Marketing Communication Plan: Bumble Bizz

Home , LinkedIn, Tinder (app)

Jasmine Han, Tatum Harvey, and Justine Kim

MKT 405

6 December 2018

CONTENTS

Executive Summary …………………………….2

Rationale .…………………….……………...…………….3

Situational Analysis

Historical Context …………….……..4

Cultural Context .…………….………...5

Industry Analysis ..…………………….6

Competitor Analysis ………………..7

Consumer Analysis ……….………...9

Target Market …………………………….…………...10

Objectives ...………….………………….………………..13

Strategy

Message Strategy …..……….……….14

Promotional Strategy .…….……...14

Media Strategy …..………...…….……..18

Measure of Effectiveness ...... ……..……..22

Bibliography …………………………...……………….24

I. Executive Summary

A primary player in the digital dating space, Bumble has recently expanded its

offering to include professional networking in the form of its platform called

Bumble Bizz. Bumble Bizz leverages the same swipe mechanism, user profile,

and match system to facilitate business networking and the creation of

meaningful and productive relationships. Despite its growing user base,

Bumble Bizz lacks brand awareness in the younger, specifically Gen Z, female

demographic, which much of their current messaging and promotional

strategy is already targeted to. As the market for professional and

personable networking applications is growing, and younger, female college

students are looking to define their careers as entrepreneurs and self-starters

rather than in traditional roles, it is imperative that Bumble speaks more

effectively to this audience. In order to communicate with this target, Bumble

must leverage social media, campus partnerships, and experiential marketing

efforts to increase brand awareness for Bumble Bizz. What we hope to

achieve from this communication plan is to establish Bumble Bizz’s credibility

as a professional platform that yields results, and ultimately sparks product

trial and conversion.

II. Rationale

Founded in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd, also co-founder of Tinder, Bumble is

a platform that brings together dating, friend-finding, and career-building into

3 a single, multi-use platform. Ranked on Linkedin’s Top Startup List of 2018,

Bumble has grown to be a major competitor in the dating/networking application space along with players such as Tinder, Linkedin, and Hinge.

Revenue in this segment is $571 million in 2018 and it is expected to show an annual growth rate of 4.8%. By 2023 revenue is projected to be worth $723 million and boast a user base of 265.9 million. Per this projection, it is evident that there is a growing market and demand for dating/networking applications.

In such a space, Bumble holds a unique position as a platform that boasts capabilities for both dating and networking. The brand has substantial brand awareness in the space as a unique offering that is characterized by a female-driven approach to dating apps, however, its sub-platform Bumble

Bizz, does not have notable brand awareness among the brand’s target. From our primary and secondary research, we have found that current marketing efforts for Bumble Bizz are limited and that current college students do not view it as a viable networking platform in place of more traditional platforms such as Linkedin. Therefore, our rationale for an integrated communication plan is to increase brand awareness and trial of Bumble Bizz. Despite the lack of brand awareness, it poses a valuable opportunity for Bumble to position their brand in the target’s mind as an application that offers more than dating. Our goal is to build credibility for Bumble Bizz as a networking

platform, and to get current users of Bumble to try Bumble Bizz in the short

term. In the long-term the goal of this campaign is to acquire new users

through increased trial of Bumble Bizz.

III. Situational Analysis

A. Historical Context

Founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd in 2014, Bumble is a women-centric platform

that has amassed over 22 million registered users and currently boasts more

than 70% year over year growth. Ranked on Linkedin’s Top Startups of 2018

and mentioned on Time’s 50 most genius companies, the company has grown

to 70 employees, approximately 85% of which are women. Bumble’s mission is

to be a platform and community that creates empowering connections in

love, life, and work, which they do through their three integrated platforms of

Bumble, Bumble Bizz, and Bumble BFF. As a platform that requires that the

woman starts the interaction, Bumble’s vision is to promote accountability,

equality, and kindness in working to break down archaic gender roles and

misogyny.

Bumble Bizz was launched in October 2017 and now has 17 million new

matches a week and 64,000 new users joining each day. Similarly to other

dating/networking applications, Bumble Bizz uses an individual profile

showcasing and the swipe mechanism to create matches and kick start

conversations. What is different about Bumble Bizz is that the profile is strictly

professional in that it showcases job experience, skills, and connections to

best facilitate professional yet personable networking among its users.

