Public Relations Proposal for Dāva This proposal focuses on ...
Transcript of Public Relations Proposal for Dāva This proposal focuses on ...
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Public Relations Proposal for Dāva
This proposal focuses on increasing Dāva’s sales by 5% through marketing towards the
local university population. This project will address the dearth of student customers and the
lack of presence this boutique has within the local university communities, which there are
more than six of. The theme of this project is flight: as local students are gaining their
momentum and honing their skills before entering the professional world, we at Dāva must also
spread our wings and create a presence in these communities in order to expand our customer
base and increase sales.
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Research and Background
Dāva is a jewelry boutique, art consignment, and lifestyle store in Hamden, Connecticut.
Along with all-natural clothing, hand-crafted jewelry, and pottery, the company sells an array of
gift and novelty items. Coleen Campbell opened the store 31 years ago as a futon and
sustainable lifestyle store, but today it has removed the futons and expanded to include
clothing, gift items, and the work of over 70 local artists who consign at the store.
Dāva moved to its current location at 2100 Dixwell Avenue, Hamden Plaza in 1991, and
over the years Dāva has maintained its focus on all-natural products and sustainable living by
selling natural-fiber clothing, products made of recycled materials, and organic health and
beauty aids. About 50% of the company’s sales are from clothing and jewelry, and the company
has a yearly revenue of around $700,000. Along with its focus on sustainability, Dāva also tries
to emphasize the importance of shopping local. About 85% of the products Dāva carries are
made in the USA, and by consigning local artists, the company gives these entrepreneurs a
chance to showcase and sell their work. Most of the artists have not gone to art schools, and
they range in age from teenagers to senior citizens and everything in between. The most
popular artists are jeweler Karen Cornelius and potter Jean Strauss Novick.
Products, Services, and Suppliers
The boutique’s collection of U.S. suppliers include Burt’s Bees from Raleigh, N.C.,
Crabtree and Evelyn from Woodstock, Conn., World of Boxes from Arlington, Mass., and
Woodstock Chimes from West Hurley, N.Y among many others. The natural-fiber clothing lines
are purchased from suppliers as far as California to as close as Massachusetts. Excluding the
company’s U.S. suppliers, the other 15% of products sold at Dāva are fair trade, meaning that
the producers in developing countries were compensated fairly for their products and were not
taken advantage of. This rules out any products made in sweat shops or hazardous working
conditions, and fair trade certification ensures that the producers receive sufficient pay for their
exports. This often means higher costs for imported goods but also higher social, economic, and
environmental standards. Dāva sells fair-trade goods including jewelry, toys, and crafts from
India, Thailand, Bali, and Nepal.
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Philanthropy is another facet of the company considering they raise about $6,000 every
year for charities with events like AIDS Project New Haven, a benefit event held since 1996. The
store has raised over $25,000 to date for this specific cause. Along with the commitment to
local businesses and charities, Dāva focuses on improving the global market and industry as
well. The company is a member of the Green America Co-op, an organization of over 8,000
businesses who enforce a sustainable marketplace through the methods of fair trade,
boycotting sweat shops, using sustainable energy, and supporting local suppliers. Dāva received
the highest level of certification and is recognized for its support of fair trade and local
suppliers. The hardest challenge Campbell faces when trying to run a sustainable, “green”
lifestyle company is making a profit while maintaining their philosophy and standards.
Artists, Employees, and Customers
As previously mentioned, Dāva consigns the work of over 70 local artists ranging from
potters and sculptors, to jewelers and knitters. Dāva collects 40% of their profits while the
artists receive 60%. Along with the consigned artists, the company has seven current
employees including Campbell (the owner, bookkeeper, and office manager) and her husband
Pierce. Manager Tina Durgan is in her inner thirties and directs the staff while also planning
and executing events for the company. Campbell considers her a self-starter, fashion-savvy, and
skilled in customer service. There are three other sales associates who range in age from their
late teens to their twenties, and all are considered by Campbell to be excellent with customers
and to have creative mindsets.
