Network for nightlife, music festivals & party-goers; 200k registered users, annualised revenue of £400k+
Business overview
Location | Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom |
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Social media | |
Website | licklist.co.uk |
Sectors | Advertising & Marketing Digital Mixed B2B/B2C |
Company number | 09933601 |
Incorporation date | 31 Dec 2015 |
Idea
Introduction
Licklist is a pioneering social platform integrated with an international directory of nightclubs, bars and music festivals.
We solve a two-fold problem; For 18 - 30 years olds we provide a 360 degree solution to organising the perfect night out. For nightclubs and bars we provide innovative tools to fill a venue both cost effectively and efficiently.
We are heavily focused on utilising and capturing purposeful data from our users in a unique way. This enables us and the venue to understand the marketplace and produce targeted marketing campaigns.
Intended impact
The emergence of social networking has resulted in nightclubs and bars seeking alternative methods to fill their venue. We believe traditional methods such as facebook, flyering and promo teams are outdated and ineffective and as such venues find it increasingly difficult to reach their target audience. Licklist provides the ideal vehicle for venues to directly engage with their target market.
Social networking has also influenced how the typical 18 – 30 year old socializes and Licklist enables them to streamline the perfect night out. Encouraging young people to visit nightclubs and bars more frequently rather than socialising online.
Substantial accomplishments to date
See below our accomplishments in the 2 years we have been live:
◆ Over 200,000 registered users achieved organically.
◆ Annualised revenue over £400k*.
◆ Over 250 transactional clients.
◆ Contract secured with the DELTIC Group.
◆ Over 12,000 photography bookings completed.
◆ Over 500,000 photos taken and uploaded to the Licklist platform in 2015.
◆ Built relationships with some of the biggest names in the industry. From the Stonegate Pub Company through to Amnesia in Ibiza.
◆ In Summer 2015 expanded Licklist to certain commercial destinations in the Mediterranean including Ibiza, Magaluf, Ayia Napa and Zante.
*source: Unaudited management accounts.
Monetisation strategy
We have multiple sources of revenue including the following:
► Tickets & Bookings Platform
We provide an innovative tickets and bookings platform to venues. Enabling them to sell tickets, tables, booths, drinks packages and even offer guest list bookings through their Licklist page. As well as this we provide venues with a series of widgets to integrate our tickets and bookings platform into their website. Venues can use the Licklist Event Manager mobile app to manage all of their bookings and attendees. Including scanning tickets and organizing their guest list. We take a commission on all transactions.
► Nightlife Photography Agency
We have a team of over 250 talented nightlife photographers that cover events all across the UK. Venues pay for our photography service in which we take a commission on all bookings. Our photographers focus on social reportage photos of event attendees to drive traffic to the Licklist site as well as provide a great source of revenue. We currently cover over 700 events every month.
► Search Optimisation for venues
Venues can pay for a premium listing to ensure their page is displayed at the top of search results.
► Advertising
Having such a niche market place enables us to trade our advertising inventory at a premium.
► Email & SMS Campaigns
Venues can take advantage of the vast amount of data we capture with the use of email & sms campaigns. They can select their target demographic and pay per 1,000 emails or SMS.
► Image Sales
Users can pay for high resolution un-watermarked images taken by our photographers. As well as this we are in talks with Alamy about the possibility of using our large image archive for stock image sales.
Use of proceeds
We've built the product and validated our business model. Now it's all about scaling. With the funding in place we will assemble a sales team spearheaded by former TimeOut CCO Kimberley O'Hara.
The funds will allow us to build a sales operation that introduces venues not only in the UK but in Europe to the Licklist solution.
We align ourselves with the likes of Tripadvisor who dominate the market for hotel reviews and Just Eat who do the same for Takeaway restaurants. We’re looking to do the same and dominate the market for nightlife and establish Licklist as the only brand that people want to be associated with.
Our user acquisition strategy will coincide with our sales efforts to exponentially increase our current user base. This will mainly be achieved through the use of our nightlife photography agency as well as other organic methods.
Market
Target market
Our target market for users are 18-30 year olds who visit nightclubs, bars and music festivals.
As well as this our customers are nightlife-based venues. We believe Licklist appeals to the full spectrum of nightclubs and bars regardless of size or genre.
In the future we will also be targeting corporates who share the same demographic of 18-30 year olds. For example the likes of Dieageo who would see Licklist as the perfect platform to market their brands.
Characteristics of target market
We know the following about our market:
◆ We estimate that there are 300,000 bars and nightclubs across Europe with an annual marketing budget of up to £1bn.
◆ Over 163m users on Facebook aged 16 - 34.
◆ Over 21m likes to UK nightclub and bar Facebook pages.
◆ There will be 2.5bn social networking users by 2017.
◆ Spending on social media marketing will rise to $35bn by 2017.
◆ We estimate club marketing budgets to be ranging from £5k - £100k+ per annum.
Marketing budgets of Global Consumer Brands that actively market to our demographic:
◆ Diegeo - $2.64bn
◆ Coca-Cola - $3.4bn
◆ PepsiCo - $5bn
◆ Dr Pepper Snapple - $4.86
Marketing strategy
We have a number of ways to reach our market:
► Photography
We have really effective ways of reaching and acquiring users. Our main method is through the use of our nightlife photography agency. As previously mentioned our team of photographers cover events at the nightclubs expense. Providing us with a source of revenue but more importantly a great way to acquire users. As we know that if someone has had their photo taken on a Friday night they will be visiting the Licklist platform on Saturday to view their photo.
► Our social community
The social networking element of the site also means we generate users through word of mouth alone. With users interacting with each other and sharing content to their own network the potential for exponential user growth seems to be limitless.
► Social media
With a growing following across Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat and Instagram, social media channels are a great way for Licklist to drive traffic and acquire users.
► SEO
Search Engine Optimisation is an effective way to acquire users. Optimising venue pages and offering unique content will organically increase Licklist rankings and drive paying customers.
► Festivals & Mediterranean Destination
In 2015 Licklist covered over 40 UK music festivals and expanded to commercial destinations in the Mediterranean, including Ibiza. Having a presence at some of the biggest and most established events, acts as a powerful form of brand awareness.
The 180k users we have to date have been achieved organically. Therefore with the funding in place we are confident we can reach our users targets.
Competition strategy
We are in an unique position that as far as we know none of our competitors offer the same complete solution as Licklist. We have competitors that will purely focus on photography, or ticket sales or even just a directory. Licklist encompasses features from a wide variety of platforms enabling users to access everything they need all in one place.
Some event listing sites have had huge success such as Resident Advisor with millions of users all across the globe, however, to our knowledge they only focus on electronic music. Licklist cover the full spectrum of venues regardless of genre. Whether that be your high end VIP club in London all the way through to your more quirky underground bar in Brighton, and everything in between.
Licklist also differentiates itself from other nightlife or event listing sites with our distinct social platform. Not only allowing our users to search for events, offers, galleries and reviews, but also enabling them to find out who’s going where and what venues are going to be busy. The transparency of the Licklist network allows our users to do exactly this.
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