The team project, interviewed the client and produced a detailed, executable marketing plan based on his declared goals for his international gaming business.

1. DIGITAL MARKETING PLAN
XTALENT
September 20th, 2020
Nicholas Benavides, Sarah Carpio, & Jay Herrera

2. 1
Table of Contents
1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...................................................................................................................................................2
2.0 SITUATION ANALYSIS .....................................................................................................................................................2
2.1 CLIENT OVERVIEW....................................................................................................................................................................................2
2.2 AGENCY GOAL & VISION .......................................................................................................................................................................2
2.3 PRODUCT/SERVICES..................................................................................................................................................................................2
3.0 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS..............................................................................................................................................3
3.1 TARGET MARKET.......................................................................................................................................................................................3
3.2 SWOT ANALYSIS......................................................................................................................................................................................3
3.3 PORTER’S FIVE FORCES...........................................................................................................................................................................4
4.0 OBJECTIVES..........................................................................................................................................................................5
5.0 OWNED MEDIA STRATEGY...........................................................................................................................................5
5.1 WEBSITE........................................................................................................................................................................................................6
5.2 BLOG ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................6
5.3 EVENT CALENDAR.....................................................................................................................................................................................6
6.0 SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY...........................................................................................................................................6
6.1 FACEBOOK....................................................................................................................................................................................................7
6.2 INSTAGRAM..................................................................................................................................................................................................7
6.3 YOUTUBE .....................................................................................................................................................................................................7
7.0 EARNED MEDIA STRATEGY.........................................................................................................................................7
7.1 TALENT REVIEWS......................................................................................................................................................................................7
7.2 PARTNERSHIPS............................................................................................................................................................................................7
7.3 SPONSORSHIPS ............................................................................................................................................................................................8
8.0 VIDEO MEDIA STRATEGY .............................................................................................................................................8
8.1 INTRODUCTORY & HOW-TO VIDEOS..................................................................................................................................................9
8.2 EVENT TOURNAMENTS ............................................................................................................................................................................9
8.3 XTALENT INTERVIEWS.........................................................................................................................................................................9
9.0 STRATEGIC APPROACH ..............................................................................................................................................10
10.0 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................................................11
11.0 APPENDICES ....................................................................................................................................................................11

3. 2
1.0 Executive Summary
This digital marketing plan details the objectives, strategies, and tactics that will be used to
advise and guide XTALENT to a successful expansion into the US. XTALENT is a talent and
event company based in Columbia and owned by Juan Vivas, a recent Full Sail University
Alumnus who has been planning and executing several e-sport tournaments throughout
Columbia.
With a large audience in Columbia, XTALENT is seeking to expand their recognition into the
US, making it their top priority and most important objective. XTALENT is looking to expand
into the US and execute four e-sport tournaments a week while also growing their social media
presence, partnerships, and overall connection with the esports community in the US.
After discussing with Juan Vivas and delving deeper into the esports market growth at a 9%
compound annual growth rate12
(Reyes 2019) surrounding XTALENT, suggestions and tactics
turn to those of social and owned media. Firstly, XTALENT will begin by executing
tournaments for the North American Market. Next, XTALENT will begin to grow their social
following through taking part in social media to promote each tournament and following events
to engage with consumers and future participants. XTALENT will push to increase engagement
by implementing several new events such as live giveaways and event highlights. Lastly,
XTALENT will apply all these tactics and utilize partnerships and sponsorships to grow
recognition and presences in the US as a leading E-sports event company. Overall, these will be
the topics that make up the following contents of this digital marketing plan for XTALENT.
Lastly, XTALENT will apply all these tactics and utilize partnerships and sponsorships to grow
recognition and presences in North America as a leading e-sports event agency. Overall, these
will be the topics the make up the following contents of this digital marketing plan for
XTALENT.
2.0 Situation Analysis
2.1 Client Overview
XTALENT is a Columbia-based company owned by Juan Vivas, a graduate of Full Sail
University, that aids talent such as gamers and musicians in the monetization of their skills. The
company itself is extremely small and operates on four part-time employees, with an accountant,
a marketing team, and two organizers. XTALENT utilizes its team to connect with its audience
through a few channels such as their website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and tournament
landing pages as well as executing the e-sport tournaments. XTALENT exists to bring creative
and competitive forces together for the ultimate experience that demonstrates their value of
innovation and representation.
2.2 Marketing Goal & Vision
As previously stated, XTALENT exists to bring creative and competitive forces together for the
ultimate experience. This concept is fueled by the “live the dream” mindset that Juan Vivas has

