proper cards strategic communications plan

Proper Cards Strategic Communications Plan 1

Proper CardsStrategic Communications Plan

February 1, 2015

John Lee

National University


INTRODUCTORY MEMO

This strategic communications plan outlines the objectives, methods, and timeline for the initial

launch of the Proper Cards website. Please review all information detailed herein and contact me

should you have any questions or concerns. We greatly appreciate any feedback you would like

to offer, please feel free to contact us at any time.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Proper Cards is a specialty invitation card company that was founded in 2014. The product line

focuses on offering customizable formal wedding and event invitations. These invitations are set

apart from the rest by the use of only premium cardstocks and a simple yet elegant design, all at

a very reasonable price.

The primary target audience are couples looking to purchase invitations within the next 12

months. A plausible secondary target audience would be wedding and event planners that may

utilize Proper Cards for bulk or wholesale services. The message that Proper Cards will be

attempting to transmit will be the company slogan, “A Proper Card at a Proper Price.” The

primary media in which we will attempt this through will be the most popular forms of social

media, specifically Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. As the website has yet to launch, the

measures to determine success will initially be quite conservative. A determination of success

will be heavily determined by an increase in web traffic flow and sales by at least 10% every

subsequent month for the initial twelve months.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Company Background 4

Situation Analysis 4

Opportunity Statement 6

Goal Statement 6

Objectives 6

Key Publics 7

Messages 7

Strategies and Tactics 8

Evaluation Criteria 12

Conclusions and Recommendations 12

References 14

Appendix A 15


COMPANY BACKGROUND

Proper Cards was developed after the founder of the company became engaged to be married and

found that most online invitations companies offered poor quality, limited customization, or

overpriced options. This prompted the crafting of a new kind of invitation. Invitations that were

sufficiently formal with a touch of elegance, yet maintained a balance with affordability.

One of the greatest challenges with a new company and/or website is the manufacturing of

significant exposure in order to increase traffic flow and sales. As the website has yet to be

launched, it’s difficult to gauge an ideal amount of business transactions per month. However, a

good indicator of early financial success would be self-sustenance.

Mission Statement

While many other card companies offer low quality products at premium prices, Proper Cards

vows to provide a proper card at a proper price. In fact, the Proper Cards official slogan will be,

“A Proper card at a Proper price.”

SITUATION ANALYSIS

Proper Cards is looking to maximize the benefits of communications strategies while utilizing a

minimal budget. In order to maximize the potential of any marketing efforts, research was done

to find the most effective ways of reaching the target audience.


The primary forms of marketing efforts considered were social media, online advertisements,

and word of mouth. It was concluded that word of mouth had the strongest influence on our

target customers. However, that brought about a unique obstacle in that a new company cannot

utilize word of mouth advertising to gain a wave of initial buyers. That led to the utilization of

the second tier option of social media. This was due to the way the way that social media can

sometime behave in ways that are similar to word of mouth advertising.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses

Fair pricingHigh quality intricate productUnique, customizable productSmall business requires less inventory

New CompanyLack of ExposureSmall order processing capability

Opportunities Threats

Customers are more open to spending for formal events, which would be the primary focus of Proper Cards.

Direct competitorsPrinting servicesHome craftersSmall business budget


OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT

As Proper Cards is a small business with minimal startup funding, a well thought out strategic

communication plan is necessary to make the best use of all funds available.

GOAL STATEMENT

The vision statement would be to establish a loyal base of customers that turn to Proper Cards for

all their invitation needs again and again.

OBJECTIVES

Utilize social media and internet advertising in order to increase exposure and traffic to

website.

A three month long concentrated push of advertising should double website traffic flow

while campaigns are active on social media individual accounts, social media

advertisements, and search engine advertising.

After three month external advertising push, focus will shift to increasing repeat

customers by offering coupons for next purchase.

At the six month phase, introduce loyalty rewards program.

A month to month increase in sales by at least 10%. This should be easily achievable in

the first 12 months as Proper Cards will be starting at zero.


Operations and marketing budget to expand in line with increase in sales based off of

quarterly sales results (as to not under or over react to any fluctuations or outlying sales

data).

KEY PUBLICS

The key public of Proper Cards is individuals and/or couple looking to purchase wedding or

other invitations online.

Men or women may be tasked with purchasing invitation for large formal gatherings. All

age demographic above 18 are considered valid here.

Individuals/Couples who must purchase invitations for a wedding or other formal

occasion.

As Proper Cards is a new company, all customer would currently be first time customers.

Customers would need to be swayed away from pricier larger companies as well as

printing invitation at home.

These customers should enable Proper Cards to build a loyal base of repeat customers

that will also refer friends and family.

MESSAGES

Primary Messages


A proper card at a proper price. An invitation that offer quality and elegance within a

price package made for you.

Invitations you’ll want to keep forever at a price you’ll never forget.

Great option for couples who know what they want but don’t want to overspend to get a

customized product.

Secondary Messages

Formal Invitations for under $4.00 per piece

Volume Discounts

High quality cardstocks all above 100 lb. weight

Customizable text

Customizable color combinations

Customizable paper textures and weights

Multiple choices of wax stamps and colors

Designs that are elegant yet simple

Samples may be created and viewed in person before certain volume orders are placed

STRATEGIES AND TACTICS

Primary Key Public Strategy

The Primary Key Public for the Proper Cards brand will in fact be couples looking to throw a

wedding within a 12 month timeframe. Utilizing previously completed in house research (See


Appendix A) it was discovered that many couples valued word of mouth recommendations more

than any other form of advertising. However, this poses a dilemma for Proper Cards as the

website has yet to even be activated. This has led to the use of a tiered strategy of offering deep

discounts through social media for approximately one month and then offering this initial wave

of purchasers a future discount for continued loyalty and/or recommendation to friends and

family.

