Event Marketing
Casino Beef Week, QLD
Casino Beef Week encompasses over 100 events that are staged in Casino and the Richmond Valley over ten days. Tilma Group developed a marketing strategy, 12-month action plan and 6-month content plan for its $130,000 marketing budget which was part funded by a successful triennial funding application that Tilma Group assisted with.
Note: prior to this project Tilma Group worked with the Casino Beef Week Committee, staff and stakeholders to develop a strategic plan for this regional flagship event.
Project Purpose
One of the primary objectives of the committee is to build a national profile for Casino Beef Week and support the local beef industry.
Marketing objectives included:
Increase attendance at the event
Increase domestic and international overnight visitation and expenditure
Deliver greater economic benefit to Richmond Valley and the Northern Rivers Region
Project Overview
Tilma developed a strategic marketing plan that was consumer focused and targeted, covering the following areas.
Marketing objectives and KPIs
Primary and emerging target audiences
The event’s brand story and key themes, and marketing messages for its target markets
Details on the channels for the event’s content plan
Key milestones in the lead up to the event and their associated marketing messages
A breakdown of how the marketing budget would be allocated
An annual action plan outlining how each target market would be reached
A plan for a launch event 100 days out from the festival to kick of the marketing implementation. This plan outlined the form of the launch event (a drover’s breakfast at the Casino saleyards), key messages, target markets, partners, marketing tactics, a media familiarisation tour, and calls to action.
To support effective festival marketing, a comprehensive digital review of the festival’s website and its analytics, social media accounts, enewsletter and third-party event listings was undertaken to outline in detail how the event needed to polish and improve these critical marketing assets prior to the marketing launch.
“Tilma Group were contracted to raise the national significance of Casino Beef Week and provide a range of support, including developing a strategic plan focused on long-term sustainability. This reviewed every angle of the festival holistically.
Linda is very approachable and always up for a chat to brainstorm ideas and talk solutions. We developed a strong partnership with Linda and her staff - we became a team.
In my opinion, engaging Tilma Group was the best decision we made in 35 years of event operations organising Australia’s largest volunteer-run festival. From stakeholder engagement, crunching numbers to develop a realistic festival budget, and event and tourism expertise, to excellent digital marketing skills and high-level strategic thinking, Team Tilma truly delivered.
Tilma Group knows how to transform ideas into actions and make big visions become reality. Linda is one to dream big and see the big vision, but then she break it down into actionable steps to make these things achievable.
Linda developed an event strategy and action plan which was our road map to follow. This strategic plan enabled the event to secure State Government funding - without a doubt, this would have not been possible without Linda’s leadership and professional guidance.”
Project Challenges
Resistance to change, given the event has been running ‘successfully’ for 35 years
Clear and honest communication and consultation was needed.
The project was running out of time from when funding was received for the strategic planning through developing the strategy and starting operations for the next event.
The committee was using outdated software, policies and tools. They needed to upgrade internal systems first in order to implement the strategy and action plan, i.e. MYOB 2008 to Xero online; from offline to online ticketing; revamp staff position descriptions to clear up staff roles/responsibilities.
Lack of human resources initially until the committee started to outsource tasks such as SEO/Google ads, newsletter, attract additional funding e.g. for marketing
Establishing a clear budget for each of the festival’s events and the overall festival
Revamping existing events; planning memorable events with unique experiences. The committee and volunteers were very resistant to changing any existing events but this was needed to stay competitive and have that wow-factor again.
Time management – structuring jobs and projects for efficient work; making sure everyone involved in the planning, carrying out, setting up, or clearing up, knew the timeline leading up to the event, during, and post-event.
Project Outcomes
In the first year after this work:
Casino Beef Week had record attendance following the implementation of the marketing plan: over 30,000 people attended the festival with over 18,000 people on the main day.
Over 30 national and international delegates attended the inaugural farm tours where two farms opened for guided educational tours
More than 35 national and international delegates attended the inaugural Richmond Valley Council and Northern Co-operative Meat Company exclusive guided tour of the Northern Rivers Livestock Exchange and Australia’s largest meat-processing co-operative facility.
There were good prices for beef farmers at Beef Week, with prices up about 20 to 30 cents a kilo, around $50 to $70 more per steer. At that time prices for live cattle were low because of an oversupply of stock because of drought.
There has been an increase of event volunteer numbers since 2018.
Revamped branding, logo and website; updated third party website event listings; good results from SEO and Google ads; and strong stakeholder engagement.
Referee
Lena Mager
Former Casino Beef Week Event Coordinator
Currently Events Administration Officer
Southern Cross University
lena.mager@scu.edu.au