External factors
Some of the micro factors affecting the nightclub industry include the moderate attractiveness of the industry. The night club industry’s attractiveness has reduced tremendously owing to the fact that most of their clientele may get access to other more promising industries such as the food industry, movie industry and the like. (Hughes, 2005) One of the industry trends includes attracting loyal patrons. Most companies that do well here normally garner customer loyalty and can therefore count on them for future profitability. Another issue in Australian bars is the push towards a more sophisticated clientele. In the past, most night clubs would have attendants adorned in tattoos and the like. However, these days, patrons are looking of a more relaxed environment. Besides this, nightclubs are also realising that they have to provide consumers with a better mix of products. Nightclubs that can offer more creative cocktails are selling more than those that merely offer beer. Also, the move towards spirits in night clubs has become quite common.
Customer’s income largely determines profitability within this sector. Normally, those that do well are those ones that manage to get the attention of patrons. However, it should be noted that in order to attract a large client base, nightclubs need to stand out from the rest. Also, a substantial number of night clubs usually perform poorly in the first year of inception. This is because consumers are always looking for a place with lots of entertainment yet this is not particularly available within new nightclubs. Few people know about them and therefore people rarely go there. (Brown, 2000)
A competitive analysis of the Australian nightclub industry indicates that the level of competition within this industry is tremendously high. Large nightclubs usually have the capability of offering other services such as food and entertainment. Therefore, quality of these services largely determines the overall competitiveness. Additionally, the level of competition within this industry is also determined by the intensity of loyalty which one can generate. This is mostly prevalent in smaller night clubs. (Chekitan and Schultz, 2005)
Some of the Macro factors affecting the nightclub industry include Political factors. For instance, the Australian government introduced a new levy on music played in night clubs in order to reduce piracy and to give musical artists their dues. The charge is three point seven dollars per person. Many night club owners have asserted that this could cause a substantial loos in their market share and could greatly diminish their level of competitiveness. One of the economic factors affecting the night club industry are the type of fiscal policies. State taxation on night club ownership is tremendously high and this exerts a lot of pressure on their owners. One of the legal factors affecting nightclubs is government licensing. Australia has numerous licensing regulations that squeeze into night club’s entrepreneur’s profits. For instance, in order to sell alcohol, one is required have an alcoholic license. Besides that, to sell alcohol to persons who will consume it within the building also requires another licenses. It should be noted that different licenses are issued for different beverages. Beer and wine require lower investments than the sale of spirits yet spirits are in high demand. This is topped up an entertainment license required or performing any entertainment activities such as live shows or dancing. The major social factors affecting this industry include community resistance where residents may oppose night clubs because they create a lot of noise for them. As if that is not enough, clients keep changing their preferences. Sometimes, some may be attracted to certain trends which are not on offer in particular night clubs. (Doyle, 2000)
3.0 Goals and objectives
The overall objective of the marketing plan is to create a magazine for the night club industry. The specific objectives are
* Create a sensational, entertaining and interesting nightclub magazine
* Highlight problems in the Australian night club industry through the magazine
* Give suggestions on how to solve these problems in the magazine
* Create advertisements for a wide range of Australian night clubs within the magazines
The idea behind this research is to look for away of boosting the Australian night club industry. Therefore the idea of a magazine exclusively for night clubs could be very useful. The main contents within the magazine will be industry trends, night club industry challenges and methods for industry improvements. It will also contain night club advertisements. (Mark, 2001)
4.0 Target market and segmentation
The major benefit of this night club magazine will be to boost overall performance of the industry. This aim will be achieved by advertising on behalf of the night clubs on their locations and services offered. It will also provide an insight into some of the problems facing the industry and the possible solutions that can be adopted by stakeholders. (Keller et al, 2005)
The market segment most likely to value this commodity is the category of small sized bars that are just entering into the market. This is because the magazine will give them exposure and will also guide them on how best to boost their sales within the industry. Research has shown that overall failure rate of new night clubs is eighty percent during the first year of operation. Consequently, if there was some external assistance that would guide this segment, then the targeted market segment (New nightclubs) can be well on their way to improving their performance. The overall market size for this commodity is most likely to take up sixty percent of the overall Australian night club industry.
