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For the past few months, students have been busy perfecting their routines in the College's Fleet Street Studios to ensure they dazzle the audience. The event included performances from students on a wide range of dance courses, such as ballet, contemporary dance, jazz, musical theatre and commercial dance.

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She joined the BBC 1 programme, Strictly Come Dancing in 2017 with her first dancing partner, comedian and actor, Brian Conley, and then she returned to the show in 2018 with Danny John-Jules.

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Here are the links of the articles that advertise the performances that have occurred by Burton and South Derbyshire college. This marketing strategy allows the target audience to become wider and therefore reaches a wider spectrum of people.

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Students stand united for performing arts festival

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Zoe Hopkins, Performing Arts Lecturer at BSDC commented: "We are proud of how the Unite Performing Arts Festival has grown over the years. The festival is a great opportunity for our students to perform and for the local community to get involved in a fantastic project.

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As a group we were able to market the performance on the social media platform. We were also able to keep an eye on the statistics of social media platforms such as Instagram to ensure we are reaching out desired target audience.

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Week Three's meeting consisted of thinking of fundraising ideas and as a result we came up with ideas such as Cake Sales, throw a cream pie at a teacher, funky leotard day, halloween scary make-up day, pyjama day and selling sweet cones, popcorn and other refreshments at the Unite performance at BSDC. In order to add to the budget received from BSDC, as a group we will carry out different forms of fund raising. As this unit is linked with the marketing unit, posters will be made to promote and market the events by the marketing team. The posters are displayed below for the fundraising events. Throughout this session, we also arranged a meeting with the graphic designer to ensure that the programme is coming along how we imagine it to be. Within today's session, we also identified issues with the programme for example spelling errors and therefore we made a note of these to inform the graphic designer by email prior to the next time we meet as a group with the graphic designer. These issues with the programme were then sent over to the designer via email.

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Today's session was centred around a meeting with Steph Bonner where we asked the questions in which we compiled last within last weeks session. As a result of the meeting, we have had to arrange another meeting for next week to allow Steph to collate the answers to our questions asked in today's meeting. Within this session, we also gathered as a group in order to create a prototype of the programme which demonstrates the ideas of what we have in mind. We felt this was the best way to express our ideas and thoughts for the programme. Below are images of the finished prototype. In order to save money, we had the idea in which meant that we had one programme in which covered both the dance and the acting performances. This we felt would be cost effective as we are on a limited budget. Throughout this session we also gathered a variety of programmes from professional performances in order to gain inspiration for the design. Throughout this session we also arranged a meeting with programme designer for next week so we can explain our ideas to her in person. Within the programme we have decided to involve images such as headshots and we will eventually have a photoshoot in which we will have pictures taken of the choreography within the performance to allow the audience to gain an insight into the dances.This photoshoot will take place in few weeks time and will be arranged with the media department as soon as possible throughout this week.  There are also images of the professional programmes in which we looked at below. To add my contribution to the programme, i chose my favourite sections and expressed my opinion to my peers. The images of my favourite sections are displayed below. Questions that were asked within the meeting with Steph include: is there a HE budget? this is for the choreography pieces, if we are able to go from a budget then this allows us to buy a variety of costumes and props as opposed to the students using their maintenance to buy them separately. An answer we came up with to save money and be cost effective is to use the costumes that already exist within the costume cupboard and embellish them with material brought with the budget. This is cost effective and will also be beneficial to us in the future as they will be freshly renovated and embellished. The reason for this being cost effective is because when researching costumes for the performance, the average lyrical jazz dress is between £20 and £30.
At the moment in terms of the actors performance, their material is non-existent at the moment and therefore it will become apparent that their budget will be predominantly spent on their costume and set for the performance.
The marketing unit is tied into this unit as the fundraising for the performance will be arranged by the marketing team. Once the fund raising has began, we can then begin to form budget for the overall performance spends. The four main areas in which the budget will be spent on is costume, set, props and embellishment of the existing costumes. The question ' is the budget set at a specific amount per performance?' was asked and the answer to the question was that the budget is dispersed by the amount of budget that the college has and is then separated in terms of what is required e.g. maintenance and materials etc. The budget given by Steph will be a set budget that we can work with and add to through our own fundraising. Advice in which we received from Steph within today's meeting was to buy reusable/flexible resources, allowing us to get the most out of our money as opposed to purchasing consumable resources that can only be used once. We also received the advice to be clever with the resources we already, have for example :try to minimise the excessive/un-necessary spending.
We will contact the media department to ask them if they are able to help by taking photos of the dancers and actors in costume ready for the construction and design of the programme.
In terms of safety, we asked Steph what is the evacuation procedure is with an audience? It is said that there is no expected fire alarms but if the fire alarms sound then the procedure is to remain calm and exit the building via the fire exits and make your way to the car park on Fleet street. It is also our responsibility to remind the audience that n flash photography or filming is to be done during the performance.
At the end of the meeting we then planned another meeting set for the 23/01/19 to answer our questions and arrange for a member of the graphic design team to attend so we can discuss the programme. Throughout this week we will also contact the BSDC marketing team as well as other printing companies to gain quotes for the printing of the programmes.
Places in which we contacted involve:
Prinitng.com
Rink Print
Pintrest to create a mood board in the style of the desired look of the programme.
Steph would like to know the amount of pages that are required for the programme ( 4pp) 4 pages =8 sides size A5 as well as the paper stock (glossy, uncoated, matte).

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Within today's session, we had a group discussion as to what are the job roles involved within the theatre. Once we had discovered the amount of roles within the theatre, we then were asked to choose the job role in which we desire to carry out for the HNC/HND showcase in several weeks time. Once i had requested to be stage manager, this now means i can research further into the job role itself to ensure that i do he best possible job on the night of the performance as well as ensuring that i know the correct responsibilities of the stage manager. Within today's session we also made the decision to create and spend our budget on a professionally printed programme in which the audience will buy on arrival to the performance. During the discussion about the programme we went through a variety of our initial ideas in terms what we would like the programme to look like in the final stages of design. Within this session we also ensured that everyone had a suitable headshot to use in the programme and i also wrote a short description about myself to summarise my past performing experiences and opportunities in general within dance and the theatre.Throughout this session, we all also researched our job roles and made sure that we were all clear on what our job role entailed, by re-visiting my research about the role of the stage manager. Below is an image of the short passage that I wrote to be added into the programme next to my headshot.
At the end of this session we compiled an email to Steph Bonner (student support officer) to plan a meeting for next weeks session to allow us to discuss and ask a variety of questions in which we had thought of throughout today's session. These questions involved discussion points such as what is our allocated budget we will receive from the college?, where does the profit from the tickets go within the college ?.

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Marketing The Creative Arts Evaluation HE

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Throughout this unit, it has come to my attention as well as the groups that in order to promote a performance to the best of our ability, there is a cost involved in doing so. Sponsorships have proven to be successful within the industry as the companies with sponsors will often supply the company with a beginning budget in order to market the performance, service or product. As well as doing a favour for the performance company in terms of giving them a starter point, it is not unusual that the program will include an advertisement for the company.

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Within the MAC complex people and companies can hire the studios and spaces, but technicians are needed for the use of the equipment as it is a technically advanced area, especially the main theatre, although for companies and people that wish to hire out the studio space, they do not require a technician as they are not as technically advanced. In order to hire the space, you can talk to the hire team or the in house team about hiring the spaces and they will decide on what they can offer for what the company will require. Once you have enquired about the space, the MAC will then give the person or company a quote as to how much the cost will be. The process will take around 2 weeks and the MAC will need at least 2 weeks notice to allow the management time to staff the events and plan ahead. Catering is available in house and therefore who who enter the MAC are not allowed to consume their own food as it is supplied onsite.
In terms of cost for studio and space hire, all prices are kept the same no matter what group of people are hiring out the space or studio. The price of the for the customers all depends on the size of the room/space. There is a standard set price for every customer wanting to hire out the space depending on the space/equipment they require. The hexagon space within the MAC is mainly used mainly for stand-up comedy, music, musical theatre and conferences as it is a close and small intimate space. They can also offer screenings despite the projection being poor quality although it is still useable. It seats 84 people and has a unique shape designed around the staging area. The hexagon space is not a technically advanced space and therefore the main stage is offered to the people who wants something more advanced and complex. The lighting rigs are significantly older in comparison to the main stage and therefore it restricts the lighting and only offers basic lighting. Another space that is available for hire is the Foyle studio which is a flexible space that seats 126 people as there is a benched seating area. It can be used as either a performance space, or just as a technically advanced studio space. Its flexibility means that, it is a popular space to hire out and therefore it is used regularly. It was built in 2010 as it was previously a roof although when provided with funding they turned it into a studio with performance spaces. The cinema screens stream films everyday sometimes twice a day, with a combination of current films, live screenings, new releases and older films. In terms of marketing, the social media is run by the communications team, they all run twitter and Facebook pages. Nobody is specifically dedicated to running the accounts as everyone has access. The communications team is also their marketing and sales team and they have a variety of jobs to partake in. They have a small team considering such a large venue and the amount of jobs that require being done. In terms of ticket sals for the performances that occur at the MAC, they offer to sell the tickets of the performances if they require it, or the company can sell them independently. The MAC have a preference to sell the tickets themselves as they can get the background of the audience and know where they are coming from to assist in promoting and marketing future performances. The MAC is seen as being a unique venue as they have such a lot to offer to the community well as local talented artist and amateur companies. Relating back to the cinema section of the MAC, if they make the decision to screen new releases, they have to show them a certain amount of times which is something they tend not to do which is why they show them a long time after their release date. They made a deal with the distributors to allow them to screen the films and live productions such as ballets and operas. Within the complex, they have a cinema producer that chooses and allocates what is screened on each day. The cinema at the MAC seats 150 people in total. Throughout the year, the MAC partake in a variety of film festivals such as Birmingham Indian film festival and can also hold conferences within the cinema too. The price is similar to that of normal cinema but slightly cheaper.
Depending on the performance, the show turn around is between 4 and 8 hours, including the process of the audience entering and exiting. All technicians within the MAC are versatile and therefore do not specialise in one area. For smaller showcases, they will often bring their own technicians and have one from the MAC also. The MAC get funding from the council as well as the arts council England, lottery funding and the postcode lottery. They are obliged to have particular opening times as they provide amenities to the local park such as toilets, thats why they are open 364 days a year. 86 staff a year that work full time with 200 employees overall but some work as a little as 2 hours per week to put input into their projects. As the MAC constantly have several events on at the same time, it is not possible to market everything at the same time. The audiences that visit the MAC prefer to receive a physical copy of the brochure as most of the audiences especially the cinema are the older generations.Despite this social media still has a big influence for their marketing strategies. For the big performances, billboards are placed around the city only for shows that are running for a time of 5+ weeks. In terms of their publicity, they often have may companies that perform that have a high reputation for their reperatory. Companies such as Motion house

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In house performances are promoted within the college as the audience for the past performances have been predominantly college students. This information is known through the ticket sales and therefore allows us to target the correct audience allowing the marketing strategy to be successful.