4. 3
implemented in order to inspire the creative and competitive environment surrounding
XTALENT and their events. XTALENT seeks to expand into the US market, book four
tournaments per week, and ultimately allow Columbia to compete in the Asian esports
market. XTALENT also strives to bring together ideal gamers who are educated, engage and
discover a culturally driven and passionate person with a strong focus on the experience.
XTALENT fully intends to promote innovation and the future of creativity with each event.
2.3 Product/Services
XTALENT helps talent such as gamers and musicians to monetize their skills through
competitive tournaments where the talent receives a platform for visibility and the chance to earn
as they compete. Each competition gives the artist more visibility and brings in revenue while
promoting the experience of each tournament. The key activities are the virtual sign ups on the
website, merchandise received from partners, and organizing game events. Their key resources
are coming from the social media impact especially at a time like this pandemic. XTalent service
is to educate, engage and discover unacknowledged talent in the gaming industry.
3.0 Competitive Analysis
3.1 Target Market
The target market for XTALENT in the esports market is designated to be males between the
ages of 14 and 24. Players can compete against each other, individually, or in teams, in
multiplayer video game tournaments across the world. The level of interest in e-sports in the
United States as of May 2020 establishes the following information: ages between 18 to 34
have 23% as casual fans, 10% as avid fans, and 68% as not fans at all whereas ages 35 to 44
have 22% as casual fans, 9% as avid fans, and 70% as not fans at all. As for musicians and
content creators, their current market is between the ages of 21 and 35 with limited research into
this subject as XTALENT is currently focused on gaming.
3.2 SWOT Analysis
Strengths
XTalent social strategies have shown to bring the most consumers to their website according to
our SEO Checker extension Uber suggests. The organizers are goal oriented to book venues,
tournaments, and talents to designated links/locations. The company is operating at a minimum
risk and employees (4). XTalent biggest strength is their values of education, engagement, and
discovery.
Weakness
XTalent website has not been optimized according to Google analytics tools. This can be a
weakness to find the best campaign to the web or mobile user. Fan engagement is at a minimum,
and no company brand statements have been announced. Website keyword research is not being
optimized, nor a campaign to increase website search results.

5. 4
Opportunities
Google webmaster suggestions indicate the word “Esports” generates over 430 million results.
Website orientation can be similar to direct competitors in gaming to drive more inbound
gamers. Website responsiveness on desktop and mobile can be improved for experimenting on
your owned media strategies. The video media is greater than photos and YouTube is the second
highest search engine platform with earned media opportunities.
Threats
The resources to influencers, affiliates and partnerships are the client’s weak points. Website
SEO is struggling to attain inbound traffic. There are many substitute products or brands that
may offer more to our target audience. There is always a threat of new entries in the industry.

