B_GUIDED

Clara Escobar

B_GUIDED MAGAZINE PROJECT 2.0 APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

× INTRODUCTION: PRODUCT TRENDS – MARKET/CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TRENDS During the past decade or more the management of information has changed.

Since the Internet became available for more people at their homes and even in their phones, the flow of information has evolved at a velocity that it’s unstoppable.

Now we are more people in the world, this means there are more services, more competition, lower prices, etc. In order to compete in this fast world you need to keep up with the pace and be innovative. People right now are travelling easier and don’t have as much time as before or maybe they do, but there’s so much things right now, (internet, phone, pc, ipad, books, TV, iPod, etc), that we look for things that are on our reach and easy to search for.

Currently not only the people that are visiting the cities, but also the people that live in there, are using the city-lifestyle-guides. They want to know what is happening in their cities, what is trendy, what recommendations about restaurants, design, fashion, nightlife, bars, events, etc there are.

People want the source they are using to get this information to be easy, accessible, easy to use, reliable, trusty, up-to-date, available everywhere, easy to get, and many other features; that’s why as the consumer needs are evolving, the services have to keep up.

× SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths       

B_guided magazine is a magazine already known in the different cities; the people buy it and trust it.

They already have a web page The subjects and contents are interesting (they cover a lot of subjects).

The magazine is bilingual.

The printed version is very cool and trendy.

Consumers.

The places they recommend are amazing.

Weaknesses        

Online only works in Spanish.

The web page is in flash (can’t be surf from different mobile devices).

Not all the links in the web page work.

The web page is not user friendly, it’s confusing.

The web page is not updated regularly The magazine is published every 3 months (there’s too much happening in 3 months nowadays).

The web page is 1.0 Web page is not as cool as the printed version, it looks old and out of fashion.

Opportunities          

Upgrade to 2.0 web.

Add applications to interact with their consumers.

Become mobile friendly.

Do a better marketing to overcome their competitors.

Publish their printed version more regularly or update more frequently their web page.

Do a better layout for their web page, friendlier.

Remove flash player so it can be surf from every device.

Develop both languages online gathering more followers.

Gain the loyalty and the trust of their consumers.

Become the “THE” guide in the cities.

Threats   

Losing consumers for not looking at the opportunities and weaknesses.

There are a lot of other city-lifestyles-guides.

Be left behind.

× TARGET DEFINITION B_guided should become the No. 1 magazine/webpage consulted as a lifestyle/city guide. People who travel to the different cities and live in them ranging from 20 to 45 will want to buy it or “like” it in the Internet. It will become super helpful for the people that are interested in design, nightlife, fashion and food in a cool way.

× NEW B_GUIDED 2.0 APPLICATIONS GOALS AND OBJECTIVES In order for B_guide to keep up with their costumer they have to add some 2.0 applications to their web site. These are the ones I consider should work:        

No longer use flash, so the web page can be consulted from any technology (pc, Mac, ipad, blackberry, etc).

Update the page in order to be easily navigated and consulted.

Develop the B_guided facebook fan page and link it with the actual web page adding “like” or “share”.

Give the opportunity to comment or review a recommendation from B_guided. Let the costumers have the opportunity to communicate their experience.

Develop tags in the different web pages making it easier to be founded in Google.

Add Google maps so you can find easily in a map the place you’re doing the recommendation to.

Open a twitter account to be linked with your web page so the people can follow and receive updates of what is going on and what is new.

Have a RSS subscription for the costumers that want to subscribe.



Have the option of subscribing to a weekly email with what is going on in the city.

× B_GUIDED 2.0 and CRM Appling technologies such as Twitter and Facebook will allow B_guided to have a closer relationship with their costumer, this way knowing what they want. Is an opportunity for B_guided to improve and build a trusty and loyalty relationship with the B_guided reader. They can change to be more “likeable” and appealing and this way have a bigger market.

× B_GUIDED AND MOBILITY B_guided should develop applications for Iphone, android and Blackberry phones and tablets this way they can be connected with their costumers. The people can consult the guide anyway on the go.

They can also implement the “Google Goggles” or the QR code or High Capacity Barcode. Any of this will let B_guided have control of the efficacy of the implementation. For example they can have any of this codes in the places they recommend with a sticker with their advertisement. If somebody consults the code, it will be directed to the webpage where the information from the place is; this way you could now if it’s working or not.

With twitter also the costumer can leave a feedback about their experience in the place that was recommended by B_guided.

QR CODE is a matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with a camera, and smartphones. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.

Google Goggles is a downloadable image recognition application created by Google Inc., which can be currently found on the Mobile Apps page of Google Mobile. It is used for searches based on pictures taken by handheld devices. For example, taking a picture of a famous landmark would search for information about it, or taking a picture of a product's barcode will search for information on the product.

High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) is the name coined by Microsoft for its technology of encoding data in a 2D "barcode" using clusters of colored triangles instead of the square pixels traditionally associated with 2D barcodes

B_guided has many opportunities to improve, all of them for good. Now is the moment for the change because the world is going so fast that I only can imagine they don’t want to be left behind. Their printed magazine is amazing, written and design with a lot of class, trend, good taste and incredible articles; the web page should be the same.