Strategic Media Planning Of Lee Valley

Introduction

Media planning can be defined as the use of an outside media agency in order to source and select a media platform for the given client`s use.  The main purpose of the media planning is to chalk out an idea which is the best combination of the media tools in order to achieve the objectives of the chosen marketing objectives.

The given report highlights the strategic media planning of the company –Lee Valley, which is a hardware store located in Canada (1) . The report will brief upon the background of the company and then will go forward to define the specific outlines of the media plan using both theoretical and practical examples.  

The type of media plan which a company opts to choose depends on the knowledge of the company members and the budget of the company. Very often the companies with low budget are not able to make use of advanced tools due to constraints (4). The main aim of the report will be to provide the given components of the media plan and the factors which the company needs to consider.

The first section of the report will be giving the details about the company and the events for which they need to adopt a media plan. In the next few sections, components like the content of the story, the target market, the target media, and various tactics will be discussed.

The SMART objectives will be used to define the set goal in order to achieve the plan. Certain recommendations may also be provided in order to help the Lee Valley to attract a larger crowd and coverage to make its event a success.

Background of the company

Lee Valley is a hardware store business originated in Canada. It is a family owned business which aims to serve its users belonging to the gardening and the wood working background, since 1978. Their main plan is to satisfy the different consumers by providing them with premium quality products at affordable costs (18). Their business principle is extremely honest and they like to work with integrity by providing accurate description about the goods and their layout.

They have a strong customer satisfaction policy. They provide good advice to the customers with regard to the tools and equipments. They earn a good fraction of their sales from their in house design. Given the opportunity, they will not disappoint.

Currently, the company has been growing and has expanded its operations to Niagara recently in 2017. It needs a good media plan for its expansion to Niagara. Apart from this, the company also needs a plan for its workshop being held at Calgary, whereby the company will be hosting a workshop called Winter Plants for Food and Medicine, dealing in identification and handling of wild plants by applying the principles of botany.

Hence, the company requires a plan for these two events.

Recognizing the story

As observed from the previous discussion, Lee Valley needs to chalk out a suitable plan for its two events, one is the store opening in Niagara ad second is the workshop in Calgary.

The first event which is the store opening cannot be described as a unique event; however it will be requiring media coverage (2). The media coverage will play a huge role in helping the audience to understand and be aware of the new store location.

However, for this event, the company has a moderate budget which will enable the company to just cover the event using the mediums which range from coverage on local media, billboards and newspapers. It will not be able to set out advertisements for the stores.

For the second event which will be held on 11th February at Calgary the company has laid out a huge budget. The particular story has been given so much importance, because of the importance of it (3). The key member of the workshop will be Latifa Pelletier-Ahmed, a medical herbalist, botanist, wild forager and educator, who has had various experience in the particular field. Botany is a leading subject and with this event /workshop, Lee Valley aims to attract a large audience.

There are educational references tagged with it which will be teaching the students and general crowd alike about the use of botany in generating life saving medicines and even to use them in culinary experiments.

The coverage style which the company plans to use is the Twitter hashtag. All the workshop members will need to upload a tweet with a similar hashtag-#plant4life@Lee

This will help the firm to gather all the database of the various participants, belonging to the particular event. It is expected that around 150 people will be attending the workshop and hence, these 150 hash tags are a great way to attract the media and invite coverage.

In the story, the participants can also upload a picture on Instagram and post it by tagging the company. Hence, this adds an element that has chances of capturing the attention of the media.

However, the given strategy might be relative to the turnout at the events.

Target Audience and Public

A target audience of any product, event or a service can be described as the intended audience or the primary reader of an advertisement, publication or any other relevant message. The target audience comprises f the consumer group who are the actual motive of the given company`s media message (5). Businesses generally tend to have a large market of target audience. However some companies also have a smaller target audience for the messages that it aims to send out to the consumers.

Target public is different from target audience in the sense that these will not be the direct purchasers of the products that the business has to offer, but they will be the influencers. If they will be attending the event, then there is an idea chance that the event will be a success because of their social media strength and popularity.

