Academic Master

Business and Finance

The Business Plan for Online Legal Documents Provider for New Businesses

Introduction

This business plan report aims to provide a business plan for online legal documents providing company for new businesses named as “ClicknPick Apostilles.” The nature of the business is an online service providing enterprise that will provide consultation about and legal documents necessary to start a new business. Also, this firm will provide consultation services to the people who want to start a new business and the apostilles; legal documents that are required to start the business like MOA, AOA, nondisclosure agreements, etc.

The firm’s competitive edge can be achieved by making the firm customer-oriented. The Unique Selling Point (USP) for the company will be providing the customers and the companies, online solutions through consultation services by business experts and arranging seminars and training programs to encourage young entrepreneurs. This guidance to the entrepreneurs, new business startups, and informative solutions may enable the customers to understand the business process in a better way. They would not have to go to a consultant separately and pay for him which will be the Unique Selling Point for the firm as it will be providing value to the customers. They will get the documents as well as the consultation services under one roof which will be cost effective for them as well. Also, the process of providing services to the customers including both documentation and consultation will be online. Customers do not have to come to the office to pick the documents or meet the consultant rather they can get information by sitting at home through the website. The project has a social cause to guide and promote young entrepreneurs; this could be the Unique Selling Point for the company.

The business model for this online documents providing firm will be a Limited Company. A limited company is one in which the liability of the members is limited to the extent they have invested in the company. The members come together to form a strong business team and enable each other to achieve the goals effectively by aligning the services and improved standards of operations. This business model will suit this project as it is less risky to start a company and members are only liable for the amount they have invested not all the other losses a new company may face. Because initially, this company will be facing a risk to create a brand name and any form of loss may lead the members bankrupt, but with a company as a business model the risk of bankruptcy of the members will be minimized through limited liability (Teece, 2010, p.173).

The competitors in this industry providing these services are Rocket lawyer, Clickdocs legal documents, Smarta business builder, EL direct, and Net Lawman, etc.

Research shows that the trend of entrepreneurship is getting increased as employment rate in EU was very low since 2011 (Green, 2013, p.32). There is a need to encourage young people to start businesses, and for this they need guidance. The demand for our services is there, and these services will be provided by our firm with a social cause which can help the entrepreneurs to start their career as well as the firms to compete with other competitors. This will serve as USP for “ClicknPick Apostilles.”

Description

For a better understanding of the business plan for this firm, McCarthy’s marketing mix, 4Ps will be applied. Through marketing mix, we will be able to put the right product at a right price, in the right place, and with right strategies to promote that product or service. Although there are more than 4 p’s now according to the recent research that should be considered by the companies (Goi, 2009, p.1).

Products/ services

This company will be an online service providing firm. It will provide legal apostilles required for the startups and consultation services to the customers, mainly young entrepreneurs to gain USP. We will provide them all these legal documents which include Founders’ agreement, Employment contract, Nondisclosure agreements, articles of association including MOA & AOA, etc. Shareholder agreement, bylaws, health, and safety policy, the letter before action, and partnership agreement, website T&Cs, etc. are also considered as the key documents  (Edwards, 2014, p.1). In addition to that, we will provide information about the legal documents they are required to start a new business through seminars and consultation as customer value services which will be our competitive advantage.

Place

Finding suitable place/ market for a business is very crucial for a business, but our business is to provide online services only to the customers in the UK. There is no need to find a place/ market where your competitors are working or where the target market may pay more attention. Initially, the business will run as an online service firm, providing services through the website only. This model of business is “Click-Only” or “Click and Mortar” model. Through the website, the customers can communicate and place the orders to take services at any time. There will be a physical presence of the business office only to govern the business operations, but the services to the customers will be provided online. In the UK, London city would be best to have an office for the company as most of the competitors are also there near main highway A10.

Customers can reach the firm just by sitting at home or from any place at any time. Choosing website can be beneficial for the company as it will be a new startup and require some recognition, one should not invest in developing a competitive physical presence of the firm at the initial stage. Once the company gets recognition and goodwill, they can think about expanding the business later by making the business model as bricks and clicks for the customers.