Dāva’s customer base is mostly women in their late 20s to early 50s who live in the
surrounding towns including New Haven, Hamden, Wallingford, Northford, and Meriden.
Customers are mostly middle to low-upper class, educated, and socially-aware women who
choose to shop at Dāva for its natural fiber clothing line, its fair-trade products, or because the
boutique has one-of-a-kind pieces and artwork you can not find elsewhere. According to the
owner Coleen Campbell, Dāva has a reputation as a positive community member that treats
customers well and that has a strong ethical base in regards to what is sold in the store and
how it is run.
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Previous and Present Public Relations
Previous public relations for the store have been limited towards their usual audience,
and in some cases it’s been unsuccessful. Campbell said advertising in the town newspaper was
not worth the cost, but through involvement in the community, Dāva has created a presence
and gained a larger customer base. Campbell participates in the local high school’s jobs fair, and
for small business Saturday (the Saturday following Black Friday), the owner tried to spread
awareness and gain support through signage and by wearing buttons for a month that
advocated shopping small. Dāva has hosted a yearly birthday celebration sale, jewelry trunk
shows for showcased artists, and sidewalk sales during the summer. These successful events
are prime examples for future public relations targeting different audiences.
As mentioned earlier, Dāva also contributes to the community in a lot of philanthropic
ways, so these fundraisers, benefits, and non-profit auctions are also ways for the company to
make their presence known within the community. Lately, the company just started advertising
with a start-up paper in Cheshire that has a large distribution for the holidays, and Dāva also
has a Facebook page, a frequent buyer discount card, and a newsletter.
Coleen approached me and asked if I could come up with ways to draw more students
like myself into the store. Despite what some may think, prices are not outlandish for the
student budget—there are plenty of things in the five to 20 dollar range—but I think the
problem is that students simply don’t know about the store because all of the community
involvement and advertising has been directed at an older age bracket. Also, Hamden Plaza is
not a chic shopping district like downtown, and our location in Hamden Plaza is too hidden; we
are tucked in the corner on the opposite end of the plaza from places like Froyo and Panera
Bread, eateries often frequented by college students. In order to increase sales, we must
increase the company’s presence in the students’ world, and we could do this by fine-tuning
the company’s public relation materials, organizing more events for the student community,
and advertising in more effective media. Previous PR and events Dāva has organized have been
for the most part successful in expanding the customer base; however, if we want to target
students, we have to draw them in to our company by going to their communities.
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Objectives and Goals
As mentioned on page one, the theme of this proposal is “flight.” It ties in with Dāva’s
nature and environment-conscious philosophy and the target audience. When a bird flies for
the first time, it explores a new realm and makes its presence known. While university students
are preparing to do just that, to launch themselves into the professional world, we at Dāva
must also explore and create a presence in the campus community. In order to broaden our
customer base to include university students, we should introduce the company by integrating
it within the students’ lives on campus. In order for students to leave their campuses to shop at
Dāva, they must know we exist, and the best way to introduce ourselves and gain recognition is
to become a positive part of their community.
Targeted Audience
Our intended audience is the local campus population, and this is mostly students but
also includes the faculty and professors. More than six universities and colleges are located
near Dāva, so the audience is there; our job is to draw them into the store. Focusing on
students, we know the student body is both residential and commuter, but by studying
enrollment we can determine which universities have a higher residential population and
therefore advertise more heavily on those campuses. This would be because students living on
campus are already based near Dāva and would want to travel off campus for a break from the
work. Commuters may not live in the area and would therefore be less likely to visit the store.
Also Quinnipiac, Yale, and Southern have shuttles that provide free transport to Hamden Plaza
for students stuck on campus. This is advantageous for Dāva because this means students have
direct access to the store without paying any transportation fee thanks to the universities.
