HillCommunicationsReport

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY | HILL COMMUNICATIONS | SPRING 2014

2

Hill Communications S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications

215 University Place Office 510, Newhouse 1

Syracuse, NY, 13210 www.hill-communications.org

SPRING 2014 | About Andrea’s Boutique Andrea’s Boutique is South Jersey’s most fashionable clothing store, carrying trendy clothing and accessories for women of all ages. By featuring some of the most chic and up-and-coming designers in her store, the owner, Andrea Hernberg, provides the complete shopping experience for her customers. Located in Marlton, New Jersey, Andrea’s is also the exclusive retailer of MacKenzie Childs, a one-of-a-kind home décor vendor. As a business and fashion boutique, Andrea’s main purpose is to drive store traffic and sales by increasing brand awareness and social media engagement. This semester, Hill Communications provided agency services for Andrea’s Boutique including media pitching, media monitoring, event brainstorming and social media engagement. Our account brainstormed creative and original ideas for a spring celebration event that happened on March 20th entitled Spring Forward With Style at Andrea’s. We also worked on media pitching for her charity event, Giving Back in Style at Andrea’s on April 17th. This event consisted of a partnership with Supplies for Success, a non-for-profit organization, dedicated to providing filled backpacks with school supplies to underprivileged children. Throughout the semester, we continued updating social media content and engagement on both the client’s Facebook and Instagram accounts four times a week.

3




ANDREA’S BOUTIQUE | Goals & Objectives

• GOAL #1: Andrea’s Boutique will host an event on the first day of spring to promote her store by celebrating new seasonal brands

§ Objective #1: To increase her store traffic by 5% and drive her local customers to purchase clothing by offering store discounts

§ Objective #2: To form at least one partnership with another local business

• GOAL #2: Andrea’s Boutique must maintain activity on both Instagram and Facebook accounts to keep in contact with its targeted audiences

§ Objective #1: To increase Facebook likes by 20%, gain at least a reach of 100 for each Facebook post and continue dialogue in open question posts

§ Objective #2: To increase Instagram followers by 50%

• GOAL #3: Andrea’s Boutique will host a charity event at her store on April 17th and drive traffic and sales through media coverage, social media and word of mouth

§ Objective #1: To gain at least one media coverage for Andrea’s event in April

§ Objective #2: To have at least 30 people attend the event and to have at least 20 purchases

4




ANDREA’S BOUTIQUE | Strategies & Tactics

• Strategy #1: Strengthen and build relationship with both loyal and new customers

o Tactics: § Partner up with a salon to hold a makeover event § Call and pitch event and partnerships to local businesses § Offer free make up kit with purchase § Offer clothing discounts, raffles and gift bags § Hold an Instagram competition, encouraging customers to

use a specific hashtag during the event § Promote the event through fliers, posts on social media

networks, email blast

• Strategy #2: Update Facebook page and Instagram content at least three times a week with interactive posts and aesthetically pleasing photos of clothing and accessories

o Tactics: § Draft Facebook posts weekly with relevant content § Draft Instagram posts weekly with client’s inventory and new

arrivals § Use word of mouth and social media to promote Andrea’s

Boutique to friends and fashion lovers

• Strategy #3: Pitch Giving Back in Style at Andrea’s event to media editors around the Marlton area

o Tactics: § Create a media list using Cision § Get the graphics team to design a flier with event details for

editors and social media releases § Draft and finalize pitch letter and press release § Build relationships with editors and maintain contact with

them before, during and after event via Twitter, email, and phone

§ Evaluate event success by media coverage

5




EXECUTION TIMELINE PLAN: Date Objective Outcome

2/25/14

Build relationships with both loyal and new customers.

Created an event called Spring Forward with Style at Andrea’s to celebrate spring and generate sales.

2/28/14 – 3/10/14

Secure a partnership for the event.

Bakeries, beauty salons, and floral shops were contacted. However, none agreed to partner with Andrea’s for the event.

