1. Falcon Weekly
Marketing Plan
Prepared:
Austin Herring
Emerson Fremming
Jordon Johnson
Alana Tate
27 April 2016

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Contents
I. Executive Summary.......................................................................... 1
Environmental Analysis, SWOT......................................................................................................1
Customer Profile ............................................................................................................................1
Strategy, Objectives, and Tactics .....................................................................................................1
Monitoring/Measuring ....................................................................................................................1
II.Environmental Analysis.................................................................... 2
Internal Analysis ............................................................................................................................2
External Analysis ...........................................................................................................................2
Political, Legal, and Environmental....................................................................................................................................2
Economic .................................................................................................................................................................................2
Social........................................................................................................................................................................................3
Technological..........................................................................................................................................................................3
III. S.W.O.T. analysis....................................................................... 4
Falcon Weekly ...............................................................................................................................4
Comparable: The Alabamian...........................................................................................................4
IV. Customer Profile & Marketing Strategy....................................... 5
Customer Description .....................................................................................................................5
Demographics, Geodemographics, Psychographics ........................................................................................................5
Targeting and Segmenting....................................................................................................................................................5
Positioning...............................................................................................................................................................................5
Customer Management .........................................................................................................................................................5
Marketing Plan...............................................................................................................................5
Market Research.....................................................................................................................................................................5
Goals: .......................................................................................................................................................................................6
Objectives:...............................................................................................................................................................................6
Tactics by Objectives:...........................................................................................................................................................6
V. Measuring/Monitoring Activities................................................. 7
VI. Marketing Calendar .................................................................... 9
VII. Appendix ..................................................................................10
Publishing Guide .......................................................................................................................... 10
Daily Ideas................................................................................................................................... 10
Collateral Items ............................................................................................................................ 11
References ................................................................................................................................... 12

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I. Executive Summary
Environmental Analysis, SWOT
Dr. Finklea stated through a phone interview that Falcon Weekly strives to be a one-stop shop for
young adults with all the information they need and want from the news. 1 Current metrics are
376 likes on Facebook, 247 followers on Twitter, 134 followers of Instagram, and 556
subscribers on YouTube.2-5 Falcon Weekly’s strength is updating their Facebook page on a
regular basis. A weakness is a lack of promotions throughout the campus and only focusing on
placing fliers in the Mass Communications building. Their biggest opportunity is for Falcon
Weekly to display promotional videos of what next week’s episode would be on the TVs in the
gym. The biggest threat is The Alabamian; it is another news outlet the students can use for
campus information.
Customer Profile
The customer profile can be broken down into three categories: demographics,
geodemographics, and psychographics. The demographics are male and female college students
ages 18-24 and faculty ages 25-60. The ages for the community are not specific but male and
female are equally engaged. The geodemographics of the customers are college residents and
commuters. The commuter students are located in the Shelby County and Birmingham area.
Furthermore, psychographics show the customers have a more progressive lifestyle.
Strategy, Objectives, and Tactics
Positioning: Become a more reliable, interesting campus news outlet
Objective 1: Increase all following and active viewers by 25% in six months’ time starting in the
fall semester.
Objective 2: Create more involvement between the broadcasters and the audience within six
months.
Monitoring/Measuring
Providing a strict schedule with checkpoints varying from one month to a year. If desired results
are not met within allotted time period there are several suggestions in order to obtain these
results. The marketing plan will be completely functional within a year.

