Transcript Strategic Marketing For Events

Event Strategy (Section 2)
Strategic Marketing For Events
Nuke Farida
• The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM, 2005) defines
marketing as, ‘the management process responsible for
identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer
requirements profitably’. In simple terms, marketing is
concerned with satisfying consumer needs and wants by
exchanging goods, services or ideas for something of
value.
What is Marketing?
• growth in the number and diversity of services (including events) that
require different marketing approaches from those for goods
• recognition of the unique marketing requirements of not-for-profit
organizations (typical of many festivals)
• the increasing importance of stakeholders – for example, the
community, government, investors/sponsors, media and others who
can be as influential as consumers on organizational survival
• advances in technology such as the Internet, the linking of computers
with telecommunications and other innovations that affect the
marketing of services, including events
• internationalization, which has created global opportunities to enter
new markets – for example, the touring and staging of events in
offshore locations.
Marketing Functions
• Analyze the needs of the target market to establish the
design of the event experience and the way in which it
will be delivered.
• Predict how many people will attend the event and the
times that different groups or market segments will
attend.
• Research any competitive events that could satisfy
similar needs, to devise a unique selling proposition.
Marketing Activities
• Estimate the price or value that visitors are willing to
exchange to attend an event – for example, ticket price
or donation.
• Decide on marketing communication, including the
media mix and messages that will reach the audiences
of the event.
Conti’d
• Consider how the choice and design of venue(s) and
the methods of ticket distribution fit with the needs of
attendees.
• Establish the degree of success of the event in
achieving its marketing objectives.
Cont’d
• gives event managers a framework for decision making that should result in
events that reflect innovation and creativity, but cater for market segments that
seek novelty or the excitement of something new.
• Sponsoring bodies need reassurance that their sponsorship is linking their brand
with their target markets. Sound marketing practices give marketers the ability to
convince sponsors that a festival or event is the right marketing investment.
• Local and national government financially assist many festivals and events.
Governments usually fund only those events whose management can demonstrate
some expertise in marketing planning and management.
• Event stakeholders, such as the community, environmentalists and indigenous
leaders, as well as consumers, are critical in today’s societal marketing approach
alongside satisfaction of the needs and wants of event or festival markets.
• Consumers (particularly in major cities) have an enormous range of leisure
activities on which to spend their disposable income.
The need for marketing
• longer term, rather than short
• not another word for tactics – strategy is the broad overall
direction that an event takes to achieve its objectives, while
tactics are the detailed manoeuvres or program that carry out
the strategy. Tactics can be changed as market conditions
change, but the overall direction – the strategy – remains
constant (at least for the planning period).
• based on careful analysis of internal resources and external
environments – it is not a hasty reaction to changes in the
market.
• essential to survival – well-considered thought out marketing
strategies enable event managers to achieve the objectives of
their event.
Role of Strategic
Marketing
• Macro Level: to understand external forces affecting the event
and its markets.
• Kinds of Online and offline information sources:
• government statistics and reports (national and region statistics
on the consumption of festivals and events, arts and sport)
• media coverage (about the events sector and particular events
or festivals in the region)
• industry magazines and Conference & Incentive Travel
• historical and current data from other events, festivals and
event organizers.
Event marketing research
• Micro Level: to gain insight into the event’s existing and
potential consumers and any strategies previously used by
the organizers(segmentation & target market).
• This level use a mix of research techniques: in depth
interview and quantitative research; demographics, motives,
satisfaction and intention to revisit the event)
Cont’d
• The C-PEST Analysis includes: competitive analysis,
political environment, economic environment, sociocultural environment, technological environment.
• Internal Resources Analysis: human resources,
physical, and financial resources.
• SWOT Analysis
Analysing event
environments
• Political Environment
• All levels of government can be active players in producing
and sponsoring events and offering event development
grants. Steps to understand new legislation or changes in the
regulatory environment that affect event delivery – for
example, rising public liability costs and regulations related
to licensing, racing, gaming, lotteries and so on.
C-PEST Analysis
• Economic Environment
• The buoyancy of the economy (the property of maintaining
a satisfactory high level), foreign exchange rates, interest
rates, employment rates, growth in household incomes and
the government’s fiscal policy. The value of the pound
compared to the currency of other nations, for example, can
raise or lower the cost of attracting foreign artists to an
International Festival.
