Running head: EVENT PROMOTION 1

Event Promotion Plan

Picture: Alice Spring Running Festival, 2016

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Event Promotion

Students Name

University/College
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Executive summary

The Alice Spring Running Festival is a yearly event that has been attracting athletes and locals

for a few years. This year, it is in partnership with an organization that seeks to raise awareness

of family violence. The event is slated for the third Sunday of August, and it is imperative that it

becomes bigger and much better this year. An assessment of the market environment will detail

the variables that the vent should consider during the planning phase. The event plan will

describe a SWOT analysis of the various issues and advantages the event faces. The target

market is comprised of primary, secondary, and tertiary variables. Furthermore, the marketing

objective is to improve the number of participants and raise funds for the cause. The marketing

strategies will entail the use of various kinds of media. The action plan will provide an overview

of the developments in planning the event. Finally, motoring and evaluation will be carried out to

ascertain the effectiveness of the plan.

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Table of contents

Contents

1 Event Information ...................................................................................................................... 5

2 Assessment of the Market Environment .................................................................................. 5

2.1 Internal Analysis: Strengths & Weaknesses..................................................................... 5

2.2 External Analysis: Threats & Opportunities ................................................................... 6

2.3 SWOT................................................................................................................................... 6

3 Target Market ............................................................................................................................ 8

3.1 Primary Target Market ...................................................................................................... 8

3.2 Secondary Target Market .................................................................................................. 8

3.3 Tertiary Target Market ...................................................................................................... 8

4 Objectives.................................................................................................................................... 9

4.1 Overall Business Objective................................................................................................. 9

4.2 Marketing Objectives ......................................................................................................... 9

5 Marketing Strategies ............................................................................................................... 10

6 Action Plan ............................................................................................................................... 11

7 Marketing Budget .................................................................................................................... 12

8 Monitoring and Evaluation ..................................................................................................... 14

References ..................................................................................................................................... 16
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1 Event Information

Alice Spring Running Festival is an event that has been running for several years. It is

recognized as part of the Australian running calendar and has been quite popular among the

masses. The running festival often occurs on the third Sunday of August. This period is often

calm and fine with minimal rain. The conditions are quite favorable for people who want to be

engaged in running. The temperatures are also quite pleasant, reaching 4 degrees Celsius at 6

AM and 19 degrees Celsius by 9 AM. This month also has low humidity. The web page, HTTP:

//www.alicespringsrunningfestival.com/ offers updates on the event and occurrences among

other factors to ensure participants are informed. The event has a 42km marathon, a 21km

marathon, and a 3.7km fun run. The 10km fun run is quite popular for families and children. The

run is on a picturesque track that is located in the MacDonnell Ranges. The event is organized

and supported by The Alice Springs Running and Walking Club (Angel Springs Running

Festival, 2016). It is also engaged in marketing and attracting sponsors for the event. This is the

third year of the festival, and it is imperative that the event is taken a notch higher with an event

plan.

2 Assessment of the Market Environment

2.1 Internal Analysis: Strengths & Weaknesses

Alice Spring Running Festival is an event where people from the locality participate in a

multi-event running festival. Many individuals will take part in the event. An attractive attribute

is that the runners will run through beautiful scenery, and it allows the participants to have fun

and interact with each other. The event will also have its Ambassador, Australian running legend

Steve Moneghetti, in attendance. He would be the frontrunner in the race, and this would

encourage the participants to run the entire track of the festival. The festival is linked to No
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More. This campaign seeks to change peoples perception of family and domestic violence

through the sport (Bowdin, Allen, Harris, McDonnell, & O'Toole, 2012). Essentially, it acts as a

strategy to show that sports people are committed to ending violence.

A major weakness is that it is the third year of the event. Essentially, the number of

participants could be minimal, and it will require intense advertising to ensure that a large

number of people participate.

