Marketing

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Chapter 7

• Marketing

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Importance of Marketing

• Marketing is about informing, attracting,
  nurturing, and retaining customers and supporters
  for your event
• It is the ability to market the event that will
  determine the attention drawn to it, and the
  corresponding level of participation by the
  public

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Importance of Marketing

• A marketing plan must use the mission and goals
  of the event as guidelines for the development of
  a marketing strategy
• This mission must include the recognition that
  effectively marketing the event serves a
  multitude of beneficial purposes
• Marketing is about getting the word out it
  involves advertising, public relations, and
  promotional activities

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Marketing should be fun!

• The marketing campaign should be a combination of
  a well-conceived plan and unbridled optimism
• Print media, electronic media, human dynamics,
  group dynamics, internal public relations,
  external public relations, press relations,
  promotions, advertising, sales and merchandising,
  sponsorships, and special celebrations as forms
  of marketing must all be used in concert with
  organizational goals

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The Ideal Marketing Director

• An ideal marketing person possesses unwavering
  optimism
• Enthusiastic storyteller by nature
• Understands the quantitative realities of finance
  and sales
• Flexible, a true negotiator keeping others
  focused on the big picture while attending to
  very important details
• Can delegate through a clear explanation of
  tasks, requirements, and expected outcomes
• Keen understanding of human nature and what it
  takes to get others excited about an idea
• Can move deftly move from concept, to strategy,
  to implementation and follow through while
  keeping others accurately informed

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Marketing Success - Two Basic Principles

• Understand the Product
• There must be an understanding of both the appeal
  of the event to select market segments and its
  overall appeal to the general populace
• The concept of differentiation suggests that the
  event must be conceptualized and presented in
  such a way that it gains some market advantage
  over the competition

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The Nature of Special Events

• Variability the services or products provided
  vary greatly from one event to another resulting
  in no two events being exactly the same
• Inseparability the actual product or services
  provided and the experience of the visitor are
  inseparable Special events are about the
  experience
• Perishability events are usually not long-term
  activities each time the event is offered it is
  different

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Marketing Success - Two Basic Principles

• Understand Your Audience
• Marketing requires knowledge of what is being
  offered and an estimation of the interest level
  of the potential recipient
• Consumer research is needed and should include
• a demographic analysis of the potential attendees
  and their spending patterns
• a thorough understanding of visitor needs
• insight into the decision-making process of
  potential visitors and their expectations
  regarding quality

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Market Segmentation

• Planners should identify potential customers and
  seek to gain insight into their decision-making
  process regarding their choice of recreational
  activities
• Certain events attract particular demographic
  subgroups based on their interest and knowledge
  of the product being offered
• A fan base can be established by determining the
  core group of supporters for a particular event

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Market Segmentation

• Identifying the behavioral characteristics of the
  anticipated market segment that will attend the
  event is critical to achieving the best results
  from marketing efforts
• A clearly defined market for an event
• Allows for specific marketing to targeted groups
• Improves the ability to project attendance
  figures that impact resource allocation
• Makes the event more attractive to sponsors
• Contributes to the strategic planning efforts
  that affect event management

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Understanding the Marketing Mix

• Five characteristics of the marketing mix
• Product - This includes knowledge of the history
  of the event, the current goals to be achieved,
  the perception of the event by the community by
  both attendees and those who choose not to
  participate, the impact of the event socially and
  economically on the community, the planned
  lifespan of the event, and the strength of
  support for the event

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Understanding the Marketing Mix

• Price a combination of quantitative fiscal
  information, agency goals, and consumer
  perceptions. The costs of the event are often
  greater than the price of admission
• An analysis of the operating and overhead costs
  must take place as the initial step in
  determining price determine the real and
  perceived value of the event difference between
  the price of the event and the actual cost of the
  event for an attendee
• Place - Place defines the method of making your
  product available to the consumer. Sometimes
  referred to as distribution the place of
  distribution for your product begins with advance
  marketing and ticket sales and continues through
  each activity or experience associated with the
  event

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Understanding the Marketing Mix

• Position - how a particular event fits into the
  flow of events in the area. Positioning is based
  on understanding the competition, and filling a
  particular niche in the local market
• Promotion - Promotions are about communicating
  the who, what, why, where, and what of your
  event. Promotions can include advertising,
  public-relation efforts, and other
  awareness-raising strategies
• Primary markets are those groups of individuals
  who historically show a predisposition to attend
  the type of event being presented
• Secondary markets are those that may not be the
  most obvious targets for attendance at the event
  but may add to the overall attendance and revenue
  for the event

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Promotional Strategies

• Identify all elements of the event that require
  promotion
• Develop strategies for allocating promotion
  resources with efficient methods
• Identify promotion partners to share costs
• Target promotions to the market segments that
  will support the event
• Measure and analyze promotion efforts and make
  necessary midcourse corrections