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II. Environmental Analysis
Internal Analysis
After a phone interview with Dr. Finklea, it was discovered that his focused efforts are on the
content of the show, Falcon Weekly. The client strives to be a one-stop shop for all things
young adults want or need to know in a quick recap of news.1
Current numbers indicate that the base following is 376 likes on Facebook, 247 followers on
Twitter, 134 followers of Instagram, and 556 subscribers on YouTube. Certain anchors give
them a boost in views as well as certain topics, such as College Night.2-5
Current marketing materials include digital fliers throughout campus and physical fliers
posted around the University.1
The goals of this marketing plan are to:
1. Develop a digital branding campaign for Falcon Weekly to increase awareness.
2. Increase social awareness of Falcon Weekly in three markets (listed in importance/impact):
- Students
- Faculty
- Community
External Analysis
Political, Legal, and Environmental
MJ Cohen explains that the Federal Communications Commission decides if a program is
indecent for the general population. It discusses several court cases and the importance of
censorship. It also discusses the broadcasting firms fighting legal battles in order to have their
scenes deemed decent by the Federal Communications Commission. This article explains the
development of censorship with in the broadcasting industry.8
Furthermore, in today's news, broadcasters feel the obligation to counteract the typically
negative news stories with a happier or humorous ending to entice viewers to continue
watching the news while still feeling happy. The government influence it has on its citizens
has impacted the citizens as a whole to desensitize to the reality of what is going on in our
world to make the community feel as collectively satisfied as possible. For satisfaction, it is
important for broadcasters to be able to engage viewers to where they can build relationships
and feel connected to the story. News stories can be easily representative to the government. It
is necessary to focus on delivering the story with the correct dialogue while still allowing
viewers to fully understand the issues being expressed.12
Economic
The economics of the broadcast industry have shifted from small firms with little expendable
funds to large firms with copious amounts of funds. As stated by Sylvia M. Chan-Olmsted in
the article "Mergers, Acquisitions, and Convergence: the Strategic Alliances of Broadcasting,
Cable Television, and Telephone Services." She explains in great detail the evolution of
broadcast firms from small firms to strategic alliances. The alliances are becoming so large
they are considered megacarriers. The firms are mainly doing this to reduce risk and gain
more funding to purchase technology.7

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Social
There has been a huge shift in generational values. Consumers now want to interact with the
broadcasters. Consumers desire a shift from the conversation being one way to interacting and
adding to the conversation. There are several challenges that broadcasting firms face as they
try to keep the attention of this new generation. Broadcasters constantly have to deal with
these new generational values in order to keep viewership and must adapt to what is socially
acceptable for this generation.9
There is a change from television viewership to social media following and website
viewership. The broadcasters have had to adjust their business strategies in order to
accommodate these new generational values. Broadcasters are trying to keep up with what is
socially acceptable among this generation in order to maintain consumers.10
Technological
TV shows demonstrate what life as a college student is like. These shows illustrate different
situations students will experience in college. The technology part is using the TV to show
these different situations to the viewers. Young people watching TV is an excellent marketing
strategy to show them what to expect once they arrive at college. 6
The future of journalism is fading. Forms of media are being disrupted from digitization. It
explains that exalting technology alone would not solve any problems surrounding the
journalism industry.11

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III.S.W.O.T. analysis
Falcon Weekly
Strengths Weaknesses
 Fliers are distributed around the Mass
Communications building
 Updates Facebook regularly
 Participates in several social media outlets
 Has become a hub to find relevant information
about the campus and the students knowthis
 Lack in promotions
 Lack of awareness to the student body,faculty, and
community
 Only displaying fliers in the Mass
Communications building instead of across
campus
Opportunities Threats
 Certain anchors help get higher views
 Faculty that watches send in feedback
 Display promotional videos on TVs in the gym.
 The Alabamian, newspaperon campus is taking
away viewership by providing a hard copy of the
stories.However, could be a possible opportunity
for business
Comparable: The Alabamian
Strengths Weaknesses
 Marketing in every building on campus (Posters,
commercials, etc.)
 Updated more frequently than Falcon Weekly
 Facebook “likes” are almost to 5% higher than
Falcon Weekly
 Printed on newspaper in a world that is more
digital
 Constantly working in their office, whereas Falcon
Weekly films once a week
 Not as accessible as Falcon Weekly
 No YouTube, and less follows and likes than
Falcon Weekly on Twitter and Instagram
 Have more awareness with the students,faculty,
and community