Bumble Bizz’s unique offering comes at an opportune time where more

traditional modes of business networking are falling short for younger

individuals. According to Statista, 77% of Linkedin users are over the age of 30

and are looking to recruit from larger corporations. From our primary

research, which will be outlined further, we were able to find that college-age

individuals see Linkedin as a rather formal and dry mode of connecting.

Bumble Bizz plays to the changing perception networking as not something

limiting, but about a constant daily routine of cultivating/growing one’s base,

and the application itself speaks to the need for a casual platform to manage

formal relationships.

B. Cultural Context

Networking is far from a new phenomenon, however, professionals are

coming to realize its undeniable value. Professionals cite networking as

“essential” to their career development and professional networking as a key

component of high career success. With social media and applications such

as Bumble Bizz, much networking has transferred to online channels, Linkedin

being one of the primary platforms. Linkedin, however, shows an older, male

demographic. As of January 2018, the percentage of US Internet users who

use Linkedin is 56% men and 44% women. From these users, 24% of women

and 20% of men agreed that there is a need for women only or female-driven

networking. Bumble Bizz has ridden this wave of online, professional

networking and now speaks to an emerging need for platforms specifically

catered to female audiences.

C. Industry Analysis

Because of the high rate of career success, a strong emphasis has been

placed on professional networking in all stages of career development – it has

become a key component. In recent findings, 70% of people in 2016 were hired

at a company where they had a connection (Doyle). As networking has

proven to have a huge influence in career success, more individuals believe in

the positive effect that professional networking has. As of 2018, 80% of

professionals consider professional networking to be important to career

success (Doyle). Online networking services, such as major player LinkedIn,

have provided working professionals with a source of instantaneous

networking. Currently, 61% of professionals agree that regular online

interaction with their professional networks can lead to possible job

opportunities (Doyle). Professional social networking services essentially

cultivate networking relationships for their current users whose aim is to

achieve career success.

D. Competitor Analysis

The primary competitor that we have identified is Linkedin. Linkedin’s mission

is to be “a community that can help you realize your definition of success”,

and its goal is to create a business network of aspiring and growing

professionals. It is framed as a community that can help an individual realize

his/her definition of success. Founded in 2003, the network has a total of 562

million users, 56% of which are men and 44% of which are women. These

users are relatively active. 260 million of the user base is active monthly and

40% are active daily. Linkedin communicates a professional tone that caters

to business professionals. This is reflected in an older user base of which 61

million are senior level influencers, 40 million of which are in decision making

positions.

On the other end of the spectrum is Tinder. Founded in 2012 it is a fast

growing startup in the dating application space, that was launched to address

social and physical barriers of forming new relationships and friendships. It

uses social data to connect people nearby that have mutual interest. Its tone

is more playful and casual, but it still boasts a user base of 50 million users, 10

million of which are active daily, and 3.8 million of which are paying

subscribers. In comparison to Linkedin, their users skew younger. 79% are

millennials and 35% are between the ages of 18 and 24. Ripple is a

professional networking application started by Tinder which also leverages

the swipe mechanism. Unlike Tinder, however, it focuses less on photos and

more on content, specifically job history, skills, mutual connections, and more.

Ripple’s mission is to “unleash the full potential of your professional life”.

Hinge has a smaller user base, but offers a similar product to Tinder. It is

positioned as the ultimate platform for dating, specifically described as the

“dating app made for dating”. It has a funny, conversational, and quirky tone.

At the center of this spectrum, ranging from professional networks such as

Linkedin to casual dating applications such as Tinder lie two applications

called Shapr, and Mixer. Shapr is positioned as a platform that is made to

meet people from different industries in a casual setting. Its mission is to

“meet inspiring people and shape your life”, and to use the platform to meet a

potential business partner, mentor, and to find career opportunities. Shapr is

specifically targeted towards entrepreneurs who are looking for cofounders,

ideas, and other professionals. It is similar to Bumble’s offering in this way,

however, Bumble has a larger user base. Finally, Mixer is a private networking

application to connect freelancers working in film, music, art, and fashion. Its

mission is to be “the private network for creatives”, and it is targeted towards

members who are leaders in the art, music, fashion, and film industries.