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NEC Group . (2019). NEC Group Arenas . Available: https://www.resortsworldarena.co.uk. Last accessed 10th January 2019.

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N/A . (2019). Theatre Severn . Available: https://www.theatresevern.co.uk. Last accessed 10th January 2019.

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Arts Council England. (2019). Royal Opera House. Available: https://www.roh.org.uk. Last accessed 10th January 2019.

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The Garrick . (2019). Theatre and studio. Available: http://www.lichfieldgarrick.com. Last accessed 13th February 2019.

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Theatre Trust. (2019). Birmingham Hippodrome. Available: https://www.birminghamhippodrome.com/about-us/. Last accessed 10th January 2019.

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Here are a variety of website links of places in which are well known within the performing arts industry. The marketing methods are clearly successful as some performances are showing to be sold out. The most frequent aspect about all of the web links below are that they show a clear representation of the style of the performance in which is being advertised, they have demonstrated the main factor of the performance with the use of photography, bright vibrant colours as well as dark and morbid colours are used for the advertisement, depending on the style of the performance being advertised. The use of the colour scheme will help ensure that the correct target audience is being drawn in to the web link to purchase their tickets as well as set the scene for the certain genre of performance. The below links are successful as in observation, they all relate to the above aspects. Each one of the websites below are also easy to access as well as use for anyone, which is another aspect as to why the websites are successful.

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Graham Watts . (2019). Advertisement . Dancing Times . feb 2019 (N/A), 1-46.

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Questions that were asked throughout the meetings. 

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Questions that were asked throughout the meetings. 

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What are the job roles within the marketing department?
How do they recruit learners to the college ?(specifically for the meeting
with BSDC)
How do you promote courses and internal events?
How is social media used and what platforms are used e.g. Facebook, Instagram etc ?
What forms of advertising/marketing do you use?
How is promoting performing arts different to any other subject within the college?
What PR do you have in place?
What are the financial costs and do you have a budget?
What obstacles do you have to overcome?
How do you promote your performances?
How does the theatre ensure its fully booked for the entire season?
How much time in advance do you advertise for an event?
What is your main and predominant target audience ?
Do you have any links with any local media e.g. newspaper etc.

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Here is a source of information in which the Brewhouse provided us with, representing the research the marketing team have collated based around the audience type for each genre of performance. This helps the marketing team to target their events to the correct target audience in the correct areas. This allow the marketing to be more successful in terms of who it reaches within the local areas.

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This is the pack of information in which the Brewhouse's marketing team provided us with as it provides myself with the information as to how they marketed a particular performance as well as the certain steps in which they take as a team such as what marketing strategies were used to market and advertise events such as performances.

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Minutes from the meeting with the Brewhouse marketing team 

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Minutes from the meeting with the Brewhouse marketing team 

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Minutes from meeting with BSDC marketing team 

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Minutes from meeting with BSDC marketing team 

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Explanation of the Research I have collated. 

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Explanation of the Research I have collated. 

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The research I have collated clearly demonstrates the main facts that marketing is a business terms in which is defined in a variety of different ways. The research portrays that marketing is perceived as a process in which products and services go from concept and an idea to the customers use or experience. Marketing involves aspects such as the identification of the product or service, finding out and determined the demand from the public for the product or service, deciding on a price and making the decision on how to distribute the products or services as well as developing and implementing a promotional strategy being one of the many ways also demonstrated within my research. In conclusion to my research, it also demonstrates the different strategies of marketing for example; Online pop-ups, social media, television, radio, leaflets, billboards, newspaper and outdoor and transits. As part of my research I arranged meetings as a marketing group that i attended to carry out live research in which backs up my internet and journal based research. In order to gain an accurate research collection , I ensured that I used a variety of sources such as internet, journals, books as well as the live research. My research also stated the legal aspect of the marketing industry stating that all marketing and advertising must be: an accurate description of the product or service, it must be legal, decent, truthful, honest, socially responsible (not encouraging illegal, un-safe or anti-social behaviour)all of which are formal regulations that restrict what advertisers can and cannot do. Through meeting with venues such as The Genting Arena and The Brewhouse as part of my live research, it has allowed me to understand how my internet, book and journal research is carried out within business that are currently working and currently have on-going real life marketing situations today. By visiting both small and large scale performance venues, it has allowed me to collate information and understand a range of research from opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of how large and small scale companies promote their performing arts events.

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Instagram statistics for the Fleet street page

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Instagram statistics for the Fleet street page

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As part of the marketing team for BSDC's performances and courses, we are frequently posting on social media as this is shown to be the most popular way of advertising within the modern day. As part of marketing the performances and courses, I ensure that i frequently check the Instagram fleet street page statistics as this will then help with targeting a specific audience. These current statistics demonstrate the amount of profile views per day, the highest percentage of gender in which visits the page, the times and days in which are the most popular for visiting the page, the percentages of the ages who visit the page as well as the locations of the people as to where they are from who are visiting the page. This information now allows us as group to target a specific audience as well as specific areas within the radius of performance space in Burton.

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Social Ads have quickly become an highly effective method for making conversions. Nevertheless, the advantages of Social Ads are offered in order to provide businesses with better brand recognition; ads can be linked to any one of a company's networks within the world of social media.

Perhaps you are someone who knows for sure that you want to to? Either way, keep on reading about advertise on these platforms or, perhaps, you still have doubts regarding whether or not you actually advertising and social media!

What are Social Ads?

A Social Ad is an ad that is advertised by way of social media platforms. Generally speaking, they contain a title, a description and are accompanied by some sort of multimedia element (e.g. a picture, video, infographic, etc...). At any rate, the recommendation is that within this description should be a "call to action" wlhich grabs a user's attention and invites them to interact with the business, a product or a service.

Depending on the social media platform in which an ad is posted, a Social Ad can be published in many different formats. Even though there are many different ways to create an ad, don't veer too far away from the manner in which ads are published on search engines. The primary differences reside in the fact the general public is 'online' and that one can generate better branding simply by association to a specific company page on a given social network.

Advantages for using Social Ads

The number of business and entrepreneurs who implement a marketing strategy with Social Ads continues to rise. However, there are still some companies who resist. This is more than likely due to the fact that these business don't realize the advantages of Social Ads. Some of the most relevant reasons include:

Price. The cost of Social Ads is relatively low in comparison to other advertising methods. Therefore, a portion of the budget could go towards Social Ads, where you can achieve tremendous results without the cost skyrocketing.

Reach. Advertising on social medias allows us to reach a of people. This also means you can reach a large number of potential clients, thus increasing your conversion rate.

Segmentation. Social Ads, in respect to other mediums, allows for a wide segmentation. This means if you are selling a very specific product/service, you can advertise to specific users with predetermined characteristics, such as sex, age, socioeconomic situation, usage of a specific website or if they speak a particular language. These are just some of the variables which allow you to accurately identify your target audience.

If we're honest, the entire world is on social media. If a business utilizes ads in order to advertise themself, their brand awareness Brand Visibility. and overall market visibility will increase considerably.

User experience and loyalty. Advertising on social medias is generally associated with a brand that has its own profile on any given network. This allows for communication with potential clients. Additionally, a company can create a dedicated customer service account, thus bettering the public's corporate image of the brand and increasing sales of repeat customers.

Most popular social media marketing platforms

Even if you already are familiar with publishing ads on social medias using Social Ads, the way in which an ad is publicized depends on the social network you have selected for a campaign. We will now delve into the most popular platforms:

Facebook: advertising on Facebook allows you to reach a large community of online users. Right now, there are approximately 1.5 active Facebook profiles. Although the basic requirements are just a title and the ad itself, the possibilities are endless. You can post to your webpage or Facebook page. You can post only on Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Messenger or in third party apps/websites. There are various types of ads which exist depending on the objectives your company has. It can also establish different metrics for measuring the efficiency of campaigns (i.e. clicks, interactions, conversions, sales, etc.)

LinkedIn: LinkedIn offers the ability to publish ads (either text or multimedia) and/or to disseminate promotional content/news. In order to reach the target audience that you your ad to reach, naturally, a solid title is crucial here as well. Additionally, you can also indicate if you want users to visit your business's website or even your business's LinkedIn profile.

Twitter: Businesses take advantage of advertising on Twitter in order to help extend the reach of a their tweets and to get better 'tweet interaction'. Companies which use Twitter pay using a system called "cost per interaction" (CPI). This means that you are only billed if/when a user effectively interacts with a tweet; e.g. a share, a RT, a favorite, etc. Within this social network exists many different types of campaigns according to the objectives a business wishes to accomplish.

Instagram: Instagram ads are actually quite simple. Each ad is clearly labeled as an "Sponsored" in order to tell users that a given post is part of paid advertising. At the same time, the option of clicking on "Learn More" is plainly visible as well. By tapping on this call to action, you can directly access the advertiser's website. A company that advertises on Instagram can also make ads visible to certain audiences based on the accounts they follow on social medias, in relation to a device's search history, or based on "likes" given to a Facebook page. At the moment, there are around 600 million Instagram users

How can Social Ads help you with advertising?

Brand Recognition: thanks to the large number of users on social medias, the use of Social Ads is a very effective strategy for increasing brand awareness.

Connectivity: this type of tool lets a company create a channel designated specifically for customer interaction, thus allowing clients to feel a sense of connection with a business. In this way, social ads can help a business strengthen the bond between clients, and/or establish new ties within the target company.

Sales, signups and/or leads: Whether in the form of sales, website signups and/or leads, Social Ads is another ideal method for getting conversions. If a user is given what they're looking for, and they choose the right call to action, it's quite the effective method!

Creation and knowledge of the target audience: another advantage which Social Ads offers is in relation to understanding the current target audience and the creation of new target audiences. Social medias allow us to segment ads as much as possible so that they are explicitly seen by the desired (potential) clients. This same trait also allows us to establish new audience details not yet tested (which could end up being interesting segments for the company in the future).

Differences between online advertising and Social Ads

Micro-segmentations: social media users connect with any given number of people, posts and businesses each day. Those specific connections create micro-segmentations which can allow you to launch advertising campaigns based on these concrete actions. This is done in order to achieve a more effective reach.

Organic diffusion: Social Ads are more likely to allow more actions than conventional online advertising platforms. In fact, not only can you click on something, you can also "like" or "share" something with your own personal network. These "likes" and "shares" can mean the organic diffusion of an ad without costing the advertiser anything.

Familiarity: the format of Social Ads, for example, allows a user to be told that one of their contacts has liked their post. With this method, click rates increase and readers will consider an ad to be less intrusive.

Now that you have acquired a theoretical baseline, we encourage you to take the plunge and create your own social ads campaign! And if you've already done so, make sure to put into practice the above advise so that you can increase your conversion rate as well!