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IV. Customer Profile & Marketing Strategy
Customer Description
Demographics, Geodemographics, Psychographics
Demographics:
1. College students, male and female, ages 18-24
2. College faculty, male and female, ages 25-60
3. Community surrounding, male and female, all ages
Geodemographics of the consumer are college residents (on campus), college commuters (off
campus), and surrounding community including: Montevallo, Calera, Alabaster, and
Birmingham area. The psychographics of the consumers have more progressive lifestyles
because the university is a liberal arts college, more intuitive viewers interested in news.
Targeting and Segmenting
The core target for Falcon Weekly is in the following order: students, faculty, and community.
Falcon Weekly has the opportunity to segment the faculty by delivering them a short
description of next week’s episode. This would help involve the faculty and the students and
increase viewership.
Positioning
Unique Selling Position (USP): Falcon Weekly. Reliable. Relevant. Right now.
Falcon Weekly is a reliable campus news outlet for individuals all across the county. When
students, faculty, and the community want the latest news, their first thought should be Falcon
Weekly. With anchors appealing to the eye, and intriguing material to watch, viewers can
discover more of the world through Falcon Weekly.
Customer Management
Falcon Weekly has a great relationship with their viewers. They take feedback well and strive
to make each show better than the last. They can maintain this relationship better by
responding quickly to followers on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Recommendations
for the broadcasting team include creating shorter viewings for audience members that are on
the go, adding more humor in the show for the material that has a more serious message, and
advertising on campus to gain more followers. These tactics will help customer retention.
Falcon Weekly currently does not have a particular code of practice. However, as they begin
to grow they will make this more concrete.
Marketing Plan
Market Research
Falcon Weekly’s mission should create a higher level of brand awareness. Consumers use a
variety of different social media outlets such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
These outlets will help Falcon Weekly target and analyze their audience.
Falcon Weekly can complete this goal by advertising more in the community in places that the
target audience would see the advertisement. The product is the broadcasting program that
Falcon Weekly provides. Viewing the show is a free service provided by the Mass
Communication students. The place of the advertisements will be in several locations such as
the monitors in the gym, cafeteria, and commuter lounge areas of the campus. Launching
small clips of next week’s episode of Falcon Weekly on these monitors would create buzz
about the program thus gaining viewership. Falcon Weekly could also use the school
newspaper, The Alabamian, to help promote the broadcasting program. The Alabamian could

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have ads within the paper about Falcon Weekly or write an article about the last episode or to
promote the staff working closely with the show. Finally, they would obtain this goal by
creating more involvement between viewers and producers of the broadcast program. The
more the audience feels that they are actively participating in the program, the more
viewership will grow. 9
Goals:
1. Develop a digital branding campaign for Falcon Weekly to increase awareness
2.Increase social awareness of Falcon Weekly in three markets (listed in importance/impact):
• Students
• Faculty
• Community
Objectives:
Tactics by Objectives:
Objective 1: Increase all following and active viewers by 25% in 6 months.
Objective 2: Create more involvement between the broadcasters and the audience with in six
months.
SMART Activities Implementation
1. Increase advertisements and
strategically place the advertisements.
Place advertisements in places where target audience
will see the advertisements such as the cafeteria, the
gym, and the commuter lounge.
2. Partner with The Alabamian in order to
advertise within the paper and create a
buzz for the content Falcon Weekly is
providing.
Do this by talking to the main coordinators of The
Alabamian and create a business partnership with
them. This will destroy the competition between
Falcon Weekly and The Alabamian and create a
unified front for media.
3. Measure the success ofthe previous
activities to ensure the campaign is on
schedule.
Have monthly performance reviews. This will allow
them to see if the advertisements are working. This
will also give them a chance to brain storm new
placements for the advertisements to be placed if one
area is lagging in consumer traffic.
SMART Activities Implementation
1. Create awareness of who each of the
reporters are on the Falcon Weekly
show. This will allow the viewers to feel
more attached to the program and what
each broadcasteris reporting.
Implement this tactic by creating a short video of
each of their reporters introducing themselves. This
could possibly be their first episode.
2. Allow consumers to provide topics for
next week’s episode.
Implement this tactic by posting on Facebook. Create
a contest out of posting topic ideas. This tactic would
also increase viewership and ideas for future
episodes.
3. Measure the current involvement
between broadcasters and the audience.
Analyze the involvement on Facebook from
consumers who follow them; if the interactions are
not what were estimated they should change their
approach. The more the consumers feel apart of the
showthe more likely it will be that they watch the
showon a regular basis.