Below is a positioning map of Bumble Bizz among these competitors that we

have identified. The x-axis is personal-professional. Personal meaning the

application is a platform meant for casual relationships- friendly or romantic,

and professional meaning the application is meant solely for business

relationships. The y-axis is narrow-holistic. Narrow meaning the platform is

meant to satisfy one need, and holistic in the sense that it is pitched more as

an enhancement to one’s daily routine/life. Bumble Bizz occupies a unique

space amongst its competitors in that it is professional yet personal, and has

a more holistic approach.

E. Consumer Analysis

From our research findings, we have identified that networking is a valuable

activity, and there is a need and desire for female-driven spaces. This insight

drove us to look further into female entrepreneurs as a potential target

market. Currently, the entrepreneurial environment is still incredibly

male-oriented, however, the female demographic is growing steadily. As of

2018, 26% of small business owners are female while 72% are male. Despite

the smaller representation of women in this space, female small business

owners skew younger. 51% are under the age of 50, vs. 44% of their male

counterparts. Furthermore, looking deeper into female entrepreneurs’

motivations for pursuing their own venture, their top motivation is to pursue

their own passion while for men it is to be their own boss. In starting their own

businesses, however, women are twice as likely to select a lack of a support

system as a primary obstacle than men.

Although women are still underrepresented in the entrepreneurial space, the

number is growing. What is even more significant is that women cite a lack of

a support system as a primary obstacle to pursuing their passions, and as a

result are more likely to stop ventures at an early stage or between phases of

transition. These insights speak to a need for Bumble Bizz to provide a

tangible support system for younger, entrepreneurial women, and will highly

inform our communication strategies.

IV. Target Market

A. Target Market

Our target market is the female go-getters, women in between the ages of 18

- 25 years old, dubbed as the Bizzy Bee. The hustler is a young professional

with nothing but ambition and excitement for the uncertainty that lies ahead.

They are constantly seeking new experiences while staying committed to their

personal and professional growth. While chasing success, they are often

looking for inspiration and new ideas, but do not often have the resources or

the confidence to pursue them. This Bizzy Bee aligns perfectly with Bumble’s

current audience of young, professional females. We want to tap into this age

range because they are often the individuals looking for jobs and soliciting

advice from others.

B. Persona: Alex

Alex is a recent graduate from University of Texas. She is 22 years old and

loves brands like Glossier and Reformation. She looks up to people like Emily

Weiss who is the founder of Glossier. She watches Queer Eye and listens to the

Girlboss podcast on her daily commute. She is open to new things and is

considered an early adopter of new technology among her friends. Others

consider her to be proactive, ambitious, and idealistic. She has a knack for

entrepreneurship and is hoping to start her own beauty line in the future and

is currently working in advertising.

C. Secondary Research Findings

To reiterate and emphasize why we chose the audience that we did, we

discovered that 61% of college students would prefer to be entrepreneurs

rather than employees (S chwabel). 77% believe that they will need to work

harder compared to those in past generations to have a satisfying and

fulfilling professional life (Schwabel). College students describe themselves as

creators and collaborators, future focused, realists, and driven to work for

success. Female small business owners skew younger, with 51% who are under

50 vs. 44% of male entrepreneurs. Similarly, women are less likely to start their

own businesses and are more likely to exit at early stages and between

phases of transition. The inability to find funding is the biggest obstacle for all

business owners, but women are twice as likely to select a lack of a support

system as an obstacle than men. We want to bridge that gap with Bumble

Bizz for our Bizzy Bees. Targeting entrepreneurial women between the ages

of 18 - 25 is perfect because they are the ones who need the most help in

terms of business resources and networking opportunities.

D. Primary Research Findings

From our survey, we were able to gauge a few key findings. First,, the majority

of our respondents were female upperclassmen. They saw the top networking

platform to be LinkedIn. Despite Linkedin being their top platform, however,

respondents communicated a negative sentiment towards Linkedin as an

older, superficial, and dry platform. Unfortunately, none of the respondents

use Bumble Bizz, however, there seems to be a need for a platform that

speaks better to this target’s needs, which is where Bumble Bizz would come

in.

The top two reasons why our respondents use networking apps is to look for

jobs and to expand their network. There is almost no awareness of Bumble

Bizz and its function. One of the quotes that we received in our responses was:

“Is it dating, but for professionals?”. Since Bumble is a multi-use platform that

contains capabilities for dating, friend-finding, and professional networking,

there seems to be some confusion because of the overlap. We anticipate

addressing this in our promotional strategies in creating stronger product

differentiation for Bumble Bizz. Despite the lack of brand awareness, there

seems to be a positive reaction towards Bumble’s overall mission of

empowering women, which proves to be an optimistic sign for our

communication strategies.

