Rate My Plan for Spotlighting Animal Performers Last Spring, I travelled to a rural area in the upper Midwest to visit a live animal entertainment venue whose owner was seeking a publicist. I attended a matinee performance, then sat down with the owner to get to know each other and learn what was needed for the venue to be successful. Situation The venue is a dream-come-true for the age 50-something owner, who has loved animals since childhood. Masterfully costumed and choreographed, the animals present 90-minute performances in an arena-style theater. Strengths - Dedicated owner and staff.
- Great, short distance halfway between two major metropolitan cities.
- Las Vegas-style show features variety, sparkle and dazzle.
- 90-minute length is just right.
- Arena-style seating ensures no bad seating.
- Web site is beautiful, well branded, and enables online ticket sales.
- A 2-minute feature report-style video was recently produced and is posted on YouTube.
- Ancillary revenue streams are generated by concession stand and gift shop sales and tour group bookings.
Weaknesses/Threats - Approximate $700K annual operational costs exceed average $300K revenue.
- Due to strict local ordinances, lack of roadside and front entrance signage along the road make it easy for visitors to miss.
- Fluctuating audience levels in a venue with seating capacity for 300. On the Saturday that I visited, 40 people attended the performance. The venue’s high season is May through October; low season is during winter months.
- Branding suffers from inconsistencies in visual image quality and exposure. Several fliers, posters, postcards, and print ads have been produced over the years with varying logos, fonts, and color schemes.
- Some lack of acceptance, support, and collaborative partnership among segments of the local community despite owner’s membership in chamber of commerce and tourism bureau.
- Some disapproval and/or lack of understanding from animal rights activists.
Opportunities - Increase general audience interest and attendance through greater buzz-generating publicity across multiple traditional and new media platforms targeting primary audiences in the two metropolitan cities and secondary audiences throughout the Midwestern U.S.
- Increase awareness of venue among private event coordinators and corporate meeting planners who are always looking for new and unusual sites to book for their clients.
- Expand the repertoire of performances to feature new themes and ideas that move and inspire audiences.
In recent months, the owner had considered taking a billboard along a major interstate highway at a cost of $5,000 per month. Also, several salespeople had pitched the owner to place ads in various local community newspapers and regional visitors’ guides at costs ranging from $1,000 to $3,500 per placement. The owner stated these opportunities were too expensive, and the preference would be to get booked on talk shows and featured in news and human interest stories that don’t cost anything. The owner declined to specify a budget for my services, so we agreed that I would simply propose a plan with a menu of options from which to choose. The following is the plan that I submitted. None of the options was chosen. The venue owner subsequently decided to go with the interstate highway billboard. Did this plan miss the mark? 1. Pitching Stories - Initiate contacts and pitch newsworthy and feature- oriented story ideas to diverse journalists. Emphasis will be concentrated on targeting coverage from media in the two metropolitan cities but strident efforts will also be engaged to reach greater audiences through popular media throughout the U.S., including magazines, national broadcast networks, and syndicated radio/TV shows. This will involve constant building of a database of contacts from which I will initiate frequent personal phone calls, emails and other direct contact and networking activities with editors, producers, reporters, writers and other media professionals. I will use skills honed from my own extensive professional background experience to “push buttons” that will generate interest leading to the quantity, quality and variety of feature reports across all media to generate “buzz” leading to heightened audience numbers. BUDGET: 20 hours per month at $50 per hour = $12,000 for 12 months (plus 4 hours per month pro bono) 2. Wire Service Mass Distribution – Not only do I want to pitch; I also want to catch loads of inbound inquiries from curious media. To pique media curiosity, I will write and edit newsworthy announcements, alerts and bulletins for about the venue. The releases will be disseminated through a large news wire distribution network specializing in the delivery of multimedia content to the media and the general public. Targeting its vast Midwest Distribution that includes tens of thousands of media points and individual recipients, the wire service will facilitate the distribution 24 releases – each with unlimited word count so we can tell the stories of this animal entertainment venue in many ways with lots of details. This will include 24 photos through and a custom news archive that will match the look and feel of the venue’s web site. BUDGET: 12-month subscription at $1,700 per month = $20,640 3. A) Liaisons through professional media associations – I will initiate