2/28/14 – 3/10/14

Prepare to pitch for event in April.

Updated Cision contact list from last semester and added social media handles of editors.

3/20/14

Increase traffic at the store by 5% with Spring Forward with Style at Andrea’s

There are about 10-15 people that shop at Andrea’s on a daily basis, but on the day of the event, 25 people attended, which is a 5% increase in store traffic.

3/18/14 – 3/24/14

Research contacts on Cision list.

Followed social media handles of possible editors to pitch to and

6

Prepare to pitch for event in April.

interacted with them by tweeting/retweeting their tweets. Drafted a pitch letter, pitch email and press release for editors.

3/25/14 – 4/4/14

Contact bakeries to donate small baked goods to the event.

Classic Cake agreed to donate for the event in April.

2/25/14 – 4/8/14

Increase Andrea’s Boutique’s Facebook page likes by 20%.

The number of Andrea’s Boutique Facebook likes on 2/25/14 was 831 likes, and by 4/8/14 the amount of likes was 926.

2/25/14 – 4/8/14

Increase the number of Instagram followers by 50%.

On 2/25/14, the number of followers was 74. By 4/8/14, the number of followers was 141.

4/17/14

Execute a successful charity event with 20 transactions.

25 transactions were made at the event.

7




Below are examples of our Facebook posts and Instagram photos:

8

9

10

11

12

13




BUDGET We calculated the amount of time spent on executing the services for Andrea’s Boutique. The below chart is an estimate of the monetary amount based on agency rates.

Hourly Rate Hours Total

Social Media $50 4.75 $233.50

Research $50 10.25 $531.25

Writing $75 15.25 $1,131.25

Meetings $75 10.25 $3,825.00

General Account Maintenance $50 4.5 $1,812.50

Client Contact $75 2.75 $206.25

Pitching $75 19.75 $1,481.25

GRAND TOTAL: 70 hours, 15 minutes ; $9,533.50

14




Evaluation of Goal #1: In order to evaluate our success, we needed to compare our results with our initial goals and objectives. GOAL #1: Andrea’s Boutique will host an event on the first day of spring to promote her brand by celebrating her new seasonal items

§ Objective #1: To increase her store traffic by 5% and drive her local

customers to purchase clothing by offering store discounts

§ Objective #2: To form at least one partnership with another local business

One of the services that our contract outlined was to brainstorm, plan and execute an event for our client. Due to the timing and schedule, we decided to hold an event on the first day of spring to celebrate new seasonal items by offering store discounts, which took place on March 20, 2014. It was a great way to get Andrea’s Boutique running again since the store experienced slow traffic and business due to the cold winter season. Andrea wanted to mainly drive current and potential customers to indulge in the new spring collections and increase revenue. We, thus, focused on reaching out to local businesses and collaborating with them rather than initiating a plan to involve and engage various local and community media outlets as part of our second objective. This event was going to be beneficial for both organizations because there would be publicity and promotion for the partnership organization as well as Andrea’s Boutique. We started the process of brainstorming, creating lists and pitching one month prior to the Spring Forward With Style at Andrea’s event. This timeline allowed us to explore strategic methods to pitch to local businesses. Two to three associates contacted different local businesses, which consisted of flower shops, bakeries and salons. The responses and updates from these businesses were provided to the account executive and account supervisor on a regular basis. When a local business did not respond or show interest in the event, the associates contacted

15

other businesses to partner up with. In addition, a flier with all the event details was created and promoted on the client’s Facebook page and Instagram account, which can be seen below. Moreover, every member of the team contributed in pitching to businesses in an attempt to create collaborations between Andrea’s Boutique and local organizations.