While not cutting straight to the intended form of communication, the tiered strategy appears to

be the most accelerated approach to gaining some initial website traffic and then utilizing The

Theory of the Diffusion of Innovation (Wilson & Ogden, 2010) to create a sense of the

community that will lead to the desired word of mouth advertising.

Primary Key Public Channels

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

The decision to use these three forms of social media was based primarily based upon the fact

that accounts could be easily created for all three at relatively no up front cost. The three media

platforms are also currently have largest number of user worldwide (Duggan et al. 2015).

Facebook does allow the option to purchase advertising on the website, however that is currently

not something that is being considered due to the large upfront costs. All three forms of social

media allow for the spread of images and recommendations to millions of people with a simple


hashtag and description. There is hope someday, #ProperCards will be trending on all three

social media platforms.

Primary Key Public Secondary Channels

Pinterest

Linked In

These secondary channels may be used should the need for additional exposure feel necessary.

While Pinterest and Linked In both have plenty of users (Duggan et al. 2015), the purpose of

these websites are not as agreeable as the primary channels previously mentioned.

Primary Key Public Tactics

Accounts will be created on each social media platform

Company information and relevant picture will be posted to all accounts

Periodic sales offers will be posted on each site and differing times with differing

discount codes that lead generation can be tracked for future use.

Once purchases are made, loyalty incentives will be introduced in order to promote word

of mouth advertising.

Secondary Key Public Strategy

The Secondary Key Public for the Proper Cards brand is for Event Planners. In addition to

wedding invitations, Proper Cards also plans to offer invitation services for formal gatherings of


all kinds. This will be the motivation to make a push towards individuals that solely plan events

full time as well as those that might do so occasionally as a secondary role in a company.

This secondary key public strategy will implement a discounted rate for charitable organizations

(services for smaller events thrown by charitable organizations may be offered in sponsorship) or

large events.

Secondary Key Public Channels

Open to all charitable organizations

When a charitable organization throw fundraising or public awareness event, Proper Cards

would like to deliver the invitations. The desired outcome of offering services to this Key Public

to establish a hands on experience with the Proper Card product that will spread quickly due to

the size of events and the charitable support that Proper Cards is offering.

Secondary Key Public Secondary Channels

Large Event Planners

This secondary channel would be also utilized be offered deep discounts in exchange for the

exposure that such large events might create for Proper Cards. Large events would need to be

quantified in terms of number of attendees and frequency of services required.

Secondary Key Public Tactics

Contacting local charitable organizations


Offering sponsorship of organization in the forms of inviting guests to formal occasions

or events

All cards would be produced with clear and distinguishable logos directing interested

parties to go to http://www.propercards.com

Desired outcome is an association of charitable work being established with the Proper

Cards brand.

This will lead to increased purchases of Proper Cards products.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Was social media and internet advertising optimally utilized in order to increase exposure

and traffic to website?

Did any concentrated push of social media activity and advertising increase website

traffic flow or sales?

How effective was the shift in focus to increasing repeat customers?

How did the loyalty rewards program affect repeat customers?

Were month to month sales increased by at least 10% every month?

Was the quarterly operations and marketing budget able to stay in line with all increases

(or decreases) in sales?

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

http://www.propercards.com/


This strategic communications plan is only the first step of many in fulfilling the potential of the

Proper Cards brand. If all plan objectives were satisfied, this plan should be considered a success

and new plan should include considerations for expansion and streamlined processes. If any

objectives were not completed, the objective should be re-evaluated to see if it was unreasonable

or what changes must be made in the future so that the objective can be satisfied in the future.


References

Wilson, L.J., & Ogden, J.D. (2008). Strategic Communications Planning: For Effective Public

Relations and Marketing. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

Duggan, M., Ellison, N., Lampe, C., Lenhart, A., & Madden, M. (2015, January 9). Social Media

Update 2014. Pew Research Internet Project. Retrieved from:

http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/social-media-update-2014/


Appendix A: Internal Survey Results

1. How do you feel towards learning about a new product through online advertisements

that appear on the sides of search engines and websites?

Strong Dislike (3)

Dislike (4)

Neutral (3)

Prefer (0)

Strongly Prefer (0)

2. How do you feel towards learning about a new product through social media?

Strong Dislike (3)

Dislike (1)

Neutral (5)

Prefer (1)

Strongly Prefer (0)

3. How do you feel towards learning about a new product through the verbal

recommendation of others that have used the product?

Strong Dislike (0)

Dislike (0)

Neutral (1)

Prefer (5)

Strongly Prefer (4)

4. When making a large purchase, do you lean towards simplicity or increased selection?

Greater Simplicity (3)


Some Simplicity (1)

Neutral (2)

Some Selection (3)

Greater Selection (1)

5. What is the greatest amount of money you have ever spent on a card or invitation?

$0.00 - $1.99 (1)

$2.00 - $3.99 (5)

$4.00 - $5.99 (2)

$6.00 – 7.99 (2)

$8.00 + (0)

6. After your first order with a company which of the following would most entice you to

reorder?

Receiving points for every dollar spent on previous purchases that may be

redeemed for merchandise (0)

Receiving a discount coupon for a future purchase (8)

Receiving free small promotional items (i.e. a pen or keychain) (2)

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