The business market segmentation applicable within the night club industry is: geographical location. Night clubs are located in large cities and towns such as Sydney and Melbourne. Consequently, the magazine could be based in any of these cities. Additionally, customer size has a large part to play; there are numerous night clubs in Australia, consequently, possibilities of accessing them are also high. The benefits of a night club magazine is applicable to almost all nightclubs. Consumer market segmentation can be geographic, some night clubs are concentrated in specific towns, Demographic segmentation is applicable to the industry in that some nightclubs may be old while other are new, behavioural segmentation applies to night clubs with certain peculiar characteristics. The most applicable market segmentation is demographic segmentation and target market for this commodity is the emerging night club industry.
The magazine will attempt to attract the attention of all night club industries within the country. This is because there is no other product like this one on the Australian market. All night clubs will be approached but special emphasis will be given to emerging ones. The major recommendations here are to create a huge market presence and hence assist nightclubs in boosting their sales. (Bush and Burns, 2001)
5.0 Marking strategy
Product
The product is a nightclub magazine known as the ‘The Australian nightclub magazine.’ The product is a physical good and service both entwined in one. It is a good because it is tangible and a service because it will be offering consultation services for night clubs and advertisement services for night clubs. It will therefore act as a go-between a customer and a nightclub. Initially the product will have only one product line. But as time progresses, the magazine will be in electronic form through an online version. Thereafter, the magazine company will also offer market research for the respective clientele. However, these are all activities that will occur two years after assessing the overall performance of the printed nightclub magazine. It will be necessary to obtain a warranty for the product from the Australian licensing bar. There will also be a need to comply with magazine regulatory procedures within this country. (McCarthy, 2001)
Place
The product will be distributed directly to clients. Normally, these will be night club owners. The utilisation of intermediaries can severely affect profits and bring about lower profit margins especially for such a new product. The magazine may not be distributed nationwide at first, it will focus with major towns and cities so as to gain popularity and then penetrate into rural settings. (Wiley, 2005)
Price
The magazine will be set at three dollars below what other Australian magazines go for. This will ensure that the magazine generates a sizeable readership base at the beginning than afterwards, its price will be increased to the prevailing market conditions. The latter refers to consumer preferences in this regard. When the magazine is in high demand, then it will go for a higher price and vice versa. Price will also be dependent on product quality because the higher its quality, the higher the demand for the product. Consequently, there are three factors that will affect pricing. However, they will be subject to the following order; penetration pricing, demand for the commodity then quality of the commodity.
Promotion
Promotion for the product will involve personal selling. This approach has been chosen owing to the fact that most people will need to be sensitised on the content of the product at first instance, it will also be advertised in radio and will also be published through endorsement by a celebrity. (Patton, 2000)
Budget
Category
Estimated subtotal ($)
Research
500
Networking
600
Production
5000
Legal regulations
2000
Advertisements and promotion
4000
Total
12, 100
Implementation /action plan/schedule
The first thing will be to do a research on content of the magazine, best pricing, distributions and promotional strategies for the magazine. This will entail research independently, through the web and also through assistance from external processes. This will take a period of six months. The next step is to put these research findings into print. This will involve creating an image that reflects the content of the magazine. It will contain numerous colourful displays of selected night clubs. This will take a period of three months. After production, there will be some networking to be done through affiliations, subscriptions and memberships. This will take one month. The next step will be communication of the product i.e. promotion. This will be done through radio, the internet, celebrity endorsement and televisions. The process will continue for the rest of the magazine’s lifespan. As soon as the promotions begin, then distribution will also begin. (Reitsch and Hanke, 1992)
Evaluation and control procedures
The projected market share will be the basis upon which to determine the overall success of the product. This market share will be in comparison to other magazines in the industry. The success of the product will also be judged by overall customer satisfaction. Market research will be conducted to assess customer satisfaction. Besides that, market research will also be done to asses whether consumers know about the commodity. (Fowler, 2003)
Conclusion and recommendations
The night club industry is not doing well owing to a number of internal and external factors. Subsequently, it will be necessary for the industry to receive boost through a magazine solely focusing on performance in the industry. The magazine will focus on newly set night clubs. Its overall success will measured by consumer awareness, Market share and whether the night club industry has improved.
Reference:
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