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The advantages and disadvantages of marketing on social media · Cyberclick

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Social Ads have quickly become an highly effective method for making conversions. Nevertheless, the advantages of Social Ads are offered in order to provide businesses with better brand recognition; ads can be linked to any one of a company's networks within the world of social media.

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Advantages and Disadvantages for methods of marketing 

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Advantages and Disadvantages for methods of marketing 

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Television=
Using television for a method of marketing has many advantages and disadvantages for example within the modern day today, the majority of households have a television and therefore advertisment's are a regular occurance when watching certain channels. All ages of people have access to a television to watch within the households that have the televisions and therefore within advertisement breaks there are a variety of adverts shown that are targeted at a range of different people with a wide variety of target audience. This aspect may be an advantage as well as a disadvantage as people may be intrigued into other products that are advertised although on the other hand, people may loose interest in the advertisements that are not targeted at them and in that instance television adverts are not successful. This method of marketing allows the company to use a variety of different camera angles and effects which will entice the target audience in as they are able to create innovative and interesting images and scenes for the advert that are aesthetically pleasing to the eye and are an advantage to this style and are more successful than a newspaper advertisement for example.
Radio=
With radio advertisement, it is very limited in both time and visual aids and therefore has to get the point across in an innovative way through the use of voice and the script they use. The advantage of a radio advertisement is that it is straight to the point and highlights the main aspects in which are required to be put across to the target audience. It is often the tone of voice in which allows the company to target it towards a certain target audience as well as the choice of music. Companies often research the statistics of the ages of people of who in which listen to each radio station for example it is likely that the younger generation listen to capital fm and therefore this will assist the company when choosing the right station to put the advert on. The downsides are that there is no visual aspect to entice the target audience in and therefore is required to be more informative through speech and can often feel like the target audience is being overloaded with information. Radio advertisements are a useful method for events although are not successful for products as it is always helpful to provide the target audience with an image of the product in which the company is marketing.
Leaflets=
Using leaflets as a method of marketing has many advantages and disadvantages for example; delivering leaflets around an area can be time consuming as well as expensive for printing out quality, the leaflets are only delivered to a small area compared to online advertising where it can reach a target audience that is vast in comparison. An advantage of this method of marketing includes, there being a tangible object such as the leaflet for the target audience to look at and therefore it requires an innovative design that will draw the target audience in. The design of the leaflet is vitally important to suit the target audience to enable the correct type of audience to be targeted. Leaflets can also be a waste of expenses as they are often handed out to a wide variety of people and therefore they are not very personal and specific to a certain target audience when they are distributed out unless they are distributed out to certain groups people such as dance groups for dance related advertisements etc.
Billboards=
Billboards are an old traditional way to market and have a variety of advantages and disadvantages. Advantages involve it being able to reach masses around a local area within businesses, social areas as well as the side of the roads. Unlike other types of marketing such as the radio or television, billboards cannot be switched off and are therefore constantly there until the intention of the advert is put across to the target audience. This makes them cost effective and is exposed to potential users or customers 24/7. Disadvantages involve them not targeting a specific audience although for people that regularly pass the billboards, repetition can deliver value, both in increasing awareness and spurring action from the motorists.
Social Media=
Social media is classed as the most current and most accessible form of marketing as it is low in cost, it can be specific in who the target audience is and who it is aimed at, it can be constantly adapted and updated even once it has been posted, the segmentation is wide and means if a certain product/service/event is being sold you can advertise to specific users, Brand visibility is clear, It can clearly show customer loyalty and experience and can allow the company to build a close relationship with their customers and keep in close contact for future sales/marketing. The disadvantages involve, not everyone having access to social media and internet access especially the very young and older generations, therefore it is only suitable for teenagers and above to around 60 years of age. Social media is also ideal for spreading the word and sharing products/services from person to person with the same interests quickly and efficiently allowing the marketing aspect to spread swiftly and to a vast audience.
Journal posters=
Newspaper=
Reading the newspaper is not seen as an activity in which the younger generation carries out and therefore straightaway the target audience is specific to the older and middle-aged generations. As time moves on and people become more conscious about saving the resources and the planet, printing and the use of paper becomes less and less and therefore this is why online advertisements are becoming more and more popular. Newspaper advertisements can be restrictive in terms of the information you are able to provide and therefore the target audience may not become enticed into the advert. Newspaper advertisements are not classed as cost effective as once you have read the newspaper you won't then re-read it and therefore it is only once that the reader will read the advert.
Outdoor and transit=
Advertisements on transits are effective and have a variety of advantages and disadvantages for example: buses are used by a vast amount of people and therefore the target audience and mass of people is large. The buses within an area are also repeatedly seen by the locals as well as commuters and therefore, allows the target audience to absorb the information. On the side of buses, the information is limited in terms of what can be supplied as the image of the service/production or product in which is being marketed is essential to catch the correct target audience's eye.
Online pop-ups=
Online pop-ups can be successful for people in which are frequently online and is similar to the social media aspects. Online pop-ups are commonly seen as an interference and therefore can be an annoyance for some people in the way that if it isn't related to the source that the person was on line for, they can just be closed down easily. The advertisements online are frequently related to the persons common searches and therefore are often specifically suited to a specific target audience. On youtube for example when a product or service is advertised prior to a video, the vast majority press the skip ad button as this will take them to the internet source in which they originally searched for.

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Within this project I have collated a bank of research to allow me to understand the types of research that is used

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Amateur Theatre: Marketing Your Company (Darlington Operatic Society: Julian Cound)

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Which feature of your product does every buyer ask about? Which sales tool is your best closing device? Which feature immediately differentiates you from your competitors? You guessed it, your price.

Yet, I'm always a bit surprised at how little time businesses spend on their pricing. Since this is a key marketing variable for any small business owner, here are some thoughts on the setting (and getting) the right prices.

Let's say you are grocery shopping, and you come across two brands of cereal. One is a well-known brand of flakes that comes packaged in a 20 oz. box contains a toy and is priced at $4.99. The other is a store brand of flakes, packaged in a non-resealable plastic bag and sells for $2.99. Which one would you buy?

If you based your purchase decision on price alone, you'd pick the 28 oz. bag for $2.99 and be on your way. But there's more to price than just that, isn't there? There are the promises involved. In this example, the $4.99 brand promises you the highest quality ingredients and taste, an extra toy that could occupy your kid while you watch reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show, plus the convenience of a resealable package.

Although this example deals with cereal, similar decisions are made by buyers in your market. Each time a buyer chooses a product, they match up a price with its promises. So, as the marketer of a small business, it is your job to understand what are the price and promises for your service.

As you set your prices (or consider raising them), take stock of all the value factors that go into your price. What attributes of your product or service are noteworthy? Below are some examples of value factors that go into a product's or a service's price:

Quality of the raw materials

Finished product performance

Packaging

On-time delivery

After-sale service

Experience level of the service provider

Bottom-line impact of the final deliverable

Appearance of the service provider

Turnaround time for phone calls/emails

Ability to meet deadlines

As you can imagine, your ability to deliver various factors, over and above your competitors, directly impacts the prices you set...and get. If you promise certain factors, yet fall short of delivering them, your price will be challenged through customer complaints, delayed payments or customer defections.

One big mistake I see small business owners make is using only one method to calculate their prices. But, what if your calculations are wrong? Then, you are stuck with a bad price. Instead, I suggest that businesses use several different pricing methods to calculate their prices.

This first method takes into account your costs, your desired profit, and then totals these into a price. To find your business's total costs, you have to account for two types; direct costs and indirect costs. Direct costs are those you incur when delivering your service and typically include labor and materials.

For example, if you owned a t-shirt store, your direct costs might include the labor to staff the store, the blank t-shirts you buy from a vendor, the decals you apply to the shirts and all the equipment you use to apply the decals to the shirts.

Indirect costs are all the other costs not accounted for in your direct costs and include things like rent, insurance, phone and utility bills and office supplies. These indirect costs cover everything you need to keep your business operating every day, whether you make any sales.

After you've uncovered what all your direct and indirect costs are, add them up. Just for fun, let's say these total $10,000 annually. Now, let's say you estimate you can sell 2,000 t-shirts in a year. Dividing your $10,000 in expenses by the 2,000 quantity, you end up with a breakeven of $5.00/t-shirt. This breakeven price is the lowest price you can charge and still cover all your costs.

The next step is to ask yourself what profit you want. Let's say you'd like to have $20,000 to live on during the year (not a princely sum, but I am just trying to keep this simple). This is your profit. OK, now take that $20,000 and divide it by the 2,000 t-shirts you expect to sell, and you come up with $10/t-shirt. Add this to your $5/t-shirt cost and the price you should charge is $15/t-shirt.

After you've established your cost-based price, you want to compare this price against market prices. The prices your competitors are already getting and are a key determinant of your own pricing.

Finding competitive information isn't all that hard; it just takes a little digging. If I were an owner of a t-shirt store like in the example above, I would visit 5 other t-shirt shops and inquire about their pricing. Then I'd ask myself do they offer the same quality t-shirts to me?

If their prices are higher, what else are they offering to justify the price? If their prices are lower, is their product quality (or service) noticeably lower? This kind of competitive surveillance is crucial when determining your prices.

Now, what if you are in a business-to-business market, or selling a service? Here are some common sources of information for competitive prices:

Your preferred customers who can supply you with price sheets from competitors.

Trade associations who might check pricing among the trade.

Job candidates interviewing with your company-who come from competitors.

Now, set your calculator aside and ask yourself this question "How do I want to be perceived in my market?" This is an important question because your price positions your service (or product) in your prospects' minds. What do I mean by this? OK, think Ferrari. Now, think Ford. Totally different price points, totally different perceptions, right?

If you want your service to be positioned as higher-end (think Ferrari), you will choose a price point towards the higher end of the price ranges already found in your market. If on the other hand, your service will be more workmanlike, sacrificing additional features and the finer touches, you'll price lower. In my book The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses, I identify at least 13 different price strategies you could choose. But to make this easier, I've boiled your choices down to just three:

Premium Price (most expensive 1/3rd of your market)

Middle Market Price (mid-level 1/3rd of your market)

Budget Price (least expensive 1/3rd of your market)

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Which feature of your product does every buyer ask about? Which sales tool is your best closing device? Which feature immediately differentiates you from your competitors? You guessed it, your price. Yet, I'm always a bit surprised at how little time businesses spend on their pricing.

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Click a link above to be taken to a full blog on the marketing model/theory of your choice.

This is used when objectives are set to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats facing the organisation. Please see our Marketing Theories - SWOT Analysis post for a full explanation.

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Every good marketer should know these common marketing theories and how to apply them. From the Ansoff Matrix & Balanced Scorecard to PESTEL, the 7 Ps of Marketing and the SWOT analysis, they help from planning right through to marketing strategy.

