Beholder EL Beholder EL In The Eye Of The
REBRANDING PLAN BY ABBY DeSPAIN
Beholder EL Abby
In The Eye Of The Beholder EL is a fullservice image consulting, beauty and fashion styling firm founded by Eny Oh in late 2009. Eny’s original plan after graduating college was not entering the fashion industry to say the least. She was actually on the road to law school. Through high school and college, Eny was always asked by her friends to choose outfits and do their make-up before a big night out. After realizing that law school wasn’t her dream, she chose to combine her passion for fashion and her business skills to create In The Eye Of The Beholder EL. The name was derived from the powerful quote, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.
OVERVIEW
Beholder EL is a one-stop shop for one’s beauty needs, and prides itself on giving it’s many clients a complete experience, taking their visions and turning them into stunning realities. Based in the Washington, DC and New York metropolitan areas, Beholder EL works hard to instill self-confidence and positivity into the clients they work with. Along with the one-on-one styling services and regularly hosts make up application and personal shopping classes. These skill-level based classes give clients the confidence, knowledge and direction to begin perfecting their own self-image. Beholder EL makes it a number one priority to consistently personalize a client’s beauty experiences and continually encourage individual style.
Beholder EL OVERVIEW(cont.)
In The Eye Of The Beholder EL is already the official stylist for the Miss District of Columbia USA as well as the Miss District of Columbia Teen USA pageant. Beholder EL has had the opportunity to work with a strong base of clients such as Miss Teen USA 2010, Miss South Carolina USA 2013, Miss District of Columbia USA 2012, as well as a number of other pageant contestants and winners. Along with the long list of pageant experience, Beholder EL has also had the pleasure of working with political figures such as the First Lady of Rwanda as well as a host of DC doctors, lawyers, and entrepreneurs. It is not a stretch to say that In The Eye Of The Beholder EL has already established a sound platform of clients to grow the styling empire on. Now it is just a matter of bettering and expanding the efforts of the different medias that Beholder EL is connected to in order to grow in the number of clients and fashionista followers.
Beholder EL COMPANY ANALYSIS
Abby
MISSION STATEMENT “In the Eye of the Beholder EL, LLC is committed to making your dreams come true by creating a unique and dynamic fashion environment that gives our clientele individuality. Everything we do personalizes the beauty experience and encourages individual style.”
Unlike some personal stylist, Beholder EL uses a team of creative and dedicated certified beauty professionals to initiate one-of-a-kind encounters for it’s clients. Services include:
-Make-up application -Hair styling -Image consulting -Commercial and private photo shoot arrangements and Styling -Personal shopping for all events such as weddings, award and fashion shows, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, homecoming celebrations, proms and pageants.
When Eny first started Beholder EL she had a group of hard working and experienced event planners that executed small and large scale signature events for celebrities and professionals. The team took care of everything from the initial brainstorming meeting and invitation design, to narrowing down the event guest list and day-of logistics.
To spread the word of the fashion styling services that Beholder EL offers in the past, the company relied on a lot of personal endorsing from their current clients. When one of their clients won Miss Teen USA 2010, that’s when the pageant aspect of the company really took a leap in business. She began getting more press coverage which boosted her exposure to potential customers not only around the D.C. but up and down the east coast. She has not never had a set communications plan in place which makes it hard to monitor all of the potential clients she is reaching.
When you visit the current website of Beholder EL, the services offered just seem all over the place. On the home page there is everything listed from fashion styling to custom decorations. There is also a link to an online Beholder EL boutique that isn’t “open” at the moment.
