomplish the technological requirements of the project and developing the website.In this early stage of the project life cycle with no proven market or customers Limerick Gazette will rely on cash from the owner with other potential sources including supporter donations and possible government funding in the form of employment grants.In the seed stage, Limerick Gazette have realised that completion of this project plan is the biggest success factor for the emerging company. It has established the need of cash for the coming months is critical. During the first months, Limerick Gazette is going to develop its project model without getting revenue from sales. Ch 18: Section 3 START-UP (2017)From January 1st 2017 Limerick Gazette will have completed the archiving of 10,000 (50%) of images to the Archive and aims to complete this task by December 2017. Furthermore, the first 20 issues of the Limerick e-Gazette (Volumes 1 & 2) will be completed and selling from the Digital Store.The real challenge will be to accomplish this in the start-up life cycle stage while attracting new members and encouraging sales. The main focus will be establishing a customer base and market presence along with tracking and conserving cash flow. The primary Money Sources will be the owner and some government grants in the form of SpringBoard and BTEA funding which is necessary to fund further support and coaching in web development for the CEO. Ch 18: Section 4 GROWTH (2018)The objective in year 2 is to ensure revenues and customers are increasing with some new opportunities such as the completed archive of 20,000 images, new 133

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN products in the store, new issues of Limerick e-Gazette and other opportunities not yet identified. The main effort in the year 2 Growth life cycle focuses on running the project in a more formal fashion to deal with the increased sales and customers. Better accounting and management systems may have to be set-up and advancing technologies will enhance the process of completion of other elements of the archive.By December 2018 the Audio and Video Archives should be complete. RLO (Radio Limerick Online) will be archiving and broadcasting 8,760 hours of programming including radio documentaries, podcasts and other member produced automated audio streams which will open up a new revenue stream of automated radio advertising.Limerick Gazette Video Stream will also contain 8760 hours of member produced video. Ch 18: Section 5 ESTABLISHED (2019)By year 3 Limerick Gazette aims to have matured into a thriving small company with a place in the market and loyal customers. The main focus will be on improvement and productivity. To compete in an established market, Limerick Gazette will require better project practices along with better service automation and an improved financial position.It will also be necessary to reevaluate the original project to ensure that it is still optimal to satisfy customers’ needs and if the operating model is still the most efficient to maximize profitability and long-term development. Limerick Gazette because of its improved financial position aims to seek professional advice The help of peers can be a real added value to prepare the next development phase of the project. Ch 18: Section 6 EXPANSION (2020)This life cycle will be characterised by a new period of growth into new markets. Limerick Gazette will aim to gain a larger market share and find new revenue and profit channels. For example, the website is primarily aimed at Anglosphere markets but there are also members of the Limerick Diaspora living in non-English speaking countries and Limerick Gazette will need to figure out how to promote its services in these regions.Furthermore, new digital products will inevitably become available to Limerick Gazette and new methods of incorporating such products/services into the business model will be necessary. This will require planning and research with focus on businesses that complement the existing experience and capabilities 134

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN which can help to determine what new digital products can be offered for sale from the Online store. It is a simple fact that just because Limerick Gazette may be successful in Limerick or Ireland that this can be copy and pasted into any other region and this also applies to products and services. Ch 18: Section 7 MATURE (JANUARY 2021)Limerick Gazette in the mature stage of the life cycle may face new challenges in enhancing sales and profits. The focus will be on developing new opportunities and project ventures. Cutting costs and finding ways to sustain cash flow which are vital for the mature stage.Professionals warn that this is the stage where the CEO, “mostly needs the help of a peer, not only because of the amounts taken into consideration because there are lots of decisions that need a sound discussion which an experienced peer can share with the CEO” (Janssen, 2016).There are two legitimate possibilities that come to light in the mature stage of the project lifecycle and these are completion or exit. Limerick Gazette will endeavour to legislate for both possibilities but is more optimistic and aims for the former rather than the latter.Ch 18: Section 8 COMPLETION OR EXIT? (DECEMBER 2021)In this final year of the first 5 year lifecycle there are two options for the project and these are to either complete or shutdown the project.Limerick Gazette is not a saleable project that can be realistically financially valued. While it has taken some time to construct the Archive (and all of its assets) that does not determine what is its real value in the current market place. On the other hand, if the decision is to exit the challenge is to deal with the limited financial aspects of the project loss.“The real value, and the only value of any firm, is the check an entrepreneur is ready to put on the table to acquire the company” (Janssen, 2016). Ch 18: Section 9 LIMERICK GAZETTE FUTURELimerick Gazette is unique amongst internet archives as it is the only one to publish 20,000 previously unpublished images of Limerick in the 20th century. There are some minor competitors at local, national and international level but none of these make the same offering as is available to and demanded 135

