Identifying a Target Market for The Blue Moonies

     It is with gratitude and excitement that I announce that the "business" I will be working with for the remainder of this class is my good friends' band, "The Blue Moonies". As a fan of their music and a supporter of their cause, I hope that we can benefit from each other. I think that it's important to believe in whatever it is that you are promoting and I can honestly say that some of the happiest moments of my life the past couple of years have been at their shows. I only hope that my efforts to coordinate their social media and promote their band will be successful and a positive learning experience for all of us!

     It's a little bit different trying to identify a target market for a music group, because as we all know, artists don't make the bulk of their money off of album sales anymore. More important is publicity, recognition, and paying gigs. Therefore, I think that The Blue Moonies' target market should be focused on promoters, production companies, and event planners. However, I think that it's more important that the band establish an image for itself and its fans than try to target promoter directly, because it is the fans and attendees of their concerts that actually bring in revenue. Currently, The Blue Moonies have a strong base of core fans who come to their shows, but these people are somewhat limited to those who know the band personally and who live locally (North County San Diego... specifically Encinitas). These people are what I have learned are their "brand ambassadors"and I think that there is a lot to be gained by engaging these core fans online and tapping into their extended networks.

     I've been thinking a lot about the kind of people who listen to or would enjoy listening to The Blue Moonies' music as well as what kind of niche markets are available to them. The Blue Moonies' music is a mix of reggae, funk, rock, and soul... the kind of music that appeals to a wide age range (with several classic covers) and encourages audience participation. It's the kind of music that makes you smile, get up and move, and boogie. Something somewhat unique about their music is its appropriateness for any age range. Their songs don't include profanities and their shows are often frequented by their music students who range in age from 12-18. That being said, I think that their most lucrative market would come from targeting young adults, ages 21-35 who enjoy live music and frequent festivals, bars, and clubs. Since their music is more classic than trendy, I think that appealing to the "anything goes" lifestyle of their local North County and beach community for following is smarter than trying to directly target radio stations and recording companies.

    So who are these 21-35 year old and what do they do/enjoy? These individuals enjoy local music and have at least some disposable time and income for live events. They are equally men and women, and they are located in the North County San Diego area... specifically Encinitas, Solana Beach, Cardiff, Leucadia, Oceanside, San Marcos, Vista, Carlsbad, and Vista. They spend their time frequenting bars, the beach, shows, microbreweries, and outdoor events like street fairs, farmer's markets, artwalks and festivals. Most of them are probably single or not too settled and in a phase of life where socializing and going out is still a frequent activity. Since 21-35 year olds are well within the digital era, these people are probably active or at least familiar with social media. They are likely to have Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and Pinterest accounts as well as other various social networking tools. They are used to being able to access music for free and finding information digitally.

     Earlier I mentioned that the true gatekeepers to The Blue Moonies' success lies in the hands of event organizers and promoters who will book the band for events. Therefore, I think that some of their marketing needs to be aimed at local bars, city event planners, concert halls (i.e. The Belly Up Tavern), and any other business that has a cabaret license and host live music. Most of these people/places have private promoters who recruit for them and they spend their time looking for local talent on social media sites and at other live events.

    As I continue to talk with the band, I am sure that our target market will become more clear, but for now, this should give an outline of where to get started. Still, I welcome any input or suggestion so post a comment!

Website Aesthetics and Design

It's interesting to think about website aesthetics and design from the standpoint of a consumer. I know when I am put off by a website either because it doesn't load fast enough or there is just too much clutter, but this assignment really made me think about what it is that draws me into a website. I guess I am a bit of a lazy internet users so I don't go to too many different websites, but when I am information seeking I am always relieved to use a site that is intuitive. 

Apple.com (Positive)

I think that Apple.com has a particularly effective website because it is organized, intuitive, and easy to navigate. It provides a lot of information without being overwhelming, because it anticipates its users needs. The first thing that I noticed about the main webpage is its simplicity. The background is white which I still associate with many apple products and it allows their print which is limited to shades of grey and black to stand out without overshadowing the advertised product. The product that they are promoting at the moment is the ipad Mini and on the front page, it is almost the only thing that shows color. That draws attention to the vibrancy of their product. Another thing that I noticed was that the apple symbol is always present in the top left corner on every page along with its main navigation bar, which stretches across the top of each page. As expected, there is also a search box in the top right corner for those who don’t want to scroll through the site for what they are looking for.