Conti’d
• Socio-cultural Environment
• The size and variety of cultural/subcultural groups in the event’s
target market; changes in lifestyle, including work–leisure patterns;
changing demography; changes in entertainment demand and
changes in education levels and household structures.
• For example, during the late 1980s/early 1990s the increase in
popularity of dance music and its related culture lead to an increased
demand for illegal dance events, commonly known as ‘raves’. Interest
in these illegal gatherings diminished after the mainstream nightclubs
organized events to cater for this new market, including high-profile
venues such as the late Hacienda in Manchester, that went on to enter
the folklore and legend of dance music.
C-PEST Analysis
• Technological Environment
• the use of the World Wide Web, email marketing (including enewsletters) and a mix of on-line and off-line event participation.
• Entertainment Environment
• Trend analysis in the entertainment environment can be done via desk
research and travel to center of artistic innovation or places where
emerging sports are practised (certainly a fun part of the job). A good
understanding of event innovations is also gained from reading
professional and popular journals, networking with industry
colleagues and travelling to trade fairs and exhibitions
•
Conti’d
• Human resources
• the number and type of staff and volunteers available, the particular skill sets
required to produce the event, the costs of employing people, and innovative
ways in which people can contribute to the event’s success.
• Physical resources
• includes ownership of a venue (although this is rare), computer hardware and
software, desktop publishing equipment, access to venues at competitive rates
and the use of conference rooms in buildings of some significance.
• For example, the use of event management software capable of supplying
timely data on all aspects of the festival would be a physical resource
strength. A far less tangible resource is the festival’s brand equity (public
awareness and attitudes towards the event built over a longer period)
Internal Resource
Analysis
• Financial resources
• Current access to funds or a demonstrated ability to acquire
capital is an obvious strength for any event. This access
includes the ongoing involvement of government and
corporate sponsorship funds.
Conti’d
• Once the C-PEST and internal resource audit is
completed, an analysis of strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, threats (SWOT) can be conducted. This
summary of the critical issues identified through the CPEST and internal resources analyses enables the event
marketer to marry opportunities and strengths, improve
weaknesses, negate threats and, just as importantly, have
a sound basis for establishing marketing objectives and
strategies for the event.
SWOT Analysis
Key steps for consumer’s decision process known as
PIECE:
• Problem recognition – difference between someone’s
existing state and their desired state relative to leisure
consumption. Events and festivals fulfill physiological
needs (exercise, relaxation, sexual engagement),
interpersonal needs (social interaction) and/or personal
needs (enhanced knowledge, new experiences, fulfillment
of fantasies)
Consumer’s Decision
• Information search – internal or external search; limited or
extensive search processes for leisure (including event)
solutions.
External Influences:
• Family and household influences, such as the desires of children,
often influence the leisure behavior of parents.
• Reference groups are those groups that influence the behavior of
individuals. Groups in close contact with individuals (peers,
family, colleagues and neighbors) are called primary reference
groups.
• Opinion formers or opinion leaders such as media, theatrical or
sports personalities (including critics and commentators).
Consumer’s Decision
• Opinion formers or opinion leaders such as media,
theatrical or sports personalities (including critics and
commentators).
• Internal Influences:
• These influences include perception (how we select and
process information), learning and memory, motives,
personality traits and consumer attitudes.
Consumer’s Decision
• Evaluation and selection of leisure alternatives
• For everyday products and services, evaluative criteria are often
price, brand image and the contents of the market offer.
• Functional values, such as our perception of an event’s price–
quality relationship and ease of access, may dominate.
• Emotional values may be more influential (the likely effects of a
festival experience on our mood)
• Other conditional values for a festival may be whether there is
convenient transport, good quality classical music or nearby
accommodation that suits our tastes
Consumer’s Decision
• Choosing whether to attend an event and which
optional purchases to make at the event or festival
• Evaluation of the post-event experience.