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Great small business advertising ideas on a budget

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Great small business advertising ideas on a budget

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Advertising a small business on a budget can be tricky - but there's a range of great shoestring techniques you can use to get your name out there.

We've compiled a series of tips and ideas for advertising your small business. Read on to find out how to spread your business far and wide.

Advertising tips for small business

Before you get started, think about these top tips for a great budget small business advertising campaign:

Define your goals. Before you do anything else, you need to work out what you're trying to achieve. Are you trying to increase sales of a specific product? Do you want to boost brand awareness? Are you aiming to break into a new market? By defining your goals, you can build a tailored campaign that works.

Write some KPIs. You need a way of measuring success, and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a good way to do this. What are the metrics you'll measure to see whether or not your campaign worked? For example, will you look at user sign-ups, lead generation, or consumer sentiment?

DIY isn't necessarily best. It can be tempting to try to do everything, especially in the early stages of a company. But remember that you'll need specific skills for a great advertising campaign, including design and copywriting support. If you're not sure you have these in-house, try to speak to freelancers in your area or industry.

Small business advertising ideas

1. Find the freebies!

There's a huge range of free marketing help available, some of which you might not even know you already have. When you registered your domain, for example, you were probably given a Google AdWords voucher to spend on online advertising. You might also have been given discounts for business card printing services.

In addition, there's a wealth of free online marketing and advertising resources to help you plan and execute great campaigns. At Simply Business, we have our own marketing resources you can use.

2. Make the most of what you have

If you're looking to start small, begin by thinking about the resources you already have at your disposal. Where do you already interact with customers or clients, and how can you make the most of those points of interaction? For example, if you're a business-to-business company, try sending promos when you invoice - this can be a great way of securing repeat business.

If you're a consumer-facing business that sends items by post, try out branded packaging. If you're a tradesman with a van, make sure that you've got a great logo emblazoned on the side.

3. Enter awards

Business awards are an effective but often-overlooked means by which small firms can get their name out there. There's a huge number of different awards all around the country, and it pays to find the ones that are right for you. This might be about location, but more likely the decision will come down to industry. For example, there are regional and national awards for catering, banking, insurance, construction, mechanics, and dozens more.

Remember that there may be a fee for entering some awards. You should also make sure that you put as much time and effort as you can afford into the application itself - without a great entry, you'll be wasting your time.

4. Go guerilla

So-called 'guerilla advertising' is a growing technique that helps businesses on a low budget attain maximum impact. It relies on finding highly inventive, unusual ideas, but can be a great option if you don't have tens of thousands of pounds to spend.

Guerilla advertising techniques often involve using the environment around you. Think about where your customers live. For example, you could place enticing, beautifully designed ads in shopping trolleys or on public transport. You might also try to associate your company with big public events - think, for example, about what huge brands do around spectacles like the Olympics.

You should also think about the 'viral effect' - what can you do to get people talking about your campaign and products? One recent example is Brewdog's 'Pink IPA' campaign, in which they launched a beer targeted specifically at women. It was controversial, but it got people talking.

5. Buy space

Finally, you might be thinking that billboards and bus stop ads are out of your financial reach. But in fact these channels are increasingly affordable, thanks in great part to a new wave of companies hiring out space. SignKick is a young company that leases billboards and bus stop space to companies of every size, and panels can start from as little as £240.

Remember, though, that you'll need beautifully designed ads with great copy. If you don't have this ability in-house, you should think about contracting with a freelancer or agency to help you make the most of your hire fee.
Do you have any other top tips for advertising? Let us know in the comments below.

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Advertising a small business on a budget can be tricky - but there's a range of great shoestring techniques you can use to get your name out there. We've compiled a series of tips and ideas for advertising your small business. Read on to find out how to spread your business far and wide.

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All marketing and advertising must be:

an accurate description of the product or service

legal

decent

truthful

honest

socially responsible (not encouraging illegal, unsafe or anti-social behaviour)

There are regulations that restrict what advertisers can and cannot do.

As well as the regulations, there are 2 advertising codes of practice that you need to follow to help you advertise legally.

You must describe your product or service accurately.

Requirements for specific products

There are also specific requirements that apply to certain sectors, such as:

food

alcohol

beauty products

environmentally friendly products

medicines

tobacco

For example, you can only claim your drink is 'low in alcohol' if it contains between 0.5% and 1.2% alcohol by volume.

Data protection

If you're gathering, storing or using information about customers or potential customers, you must also protect their data.

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If you're advertising or marketing, including direct marketing, you must be accurate and honest and follow the advertising codes of practice

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The consumer Protection

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Advertising to consumers

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations mean you cannot mislead or harass consumers by, for example:

including false or deceptive messages

leaving out important information

using aggressive sales techniques

Read 'The consumer protection from unfair trading regulations' for the rules on advertising legally.

Advertising to businesses

Advertising to businesses is covered by the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations. As well as being accurate and honest, you must not make misleading comparisons with competitors, that includes:

using a competitor's logo or trademark, or something very similar

comparing your product with a competitor's product that's not the same

Download 'The Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008' for more detail about the regulations that cover advertising to businesses.

Penalties

If you break the regulations, you could be reported to a local Trading Standards office. You could be fined, prosecuted or imprisoned.

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The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations mean you cannot mislead or harass consumers by, for example: including false or deceptive messages leaving out important information using aggressive sales techniques Read 'The consumer protection from unfair trading regulations' for the rules on advertising legally.

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The key to successful marketing is finding the right marketing strategy -including your message, timing, and method of communication-to reach and influence your consumers.

Defining Marketing

Marketing is the process of teaching consumers why they should choose your product or service over those of your competitors, and is a form of persuasive communication. It is made up of every process involved in moving a product or service from your business to the consumer. Marketing includes creating the product or service concept, identifying who is likely to purchase it, promoting it, and moving it through the appropriate selling channels. There are three primary purposes of marketing:

1. Capturing the attention of your target market

2. Persuading a consumer to purchase your product

3. Providing the customer with a specific, low-risk action that is easy to take

If the objective of your business is to sell more products or services, then marketing is what helps you achieve that goal. Anything that you use to communicate with your customers in a way that persuades them to buy your products or services is marketing, including advertising, social media, coupons, sales, and even how products are displayed.

Four Stages of Marketing

Companies must go through multiple stages of marketing to ensure their products or services are ready for selling.

Ideation: Marketing starts when you develop an idea for a product or service. Before launching a product or services, you must decide what you are selling, how many options are available, and how it will be packaged and presented to consumers.

Research and testing:Before you can take your idea public, you should perform marketing research and testing. Marketing departments usually test new product concepts with focus groups and surveys to gauge consumer interest, refine product ideas, and determine what price to set. Researching your competitors can help you set an optimal price and generate ideas for positioning your brand in an existing market.

Advertising:The information you gather in your research will help you define your marketing strategy and create an advertising campaign. Campaigns can include different forms of media, events, direct advertising, paid partnerships, public relations, and more. Before beginning an advertising campaign, set concrete benchmarks that you can use to measure how effective that advertising campaign is.

Selling: Determine where and how you plan to sell to customers. Consumer product companies, for example, sell to wholesalers who then sell to retailers. In the industrial market, the buying process is longer and involves more decision-makers. You may sell locally, nationally, or even internationally, and some companies only sell their products or services online. Your distribution and sales channels impact who buys your products, when they buy them, and how they buy them.

The Four Ps Model of Marketing

The four stages of marketing can also be mapped onto another popular marketing model known as the Four Ps of marketing. The four Ps in this model are product, price, promotion, and place.

Product: The procedures you have in place to ensure that your products are ready for selling. Your product (or service) should fill a gap in the market, meet the needs of customers, and stand out from the competition.

Price: The cost of purchase, including both the sticker price as well as less quantifiable trade-offs that a customer must be willing to make when they purchase your products.

Promotion: The information you give consumers through targeted advertising to generate interest in your products. Promotions usually have one of two purposes: generate leads or initiate actual purchases.

Place: Refers to how and where products are sold. All distribution decisions are part of your overall marketing process.

Types of Advertising

There are many kinds of advertising that you can use to promote your business, teach customers about your products, and generate sales. Print, radio, and television campaigns are types of advertising, as are direct mail, email, and internet marketing. If you have a website, it should be optimized for search to help customers find it through search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. Newsletters, press releases, and articles are also forms of marketing used to capture leads and generate sales. Some companies also use referral marketing, where satisfied customers refer others (often for a reward) to increase business.

The rise of social media platforms has increased the importance of social media marketing, including connecting with customers on social media by persuading them to follow your business, partnering with social media influencers through product placement or paid sponsorships, and paying for advertising on platforms like Facebook or Instagram. The types of advertising that you choose will depend on your budget, type of business, and the preferences of your ideal customers.

The Marketing Lifecycle

Advertising, or promotion, is only one component of your marketing plan. The marketing process begins with the idea for your product and continues until that product is in the hands of a consumer who bought it. Even after a customer has made a purchase, your marketing shouldn't end-a portion of your advertising should be targeted at current customers to ensure they remain customers and increase loyalty.

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Learn What Marketing Is and How It Is Used

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The key to successful marketing is finding the right marketing strategy -including your message, timing, and method of communication-to reach and influence your consumers. Marketing is the process of teaching consumers why they should choose your product or service over those of your competitors, and is a form of persuasive communication.

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It is said that you see over 1000 ads per day, and yet remember only seven. With digital advertising, that first number is probably higher. But if you drive a car daily, a large portion of the ads you see will be billboard ads. Billboard ads come in many different shapes and sizes and occupy those huge boards on either side of the motorway. You will also see them in city centers, and wherever a billboard manufacturer can place them to earn money.

Billboards are part of the OOH marketing mix, which stands for out-of-home.

The name billboard is derived from the term "billing board," and is a large outdoor advertising space designed to capture the attention of motorists and pedestrians. Typically placed around high traffic areas (both automotive and foot traffic), billboards are meant to be simple, striking, and creative. In fact, the creative department in any advertising agency still prizes the billboard space, as it is a golden opportunity to do groundbreaking, impactful work.

The largest size of billboard available in any campaign is known as the "bulletin," but billboard sizes can vary greatly depending on location. However, the typical size of an advertising billboard is 14 feet high by 48 feet wide.

In the past, billboards were created using sections of paper pasted together to form one image. Nowadays, digital printing on vinyl material allows the entire image to be printed on one sheet and can be erected very quickly and easily.

The typical length of time for a billboard buy is 12 weeks. For this reason, it's important that billboards have content that is somewhat evergreen. Billboards are the ideal place for long-term messaging, but anything more reactive should go somewhere else.

Digital billboards allow creative executions that can be personalized, or swapped out with other creative ads. Sometimes, clients can choose to timeshare their ads with other companies, with the creative swapping out every few minutes.

Billboard advertising can be relatively inexpensive depending on the size and location. However, this expense must be weighed against the kind of message you want to get across. As a general rule of thumb, billboards are a very quick read, and therefore should not contain a lot of information.