For the store opening event at Niagara, the aimed target public of the event is the chief officer of the city. His presence will see to it that the local media is attracted to the given event. As Lee Valley is a hardware store, their potential target audience could include

• Local customers- These will be the local customers who will be interested in buying the particular product for the or a particular hardware tool for their own use.
• Automobile dealers- very often the automobile dealers need a specific tool for their shops and showrooms. As Lee Valley has a particular republication to keep up to, the company opening will attract a huge number of people to the given store.
• Furniture stores- Even furniture store owners might be attracted to the given store and may pay a visit to the given store.
• Bloggers- Bloggers include the writers who cover events like this in their blogs. They often provide a paid review to the different bloggers in order to capture their story in a positive manner (7).

For the event at Calgary, the company aims to make the given target audience and target public:

• Environmentalists- These are groups of people who are often attracted to the various issues in the environment and their aim is to make the society a better planet.
• Local newspapers- The local newspapers often tend to cover the news related to the environment. Hence, if they can cover the event, it will be good for the given firm (8).
• Educational students and professors- As the subject of the workshop are related to the botany, various students can attend the workshop with their professors.

Understanding the 'story' messages

Key messages are an important component to market the event of a company. The key message of the company should be attractive enough to stay with the customer but at the same time it should be simple and easy to remember by the target audience.  

The primary key message for the opening at Niagara will be a store that can be trusted. This event has a medium budget and therefore, it will be following a simple tag line for the event which will be that it is a store that can be trusted(8) .

For the given event at Calgary, where the store will be keeping a leading workshop, the key message it would like to send out is that Plants are a way of life (20). The message that the store is trying to portray in front of the world is that the company has certain social responsibility for the society and that it will looking after the environment along with conducting its operations.

Plant4life is the hashtag it will be using on twitter.

The plant4life hashtag is believed to be repeated by the media, while promoting the event. The people, who will be attending the workshops, will also be using the given hashtag and this shall enable the firm to promote and give away its key message.

For the newspaper exercises and other articles, the company aims to give out the message that,  the event is being held in collaboration with Latifa Pelletier-Ahmed, a medical herbalist, botanist, wild forager and educator(9), who has had various experience in the particular field. The company aims to make the environment a better place.

What specific media will be targeted?

The company has two given events coming up:

The first one is the store opening event in Niagara and the second one is the workshop in Calgary

For the store opening event in Niagara:

For this event the company has hired the company Publicita (16)

One St. Paul Street

Suite 601

CATHARINES

L2R 7L2

Tel 905.341.7368

Contract date 10 February to 10th march

The particular company as chosen for the event coverage because it has a good experience in the management of the events with the help of social media tools (22). As the company is covering the event with the help of the local government and newspaper ads, it aims at providing the publicist with photographs also.

The second event: Work shop at Calgary store

The second event has a larger budget for its media plans and therefore, they will be using more facilities to see to it that the event gets extremely popular. For their covering purpose the company has planned to make use of the given company:

True media (17)

#420, 1032 17th Ave SW
Calgary, Alberta T2T 0A5
Tel: 403-736-0001
Fax: 403-736-0002

Contract date for: 11th February

The given company is an expert in all kinds of media activities which can be used in order to attract a greater media coverage for the given organization. For the workshop event, the company is aiming to gain the attention of social media and online news channels. As the chief minister of the city will be attending the workshop along with college students and their professors, they have agreed to advertise in their respective universities.

The respective company will be collecting the various photographs of the event and will be managing the social media activities of the store on behalf.

Tactic used to reach the media

The company in order to reach the media wants to make use of a media kit.

A media kit can be defined as a document which consists of the different information about a company. The given media kit is useful to the journalists and it helps them to write the information about a particular event by using the media kit in background (21). The media kit is extremely useful to attract the various journalists, and instigate them to write about the chosen company. The media kit of Lee Valley will be presented in a folder or a PDF Format (10).

