Event Management - Lecture 7
Event Management - Lecture 7
Lecture 7
Developing the Marketing Strategy:
How are you going to get there?
Positioning
• This is a marketing term used to describe the way in which you
present what you are offering to the public. It involves
communicating the ‘feel’ and main benefits of the event experience
through ‘key messages’. Each event will have its own unique range of
benefits, which may include, for example:
• The reputation of the event
• The key elements of the programme
• What the special interest area is
• The kind of experience the event offers (outdoors/indoors/all day, etc)
• If it offers something that is different/better than other events/experiences
Remember
For effective positioning you need to keep in mind who the main
targets are and focus on what will appeal to these groups most
strongly. Ask yourself if there should be a strengthening of the current
positioning or a shift in emphasis to particular benefits or target
segments?
Marketing Mix: What makes people attend
events?
• Alongside effective positioning, the combination of Product, Price,
Convenience and Promotion are the principal factors that are most
likely to influence attendance and therefore your marketing strategy:
Marketing Mix:
Product – what the event offers
Can you develop the product any further? Things to consider:
• Are there any adjustments that should be made to the overall event to
make it more appropriate or attractive to your target audiences?
• Does the programme/content need to be further developed?
• Does the venue need to be adapted or improved?
• What is the total experience?
• Are you offering event ‘packages’ in association with transport providers,
hotels, restaurants, etc that could make the event experience more
attractive and enjoyable?
Marketing Mix:
Price – the cost of attending
How does the cost of attending the event add up? If appropriate, consider:
• Is the ticket price/entry fee at the right level for target groups?
• Does the price offer value for money?
• Is there an appropriate range of ticket/entry options? Do you need to
introduce family tickets or special offers for example?
• Do you need to offer any price differentials to encourage attendance at
particular performances?
• Are there any additional costs (booking fees, travel, meals, parking,
accommodation) that will affect decisions to attend?
Marketing Mix:
Convenience – making it easy to attend
• For ticketed events – Have you put in place the appropriate advance ticket
distribution network? For example, are you using a ticket hotline, web sales,
walk-up box office, ticket agencies, postal bookings, sales through local shop or
library, etc?
• Do you offer various/appropriate methods of payment (e.g. credit card, cheque,
cash)?
• Is the event programme appropriately timed to appeal to your targets?
• Is the event easy to get to?
• Make sure you provide the appropriate travel, accommodation and location
information necessary to encourage visitors who do not know the area well.
Marketing Mix:
Promotion – saying the right things to the right people
• Communicate the positioning of the event through key messages:
Who the event is aimed at;
What is special about it;
Why it’s a good idea to attend;
When will it take place;
Where will it take place;
How easy it is to engage with the event?
• Develop the right combination of marketing tools to reach your audience.
Marketing Tools
• Once you have undertaken the above activity you should be better
equipped to decide on the kinds of ‘tools’ (materials and actions) that
you will employ to most effectively reach your target audience. There
is a whole range of available options and the tools that you choose
will depend on all of the above factors together with the resources
(time, money and staff) that are available to you.