Lastly, we would also focus mainly on attracting the female student body more so than the
male population because college-aged women would be more likely drawn to our main
products including clothes, jewelry, and art than college-aged men.
Intended Messages
Our basic message for students would be to shop at Dāva because it is affordable, has
what they need, and offers a one-of-a-kind shopping experience. Through public relations
materials we can convince students to shop at Dāva because it is where the socially and
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environmentally-conscious shop, and therefore the store provides a smarter and more
meaningful shopping experience than a typical department store. While some things at Dāva
are out of the average student’s price range, much of the merchandise is priced under $30. In
order to gain a larger student consumer base, we should emphasize the more affordable
products and offer occasional discounts when advertising to students.
A slightly different and underlying message intended for the campus audience would
include showing how Dāva is a part of their community and not a shop just for an older age
bracket. The only way we can change the way people see our company is to show them how we
want to be seen. For example, part of our reputation is how we are seen as a philanthropic
company, and this is because we have contributed to the community through charities and
fundraisers. Similarly, we can create a new reputation among the university population by
taking action and holding events in which Dāva collaborates with campus clubs and
organizations.
Measurable Goals
In order to spread these intended messages and include female, university residents
within our customer base, Dāva’s presence needs to be increased in the campus community
before seeing results. Consequently our first goal should be to initiate interaction with local
campus communities like Quinnipiac and Southern and to create a presence on these
campuses. We can do this by advertising within their student papers, posting fliers around
campus, and collaborating on events with student organizations. Let’s start with these goals:
advertise and post fliers in the two most residential campuses, contact the art departments and
modeling clubs of four campuses including the two residential schools, and hold an event by
the end of October 2013. If we successfully do this, we’ll have a whole school year following our
enhanced PR in which we can measure its effects.
After this, we can measure how much student sales have increased by offering students
discount cards and counting how many we’ve handed out. These cards would be a variation of
our current frequent shopper card. They would be exclusively for students and handed out at
the register when the student makes her first purchase. The card will be stamped every time
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they spend $10 and present their student ID, and after filling the card with eight stamps, they
can receive 15% off their next purchase.
By keeping track of how many cards we hand out, we can get an estimate of how many
students responded to our public relations. Because students must present their ID in order to
get the discount, we can also keep track of how many students are coming from each university
and therefore measure which public relations methods were most effective. We can measure
how advertising worked on the residential campuses, if it increased sales and drew more
students in, or if it’s not worth it. We can also measure how effective events targeting the
university audience were at drawing students to the store, and to do this we could hand out
coupons or redeemable discounts at the event. By counting how many of these coupons are
used, we can roughly measure how many students from the event came to the store.
In summary, our goals for this proposal are to create a positive presence within the local
university communities, to hold an event by October 2013 in which we collaborate with student
organizations, to advertise heavily in the more residential campus communities, to offer
student discounts in order to entice our targeted audience, and to increase our profits by 5%.
Action Plan and Execution
Summary
So the audience is there, but how do we get them to our store? As I’ve already
emphasized again and again, we must introduce ourselves to the student population, show
them what we have to offer, and let them know who, what, and where we are. Only then will
they be provoked to visit the store. In order to this we must fine-tune our PR materials and
target the audience from a bunch of different angles including print advertisements, Facebook
ads, events, mailed brochures, and e-blasts. If we are successful in using our public relations
effectively, we can achieve our goal of a 5% sales increase and an expanded customer base.
Print Advertisements and Fliers
Our print advertisements in the past have not been very successful in increasing sales,
but we can test to see if it is more effective when targeting a different and more isolated age
bracket. Students on universities are stuck in a bubble of sorts, they most likely do not read the
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New Haven Register or New York Times daily, but they may occasionally pick up their university
paper. By advertising in a couple university papers and not advertising in others we can
measure how effective the ads are at drawing students to the store.
