On Demand vs. Redbox

The digital age has affected all of us, in our private lives, social, and business. The movie industry is no exception the Redbox craze has swept the nation leaving digital cable providers scrambling to compete. The digital age has spoiled us as consumers we have tasted the impact that our voice has on companies and have started a competition to see who can give us the most media on the most devices as fast as we want it.

What started as a smaller war between the Redbox chains of ATM type devices, which showed up all over a few years ago all but bankrupting the longtime number one seeded Blockbuster. The Blockbuster chain not being able to compete with the low rates, seemingly endless supply of movies, and the convenience of the new boxes. The boxes seemed to start sprouting up everywhere next to 7Elevens by the neighborhood CVS stores strategically placed at places where consumers frequent sometimes daily and expect to be in and out in less than ten minutes.

The cable companies have now thrown their hat into the ring trying to capitalize on the money that in home movies generate, while they have not been able to compete price wise they have succeeded in bring you the content much faster. With the Redbox consumer can do a quick search online to find a location that has a movie you like reserve it and go pick it up. However, the cable companies have now offered us the option to chose our favorite movies right from the comfort of our homes up to ten days before Redbox can offer them to consumers. We may pay a couple dollars more but again your paying for convenience and we have been spoiled as I mentioned early, makes you wonder what is next?

Research | Copyright | Trademark

One Direction Sony Music 

Taking care of the business side of your artistry can seem overwhelming and be a daunting task, and we have all heard the warnings to copyright your material, trademark your name and logo while doing your due diligence. It seems that even professionals do not always heed to this advice.

Simon Cowell’s record label home to the UK’s superstar boy band One Direction, has been named in a million dollar lawsuit over the boy band’s name. It seem that the name One Direction already belongs to another US band and has already caused some confusion as it did on NBC’s Today when the UK boy band was shown with accompanied music from the US One Direction band. The US One Direction band has been selling their album on iTunes since February 2011, after the American band One Direction posted their song “2012” to YouTube receiving over 100,000 views but negative post from viewers who landed on their video while expecting to see the UK boy band, they have made quite a case for consumer confusion. The US band is not signed to a record label but has held the name and has been selling records under the name for a longer period of time leaving the new British invasion open to loosing their name.

The UK band’s label was made aware of the US bands claim to the name when they filed an application with the US Trademark offices and the matter is now before the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board. This is just another example of the importance of doing your due diligence before embarking on your business endeavor, whether it is music, entertainment, or any other business venture. With the success of your company, the more scrutiny you could come by and an issue such as a name, which you work so hard, to build up could be taken away from you when this could easily be avoided during the startup phase of your company.

Important Business plan Development Notes

In learning the art of business plan development and writing the importance of writing a good executive summary has been, repeatedly stated to grab and keep potential investors attention. Wile the writing of a good executive summary is indeed important I have found that the most important aspect of writing a business plan is the financials. Taking the extra steps to ensure your numbers as to forecasting your revenue and creating an honest financial statement will go a long way in showing potential investors true growth potential, startup cost, and your breakeven point.  These things are important because the only thing investors really care about is when will they be able to see a return on their investment.

In writing my business plan, I have realized that I must provide accurate information in the financial section of the plan. It is very important not only to display numbers or figures in your financial sheets but just as important if not more to describe why and how you have arrived at your numbers. Excel spreadsheets in this case can be your very best friend making your life much simpler when it comes to constructing your financial section of your business plan.

I feel I can take much from the article Carl Schramm (Straight Talk on Business) in her statement of the characteristics of an entrepreneur, sometimes in focusing on only the business aspect of the business we forget the reason why we have decided to embark on the venture in the first place. Characteristics like being an outsider because we challenge and ask the hard questions surrounding “Why” regarding the status quo, are what makes us who we are and separate us from the everyday person. Realizing that we should embrace our different nature and our approach to the world of business is something that we should become completely comfortable. This and being as honest as we can in regard to the financial aspect of developing the business plan are things that I plan to implement and practice when drafting my business plan, keeping in mind that no sooner the business plan is complete it will already be outdated.

Expert Views

Carol Schramm, holds a PhD in economics and has served as both the President and CEO of Ewing Marion Kauffman foundation. I found his characteristics of an entrepreneur’s to be exact when referencing it to myself. As a highly sought after individual who sits on major boards and manages his own personal angel investment his views on entrepreneurs and developing business plans. While universities touch us the importance of developing a good business plan to be successful in starting a new business, Mr. Schram states that this is a waist of time because they rarely work and are outdated as soon as they are completed. His advice is to get on with making or developing your business verses writing about it.

Dr. Steven Gedeon has founded more then a dozen private, public, venture capital and non-profit organizations as well as publishing over 100 articles, reports and patents. With an MBA in entrepreneurship and strategy at the Ted Rogers School of management and views the business plan a little differently stating that the most important element of the business plan is the executive summary the overall business idea and the financials.  He believes the key to a successful business plan is ensuring that it is credible and there must be a plausible guide to action, which is based on the companies target audience. (Steven Burhoe, 2012)

I found both of these views insightful though different they each shed light on the difficulties and pitfalls of creating and carrying out your business plan This is great reading for anyone deciding to venture into an entrepreneurial business idea. 

Analytics & Digital Marketing

Picture by http://www.google.com/analytics/

Analytics & Digital Marketing

While digital platforms continue to progress and become a mainstay in changing the way entertainment companies do business, it is now more important than ever to have a vast understanding of how to reach your target market. One of the tools that are available today for all businesses whether it is a small, large or startup is Google analytics. This tools as free and can save a company tremendous time and money when it comes to marketing a product, whether that product be music, artist, games or film. The online platform makes it easy for companies to track visitors to their site.

Google analytics are useful to provide your company with vast amounts of information and reports as well as help you make informed decisions when it comes to designing your web site and the content within your page.  Some of the reports that are provided to administrators to monitor their site efficiency are,

1. Top Content 
2. Average Time on Site 
3. Goal Conversion Data 
4. Site Search 
5. Referring
6. Map Overlay 
7.  In-Page

These reports can provide crucial insight into the efficiency of a companies website bye providing information such as how many visitors in a given period frequent your site the average time they stay on your site or a specific page within your site. These reports also supply demographic and geographic locations of the majority and minority of your site’s visitors. These reports can be extremely useful in planning how to spend your marketing dollars along with finding the best areas to put those dollars. Having a good understanding on how and why to apply this tool to your website or webpage can have a huge impact on the success or failure of your website and maybe ultimately the life of your company