Pr Plan

Cassidy Mace Lisa Weidman Principles of PR 11.12.14

Situation Analysis Mission Cupcake Couture is a privately help company located in McMinnville, Oregon. This women’s clothing store main goal is to ensure that the women of McMinnville have high quality clothing that can be worn by the ‘everyday’ women, while keeping up with the latest styles and trends. Besides this, since this is a retail store, another main goal is to make a profit; which Cupcake Couture has an annual revenue of about 500,000 dollars. This women’s clothing store was established in 2008 and employs a staff of four.

External Environment Biggest external factor that Cupcake Couture faces are economics. Cupcake Couture is a higher end-clothing store with quality clothing that can be reflected in their prices. According to the most recent U.S. News and World Report, there is no commonly recognized definition of middle class, but the median household income for 2012 was just above $51,000. In 2012 the estimated

median household income for McMinnville residents was just below $37,000. So most residents of McMinnville really cannot be affording to shop at Cupcake Couture on a regular basis. Everyone can save up from time to time, and afford to splurge, but not on a regular basis. Another factor that has to do with economics is the stores location being so close to a college. The trends that Cupcake Couture keeps up with are mainly appealing to women in their early 20’s, which is the age of most college students. Most college students also cannot be affording to spend $50 on a cardigan, when they could get something similar for not as much money, but of less quality at for example Ross or Maurice’s, which is just a short drive away. Tying in the information above, another factor is Cupcake Couture’s costumer base compared to McMinnville’s demographics. The median age of a McMinnville resident is 34 years old, which is barley, hitting Cupcake Couture’s target audience. The changing makeup of this lower income, familyoriented neighborhood has an affect on Cupcake Couture’s more young and trendy costumer base.

Business Analysis Cupcake Couture biggest competitors are other women’s clothing stores, like Ross and Maurice’s in McMinnville. Maurice’s poses a bigger threat because of there commitment to their costumers and the prices that they offer. Unlike Cupcake Couture, Maurice’s offers

clothing in all sizes including plus sizes, and styles for any occasion; work attire, casual clothing to wear around the house, and clothing that can be worn out for a night on the town. Despite their wide variety of clothing, costumers are not as likely to see higher-end, trendy name brands that they would see at Cupcake Couture. Aside from Maurice’s wide variety of clothing, they also have a philanthropic vision. According to their website Maurice’s want to “ . . . Empower women and children to be their best . . . with $8.5 million in giving each year.” Donating to originations like The American Cancer Society, Missing Person Foundation, American Cancer Society Relay for Life, The National Odd Shoe foundation, and also Maurice’s also puts on more then 4,000 hometown events a year. Since Cupcake Couture is a privately held company in McMinnville with a revenue or about $500,000 a year, donating large sums of money could be difficult. Cupcake Couture could take this opportunity to instead host a few hometown events a year that will give back to the McMinnville community. For example, Cupcake Couture could set a bin aside, inside the store for the people of McMinnville to drop of food or toys for the Kids on the Block foundation here in McMinnville. One of Cupcake Couture’s biggest strength right now is the fact that they really are the only clothing store on 3rd street that provides younger women with trendy, higher-end clothing. Again, yes women can go to Ross, Maurice’s, or even Mes Amies, which is also on 3rd

street, but no where else can the women of McMinnville get the quality of clothes or brands that they would like to see in other stores. Also, in late February of this year, according to Yamhill Valley News- Register, the pair of businesses sharing a window, La Bella Casa owned by Jen and Rhonda Ferro, and Cupcake Couture, owned by Sam Bergey and Sara Whitfield, were presented with Honors for Outstanding Window Display, given by MDA board member Leigh Ann Jones, “Jones commended the partners for their creative, imaginative and artistic displays. He said they serve to entice customers into their shops.” The biggest advantage that most stores in McMinnville have over Cupcake Couture is that these businesses have up and running websites. Cupcake Couture’s website, from what I have seen has been offline for about 2 months now. This is something that is in the businesses control, and could easily be fixed. Target Audience The target audience for Cupcake Couture is young women, ranging from girls in their late teens, to women in their early 30’s. So this business isn’t completely suited for the demographics of McMinnville.

The Plan Goal Cupcake Couture needs to have a focus of attracting more consumers to their clothing store, in order to have it become a brand name in McMinnville and become more involved with the community that it’s in. Objectives The first objective of this plan is to raise awareness and interest of Cupcake Couture to the people of McMinnville. Since there is currently not a working website for this company, it is extremely important to expose their public to information and raise awareness of the company. 