memberships in professional journalist organizations that provide programs aimed at promoting productive and mutually beneficial fellowships, relationships and information exchanges. Membership in such organizations as the metropolitan area press clubs, Society of Professional Journalists, North American Travel Journalists Association and others will also provide me access to the membership directories that can become part of our database library. I will also be eligible to register and attend local luncheons as well as regional and national conferences, conventions and other business gatherings providing maximum interface with media people to target for interest and coverage of the animal entertainment venue. B) Business Partnership Marketing – The owner should continue to build relationships through existing membership in the local chamber of commerce and the tourism bureau. Meanwhile, I will initiate membership in Meeting Professionals International, which will enable me to receive opportunities to build professional relationships with key contacts within the meetings and events industry. MPI will mean business via exposure for the venue to over 10,000 planners with average budgets over $1.5 million. The recommended category of membership for the venue is as a Supplier Meeting Professional in order to provide and/or sell the services and features of the venue to the meetings industry. Others in this category of membership include destination management professionals, hoteliers, audio-visual professionals, florists, transportation providers, and convention and visitors bureaus. The chapters in the nearby metropolitan cities empower their 1,200+ members to increase their strategic value with education, professional development and business growth opportunities. BUDGET FOR A) AND B): $5,000 for professional association membership dues, conference registrations, transportation, lodging, meals. 4. Host at least two “Media Appreciation Day” events on-site at the venue to foster casual social interactions that will reinforce our relationships with journalists who have provided past coverage and/or who are interested in developing new story angles. My role will be to set dates, disseminate personal invitations, coordinate RSVPs and coordinate logistics (including catering, program scheduling, and preparation of formal remarks/talking points for the venue owner). BUDGET: 2 events at $500 each = $1,000 5. Social Media Marketing - I will initiate, build strong brand presence and maximize targeted online consumer communications outreach for the venue through active platforms on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, MySpace, Wordpress. BUDGET: $0 6. Email Marketing - Sending an email newsletter, a high-impact email promotion, an email event invitation, an online survey, or building the email list, my partnership with Constant Contact can help get it done. Email marketing and online surveys make it easy and affordable to connect with new and past audiences. Email addresses can be obtained from the existing database of visitors who purchased tickets online through the venue's web site. With more than 300 easily customized email templates, a step-by-step wizard, and point-and-click interface, high-impact email newsletters and promotions can be created in just minutes. It's also easy to manage contact email lists and measure results. Additionally, real-time email tracking and reporting will enable me to know how many emails were delivered, which addresses bounced, and why—within minutes of sending the email campaign. I will also get reports on who opened the email, which links generated the most interest, and who clicked on each one. This valuable information will help determine contacts' interests, the best day and time to send the email campaigns, and much more. BUDGET: $0 for initial 60-day trial, then $50 per month for 10 months = $500 (assumes email list of 501 to 2,500 contacts) 7. I will also coordinate plans for the venue to host at least two “Event and Meeting Planner Appreciation Day” events on-site at the venue to foster casual social interactions that will reinforce our relationships with event and meeting planners who have previously utilized or expressed interest in future utilization of the venue for their clients. My role will be to set dates, disseminate personal invitations, coordinate RSVPs and coordinate logistics (including catering, program scheduling, and preparation of formal remarks/talking points for the venue owner). Through the following recent informal communications, it’s clear that some event planners are already excited about the opportunity to find out about the venue: If my calendar is open, I would be happy to come to a venue tour. I am an event and wedding planner/coordinator. I have set up many tours of venues and may have already had a personal tour.
Thank you,
Conni Hofeldt-Rowe
Event Designer/Bridal Consultant/Coordinator Good evening! A to E Wedding Coordinators assists brides, grooms and their families with the plans and coordination of their upcoming wedding event. I have a background in catering and still work for a large catering company who handles the events of Fortune 500 companies in addition to weddings. Thank you! Reyeh Aguilar, Wedding Planner A to E Wedding Coordinators BUDGET: 2 events at $500 each = $1,000 |