2.2 External Analysis: Threats & Opportunities

The festival has grown quite popular. This has led to more corporates sponsoring the

event such as BP, Bendigo Bank, and Elders Real Estate. These stakeholders will be beneficial in

marketing and financing the event. Furthermore, they will also encourage other corporates to

participate in the event. Essentially, this establishes the authenticity of the running festival, and it

will begin to be popular within the region. Participants will also gain for the information and

training sessions being conducted by the festival ambassador. This is an opportunity to ensure

that all participants are committed towards the achievement of the events goals. The ambassador

will train rookie athletes on how to run the festival, and what is expected of the participants. This

is also an opportunity to plan the track for the event. Additionally, the Alice Springs Marathon

was rebranded to half marathon and marathon (Moran, 2010). This allowed it to evolve into a

popular festival. A threat arising comes from the lack of finances to support the entire festival.

This can have a negative effect on the success of the event, and it could fail.

2.3 SWOT

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

-The event is linked to NO More, who are -The attendance numbers are small as only a

powerful partners that wound ensure people particular group participated. A large number
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participate in the event. They have links to of participants are those who have suffered

sporting personnel, and they will be from home based violence. It is imperative to

encouraged to participate in the running encourage more people to take part.

festival. - Weather can affect the program. For

-The target group, which comprises victims of instance, the weather could turn out dusty or

family violence, is highly involved. wet durign the event. This could mean that the

- Unique event. The running festival is the veent is cancelled if the runners cannot

only event that will occur during the month. It participate.

will ensure that more people are encouraged

to participate, as they will not be distracted by

other events.

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

-The event is attended by a legendary -Lack of sufficient finances is a major issue.

sportsperson. This has increased the This could lead to a cancellation of the event,

popularity of the runnign festival, especially especially due to lack of sponsors.

among people who know the sportsperson. -Clashes with events taking place in the area.

-Festivals are on the rise. Many people around This can reduce the number of people who

the community will want to participate in the would participate.

running festival.

-To grow in different markets and attract

different age groups. This will mean that the

event can occur in different locations, and

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increase its popularity.

3 Target Market

3.1 Primary Target Market

The primary target is for people who want to participate in the festival and enjoy the run.

Mainly, the marathon will be appealing to athletes or long distance runners. They are aged

between 25-40 years. They will run the long distance 40km event. It provides an opportunity to

interact, and the track goes through scenic locales that will allow the participants to enjoy the

beauty of the location. The participant will also prove beneficial in meeting the goals of the run

(Moran, 2010). This is by ensuring that more people are aware of the need to deal with family-

based violence (see figure 2).

3.2 Secondary Target Market

The secondary target market for the event is individuals who are victims of domestic and

family-based violence. These are persons who have suffered in silence, and the festival provides

them with an opportunity to link up with other people who are suffering from similar issues.

They are aged between 20-50 years. They will run the 10km fun run. Furthermore, it provides an

opportunity to raise awareness about the issue and provide information on how the victims can

be supported (See figure 1). A large number of the participants are married and with families

(Bowdin, Allen, Harris, McDonnell, & O'Toole, 2012). It would be essential that both partners

involved in domestic violence be assisted together to resolve the issue, and as prevent divorce or

a recurrence of the violence in the marriage or at home.

3.3 Tertiary Target Market

The tertiary target market is comprised of individuals who support the goals of the

festival and want to have fun. This includes children and adults aged between 15-30 years. They
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will run either the 3.7 fun run or 10km run. Primarily, their participation will provide a means to

deal with family violence and to create awareness on the issue (see figure 3). This comprises the

largest number of participants, as the event is quite popular among people within this age group.

4 Objectives

4.1 Overall Business Objective

The overall business objective is to change how people view family and domestic

violence. The festival also seeks to raise funds for the awareness efforts. The partnership with No

Moe will ensure that the festival meets these objectives. Through the partnership, people will be

aware of how the sporting club feels about violence. The festival has been able to attract a

variety of sponsors and spring persons to attend (Friedmann, 2013). No More has been involved

in similar events, and will be an avenue to attract new participants who have not attended the

festival before (Kilkenny, 2011).

4.2 Marketing Objectives

Marketing Objective Link to Business Objective

1. To attain a 25% increase in number of participants in This objective is linked to

2016 in comparison to 2015 raising finances since all the

participants have to pay

registration fees to participate

2. Encourage early participation by offering free singlets This objective is linked to

determining the number of

participants early so that

sufficient preparation will be

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made to cater to them

3. Register participants early The objective is linked to

attracting a diverse number of

participants.

