Problem
Our client, Giovanni Livera, (www.giovanniexperiences.com) is a world champion magician. He has experienced great success as a corporate entertainer and motivational keynote speaker, but he would now like to begin marketing some of his workshop methods and materials to other facilitators. Giovanni developed a set of Life Navigation Documents that he feels could be particularly useful to teachers and mentors working with high school and college age students. Since his work thus far has been mainly with corporate audiences, the biggest problem he is facing is getting his foot in the door in a different market.
Focus group
The focus group will include three to four teachers, two students, and an administrator who will each receive a set of the Life Navigation Documents. They will meet as a group for two to three hours to collaboratively plan a one hour lesson that could be used in a school setting. The focus group must decide on the content of the lesson as well as the most appropriate context for the lesson (i.e. grade level, subject area, time of year). Heidi, Camilla, and Maia will observe the focus group session and then debrief the participants over dinner.
Bi-weekly newsletter e-mails to Giovanni’s “network”
Giovanni will begin establishing a network through an e-mail list serve. The list serve will be available to any person that has been exposed, directly or indirectly, to an aspect of Giovanni’s work. The e-mail will always begin with a new tip, idea, or saying from Giovanni and a link to Giovanni’s website. Occasionally, it will also include personal stories from facilitators, pictures of workshops, and descriptions of any new product developments.
Website Integration for www.timecompass.com
We will integrate a postcard theme into Giovanni’s second website. It will include inspirational messages that can be emailed to someone else. Also, Giovanni will be able to email postcard-themed messages from his workshops. The website integration concept would consist of updating the website for these added features. The theme of travel and the e-mail postcards will get more mainstream consumers to his website.
I think the newsletter could be very effective - an easy way to communicate with the existing "network" and possibly reach potential new followers. And the best part, it is fairly low cost and low effort.
ReplyDeleteI like your ideas, though I am somewhat hazy on his business plan. I gather that he has had some success marketing to corporations, but wishes to move beyond that now. If that is correct then the focus group would be a great place to start. He needs to understand his market before he gets into it. From the focus group he needs to establish ways in which he can communicate his business plan effectively to teachers and schools (his new target audience). If he can't convince them of the benefits then he won't succeed. I like the focus group as a starting point.
ReplyDeleteInteresting client and ideas. I think that the Focus Group would be the most easily done, but might not have conclusive results or sustainability. I personally am afraid of bi-weekly e-mail newsletters, as the more times I receive them the less I pay attention to them. the most promising solution seems to me to be the third, where attracting new types of customers will undoubtably help solve the client's problem. I would bet he is a fantastic salesman.
ReplyDeleteGiovanni is a very polished entertainer, speaker and magician. His speaks very well and his videos are captivating, however if he is interested in marketing to other facilitators he must become more cost conscious. While the delivery of his message is extremely unique, his price points seem too steep. Administrators would have a hard time justifying potentially spending half a teacher’s salary for a 90 minute workshop.
ReplyDeleteNow, if he is just selling the methods and materials with out the cost of the entire show, he could be in business. As silly as this may sound, he ought to perform the magic at almost cost for potential new clients and in return he receives legitimate face time with the institution’s decision makers responsible for purchasing or not purchasing his Navigation Documents.
It will be hard to infiltrate the school market (VERY conservative) and so overly focussed on "no-child-left-behind" that you'll have trouble making it there. Given that, I think the focus groups is a great place to start to understand the market.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I would see a set of context-appropriate summer camps as a way to get the content to a potentially more appreciative market -- many kids are (rightfully) down on school as a place for truly safe self-exploration since the focus is so much on externally-defined measures of success (i.e., testing, fitting in with peers, etc).
Kudos for going out and sourcing a real business problem. I think the focus group would be extremely time consuming and the data would then have to be processed to arrive at a decision/plan.
ReplyDeleteI like the electronic delivery options. The bi-weekly newsletter seems like a great idea. Maybe to take that one step further, it might help to have a "response" component to that newsletter, that way you might be able to figure out how many people are reading and what the actual impact is?
Great ideas, good work!
Hi Maria
ReplyDeleteWhen will his new website be open? (Time compass)
Thanks
Kristian
Denmark