The media kit of the company will be containing the following information:

• The brief history of the company- This ill talk about how the company started its operations and how it will be doing in future. It shall also be talking about what the company deals with and other relevant information.
• A media release: The journalists will also need certain information on the media release hence; the media release should be consisting of certain quotes of the manager or director who will be available for the interviews that will follow (24).
• Images: In case of social media advertising and newspaper advertising images play a key role, with which the journalists can use for their articles.
• Testimonials: The Company can also provide testimonials of the clients in order to make the article more realistic.

SMART Objectives

SMART can be described as a goal setting and measurement technique which can be used by a company in order to achieve the target objective (11).

The theory states that in order to ensure that the goals of the given organization are achieved, the goals which have been set for the company should be:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time bound

In the given case of Lee Valley, the goals of the organization are that it is able to conduct satisfactory event coverage of its store opening in Niagara and for its workshop in Calgary; these goals need to be well defined.

Specific

This aspect states that the goals of the organization need to be extremely clear and specific. It is stated that if the goal is not clear, the organization will not be able to achieve, the given objective. When the goal is being formed, the objective along with the importance of the objective should be clearly kept in mind.

The parties who will be involved should also be considered in order to make the task easier. The location as well as the budget set out for the program needs to be kept in mind in order to ensure that the given task has been achieved properly (11).

Application to Lee Valley

Hence, the goal of ensuring enough media coverage needs to be well laid out. Proper planning needs to be done of the given objective and all the questions that have been listed above needs to be answered by the given company.

Measurable

This aspect takes into consideration the quantitative aspect of the goal. It states that the given plan needs to be measurable in terms of the success of the goal and its progress (12). If the given goals are measurable, it helps the firm to make sure that the plan is on path and even the members involved remain motivated.

The goal which is measurable should be able to assess questions like

• How much?
• How many?
• How will I know when it is accomplished?

Application to Lee Valley

It is stated that the success of the event coverage should be laid down in a manner that it becomes easier for the company to measure the given goal.

Achievable

The goals which will be laid don need to be realistic and reasonable. Suppose the company Lee Valley states that with a limited budget it wants to become a leading coverage, then that is not possible (14). The actual investment is related to the outcome and therefore, that ability of the firm needs to be stretched out in order to see to it that the company is able to achieve the given target.

Relevant

The goal set for the company must be relevant. For Lee Valley the amount of money that it will be spending on the event coverage must be worth the effort (13). The company should have the clear idea about the benefits that it will beginning from the given goal and only then it should be investing in the goal.

The time invested should be worth the returns that Lee Valley will receive from the media coverage. It can be greater sales, better brand name or any other aspect.

Time-bound

The goal needs to be time bound. It needs to have a target date. When Lee Valley needs to get a particular event covered, it should see to it that the benefits are received within a specific date and that they are as expected by the firm (15).

Recommendations

The following recommendations can be considered by the company in order to see to it that it is being able to achieve its desired media plan. It needs to consider the cost factor of the organization. The company needs to make sure that the investment that is being made by the company is worth the hassle (22). It is recommended that the company Lee Valley will look at the following factors before developing a plan:

• Reach- The number of individuals that the given plan will be reaching out to. This shall help the company in understanding the primary audience and the company`s effectiveness in reaching out to them.
• Frequency- This shall specify the desire of the company to use a specific plan and also describe the number of times the company wants to invest in the coverage (23). The contract span can range from a month to a few years
• Cost- Cost is the lifeline of a business and any business organization needs to be extremely considerate about the costs involved in the given media coverage (19). It should conduct a cost benefit analysis to see to it that it will be achieving the desired goals or not.
• Impact: This refers to the impact of the event on the people. It refers to the capability of the chosen media to have a full impact on the desired results and outcomes.

Conclusion

Therefore, from the given report it can be stated that, the integrated media plan is an essential component of the business. Many business houses consider media coverage as an essential and powerful tool to reach out to the given consumers and help them in establishing their impact on the given audience. The plan needs to be well defined and certain contingency plans need to be made accordingly to see to it that if that plan fails, the company is prepared for it. The media plan needs to consider various actors like the target audience, the medium it hall use, the use of technology, the publications used and various other factors. Certain recommendations have been provided in order to help the company to improve their performance. Lee Valley had two events to cover; the components of both have been covered adequately

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