By Mollie Campbell.
The Aim:
The aim was to run a successful Marketing campaign for Summer Live. Initially I researched into Marketing techniques and how to run a successful marketing campaign.
The Research:
I researched Marketing Techniques, marketing is basically the promotion of services, a product or an event, it includes market research and advertising. Market research can include primary (the use of surveys, interviews or questionnaires), and secondary (internal records or data from previous events). I had a meeting with Rich the designer of the summer live poser, we discussed ways in which the flyer could stand out more and advertise thoroughly for the event. I also interviewed the organiser of summer live and a colleague from a business for my research, asking them questions about the marketing mix (product, place, price, and promotion).
A representative from Summer Live gave insight into how they market for the event and what works and what doesn’t. This was very helpful to the marketing campaign because it gave us tips on what to do and what not to do, and how to optimise its potential for success. Whereas a colleague from Absolute Music gave me details on how marketing differs between an event and a company. He said how they went about marketing, what worked and what didn’t. This gave me helpful information on how marketing campaigns work in different areas.
The Marketing Mix:
As I mentioned before the marketing mix is Product, Place, Price, Promotion. The marketing mix is vital in planning a marketing strategy as it covers all the areas you need to consider when marketing for an event or business.
Item of Publicity:
For the marketing campaign for Summer Live I created a publicity item, used as merchandise in which to promote the event. I designed Summer Live branded sunglasses, which are blue and yellow to fit with the Summer Live logo, the actual vibe of the event and the colours of Bournemouth itself. These help with the overall marketing campaign due to the fact that they can be used as promotion, and will be seen around the town during the event. The item of publicity contributed well to the campaign.
Feedback form: These questions can be used to determine what went well during the marketing campaign as well as the event itself, and what could have gone better, it gives the chance for the event goers to give honest feedback.
Do you think the event was successful?
Would you go again next year?
Is there anything that stood out, any highlights?
Is there anything that you think should be done differently next time?
Did you enjoy the event?
Did you think it was appropriate for the demographic of families?
How did you find out about the events?
Did you see any of the Summer Live branded sunglasses and did they make you come down to the event?
There could also be different categories like feedback from different groups e.g. 16-21, 22-40, and 41+). Or different feedback of certain publicity items like the flyers or sunglasses.
Return on investment:
Return on Investment is the benefit to the investor resulting from an investment of some resource. The event itself had its most popular year this year, with the highest amount of footfall they’ve seen since the event started. Return on investment can sometimes be difficult to determine as it is hard to know exactly how many people saw advertisement, and promotion or publicity items before deciding to go the event, and if that was the thing to even make them decide to go anyway. One way to try and do that is by a Feedback Form. On the feedback form I have written, one of the questions is ‘Did you see any of the Summer Live branded sunglasses and did they make you come down to the event’ this gives the opportunity to try and find out how many people turned up because of seeing the publicity item.
Another way to try and determine the success on investment is the actual figures, the comparison between the turn out in previous years and the turnout this year. Also, if there are any items that can be bought at the event, you could compare how many were purchased this year compared to last year. Lastly, during recent years there has been a huge increase in the amount of feedback through Social Media. Facebook was a big factor in promoting the event and can also be used to determine Return of Investment and just how successful the event was. To do this you can look at many different Facebook comments either from people who went to the event or artists who performed. This way you get to analyse the reviews, decide what the successes and weaknesses are and use it in reference to the next event.
Successes and Weaknesses:
The successes and weaknesses can be determined through the ways I have already describes, either through feedback forms, word of mouth, return on investment and social media comments. You can also analyse successes and weaknesses through the marketing pitch and strategies you have already put together, for example by using the two week plan that I came up with before the event to use for marketing, you can decide what went well and what didn’t. If the campaign went to plan and the feedback was good, you can decide what the successes are and make sure to implement them during the next event. You can also spot any weaknesses and be sure to think of better ways of doing things next time.
Mollie Writes 