If your campaign is one of awareness and branding, billboard advertising is a great option. If you want to convey a lot of information about your product or service, billboards should be avoided. It is said that six words are the ideal amount of copy on a billboard, and that can severely limit your ability to communicate with potential consumers.

You also need to consider the content and tone of the billboard creative, as this may have some negative side effects. In the past, sexually provocative billboards have caused accidents on roads and motorways (the Wonderbra ads were notorious for this), and you do not want the negative publicity of car accidents being directly linked to your ad campaign.

There are regular billboards, and there are 3D billboards that really go above and beyond to attract the attention of the viewer (and the awards juries).

Although there are height and width restrictions for billboards along with distraction rules, advertisers have the ability to really push the boundaries and create boards that are newsworthy.

In the past, billboards have simulated car crashes, used smoke, and special effects, and have even had real people living on them. This type of billboard is generally not much more expensive to produce, as the bulk of the cost comes from renting the space. Creativity like this is worth exploring, as it gives you a greater ROI, and offered earned media credit which can get many thousands more eyes on your messaging.

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It is said that you see over 1000 ads per day, and yet remember only seven. With digital advertising, that first number is probably higher. But if you drive a car daily, a large portion of the ads you see will be billboard ads.

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What Is a Marketing Strategy?

A marketing strategy refers to a business's overall game plan to facilitate the buying and selling of its products or services. A marketing strategy determines how to reach prospective consumers and turn them into customers. It contains the company's value proposition, key brand messaging, data on target customer demographics, and other high-level elements.

A thorough marketing strategy covers the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.

Key Takeaways

Understanding Marketing Strategies

A clear marketing strategy should revolve around the company's value proposition, which communicates to consumers what the company stands for, how it operates, and why it deserves its business.

This provides marketing teams with a template that should inform their initiatives across all of the company's products and services. For example, Walmart ( WMT) is widely known as a discount retailer with "everyday low prices," whose business operations and marketing efforts are rooted in that idea.

Marketing Strategies vs. Marketing Plans

The marketing strategy is outlined in the marketing plan -a document that details the specific types of marketing activities that a company conducts and contains timetables for rolling out various marketing initiatives.

Marketing strategies should ideally have longer life spans than individual marketing plans because they contain value propositions and other key elements of a company's brand, which generally hold constant over the long haul. In other words, marketing strategies cover big-picture messaging, while marketing plans delineate the logistical details of specific campaigns.

For example, a marketing strategy might say that a company aims to increase authority in niche circles where their clients visit. The marketing plan puts that into action by commissioning thought leadership pieces on LinkedIn.

Benefits of a Marketing Strategy

The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies by understanding the needs and wants of its consumers. Whether it's a print ad design, mass customization, or a social media campaign, a marketing asset can be judged based on how effectively it communicates a company's core value proposition.

Market research can help chart the efficacy of a given campaign and can help identify untapped audiences to achieve bottom-line goals and increase sales.

How to Create a Marketing Strategy

Creating a marketing strategy requires a few steps. Here are some of the steps you should consider when creating your marketing strategy.

1. Identify your goals: While sales are the ultimate goal for every company, you should have more short-term goals such as establishing authority, increasing customer engagement, or generating leads. These smaller goals offer measurable benchmarks for the progress of your marketing plan. Think of strategy as the high-level ideology and planning as how you accomplish your goals.

2. Know your clients: Every product or service has an ideal customer, and you should know who they are and where they hang out. If you sell power tools, you'll choose marketing channels where general contractors may see your messaging. Establish who your client is and how your product will improve their lives.

3. Create your message: Now that you know your goals and who you're pitching to, it's time to create your message. This is your opportunity to show your potential clients how your product or service will benefit them and why you're the only company that can provide it.

4. Define your budget: How you disperse your messaging may depend on how much you can afford. Will you be purchasing advertising? Hoping for a viral moment on social media organically? Sending out press releases to the media to try to gain coverage? Your budget will dictate what you can afford to do.

5. Determine your channels: Even the best message needs the appropriate venue. Some companies may find more value in creating blog posts for their website. Others may find success with paid ads on social media channels. Find the most appropriate venue for your content.

6. Measure your success: To target your marketing, you need to know whether it is reaching its audience. Determine your metrics and how you'll judge the success of your marketing efforts.

Why Does a Company Need a Marketing Strategy?

A marketing strategy helps a company direct its advertising dollars to where it will have the most impact. Compared with the data from 2018, the correlation between organization and success in marketers jumped from being almost four times more likely to almost seven times more likely in 2022.

What Do the Four Ps Mean in a Marketing Strategy?

The four Ps are product, price, promotion, and place. These are the key factors that are involved in the marketing of a good or service. The four Ps can be used when planning a new business venture, evaluating an existing offer, or trying to optimize sales with a target audience. It also can be used to test a current marketing strategy on a new audience.

What Does a Marketing Strategy Look Like?

A marketing strategy will detail the advertising, outreach, and public relations campaigns to be carried out by a firm, including how the company will measure the effect of these initiatives.

They will typically follow the four Ps. The functions and components of a marketing plan include market research to support pricing decisions and new market entries, tailored messaging that targets certain demographics and geographic areas, and platform selection for product and service promotion-digital, radio, Internet, trade magazines, and the mix of those platforms for each campaign, and metrics that measure the results of marketing efforts and their reporting timelines.

Is a Marketing Strategy the Same as a Marketing Plan?

The terms "marketing plan" and "marketing strategy" are often used interchangeably because a marketing plan is developed based on an overarching strategic framework. In some cases, the strategy and the plan may be incorporated into one document, particularly for smaller companies that may only run one or two major campaigns in a year. The plan outlines marketing activities on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis, while the marketing strategy outlines the overall value proposition.

The Bottom Line

Companies need to sell their products and services to generate revenue and put them on the path of being a successful business. To sell their products or services, they have to let consumers know of them. They must also convince consumers to buy them as well as convert consumers from competitors. Having a marketing strategy that outlines this process and more is a crucial step in converting consumers into customers.

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Marketing Strategy: What It Is, How It Works, and How to Create One

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A marketing strategy is a business's general scheme for developing a customer base for the product or service that the business provides.

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Today's buyers hold all of the power when making a purchasing decision. You're also likely aware that they're doing some of their research online.

But have you really adapted your marketing plan to match the way today's customers shop and buy?

Consider three recent statistics about modern buyer behavior:

What's a marketer to do to make sure your buyers find you early and often? Go where they're going.

That might sound obvious, but how deeply do you understand exactly where your buyers are doing their research and what is influencing their decisions? That's where market research comes into play.

Whether you're a newbie or experienced with market research, this guide will give you a blueprint for conducting a thorough study of your product, target audience, and how you fare in your industry.

Primary vs. Secondary Research

There are two main types of market research that businesses conduct to collect the most actionable information on their products: primary research and secondary research.

Primary Research

Primary research is the pursuit of firsthand information on your market and its customers. You can use focus groups, online surveys, phone interviews, and more to gather fresh details on the challenges your buyers face and the brand awareness behind your company.

Primary research is useful when segmenting your market and establishing your buyer personas, and this research tends to fall into one of two buckets:

Exploratory Research: This kind of primary market research is less concerned with measurable customer trends and more about potential problems that would be worth tackling as a team. It normally takes place as a first step before any specific research has been performed, and can involve open-ended interviews or surveys with small numbers of people.

Specific Research: This kind of primary market research often follows exploratory research, and is used to dive into issues or opportunities the business has already identified as important. In specific research, the business can take a smaller or more precise segment of their audience and ask questions aimed at solving a suspected problem.

Secondary Research

Secondary research is all the data and public records you have at your disposal to draw conclusions from. This includes trend reports, market statistics, industry content, and sales data you already have on your business.

Secondary research is particularly useful for analyzing your competitors. Here are three types of secondary research sources that make this process so beneficial:

Public Sources: These sources are your first and most accessible layer of material when conducting secondary market research. Being free to find and read -- usually -- they offer the most bang for your buck. Government statistics are arguably your most common public sources, according to Entrepreneur. Two U.S. examples of public market data are the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor & Statistics, both of which offer helpful information on the state of various industries nationwide.

Commercial Sources: These sources often come in the form of market reports, consisting of industry insight compiled by a research agency like Pew, Gartner, or Forrester. Because this info is so portable and distributable, it typically costs money to download and obtain.

Internal Sources: Internal sources deserve more credit for supporting market research than they generally get. Why? This is the market data your organization already has in-house. Average revenue per sale, customer retention rates, and other historical data on the health of old and new accounts can all help you draw conclusions on what your buyers might want right now.

How to Do Market Research

1. Define your buyer persona.

2. Identify a portion of that persona to engage.

3. Engage your market research participants.

4. Prepare your research questions.

5. List your primary competitors.

6. Summarize your findings.

1. Define your buyer persona.

Before you dive into how customers in your industry make buying decisions, you must first understand who they are. This is the beginning of your primary market research -- where buyer personas come in handy.

Buyer personas -- sometimes referred to as marketing personas -- are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers. They help you visualize your audience, streamline your communications, and inform your strategy. Some key characteristics you should be keen on including in your buyer persona are:

The idea is ultimately to use this persona as a guideline for when you reach and learn about actual customers in your industry (you'll do this in the steps below).

To get started with creating your personas, check out these free templates, as well as this helpful tool. These resources are designed to help you organize your audience segments, collect the right information, select the right format, and so on.

You may find that your business lends itself to more than one persona -- that's fine! You just need to be sure that you're being thoughtful about the specific persona you are optimizing for when planning content and campaigns.

2. Identify a portion of that persona to engage.

Now that you know who your buyer personas are, you'll need to find a representative sample of your target customers to understand their actual characteristics, challenges, and buying habits.

These should be folks who recently made a purchase (or purposefully decided not to make one), and you can meet with them in a number of ways:

In-person via a focus group

Administering an online survey

Individual phone interviews

We've developed a few guidelines and tips that'll help you get the right participants for your research. Let's walk through them.

Choosing Which Buyers to Survey

When choosing whom you want to engage to conduct market research, start with the characteristics that apply to your buyer persona. This will vary for every organization, but here are some additional guidelines that will apply to just about any scenario:

Shoot for 10 participants per buyer persona. We recommend focusing on one persona, but if you feel it's necessary to research multiple personas, be sure to recruit a separate sample group for each one.

Select people who have recently interacted with you. You may want to focus on folks that have completed an evaluation within the past six months -- or up to a year if you have a longer sales cycle or niche market. You'll be asking very detailed questions, so it's important that their experience is fresh.

Aim for a mix of participants. You want to recruit people who have purchased your product, folks who purchased a competitor's product, and a few who decided not to purchase anything at all. While your own customers will be the easiest to find and recruit, sourcing information from others will help you develop a balanced view.