6. 5
3.3 Porter’s Five Forces
Direct Competition
● Toornament
● World Gaming
● UMG Gaming
● GameBattles
● GamerSaloon
Bargain Power Suppliers
● Coca-Cola
● Monster
● AMD
● Omen by HP
● Acer
Bargain Power Buyers
● Xbox
● Ubisoft
● PlayStation
● Twitch TV
● Activision
The Threat of Substitute Products
● Viral Nation
● Kairos Esports
● Audiencly
● Upfluence
● Ader
The Threat of New Entry
● New E-Sport Teams
● Talent Managers
● Influencer Marketing
● Networking
● TV Game Series
4.0 Objectives
In these next few sections the strategies and tactics intended to be implemented for XTALENT
will be discussed. The following paragraphs explore more deeply the owned, paid, video and
earned media aspects behind the goal of the agency. This will allow the agency to expand
beyond its current target market, reaching into North America as desired.
5.0 Owned Media Strategy
As XTALENT grows and updates, so does everything else in the world. You can find almost
everyone on every media platform from Instagram to twitch to find new content about things
such as games, music videos, and so much more. With owned media XTalent will see a great

7. 6
amount of traffic, which will really help expose the company a little more to the right audience
and markets. XTalent will not be able to monetize and reach out to the right audience without
organic traffic. Owned media will be able to give an opportunity to push many different contents
that can grab the attention of the right talent. For example, the website can help describe their
way of the gaming world or having a blog which will be able to push another side of gaming.
5.1 Website
As the online world continues to grow and communication becomes more digital, brands are
finding new content on the websites using internet bugs or cookies. For example, Google
webmaster tools and Google analytics, can help XTalent monetize their inbound traffic. This is
the perfect opportunity to be able to really showcase XTALENT’s views and works. Even
consider campaigns with Google in display ads, banner ads and video ads. Connecting with
websites such as Twitch, Discord, or FAQ can really help build a new kind of community for
gamers. With their own website, XTALENT can really work on their image and be able to track
new and old customers' eyes on the website. Creating a completely professional setting for the
company and being able to have an extra way to showcase themselves.
5.2 Blog
Blogs can see a whole new way for people to be able to see the client talent overviews, goals and
highlights a whole new world in the gaming industry. These can be small or big blogs you can
find on discord, gaming politics, or polygon which can really help XTALENT be able to talk to
their audience in a whole new perspective. Talking about things such as reflexes, strategies,
levels, creativity, storylines, and so much more just to be able to get to know certain aspects that
you may not see if you don’t give it much of a try. Appealing to an audience that looks for more
of an in-text description of how everything works, that way they do blogs to appeal to a greater
audience. Blogs can push a new aspect of gaming, a shorter way of the appeal for vlogs or
podcasts really working with a certain group of people.
5.3 Event Calendar
XTALENT will be able to do many amazing things with event calendars to constantly keep the
customers satisfied and busy with partnering companies. As event calendars work, it can always
be used as a fun tactic to aid the agency’s engagement with the consumers. This can take place
per month to also aid in bolstering the authenticity of the agency and its follow-through methods.
This will allow for goal achievement as well as creating a successful provider to consumer bonds
to keep up with the new trends in order to build the following year's plans, aiding in the
expansion of XTALENT in North America.
6.0 Social Media Strategy
Completely trusting advertisements and being able to pay the way towards more exposure is
something XTALENT should take the time to consider. By introducing paid strategy for
XTALENT, this tactic is based on pushing the agency itself into social media platforms really
reaching out to the younger target audience and those who are home and have been affected by
the pandemic. This is a way for them to be exposed everywhere on the internet pushing to