After the event, we realized that we utilized and depended on social media too heavily for promotion and publicity. We should have tried to think of other creative ways in getting the event to her local publics. Our strategies and tactics also reflected us thinking outside of the box, which is great for public relations and marketing. However, we didn’t think realistically if we could achieve our goals and make our big vision happen. As a result, we were unable to form any partnerships with local businesses and failed to meet our second objective. Even though we had plenty amount of time to draft and pitch to various organizations, they were not interested in partnering with Andrea’s Boutique because some

16

businesses were struggling themselves and/or preferred to contribute only if the event was related to a good cause or charity. It is important to also note that the pitching was interrupted with our spring break. Many associates were unavailable to follow up with the companies, which deterred us a bit from our flow and pitching schedule. We did, however, use Patch.com, a community news and information platform to promote the event. We utilized the platform last semester and found it to be an additional way to get the event details to the relevant areas around Marlton, NJ. The below posts were included in six counties including Cherry Hill, Collingswood. Moorestown, Haddon, Cinnaminson and GloucesterTownship.

In evaluating our first goal, we realized that our pitching put Andrea’s Boutique’s name out there and businesses were able to get to know her shop. One local business, Classic Cake was interested in contributing, but was unable to partner up with us for the Spring Forward With Style at Andrea’s because they usually

17

donate for charity causes. While this was a disappointment for this event, we knew that we would keep them in mind when we held our charity event in April and maintained contact with the company following up to our second event. As a result, while we were unable to secure a partnership for this event, we were able to put Andrea’s boutique out there, talk to other businesses, and maintain a relationship with Classic Cake. Additionally, during the event, Andrea informed us that customers expressed their interest in the event and shopped the new spring items. As far as event results, Andrea usually gets around 10-15 people to shop at the boutique daily. She had about 25 people attend the Spring Forward with Style event, which means that we successfully met our goal of increasing store traffic by 5%. There were also twenty purchases made. While this may not appear significant at first glance, it is good to note that one item is at least $100. This results in a profit of over $2,000. We should consider the background of our client in evaluating the first goal. Andrea’s is a high-end boutique and compared to a retail department store, she has less traffic and purchases, but due to her high quality items and prices, she manages to still have a good day because her end profits align with her business goals. Needless to say, this event focused more on rekindling relationships with her loyal and local customers. It was meant to be an intimate environment, so Andrea was happy with the outcome even though we did not have a partnership.

18




EVALUATION OF GOAL #2: GOAL #2: Andrea’s Boutique must maintain activity on both Instagram and Facebook accounts to keep in contact with its targeted audiences

o Objective #1: To increase Facebook “likes” by 20% by the end of the contract, gain at least a reach of 100 for each Facebook post and continue dialogue in open question posts

Facebook is a great way to build a community between customers and Andrea’s Boutique and help promote new merchandise and inventory. The Facebook account advertises the boutique in a modern and informative way. In the beginning of the semester, the Facebook account had 831 “likes.” In order to reach our goal of increasing “likes” by 20%, we needed to reach 998 “likes” by the end of the contract. Currently, Andrea’s Boutique has 930 “likes” so we are about 70 “likes” away from accomplishing our first objective. Based on our experiences with Facebook “likes” last year, we realized that the number does not accurately reflect the customers’ interactivity and connection with the boutique. As a result, we failed to reach our targeted number of “likes,” but we were not disappointed, since we were more interested in maintaining a two-way communication and interaction with the loyal customers. In terms of social media engagement, Andrea’s Boutique account has posted around 3-4 times every week totaling in 30-35 posts. The average reach of all of the posts this semester was 166. The total reach for all of the posts was 5,329. The most “likes” we received on a post were 14 and the most comments we received on a post were 9. These numbers show an improvement in social media engagement because prior to Hill Communication’s involvement, the client had no comment or engagement with the public and only garnered around 2-3 likes per post. The posting that had the most organic “likes” was the event flier about Spring Forward With Style at Andrea’s. We received 14 likes and we believed it was because it was a visual post and not text heavy. In addition, it is important to note the relationship between the times the posts were uploaded and the amount of “likes” that pictures received. The prime posting times gave us a better understanding of how to best reach our target market. We discovered that our

