The Strategy Plan for Rise Art Company - Essay Example

?Strategy Plan Table of Contents Company Background 3 Research and Situation 3 SWOT Analysis 4 Goals and Objectives 5 Target Audience 5 Key Messages 6 Strategies and Tactics 6 Budget 10 Timeline 13 Evaluation 15 References 16 Company Background For any start up organisation, communication plays vital part. It is essentially used to inform, persuade and represent an organisation to the target audience. The essay discusses communication strategy for one creative start-up organisation namely Rise Art. Rise Art is a United Kingdom based creative organisation which deals in art collection. Rise Art is created by two close friends and it is inspired by the desire of art and knowledge. Rise Art assists artists to support and expand their functions in creative aspects. The organisation provides an online platform which can simplify the discovery of art to be easy and enjoyable. The art works which are traded by Rise Art are handmade and developed by the team. The organisation performs in conjecture with graduate degree programs in universities, schools, colleges, art galleries and museums in order to provide the customers with an access to incredible level of art (Rise Art Ltd, 2013). Research and Situation Creative industry plays a vital part in the growth of economy. It drives innovation, sustainability and prosperity of a nation. This creativity arrives from several sources namely arts, design, fashion, music and dance among others. The worth of creative industry is not purely practical in nature rather it communicates cultural value and social position of a nation. Since different people possess diverse imaginations and gifts, their creations are believed to have certain sensitive value. In the 21st century, these creativities such as designing, decorating or painting started to intertwine together with a range of modern business activities (Crown, 2011). In the UK, creative industry has contributed about ?36.3 billion Gross Value Added (GVA), signifying about 2.89% of total GVA in the year 2009. Among different segments of creative industry, publishing, advertising and television & radio provided the most support to the GVA of the UK. The creative industry also exported different services worth ?8.9 billion in 2009. This figure signifies the implication of creative industry in the UK (Crown, 2011). In the year 2011, there were about 106,700 creative organisations representing 5.1% of entire UK’s organisations. From 2009 to 2011, small growth was observed in the number of creative enterprises. Among other segments, music, visual and arts segments have replicated the utmost number of organisations in creative industry i.e. 1.5% of entire UK’s organisations. Apart from this, advertising, architecture, design and film organisations also represent considerable number of organisations in the UK (Crown, 2011). SWOT Analysis Before developing any communication strategy, it is essential to understand the key strengths and weaknesses of an organisation. Following is the SWOT analysis of Rise Art which would be helpful for developing communication strategy. Strengths Weaknesses Strong market of art Niche customer segment Online interactions Alignment with campuses, art galleries and museums Limited opportunity to make revenue Weak presence in online media Low brand reputation Opportunities Threats Involve the young consumer segment Drive promotional campaign to enhance fan and supporter base Use different public relations (PR) techniques to enhance brand image Competition from other art organisations Evolution in art can generate confusion for requisite spread of messages Economic condition can reduce the spending of customers of art related products Goals and Objectives The key objectives of the communication plan are: To develop strategies for introducing Rise Art as one of the leading art organisations in creative industry of the UK To drive more traffic to the website developed by Rise Art by involving young customer segment To successfully implement PR strategy in order to enhance brand image and generate a positive publicity for the organisation Target Audience Concerning demographic variable, the target audience of Rise Art will range within people aged between 18 to 60 years. Among this broad audience group, the key focus would be on the age group of 18 to 35 years. According to psychological variable, the target audiences of Rise Art will be divided into four groups namely admirers, students, graduates and insiders. Admires: Admires are the fans of arts who will drive creativity. They are the people who are willing to pay for various art products and take membership subscriptions in Rise Art due to their high devotion and individual interests related to art. This target group has the potential to become a loyal supporter of Rise Art and thus there is a need to capitalise on this target segment. Students: Students play a huge part in arts, whether they are fans of art or involve in creating art. Thus, Rise Art will concentrate on high school art programs and competitions, where students are regarded as a key audience regarding the launch of this organisation. Reaching the students will not only assist in acquiring more interest in the products and services of Rise Art, but would also potentially enhance the supporter base. Graduates: Although graduates are not involved in school or college, they can still contribute and keep up with arts. There are several graduates who have provided their valuable effort in arts and thus, Rise Art can use this key target audience in order to acquire and sustain membership. Besides, graduates are usually regarded as a major stakeholder and supporter who are able to pay for the art components. Insiders: Insiders are the frequent reporters and reviewers of art and they continuously write and post their opinions regarding their favourite art products. Rise Art can reach this target audience and include them in potential customers segment and fans of the products and services of the organisation. Key Messages By deciding the goals and objectives of communication plan along with the target audiences, there is a need to recognise the message which will be communicated to the audience with the plan. Through the communication plan, Rise Art will communicate the innovativeness and creativity in various arts. Besides, the organisation will also attempt to preserve the culture of art among British people because art is regarded as one of the foundations of the UK’s culture and each art represents certain purpose and value for society and thus, Rise Art will provide the message