Clifton Kino Film Company - Essay Example

1.0 Introduction

The internet phenomenon has, undoubtedly, transformed the business world. Unlike in the past when business owners relied solely on the mainstream media to advertise their products and services, the internet has revolutionised the business world. Additionally, it has opened more opportunities to reach a wider audience than one reached by the traditional media. Still, the internet has helped business owners to create a niche that is directed to a particular group instead of promoting the same to other groups who may not be interested in such services. All this success has been made possible by the invention and popularity of digital marketing. Assuming the role of a digital marketing consultant hired by the fictitious Clifton Kino (CK) film company, the following proposal details the process to be followed in the implementation of the same.

1.1 Backgrounds analysis

The CK is an upcoming cinema business expected to be situated in the upper part of Bristol city. The company intends to be operating from 12 noon to 12 midnight on a daily basis. Currently, the cinema theatre’s capacity is limited to 200 people. Cinema-goers have two options of buying tickets: through a membership plan or by ordering the tickets whenever going to watch a film. Presently, a monthly membership plan has been set to cost just £30 while a single film will attract £10. The business will start operations in three months’ time.

2.0 Digital marketing objectives.

As indicated, the internet has been instrumental in the transformation of the business world through digital marketing. However, like in other ventures, success in digital marketing requires clearly-stipulated goals and objectives, and strategic planning. Typically, the major objectives of digital marketing include increasing brand awareness, customer satisfaction and retention, and driving sales. According to Budíková (2014), the digital marketing is pivotal in enabling brand awareness, especially for new and small businesses. In the case of CK, the first objective of using the digital marketing (DM) will be to popularise its services. As the business is set to initiate its operations after three months, this period will be dedicated to popularising the business through various strategies.

For instance, CK could utilise the social media to create its awareness through the creation of posts that require followers to share with their friends. Such an approach would result in the name of the company becoming widely known for a short period. Additionally, the company ought to embrace the use of freebies where it could give two tickets to the two most-voted fans. Such a strategy would see hundreds of fans vote for only two fans who would receive the two tickets. Subsequently, the post would be shared hence driving the business presence and awareness on the web. To achieve the stated objectives, CK needs to ensure its DM strategy is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Time-bound).

3.0 Digital marketing strategy

A DM strategy is critical in a competitive world as it is capable of maximising a business’ competitive advantage. It further helps in the maximisation of the technology-focused initiatives as well as data assets. For a DM strategy to be effective, Budíková (2014) asserts that the presence of a cross-functional team- comprising of IT members and executive members- is imperative. Additionally, the strategy needs to follow the SMART concept to achieve the business’ objectives. Guided by the SMART concept, the company’s goals need to be specific; meaning the exact deliverables from DM ought to be clear. The section explains how the SMART concept will be used in DM strategy at CK.

3.1 Specific goals at CK

As a consultant, the essence of this DM process at CK is to create brand awareness, drive sales, and winning and retaining clients. In the next three months, CK’s presence needs to be felt on the web through various channels. Usually, brand awareness in business is crucial as it informs the would-be buyers that a company offering the needed products or services exists. In the absence of brand awareness, consumers tend to buy products or services from their usual suppliers. Often, a brand can exist and even offer better services than its competitors but its lack of limelight act to its detriment. However, brand awareness gives consumers an opportunity to explore new experiences that often culminate in positive purchase decisions (Martin and Strong 2015). Therefore, CK’s DM strategy has to focus on how to create awareness that will result in sales and customer retention.

3.2 Measurable

Another vital component of the SMART concept entails the ability to measure goals. It is important to set the exact targets and avoid vagueness. In this case, CK’s goal of creating awareness has to be measurable. That is to say, it has to be clear on the number of people it intends to reach. Judging by the capacity- which is just 200- the company needs to restrict its targets to ensure it does not exceed that target. While reaching a wider target would be important to the business, the current capacity can only handle 200 members. However, considering that not all the reached fans are likely to appear, the company can reach more people. The number of sales, in this case, remains 200 since there would be no space to accommodate a larger number than this one. By the same token, CK needs to retain this number of clients at all times.

3.3 Actionable

Every goal requires an action to materialise and CK’s ambitions are not exceptional. To ensure the 200 cinema-goers attend the film sessions, the company has to undertake several actions. First, it has to ensure the 200 tickets are available in advance- probably one month before opening. Secondly, it needs to compel the fans to buy tickets in advance. Thirdly, it has to avail all the relevant information to the fans before operations begin in three months’ time including contact and booking guidance. For instance, CK’s website needs to have a “Contact us” button that customers can contact the company for inquiry or booking purposes.