Price

We will use penetration pricing strategy for our company by offering the services at a lower price than the competitors. By penetration pricing strategy, our company can get a high volume of sales. As the target market of our firm is mostly youth and people who are starting new businesses, which covers a large portion of the market. Large market portion and increased sales can cover profit margins because of penetration pricing there are low-profit margins. In this way, we can attract the customers by offering slightly lower prices from the competitors. Initially, the firm does not need to target elite market and charging premium pricing from them. After developing some recognition and positive brand image, premium pricing can be charged. But initially, the focus is on young entrepreneurs of the middle class.

There is no specific rule for pricing the products or services for the online businesses effectively. Sometimes increasing prices may cause a decrease in the sale of the products and sometimes reducing the prices causes a decrease in demand. It is not necessary that reduced or discounted pricing strategy will help to increase the demand and sale of the product. Pricing can be determined by the products’ Price elasticity of demand. A good way to select the effective pricing strategy is to change the pricing strategies often, in this way different you will be able to see how your customer is responding towards that change in price. For online businesses, there are some useful pricing strategies. Starting from the psychological pricing, in this type of pricing marketers play with the psyche of the customers by showing prices having figures like 19, 299, or 499 instead of 20, 300, or 500. With this trick, people get attracted to your products and services.

Relative or competitive pricing is also beneficial for the new startups. Through research and learning about the prices other competitors are offering to the customer, it can guide the newbies to price their products accordingly. The demand for the product/ service is there, but charging slightly higher or lower prices as compared to the competitors may help the firm to communicate the customer that you are offering a premium or affordable service/ product (Quarton, 2015, p.1). In penetration pricing technique, the sales can be increased by reducing the prices of the product/ service which in result discourages the competitors because of selling products/ services at the lower profit margin. The target is not the elite class market in penetration pricing. Profit goals can be met by hitting large target market and high volume of sales. Some other strategies are there for online businesses like image pricing based on the brand name, discount pricing to capture more market share and sales volume, and flexible pricing that gives an option to charge different markets at different rates, etc.

Pricing strategies should be selected by demand elasticity of the products and services. If the demand for the product/ service is elastic, a slighter change in the price will affect the demand for the product/ service. But if the demand for the product/ service is inelastic, the price fluctuation will not have any significant effect on the sale of the product/ service.

As we know that, the trend of starting new and innovative businesses is getting popular among youth and legal documents for opening a new business are essential and required by the authorities if someone wants to start a business legally. This shows that the demand for this service is inelastic and rising in the market. People are bound to take the services of the consultants and legal documents providing companies. Pricing strategy for our business will be penetration pricing strategy.

Promotion

As we are providing services only through the website, it is very beneficial for the firm to promote its brand name and its products/ services by adopting promotional strategies like search engine optimisation and social media promotional tactics.

A search engine optimisation technique is crucial for an online business which provides services just by “ Click-Only” business model. In search engine optimisation, your website is made more visible in the search engines. Companies with only online presence should adopt this promotional strategy to increase its sales. If the link of your site comes at the top of the search relative to the services you are offering, chances are higher that, the customer will open your site before clicking on any other site. Your website should properly indexed, and for a new firm, it will not be a heavy investment to optimize the search engine. Another strategy that our firm will adopt is promotion through social media sites. For interactive marketing, free of cost promotion, and better customer satisfaction, social media sited play an important role to promote different business in this era. People are often engaged in many social media sites.

They spend a lot of their time exploring Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Skype, etc. There is a huge opportunity for the marketers to promote the firm and its products and services with cost-effective ways. Apart from being cost-effective, social media promotion helps in promoting positive word of mouth and create an improved brand image. Interaction with the customer provides them with the opportunity to know and understand the firm in better ways which result in increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and positive feedback.

As there is a social cause behind opening the business, i.e. encouraging the youth about starting new businesses, seminars and events can be conducted as a promotional activity. From such events, the firm will not just fulfil corporate social responsibility but can also use these activities as promotional strategies. Through this event, the goodwill of the firm will increase, and the potential customers/ target market get to know about your services in a better way by attending these seminars.