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLANby members of Limerick Gazette. Limerick Gazette local, national andinternational competitors offer restricted access to royalty free or paid imagesof Limerick with only one of these offering in excess of 1,000 images. Theselocal, national and international competitors offer restricted access to royaltyfree or paid images of Limerick with only one of them offering in excess of1,000 images. Limerick Gazette’s current offerings are within all local,national and international copyright laws and to ensure compliance LimerickGazette’s has embedded a strict policy of removal of any image withoutquibble. Over its proposed 5 year Life Cycle from 2017 to 2021 LimerickGazette as a project will be changing. With the passage of time, the companywill go through various stages of the project life cycle and must anticipatefuture focuses, challenges and financing sources in order to succeed. In orderto accomplish this it now necessary to focus on the Archive industry itself andthe marketplace in which Limerick Gazette aims to enter in January 2017. 136

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN19. Industry & Marketplace Analysis In this section the focus is on the industry and marketplace into which Limerick Gazette proposes to enter. The section conducts SWOT, Industry, Marketplace, Customer and Competitor analyses to identify numerous factors that can have either a positive or negative effect on the project. Ch 19: Section 1 SWOT ANALYSIS FIGURE 94: SWOT ANALYSIS 137

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN Ch 19: Section 2 SWOT ANALYSIS OVERVIEWIt can be seen from the SWOT analysis above that Limerick Gazette is the only archive of its kind currently available on the Internet. Its unique competitive advantage of having exclusive access to 20,000 previously unpublished Limerick images is, in fact, its greatest strength. The archive is already established and has a very strong membership base which is now approaching in excess of 12,000 members. Furthermore it has very clearly defined goals over its five-year setup lifespan which culminates in a long-term source of revenue.The CEO, Gerard J Hannan, has wide experience in business as an owner and manager of small local based businesses in Limerick. He has also secured a Liberal arts degree in history and media and is, at the time of this report, completing a Master’s degree in International entrepreneurship management at Kemmy business school, University of Limerick.Finally, amongst its greatest strengths Limerick Gazette will offer entirely digital content for sale from its E–Store which, in effect means, that all stock is unlimited and permanently for sale long into the future. This also means that there are no restocking costs, no stock maintenance costs and no logistics costs. All stock can be downloaded at the point of purchase from the e-store.Naturally, there are also some weaknesses worthy of attention. Establishing the business on the Internet will be challenging. Fulfilling the content obligations in the first five years of the business will involve accumulation, editing, indexing and uploading and archiving of 20,000 images. Limerick Gazette estimates that this can be achieved at a rate of 1000 images per week (or 200 per day).The accumulation of editorial content for the Writers Gazette portal will be much slower as we endeavour to encourage writers and poets to submit their work for inclusion in the archive.Building the audio and video archives will also be most challenging. Although there is already a wide collection of legally available video content to link to on other sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. Furthermore, there is video content available from numerous other national and international archives which are free (or in some cases with licensed permissions) which Limerick Gazette can use as it builds its own collection over the five-year period. Ultimately, the objective here is to encourage members to submit their own home-made videos which is far easier to do through the use of handheld devices than has been the case heretofore.The audio archive (Radio Limerick Online) will consist of pre-recorded audio, as is the case with most online radio stations, in an automated stream consisting of 8760 hours (one year) of programming. This database of audio content will be hosted by VosCast with direct access to the stream by clicking 138