V. Objectives of Campaign

Our two primary objectives for our overall marketing communication plan for

Bumble Bizz are to:

1. Increase brand awareness and product trial for Bumble Bizz

2. Position Bumble Bizz as a credible networking app

Specifically, our business objective is to increase Bumble Bizz’s user base by

10% from 22 million to 24.2 million by 31 March 2019. Furthermore, our

marketing objective is to increase the number of visits (mobile and desktop)

by 10% from 1.77 million to 1.95 million by 31 March 2019. We will achieve our

goals by implementing the promotional and media strategies that we have

described below.

VI. Strategy

A. Messaging Strategy: Beelieve It

We are seeing more female entrepreneurs running and starting their own

businesses. B eelieve It speaks to the female go-getters. Our goal is to

increase awareness and be a support system for women who want to launch

their own businesses and ventures.

“Beelieve It” highlights how we are empowering and encouraging women to

support each other. We want to create a hive for users. Through the women

they will meet, whether that’s through online, our speaker series, etc. We want

to cultivate a community for women.

B. Promotional Strategy

Bumble Bizz at School

Bumble Bizz is focused on bringing networking opportunities to female

go-getters. “Bumble Bizz at School” collaborates with bizzy bees (female,

college students) to draw more students onto the app. Bizzy bees, among the

PAC-12 schools, can create a college club or cross promote with clubs with

their special sign up link. By engaging more students, they can unlock

different incentives from bringing in successful entrepreneurs (i.e. Karlie Kloss,

Kode with Klossy-- supporting women in tech, Jackie Frank, founding Editor

of Marie Claire Australia, etc.) as guest speakers from the Bumble Bizz app to

getting the chance to go to the Bumble Bizz x Girlboss Rally. The event would

come as a result of a corporate partnership with Girlboss.

The Point/ level up system incentivizes the usage of the app (trial). G oing to

events, referring more friends and classmates (which brings awareness), etc.,

will help participants level up/unlock certain features of Bumble Bizz. Bizzy

Bees who get the most downloads through their custom url will be flown out

to exclusive events. People tend to have a lot of trust in organic referrals, so

we will want to rely heavily on our college ambassadors. We want to

incentivize our Bizzy Bees to promote and market on their campuses.

Bumble Bizz x GirlBoss Rally (Corporate Partnership)

At GirlBoss Rally, attendees can meet and network with other talented, like-minded women while developing tips and tricks from acclaimed speakers.

Attendees will also get access to a one-day program of panels, workshops, mentor sessions, speed-networking, as well as, pop-up shops, photo booths, and more.

Bumble Bizz x GirlBoss Lounge

Bumble x GirlBoss Lounge brings the community together. It can be unlocked with a Bumble Bizz account. In the lounge, attendees can network and meet other attendees or get mentored by some leading professionals at the event.

It incentivizes users to try Bumble Bizz by downloading the app (trial and intent) to unlock access to the lounge and emphasizes the community aspect of Bumble Bizz.

Bumble Bizz x GirlBoss Speaker Series

During the event, the GirlBoss main panel will have a #BeelieveIt speaker

series, which will address the importance of networking, how to find a mentor,

and how to start a business with the right mentor. We would bring in some of

the top influencers from Bumble to lead the talk (i.e. Emily Weiss from Glossier

and Karlie Kloss from Kode with Klossy). Awareness of the app is created

through the sponsorship of the speaker series by Bumble Bizz. Speakers are

female founders themselves, which will resonate with our target market of

female go-getters. We want our consumers to see themselves within these

speakers.

C. Media Strategy

Promoted Instagram Posts and Stories

The first part of our strategy is to push promoted Instagram posts and stories.

The purpose of using Instagram is to build more brand awareness and increase the amount of active users that Bumble Bizz is currently lacking.

According to research, “85% of Gen Z learns about new products on social media and on average they spend about 6-9 hours per day consuming media” (Mediakix). Another critical detail is that 85% of Gen Z use YouTube while 72% use Instagram (Criteo). For our media strategy, we decided to use

Instagram over YouTube to take advantage of the fact that Instagram does not allow the ability to block ads (through AdBlock). This platform will allow us to reach our target market most effectively. Our sponsored posts and stories will be similar in the sense that they use our messaging, “beelieve it” and “start building your hive today.” These advertisements specifically speak to our female go-getters who want to either build their network and/or launch their own business. These ads will then direct the user to the app page.