19

followers were actively on Facebook between 3pm and 9pm. 526 people were aware of the Giving Back in Style at Andrea’s event, which was the greatest reach that any of Andrea’s Facebook post ever had. Interestingly enough, both posts related to our contract services and goals. This is very telling in Andrea’s customers as they are most engaged and interactive when there is an event. Only one post failed to reach 100 people, which was uploaded on April 16th. During this time, our account focused on pitching the Giving Back in Style at Andrea’s event and did not concentrate on growing the social media as much. All the Facebook posts uploaded during the week of the event publicized the details and information about Giving Back in Style at Andrea’s. Even though we did not reach 100 people for that specific post, we received the most reach from another post that conveyed the same message. Below is a chart that shows our Facebook “likes” throughout 9 weeks:

While the amount of Facebook “likes” increased steadily, they did not increase as quickly as they did during our first semester working on the account. This is due to the fact that we chose to focus more on increasing our interaction with the people who had already “liked” the page. During the last two weeks, most of our time and efforts were put into pitching Giving Back in Style at Andrea’s, which explains why we only gained three more “likes” between the week of April 8th and the week of April 15th.

831 856

870 877

909 920 926 929

780

800

820

840

860

880

900

920

940

Week of 2/18

Week of 2/25

Week of 3/4

Week of 3/18

Week of 3/25

Week of 4/1

Week of 4/8

Week of 4/15

Facebook "Likes"

20

o Objective #2: To increase Instagram followers by 50%

One of Instagram’s most active demographics is young women, which is also Andrea’s Boutique’s target audience. Andrea’s instagram account offers a new way to interact with her customers because the platform showcases her new inventory in a visually pleasing way. This differs from Facebook, which is much more information-based. All of these combine to help solidify Andrea’s Boutique as a trusted fashion brand on the Instagram community. The Andrea’s Boutique Instagram account has done very well this semester. It has grown to 143 followers on April 17th after only being established six months prior. This growth is attributed to the wide variety of pictures that the account posts. The seasonal postings such as the green dress pic-stitch that was posted on St. Patrick’s Day and the floral “Hello Spring” picture that was posted in March were very well received. The photos that have received the most “likes” included the most hashtags. Pictures that did not receive many “likes” were the ones that were text heavy, such as the Giving Back in Style at Andrea’s post. The most "likes” we generated from one post was 51 and the average number of likes per post has been 17. This is an increase from our average of 14 “likes” per post in the fall. We have continued to utilize hashtags on the pictures. Every post has the hashtag “andreasboutique” and “shopandreas.” These are beneficial for growing the brand recognition on Instagram. It is important to always include the hashtags “andreasboutique” and “shopandreas” to keep the posts consistent with the brand. This gives Instagram users the ability to search those hashtags and find all of Andrea’s Boutique pictures. Our objective was to increase Instagram followers by 50%. We started off with 74 followers and needed to reach 111 followers by the end of our contract to reach our goal. We have surpassed that amount. Our current Instagram following is 143. Moreover, we have consistently increased our following week after week. The last few weeks weren’t as big of a jump due to our pitching efforts. We made media pitching our priority in the month following Giving Back in Style at Andrea’s, so our social media became a secondary, minor focus. Below is a chart that displays our following on Instagram:

21

A great emphasis was placed on gaining Instagram followers, and our account worked hard to accomplish this goal. There was a steady increase in followers from the week of February 18th to the week of March 25th but the chart shows a large jump in followers during the week of April 1st. We noticed that we were close to meeting our semester goal of 111 followers. As a result, we put a lot of efforts and dedication from March 25th to April 1st to accomplish that.

