Marketing and Public Relations for Music and Media - Essay Example

?Marketing and Public Relations for Music and Media Table of Contents Marketing and Public Relations for Music and Media Table of Contents 2 Executive Summary 4 General Overview 4 Marketing Strategy Overview 5 Campaign Targets 6 Target audience 7 Mix 8 Product 8 Price 8 Place 9 Promotions 9 Advertising 9 Strategic marketing initiatives 10 Promotional items, gifts and merchandising 11 Guerrilla tactics 12 Timeline 12 Marketing budget/financial justification 13 Summary 14 References 16 Bibliography 17 Executive Summary Music industry is one of the most traditional as well as an evergreen industry segment which has been valued at 38 billion dollars. The present study would focus upon the marketing plan of a music band. The study would essentially be focussed on creating a marketing plan using an effective marketing communication mix that would be used to reach out to the target market segments. The study would b focussed on analysing the industry and the demographics of the market to help in identifying a target market audience. On the basis of research an appropriate marketing strategy comprised of guerrilla marketing tactics. The paper would also analyse the impact of demographics, supply chain and distributors towards influencing the business prospects and viability of the band. Based on this research an appropriate product mix would be formulated with a detailed financial analysis of the financial outcomes of the strategy. Finally a set of plausible recommendations would be framed that would serve to summarise the findings of the study and suggest certain strategies for the music band so as to make it popular among the target audience and establish a brand name and favourably position itself in the highly competitive market. General Overview In present competitive world, the role of marketing has become more prominent and a key success fact for the competing companies. With development of modern business concept, the there also have been significant improvements in the marketing practices. The process of drafting an efficient marketing plan includes a number of tasks, and the most important aspect in this process is that the marketers always aim to follow a customer centric of customer focused marketing plan. The target customers can also be defined as the target audience. The primary objective of marketing plan is to deliver the predefined message to the target audience. The process of delivering g message to the relevant and potential target audience is known as communicational marketing. Communication is an integral part of marketing mix that must be designed effectively with by considering a number of factors like public relation, advertising, effective campaign message, and target audience etc (Trehan and Trehan, 2010, p.17). This paper will attempt to present a comprehensive promotional marketing plan for promoting music and media through an effective communication process. This promotional marketing plan basically strives to develop a campaign plan for promoting a brand image of rock-music band. In meet this task, multiple marketing models, tools and theories will be used by focusing the target audience. The band is UK-based and hence, this promotional plan will focus on UK market. The product of this band is basically its music which will be distributed through CDs and online download. Therefore, in order to promote the music specific target markets will be identified and defined. Marketing Strategy Overview In the age of high competition it has become very essential for business organizations to develop a marketing strategy that effectively communicates its product or services among the members of the target audience such that the consumers are aware of the product and are able to distinguish between the product and services offered by the competitors in the market. Music bands also face the same situations as there are a large number of such players in the market. The marketing strategies of the bands must largely include a comprehensive framework comprised of a step wise plan that includes objectives, planning and strategy formulation. Music as an industry segment is a robust segment which is being valued at 3.7 billion US dollars as of 2008. Industry experts however feel a considerable number of challenges that includes piracy, copyright of materials, advent of new technology and its integration with the present framework (IFPI, 2009, p.4). In the age of piracy the key success factors for bands largely include inducing originality in content which is innovative and unique and captures the minds of the target audience (Hansen, 2005, p.135-137). It is also essential to select the right target audience as music lovers have very specific choice and do not prefer music which does not suit their demands. Cultural aspects also need to be analyzed as it has an important role in the success of a music band in the market. In this context it is largely important for music bands to have a proper integrated marketing communication strategy that includes the online channel apart from the traditional channels of communications like advertising, direct marketing etc. Protecting original work including copyrights as well as tie ups with distributors should also form an inherent part of the strategy so as to penetrate the product and made it reachable to the constituents of the market. Campaign Targets The strategy formulation for a music band must essentially include a framework for evaluating the strategies. In order to accomplish this target it is very essential to develop a set of objectives that would serve as a guiding template for framing future marketing strategies. A SMART framework for the objectives can largely help in ensuring greater accountability for the objectives. The SMART objectives would ensure that the objectives are largely specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and within a specified time frame and would also ensure quantification and subsequent monitoring with regards to the achievement of the objectives and their effectiveness (Richman, 2006, p.65-66). Specific scenario analysis should be performed to have contingency plans for meeting exigencies. This should include preparing scenario specific strategies for analysing best case, worst case and expected scenarios. The scenario analysis would be based on market estimates of forecasted sales and other expenses that are critical to the band. A proper market research would also be made as a pre emptive step before formulating the actual marketing mix as it would largely ensure the success of the strategies in the market. Considerable focus should be made towards branding and positioning as these elements largely help in defining a success for the product in the market. Target audience