An Experiential Event Planner, Marketing Plan Example

As an Experiential Event Planner, my business proposal is to provide event planning and marketing services to the corporate media industries, from a permanent employee position with a salary based compensation.  For this reason, my pricing strategy proposal is to allow the corporate industry to access quality services at a low cost. The implementation of this strategy would result in considerable financial savings, as a result of reduced operational costs. These financial resources can be directed towards other purposes, such as advertising and marketing budgets, additional administrative hires, stock investments and company expansions. Today, budgeting and financial forecasting have a significant impact on a company’s ability to operate.  Every department and projects are pre-analyzed and estimated thoroughly (Score.com, 2014).

As the Experiential Event Planner, my role would be to tailor each project to its own uniqueness by mitigating the costs associated with initiation, planning and execution of each individual event. A budget overview and financial estimates for all company events prior to the production phase is the critical initial step required to achieve this goal. This step is essential in ensuring that risks associated with planning are minimized, if not averted, as well as mitigate the occurrence of scope creep that commonly affects most event projects. This cost control technique formulates a critical aspect of the strategy’s foundation, necessitating inhouse hiring over third-party business processes outsourcing. There is a great financial gain in hiring my proposed position as an Experiential Event Planner and based on a salary. This can be compared to the third party companies corporate business tend to hire at a per project rate. On average, event planners are paid between $125 per hour or 15-20% of the total event budget (Gentile, 2015). In addition to liabilities and insurance, this can average out to a fairly high price for businesses.

Below is a mock estimate which illustrates my in-house Vs third party hire analysis:

Estimate 6 events each year (bi-monthly) at $75,000 per cost = $450,000 yearly

Source: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/average-cost-insurance-coverage-sole-proprietor-business-14691.html

According to IBMS in-house hiring, it costs an average of 8% less to hire an in-house experiential event planner than third party contract (source IBMS).As illustrated above, hiring an event planner as a full time position financially benefits the company. In just 5 years, the company would realize a $300,000+ difference in savings which is a clear financial gain for any company. While these levels of saving may not appear astronomical at first, the value the business stands to gain far surpasses the financial adavatage gained. The company would gain a useful asset that would ensure the company’s mission, vision, goals and objective are satisfied while ensuring quality that differentiates the company from its competition.

The tangible benefit of this position to the company leaders, such as board members, and C-level executives, is the aversion of the risks and liabilities associated with hiring external consultants, while also eliminating of the costs associated with hiring them. A return of investment analysis is crucial for this matter because it will show how one individual can help reduce cost and still manage a vital departmental stream of the company.  The advantage of an in-house full-time experiential event planner is also quantifiable, and the return on investment analysis will prove that this is a much more cost-effective alternative to the present mode of operation. In addition, other qualitative advantages would include: building a strong brand identity, additional promotion (outside of advertising cost), and creating a unified business that is represents one vision as a whole.

Pricing Message

The pricing inherently carries a message to both the company as well as the consumer. The pricing for services rendered, i.e. salaries paid to the experiential business planner, indicates to the company the potential that they have in mitigating costs while ensuring high quality in their events. Owing to the fact that events generate a considerable portion of the company’s revenue, the pricing communicates potential increased revenue and profitability.

In the 21^st century, businesses are faced with new challenges that are associated with a highly globalized market. One of these challenges is meeting high and constantly changing customer needs. My pricing will communicate quality to the client; the level of quality that is associated with and expected of the company’s products and services. Clients are generally satisfied by the best quality products and services at reasonable prices. My pricing will ensure high quality is maintained while the company has room to apply competitive prices relative to the reduced cost of operations associated with hiring an experiential event planner.

The pricing will generally differ for different parts of the market. This is because, while the services are generally similar across the boards, the value and worth that is required varies from one market segment to another. Market segmentation is crucial in achieving the highest possible market share. It is important that the experiential event planner services be able to cater for all types of events that have differing budgets, relative to the set goals and objectives.

References

Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing Management: A relationship Approach (3rd ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education.

Marasco, A. (2008). Third-party Logistics: A literature review. International Journal of Production Economics, 113(1), 127-147.

Nagle, T. T., & Hogan, J. E. (2104). The strategy and tactics of pricing : a guide to growing more profitably (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Westwood, J. (2011). How to write a marketing plan. Philadelphia: Kogan Page.