I was originally going to begin by saying that the first step in a band marketing plan would be to define the target audience. The consumer is, of course, the largest determinate of where to advertise and what channels to utilize. However, I recently reviewed a college project of mine where my team prepared a mock advertising campaign for Florida tourism. Aside from the pretty cover page for the assignment, the plans book is initiated by what is called an Executive Summary. 
The Executive Summary is a statement of purpose and qualification. This will often include a brief profile of the Advertising Agency intertwined with a plan to achieve a number of goals for the Client. In my plans book, Assure Communication is the Advertising Ggency and Visit Florida was the Client.
When starting a new band, unless there is a large amount of capital that is ready to be spent on professional advertising, your marketing strategy will be created from within the band. However, the principle of starting with a plan holds strong in any pursuit. This plan is called the Situational Analysis and I will go into detail on how to drive through this over the next few weeks.
Before the Situational Analysis is put together, there must be a set of guidelines and parameters for your strategy. For your Executive Summary, simply outline what you hope to achieve, who you plan to target, what vehicles you plan to use, and what theme or value you plan to add commonality to your advertising strategy.
I think it is important to note that the Executive Summary is a work in progress. My team, Assure Communication, wrote the summary at the project's completion, as an introduction to what was already accomplished. However, this was built on the ideas that were prepared before we began. Take the opportunity to sketch out and brainstorm the ideas listed above, but don’t over think this.
As we go through this blog series, “Advertising Strategy”, Breakthrough Band will prepare a sample strategy for this website and publish it here as it is prepared. I will always encourage feedback; please comment, offer advice, criticism, and your own findings. Feel free to email me with any related questions. |