3. Engage your market research participants.

Market research firms have panels of people they can pull from when they want to conduct a study. The trouble is, most individual marketers don't have that luxury -- and that's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, the time you'll spend recruiting exclusively for your study will often lead to better participants.

Here's a simple recruiting process to guide your efforts:

1. Pull a list of customers who made a recent purchase. As we mentioned before, this is usually the easiest set of buyers to recruit. If you're using a CRM system, you can run a report of deals that closed within the past six months and filter it for the characteristics you're looking for. Otherwise, you can work with your sales team to get a list of appropriate accounts from them.

2. Pull a list of customers who were in an active evaluation, but didn't make a purchase. You should get a mix of buyers who either purchased from a competitor or decided not to make a purchase. Again, you can get this list from your CRM or from whatever system your Sales team uses to track deals.

3. Call for participants on social media. Try reaching out to the folks that follow you on social media, but decided not to buy from you. There's a chance that some of them would be willing to talk to you and tell you why they ultimately decided not to buy your product.

4. Leverage your own network. Get the word out to your coworkers, former colleagues, and LinkedIn connections that you're conducting a study. Even if your direct connections don't qualify, some of them will likely have a coworker, friend, or family member who does.

5. Choose an incentive. Time is precious, so you'll need to think about how you will motivate someone to spend 30-45 minutes on you and your study. On a tight budget? You can reward participants for free by giving them exclusive access to content. Another option? Send a simple handwritten 'thank you' note once the study is complete.

4. Prepare your research questions.

The best way to make sure you get the most out of your conversations is to be prepared. You should always create a discussion guide -- whether it's for a focus group, online survey, or a phone interview -- to make sure you cover all of the top-of-mind questions and use your time wisely.

(Note: This is not intended to be a script. The discussions should be natural and conversational, so we encourage you to go out of order or probe into certain areas as you see fit.)

Your discussion guide should be in an outline format, with a time allotment and open-ended questions allotted for each section.
Wait, all open-ended questions?
Yes -- this is a golden rule of market research. You never want to "lead the witness" by asking yes/no questions, as that puts you at risk of unintentionally swaying their thoughts by leading with your own hypothesis. Asking open-ended questions also helps you avoid those painful one-word answers.

Here's a general outline for a 30-minute survey of one B2B buyer. You can use these as talking points for an in-person interview, or as questions posed on a digital form to administer as a survey to your target customers.

Background Information (5 Minutes)

Ask the buyer to give you a little background information (their title, how long they've been with the company, and so on). Then, ask a fun/easy question to warm things up (first concert attended, favorite restaurant in town, last vacation, etc.).

Remember, you want to get to know your buyers in pretty specific ways. You might be able to capture basic information such as age, location, and job title from your contact list, there are some personal and professional challenges you can really only learn by asking. Here are some other key background questions to ask your target audience:

Describe to me how your work team is structured.

Tell me about your personal job responsibilities.

What are the team's goals and how do you measure them?

What has been your biggest challenge in the past year?

Now, make a transition to acknowledge the specific purchase or interaction they made that led to you including them in the study. The next three stages of the buyer's journey will focus specifically on that purchase.

Awareness (5 Minutes)

Here, you want to understand how they first realized they had a problem that needed to be solved without getting into whether or not they knew about your brand yet.

Think back to when you first realized you needed a [name the product/service category, but not yours specifically]. What challenges were you facing at the time?

How did you know that something in this category could help you?

How familiar were you with different options on the market?

Consideration (10 Minutes)

Now you want to get very specific about how and where the buyer researched potential solutions. Plan to interject to ask for more details.

What was the first thing you did to research potential solutions? How helpful was this source?

Where did you go to find more information?

If they don't come up organically, ask about search engines, websites visited, people consulted, and so on. Probe, as appropriate, with some of the following questions:

How did you find that source?

How did you use vendor websites?

What words specifically did you search on Google?

How helpful was it? How could it be better?

Who provided the most (and least) helpful information? What did that look like?

Tell me about your experiences with the sales people from each vendor.

Decision (10 Minutes)

Which of the sources you described above was the most influential in driving your decision?

What, if any, criteria did you establish to compare the alternatives?

What vendors made it to the short list and what were the pros/cons of each?

Who else was involved in the final decision? What role did each of these people play?

What factors ultimately influenced your final purchasing decision?

Closing

Here, you want to wrap up and understand what could have been better for the buyer.

Ask them what their ideal buying process would look like. How would it differ from what they experienced?

Allow time for further questions on their end.

Don't forget to thank them for their time and confirm their address to send a thank-you note or incentive.

5. List your primary competitors.

Understanding your competitors begins your secondary market research. But keep in mind competition isn't always as simple as Company X versus Company Y.

Sometimes, a division of a company might compete with your main product or service, even though that company's brand might put more effort in another area. Apple is known for its laptops and mobile devices, for example, but Apple Music competes with Spotify -- which doesn't sell hardware (yet) -- over its music streaming service.

From a content standpoint, you might compete with a blog, YouTube channel, or similar publication for inbound website visitors -- even though their products don't overlap with yours at all. A toothpaste developer, for example, might compete with magazines like Health.com or Prevention on certain blog topics related to nutrition, even though these magazines don't actually sell oral care products.

Identifying Industry Competitors

To identify competitors whose products or services overlap with yours, determine which industry or industries you're pursuing. Start high-level, using terms like education, construction, media & entertainment, food service, healthcare, retail, financial services, telecommunications, agriculture, etc.

The list goes on, but find an industry term that you identify with, and use it to create a list of companies that also belong to this industry. You can build your list the following ways:

Review your industry quadrant on G2 Crowd. In certain industries, this is your best first step in secondary market research. G2 Crowd aggregates user ratings and social data to create "quadrants," where you can see companies plotted as contenders, leaders, niche, and high performers in their respective industries. G2 Crowd specializes in digital content, IT services, HR, ecommerce, and related business services.

Download a market report. Companies like Forrester and Gartner offer both free and gated market forecasts every year on the vendors who are leading their industry. On Forrester's website, for example, you can select "Latest Research" from the navigation bar and browse Forrester's latest material using a variety of criteria to narrow your search. These reports are good assets to have saved on your computer.

Search using social media. Believe it or not, social networks make great company directories if you use the search bar correctly. On LinkedIn, for example, select the search bar and enter the name of the industry you're pursuing. Then, under "More," select "Companies" to narrow your results to just the businesses that include this or a similar industry term on their LinkedIn profile.

Identifying Content Competitors

Search engines are your best friends in this area of secondary market research. To find the online publications with which you compete, take the overarching industry term you identified in the section above, and come up with a handful of more specific industry terms your company identifies with.

A catering business, for example, might generally be a "food service" company, but also consider itself a vendor in "event catering," "cake catering," "baked goods," and more.

Once you have this list, do the following:

Google it. Don't underestimate the value in seeing which websites come up when you run a search on Google for the industry terms that describe your company. You might find a mix of product developers, blogs, magazines, and more.

Compare your search results against your buyer persona. Remember the buyer persona you created during the primary research stage, earlier in this article? Use it to examine how likely a publication you found through Google could steal website traffic from you. If the content the website publishes seems like the stuff your buyer persona would want to see, it's a potential competitor, and should be added to your list of competitors.

After a series of similar Google searches for the industry terms you identify with, look for repetition in the website domains that have come up. Examine the first two or three results pages for each search you conducted. These websites are clearly respected for the content they create in your industry, and should be watched carefully as you build your own library of videos, reports, web pages, and blog posts.

6. Summarize your findings.

Feeling overwhelmed by the notes you took? We suggest looking for common themes that will help you tell a story and create a list of action items.

To make the process easier, try using your favorite presentation software to make a report, as it will make it easy to add in quotes, diagrams, or call clips. Feel free to add your own flair, but the following outline should help you craft a clear summary:

Background. Your goals and why you conducted this study.

Participants. Who you talked to. A table works well so you can break groups down by persona and customer/prospect.

Executive Summary. What were the most interesting things you learned? What do you plan to do about it?

Awareness. Describe the common triggers that lead someone to enter into an evaluation. Note: Quotes can be very powerful.

Consideration. Provide the main themes you uncovered, as well as the detailed sources buyers use when conducting their evaluation.

Decision. Paint the picture of how a decision is really made by including the people at the center of influence and any product features or information that can make or break a deal.

Action Plan. Your analysis probably uncovered a few campaigns you can run to get your brand in front of buyers earlier and/or more effectively. Provide your list of priorities, a timeline, and the impact it will have on your business.

Conducting market research can be a very eye-opening experience. Even if you think you know your buyers pretty well, completing the study will likely uncover new channels and messaging tips to help improve your interactions.

Not to mention, you'll be able to add "market research" as a skill to your resume.

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How to Do Market Research: A 6-Step Guide

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Today's buyers hold all of the power when making a purchasing decision. You're also likely aware that they're doing some of their research online. But have you really adapted your marketing plan to match the way today's customers shop and buy?

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Promoting Your Performances – in the News, and on Social Media

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Promoting Your Performances – in the News, and on Social Media

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So you've created this amazing show. And it's got everything - talented performers and crew, exciting staging, great production values. It's a must-see. Congratulations!

However, your work has just begun, as all of that means nothing unless you tell the world about it. After all, prospective audiences have to hear about your show in order to attend.

And that's where great PR and marketing enter the picture.

Marketing Basics

It's essential that your audiences and media targets be able to find and track your work and accomplishments, so make sure your basic marketing tools are well in place:

Launch (or update) a vibrant and dynamic website. It doesn't have to be too fancy, and in fact, too many bells and whistles can be distracting. Just make sure it introduces you, showcases your past successes, clearly lists your upcoming season, offers a way to buy tickets (or show financial support) online and off, and tells people how to contact you by all available methods. And don't forget to include your location along with a simple map of how to find you!

Send out regular newsletters and e-blasts on your productions, rave reviews, notable people or accomplishments, patrons, volunteer efforts, and more.

Purchase or trade out for advertising space in notable local newspapers and weeklies. (Many of these are often willing to 'trade out' for ad space in return for visibility in your playbills and programs, too.)

Launching a PR Campaign

Implementing some PR is something anyone can do. You just need to be willing to research and maintain some basic lists, materials, and approaches.

If you haven't already done so, build a terrific and inclusive press list, or media list, of recipients who will receive your news, and (hopefully) write about it. This media list should include such vital media contacts as local and regional newspapers, weeklies, magazines, TV stations, radio stations, arts and events bloggers.

Be sure to target calendar editors and performing arts editors by name, as well as the primary newsroom contacts, and use both email as well as U.S. mail, keeping track of any news contacts who express a preference for one form of contact ​over the other.

Write dynamic press releases promoting your production, with the most important information (who, what, where, when, how much) up front.

Start promoting your news and events immediately, intensifying efforts in the 4-6 weeks before opening. Make sure you're always professional and respectful in all approaches to the media.

Track your media mentions through simple tools like Google Alerts - and don't forget to link to (and promote) all rave reviews!

