No Money, No Staff, No Problem

1. 6/22/2010
No Money? No Staff?
No Problem!
Presented by:
Penny C. Reeh
Indigo Resource Group
Fredericksburg, Texas
Learning Objectives
• Understand the five basic rules of resource
allocation
• Implement priority-based planning
• Develop promotion strategies that are
appropriate to your event
• Learn at least 10 simple to use ideas to stretch
your promotional budget
Five Basic Rules of
Resource Allocation
1. Accept that you cannot be all things to all
people.
● Increasing competition for entertainment
dollars.
● The smaller the budget, the more focused
a festival must be in its approach.
1

2. 6/22/2010
Five Basic Rules of
Resource Allocation
2. Know your product intimately.
● Strengths
● Weaknesses
● Opportunities
● Threats
Five Basic Rules of
Resource Allocation
3. Understand your customer.
● Demographic, geographic and
psychographic data.
● What are their needs and expectations?
● What motivates their travel decisions?
● Who is in the travel party?
Five Basic Rules of
Resource Allocation
4. Cheap is good…free is better.
● Understand the pros and cons of
the promotional tools at your disposal.
● Use your creativity to set you apart
from the pack.
● Learn from the big boys, then do it leaner
and meaner.
● Look around for dance partners.
2

3. 6/22/2010
Five Basic Rules of
Resource Allocation
5. Only commit to what yields results.
● Do not tolerate any sacred cows.
● Break the “But we’ve always done it that way”
mentality.
● There is no such thing as mistakes, only
lessons learned.
● If it works improve it. If it doesn’t work, fix it
or ditch it.
Understanding the Pros and Cons of
Promotional Vehicles
• Advertising – Print and electronic
• Direct Mail
• Internet
• Publicity/Media
Relations
• Word of Mouth
Advantages of Advertising
• Ability to reach large, but targeted audiences
• Chance to demonstrate your event
• Control of the message – You say what, to whom, how often
and in what way
3

4. 6/22/2010
The Rules of Advertising
Have Changed
TELEVISION
• Declining viewership in certain groups
• Channel fragmentation
• TiVo
• Programming challenges
The Rules of Advertising
Have Changed
RADIO
• Channel fragmentation
• Satellite Radio/iPod
• Frequency needed to effectively deliver the message
The Rules of Advertising
Have Changed
NEWSPAPER
• Declining readership
• Competition from online news
sources
• Local/regional newspapers may be
the exception for festivals
4

5. 6/22/2010
The Rules of Advertising
Have Changed
MAGAZINE
• Micro-niche formula
• Competition from online news
sources
The Rules of Advertising
Have Changed
ADDITIONAL CHALLENGES
• Learning to talk to younger consumers.
• Shifting demographic populations.
• Growing wariness of advertising in general.
How do I pick the right advertising venues
for my product?
• Compare the readership or viewership to
what you know about your customer.
• Talk to other advertisers.
• Evaluate the editorial content of the
publication/show.
• Test the source with a smaller “buy”.
• Track advertising response and conversion.
5

6. 6/22/2010
Meet them and
understand them.
Understand how media sources differ.
• Television
• Radio
• Newspaper
• Magazine
• Travel Writer
• E-zine
Meet them and
understand them.
Learn their preference and formats.
• Read, watch and listen
• Focus on what the media covers
• Focus on “their” causes (Fans 4 San Antonio)
• Editorial trends
• Who advertises
Meet them and
understand them.
Actively build relationships.
• Join broadcast and/or press associations
• Invite the media to participate in your event
• Get involved in their events
6

7. 6/22/2010
Understand their
culture.
• Deadlines, rating, time, space, sales and plenty of
stress are a way of life
• Scandal, death, war, crime, life….and
celebrations….fit the bill
• Pitching stories can be a home run or strike out
• Not all reporters are created equal (learn who writes
or reports about what)
Getting your
message ready.
• Is your story unique?
• Is your story timely?
• Can it be tied to a
current trend?
• Is there a way to
localize the story?
• Is there a visual
element?
Getting your
message ready.
Develop multiple story angles.
• Financial/ • Food/wine
economic impact • Home and Garden
• Lifestyle • Entertainment
• Human Interest • Education
• Environment • Technology
• Sports • Calendars
7

8. 6/22/2010
Pack your toolkit.
Websites are essential.
▫ Include your URL on everything
▫ Create a media vault
▫ Virtual media room – access to images, press
credentials, news release archive, fact sheet, etc.
Getting your
message ready.
Telling your story.
▫ Timing is everything. Take advantage of slow news days.
(Elvis turkey and trial stories)
▫ Think visual – even for radio and newspaper – and
package everything the media needs to just show up
and report
▫ Make a list of everything you think a reporter may ask
you (especially anything controversial)
▫ Be available. This can make you a reporter’s best friend.
Contact the media.
• Communicate on a routine basis
▫ Learn their preferred method of receiving
information (phone, fax, email, regular mail)
▫ Conduct media blitzes
▫ Offer media vault
services
8

