P6: Identify the channels and platforms to be used for the distribution of the new product.
Who are your target audience? - Young audience aged 15 - 25 - Digital natives (people who have grown up with technology such as apps, so know how to use them) - Both men and women (bigger audience/customers, variety of different style icons, more money) - People who have an interest/liking in both music and fashion
How will you market this item?
I will market this item using a lot of different methods to raise awareness about the product. I will try to keep the marketing campaign low budget so we can spend more money on the app itself.
Social Media One way I will market the item is through social media, because it is cheap and fairly easy to use. I will use the method of the 'social media sales funnel' for social media marketing. This concept is good because it splits your campaign up into easy to achieve goals and ideas. Here is the social media sales funnel and how I am planning to use it.
Generating leads (Create awareness): I will create profiles for the product with Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, and then start posting and linking with other brand's social media profiles to gain awareness and followers, who could then potentially become customers.
Build Credibility (Brand identity is reinforced across social media profiles): I will create more of a 'brand identity' on the profiles using pictures and different visual themes. Stay top of mind (Frequently timed social media postings and e-mail messages that keep the brand in the audience’s mind throughout the campaign): I will post statuses at around 6-7pm, because then all the target audience will be home from work/school/university and will be sifting through social media.
Drive to sweet spot (Engaging the audience by offering them something they cannot get somewhere else, in terms of promoting media products – this may be an exclusive behind the scenes preview or free download): Keeping the audience involved by asking them whose style libraries they want to see next, I will offer certain people a free download of the product to get them interested and publicity started.
Strengthen Relationships (Links to Facebook and other personal profiles will be shared to continue reinforcing connections with the audience, direct messaging, LinkedIn profile): Direct messaging on social media about app competitions or what style library they want to see next.
Earn Referrals (Audience providing conformation that the campaign was a success, normally takes the form of a review): Ask audiences for a rating of the app, maybe a survey about what the target audience like/dislike about the app and what they would change.
On social media, I will try to use viral marketing techniques to try to get our audience to promote the app for us by tweeting things that are very 'retweetable' and funny to then urge them to retweet and spread awareness around the app to their friends. This should help to get more people talking about the product and reach a wider audience.
Television and Radio I will also market the app through other digital methods such as Television and Radio because they are the most well-known marketing/advertising method. I will try to get the cheapest channels to do this through, to keep that low-budget marketing campaign. Radio is a great way to market, because it is the cheapest way to reach the largest number of people. It is, however, more 'above the line' advertising which means is reaches a wider, more general audience rather than a niche or 'targeted' one. Despite this fact, if we choose the right channel to market on, we should still be able to reach our target audience. TV is very expensive, but I think if we choose very music based channels then we should be more able to target the right people.
Traditional Methods I could also market the app through traditional methods such as magazines or newspapers. I would do this in order to market to a more niche audience who are really into music, so would find very good use in the app. I will definitely have to choose magazines/newspapers that only cater to a music loving target audience, because those are the type of people who we could see using our app.
Star Power I will also market the app through star power and get popular artists and celebrities to promote the app on their social media feeds. These feeds will then go into their fans feed and in that way, the fans also become aware of the app. This is particularly good because their fans are likely to be the target audience age group. That artist is most likely going to get a style featured on the app, so their fans can then use the app to look like them or get their style. For example, if Demi Lovato's fans (or whatever the artist) have just learnt that there is app which gives them a way to quickly and easily find clothes which mirror Demi's style, and also shows them where to buy them, why wouldn't they buy the app?
General ways I will use to market the app
- Engaging images and videos - App walkthroughs, to show people how it works and why it's great - Videos of people (maybe celebrities) using the app and enjoying it - Getting people to tweet and Instagram about the app so it goes into their friends feed and they become aware of the app (viral marketing) - Getting other clothing companies to use social media to promote our app, which then goes into their followers feed, raising awareness - Getting artists or celebrities to use social media to promote our app, which goes into their fans feed, raising awareness What channels?
Social media Twitter - I have chosen Twitter to be one of the social medias to market on because it is a big platform and very popular with the target audience as '37% of Twitter users are between ages of 18 and 29' (https://www.omnicoreagency.com/twitter-statistics/).On Twitter, new styles and artist inspired clothes will be advertised with lots of images to draw in the viewer. We will feature short snippets of music videos, such as Beyoncé’s iconic Lemonade, with the statement: ‘Want to dress like Beyoncé? Here’s your chance!' I will also use tagging and hashtag features with hashtags such as ‘#StyleMatch’.
Instagram - I have chosen to market the product on Instagram because it is very image based, so serves as a bit of a contrast to Twitter's more word-based format. It also has a very wide audience (800 million users). To market the product on Instagram, I will have lots of themes and colours on the posts. I will only add good quality photos with people wearing the styles, In the description, I will include which artist the style is from and the link to the app on the store for that smartphone (Apple/Android). This will entice users on Instagram to hit the link and check the app out because, they too, want to look like that artist. I could also use snippets of music videos on Instagram too, because it is a very visual form of social media.
Snapchat - I have chosen Snapchat as a channel to market the product because it is very well used by the target audience (71% of Snapchat users are under 34 years old, 300+ million monthly users (https://www.omnicoreagency.com/snapchat-statistics/). Snapchat is a good way to advertise because it has to be accessed via a phone, whereas Instagram and Twitter can also be accessed on computer, although the links to the app won’t work as well on computer. On Snapchat, there could be a swipe up feature where you scroll through different artists and swipe up on your favourite one and it takes you to that page on the app, or to the store where you can buy the app. We could also have filters close to when the app is going to be launched to promote it. These could include little clothes and music note animations to make it fun.