8. 7
everywhere we can.
6.1 Facebook
The accessibility of Facebook for all ages can really make or break the way this agency
distributes its advertisements. Facebook is one of the social platforms that reaches such an array
of customers from kids in middle school to grandparents. It is suggested that XTALENT have its
own page on Facebook for their followers to keep up with the agency and its events, as well as
be able to share video/media advertisements through the platform itself. This will aid the agency
in being able to show another creative version of themselves.
6.2 Instagram
Social media has been something that has grown and created a permanent bond with consumers.
Instagram has been seen as the hub of all that is social media. XTALENT can really shine
throughout Instagram, pushing themselves for their own page and put forth content through
Stories, Instagram Live, ads, and so much more. There is a great workspace within Instagram,
especially where you can get a younger target audience to be able to engage as they please.
6.3 YouTube
YouTube is the heart of where gamers can be reached and take what XTALENT has through
advertisements and grab the attention of both Youtubers and constant YouTube consumers. This
site is one of the best sites for video gamers and content consumers overall. Honestly, this site
can be used to reach potential customers with a daily YouTube ad. The best thing YouTube can
do for the website is be a place where XTALENT can showcase its agency events.
7.0 Earned Media Strategy
Going above and beyond for XTALENT really creates this new environment which matches the
competitive air in North America and Canada. As one of the last tactics being talked about this
section really talks about the individual opinions and emotion toward the agency itself.
7.1 Talent Reviews
Here XTALENT should be able to rely on their loyal customers and be able to ask for reviews as
they just begin to grow into this much more amazing company. As this agency will begin to get
bigger, an interview with a XTalent gamer will show the client's agile practice for talent
visibility. The affiliation of being able to talk about and being reviewed is something that can
really be seen to others as a good and bad thing. At the end of the day the agency must begin to
start thinking about how agile practices can be “The insight you gain to make strategic talent
decisions and plan for your agency’s future” (Dube 2019). This builds strength within the
agency, but it may also weaken some aspects. Talent reviews are not meant to be seen as a
negative but a way to improve and be helped as XTALENT begins to work its way up to their
dreams and potentials. According to a 2017 Deloitte Survey, 79% of global executives rated

9. 8
agile performance management as a high organizational priority (Rice 2017). Peter Cappelli
from Harvard Business review says, “more than 90% of organizations already use agile
practices” (Cappelli 2018).
Here XTALENT should be able to rely on their loyal customers and be able to ask for reviews as
they just begin to grow into this much more amazing company.
7.2 Partnerships
Partnerships were made to be able to work with big and small companies. Get the word out there
that there is an amazing agency coming your way. Whether it is with a specific agency or a brand
that can help jump start the career of XTALENT this is the one of the places to begin with. This
is a tactic that works because of how “at this point in their lives, millennials can buy or lease a
wide range of products, from soft drinks to mobile devices, to cars” (SSRN 2020). As XTalent
grows, we will be able to achieve bigger goals with partnerships. Our direct competitor
Toornament is another monetization company in esports who has introduced the organizer
partner program. Toornament believes “that all kinds of esports start with the community, the
Partner Program is to identify, help and reward our best organizer”. This may even be the
opportunity to partner with their sponsors like Red Bull, Nintendo, and Paris Esports
(Toornament 2020). XTalent could work with a company such as Ader, with over 1,000
influencers in their marketplace and 50 million unique watchers per month. Ader works with
brands and streamers to promote content on Twitch. At Ader, brands have the opportunity to
reach millions of gamers on Twitch and streamers get paid to promote branded content on their
channels. One of Ader’s benefits? It allows brands to reach the game viewers and streamers on
Twitch without having to worry about the growing usage of ad blockers (Whittemore 2016). Not
only big companies like that or even just working with being able to gain trust throughout
people’s opinions.
7.3 Sponsorships
This way of marketing may work but with gaming/social media influencers. Sponsorships may
work in mysterious ways but will be able to work with people who are already a part of the
gaming world. It is basically like talking about if someone were to go on their twitch stream or
YouTube vlog and “Talk about ways in which sponsors will be publicly thanked. This might
include a name on a plaque or banner, agency name on participant T-shirts, podium recognition
at public speaking engagements or a logo and link on a corporate website” (McQuerrey). This
may result in having to pay someone to be a part of the XTALENT world and experience it as a
member then sponsor the name of the company and how it really changes the gaming life to their
followers. This is a great way for this company to really branch out as much as they can pushing
for sponsorships either with big or small companies such as Coca-Cola, Acer and
This way of marketing may work but with gaming/social media influencers. Sponsorships may
work in mysterious ways but will be able to work with people who are already a part of the
gaming world. It is basically like talking about if someone were to go on their twitch stream or