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V. Measuring/MonitoringActivities
Marketing
Tactic
Measurement: Goals to reach by when Recommended changes if goal is not met
Increase
advertisements
and
strategically
place them
Increase viewing rate of 25% in 6 months beginning in the fall
semester
If viewership has not increased change placement of ads to more heavily trafficked
areas.
Partner with
The Alabamian
After placing ads, establish a business partnership with The Alabamian
within three weeks.
Post more on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Also, start a Snapchat account.
Measure the
success
After three months analyze the first two SMART activities and see if
viewership has improved.
Advertise more and advertise on yoursocial media outlets more often.
Create
awareness
reporters
Once a week, introduce new broadcasters to the audience by giving a
brief profile.
Allow the broadcasterto introduce himself or herself instead of the narrator or an
infographic. Allow them to add personal touches.
Consumers
provide topics
for episodes
Perform this after one month, so that new viewers can develop their
own ideas for episodes.
Change where Falcon Weekly is announcing this new involvement strategy.Use, the
monitors around campus, broadcast emails, social media, and at the end of every
episode mention it.
Measure
involvement
with audience
Evaluate these steps after nine months, this will show Falcon Weekly if
the tactics provided the estimated result.
Make sure the viewership has increased to 25% after six month if it has not ask the
audience to be more hands on with the shows.

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Marketing
Tactic
Activities to conduct Time Allowance
Increase
advertisements
and
strategically
place them
Brainstorm advertisement ideas between broadcasters to come up with tactics to post on Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Allow six months and then after that check the
progress.
Partner with
The
Alabamian
Partnering with The Alabamian will allow Falcon Weekly to spread information more efficiently. Allow one month for this step and see if
viewership increases viewers you get from The
Alabamian.
Measure the
success
By measuring the success ofhow the first two SMART activities will show what Falcon Weekly what needs
improvement.
Review progress once a month.
Create
awareness
reporters
Newscasters introducing themselves will allow more connection with the audience and broadcasters. Introducing new broadcasters each time there is
a new broadcaster.
Consumers
provide topics
for episodes
Giving the consumers chances to provide ideas for the show will add more viewership showbecause those
people will be more invested in the showif their idea is chosen
After advertising for two months, that is when
they should put this plan into action.
Measure
involvement
with audience
A survey would allow Falcon Weekly to see what their audience likes and dislikes about the shows. By conducting a survey every yearly this would
allow Falcon Weekly to see what consumers
prefer.

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VI. Marketing Calendar
Marketing Calendar
TIME TYPE TOPIC POST
8:00 AM Morning Meeting Daily activities to achieve for the day
VIDEO UPDATE
8:15 AM Falcon Weekly Update Discover new topics to post for video channel
8:30 AM Set up execution for filming
FACEBOOK
8:45 AM New Facebook post Create new segments for the w eekdays Example, "Manic Monday - tell us your Monday Blues story!"
9:00 AM Update school happenings for the current w eek School games, activities, club meetings, etc.
9:15 AM Meet the Cast update Link to send view ers to updated anchors for the w eek
9:30 AM Friday Fever Update Find the neat things happening over the w eekend to post for w eekend entertainment
YouTube
9:45 AM Updates Weekend happenings Here's w hat you missed over the w eekend!
10:00 AM Meet the Cast Anchor Bios Check out, Sadie, our new est cast member!
10:15 AM Weekly New s Broadcast Broadcast Our w eekly update brought to you!
10:30 AM
INSTAGRAM d
10:45 AM Man Candy Monday Post of Dr. Finkea every Monday
11:00 AM Meet the Cast Headshots of anchors featuring short bio in the caption
11:15 AM Throw back Thursday Pictures of professors from back in the day
11:30 AM Super Saturday Post of the sporting event happening that day