Television MTV and 4Music - For television advertising, I will use MTV and 4Music because they are music video channels. As I am trying to advertise to people who like music as well as clothes, because they are the most likely to use my app, these choices for television are perfect. The adverts will be short and sweet so that they are catchy and stay in the viewer’s mind. I will have lots of bright colours as well as quick walkthroughs of the app so people can really understand what the app is like.
Radio Kiss and Capital - Kiss or Capital fit my target audience in terms of age and they also are purely music based, so we will be advertising to people who are more likely to use the app because they know of a lot of artists. To promote the app, we will create short adverts which will use new, relevant music to attract the young target audience and an enthusiastic voice to say enticing comments like ‘Dress as your favourite artist using TipTop.’
Magazine Billboard - Eye-Catching adverts on the pages of the magazine will quickly explain the app and why you should buy it. I need to make sure the colour themes are in there to introduce the app without words. I would market in this magazine because it is a purely a music magazine, so music lovers who we want to target will read the magazine.
What platforms will your app/idea work on and why?
Most people in the target audience own a smart phone, proven by Ofcom who say that (90%) of 16-24 year olds own one (www.Ofcom.org.uk). This means that I will sell the app on stores that sell apps on smart phones. This will be on both the Apple (IOS) store, in the AppStore and on Android, in the Google Play store. This is good because it doesn't restrict either party from getting the app, for instance, if you had an android phone you are still able to purchase the app, because it's on both the AppStore and GooglePlay store.
I could also make the app usable for Tablets in case people wanted to see the app on a bigger surface.
P7: Create a project proposal specification document for the new product.
M3: Justify how new audiences can be targeted by the new product.
How new audiences are targeted in the creation and idea of the app
I have created this app with a new audience in mind by using up to date technology that the target audience are used to and use every day. By using smartphones as our main platform, we are intentionally targeting that 15 - 25 audience, because they are digital natives who have grown up with a smartphone and nearly every one of them owns one. This is confirmed by Statista.com who conducted a survey on smartphone ownership in the UK and found that in 2017, 96% of 16 - 24 year olds own a smartphone. That is a very large demographic and proves the point that smartphones are a great platform to target for this audience. https://www.statista.com/statistics/271851/smartphone-owners-in-the-united-kingdom-uk-by-age/
This also links in with the fact that people, especially young people, are always on their phones. This means that we can introduce notifications on the app, that notify users when new style libraries are available to browse in. This is targeting new audiences by having a wide selection of artists and style libraries to go with them. But also, if you are walking with a friend and a notification comes up from the app, you could get into a conversation about the app which leads to that new audience member becoming a user.
The music video feature allows my new audience to engage with the app because the premise is fun. It's exciting to watch a music video and then see a replica of the clothing worn or the type of style in the video that is available to buy. I think new audience will be targeted through other people saying how fun and exciting the app and it's features, like the music videos, are.
I have also created this app with new audiences in mind through having a 'student' and 'glamour' price tag. This feature allows audience to have variety on the amount of money to spend. It opens the app up to a wider audience, because it is not just for very rich people with money to burn, people like students and younger adults who maybe don't make as much, can also enjoy and utilise the app. You can toggle whether you just see the glamour or student options, or you can choose to see both to compare, it's completely up to the user.
Finally, the app is targeting new audience through it's creation by having everything available in an instant. Young people have grown up with fast, instant technology and are used to it. This means that if anything is slow or takes a long time to navigate, the young person will most likely grow bored of it before too long or even turn it off completely. By making the app very fast and slick, we are targeting new audiences because it is what they are used to and what they know.
How new audiences are targeted in the marketing and distribution of the app
New audiences can be targeted by the new product through viral advertising on Social Media, because the posts that the product's profile puts out will only reach their already existing audience that follow them, If, however these posts are 'retweetable' and are then often retweeted to other people's timelines, that will then result in a whole new audience being introduced to the product.
Another way new audiences can be targeted is through 'Folksonomy', This is the process of 'tagging' your posts through hashtags and other means which lead to your product's posts being at the top of other social media user's search requests. This is targeting new audiences, because these people haven't been exposed to the new product before, but through their search, the product comes up and catches their eye.
The new product can also target new audiences by linking up with popular celebrities/artists and big companies (such as ASOS, H&M, Topshop) and getting them to promote the product on their social media. This can be done through retweeting one of the new products tweets, or using hashtags linking to the product. This targets new audiences because it's retweeting to an entire new timeline with a completely different set of people who will then be made aware of the app an what it can offer. Having celebrities, artists or popular brands retweeting is especially good because it is then retweeted by someone or a company that is famous, This means that they will:
- Have a lot of followers - Have lots of dedicated followers that follow their tweets and won't miss an update - Be very influential to other brands and people - Have an audience that is likely to be the target audience the new product is looking for (more likely to find new audiences that are potential customers)
Because radio has such a widespread audience across the nation, targeting audiences on there will definitely promote the new product to new people because radio reaches so many different places and people. People at home, people in the car, radio is broadcast everywhere so is an easy and quite cheap way to target and reach a widespread audience of new people.