9. 6/22/2010
Capturing attention.
• Appeal to the tummy (reporters never turn down
food)
• Do something unusual, even crazy
• Provide an “at ease” spokesperson
• Understand the potential pitfalls of a celebrity
spokesperson
• You are there to promote, but don’t oversell
• Deliver what you promise
Does your website do enough?
• Is it continuously updated?
• Does it periodically change looks?
• Is it intuitive?
• Is there an interactive element?
• Can you buy stuff?
• Is it search engine optimized?
• Is it fun?
Social Media Outlets.
Embrace or be left behind.
9

10. 6/22/2010
It’s really all about
conversation.
Begin With Strategy
Developing a social
media strategy.
Source: AMA Social Media Boot Camp
10

11. 6/22/2010
Developing a social
media strategy.
Source: AMA Social Media Boot Camp
Developing a social
media strategy.
Six Step Plan
• Outline your objectives
• Define your audience
• Choose the best social channels
• Integrate it into current program
• Tie into metrics
• Implementation
Social Networking Sites
11

12. 6/22/2010
Some Facebook
statistics.
• If Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most
populated in the world.
• More than 400 million users, half of which use
Facebook daily.
• 70% of users are outside the US
• Fastest growing demographic of users is 35+
• Average user spends more than 55 minutes/day on the
site
• More than 20 million people become fans of pages daily.
Content is still king.
Add engaging
features.
12

13. 6/22/2010
Video/Photo Sharing
YouTube.com
• Passed 100 million viewers in March 2009
• Forbes estimates YouTube generates more than
a billion views a day
• Ad Age reports 15 hours of video are being
uploaded every minute of the day
• Beware of copyright issues
• Take steps to monitor and enforce content
Add engaging
features.
www.wildfireapp.com
Pricing starts at
$5/campaign, plus
99 cents/day
Parting thoughts.
• Think about policy
issues and potential legal
matters.
•Transparency is a must.
•Social media is not an
island, it is another tool
in our marketing mix.
13

14. 6/22/2010
Mobile Marketing
Mobile statistics.
305
Million
people 267
million
have 115
mobile million
phones have 49.7
mobile million
use mobile
web web daily
Source: Nielsen Mobile (12/09)
What makes mobile
superior?
Traditional Usage Mobile Usage
7a.m. - 9 a.m.
Newspaper and radio
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
24/7
Internet and Radio
5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Radio
7 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Television
14

15. 6/22/2010
How do festivals use mobile.
SMS (short message
service)
• Sends message directly to user
• Delivery is guaranteed since it is a premium
service and payment is made to carriers for
each message delivered.
• Can be scheduled and precisely tracked.
• Weblinks and offers can be embedded.
• Open rates typically exceed 90%.
How do festivals use mobile.
SMPT (Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol)
• Basically sending email through a SMS
gateway.
• Free. But since it is free, messages are sent
when traffic allows.
• Not guaranteed.
• Hard to track.
How do festivals use mobile.
Proximity Bluetooth Messaging
• Hardware that automatically sends a message
to any bluetooth-enabled device within 300
feet.
• Can be used to offer coupons, general info,
directions to the venue, schedule, etc.
15

16. 6/22/2010
What’s coming?
Mobile Optimized Websites
• Sites especially designed for
smart phones to load content
more smoothly.
• Expected to increase in
popularity over the next 36
months.
What’s coming?
MMS (Multimedia Messaging
Service)
• Video based messages with guaranteed
delivery.
• Tech sources predict technology and
bandwidth improvements will be in place by
3Q of 2010 to make this a more common
delivery model.
What’s coming?
Augmented Reality
• Will allow smart phone cameras to be aimed
at a 2D barcode and produce a 3D image.
• Predictions place this technology in the
marketplace in roughly 18 months.
16

17. 6/22/2010
E-Mail Marketing
Email made easy.
Distribute & track, plus cool
add-ons.
www.constantcontact.com
Pricing starts at $15/mo.
www.realmagnet.com
Initial set-up fee (based on
features enabled) + fee per email
delivered
Email made easy.
Microsoft Publisher
• Allows WYSIWYG design
• Easy to embed links and graphics
• Integrates with Outlook address book
functions
17

18. 6/22/2010
Always remember…
Not-for-profit is a
tax status, not a
business plan.
Stay In Touch!
Penny C. Reeh
Indigo Resource Group
P.O. Box 1025
Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
830.990.0180
pennyreeh@ktc.com
18