Within our ad we should create a situation or illustrate a feeling that university students
can relate to. My ad using the Alice in Wonderland theme, included in the materials attached to
this proposal, would work because it’s something university women would have heard of,
experienced, and remembered. I also think this advertisement would capture the reader’s
attention, which is a characteristic emphasized within our text book (page 134). A lot of ads
within the university papers are for restaurants in the area and school events, so an ad that
creates a more abstract but fantastical feeling will stand out and intrigue readers more than the
block of text announcing textbook rental due dates. The headline is a call for adventure, and
considering students living on campus are practically starved of adventure due to their
monotonous schedules, the ad should prompt action and cause students to visit our store for
the sake of adventure. The copy within our ad should be conversational and interesting (page
136), so I would focus on introducing students to the store, informing them about what and
where it is, highlighting the benefits of shopping at Dāva, and prompting them to visit the store
and discover our variety for themselves.
Fliers would also be an effective way to create a presence on a campus. We could post
them on bulletin boards in the most populated and frequented areas of campus like the dining
hall or student center. Like print advertisements, the fliers would use eye-catching visuals and
bold headlines to draw the audience’s attention, and we could use them to advertise
everything from the store to events. To make the flier more interesting and effective, we could
have tear and share tags on the bottom with the company’s logo, address, phone number, and
website. The flier I have already designed has a strong visual of a woman surrounded by and
melding with nature, and while this could be used for such purpose as on a campus, I think
other types of fliers would be more interesting and appealing. For example a more comical flier
would stand out in comparison with others on the bulletin board. A more comical idea for a flier
would be two women eyeing each other because they are wearing the exact same outfit. We
could then say something along the lines of “Shop at Dāva and avoid that awkward moment
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when they wear it better than you…” Simple but comical ideas like that might be enough to
spark interest among the university population.
Facebook Advertisements
Today’s world is one that incorporates many facets of technology, and we at Dāva can
use this to our benefit when deciding on our public relations tactics. Facebook is probably the
multimedia site that our targeted audience, university women, would use frequently if not
daily. Therefore Facebook could be an effective way to approach our audience from yet
another angle. By advertising on Facebook, we can determine the age group, education level,
and areas we want to target. For example we could target women, ages 18 to 25, living in
Hamden and New Haven, and currently enrolled in college. We could also make that search
even more specific by advertising to those who “like” natural fiber clothing, art, organic
products, jewelry, clothing, and other products related to our company. Web advertisements
like this should show benefits while being concise (page 152). Likewise the advertisement
should be simple—maybe comprised of one image and a simple sentence that displays the
benefits—because excessive animation or scrolling text can be really irritating for the viewer’s
eye (page 153). Our Facebook ad would be formatted in the frame style and would most likely
be on the right hand column of the screen. Because we know the Facebook site’s colors are
blue and white, we can use contrasting colors like red and yellow within our advertisement to
make it stand out more. While keeping it simple, we want a strong visual, like a picture of a
beautiful woman in Dāva clothing or a picture of one of the comical or unique novelty items we
own. This would gain a viewer’s interest and prompt them to read the text. The text should
include a convincing call-to-action that would cause the viewer to click on the ad in order to get
more information. If we have enough money, we should consider using multiple ads and
targeting customers with different interests in order to find out which conglomeration is more
effective and earns the most clickthroughs (page 153).
Special Events
In the past, we have been a company that is strong with organizing, planning, and
executing events. We’ve held sidewalk sales, fundraisers for charities and organizations, and
Jewelry Trunk Showcases for various artists. By using our skill set and previous experience
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organizing events, we can easily hold events targeting the university population. Two ideas I
have come up with and planned have been a Natural Fiber Fashion Show and a College Night
Art Showcase and Sidewalk Sale.
For the natural Fiber Fashion Show we must first contact the modeling clubs on
campuses and find one that is interested in collaborating with the company. Then we would
work with them and help them rent out a space on campus that is similar to that of SCSU’s
Student Center Ballroom. From there we would have to provide models with their wardrobes,
determine a date for the show, and design how it should run.