Increase the “likes” or “follows” on all social media platforms by at least 50 percent. Currently their Instagram has 651 followers and their Facebook page has 645 likes and 46 visits on the page

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in the past month. Increase sales by 10,000 dollars by the end of 2015

Following the Diffusion theory and according to the Fourth Edition of Public Relations: The Profession & the Practice, states that people will adopt an idea only after going through the following 5 steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Awareness- People need to conscious of the idea. Interest- The idea needs to have appeal. Evaluation- The idea needs to be thought as useful. Trial- People need to try out the idea. Adoption- Once all other stages have had success, then adoption is the final stage of agreement of the idea.

So if the first objective is to raise the people of McMinnville’s awareness and interest in Cupcake Couture, then the next objective is to have people (more specifically the women) of McMinnville evaluate, try, and adopt the idea that Cupcake Couture should be their go-to women’s clothing store. 

Implement a poll on the Linfield Review website and the

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Yamhill County New- Register site asking: 1. Do you currently shop at Cupcake Couture? 2. If no, why? 3. If yes, how often would you say you shop here? This will help give us a better idea of how many people are currently shopping at Cupcake Couture from the Linfield

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College population as well as the McMinnville community. Sponsor at least 3 hometown events each year

Both objectives should have started by the beginning of 2015 and be completed by the end of 2015. This will give Cupcake Couture these past 2 months to monitor the social media platforms, store sales, and the general store flow; which can then be compared at the end of the campaign plan to evaluate the effectiveness. Strategies In order to raise awareness and interest for Cupcake Couture, the first strategy to implement would be to develop a better use of their mass media and come up with a media campaign to self promote this business better.

The second strategy that will be implemented in order to raise awareness and interest in Cupcake Couture is to use personalized and controlled media in order to reach a large number of the target audience. In order to get Cupcake Couture’s target audience to evaluate, try and adopt the idea that Cupcake Couture should be there go to shop, the first and second strategy for the second objective would be to: A) Get more involved with Linfield College, and its students. B) Become more involved with the McMinnville community, by sponsoring their 1st hometown event by March of 2015. These two groups have been separated due to the large age difference. Tactics To get started Cupcake Couture needs to immediately get their official website offline, and up and running before making changes to their social media platforms. Once the website is up and running, some changes to the Facebook and Instagram page need to be made. With no website up at the moment, costumers are likely to then try and find a Facebook or Instagram page. Cupcake Couture’s Facebook page has a few spelling errors and includes the link to the offline website. Aside from that, the Facebook page also has a “products” icon that only has 2 clothing items available to buy. This makes the

Facebook page slightly confusing and could make costumers wonder if this was intentionally put on the page or just a mistake. Then, moving onto Cupcake Couture’s Instagram page, again contains the link to the offline website and then offers costumers 8 dollar shipping for online shopping that they are not able to access. After making these changes, Cupcake Couture should make a twitter page as well. All the social media sites need to be up and running, with a consistent message all the while keeping up with similar activity levels. In order to get consumers to pay attention and go to these social media sights there needs to be a little bit of a incentive, which will be the second tactic for the first strategy. Cupcake Couture could have promotions going on to gain more attraction to these social media platforms and attract more store flow. 

‘Like’ or ‘follow’ on any social media platform and receive up to

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15 percent off next purchase Have a drawing where with every purchase made, costumers

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receive a ticket entered in a raffle to win a $50 gift card. Have more “Last Chances” or limited additions because these urgent offers will made items seem more exclusive and special to costumers

The first tactic for the second strategy will be to mail out pamphlets to the people of McMinnville informing them of the changes that Cupcake Couture has made, as well as the latest trends they currently have in store and exactly what kind of clothing they will be

carrying for a season. On the pamphlet consumers will have the option to sign up, and pay to receive this pamphlet every other month in order to keep up with what the store will have to offer. Again, if consumers are going to be paying for this pamphlet every other month there needs to be some sort of benefit for them, which will be the second tactic for strategy two. Aside from being able to see what the store will have to offer for that specific season, each time the pamphlet is sent out, it will include a promotion code that offers free shipping with purchases over 40 dollars. In order to become more involved with the Linfield community and have the students going into the store and trying on clothes, the first tactic for strategy 3 that Cupcake Couture should try to do is partner up with Linfield’s sorority Alpha Phi for their Mother and Daughter Tea that takes place in May each year. In the past years Alpha Phi has partnered up with Mes Amies for the Mother Daughter Tea, where Alpha Phi sends about 10 girls to the clothing store to pick out an entire outfit. During the tea, these 10 girls will then put on a small fashion show for the rest of the sorority and their mothers. If Cupcake Couture were able to partner up with Alpha Phi, that would be the start of getting a few Linfield students in the store and actually trying on their clothes, with the argument that Cupcake Couture offers clothing that is more suited towards the ages of college students.