10. 9
YouTube vlog and “Talk about ways in which sponsors will be publicly thanked. This might
include a name on a plaque or banner, agency name on participant T-shirts, podium recognition
at public speaking engagements or a logo and link on a corporate website” (McQuerrey). This
may result in having to pay someone to be a part of the XTALENT world and experience it as a
member then sponsor the name of the agency and how it really changes the gaming life to their
followers. This is a great way for this agency to really branch out as much as they can.
XTALENT has so many opportunities to be able to gain sponsorships with gaming youtubers
that push more gaming vlogs and going live. Things to consider is how this company can think
about getting more involved with getting along with bigger companies and being about to get
sponsored by partners such as Coca-Cola, Activision, and Acer which XTalent will really be able
to gain something new.
8.0 Video Media Strategy
The final strategy is to utilize video media due to the fact that XTALENT values education,
engagement, and discovery, all of which can be explored deeper through visual aid for the media
concepts.
8.1 Introductory & How-To Videos
XTALENT should consider implementing introduction videos on what the company brand offers
to excite possible participants to sign up. Let it become a series to educate your service, offer
promotions, and earn the consumer trust. Another video can be how-to for following XTALENT
social channels, finding out community guidelines, or answering FAQ where XTALENT
provides the best customer support through visual aid. XTALENT should also consider having
videos for affiliates on social media to minimize risk and be responsible for commissions/taxes.
8.2 Event Tournaments
A suggestion for XTALENT includes providing gamers an entire one-month calendar of
upcoming events, giveaways, and links to share for any device. Another suggestion is that
tournaments have a video of the arena, previous champions and who to expect at the event. A
short one-two minute video can achieve a lot of success because according to Forbes, the second
biggest search engine is YouTube (Wagner 2017).
You can see on the editorial calendar that XTalent event tournaments are to have posters,
signings, and merchandise that gain company exposure. Lastly, the event tournaments virtually
should be given a roaster online that could offer suggestions to connect with others, choose
independently and a branded merchandise (Shipping fee included). A platform that XTalent may
consider over WhatsApp is Discord because the app also specializes in text, image, video and
audio communication between users in a chat channel (Discord 2020).

11. 10
8.3 XTALENT Interviews
As a company XTALENT wants to educate gamers, the audience and those in partnerships with
them. The XTALENT interviews are a request to the gamer whose passion, values and goals
match the company mission. The interview will have a series of survey questions, live questions
and the talent goals. The Talent interview is to be about 2-5 minutes, post on Instagram,
Facebook and YouTube to earn the community trust. This is another form for Content marketing
because it is not about creating an interest and building a brand for your business but to focus on
providing value to your users and giving something vulnerable to build trust (Mittal 2018).
9.0 Strategic Approach
Below are goals that were established to lead XTALENT in the path to success for the hosting of
game tournaments. Each goal established relies heavily on the Promotions section of this
marketing plan. By creating this goal method, XTALENT can always create new goals while
also keeping track of their organization and partnerships with local businesses in the Orlando
area.
Goal Time Frame Metric
1 Explore
Facebook/Instagram
user interface
October -December 20% website traffic
increase, 10% CTR
increase, and 5%
Engagement.
2 Connect with partners
with Long tail
keywords
#XTALENTpartner
#XTALENTUS
#FullSailEsports
#Solutions2GO
January- March 25 backlink partners
3 Suggest how to
videos, tournament
promos, giveaways
on each platform
October - December 3- 5 videos minimum
on each platform
4 Create videos for
agency goals, values
and mission.
October - December 3 videos on website
5 Sign up XTALENT
gamers
October - December 200 gamers