I’ve already designed a mock flier and rough idea of what the show could be like. My
plan is named “Nature’s Beauty Fashion Show” and would model all of the natural fiber clothing
lines at Dāva along with some of the store’s accessories like purses and scarves. It would give us
a chance to entertain the campus and show students what unique and beautiful clothing our
store has to offer, while also helping the models gain more experience. All models would be
students, which provides them with a great opportunity to do what they love. Students
attending the event will receive a storewide coupon for Dāva, and we can keep track of how
many are redeemed in order to see how successful the show was in drawing students to the
store. Once we have set the fine details and know all of the technical stuff for the event, we can
advertise it in our store, around campus, and online. Because students would be collaborating
with us, they could spread the news by word of mouth, posting their own fliers, and including
the show on the student event calendars. I think this show would be a successful event for us
and the students, and it would help us create a presence within these university communities
because we are basically bringing the store to them. Hopefully by doing this the students would
be impelled to visit our store and purchase what they’ve seen.
The second event I had in mind would be a sidewalk sale and art showcase featuring the
work of students within the local university art departments. This could a reoccurring event so
each university can get the chance to be showcased, and it would be a way for us to draw
students, their friends, and family members to our store. We would start by contacting the art
departments of universities within the area, like SCSU, Quinnipiac, and Yale and offer them the
opportunity to sell their work at our sidewalk sale. The artists would not have to worry about
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rain or poor weather damaging their work because our sidewalk is covered by an awning and
fairly well-sheltered. We’d probably hold an event like this one near the end of the spring
semester because the weather would be warmer and students would have a larger collection of
artwork to sell.
The sale would be set up strategically, almost like a trade show booth. Outside on the
sidewalk would be the students’ work for sale and decorations for the event. In order to
purchase any of the items, people would have to go to the register in the store. This would
force them to walk past a great deal of Dāva merchandise, and hopefully they would be
intrigued enough to check out the rest of the store. This sidewalk sale would benefit both the
students and our company because it would give students a chance to market their artwork and
it would draw a larger crowd and new customers to Dāva. As far as profits go, we would most
likely something around collect 20%, the student artist would get 50%, and the remaining 30%
would be donated to the campus art league for whatever trips, events, or supplies the
organization may need to finance. Another way we could entice more students to take part in
the sidewalk sale would be to offer an in-store discount when presenting their student ID.
Hopefully, the work of their friends and peers and the opportune discounts would attract our
targeted audience. Even if we do not have a successful turnout, which I doubt will happen if we
use our public relations effectively, we would still meet new artists that could possibly consign
at Dāva.
Student Appeal
Students need to be interested in our store, and the easiest way to do this is to show
them our products and offer them discounts. We know students most likely won’t be
purchasing our higher priced items; however there is plenty in our store within the $5 to $30
price range. We must convince and persuade these students to shop at our store by offering
them unique, quality items for prices within their budget.
One way we can offer these students discounts while making a profit would be with a
frequent shopper card made exclusively for students. It’d be a variation of our current frequent
shopper card, and for students who present their student ID, they would receive a stamp every
time they spend $10. After eight stamps, they can receive 15% off of their next purchase. As
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mentioned earlier, we can also offer students coupons at events we hold. Hopefully after
receiving the coupon, they would feel compelled to visit our store and buy something. Lastly,
we can have one day of the week be a student discount day, so for example, if Friday was the
student discount day, all students with their IDs can receive something like 10% off non-
consigned items they purchase on Friday. This would draw more students into the store, and it
would be most effective if held on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday because that’s when students
would be more inclined to leave campus and take a break from the school work.
Other than offering students discounts, we can also show them what our store has to
offer by showcasing an item of the week. These items would relate to the lives of the students;
for example, in early Fall we would showcase our notebooks and stationery items that connect
to the back-to-school theme, and as the holidays approach, we could showcase more gift items
or health and beauty aids. By using our Facebook page, sales letters, and E-Blasts to announce
these items of the week, we can reach our targeted audience and show them that we have
what they need.
