Following the SME instrument phase 1 approval, Comunicae has conducted a feasibility study of the PRsuite project, which concept has been tested for technological, commercial, regulatory and economic viability, as summarized in the next points:
- Product development feasibility study (task 1): We have defined the specifications for new software features and services as part of the technology maturation tasks to be implemented during the Phase 2 in the new Accelerator program. These features and services will be developed in five languages (Spanish, German, French, Italian and English) and will be piloted with 10 clients (start-ups, SMEs and PR agencies that are currently working at EU level). We have confirmed the intent of these clients to be involved in this large-scale piloting.
- Market and commercialisation feasibility study (task 2): We carried out a deep market search at EU and Global level, identifying trends and end-user needs. We also identified competitors and implemented a competitor analysis. All this information was fed into task 4 to carry out the financial and economic feasibility study and to build up the business plan.
- Regulation, IPR and FTO study (task 3): In the study we have analysed regulations about press releases and other type of content with regard of financial and relevant inside information of the company. This regulation does not affect to SMEs: they can do these distribution as they want unless they are listed companies. Consequently, we have analysed how this regulation affects listed companies in the EU stock markets, which are mostly large enterprises. We have also studied alternatives for IPR protection and to ensure our FTO.
- Economic and financial feasibility study and Business Plan (task 4): In this task we focused the market study in our two main segments address by the PRsuite: European SMEs with international presence in another EU country and Agencies at global level. We have established our optimal international pricing strategy switching from pay-per-press-release model to a monthly subscription fee as a flat rate to all the services provided by the new PRsuite, e.g. not only for press releases but as well for content creation, distribution and motoring for other types of publications (e.g. articles, white papers and social media among others). We quantified our TAM and build up 5-year projections quantifying as well estimated market share in these segments.