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Public Relations

• Public relations is the means of creating a
  positive image and attaining credibility through
  the managed perceptions of supporters and
  potential customers via the media or through
  direct contact
• Public relations involves media relations,
  community relations, customer relations, employee
  relations, sponsor relations, and government
  relations.
• When properly directed, public relations can be
  the most cost-effective means of promoting an
  event

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Public Relations

• Public relations uses the event as the launching
  pad for related stories, human interest pieces,
  descriptions of unique characteristics or
  personalities associated with the event, and even
  the challenges faced by the organizers to make
  the plan a reality
• Public relations differs from publicity
• Publicity is any attention given by the media to
  an event or organization. This attention is
  controlled by decisions made by the media in
  support of their goals

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Public Relations

• Publicity can result in both positive and
  negative reporting about your event
• Public relations is directed by the event
  organizers in order to develop a mutually
  beneficial relationship with news media
• Event organizers can influence media coverage by
  employing several positive strategies
• identify the publicity messages
• provide the media with accurate information

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Working With the Media

• Providing the media with visual supports such as
  photos of the event entertainers and crowds,
  video footage and other materials, increases the
  probability of high-level coverage
• Providing journalists perks like free admission
  and concession tickets helps to ensure their
  attendance and creates a positive impression of
  the event
• For larger events, establishing a pressroom with
  the necessary technologies such as phone, fax,
  computer lines, maps, schedules, and other
  support materials helps the reporters to do a
  thorough job

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Advertising

• Advertising is a means of paying for the
  opportunity to explain the details and benefits
  of an event from the point of view of the
  organizers
• Advertising is critical in that it sets the
  stage, presents the facts, and serves to keep an
  event in the public eye
• An advertising budget is necessary to fill the
  gaps in the information being provided by the
  media through public relations efforts and
  promotional activities

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Web Marketing

• Effective marketing in the 21st century must
  consider the benefits and challenges of web-based
  marketing
• The strength of the system is in its ability to
  narrowly define searches in order for users to
  access desired information with a minimum of
  effort
• Properly designed websites are created to address
  particular issues related to marketing

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Web Marketing

• Sites provide opportunities to
• -Make reservations
• -Check schedules
• -Listen to the performers
• -Ask questions
• -Review last years event highlights
• -Purchase tickets and merchandise
• -Get fully involved with the event

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Web Marketing

• Having a web page dedicated to your event adds to
  the perceived importance of the event on the part
  of the viewer
• Web advertising strategies also allow the event
  site to capitalize on sponsorship relationships
  by offering the placement of sponsor information
  and links on the website as another potential
  benefit of sponsorship

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What Research Tells Us

• Visitors to a festival or other special event
  have varying motivations for attending an event
• Formica Uysal (1996) found a correlation
  between residency status and motivation for
  attending an international jazz festival
• Oftentimes an event is attractive due to the
  purpose of the event being out of the ordinary,
  either beyond the visitors normal range of
  experiences, or due to the quaint simplicity of
  the event. This characteristic attractiveness of
  an event is referred to as cultural exploration

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What Research Tells Us

• Iso Ahola (1982, 1989) presents a dichotomy that
  identifies motivation as either a seeking
  behavior or an avoiding behavior in order to
  obtain an optimal level of arousal
• Crompton (1979) identifies seven
  socio-psychological motivational categories or
  domains that influence recreational pursuits
  novelty, socialization, prestige/status, rest and
  relaxation, educational value/intellectual
  enrichment, enhancing kinship relations/family
  togetherness, and regression

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Destination Marketing

• Events are an important part of a greater
  strategy to market a destination to the tourism
  sector
• Well-planned strategies are very effective in
  creating brand-name destinations based on events
• Marketing of a particular event will also benefit
  from the larger goals of creating destinations
  that capitalize on the characteristics of the area

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Evaluating Marketing Efforts

• Most marketing plans identify these two elements,
  awareness and participation, as key objectives in
  the marketing strategy
• Evaluation of the effectiveness of marketing must
  be structured to measure quantifiable objectives
  emanating from the original strategic plan of the
  event
• awareness of event/destination change in
  consumer relationship

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Evaluating Marketing Efforts

• Tangible Results
• media exposure increase in number of sponsors
  increase in sponsor dollars ticket sales
  concession sales coupon returns internet site
  hits
• Intangible Results
• event identity establishment image enhancement
  increased

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Evaluation Tools

• Internal information refers to the data collected
  from organizers, workers, volunteers, contracted
  employees, and sponsors that helps to clarify the
  achievement of the event marketing objectives
• External information comes from participants and
  other stakeholders not involved in the planning
  and implementation of the event, but are crucial
  in ascertaining the effectiveness of the
  marketing campaign

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Evaluation Tools

• According to Yeoman et al. (2004), event sales,
  staff reports, sponsorship feedback, meeting
  minutes, customer service feedback, complaints,
  and compliments all contribute to the feedback
  matrix for event marketers
• Surveys, visual observance, follow-up letters and
  surveys, emails, focus groups, and other forms of
  questioning will help to elicit responses from
  those outside of the organization regarding the
  effectiveness of marketing efforts