The benefits need to outweigh the costs for the second tactic of becoming more involved with Linfield. Cupcake Couture could start with offering the women attending the Mother and Daughter Tea a 20 percent discount off the store for that whole day. Since the mother’s will be in town, this will hopefully encourage the mothers to spend a little money at Cupcake Couture and on their daughter. The store could also have limited addition, matching products for mothers and their daughters like rings, necklaces, or bracelets for Mother’s Day. In order to become more involved with McMinnville and giving back to the community, the first tactic for strategy 2 of objective 2 will be to host a food drive for YCAP (Yamhill Community Action Partnership). According to their website, “Food drives are one of our main sources of food every year for Yamhill County.” Cupcake Couture could set aside a corner of the store where they have table with bins for people to drop off canned or non-perishable goods. This will be an easy way for Cupcake Couture to give back to the community without spending a lot of money. The YCAP website also offers easy and simple steps in order to have a successful food drive. The second tactic for strategy 2 of objective 2 will be to give costumers an incentive to come into the store and make a purchase while giving back to the community. Kids On The Block is a non-profit organization in McMinnville and their mission is “to provide safe, fun, enriching after-school opportunities that help build success kids”. Kids

On The Block has an annual budget of $500,000, but at their annual majors charity ball they only raised $148,000. Cupcake Couture can use this as an opportunity to again give back to the community. For one week have 10 percent off all purchases (excluding items on sale) and proceeds go back to Kids On The Block, who are extremely dependent and in need of more donations. Evaluation Cupcake Couture has had a Facebook account since 2011, and in just the past 5 weeks has gained 28 likes, but on the flip side has only made 6 posts on the Facebook page for the past 5 weeks. After completing the first objective, we can check monthly on how many “likes” or “follows” Cupcake Couture has gained or lost on all social media platforms. Another way to evaluate the first tactic for strategy 1 of objective 1 is to monitor the traffic on the Facebook page and the website, making sure to see how long people are staying on each page. This will give us a better idea if people are staying on the page and browsing around or simply clicking on the link, only to exit out of it a few seconds later. In order to evaluate if the incentives in tactic 2 for strategy 1 of objective 1 were successful is to monitor the increase in sales after starting the promotions as well as the increase in “likes” or “follows”. Keeping track of the how many costumers came into the store before

the sales versus after the sales will show if traffic flow in the store has increased. To evaluate if tactic 1 and 2 of strategy 1 for objective 2 was successful, Cupcake Couture can count how many costumers signed up to receive the pamphlet for every other month. To see how many people then actually read and use this pamphlet, Cupcake Couture can monitor how many people use the promotion code for free shipping, which is included in the pamphlet. The only way to evaluate the rest of the tactics for strategies 1 and 2 of objective 2 are to wait and see how the event or promotion goes. If Alpha Phi decides to partner up with Cupcake Couture for there Mother and Daughter Tea, then that will be considered a success, and it is only by this success that we can then evaluate if the limited edition, matching Mothers’ Day jewelry was a success and if the mothers decided to take advantage of the 20 percent off any purchases that will be offered. To evaluate the effectiveness of the YCAP food drive, Cupcake Couture needs to just follow the guidelines on the YCAP website demonstrating how to have a successful food drive. Then for the last tactic, Cupcake Couture will total up how much money was raised for Kids On The Block, as well as comparing average sales for a normal week versus the week that this promotion will be going on.

References:

Baskin, O., Heiman, S,. Lattimore, D,. Elizabeth, T. (2012). Public Relations The Profession & the Practice. New York, NY: McGrawHill. City-Date. (2014). McMinnville, Oregon. Retrieved from http://www.citydata.com/city/McMinnville-Oregon.html#b Kids On The Block. (2014). After School Program. Retrieved from http://www.mcminnvillekob.org/after-school-program/ Maurices. (2014). Maurices Cares. Retrieved from http://pressroom.maurices.com/social-responsibility/ Walker, Molly. (2014, February 2014). Harvest Fresh named business of the year. Retrieved from http://www.newsregister.com/article? articleTitle=harvest-fresh-named-business-of-the-year-1392948374--11690-Williams, Geoff. (2014, April 24). What It Means to Be Middle Class Today. Retrieved from http://money.usnews.com/money/personalfinance/articles/2014/04/24/what-it-means-to-be-middle-classtoday?page=2 Yamhill Community Action Partnership, (2014). Food Drives. Retrieved from http://www.yamhillcap.org/food-bank/food-drives/