            Apple’s aesthetics speak to a target audience that wants their search for a product to be a similar experience to using an apple product. They want it to organize their goals (to buy an apple product), to have the experience be as easy and intuitive as possible, and to do as little work as possible to achieve what they want. In this case, it means not having to search through a bunch of text or competing images. Apple does this initially by providing their main navigation bar at the top of every screen and then providing images of more specific products directly below. For instance, if I am looking for a Mac, and I click on the Mac icon in the top navigation, it immediately brings me to a page where directly below my mouse are pictures and classifications of the different kinds of Macs offered. If I know what kind of Mac I am looking for, I can navigate to the next level of decision making by clicking there. If not, my eye will naturally wander to the large promotional type of Mac that they show directly below their standard products. Navigating the Apple site makes it easy to learn more about their products and get a feel for what their brand is all about.

Swagelok (Negative)

Swagelok has done a lot of things right on their website, but there are some potential problems that I have identified for users:

1.     1. The scrolling secondary navigation bar, while engaging, is confusing because just as I started trying to read the screen, it would switch! I found my attention drawn to the tiny print below the scrolling part where it gives a dry description of the company, just because the stuff above was so frenetic. This could be improved if placing ones cursor over the scrolling part would cause it to pause or if there were a pause button on it. The problem could also be ameliorated by doing away with the auto scroll all together… the tabs are there. If I am interested I will click on them.

2.   2.  There is simply too much information on the main page. It seems as though they offer at least 3 different ways on the opening page for how to reach their product line (along the top, under quicklinks and tools, in picture advertisements below that, plus a search bar). While this might seem to make the website dummy proof, I felt like I was being spammed from every angle. In the words of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, “Do less!”.

3.   3.   Finally, I found the text to be too small and there to be too much of it in relation to their photos. People don’t want to have to work so hard to learn about a company and their services. Perhaps this is more annoying to me because it seems that the website is more geared towards Business to Business interactions and not to the average consumer, but unless I was being paid by a company to research their and competitor’s products, I wouldn’t read that much about it.

Richsoil.com (Permaculture Articles By Paul Wheaton) (Negative)

          From what I can tell, this website is mainly a blog, but it’s not clear to me what its purpose is immediately by looking at the home screen. All I see is a lot of Times New Roman text in paragraph form with titles that make it difficult to understand what the particular blog post is about without reading further. In addition, I don’t like how the navigation bar is on the left side leaving the header of the page to be filled by an advertisement for advertising through Google. In addition, the different “articles” are the first things to be listed down the side and what is really the “main page” or “permaculture articles” is listed midway down the front page. Although the title “permaculture articles” is at the top left corner, it is in the same boring font as the rest of the content and does not function as a link to the main page. It is unclear to me what the purpose of this website is… I think I would have to already know what I was looking for and be linked directly to the page I needed on the site to find anything. The aesthetics are boring with regard to color and font and the images look like the kinds of stock jpegs that come included in a basic Word package.

            To improve this site, the owner needs to seriously rethink what the focus is of their website. It seems that this Paul Wheaton is a source for recommending “experts” on various permaculture activities, but I want to know who he is. He needs to have a page that says who he is, why he is qualified, what the purpose of his site is, and why it is helpful. I also think that a more simplistic and hierarchical navigation panel would be helpful. More authentic and engaging graphics would be helpful and links to social media would perhaps give consumers a hint as to how to absorb the information. For example, if I knew that I could “follow” Mr. Wheaton and that he would tweet links to articles, then I wouldn’t have to search his site for what I want (and don’t want). It would just come to me.

Toyota.com (Positive)

            My first reaction to the front page of this website is positive because it is engaging without being overwhelming. The brand logo is at the anticipated top left hand corner spot and then reaching out to its right is a toolbar that provides a search for a specific vehicle, help to find a dealer, shopping tools, a search bar, and even an option to view the page in Spanish. Something I also like about the front page is the footer which they call “Shop Assist” so I automatically would know where to go if I am in the market for a new car… a clear call to action. The color scheme is simple and the picture of the woman at a desk ready to assist me feels a lot like the experience I would expect to have if I were to walk into one of their dealerships… very personal. The “Explore” feature slightly further down the page is well organized with inviting pictures and unlike the Swagelok site, there isn’t too much text to burden my browsing.