12. 11
10.0 References
1. Acer (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from http://www.acer.com/
2. Activision (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from
https://www.activision.com/home
3. Adam Wagner (May 2017) Are you maximizing the use of video in your content
marketing strategy. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/15/are-you-maximizing-the-
use-of-video-in-your-content-marketing-strategy/#72f21d203584
4. Ader gaming (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from https://getader.com/
5. AMD (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from https://www.amd.com/
6. Audiencly (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from https://audiencly.com/
7. Christina Gough (May 2020) Level of interest in Esports in the United States as of May
2020, by age. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1108276/esports-
interest-age/
8. Coca-Cola (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from http://www.cocacola.com/
9. Discord (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from https://discord.com/
10. Dube, J. (2019, October 09). How to perform a talent review. Retrieved September 20,
2020, from https://www.predictiveindex.com/blog/how-to-perform-a-talent-review/
11. GameBattles (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from
https://gamebattles.majorleaguegaming.com/
12. GamerSaloon (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from
https://www.gamersaloon.com/
13. Johns Meyer, B. (n.d.). Gamers on YouTube: Evolving Video Consumption. Retrieved
September 28, 2020, from https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/app-
and-mobile/youtube-marketing-to-gamers/
14. Kairo Esports (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from https://kairosesports.com/
15. Mariel Soto Reyes (December 2019) Esports ecosystem report 2020: The key industry
players trends growing in the esports market which is on track to surpass $1.5B by 2023.
Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/esports-ecosystem-market-
report#:~:text=Total%20esports%20viewership%20is%20expected,per%20Business%20

13. 12
Insider%20Intelligence%20estimates.&text=The%20pop%2Dculturization%20of%20esp
orts,in%20esports%20investment%20and%20revenue.
16. McQuerrey, L. (2017, November 21). What to Say When Seeking Sponsorship. Retrieved
September 20, 2020, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/say-seeking-sponsorship-
77546.html
17. Monster (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from https://www.monsterenergy.com/
18. Moynihan, T. (n.d.). Why Owned Media is Increasingly Important (and How to Start
Developing a Strategy). Retrieved September 20, 2020, from
https://hub.airfoilgroup.com/blog/why-owned-media-is-increasingly-important-and-how-
to-start-developing-a-strategy
19. Nathaniel Whittemore (July 2016) The 15 esports startups every marketer needs to know.
Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/15-esports-startups-every-marketer-
needs-know-nathaniel-whittemore/
20. Lucie Rice (2017) Rewriting the rules for the digital age. Retrieved from
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/lu/Documents/human-capital/lu-hc-
2017-global-human-capital-trends-gx.pdf
21. Omen (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from http://www.hp.com/
22. Oze, S. (2019, September 18). Shindo Oze. Retrieved September 28, 2020, from
https://instazood.com/blog/be-a-famous-instagram-gamer/
23. Peter Cappelli/ Anna Tavis (April 2018) HR Goes Agile. Retrieved from
https://hbr.org/2018/03/the-new-rules-of-talent-management
24. Piplani, S. (n.d.). Is Online Gaming the New Social Media? Retrieved September 28,
2020, from https://blog.synclarity.in/marketing/is-online-gaming-the-new-social-media
25. PlayStation (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from
https://www.playstation.com/en-us/
26. Sneha Mittal (November 2018) 5 secrets to get more visibility for your business.
Retrieved from https://www.business2community.com/marketing/5-secrets-to-get-more-
visibility-for-your-business-02137987
27. SSRN Electronic Journal | RG Journal Impact Rankings 2018 ... (n.d.). Retrieved
September 20, 2020, from https://www.researchgate.net/journal/1556-
5068_SSRN_Electronic_Journal

14. 13
28. Twitch.tv (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from https://www.twitch.tv/
29. Toornament (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from
https://www.toornament.com/en_US/games/
30. Ubisoft (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/
31. UMG Gaming (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from https://umggaming.com/
32. Upfluence (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from https://www.upfluence.com/
33. Viral Nation (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from
https://www.viralnation.com/
34. World Gaming (September 2020) Home Page. Retrieved from https://worldgaming.com/
35. Xbox (September 2020) Home page. Retrieved from https://www.xbox.com/en-US/
11.0 Appendices

15. 14