5 Marketing Strategies

Link to marketing objective Strategy Rationale

1.1 Advertising Television commercials To raise awareness on the

festival

1.2 Social Media Online updates on the event Encourage feedback

1.2 Viral Marketing News and events to increase This increases awareness on

awareness the event

2.1 Call to action marketing Encourage people to share To influence people to market

information on the event the festival

2.2 Online advertising Updates on the website To increase registration and

participation on the website

3.1 Live events Popular musicians will To entertain and encourage

participate people to participate

3.2 Email and mail updates Send emails and mail to To encourage past

request people to participant participants to register again

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6 Action Plan

The action plan will involve strategies and approaches to reduce family violence. This is

through the family violence actions plans as a way of formalizing the festivals intentions. This

primary document can be distributed to the members and the public. The plan details the basic

commitments, goals, responsibilities, strategies, and periods for the club (Lach, 2014).

Objective Commitment Action/Activity Who Is Status

Responsible

Raising Advertising, Online Raise awareness and Committee, Ongoing

Awareness updates on the event encourage feedback form Leadership,

the participants participants

and Coaches.

Respecting Call to action All participants will Committee, Ongoing

Women support the need to respect participants

women and the

leadership

Education Live events, training With support from the NO Committee, Ongoing

sessions MORE Campaign, we will sports

create and provide teaching personalities,

sessions for all participants and leadership

Long term Supporting the NO We will dedicate certain Committee, Ongoing

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awareness MORE Campaign. events to demonstrate our participants,

backing for the NO MORE leadership,

Campaign. The best sports

participants will also be personalities.

awarded for their efforts

7 Marketing Budget

Media choice Cost

Print media $15,000

Live events and Ticket Production $10,000

Television Advertising $5,000

Placing posters and personnel payment $5,000

Total $35,000

Figure 1: Marketing budget

The marketing budget will cost a total of $35,000. The budget was identified by

considering the budget in the previous event. Primarily, the increase in budget will ensure that

the festival will cater to more people in comparison to the previous event. A large chunk of the

allocations will go towards advertising efforts. About $15,000 will be allocated to the print

media. This consists of newspapers, magazines, directories, and trade journals. This is essential

to ensure that the event will attract more participants. Print media allows for precise targeting.

Furthermore, quality magazines and directories can be used to draw more sportsperson to attend
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the event. This will lead to improvements in ticket sales. Additional advertising costs will rise

from placing posters (Allen, 2009). This will cost about $5,000 and will go towards paying

personnel to place signs and printing the required posters. The posters will be in the form of

outdoor media boards, shopping centers, and indoor transport. Corporate hospitality is also an

effective media choice. It involves entertaining current and potential customers. These will be

through events organized before the festival to inform people about the festival, and to inform

people about the progress of the preparations. This will cost about $10,000 of the total marketing

budget (Capell, 2013).

The event will also utilize public relations as a media choice. This will involve communication

with the stakeholders such as employees, local community, and suppliers. This will ensure that

they are all aware of the developments in the event. This would prove beneficial in future

developments, and would guarantee that the event is successful.

The organization has established a corporate a corporate identity. This is through

merchandise such as t-shirts, and hood jackets (Williams, 2011). The organization also has a

logo. Even though this is the third year, the festival has gained a positive reputation in the

community, and this has been effective in attacking people to attend the festival.

Celebrity endorsements are also a strategy applicable to the company. The festivals ambassador

is a well-known personality. Essentially, he is authoritarian in sports who would ensure that

athletes and people around the community would be influenced to participate. The ambassador

can market the event during the television advertising efforts that would cost about $5,000. This

will run a few weeks before the festal to improve the number of participants. Television is a high

impact medium. The advertising efforts will consider local, regional, national, and international

television (Rosen, 2012). This is a high impact medium and can reach a large audience. It allows
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for more direct targeting.

8 Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation will involve measuring the success of marketing activities.