Use the Power of Social Media

In today's world, social media is a must - a powerful tool for expanding your audience base. So get comfortable with Social Media - and don't be afraid to be creative in your promotion efforts:

Launch a Facebook page for your organization, and heavily promote it on your website, in your e-mails, and with frequent updates on events or performances. Post regular updates in 420 characters or less.

Do the same on MySpace.

Sign up on Twitter and promote current and upcoming events in short, clear, energized updates (or "tweets") of 140 characters or less. Be clear, witty, and succinct.

Launch your own YouTube Channel and post video clips of performances, rehearsals, interviews, and more - then promote every update you post!

Do short, fun podcasts and post them to your website. These can involve conversations between cast members, interviews with directors or other notables, and more. Promote your podcasts on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and more.

Offer ongoing updates to interested audience members via cell phone Text Message

Get Creative

But this is just the beginning. If you have the energy and creativity, your promotion efforts might also include other creative approaches:

Write regular (15 or 30 second) Public Service Announcements, or PSAs, promoting your upcoming shows and events, and send them to local TV and radio contacts.

Open Twitter accounts for actual characters in your upcoming shows (where copyright allows), posting humorous tweets in-character that promote specific shows and show dates

Build and promote iTunes playlists that promote a show or season

Launch an online store promoting your organization through merchandise whose profits help to fund your efforts.CafePress or Zazzle are great ways to dive into this inexpensively and quickly.

Launch a blog for your organization and post (and link to it) regularly.

And of course all of this is just the tip of the PR iceberg. There's a whole world of PR potential out there, and your shows deserve to be seen. Have fun - and don't forget to talk about your successes (or your own creative PR solutions) here in our forums!

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So you've created this amazing show. And it's got everything - talented performers and crew, exciting staging, great production values. It's a must-see. Congratulations! However, your work has just begun, as all of that means nothing unless you tell the world about it. After all, prospective audiences have to hear about your show in order to attend.

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Marketing strategy focuses on what you want to achieve for your business and marketing efforts.

Marketing plan details how you'll achieve those goals.

A good marketing strategy incorporates what you know about how your business fits into the market and the 5 Ps of marketing to develop the tactics and actions that will achieve your marketing objectives.

When is a Marketing Strategy Developed?

The marketing strategy is created before you start your business.

You can't effectively market your home business without understanding how it fits into the marketplace, your competition, how you'll compete, and what you need to achieve (i.e. sales numbers) to reach your financial goals.

The information you gather in creating the marketing strategy is then used to create your marketing plan, and start your business.

How to Create a Marketing Strategy

Before writing your marketing strategy, you need to know how your product or service benefits others and how it's unique ( unique selling proposition) to other businesses in the marketplace. Further you need to do market research to understand your competition, your target market, and other factors that will impact your ability to reach and entice people to your business.

Once you have your research, you can write your marketing strategy incorporating the 5 Ps of your marketing mix:

Product: What you selling? What are the physical attributes of your product or uniqueness of your service? How is what you offer different from your competitors and what benefits does it provide your customer?

Price: What will it cost to get your product or service? How does it compare to your competition? What will your profit margin be by selling at that price?

Place: Where will your products and services be available for purchase? This is beyond having a home office, and instead are the places where consumers are able buy. If you're in multiple places, you should work to calculate the percentage of sales from each place. For example, what will your Internet marketing strategy be? What is your sales strategy? How will the transaction take place, what is the cost of getting the product or service to the consumer/client, and what will be your refund/ return policy?

Promotion: How are you going to let the market know about your product or services? How will you tell them about the features and benefits you provide to entice them to check out what you offer? What marketing tactics will you use and what do you anticipate will be the results of each method? Include information about any incentives or coupons you'll use to attract business.

People: This in a newly added "P" to the marketing mix, and is important if other people are involved in helping you create or deliver your product or service. Who are these people (i.e. sales people, virtual assistants) and what do they do (i.e. sales calls, customer service)? What is their level of training and/or experience in providing help to your business?

When writing your strategy, be specific, using detailed steps, visuals, and budget projections. Keep your brand (your promise to the customer) in mind so that your marketing strategy fits with what you want the customer to experience when doing business with you. Be sure to refer to your marketing strategy as you develop, assess, or change your marketing plan.

What to Do with Your Marketing Strategy

If you're using a business plan to get a loan or generate angel investors, the marketing strategy and marketing plan will be essential elements to your success.

Along with a quality product or service, sources of financing also want to see that you understand and have a plan for reaching your market.

If you ever watch , you'll notice that many of their questions have to do with the market (who will buy) and what's special about the product/service (USP) especially compared to what already exists (why is your product or service needed?).

Like a business plan, marketing strategies can be fluid, changing as needed to improve your results. Once your business is operational, you'll need to assess and adjust your marketing strategy from time to time to account for changing market conditions, shifts in demand, and other factors that impact your sales, as a result of your market research activities and performance of your business.

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Marketing strategy and tips on how to make one in home business

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Marketing strategy focuses on what you want to achieve for your business and marketing efforts. Marketing plan details how you'll achieve those goals. A good marketing strategy incorporates what you know about how your business fits into the market and the 5 Ps of marketing to develop the tactics and actions that will achieve your marketing objectives.

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Marketing a small business with a small budget

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Marketing a small business with a small budget

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When budgets are tight, marketing might be the first expense you look to cut.

Let me stop you right there.

While traditional advertising methods are costly and hard to measure, small businesses have never had greater access to cost-effective, trackable marketing tools.
But with so many digital tools available, how do you know where to start?
Email marketing is the tried and true digital marketing channel with an average return of $38 for every $1 spent.

If you're brand new to email marketing, you can try it out for free! Sign up for your free 60-day trial of Constant Contact here.

Email and social media marketing are just the start. Here are ten marketing strategies that can help you market your small business on a shoestring budget.

1. Craft an elevator pitch

You should be marketing all the time - wherever you are. Therefore, you need a compelling elevator pitch.

Research shows the average attention span of an adult is about six to eight seconds. That's all the time you have to grab someone's attention.

If you successfully engage them, then you only have a little over a minute to really sell them on your product or service. Invest the time to craft a killer elevator pitch. The return on your investment will pay huge dividends in terms of creating business opportunities.

2. Leverage your community

You don't have to think big when it comes to your marketing efforts. Think locally. What's going on in your community?

Sponsor a Little League team or a 5k charity walk/run. Print bookmarks and leave them at the local library. Get to know your ideal customer and think about how and where they spend their time.

Then search for opportunities to get in front of your customer with your marketing message.

3. Collaborate

Put together a group of synergistic, non-competitive businesses in your area and agree to cross-promote.

You can use coupons, fliers, reciprocal website links, bundled promotions or social media platforms. By collaborating with each other, you can expand your customer base because you'll be reaching new people.

4. Network

I'm a huge fan of networking. I don't think there is any better way to build a business than to get out there, shake some hands, and get to know people.

Networking requires a time commitment and it doesn't provide instant gratification, but a strong network is one of the greatest assets any business person can have.

5. Give a speech

A lot of people hate public speaking. However, there are many organizations looking for qualified, subject-matter experts who can present to their groups.

Take a deep breath and volunteer. You don't have to be a pro as long as the information you share is helpful to the audience. And the upside - the more you do it the easier it gets. Plus, it positions you as a credible authority in your field.

6. Create buzz

I started my corporate career in the field of public relations and the business has changed significantly because of technology.

Today, a small business owner can accomplish a lot without hiring a professional firm. Subscribe to Help a Reporter Out. You can respond to reporters' queries that are looking for story ideas and resources. Some are small media opportunities, but others are major media outlets that use this service too.

7. Ask for referrals

Don't be shy about asking for customer referrals. The majority of people say they are willing to provide a referral if asked, but very few take the initiative to do it on their own.

Referrals make it easier to get in the door with new customers. If you aren't asking for them, you are missing opportunities.

8. Build relationships

It is a lot less expensive to keep a customer than it is to get a new one. That's why establishing strong relationships with your customer base is crucial. One of the ways you can do that is by keeping in touch with people through email marketing.

Ask customers for their email address when they visit your store or website. Then, make your communications informative, helpful and professional - something your customers will look forward to receiving.

9. Offer coupons

Coupons are a good way for many businesses to attract new customers. Research shows that people will go out of their way to use a coupon, proving that this method is successful in expanding your customer base.

Coupons can also generate return visits. For example, if you give a customer a coupon for a discount to use on future business, there's a high probability they'll be back.

10. Give it away

If someone has the opportunity to experience your product or service, chances are they will want to purchase more.

Don't be afraid to give someone a free trial or a sample. In today's economy, people are more comfortable purchasing something they have been able to experience first.

These ten, inexpensive marketing strategies will help you engage customers, build relationships, and ultimately keep your brand top-of-mind. It's not always about the money you have to spend on marketing, it's about the time and effort you put into it and above all, the relevance it has for your customers.

Log in to Constant Contact to create your next email. New to Constant Contact? Try us out for free! Sign up for a 60-day free trial.

About the Author: Susan Solovic is THE Small Business Expert. Sign up for Susan's Success Tips Newsletter and get your free copy of "Smart Marketing Strategies for Small Biz" ebook.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in May 2013 and has been updated for relevancy and accuracy.

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10 Ways to Market Your Small Business on a Shoestring Budget | Constant Contact Blogs

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When budgets are tight, marketing might be the first expense you look to cut. Let me stop you right there. While traditional advertising methods are costly and hard to measure, small businesses have never had greater access to cost-effective, trackable marketing tools. But with so many digital tools available, how do you know where to start?

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Marketing for the arts (and especially performing arts centers) can be a tricky task, especially when you're trying to draw in an audience that doesn't typically attend symphonies or galleries. It's important for these venues to branch out and host performers/artists that would appeal to a variety of demographics, since the arts are all about learning from different perspectives. It's even more important though to find the proper marketing outlets to get the word out about these events.

Funding for the Arts

Many believe that the arts have a homogeneous audience partially because these arts organizations are spearheaded by a primarily white leadership. Some have recognized this issue and are making strides to introduce diversity among leadership. For example, the Rutgers Business School in New Jersey offers a Cultural and Ethnic Arts Executive Leadership Program to help "increase the diversity of the leadership in major cultural and ethnic arts organizations". The Atlantic covers this issue in " Who Should Pay for the Arts in America? ", stating that the 1965 National Endowment for the Arts no longer promotes inclusion and community the way it was intended to. Instead, private donors and foundations have filled the gap left by a slashed NEA budget. While Andy Horwitz argues that this transition has caused arts funding to be funneled into specific institutions that these donors to choose to support (bypassing the people the NEA was founded to help serve), others might say that these donors are the only ones keeping the arts alive. Many don't realize that a portion of this funding goes toward marketing tactics that will increase the scope of audience awareness, specifically toward minorities. The greatest marketing tactic of all though is creating true and lasting relationship with the group you're trying to draw in. If you care about your community, it will show in the way you approach diversity programming and outreach events.