74 86 89 92 101

136 141 138

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Week of 2/18

Week of 2/25

Week of 3/4

Week of 3/18

Week of 3/25

Week of 4/1

Week of 4/8

Week of 4/15

Instagram Followers

22




EVALUATION OF GOAL #3: GOAL #3: Andrea’s Boutique will host a charity event at her store on April 17th and drive traffic and sales through media coverage, social media and word of mouth

o Objective #1: To gain at least one media coverage for Andrea’s event in April

o Objective #2: To have at least 30 people attend the event and to have at least 20 purchases

In preparation for the Giving Back In Style at Andrea’s charity event on April 17th, we contacted local businesses for donations, and specifically targeted Classic Cake because they expressed interest in donating baked goods for charity-based events. The bakery contributed an adequate amount of baked goods, which was more than enough for our perceived number of customers. We also included Classic Cake in the fliers, press releases, pitch emails and pitch letters because we wanted to give them acknowledgement and publicity for the partnership. Our team's priority was to pitch the event to editors in the Marlton area based on the media lists we built in November for the Pretty in Pink event. Before pitching, we updated the contact lists and revised the list accordingly. We also utilized social media to build relationships with editors via Twitter and personal blogs. In addition, we sought out contacts beyond the list to increase the likelihood of securing media coverage such as Facebook organizations, bloggers and community event calendars. The press release below was used as reference and provided further information for those editors who showed interest.

23

24

In addition to media pitching, we also spent a great deal in trying to get the event published online through community outlets. We were able to get a calendar posting on mycentraljersey.com, nj.com, nearify.com, and Patch.com, which are all seen below:

25

26

Unfortunately, we were unable to reach our goal of getting media coverage for the event. We did not achieve the desired results for our first objective because of a lack of connection to the editors. We found many publications did not cover the Marlton area even though they were fond of the event and the cause. Others required payment for placed advertisement or promotion such as radio stations. However, we remained dedicated and persistent in our pitching efforts because we believed in the purpose of the event and wanted to help as many children as possible. Media coverage would have also been a good way to bring new customers to Andrea’s Boutique, while improving its already favorable reputation in the community.

27

o Objective #2: To have at least 30 people attend the event and to have at least 20 purchases

Ultimately, 30 customers visited the store and 25 transactions were made during the event, which surpassed our goal. Each transaction was valued over $100 and a few customers donated gently used clothes and school supplies. To increase traffic and sales, we began posting the event flier on Facebook, on April 14th. We highlighted the event greatly through Facebook posts to ensure that the event information stayed on top of our social media pages. Andrea Hernberg was pleased with the overall results, despite the lack of media coverage and donations. She considered the Give Back In Style at Andrea’s a successful one, based on customer feedback on the donated goods and the adequate amount of transactions and profit.

28




RECOMMENDATIONS Throughout this semester, we have reflected on our team’s efforts with meeting our client expectations and delivering agency services for Andrea’s Boutique. We have come up with recommendations in the future to better improve on our media pitching efforts, social media engagement and client relationship.

Spring Forward with Style at Andrea’s

The event was formulated to drive business, so we focused on targeting Andrea’s local and loyal customers, which did not allow us to interact with media outlets. This acted as a barrier in demonstrating and translating the credibility of the event and Andrea’s Boutique to local organizations. It is recommended that Andrea considers the value of media coverage for any future events. The collaboration with media outlets will demonstrate and enhance Andrea’s image as a pertinent part of South Jersey community. Moreover, it will build relationships with media outlets, which will be valuable in any future endeavors. We recommend that Andrea herself participate in word-of-mouth publicity about such events and drive her current customers to inform community members. We are aware that our client personally contacted her customers, but we suggest that she encourage her customers to also inform their friends and families about the events. Communities like South Jersey are close-knit and always indulge in local activities. Andrea is an active part of this community, which is why she should rely on her fellow community members to disseminate information regarding any future events. Lastly, we should always send a pitch email before calling an organization or business to talk about future event. Many local businesses preferred receiving an email rather than talking on the phone with us. Thus, contacting local organizations via email first would ensure that we respect their suggestions. This would, additionally, allow us to have a better platform to pitch and achieve our goals and objectives successfully.