Sales Letters and E-Blasts
Sales letters and e-blasts would be one way we could reach out to our targeted
audience and compel them to visit the store more often. Within this age bracket, direct mail is
more effective than e-mail, so it would be more useful to mail these sale letters than to use e-
blast because emails are too easy to delete and forget about. Nevertheless, because emails are
so inexpensive, we could try to use both e-blasts and sales letters so we are targeting our
customer base from multiple angles. We can use these e-blasts and sale letters to inform our
audience about new products or featured sales that we currently have in store.
By connecting these sales and products to the audience’s life—for example a sale on
notebooks during back-to-school season or a new shipment of reusable hand-warmers during
winter—we can convince the audience that they need these items and “create a sense of need
or desire” (page 178). While telling the audience we have the solution to their problem, we are
fulfilling our goal, which is “to remind the recipient that something in her life needs to be
better” (page 178). The sales letter would then include a call-to-action in which we would add
urgency to the situation by saying the product is in limited supply or on sale for this week only.
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Lastly, I suggest adding a coupon or discount within the e-blasts and sales letters so we provide
more benefits for this possible customer (page 181).
How do we get this contact information for the targeted audience? We ask. When
students sign up for their frequent shopper discount cards or when they redeem a coupon, we
can ask for their email and address so they would be automatically entered on the mailing list
to receive these e-blasts and sales letters. Not only would these e-blasts and letters help us
increase sales because it would compel our customers to visit the store, but customers would
also benefit from being on the mailing list because they’d receive news on sales and coupons.
Redesign our Website
The last major part of my proposal would be to revamp our website in order to make it
clear and easy to navigate. Our website has a lot of great information and pictures on it,
however it is too complicated to navigate and can be constructed in a more effective way. In
reference to the “25 point usability checklist,” our website basically has all of the necessary
ingredients; it just needs to be reconstructed. For example, our two major downfalls would be
“main navigation is easily identifiable” and “home page is digestible in five seconds.”
Main navigation is most effective on the left hand side of the page (page 106), and our
current navigation is at the bottom of the page. Viewers wouldn’t even know it was there if
they do not scroll down. In order to change this, I suggest we move the links from the bottom
of the page to a column on the left hand side, and then use images next to the link to show
what it leads to. This would be a more effective way of using images than our current methods
because they “help the user interact with the site” (page 107). Our current images do not serve
a purpose, but they are effective at displaying our products, so we can use these images but
also give them a purpose. With the links and images higher on the page and located where our
eyes naturally wander, our website will be much easier to navigate and our images would serve
a higher purpose.
Secondly, our home page is poorly organized and does not have the information we
need on it. We should have the logo in the top left hand corner of the page, a short blurb about
what we are as a company, and then the information about store hours, contact info, location,
and directions below. All of this should be accompanied by the left hand column of navigation
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tabs. Instead of this, we have a jumbled array of information and by looking at our homepage, it
is unclear what we are other than a boutique. We want to be seen as more than a boutique,
and therefore we need to reorganize our homepage, add a short sentence or two about what
Dāva is, and make the navigation tabs easier to find.
Desired Effect
By completing this action plan we can increase sales by 5% and successfully expand our
customer base to include the local university populations. The more angles and ways we
advertise and market to our intended audience, the greater a presence we will have as a
company in their lives. Through organizing events, advertising strategically, and showing the
audience what we have to offer, we can expand as a company, increase sales, and offer these
new customers the solution to their desires or needs. With over six local universities and
colleges; the audience is clearly there, all we need to do is draw them in to the store, and this
public relations proposal will be successful in doing just that.
References
Marsh, Charles, et.al. Strategic Writing: multimedia Writing for Public Relations, Advertising and
More. 3rd ed. New York: Pearson, 2012. Print.