Drawing in Youth

The youth are another key demographics that these arts organizations want to target, but sometimes fail to draw in due to the niche and mature nature of their performances. The National Guild for Community Arts Education offers an outline on the importance of engaging adolescents in the arts, using support from several studies to prove that the arts help young people develop an individual voice and feel inclusion in their community. Several larger performing arts centers have the funds to host school matinees, allowing schools from around the area to attend these educational presentations at a discount price. To market events such as the National Geographic Live matinees approaching in the spring, performing arts centers must target school administrators to make a case for why these matinees are both educational and affordable. On top of general social media hype, you can market youth events using more non-conventional tactics. Help young people feel more comfortable in your building by offering free arts and crafts events in the lobby, or get the word out about your brand by handing out sunglasses and water bottles with your logo on them. Most schools understand the importance of arts education and will allow performers to visit theater classes to promote their upcoming shows. Take advantage of every opportunity to make yourself known to the people who will one day have the fate of the arts in their hands.

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

The arts are finding new ways to make their performances and festivals more accessible to the public by offering apps, utilizing social media pages, and networking with local arts organizations. Here in Kansas City, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts has a free app that allows you to find upcoming shows, purchase tickets, and connect with their various social media pages. There are plenty of ways these venues can address audience diversity through specific marketing tactics. Choosing the right ones for your target audience may take some trial and error, but the results will make it all worth it.

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Marketing for the Performing Arts | Ontarget Interactive | Kansas City

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Marketing for the arts (and especially performing arts centers) can be a tricky task, especially when you're trying to draw in an audience that doesn't typically attend symphonies or galleries. It's important for these venues to branch out and host performers/artists that would appeal to a variety of demographics, since the arts are all about learning from different perspectives.

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Marketing is a part of all our lives. Every day we're bombarded with thousands of messages and ideas from the instant we wake up, turn the radio on and scroll through our social media channels to the moment our eyes shut at bedtime. So how do you begin to grab attention for your theatre, your show or event?

2. - not just who they are but who they could be. There's a host of tools out there including Audience Agency's , Morris Hargreaves McIntyre's Know your audience Audience Spectrum Culture Segments or create your own audience personas.

10. - from listening to your audiences and evaluating your campaigns to talking with your peers and looking beyond the arts, it's vital to continually develop your knowledge. Learn from your mistakes, try new things and re-invent and re-purpose things that work. A great free tool for learning with a heap of case studies and toolkits is Keep learning Culture Hive .

With a passion for theatre and sharing that with others, Sarah began her career at the Everyman and has previously worked at Manchester Royal Exchange, Blackpool Grand and Birmingham Rep. In 2002 she returned to her home city of Liverpool where she has helped rejuvenate the two theatres' audiences and reputation, including the rebuilding of the award winning new Everyman. A guest lecturer at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA), Sarah is Course Director for UK Theatre's Essentials of Marketing Course. She is currently on the board of the Arts Marketing Association and of Tmesis Theatre Company.

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Every day we're bombarded with thousands of messages and ideas from the instant we wake up, turn the radio on and scroll through our social media channels to the moment our eyes shut at bedtime. So how do you begin to grab attention for your theatre, your show or event?

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10 tips to market your dance or performing arts school.

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10 tips to market your dance or performing arts school.

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There are many potential dance students out there at various stages of decision making about attending a class. Some are simply thinking about it, some are only free on certain days while others only want to attend a class for a specific genre of dance. You need to capture them with a dance marketing or performing arts marketing strategy. Here are 10 tips you can implement to achieve this:

01 BRANDING

Every dance or performing arts school wants to be the first choice when it comes to attracting new students. Branding plays an enormous part in making that attainable. If you wish to strengthen the notion of your school as offering a first class package then a strong brand image is necessary. This is what will make you stand out from the competition.

02 WEBSITE: USER EXPERIENCE & CUSTOMER JOURNEY

Your website is your shop window and will either attract or detract - make sure it is the former. It has to captivate your audience and potential customers with great content and eye-catching photos, however it also has to be easy to navigate and make it as simple as possible for your audience to find the information they are looking for in an easy, fluid manner. Straightforward navigation and basic headers will certainly help. Clear and defined 'calls-to-action' are a must.

A 'call-to-action' can be text or an image prompting the viewer to click and be taken to registration, email link, more information, etc.

Take a look here at some examples of websites we have created for clients in the industry:

03 ONLINE AND OFFLINE LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS

Cross-promotion is a wonderful piece of marketing that costs very little to achieve. Find local businesses or clubs that could link with your school (such as a dancewear shop, amateur musical groups, record shops) and cross-promote with leaflets, flyers, posters, etc or even run a competition in conjunction with them, offering free classes as prizes.

04 SHOWCASE YOUR EXPERTISE (AT LEAST LOCALLY)

Use your own expertise to further promote your business. Contact your local newspaper and any local websites and interest them in your services writing for them as their Dance Expert - in turn this could drive more viewers to your SEO.

05 SOCIAL MEDIA AND OFF SITE STRATEGIES

Never underestimate social media, blogs and external links from other websites. The more you post news or update your blog, the higher you will find your website in the search engine rankings. The higher you are in the rankings, the more people you will get visiting your site. Social media is a fantastic method of communicating in a friendly, informal way with, not only current but prospective students.

Use it to promote photos and videos from classes, entice new users with competitions, post useful information and encourage feedback. Photos and videos often work particularly well on Facebook and will hopefully generate lots of ' likes' and ' shares ' for your page. Of course, people have to find you so put up posters in your studio, remember to put the links on flyers, posters and brochures and also as a footer or signature on all your business emails.

06 DOMAIN NAMES

When thinking about your marketing strategy, put yourself in the position of someone looking for your school. Perhaps your school has a name that is easy to misspell (by accident or by intention), this can cause it to be overlooked by potential students and their parents. This can easily be taken care of by purchasing a secondary domain name (website address) through a trusted domain name company and having it redirect to your main site.

For instance: If your dance school was called ' Dancing En Pointe' and your web address was www.dancingenpointe.com, people might easily misspell it. So, you could purchase a secondary domain name called www.dancingonpoint.com, which is how many might misspell it and have that directed to the main website so you would not lose any potential clients. This is very easy to achieve from approx. £10 per year.

Talk to us about this to find out more.

07 PROEFFICENT EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

Are you using your email marketing effectively? You could welcome all your new students with an email that also includes a free 'taster' voucher for another one of the available classes, as well as all the relevant information regarding your school and what it has to offer. Perhaps some students haven't attended class for a while? Send them an email offering a 30% discount if they book 10 classes or more in advance within the next 10 days.

It is essential to adapt your email newsletter to your audience. If you are sending out to parents of your students, then the more information you can give, the better - however, if you are sending the email to target young dancers, then include fun quizzes and competitions to keep them interested - also, success stories about their dance 'heroes' are a good way to get the young motivated. For more detailed tips on using email marketing effectively, click here.

08 PROMOTIONAL MERCHANDISE

Using promotional products to market your dance studio is a great way to increase student enrolment and get word-of-mouth going. Did you know that the average promotional product is kept for seven months? For instance: hessian shopping bags with your logo on them used by parents on their weekly trip to the supermarket get attention

09 MOBILE APP

This is a great way to communicate and engage with your students via their smartphone. It's the ideal marketing tool for today's youth and can help you with booking requests, customer referrals, push-notifications to advise about a cancelled class, an upcoming audition or fee payment date. This tool is ideal to incentivize your students to keep returning.

10 NEVER LEAVE ANYTHING TO CHANCE

Assess your marketing strategy to make sure you're educating, answering questions and sharing useful, interesting information at each stage in the decision process of prospective clients.

Get in touch with the team of experts at Consider This now to find out more. We can help you along every step of the way and make sure you have the most effective means of marketing your dance or performing arts school.

A version of this article also appears on the Culture Hive website, managed by the AMA (Arts Marketing Association).

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10 dance & performing arts school marketing tips

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There are many potential dance students out there at various stages of decision making about attending a class. Some are simply thinking about it, some are only free on certain days while others only want to attend a class for a specific genre of dance.

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Ask people to pay too much and they will stop buying:…

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Business Class: Trends and Insights | American Express

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You may not have wads of cash to spend on marketing in the early stages of your startup, but that doesn't mean that there aren't effective ways to get your brand out there.

Before the Internet, small businesses only had a few ways to market their products cheaply, through methods like printing out fliers or sponsoring little local events. Now there are all kinds of opportunities out there on the Web-you just need to know where to look.

Here are seven ways to promote your business online that won't cost you a dime:

1. Use the three big local listing services

Registering your business with Google Places allows it to be found more easily on Google searches and it shows up on Google Maps. All you have to do is fill out the form and register, then get your business verified through their confirmation process, which can be done either with a phone call or snail mail. Yahoo! also has a big database of businesses called Yahoo! Local. It's free, and is certainly worth the few minutes it takes to set up. Microsoft's Bing has a similar service that's easy to sign up for.

2. Embrace social media

Social media isn't just a tool to gain exposure-it has now become a necessary time investment for every business to make. You can tie in ads and offers on your Facebook page and have a direct channel with your customers on Twitter. Networking on LinkedIn-both at the personal and company level-can be another way to help your startup.

3. Start a blog

A blog not only helps your company get its name out through followers, but is a way to connect with your consumers more directly. But remember that one of the major keys of blogging is to keep your stream updated as frequently as you can. A dormant, abandoned blog is worth nothing.

4. Put up multimedia on YouTube and Flickr

YouTube provides a free way to distribute creative promotional videos, but in order to succeed you must put up content that people want to view and are relevant to your business-a simple ad will not work. A Flickr profile can also help by giving you one place to compile all the photos for your business, and allows you to link back to your website.

5. SEO your company website

Search engine optimization cannot be underestimated in the world of constant Googling. Pick up a book or head over to an online how-to-guide on SEO and make sure your site is primed for performance on search engines.

6. Press releases

Every time your business does something newsworthy, don't hesitate to shoot off a press release-maybe folks will pick up on it. They're a powerful media tool to use to help generate publicity, and having free distribution of them is a bonus. There are dozens of websites out there that you can use for your press releases, such as PRLog and 24/7 Press Release.

7. Join a relevant online community and contribute

Every niche has communities online that you can get involved in. But just signing up for a forum and posting every once in a while about your business isn't beneficial for anyone, and will likely just annoy people. Actively contribute and build a rapport with the community, while keeping your business out of it. Passively promote your business by putting a link in your signature or mentioning it only when the context is appropriate.

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7 Ways To Promote Your Business Online For Free

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You may not have wads of cash to spend on marketing in the early stages of your startup, but that doesn't mean that there aren't effective ways to get your brand out there. Before the Internet, small businesses only had a few ways to market their products cheaply, through methods like printing out fliers or sponsoring little local events.