Employees/ staff

As this is a small business and it will be in its initial stages, it does not require many people to cater the customers’ requirements. Three people can do the job and provide services to the customers. There will be two members who will act as the directors and decision makers to make financial, managerial and operational decisions, etc. They will manage and evaluate the performance of the employees and remunerate them accordingly. They will provide expert advice to the young entrepreneurs and to those who are going to start their businesses. They will provide information to the customers over a call/ video call or in-person meeting. One member will be required to take and complete the orders of documentation. The job will include taking the orders and make appointments plus make the required documents. One person will be on a contractual basis outside the organization to do the job of marketing and promotion. His job will be to manage the social media sites and making marketing and promotional strategies for the firm. The structure of the firm will be pyramid hierarchical because the directors will have more responsibilities. They will be the owner of the company so that the other employees will report to them.

Customers/ Client

Our customers will be the young entrepreneurs and the existing businesses that require legal documents in the UK. The company will cater employed as well unemployed customer who want to start the business. The main focus of our consultation services will be on unemployed customers who are willing to start a business. Customers can access the website of the firm at any time of the day and place the order. They can get the appointments for consultation from the website too. After getting the appointments, they can get information from the experts about the process of opening new business and legal documents required for their desired businesses. They can decide whether they want to meet the expert in person or talk to them on a call/ video call. They will have an option to place an order or get information if they have any query over the Facebook page. Through Facebook messages and calls they will be entertained, and the customer will have access to the services any time of the day.

Future Plans

In future, the company is supposed to have a good brand name and brand recognition. By providing services to the customers efficiently, customers will be satisfied with the firm, and it will allow the firm to generate a handsome profit and cover its cost. When the firm becomes a successful online legal document provider, it will only then be able to expand its business. For expanding the business, the company may use Ansoff matrix. Through Ansoff matrix, the possible growth strategies for the firm can be generated (Watts, 1998, p.102). In Ansoff Matrix, four strategies could be made to expand the business.

  • Market Penetration strategy
  • Market Development strategy
  • Product Development strategy
  • Diversification strategy

Market penetration strategy is useful if the firm wants to increase the market share and market growth in existing market with existing products. Market development strategy is useful when the firm wants to expand the business by selling the current products in a new market. Product development strategy is used when the market is same, but the firm wants to offer new products to the customers. In diversification, the business will launch the new product line in a new market.

Future Plan strategies

The strategy that should be used by the online legal documents providing firm should be market development through franchising. When the firm becomes profitable, and it has sufficient market share, the firm should develop the market through market development strategy through franchising. Franchising is a business structure used when the business become successful on its own, and it proves to be successful in making a good brand name. Once the company establishes a good brand name, it can permit people to use your business model by the opening franchise of your business and provide services in their areas by using your brand name just like McDonald’s did after its success and expanded its business globally. So, we will look forward to using market development strategy in future by providing franchising services to other people and change the model of business by making the business “Clicks and Bricks,” i.e., from online to physical business for expansion.

References

Rocket Lawyer UK. (2014). Five essential legal documents every business needs – Rocket Lawyer UK. [online] Available at: https://www.rocketlawyer.co.uk/blog/five-essential-legal-document-every-business-needs/ [Accessed 6 Apr. 2018].

Green, F., 2013. Youth entrepreneurship. Background paper for the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development Paris, www. oecd. org/cfe/leed/youth_bp_finalt. pdf.

Quarton, S. (2018). Six Effective Pricing Strategies for Online Businesses. [online] Elegant Themes. Available at: https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/tips-tricks/six-effective-pricing-strategies-for-online-businesses [Accessed 6 Apr. 2018].

Watts, G., Cope, J. and Hulme, M., 1998. Ansoff’s matrix, pain and gain: Growth strategies and adaptive learning among small food producers. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research4(2), pp.101-111.

Business Models, Business Strategy and Innovation. (2010). Long Range Planning, 43(2-3), pp.172-194.

Goi, C. (2009). A Review of Marketing Mix: 4Ps or More?. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 1(1).

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