of such value through the communication strategy. Strategies and Tactics There are several communication strategies available, from which Rise Art can select the proper ones. However, the decision to select communication strategies must fit with the organisational resources, must be capable of influencing the potential target audiences and must be able to accomplish the organisational objectives. In this context, it can be stated that Rise Art will develop the communication strategies on both local and national bases. Local Communication Strategy In the local context, Rise Art will use campus promotion in local area by linking with different schools and universities in order to communicate the marketing messages to the customers. As a part of campus promotion, Rise Art would organise an art competition in order to involve students and graduates in art activities and boost the competitiveness of the organisation. The promotional program would provide opportunities to Rise Art to encourage traffic in the organisational website and to enhance brand awareness. Besides, Rise Art would also develop different subscription schemes with diverse time lengths and pricing options for audiences who will register themselves in the competition (Bawek & et. al., 2012). National Communication Strategy In the national context, Rise Art will use print advertisement as a part of communication strategy. Billboard, newspaper and magazine advertisements will be used by including story about arts and creative pictures. The advertisements will be creative and easy to understand for the audiences. For instance, innovative pictures concerning themes such as fanatics, luxury and scenery that can easily grasp the attention of target audience can be used for print advertisement. The advertisement must reflect the culture of Rise Art and help to make the message clear for the target audience, i.e. what the organisation stands for (Bawek & et. al., 2012). Apart from local and national communication strategies, several PR tactics will be used to communicate regarding the products and services of Rise Art namely, social media campaign and sponsorship. Social Media Campaign Social media plays a vital part for PR strategy in modern days. Due to this reason, a social media campaign will be organised by Rise Art. The social media campaign will comprise website improvement and promotion of the organisation in popular social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Besides, Rise Art will also develop features such as user account, blogs and text messages to develop positive public reputation. Website Development: With respect to development of website, Rise Art will require to maintain standard features of art so that it can reduce the confusion among viewers and make apparent image regarding the organisation, i.e. creativity and innovativeness. Furthermore, Rise Art will also implement community support perspective where users can set up their community for specific aspects of art and share knowledge and information with each other. Facebook: Facebook is regarded as one of the most revered social networking websites used by millions of people around the world. Thus, Rise Art will promote the organisation through Facebook. Rise Art will develop a Facebook page by using similar cover photos used in the organisational website. As a result, it will help the fans of Rise Art to connect with the products and services on social media. The most vital issue with respect to promoting the organisation in Facebook is to deal with inadequate level of reaction. Thus, in order to encourage more reaction, several interactive components will be posted in Facebook pages comprising innovative as well as debatable pictures, articles and polls among others. The increased number of ‘likes’ and comments in the posts of Rise Art can eventually enhance the brand image of the organisation (Svensson & Nordfors, 2006). Twitter: Apart from Facebook, Twitter is also regarded as a popular social media used by people. Thus, Rise Art will also use Twitter in order to promote the brand. Rise Art will combine the organisational website and Facebook page with Twitter pages. Besides, the organisation will upload a variety of images and informational links regarding arts. Activities such as tweet, retweet and conversation among fans on certain products can encourage followers of Rise Art in Twitter (Svensson & Nordfors, 2006). User Account: As a part of PR strategy, Rise Art will also develop the user account facility for loyal fans. By registering in the website of Rise Art, people can connect with the organisation and enjoy different special services, such as news or discounts on purchases among others. User account can also help to encourage creativity and will act as a tactic to boost the number of fans and to enhance the relationship with people (Svensson & Nordfors, 2006). Blogs: Blog is also considered as a popular social media tactic used by organisations for ensuring positive public relations. Thus, Rise Art will concentrate on the component of creativity and culture by promoting the blog along with enhancing the communication amid the key supporters. Rise Art will also use reviewers as guest analysts, in order to encourage more traffic to the blog of the organisation. The ideas for blog post will comprise exclusive articles, dialogues with high-class artists, celebrity reporter posts and winners of specific competitions among others. Ideally, blog will also be used to post the components which already exist in other social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter (Svensson & Nordfors, 2006). Text Messages: As a part of PR tactic, text messages will also be used by customising with specific target audience such as students or graduates. It will assist in developing more personalised knowledge for the users and customers. The text messages will be provided to key fans regarding any important news, updates or status. Sponsorship Sponsorship is the other vital communication and PR tactic that will be used by Rise Art to promote the organisation. It will sponsor programs in several news, local television channels and other networks. Besides, Rise Art will also attempt to generate buzz by hosting cultural programs and contests. It would bring considerable number of subscribers and encourage interactivity among supporters. Rise Art will also attempt to create partnership with a media organisation. As a result, it will provide Rise Art the opportunity to enhance the brand reputation through hosting several events (Inett, 2003). Budget For any communication strategy to be effective, there is a