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN on a link that will enable the listener to hear the broadcasts on computer or any other handheld device.The gallery of new art by Limerick artists will be available on the Artists Gazette portal. New artists will be encouraged to exhibit their works by submitting JPEG images of each of their paintings which will then be displayed in the online gallery. Upon sale of each painting the artist will be asked to donate a percentage of the purchase/sale price to Limerick Gazette.Obviously there are a lot of elements to the website and the completion of all of these will require diligent obedience to the project management plan aiming for full and absolute completion within the first five year life cycle. Limerick Gazette is not in a financial position to carry out the necessary work at a faster rate. All seed and start-up funds have come exclusively from the limited income of the CEO. Limerick Gazette has not yet fully established itself as a reputable archive in the Internet archive industry and this can only be truly accomplished by a more rapid uploading and indexing of the complete 20,000 images that give Limerick Gazette its unique competitive advantage. Successful completion of this element of the project will furthermore inspire greater encouragement for members to participate in the project.It will take some time and numerous marketing strategies to encourage members to migrate from the Facebook portal to the external website. However this is perfectly achievable given sufficient time and marketing through social media. Fortunately, numerous marketing strategies (as discussed in Section 8) are planned to accomplish the objective as quickly as possible.Limerick Gazette is availing of several worthy opportunities to take full advantage of its lucrative targeted market segment (Female 45+). There is an ever expanding market in the Limerick Diaspora that are anxious to maintain contact with home through social media or home based websites. As membership is growing at a rate of 1000 new members per month Limerick Gazette has already firmly established itself as a home based website offering relevant and unique content to the Limerick Diaspora.In terms of threats to the business it is obvious that such a business requires determination and commitment in order to successfully complete the project. While the idea may sound “easy” to accomplish it is necessary to have the resolve of the current CEO to complete the project. Upon completion, the managing of the archive becomes routine for any local historian with a basic knowledge of I.T. and website development. Further threats to the project includes government legislation in relation to Internet archive’s, none planned nor anticipated for the immediate future, legislation in relation to Internet access for which Limerick Gazette will have to respond accordingly, and lack of funding will slow down the process of building the archive to completion in any less time period then the intended five-year start-up life cycle. 139

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN Ch 19: Section 3 STRENGTHSThe key strengths for Limerick Gazette as a viable project led by the fact that the archive will be the only one of its kind in existence in terms of publishing previously unpublished images of Limerick in the 20th century. Limerick Gazette has furthermore already established itself with its strong membership base of in excess of 11,500 members. The goals that lay ahead for Limerick Gazette will, upon completion, mean that the archive will become a self- funding project into the future and in order to achieve this the short term expenditure associated with the task is far outweighed by the potential profit in the long term. Added to this is the fact that the current creator and CEO has extensive experience in history, media and entrepreneurship which means he is perfectly placed to create the archive in such a fashion that future curators will no longer require more than just standard IT and archive maintenance skills. It is furthermore a most distinct advantage that the vast majority of stock is of a digital nature. In effect, this means, there are no stocking costs, stock maintenance costs or logistical costs in the future sale and distribution of all stock items. Ch 19: Section 4 WEAKNESS.Establishing the business is a long and challenging task that will take just under five years with existing resources. Any future funding can, and will, speed up the process of building the Limerick Gazette archive. There are many elements to the website and the completion of all of these will require diligent obedience to the goals, aims and milestones of the project. Under current circumstances Limerick Gazette is not in a financial position to carry out the necessary work at any faster than the projected five-year period not so optimistic project life cycle allows for the fact that funding may not be secured. Another existing consequence of the lack of funding is that Limerick Gazette cannot quickly establish itself as a reputable archive in the Internet archive industry. Only completion of the archive can accomplish this reputability. This places Limerick Gazette at a distinct disadvantage in that, in its present format, the archive would be of little or no interest to educational institutions which, upon completion, would make the archive extremely attractive to these potential and lucrative clients that can be signed up as premium members. The final weakness is devising an effective strategy to ensure full migration of all Facebook portal members over to the website. The only real way of achieving this is to ensure that interactivity between members, as is the case with Facebook, is quickly established on the website. The introduction of a fully functional Facebook style platform for commenting, sharing, liking and posting images, comments and videos would resolve this issue. Such off-the- shelf customisable platforms are available but are not yet, in the current 140