29

Social Media Engagement Throughout our time working with Andrea’s Boutique, the social media engagement has vastly improved. However, there is still much room for the boutique to grow in this area. On Facebook, new posts are added to the page four days a week. Customers are encouraged to interact with the page through posts that ask questions, such as the post on March 27: “#TBT is making us nostalgic. What are some of your favorite fashion blasts from the past? Let us know below!” However, there has not been as much interaction or two-way communication to these posts as we had hoped. To improve upon this, spending some money on “boosting” important posts would be a wise investment. For example, we “boosted” the event post promoting the “Giving Back in Style at Andrea’s” event. This strategic move increased the reach of the post and therefore resulted in more publicity and promotion. On Instagram, the page could benefit from more personal photos as opposed to photos from the Internet. For example, if a customer purchases a dress for a special event, ask the customer to send in a picture wearing the dress at the event and post that on the Andrea’s Boutique Instagram. It is more appealing and personal to say, “Kara loved wearing her new dress to the Gala last night- come find a dress to your next big event at Andrea’s!” as opposed to just pictures of dresses. Both Facebook and Instagram would also benefit from more awareness and advertisement. Signs in the store itself saying “Follow us on Instagram and ‘Like’ us on Facebook!” would allow current customers to interact with the pages and learn more about events and promotions. Links to the Facebook and Instagram on the Andrea’s Boutique website would allow both current and potential customers an easy way to connect with the store. Posting on the Facebook walls of nearby businesses could also generate more social media. Through boosting, personalizing, and advertising, Andrea’s social media platforms would improve immensely. Giving Back in Style at Andrea’s The details of Giving Back in Style at Andrea’s were posted on a few event-based websites for people to find out more about the event. However, the biggest downfall was the lack of success our account had when pitching to online and print publications and radio stations around the Marlton, NJ area. An editor from the print publication, Courier Post was interested in receiving photos after the event for their weekly event newsletter. Similarly, one of the radio stations was also very interested in announcing details about the event on

30

their show and even offered a discounted price for the advertisement. However, Andrea declined both offers at the last minute. The biggest recommendation in these situations is to not turn down publicity when it is offered. While in some cases the publicity did come at a monetary cost, the profit garnered from the increased publicity could outweigh the money spent. Increasing awareness about Andrea’s Boutique was one of the main goals of our account, which is why we were disappointed in Andrea’s for turning down both coverage proposals. In the future, our account hopes that Andrea will be more inclined to accept such offers since she wants to increase awareness about her store, her brand and the charitable events she hosts.

Client Relationship

In terms of client relationship, the account supervisor stays in constant communication with Andrea. However, the account executive, associates and interns never interacted with Andrea. Though it is the account supervisor’s job to be the liaison, the client relationship could be improved by having a method of introducing the client to all of the associates and interns prior to our final report presentation and phone conference. In addition, we changed our approach and focused on driving customers from the Southern New Jersey area to Andrea’s. We collaborated with Andrea on a regular basis regarding social media posts, and we tried to connect with Andrea’s target audiences via social media outlets. However, there are certain areas where we need to improve to successfully expand Andrea’s reach and involvement in the South Jersey community, such as:

1. Have Andrea explicitly connect with her customers on social media platforms to practice two-way communication. This will build an open relationship between Andrea and her customers.

2. Incorporate mutually beneficial posts and online presence for Andrea’s Boutique.

3. Find and engage in buzzwords and established local communities to build a credible image of Andrea’s Boutique.

4. Analyze and use social media models employed by the brands that Andrea’s Boutique carries in order to bring recognition.

5. Use analytics tools to identify and study traffic on Andrea’s online platforms.

In conclusion, it is important to realize the importance of the role a community plays in helping an organization achieve and sustain its goals.

Documents

HillCommunicationsReport