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VII. Appendix
Publishing Guide
Frequency Outlet(s)
Daily 1 tweet, 1 Instagrampost,1 Facebook post
Weekly 1 blog post,comment responses,1YouTube video
Monthly
Overview blog and video post recapping what has been covered that month.
Post both blog and videos on Facebook, and recap video on YouTube. Have
one ad in the Montevallo newspaper.
Quarterly Each semester be featured on the University of Montevallo website homepage.
Yearly
Collect analytics from all social platforms to track personal progress and
conduct further research for next year's ad campaign. Send to all involved
students and faculty members.
Daily Ideas
Posts Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun
Facebook
Manic Monday –
Send us your
horrible Monday
stories!
Meet the Cast – link
leads to YouTube
video
What’s Happening
– a post featuring
the upcoming
weekend events,ex.
soccergame
Friday Fever – post
about Montevallo
and surrounding
areas of things to
do, like catching
Weird Al in concert
this weekend at the
BJCC
YouTube
Weekend Update –
here’s what you
missed over the
weekend!
Meet the Cast –
video featuring the
anchors for the week
and a short interview
of each of them
Mid-Week
Update!
Weekly News
Broadcast
In Case You
Missed It – an
overview of all
posts for the current
week, ex. the #tbt of
Dr. Sanders in a
Santa Suit from the
70s
Instagram
Man Candy
Monday – a post of
Dr. Finklea every
Monday
Meet the Cast –
headshot photos of
anchors and a short
bio in the caption
Throwback
Thursday – pictures
of professors from
back in the day!
Super Saturday – a
post from a sporting
event about the game

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Collateral Items
We created a new logo for Falcon Weekly to use in their business. This collateral piece can be
implemented immediately with in the business.

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References
1. Finklea, Bruce. "Falcon Weekly Internal Analysis." Telephone interview. 26 Feb.
2016.
2. "MontevalloForYou." YouTube. YouTube. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
3. “UMFalconWeekly.” Twitter. Twitter. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
4. “UMFalconWeekly.” Facebook. Facebook. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
5. “UMFalconWeekly.” Instagram. Instagram. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
6. Tobolowsky, Barbara F. "Beyond Demographics: Understanding The College
Experience Through Television." New Directions For Student Services 114 (2006):
17-26. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
7. Chan-Olmsted, Sylvia M. "Mergers, Acquisitions, and Convergence: the Strategic
Alliances of Broadcasting, Cable Television, and Telephone Services." The Journal of
Media Economics. 11.3 (1998): 33-46. Print.
8. Cohen, M J. "Have You No Sense of Decency? An Examination of the Effect of
Traditional Values and Family-Oriented Organizations on Twenty-First Century
Broadcast Indecency Standards." Seton Hall Legislative Journal. 30.1 (2005): 113-144.
Print.
9. "Public Service Broadcasting's Participation in the Reconfiguration of Online News
Content1. (Report)." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 18.3 (2013).
Print.
10. Greer, Clark, and Douglas Ferguson. "Using Twitter for Promotion and Branding: a
Content Analysis of Local Television Twitter Sites." Journal of Broadcasting &
Electronic Media. 55.2 (2011): 198-214. Print.
11. Creech, Brian, and Andrew L. Mendelson. "Imagining the Journalist of the Future:
Technological Visions of Journalism Education and Newswork." The Communication
Review2015th ser. 18.2: 142-65. Web.
12. Zillmann, Dolf, and Rhonda Gibson. "Effects Of Upbeat Stories In Broadcast News."
Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 38.1 (1994): 65. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.