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN financial circumstances, an option for Limerick Gazette. This weakness can and will be fixed as quickly as possible in the event of funding. None of the weaknesses are insurmountable. It is imperative that these features are added to the website immediately as they are a major contributing factor to the success of the Facebook Portal (See Appendix 3). Ch 19: Section 5 OPPORTUNITIESThe targeted market segment (Irish Women 45+) is defined by market analysts as a most lucrative market segment. Current statistics available to the project from numerous sources including Facebook statistics, Grytics and Google suggest that Limerick Gazette will be strategically placed in terms of service and offerings to create substantial revenue streams from the segment by ensuring that its digital products, publications and services are designed and marketed to the segment. Furthermore, there is an ever-growing Limerick Diaspora in all the countries of the world that are anxious to remain in contact with the region and Limerick Gazette, judging from its popularity so far, offers the type of service that these potential clients are looking for. Naturally, there are many news sources available from local, national and international providers but Limerick Gazette, even though it is primarily a “history” site, by virtue of the fact that there are so many locally based members providing input, the project has become a type of news service that provides essential information to those abroad about their own neighbourhood past, present and future with members becoming more like “reporters” of the latest news from the neighbourhood.With membership growing at a rate of about 1000 new members per month, with no marketing strategies other than its existence on Facebook, it is fair to anticipate continued growth at the same rate every month into the future. However, with sufficient funding, marketing strategies can be implemented to increase this growth rate even faster. One such strategy is the introduction of the Limerick e-Gazette “which will encourage new members to engage even more with the project. Members have already shown great enthusiasm for the forthcoming publication just at the mere hint of the possibility of an online journal of the nature of Limerick e-Gazette coming on stream.Limerick Gazette believes that the time is right, as the technology is now in place, to launch the project and avail of the many opportunities that have now presented themselves for the future success of the enterprise.There is another grander opportunity that is worthy of mention. If this project proves successful Limerick Gazette can become the template for all other interested cities, nationally and internationally, wishing to create a similar archive for future generations. Limerick Gazette will be the pioneers of such enterprises. 141

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN Ch 19: Section 6 THREATSThe business is easy to set up but, once it is set up, it will almost instantly remove the threat of emulation within the given region. As Limerick Gazette has already established itself as the first mover any attempt by other individuals will be perceived in a bad light. This has already been demonstrated in Limerick when one local person tried to copy the idea and launched another Facebook page seeking photographs. The project was badly supported and eventually closed down. But to preserve the integrity of the idea nationwide Limerick Gazette has already set up a Facebook portal for every city and county in Ireland which it intends to use in the future. The grander intention is to generate the same popularity in each of the counties of Ireland as was created in Limerick. All images donated in all counties in Southern and Northern Ireland could then be used to create a national archive of unpublished Irish images from the 20th century. However, this idea is seen as more of a possibility at this moment time than a probability.Limerick Gazette is not actively marketing the website yet because it is not yet ready and in its current form, while aesthetically pleasing and completely functional, in terms of content it is unimpressive. Only time can resolve this issue as the task of gathering, editing, photo-shopping, captioning, indexing and uploading of the images is a process that will take time. However, the task will be completed within year one and members of the Facebook portal will be advised each time a new 1000 images has been added to the archive and in order to see them the member will have to become a fully registered member will ensure that the migration process from Facebook to the website can be achieved.Any government legislation is a potential threat not only to Limerick Gazette but to any other business in Ireland. However, Limerick Gazette has researched forthcoming legislation and is happy to note there are no major changes that would have any impact of any significant nature on the future of the project.Finally, the biggest threat to the future of Limerick Gazette is its present format which renders it unattractive to the most lucrative clients such as institutions, organisations, universities, schools and organisations with an interest in Irish history. Only funding can speed up the process but at the current rate of progression the archive should become far more attractive to such premium clients within the first year when all the images have been uploaded.In the following section it is necessary to evaluate the competitive five forces which jointly determine the strength of the Irish Archive industry competition and profitability. In view of the fact that the international archives pose no major threat to Limerick Gazette because of its competitive advantage it is not necessary to focus to any great extent on these rivals. The following industry analysis focuses exclusively on local and national archives. The strongest 142