Identifying the target market audience also assumes prime importance for a music band. The nature of significance assumes widespread importance as people have varied tastes for different types of music and is very selective and specific about the choice of music. Targeting a wrong market audience can lead to disastrous consequences on the positioning of the band. Music bands should definitely consider the demographic traits of a region while selecting a target market. Primarily there are three types of targeting strategy namely undifferentiated targeting, concentrated and multi segment targeting. Undifferentiated targeting normally includes mass marketing strategies where a firm tries to target all the possible market segments. Concentrated targeting involves targeting a selected group of individuals based on certain aspects like demographics, income status etc. Multi segment targeting includes a strategy where a firm targets selected but different and varied customer segments in a market (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2010, p.125-126). Considering the nature of consumer behaviour for music a band must follow a concentrated targeting strategy with a product mix customised to meet the demands of the target market. In the present case the band in question would target the UK market and would specifically target the teenagers and college going students with a product that essentially includes rock and hip hop music. The band would largely target customers in the age group of 14-35 years. This assumes a good market as the median age in UK is about 40 years with a significant population under the selected age group (CIA, 2011). Mix Marketing mix is the most essential part of a business plan as it essentially includes the elements of product, price, place and promotions (Stone, 2001, p.54). Product The main product for the music band would be an articulate mix of rock and hip hop music largely targeted towards the younger and slightly mature audience. The songs would be only in English language with considerable focus on guitar and other musical instruments accompanied with effective lyrics so as to generate a classical blend of rock music. Price Pricing plays a key role in the marketing mix as it essentially determines the price paid by the customer for availing the benefits of the product. In the initial phase the products would be priced optimally and would include a lower price for the products. Pricing is also related to the element of supply chain management. The 38 billion dollar music industry whose supply chain management and distribution strategy was largely changed with the advent of the online music stores which has led to reduction in prices of traditional formats like CD’s etc (Graham, Burnes, Lewis & Langer, 2004, p.1087). The band would essentially use the online channel to reach out to a large target audience which would increase the prices after gaining initial success. Considering the initial phase the music band would have to incur expenses in the form of promotions and other activities which would lead to initial losses in the early period. Place The music band would be based at UK at would target the English audience at conduct shows at various places in London and other cities. It would also use the online channel that would include featuring small shows and posting them on you tube and other social networking sites. Promotions This element is perhaps the most significant aspect of the marketing mix and would largely include the channels of communication. The band apart from advertisements in radio and television would also stage shows in popular events. Events like college fest would be targeted as they would have an audience that are essentially a part of the core targeted segment. The online channel with special emphasis on social networking would be used to generate interest among the prospective listeners (Schleusener, 2010, p.2-3). Advertising The advertising mix of the music band would largely include different channels like TV, newspapers, magazines as well as online marketing channel comprising of popular social networking sites. In addition to this the band owners would also resort to direct marketing with the band members using performance and road shows as a part of their efforts to popularise their band. Billboards, hoardings and other related aspects would be also used for promotions. The advertising budget has been fixed at 7848 pounds for the first year. The band would also perform at college fests and other shows where it would be able to showcase its products to the target audience. The advertisements on television would be short timed with a content that largely captures the minds of the target customers and their imagination. Efforts would be made to not only popularise the band but to create a long term positioning that would help in generating a good brand image of the product in the minds of the customers. In case of radios popular FM stations would be targeted where short song sequence apart from interactive session would be used to reach out to target markets. Sons of the band would also be played at prime time slots so as to generate awareness of the band among the target audience. Strategic marketing initiatives Integrated marketing communication (IMC) the most suitable and effective model for promotional and communicational process. IMC model includes the entire necessary aspect of the promotional marketing and it incorporate three major areas i.e. “branded entertainment, database marketing, and relationship marketing” (Turow, 2008, p.647). Considering the objective of this paper, IMC is supposed to offer the best marketing plan for promotions and communication by blending the three areas. In order to promote the brand image of the band, a significant amount capital will be required and in this regard, the corporate tie-in is an effective and very helpful strategy. Mercury Records is a popular subsidiary company of the Universal Music Group and this company is UK-based. This is an emerging and famous music group that offers better platform to bands of music artist to promote their brand. Moreover, the brand name of Mercury records will offer synergy effect to the brand image of the band. Another effective promotional strategy especially for promoting music as a product is street team marketing. Street team marketing is the process of live promotional activities generally done by local groups representing the artist of band. It is effective in directly convincing a group of target markets. However, this street team marketing is quite expensive and time consuming, and unable to deliver message to the entire group of target audience (Morrison, 2007). On the other hand, the campaign programs will aggressive and hence, the primarily pull marketing will be followed. For marketing