• Once we have attended an event, we start to compare what
we expected with what we experienced. Consumer
expectations arise from a combination of marketing
communications planned by the event or festival organizer,
word of mouth from friends and family, previous experience
with this or similar events, and the event’s brand image
Conti’d
• Five (5) main dimensions of service quality in the commonly
used SERVQUAL questionnaire:
• assurance – staff and/or volunteers give the appearance of
being knowledgeable, helpful and courteous, and event
consumers are assured of their wellbeing
• empathy – the event staff and/or volunteers seem to
understand the consumers’ needs and deliver caring attention
• responsiveness–the staff and volunteers are responsive to the
needs of the consumer
Event Satisfaction, Service
Quality, Repeat Visits
• reliability – everything happens at the event in the way the
marketing
• communication has promised
• tangibles – the physical appearance of the event equipment,
artists’ costume/ presentation and the physical setting meet
expectations.
• consumer ‘perceptions’ are better indicators of the link
between quality, visitor satisfaction and intentions to revisit
Conti’d
• Segmentation and Targeting the Event Market
• The process of identifying appropriate target markets is known as market
segmentation. Segmentation can occur by geography, demography or
lifestyle (psychography).
• The market segments chosen should be:
• measurable – that is, the characteristics of the segment (socio-economic
status, gender, age and so on) must be accessible to the event marketer
• substantial enough in size to be worth targeting
• accessible by normal marketing communication channels
• actionable by the event organizer, given the marketing budget and other
resources
Strategic Marketing
Process
•
Geographic segmentation: the place of residence of event visitors ;local residents of the
area, day visitors from outside the immediate area, regional domestic tourists, international
inbound tourists.
•
Demographic segmentation : age, gender, occupation, income, social class, education and
cultural group.
•
Geodemographics segmentation: segmenting residential areas according to variables from
population census data and additional sources including lifestyle databases
•
Psychographic segmentation – dividing a market according to its lifestyle and values. This
method involves measuring AIO (activities, interests, opinions) dimensions and
demographics.
•
Conti’d
• Positioning Event
• Positioning represents the way in which the event is
defined by consumers, or ‘the place it occupies in
consumers’ minds relative to competing products’
• 10 ways for positioning events:
• The existing reputation or image of the event – for example,
the Olympic Games and other longstanding events such as
the Edinburgh Tattoo.
• The charisma of a director or leader – for example, the
Belfast Festival’s director.
Conti’d
• A focus on event programming – for example, Trafalgar
Square Festival 2005, which was a three week festival
programmed and positioned around the ‘city rites’ theme.
• A focus on performers – for example major sports (such as
the football and golf) and theatre that highlight the
players/performers.
• An emphasis on location or facilities – for example,
Wimbledon, which is now synonymous with world-standard
tennis.
Conti’d
• Event users – for example, Bank of Scotland Edinburgh
Children’s Theatre Festival.
• Price or quality – for example, a free civic concert series
versus an operatic
• performance by the world’s three best tenors.
• The purpose or application of the event – for example,
health awareness of SIDs or diabetes, or celebrations such
as the United Kingdom’s Trafalgar Weekend as the
centerpiece of Sea Britain 2005.
Positioning Event
• The event category or ‘product’ class – for example, fashion
events, food and wine festivals, and concerts.
• Multiple attributes – for example, the London Fashion
Week, which is positioned on its designers, reputation and
image, as well as its purpose of bringing new fashion
designers into the public eye.
Positioning event
• Choosing generic marketing strategies for events.
• Before events marketers begin the more precise task of deciding on
marketing elements such as the program, the ticket price and other
variables, they should reflect on their overall strategies for the event’s
future. Is there a plan to grow or expand the event and/or its markets?
Or is there a plan to consolidate the current program and further
penetrate existing markets?
• Selecting the event’s ‘services marketing’ mix
the event product experience (the core service), its programming
(different event components, their quality or style) and its packaging (a
mix of opportunities within the event or marketing of the event with
other external attractions, accommodation and transport)
Developing event
marketing objectives
• the place (location(s) where the event is held and its tickets
are distributed), its physical setting (the venue layout
relative to consumer needs) and on-site event processes
(queuing and so on)
• people (cast, audience, hosts and guests) and partnerships
(stakeholders such as sponsors and media)
• price, or the exchange of value to experience the event
• integrated marketing communication (media and messages
employed to build relationships with the event markets and
audiences)
Conti’d
• The ‘product’ of an event is the set of intangible leisure
experiences and tangible goods designed to satisfy the
needs of the event market.
• The development of an event or festival can be easily
modeled on the processes used to plan, create and deliver
services (Figure 7.9).