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN force (or forces) rules will be the focal point of the Irish archiving industry analysis and Limerick Gazettes resulting competitive strategy.Short-term factors that affect competition and profitability will be distinguished from the competitive forces that form the underlying structure of the Irish archiving industry. Although these short-term factors may have some tactical significance, analysis will focus on the Irish industry’s underlying characteristics. Ch 19: Section 7 INDUSTRY ANALYSISBefore launching the project it is necessary to analyse the overall attractiveness of the industry. While Limerick Gazette does not duplicate any other Internet archive it does compete with other platforms. This industry analysis applies the five forces model and looks at how hard it is to get into the industry (barriers to entry), staying in the industry (threat of substitutes), and the bargaining position of suppliers to and buyers of Limerick Gazette products and services (Porter, 1979). This will help Limerick Gazette to identify the attractiveness of the industry. It directs the focus to the opportunities and threats which might be found. The fifth force is the competitive position of Limerick Gazette rivals – their strengths and weaknesses. Ch 19: Section 8 INDUSTRY ANALYSIS SYNOPSISFrom the outset Limerick Gazette, in this Strategic Commercialisation Plan, has shown that there are little or no barriers to entry into the archiving industry. There are thousands of archives and it costs relatively little to develop the project. The threat of substitutes includes the competing archives and other archives.Limerick Gazette faces little competition from local, national and international archives. However, international competitors have considerably larger resources at their disposal. Limerick Gazette does not hold any patents and hence its services portfolio could be copied in the future. However fixed costs are low and exit barriers are low therefore competitive rivalry is deemed as low. 143

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 95: INDUSTRY ANALYSISIt requires little capital to develop an archive of this nature. However large time costs are required for promoting, branding, advertising and creating service demand. This will limit the entry of new players into the marketplace. However this is an easy market to enter with few requirements, other than skills, initiative and relevant hardware and software. Government policy is not an issue nor is location so it can be concluded that a threat of new entrants is high.Members have little or no choice as to where they can access a more comprehensive archive of previously unpublished Limerick images. Furthermore, members will only be able to buy the Limerick e-Gazette or East or digital products at Limerick Gazette e-Store site therefore Limerick Gazette controls a complete monopoly in relation to its own products and services which renders the bargaining power of buyers as low.In relation to the power of suppliers there are few suppliers of the services offered by Limerick Gazette and potentially, as GLN Research suggests many buyers (GLN, 2015). In view of the fact that Limerick Gazette’s service is highly differentiated and individual purchasing does not represent a large 144