The individuals responsible for marketing and sales on behalf of the festival stakeholders have an

important role to utilize limited resources wisely to ensure maximum output. The first step in

measuring the return on the marketing investment is by looking at the marketing objectives. This

will involve more visitors, achieving higher net promoter digits and higher views from the

current visitors (Kilkenny, 2011). Defining the success will be essential to ensure that the event

is progressing as expected. The measurement tools have an established annual target. This is the

expected return. This would mean that annually, the number of visitors to the website should

increase by 10-30 percent.

Media relations

Print media are an essential variable that should be evaluated. The media relation is a

means to highlight the events iconic experiences, unique competitive advantage, and strengths.

The value of media relations is considered in regards to the advertising equivalency. In this

respect, the evaluation will consider the number of stories pitched. The advertisement has been a

success as a significant number of media houses have been reporting about developments on the

event. The number of articles published has also been on the increase (Angel Springs Running

Festival, 2016). There was a rise in a web activity that was related to media coverage.

Essentially, an increase in a number of online visitors after the event is reported in media sources

details the effectiveness of the mass media in encouraging people to attend and participate in the

event.

Web presence is also an essential tool for marketing. It is vital to measure the visits on
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the homepage, considering the event will rely on the website to provide current information and

registration purposes. Furthermore, it is essential to monitor specific web pages visited. This will

detail the interest of visitors, and can provide the event organizers with a means for determining

how to attract people. Their interest can be in the form of direction to location, promotions, or

even specific activities detailed in different pages on the website. The metrics to monitor this

variable include the interest of visitors to the site, the number of visitors, the total number of

unique clicks, and the organic search engine results (Lach, 2014). The metrics will also consider

how many people registered on the site, and have continued to interact with the home page to be

updated on current events. Google Analytics is the best tool to determine website traffic. It

provides aggregated data that can also be segmented geographically. This information can be

used to determine target area demographics and define the geographic allocation of marketing

resources. In this regard, if the web statistics show a growing and keen interest from a particular

geographic market, then additional investment will be allocated to capture this market entirely.

Social media

Social media networks are also an easy way for people to share ideas and opinion about

the event. It is a means to gauge the interest among the people and get feedback about the current

preparations for the event. Previous participants can provide beneficial information on social

media. This can be implemented in the event to ensure it is improved and made better than

previous festivals. Social media is a credible source in comparison to paid advertising. Engaging

the social media in promoting an event needs the commitment to be an ingredient of the

conversation and to provide related content and comments that lead to discussions. Furthermore,

it should be used for promotional purposes only (Bowdin, Allen, Harris, McDonnell, & O'Toole,

2012). Careful consideration of the event objectives will precede the use of social networks. The
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metrics to determine the impact of social media include fan page numbers, comments, and likes.

References

Allen, J. (2009). Event planning: the ultimate guide to successful meetings, corporate events,

fund-raising galas, conferences, conventions, incentives and other special events (2nd

ed.). Mississauga, Ont.: J. Wiley & Sons Canada.

Angel Springs Running Festival. (2016). Retrieved March 31, 2016, from

http://www.alicespringsrunningfestival.com/

Bowdin, G., Allen, J., Harris, R., McDonnell, I., & O'Toole, W. (2012). Events Management.

New York: Routledge.

Capell, L. (2013). Event management for dummies. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley.

Friedmann, S. (2013). Meeting & event planning for Dummies (1st ed.). Hoboken, N.J. : John

Wiley & Sons.

Kilkenny, S. (2011). The complete guide to successful event planning (2nd ed.). Ocala, Fla.:

Atlantic Pub. Group.

Lach, S. M. (2014). Start & Run a Meeting and Event Planning Business (1st ed.). New York:

Self-Counsel Press.

Moran, J. S. (2010). How to start a home-based event planning business (3rd ed.). Guilford,

Conn. : Globe Pequot Press.

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Rosen, R. A. (2012). Money for the cause: a complete guide to event fundraising (1st ed.).

College Station: Texas A & M University Press.

Williams, T. C. (2011). Rescue the problem project: a complete guide to identifying, preventing,

and recovering from project failure (1st ed.). New York: American Management

Association.

Appendix

Figure 1: Demographics
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Figure 2: Demographics

Figure 3: Tertiary target

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