Developing Event
• Festivals and events, as service product experiences,
contain three elements (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004):
• The core service and benefits that the customer experiences
– for example, performing arts or sports event.
• Supplementary features/augmented services that
differentiate an event from its competitors – for example, its
artists, service quality, the type of visitors, different modes
of transport, and merchandise.
• The delivery process – for example, the role of the customer
in the experience, length of event, level and style of event.
Planning ‘event’ product
• 4 key elements in programming the event into a success:
• The need for a distinguishing core concept in the program – what
is it that you’re presenting that actually has meaning to the
audience?
• The need to marry the event program with its physical
environment or site – what kinds of performances will really be
spectacular in this setting? What kinds of performers and stage
structures (existing and created) will shine in this environment?
• The role and operational approach of the artistic director/producer
– the producers are both program gatekeepers (selecting event
participants from proposals submitted by performers) and
poachers (travelling around to pick the best performers, just as
sports clubs send out their talent scouts).
Programming the event
• 4. Established criteria for program content – criteria
include the compatibility of performers to a festival’s
market, the history of this type of performance at other
events, and a performance’s technical quality. Some
producers of bigger festivals have a rule about (1) how
many times an overseas act has performed within the
country, and (2) a desired ratio of innovation and tradition
in their event portfolio
Programing Event
• Avenues for packaging include the opportunity to package
different types of entertainment, food and beverage, and
merchandise as a single market offer (a service bundle), and
the opportunity to package the event with accommodation,
transport and other attractions in the nearby region, such as the
FIA British Grand Prix at Silverstone draw national and
overseas tourists, demonstrating some sophistication with
packaging. For example, packages are available including
flights, hotel accommodation, grandstand tickets, return coach
transfers, VIP parking, full hospitality much more depending
on the price the customer is willing to pay
Packaging Event
• Successful events have solid partnerships and strong links
with loyal supporters (attendees, volunteers, government
and corporate representatives).
• For example: the Glastonbury Festival worked to
overcome negative reactions by local residents, local
newspapers and other media annually reflect coverage of
events that retain protestors. From a brand equity
perspective, events need ambassadors internally and
externally to fully capitalize on their competitive
potential.
People and partnerships
• Price can be a key influence on event demand. Many
special events are ticketed, a large number of festivals do
not charge an entrance fee, and some simply seek a gold
coin donation. However, a ‘free’ event still presents costs
to the consumer and costs to the producer. Other key
influences on ticket price or entry fees are competing
opportunities and perceived value
Pricing, free entry or
donation
• the Barnardo’s fundraiser example, potential consumers
compare the perceived benefits – dinner, drinks, entertainment,
parking, opportunities to socialize, prestige and the novelty of
an unusual night out – with the perceived costs.
• These costs could include money, time, the physical effort
involved in getting to the venue, psychic costs (related to social
interaction) and sensory costs (such as going out on a rainy
night). If the organizer has adequately positioned the event and
communicated its benefits, the target market is likely to
perceive a positive net value and purchase tickets.
Conti’d
• In establishing the pricing strategy for an event, an
organizer will account for two cost categories:
• Fixed costs – those costs that do not vary with the volume
of visitors (for example, venue rental, interest charged on
loans, lighting and power costs, the cost of volunteers’
uniforms and artists’ fees).
• Variable costs – those costs that vary with the number of
visitors (for example, the cost of plastic wine glasses at a
festival, catering costs at a product launch and the cost of
staff needed to serve attendees).
Conti’d
• ‘Place’ refers the venue and the place at which consumers can
purchase their tickets.
• Use ticketing agency as physical setting for ticket distribution.
The advantages of selling ticket in ticketing agency: Ticket
sales can be monitored, and the data collected can guide
decisions on the level of marketing communication expenditure
needed to attract the targeted visitor numbers. The security
problems inherent in accepting cash at the door or gate are
also alleviated. Because customers pay in advance, the cash
flow to the event producer occurs well before the staging of the
event, with obvious financial advantages for the event
organizer.
Event ‘place’, physical setting,
and process.
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Public relation
A direct email campaign and newsletter
Advertising
Sales promotion: discount or special offers.
Direct marketing communicates one-on-one with existing
festival or event-goers via mail, the telephone or the
Internet.
Integrated Marketing
Communication for Events