Sunday 27 April 2014

Survey Monkey

In my new job survey monkey is the main tool we use for collecting campaign data and results. I believe it is an efficient and effective way of quickly getting all the information you need. You can set them up easily and for free and choose for each question how the answer should be submitted. For example one answer could be checking a yes or no box whilst another could be free text. You can also get quantitative data by asking for just numbers to be recorded.
All the information can be quickly exported into an excel spread sheet and used in any way you want it. You can use the insights gained from the survey to prove to clients that the campaign was effective or to find where it went wrong. The most recent example of this is a commuter paper sampling campaign I am working on. Almost the same activity was completed in January and survey monkeys were filled in for every train station involved. When planning my campaign I could look through the old results to see approximate number of samples and staff needed for each station. This meant I did not make the same mistakes like over staffing or not supplying enough samples again.
I will definitely be using survey monkey to help me run my marketing campaign for Tom.    

Saturday 26 April 2014

6B

Qualitative and quantitative data.

I think for the purposes of this inquiry I will need to use both of these data collection methods. The measure of success of the marketing methods will be in numbers; how many tickets sold, page likes, followers, video views etc. This will all be found out by collecting quantitative data. To measure the reaction of the fans and public to the methods I will need to collect qualitative data. From the qualitative data I will be able to adjust my techniques and ideas to suit what the fans want.
Both data forms are equally important to my inquiry.

6c

I would like to choose BA Honours Professional Practise (Music Marketing) as my award title.

I believe this is the perfect title for my award because it combines two parts of my life. I did my diploma in Musical Theatre with an emphasis on singing and music. Now I have moved on from performing into marketing, I want to find a way to include my past experience into my new role. This inquiry will allow me to do exactly that. I will be able to develop my understanding of marketing in general by applying it to a subject I am highly familiar with. At drama school we learned a lot about self promotion but I don't believe that aspiring artistes in the music industry have that same benefit. I want to expand my knowledge of marketing and at the same time benefit others with what I learn.   

6A

I have completed an interview with an artist similar to Tom who has done all of his own marketing and managed to successfully promote himself to a point where his tracks are being sold on iTunes!

Here is what I asked and his answers:

When you first set out with your career did you realise how important marketing was to your success?
No not at all! I thought I could just get by on my talent, I thought that people would realise I was good and my career would take off from there. I spent a whole year getting it wrong and getting frustrated as I could see others succeeding where I was failing. 

When you did realise the importance of self promotion how did you start putting it into practise?
The first thing I did was to create a logo for myself using my name. I started displaying this at my gigs so that my name had an image that came with it. I then got posters made and started displaying in the venues before the event. I then used the same poster to advertise my events on Facebook.

Did you think of putting posters up around the whole area surrounding the venue?
I did not do that at the time as budget was always an issue. I did not know if the cost of printing the flyers would benefit the ticket sales enough to justify it.

Do you think if you could have read someone else's inquiry into marketing a new artist that you might have done better in the first place?
YES YES YES! I had no idea what I was doing. At first I didn't even realise I should be doing anything and even when I did I was clueless as to what. I looked on the internet for ideas but there is just to much information! There are hundreds of ideas and reviews but it is all dotted all over the place and it is hard to know who is right. If there was a review that specifically looked into what methods are best for promoting a new artist it would have helped me! A lot of sites I looked at don't take cost into account and obviously for someone just starting out that is a big issue. 

Did you ever think of fundraising?
I fund raised for myself all the time! But I never thought to do it specifically for marketing. It was always to buy a new guitar or mic. If I had done it for marketing I might have got further faster! 

Did you realise how powerful and necessary digital is to promoting new music like you?
I used Facebook to promote my events to my friends but I have never been that great with technology so probably still don't use it as effectively as I could.  

I have been researching how pages and events get so many views on Facebook and have found out that for a relatively small cost you can advertise to a targeted audience. If you had known this at the time would you have done it?
Now I definitely would use that promotion method but at the time I would probably have felt the same about that as I did of the posters. I would not have known that my money would have a definite improvement in sales. 

What do you think of leafleting?
I think that as long as the leafletters are enthusiastic about the artist they are great. On the other hand I think they can also have a very negative effect if they are not. People who just try to shove leaflets into peoples hands to get the job done just annoy the people they should be targeting. I think you need to be very careful about the image they give out and consider if it is the right thing for the artist.

What do you think, from a marketing perspective, helped you to get where you are now.
I think the best decision I made was bringing someone in to help me with the promotions side of the business. I couldn't see what needed to be done from the inside and needed an outside view to help me! 






These answers have helped me to come up with lots of ideas for how to go about marketing Tom! I think I am on the right track and he has already got through the hardest part of allowing me to help him!!



5D

Further discussions and research into ethics with my SIG group have made me realise that I need to ensure that all the data I collect from fans at gigs needs to be kept in a protected place and only used for the purpose of promoting Tom. No one other than myself will have access to the data and any I use as examples in my inquiry will remain anonymous.
We talked about how annoying it is when companies pass your information on to 3rd parties so I will ensure this never happens for any of Toms fans!

5D

I have been talking about ethics with mu SIG group. At first I thought ethics in my proposal would not be a big issue as it does not involve any minors or ideas that could cause an ethical stir. What I have come to realise is that my whole project could change because of the ethics I will need to consider. 
My inquiry will directly involve someone else's career and so every element of it needs to benefit him. I can't spend to much time on any marketing methods that do not seem to be working as this will have a negative effect on his ticket sales. I also need to make sure that everything I do to promote Tom is first agreed by him. He needs to be completely happy with how he is being portrayed and the effect it will have on his career. 
Also as I intend on using leafleting as a marketing method I need to make sure I research any regulations there are on approaching the public.




4c

My final Questions!
I have decided to make the most of mu new career in marketing and my past experience in music that for my inquiry I need to combine the two. The main context of my inquiry will be as follows:

What method or combination of marketing methods is most successful in raising the profile of a new music performer?

Further questions will include:

What is the potential target audience for this performer?
What form of marketing is most likely to reach this audience and increase the size of the fan base?
What aspects of his performance does he most want to promote?
Which promotional techniques are most effective in achieving the greatest exposure and conversion into tickets sold and tracks sold?
How can an achievable cost-benefit ratio be accomplished?

I think these questions will help me to grow professionally and further my career. I was struggling to find a way to link my diploma experience with my new career but I believe I have finally found it!

My SIG

I have been talking with my SIG group about what excites them about a new artist. From out discussions it has come to my attention that there is a chance a new artist will not even be noticed unless there is a physical presence of their branding in the run up to any gigs or events. To accommodate this I have decided I will need to employ promotional staff to flyer for my artist (Tom Savage) in the run ups to his gigs. I will also develop posters to be put up in key areas so that his brand becomes familiar to people in those areas. I need to do some research into the most ways of doing both of these things!