The Writers at Woody Point Festival free essay sample

PROBLEM STATEMENT Writers at Woody Point Inc. need to make important decisions for the growth and sustainability of the festival. Stephen Brunt wants to ameliorate the economic development of the festival and nearby communities. The business needs to find new sources of revenue and develop an effective marketing strategy; they need to decide the best product, price, promotion, place, distribution and segmentation for the woody point festival. ANALYSIS The Writers at Woody Point Festival has a potential to generate more revenue because many people have been found interested in the literature. The festival has even experienced growth and attracted more number of people. With its tickets sold out in hours, the festival is becoming popular. However, previously, there had been no source of marketing or advertising the festival. Thus, the business needs to have a marketing plan and sponsors. Anyhow, the attracted people are generally of older age. The young and juvenile people find the writing and literary stuff less attractive. We will write a custom essay sample on The Writers at Woody Point Festival or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Nonetheless, the side events attract the youngsters too. The business should perhaps reconsider the pricing strategy because of the instant sales of tickets. For further understanding, SWOT analysis have been done below which would help us analyze the situation and propose better alternatives. SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTHS The Writers at Woody Point Festival takes place at Gros Morne National Park (GMNP) which is known for its breath-taking scenery and extraordinary landscapes. This helps to attract more number of people who enjoy the natural places. Besides the literary stuff, artists and music stuff provide a source of entertainment to people. The collaboration with other Gros Morne festivals i.e. Gros Morne Summer Music program attracts the youngsters as well to the Writers at Woody Point Festival. The festival obtains the support from nearby communities as the festival provides them with intangible benefits. The festival has also been able to get sponsorships and donations from several sources successfully. The festival does not bear costs of management as some volunteers from close at hand communities help in making festival successful. The Writers at Woody Point Festival is also famous and its tickets get sold only in few hours. WEAKNESSES One of the most prominent weaknesses of the Writers at Woody Point Festival is that it has great demand than the supply; the festival is not able to fulfill the wish of every people to be a part of festival. The tickets are limited in number and they get sold down too early. Moreover, due to lack of paid staff, the volunteers come up and manage the festival. The volunteers also become scare at times and affect the festival. Another thing is that several book sellers place their stalls on the festival; however, the business does not get any transaction fees from them. Most importantly, the people coming from far off places are not able to enjoy the whole festival due to lack of residential places. Some motels and residential areas are almost 60 km away from them Woody point and thus take too much time. The Writers at Woody Point Festival needs to arrange living staying facilities too. OPPORTUNITIES The event has been becoming more and more successful in the past few years; thus, there is a lot of potential for the festival to grow and sustain success in future. In this regard, the festival can find a permanent reputable sponsor which would guide the festival towards more and more success. The festival previously attracts mostly the people aged above 40; however, youngsters should also be invited and provided with suitable entertainment. By raising ticket prices and extending the event to some other areas can also help the business grow. THREAT The biggest threat for the Woody Point festival is the threat of competition. The current rivalry in the market is relatively high and the environment contains the strong sense of competition. It has been observed that the number of attendees for the literary shows and festivals have been increasing for past few years. Moreover, the threat is intensified by the variety of shows presented by each competitor. Some shows are even free and others are paid so there is a high probability that customers might get attracted to the free shows. DECISION CRITERIA The business needs to decide the new marketing strategy and marketing plan on the basis of its effectiveness and outcomes. After analyzing the whole scenario and observing the does and don’ts of the several competitors, it is evident that the business would need to sustain success in future. Hence, the best alternative would be the one which would attract more number of people, increase the revenue stream with alternative ways, provide greater revenue with lesser costs, and increase the awareness throughout the locality. In summary, we will select the alternative which would increase revenue, number of attendees and the awareness about the festival. ALTERNATIVES EVALUATION By analyzing different facts and information from the case, I have presented three potential alternatives below. These three alternatives have been evaluated on the basis of decision and criteria and are supposed to meet the requirements of the current situation. From these three alternatives, one best alternative would be chosen and the success and future of Writers at Woody Point festival will rely on that for the next few years. Let us take a look on the alternatives: ALTERNATIVE 1 The first viable alternative for the resolution of current issues is to get a reputable and financially strong sponsor. The festival had been getting aids and donations from some sources but they are not suitable to be relied on. With a permanent and strong sponsor, the festival would receive higher revenues and would be able to offer more shows and entertainment for the adults and youngsters. More entertainment would increase the number of attendees and also spread the word of mouth across the country. However, this alternative has a limited impact as it would increase the revenue but not affect the other things severely. The sponsors can also help resolve the issue of residence or staying for the attendees of the festival. ALTERNATIVE 2 The second option for the festival is to increase the ticket prices. It has been observed that the tickets for Writers at Woody Point festival get sold out within hours due to its attraction. Hence, the business can increase the ticket prices for the customers. In this regard, the festival can offer tier based pricing i.e. selling exclusive tickets at higher prices. The exclusive ticket holders can enjoy all events including writers contest, musical performances and art exhibitions. Nonetheless, this alternative is not as viable as the previous one because high price might detract the customers. ALTERNATIVE 3 The third viable alternative for the festival is to use the market penetration strategy. It has been observed that a lot of people have been unable to attend the festival because of out-of-reach places and scarcity of tickets. Thus, if the festival is arranged at several locations, there would be higher chances for everyone to enjoy the event. The revenue streams would increase in this way also; however, to organize the festival at different locations, the business would need to have more sponsors. RECOMMENDATION From the above given three viable alternatives, I would turn down the second alternative because it might detract the customers due to higher prices. In my view, the most viable alternative is the third one; however, the first alternative can’t be left alone anyway. To increase the offerings of festival in different areas, the availability of sponsors is a must. PLAN OF ACTION PRODUCT The festival would continue offering the main writers contest. However, few changes would need to be made; the writing contest should also be arranged for youngsters and children. Furthermore, the music programs and concerts should be extended to several areas to attract more youngsters to the event. The people interested in literary activities should be offered a lunch or dinner with the famous writers who have come to the event. PRICE Previously, the festival has not been charging any fee to the booksellers for placing their stalls in the festival. Now, the festival will ask for the fees or donations from the booksellers who have placed their stalls in the zone. Moreover, exclusive prices should be set for the offering of lunch or dinner with famous writers. The writing contest for youngster and children should be low priced. PLACE As it is previously decided that the Writer a Woody Point festival will be extended to adjoining areas too; the places of offerings would increase. Moreover and most importantly, the issue of stay or residence for the visitors should be resolved. In this regard, the festival management should ask the sponsors for providing either a building or arrange camping. PROMOTION The festival had not promotional activity in the past and relied only on word of mouth marketing and print ads in the newspapers. However, now the event should be advertised by the help on sponsors on a larger scale. The festival would be promoted online through direct marketing. Moreover, the important and entertaining moments of the event should be uploaded on the YouTube and the social networks like Facebook and Twitter.