Promotional Strategy

Advertising

Advertising is a type of marketing communication having the main objective of encouraging, manipulating or persuading a target audience to undertake the desired action. In the business world, the desired action is usually influencing consumer behavior towards a particular commercial offering. There are various advertising techniques that a firm can adapt depending on the type of product/service offering and the target audience. Essentially, any medium has the potential of acting as an advertising platform. For the case of Team A Video, the types of advertising that will be used include infomercials, radio and press advertising. Infomercials refer to long-format TV commercials of at least five minutes. In this regard, infomercials will involve making presentations about the smart, strategic video production service, which will be then distributed to target customers and placed on online platforms such as the company’s website. Radio advertisements will involve purchasing airtime in radio stations to go on the air; this form of advertising will target small businesses. Press advertising will involve placing the commercial regarding the product/service offering on print media such as newspapers and magazines, especially those related to video production.

Public Relations

Public relations entail the management of the manner in which information is spread between the firm and members of the public. Public relations focuses on ensuring that the firm gains exposure to its target audiences through discussions on topics of interest. The primary goal of PR is to influence stakeholders such as potential customers, employees, partners, and investors towards a particular view of the organization including its products. In other words, PR is used as a tool that the firm can use to position itself among its stakeholders. For Team A Video, the PR strategies that will be used include providing written content for feature articles regarding topics such as emerging technologies in video production, arranging conferences that invite expert spokespeople in the industry, and taking part in corporate social responsibility in areas that the organization will be undertaking its activities.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing entails using electronic devices in engaging with stakeholders. Some of the platforms for digital marketing include websites, electronic mail, and social networks. The main digital marketing strategy that Team A Video will use for its service offering is social media marketing, which will entail gaining the company’s attention using social media. The emphasis will be made on creating content that is capable of capturing attention and encouraging the target audience to share the content across social network platforms leading to electronic word of mouth. The specific social media marketing tactic that will be used is Facebook and Twitter campaigns, which have been established to be effective in increasing audience engagement. Besides Facebook and Twitter, a corporate blog will be created whereby Team A Video will solicit the feedback of its customers in order to improve services.

Sales Promotion

Sales promotion is a crucial component of the promotional mix and comprises of various communication activities that have the primary goal of providing incentives or adding value to customers. The underlying objective of sales promotion is to fuel product purchase, trial or interest. Sales promotions will play a significant role in the attraction of new customers, retaining existing ones, counteracting competition, and exploiting opportunities identified due to market research. The sales promotion techniques that will be used by Team A Video will comprise of special pricing, which involves offering smart, strategic video production service at a reduced price for a certain period of time; also, customer referrals incentive programs, which is an in initiative that is aimed at encouraging existing customers to make referrals to new customers to use the service through incentives such as discounts, rewards and free services, and conducting after-sale customer surveys.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is a type of advertising that entails conveying the marketing message directly to the target audience, which eliminates the middle man during the promotion process. This form of marketing is suitable for firms that have lesser resources allocated to advertising, which is a fit for Team A Video. There are a number of direct marketing strategies that Team A Video will use for its smart, strategic video production service, which will include using online tools such as display ads and social media sites (Twitter and Facebook), and telemarketing, whereby customers are contacted by phone. Telemarketing has been established to be effective in lead generation.

Event Marketing

Event marketing refers to a promotional strategy that entails the firm organizing face-to-face contact with its customers and/or targets customers during special entertainments such as sports events, fairs, and concerts among others. Customers can also be reached directly through event marketing entertainment through tactics such as shows and parties. An effective event marketing campaign ought to offer value to the people attending apart from providing information relating to the product/service. To this end, the event marketing strategy that will be deployed by Team A Video will entail using special events, particularly video production and business conventions, whereby Team A Video will embark on showcasing the approach it takes to generate content and produce videos that may help the business achieve their goals.

Outdoor Advertising

Outdoor advertising refers to any form of advertising that is done outdoors with the primary aim of publicizing the product/services offering. Outdoor advertising has been established to be an effective marketing approach for promoting products/services within a defined geographic region. Outdoor advertising emphasizes on conveying the marketing message to customers while they are in public places. When marketing its smart, strategic video product service, the outdoor advertising strategies that the company will use include billboard advertising, which will be primarily executed using the conventional roadside billboard advertising. The choice of billboard advertising is because of its capability to reach a mass audience. The second outdoor advertising tactic will involve the use of mobile billboards, which offer more advertising flexibility. Mobile billboard advertising will be used to target specific geographical locations as well as increase promotional awareness for the service offering.

Effect of Promotional Selling on the Service Offering

Personal selling is a crucial component of marketing owing to the significant role it plays in creating, communicating and delivering value to customers as well as managing customer relationships in a manner that is beneficial to both the firm and its stakeholders. In the past, sales used a persuasive approach, however, the current business environment, sales are characterized by collaborative and consultative dialogue that places emphasis on the needs of customers. Sales professionalism entails using a customer-focused approach and non-manipulative and truthful tactics in order to address the customer’s and organization’s long-term needs. In this regard, the salesperson is not only involved in presenting information related to the product, but must also be able to respond to the needs of the customer prior to the sale, during the sale, and after it. Given the emphasis on the needs of customers and relationship building, it is expected that professional selling will increase the sales by Team A Video. Apart from the high sales, it is anticipated that professional selling will result in a higher lead generation. Other potential impacts of professional selling are that it will offer insight regarding customer habits as well as their responses to the service offering and the marketing tactics used.

Initial Budget for the Marketing Plan

The following table summarizes the budgetary requirements for Team A Video marketing plan.

Methods Used to Measure the Success of the Marketing Plan

The main methods that will be used to measure the success of the marketing plan will be marketing plan metrics, which refers to metrics that enable business owners, marketers and advertisers to evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing strategies outlined in the marketing plan. It is imperative to acknowledge that different marketing campaigns have different objectives, which may range from enhancing brand recognition to increasing sales. In this regard, the specific metrics that will be used measure the effectiveness of the marketing plan include monthly growth in sales opportunities and leads; the level of engagement with customers rather than just merely reaching them; lead generation by the various marketing tactics outlined in the marketing plan; and return on investment, which refers to the net profit attributed to a specific marketing campaign.

Ethical Issues in the Marketing Plan

In any business, ethical standards are crucial, particularly in the current internet age whereby information accessibility is very high. In acknowledging the significance of business practice guided by ethics, the marketing plan for Team A Video draws upon the principles of ethical marketing. Some of the most common ethical issues in marketing include privacy concerns such as accessing personal data without consent; targeting vulnerable populations such as the elderly and children; the exclusion of prospective customers from the market such as refusal to distribute to particular customers; price wars, fixing and collusion; negative and truthful advertising; and use of profane language while advertising. All these factors were taken into consideration while drafting the marketing and addressed accordingly. The only likely ethical issue that might surface relates to telemarketing, especially with regard to privacy and access to people’s private phone numbers. In this regard, unethical telemarketing will be avoided at costs using measures such as refraining from gathering personal information from customers and refraining from manipulative tactics.