activities a significant amount of the marketing expenses will be incurred (Duran, 2004, p.123). Promotional items, gifts and merchandising For the effective promotional activities of the band, promotional products will be help to create a better image in the mind of the target consumers. In the process of brand building, it becomes very necessary to make the target audience feel the present of brand. The offered promotional gifts and items are very essential in this respect. Generally, the promotional items are effective tools in sales marketing. The free gifts of products offered by a company consist of brand name of the company with its logo and it is considered to one of the best way of developing and maintaining public relation with target customers. However, it is also necessary to offer better quality promotional gifts so that it does not lead to failure of public relation (Viardot, 2004, p.225). In this case, for promoting the brand name of band, side rages of promotional gifts and items will be offered to the target audience. The selection of the promotional gift and items will be based on the demographics of target audience. In this marketing plan, the target audience is rock and hip-hop music lovers aged between 14yrs to 35yrs old. Therefore, the promotional gifts will includes t-shirts, music CDs, stickers, caps etc and the name and logo of the band will curved in these gifts items. Guerrilla tactics Guerrilla marketing is an effective way of promotional market at much lower cost by gaining the optimum level of output. Guerrilla marketing refers to “the use of unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources” (Rae, 2006, p.70). In case of promoting music band, the Guerrilla strategies are the most popular set of tactics. Guerrilla tactics are also very useful in promoting a brand within short span of time. Some of the Guerrilla tactics for promoting the band are given below. An online dedicated community for the band will developed where artists will offer their views and experiences with the aspiring band singers. The demo versions of video song will be published through multiple social network sites like Face book, Twitter, and Blogs etc. The band will also offer free live concerts or workshops to raise funds for specific cause like Aids awareness, Child Labour etc. Multiple online contests will be conducted relating to band music and the winners will be given the free CDs songs of the band. In order to boost the sale of music CDs, the band will visit and perform in the retail stores. Timeline The CDs is expected to launch within the six month of the marketing activities. The following table present a tentative timeline for the entire marketing plan. Table 1: Timeline for Marketing Plan Marketing Research 1.5 months Identification of Target Market and analysis 0.5 months Promotional Activities 3 months Advertising Activities 1 month Launch and promotion of CDs 0.5 months As per the above table, the first primary task in to indentify the potential target market for the music and it will be identified through marketing research. Most of the rime will spent on the promotional and advertising activities and by the end of sixth month. Marketing budget/financial justification The entire process of marketing activities includes a range of task that insures a significant amount of cost. Therefore for effective marketing activities proper cost allocation is one of the most necessary tasks while planning for marketing activities. On the basis of the marketing plan present in this paper, a comprehensive marketing budget has been prepared. The primary products offered by the band is the music that will distributed through CDs and online version. Therefore, these two factors major source of revenue. On the other, band will also perform live concerts that will also generate some amount of revenue. However, the revenue from live concerts will be very minimal as the main purpose of the live concert is to promote the brand name. The following table presents the project marketing budget for the first years. Table 2: Marketing Budget for the first year Revenue: CD Units 5000 units CDs (?7/CD) ?35000 Digital Units 5000 units Digital (?5/album) ?25000 Total concerts in a year 36-shows Live concert (?200 per show) ?5400 Total Revenue ?65400 Cost of Goods Sold:   CDs ?12950 Digital ?2500 Live concerts ?4590 Total Cost ?20040 Gross Profit ?45360 Marketing cost:   Media Publicity ?10464 Distribution ?654 Advertising ?7848 Promotional ?6409.2 Website and E-mail ?5886 Professional's cost ?13080 Miscellaneous ?100 Total Marketing Cost ?44441.2 Net Income ?918.8 As per the above table, the revenue will be earned from the selling of CDs, digital version (online) and live concerts. The projection of the sales is on the basis of availability of target market. Apart from the cost goods i.e. the direct expense, major portion of expenses has been allocated for marketing expenses. During the first year, the overall profit is expected to be lower. However, with greater promotions and increasing popularity, the overall sales revenue will be higher. Summary The analysis of the topic of study and the business plans shows large scale opportunities for the participants of the music industry. The following points conclude the findings of the study: Music industry is a highly attractive industry with widespread potential. There is large scale competition in the market There is a huge need for ensuring an effective marketing communication strategy Furthermore with respect to the above findings a music band must be very careful in selecting target audience as it would determine the success of the band. In addition the band would frame an appropriate promotional mix that essentially tries to position the band as well as create awareness among the target customers. This would include advertisement using traditional channels as well as the online channel and a mix of hoardings and other channels so as to generate sustainable competitive advantage for the music band. References CIA. (2011). The World Factbook. [Online]. Available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uk.html. [Accessed on May 16, 2011]. Duran, J. J. (2004). Start it, sell it and make a mint: 20 wealth creating secrets for business owners. John Wiley and Sons. Graham, G., Burnes, B., Lewis, G.J.,& Langer, J. (2004). The Transformation of the music industry supply chain. [Pdf]. International Journal of Operations & Production Management Vol. 24 No. 11, 2004, pp. 1087-1103. Hansen, R.K. (2005). The American wind band: a cultural history. GIA Publications. IFPI. (2009). Digital Music Report 2009. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/dmr2009.pdf [Accessed on May 16, 2011]. Lamb, C.W., Hair, J.F., & McDaniel, C. (2010). 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