Print Ad in Forbes 30 Under 30

The second component of our media strategy is to feature a print ad in

Forbes 30 Under 30 . By having a Bumble Bizz spread in Forbes 30 Under 30,

our objective is to market our Bumble Bizz x GirlBoss Rally, increase credibility

for the brand, and get our target market of female go-getters interested and

excited for our partnered event with GirlBoss. F orbes 30 Under 30 is a highly

esteemed magazine as it recognizes 600 business and industry figures in 20

different industries for their creative disruption and influence. Gen Z trusts

print publications over other media to deliver credible information, while

20 about 34% of Gen Z turn to magazines (Fletcher). Essentially our spread in

Forbes 30 Under 30 displays the schedule of our event and gives an inside look of what the event will consist of. The ad gives a sneak peak of who some of the speakers will be and what workshops will be provided. From this feature in F orbes 30 Under 30, Bumble Bizz will be established as a credible service that provides powerful resources and empowers entrepreneurial women to pursue their career aspirations.

Mini Podcast Series with Influencer

Our final media strategy is to produce a mini podcast series with influencer,

Marianna Hewitt. With our mini podcast series, we want to build more credibility for the brand. We want viewers to see Bumble Bizz as more than just an app and give more meaning to it. We want to build a community of like-minded women. A recent study from LinkedIn revealed that 42% of those between the ages of 18-34 listen to podcasts at least once a week (Arnold).

Because podcasts are a new platform to consume information at ease, we believe that our “Bizzy Bee” target market will want to seek out the information that we provide on our series. The podcast consists of having influencer and co-founder of Summer Fridays, Marianna Hewitt, as the primary host. We chose to use an influencer because such an individual will make the podcast more relatable and inspirational as Marianna recently co-founded her own beauty line with another lifestyle blogger. This podcast

will bring in other influential women and allow them to tell their different

stories in which they either: followed their passion and made it into their

career, connected with like-minded people and leveraged it into a business or

career, etc. Essentially with our podcast, we are building a community in which

women share their own success, tips, personal stories, advice, etc. with

listeners. We want Bizzy Bees to b elieve in Bumble Bizz and the powerful

connections and potential collaborations/job opportunities behind it.

VII. Measurement of Effectiveness

Through our various marketing efforts, we will be measuring our effectiveness

based on our objectives. As our first objective is to increase brand awareness

22 and increase our user base, we specifically focused on developing “Bumble

Bizz at School” to partner with female college students and clubs to incentivize them with a reward system. In addition, we implemented

Instagram ads as our communication channel to reach our target market. We will measure our brand awareness through Instagram’s business feature of insights, specifically looking at website clicks, profile visits, reach and impressions. We will also look into which PAC-12 schools are using their unique link the most.

For the second component of our first objective, we created an experiential experience with our Bumble Bizz x GirlBoss Rally, in order to create more active users – especially through our Bumble Bizz x GirlBoss Lounge. With our event and partnership with GirlBoss we additionally strengthen awareness for the brand. The use of traditional advertising to promote our event in Forbes

30 Under 30, is a strategic decision in which magazine readers trust this highly respected magazine in the business industry. A lthough experiential events and print advertisements are harder to measure, we will request permission to obtain the details and opinions of at least 100 prospective users that downloaded and tested the app.

Our last objective is to ultimately change the outlook on Bumble Bizz and position it as a credible networking service. With the execution of all promotional strategies combined, we have created a community of women in

which Bumble Bizz fully supports. By providing events and services outside of

its app to further enhance our go-getters’ career development, Bumble Bizz

has redefined its position in the professional networking service industry. In

addition, with the creation of the mini podcast series, Bumble Bizz further

emphasizes its overall women-centric mission by sharing the stories of other

successful business women to provide inspiration and guidance. To measure

these marketing strategies with the aim to create more credibility, we will

specifically look at the amount of active users in our Bumble Bizz at School

Program, the amount of attendees at our Bumble Bizz x GirlBoss Rally, and

the amount of streams our podcast series receives.

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www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/gen-z-marketing-going-retro/.

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