need to arrange and allocate the resources in an efficient and useful manner. The size of communication budget is subjected to several aspects such as scope of the communication plan, location of business and existing communication capability of the nation among others. The communication program for Rise Art will involve certain types of activities namely pre-launch activity, launch activity and follow-up activity. The first activity will comprise costs with respect to production, training, internal communication components and external communication components. On the other hand, the second activity, i.e. launch activity will include expenses with respect to implementation of communication and public relation activities. Follow-up activity would enable to ascertain the success of taken approaches and would also facilitate to rectify the prevailing mistakes. Apart from this, there would be other additional expenses for the communication plan of Rise Art (Mozammel & Schechter, 2005). The projected budget for the communication plan stated above is about ?47550. The following table demonstrates the proposed budget for the aforementioned communication plan of Rise Art. Activities Budget Grant (in ?) Pre-Launch Activities Production of materials ?5,00.00 Training ?24,50.00 Internal Communication Newsletter/briefings ?5,00.00 Production of podcasts for intranet ?5,00.00 Cost of competition prices ?10,00.00 External Communication Customer database creation and account creation ?20,00.00 Creative advertising expenses ?10,50.00 Photography arts and animations ?10,00.00 Development of websites ?15,00.00 Sub-Total ?105,00.00 Launch Activities Printing and photography expenses ?35,00.00 Website updates ?200.00 Distribution and newsletter expenses ?500.00 Creation of brochures ?250.00 Media relations: Production of news releases Photography for billboard ?10,00.00 ?40,00.00 Launch events: Venue hiring, staging and audio visual activities Information packing Photography of events ?38,00.00 ?10,00.00 ?10,00.00 Sub-Total ?125,50.00 Follow-Up Activities Ongoing briefings and newsletters ?10,00.00 Text Messages ?15,00.00 Travelling expenses ?150,0.00 Sponsorship of events ?150,00.00 Social media monitoring and evaluation ?150,0.00 Sub-Total ?205,00.00 Additional Expenses Pre-launch expenses Fees Disbursements ?200,0.00 ?20,00.00 Sub-Total ?400,0.00 Overall Communication Budget ?475,50.00 Timeline Timing is an important aspect while selecting certain communication strategies. Right timing for strategy implementation is critical in order to position a start-up business. In order to develop timeline, first there is a need to decide whether the communication plan is developed for accomplishing short-term objectives or long-term objectives or for a specific mission. In this context, it can be stated that the objective of communication strategy for Rise Art is long run in nature. Thus, adequate time has been allocated for planning the communication strategy (Chayka & Waslen, 2012). The communication activities of Rise Art will go through eight phases which will start from market analysis and end with evaluation and follow up procedure of the plan. It is expected that the entire communication plan will take around one year time for proper implementation. The following figure demonstrates the milestone for different activities of the communication plan of Rise Art. Communication Activities Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12 Analysis of market     Identification of goals and objectives   Identification of target audiences   Creation of key messages   Development of communication strategy and activities     Creation of budget     Implementation of planned communication activities       Evaluation and follow up procedures     Evaluation Evaluation is the final aspect of communication plan. The communication strategy needs to be evaluated in order to determine, if the plan is successful. The effectiveness of communication strategy can be assessed by determining if the target audiences have acknowledged the messages and their opinions regarding the organisational products and services. Through evaluation of communication plan, Rise Art can learn the activities which have utmost impact on target audience and the aspects which were unsuccessful. There are a variety of measurement techniques which can be used to evaluate the outcome of communication strategy including qualitative and quantitative measurements, benchmarking, interviews, surveys and focus group among others. With respect to Rise Art, the communication strategy will be measured by quantitative techniques. Rise Art will use the parameters such as the number of followers, tweets, fans, visitors and viewers in order to evaluate the effectiveness of communication strategy. Additionally, the performance of communication strategy will also be evaluated by the attitude of the audience towards the products of Rise Art, newsletters provided by the clients and the comments and reviews provided by different people regarding the organisation. References Bawek, R. & et. al., 2012. Creative Communication Plan Fox Sports Next. Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication. [Online] Available at: http://www.public.asu.edu/~aecarson/work%20samples/Fox%20Sports%20Next%20Campaign%20FINAL.pdf [Accessed December 13, 2013]. Chayka, M. & Waslen, D., 2012. Startups and Communication Strategies: Swinging for the Fences. Journal of Professional Communication, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 11-14. Crown, 2011. Creative Industries Economic Estimates. Department for Culture, Media and Sport. [Online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/77959/Creative-Industries-Economic-Estimates-Report-2011-update.pdf [Accessed December 13, 2013]. Inett, P., 2003. Communication Planning for Organizations. Queen’s Printer for Ontario. [Online] Available at: http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/rural/facts/03-033.htm [Accessed December 13, 2013]. Mozammel, M. & Schechter, G., 2005. Strategic Communication for Community – Driven Development. Development Communication Division. [Online] Available at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTDEVCOMMENG/Resources/cddcommguidefina.pdf [Accessed December 13, 2013]. Rise Art Ltd, 2013. A New Concept: Making Collecting Art Easy. Our Story. [Online] Available at: http://www.riseart.com/our-story [Accessed December 13, 2013]. Svensson, P. & Nordfors, D., 2006. Media Communication as a Marketing Strategy for Technology Start-Up Firms. Innovation Journalism, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 3-11. Read More