3.4 Relevant

The goals set for a business need to be relevant and realistic to its overall objectives. In the case of CK, customer retention, driving sales, and brand awareness are pivotal activities in the sustainability of the business. Thus, the number of targeted customers’ needs to be sufficient to achieve the profitability objectives of CK. In this case, the arena’s capacity is 200 meaning that selling more tickets than this number would have certain reputational risks. However, CK can target more people provided it considers the expansion of the arena to accommodate a higher number of fans.

3.5 Time-bound

In goal-setting, timelines and deadlines are crucial in eliminating unnecessary delays and procrastination. For CK to successfully implement this project, it has to create a timeline for each of the phases. In this proposal, it is recommended that the DM process begins at least three months prior to opening. Such a move would be enough to create the necessary awareness. Upon opening, CK has to maintain the DM to collect consumer opinion that is essential in understanding consumer experience and satisfaction. That means, a further three-month period will be used to collect information from the customers to determine their preferences.

4.0 Target audience

Before CK launches the business it is vital to identify its target audience. The identification process ought to be informed by statistics on cinema-goers in the UK. A recent study conducted by the British Film Institute (BFI) showed interesting statistics on cinema-viewership in the UK. Most cinema-goers were aged between 15 and 24 followed by those aged between 7 and 14 than those in the 34-44 age bracket (BFI 2013). In terms of genders, 10% of cinema-goers in the 7-14 age bracket were male while 9% were female. Conversely, 13% of those in the 15-24 bracket were female while 15% in the same category were male. Those aged 45 and above were the least cinemagoers, with only a total of 18% attending cinemas. Therefore, CK ought to target those aged between 7 and 44 as opposed to advertising to everyone.

5.0 Tactics and methods

The mentioned objectives will be achieved through various tactics. The first one will be the utilisation of interactive digital marketing whereby clients and marketing campaigners interact. The use of use interactive media has been mentioned as one of the reasons most businesses are benefitting from the internet. Tiago and Veríssimo (2014) reported that this type of marketing gives clients the power to give an unbiased feedback on a product or service. As a result, a company finds it easier to identify consumer needs and respond accordingly.

In the case of CK, the interaction will occur on Facebook and on YouTube whereby consumers will be allowed to leave comments about their experience with CK’s services. Such a step will help in customer retention since their needs will be known and acted upon. In pushing for sales, the company will conduct a vigorous marketing that will include offering discounted ticket prices for the first 50 fans. Fans will be asked to share a Facebook, Twitter or an Instagram post after which they will receive a discount. In this approach, the company will attract customers while extending its brand awareness since hundreds of each fan’s followers will see the company’s name.

6.0 DM channels

DM strategy takes various tactics including email marketing, branding, web design, affiliate programs, app development, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and social media presence (Millman and El-Gohary 2011). In the case of CK, some of the most effective strategies to adopt include app development, YouTube, affiliate marketing, SEO, web design, and social media presence. For CK, the use of YouTube, Apps, affiliate marketing, SEO, and social media presence will be utilised. An application will be developed to enable customers to access the company’s site and buy a ticket through a mobile phone. Additionally, the YouTube will be used for advertising and awareness. The company will run movie trailers on YouTube to entice fans to buy tickets in advance. Furthermore, CK will utilise online display ads whereby banners will be placed on some websites and blogs to attract new customers into the company’s site.

7.0 Recommended use of data

DM, unlike the traditional marketing and advertising, leaves customers with a chance to leave feedback. The data collected by companies ought to be used solely for the improvement of its services to meet and ensure consumer expectations. By the same token, CK shall use the data it collects to create its consumers’ profiles. In this era, products and services are tailored as per the client’s preferences, and CK has to emulate the trend. Secondly, CK should use the data it collects to help in Business Intelligence (BI) that helps the management in making significant decisions. For instance, the company ought to collect data showing which films are requested the most and the demography of its customers.

8.0 Potential problems.

While this DM proposal is likely to yield tremendous results for CK, there are some potential problems that could arise from the initiative. First, DM does not always lead to conversion whereby consumers order for services. While it has indeed borne fruits to most businesses, consistency is critical, meaning a high budget is needed. Secondly, uncompetitive behaviour such as trolling by potential competitors is inevitable. Sometimes, some clients can leave bad reviews with an aim of portraying the services as unsatisfactory hence discouraging new customers. Thirdly, CK’s website could be hacked thus inconveniencing customers.

9.0 Summary and conclusions

Indeed, CK can benefit from the internet through DM despite the highlighted problems. First, the company needs to identify its DM objectives and subsequently develop the relevant strategies all of which are highlighted above. The development of the strategies- as clearly indicated above- ought to follow the SMART concept. Thirdly, targeting the right audience is crucial and this paper recommends cinema-goers aged between 7 and 44. Lastly, the identified problems can be handled through offering exemplary services to avoid bad reviews and having a reliable network security.