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN portion of Limerick Gazette’s sales it can be seen that Limerick Gazette controls the power of supply. Substitute services and products are, of course available in the marketplace, but these substitutes are generic, and as such may not have the same attractive qualities as Limerick Gazette’s products. Suppliers of this service is concentrated which means Limerick Gazette automatically has more leverage because of the lack of available alternatives. Therefore we can conclude that the power of Limerick Gazette as suppliers is high.Because Limerick Gazette has a unique competitive advantage and any increase in substitute products does not threaten this competitive advantage coupled with the fact that there are currently no substitutes to Limerick Gazette services which gives the business the power to control pricing of its own products and services due to low stock costs and unlimited supply, exclusivity of supply, the trait of substitute products is low.In the following section the emphasis is on the market itself. Ch 19: Section 9 MARKET ANALYSISLimerick Gazette will take its new service to market on January 1st 2017. Prior to doing this it must clearly define how it will successfully place the right service in the right place, at the right price and time. The seven factors to be analysed are market size, growth rate of the market, market trends, market profitability, key success factors, distribution channels and industry cost structure.All of the main facts in this section are based on statistics from four primary sources including the Limerick Gazette Main Survey, Statistics from the GLN Diaspora Survey, Grytics and Google Analytics. Ch 19: Section 10 TARGET MEMBERSThe existing Facebook portal membership base clearly defines the best target member segment for Limerick Gazette. The target members are Irish females, regardless of their geographical location, in the 45 to 65+ age group who are eager to maintain online communication with Limerick’s past and present. Coincidentally this is also one of the fastest growing demographics on Facebook. Facebook users are 76% female (out of 100% of all females) and 66% male (out of 100% of all males) (Zephoria, 2016). Since this isn’t a large statistical difference, Limerick Gazette should be able to effectively reach both genders by targeting just females on Facebook. 145

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN Ch 19: Section 11 MEMBER PROFILEBecause Facebook does not publish any information in relation to gender and age of Facebook group members it was therefore necessary to establish these important figures from an alternative but credible source. Google Analytics currently monitors Limerick Gazette’s website and during the early construction stage, of which the members were made aware, 2,069 members responded and 65.15% of resultant visitors were female in the 90 day period between May 1st 2016 and August 1st 2016. Limerick History Gazette membership (as of August 2016) currently stands at 11,500 so, using the Google Analytics metric, 7,605 females are attracted to the project. FIGURE 96: GENDER BREAKDOWN 146

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 97: AGE BREAKDOWNOf the 2,069 visitors in the period Google Analytics could only report on the ages of those in the 18+ age groups and thus the findings are based on a total visitor population of 2,055.The top three most frequent website visitors to the site from May 1st to August 1st 2016 were as follows: FIGURE 98: AGE GROUPOf these a total of 842 (totaling 65.07%) were female: FIGURE 99: TOTAL FEMALESThe combination of these three findings clearly proves that Limerick Gazette is most popular with the Female 45 to 65+ Age group. Following this revelation it is therefore imperative that Limerick Gazette must target this demographic. Ch 19: Section 12 VOLUME OF TARGET MEMBERSThe volume of target members is 363,928 internationally based Limerick females in the 45+ age group of which Limerick Gazette has already attracted 3.16% with no marketing strategy and no funding. The rate of increase as outlined earlier, averages 10% month on month. At this rate of progression it would take 15 years to attract 100% of the target market segment. 147

LIMERICK GAZETTE: STRATEGIC COMMERCIALISATION PLAN FIGURE 100: EVOLUTION PROJECTIONSIt is therefore important that Limerick Gazette immediately identifies successful marketing strategies to attract 100% of its target market segment at a targeted rate of 100% (year on year) for the duration of the first 5 year lifecycle: FIGURE 101: SEGMENT TARGETINGIn order to achieve these more realistic targets it is helpful to have a deeper understanding as to how the target segment has been identified. As previously stated in this Strategic Commercialisation Plan a report carried out by the Global Limerick Network (GLN) has found significant support for the establishment of a platform providing for greater communication between the people of Limerick and the estimated 3.5 million people around the world with a connection to the city, county and region (GLN, 2015).Respondents to the GLN Diaspora Survey also indicated a desire to establish a platform for creating connections, networks and links with fellow Limerick people to articulate the emigrant experience and supports required while living away and in returning to Limerick but more significantly for Limerick Gazette many of those surveyed stressed the need to have greater intensity surrounding the positive promotion of Limerick, both in Ireland and to the overseas market (Limerick.ie, 2015). 148