Beholder EL
CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS TWITTER
BLOG
YOUTUBE
Beholder EL Abby
CURRENT CREATIVE
One of the main problems with the creative work that Beholder EL currently uses is that there are some issues with consistency. The pink that is used for the beholderel.com is not the same as the pink that is used for their facebook, twitter, etc. One shade of pink needs to be chosen so that it is the same on the website, social media, and promotional materials. Along with the lack of color consistency comes varied font usage. There is a calligraphic type font used for the logo and some headers, a serif font for menu tabs, and a bold sans serif font used for all other content. The lack of simplicity of beholderel.com is another design issue. It is not a matter of content overload but more of how the content is presented. Instead of being focused on the picture of the outfit styled by In The Eye Of The Beholder EL, the viewer is blinded by all of chaos going between flashy photo frames and the busy patterned background. The viewer is even able to take in all of the work the Beholder EL has displayed. The logo is pretty detailed with the curls and swirls coming away from the eye. Some of the most identifiable logos in fashion as well as brands/companies in general are far from intricate. It would be a good idea to take the concept of the current logo and create a sleeker and more polished logo.
Beholder EL COMPETITOR ANALYSIS After researching the DC and NYC metropolitan area there were a number of personal stylist that I was able to find. They all had some similarities to what they offered their clients, but in other ways each stylist/ firm was very different from one another. Some had strengths in their website layout while others were stronger in their client testimonials. One personal stylist I found was Emily for MAKEOVERDC. Services offered that are similar to that of In The Eye Of The Beholder EL are wardrobe styling, hair, make-up, special event styling, and seminar appearances. MakeoverDC has a link to a blog as well. An interesting fact is that the blog you are directed to from MakeoverDC’s website, does not hold the same name, nor does it mention MakeoverDC on the blog. The “About” section is very limited in details about the company as far as personal experience and the history of the company. The site is sub-pare and not very engaging for the visitor.
Beholder EL Abby
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
ALEXANDRA GREENWALT, a New York based stylist, offers four specific personal shopping packages. The packages are not very flexible as far as being able to add one additional service without having to completely upgrade your package. Alexandra does have a very chic website layout. The design is consistent and easy on the eye. Some of her styles have been featured in large publications such as People and InStyle. Alexandra’s styling firm focuses more on commercial business versus close personal clientèle. She also does not offer any beauty or image classes.
Personal stylist are now being offered in many high end stores free of charge to their customers. For example, NORDSTROM offers personal stylists, beauty stylists, and wedding stylists all for free. All one has to do is simply book an appointment. This is a plus for those who are not interested in long term styling. On the down side, the relationship between the stylist and client is not as comfortable and personal as it is with a fashion styling firm such as Beholder EL.. Also, the stylist are restricted to only offering there services at Nordstrom which means no options for on site styling such as photoshoots.
RENTTHERUNWAY.COM, known as a “Netflix for Fashion”, is a site where ladies can join for free to rent high end dresses and accessories for special occasions and events. For example, a gown that retails at $1,200 can be rented for only $175. You simply pick a dress you like that is offered in your size, rent it for 4 or 8 days, then send it back, no dry cleaning necessary. This site is good for one time occasions such as prom or pageants The downside is that you aren’t able to try on the dress before you receive it. You are not able to try on different options to see what you like the most on your body so you have to hope for the best. The eye of a real life stylist could really help.
Beholder EL COMPETITOR ONLINE PRESENCE
Along with the services that each competitor offers, there is also competition in how the companies are connecting with there current and potential customers through digital media. Indirect competitors like Nordstrom in-store stylists and renttherunway.com both use social media to promote their brand. Both companies have thousands of followers on Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter. It is important to keep in mind that these are very large companies compared to In The Eye Of The Beholder EL full service fashion styling firm. With that said, how these companies are using media platforms to connect to their wide fashion indulging audience should be looked at like a role model for Beholder EL. RentTheRunway.com recently engaged their followers with a Christmas party dress give-a-way.
Beholder EL Abby
S.W.O.T.
-Official stylist of Miss District of Columbia USA and Miss District of Columbia Teen USA -Well established and loyal client base in pageant -Offers a wide range of flexible services -Group self-image classes -Positive and encouraging customer service -Young, trendy, and educated staff -One of the only full service personal styling agency in DC/NYC area that consistently caters pageant participants
STRENGTHS
OPPORTUNITIES
-Spreading company too thin with event planning and custom invitation brand extension -Inconsistent and distracting creative materials -Has only been around for about 3 years -No established advertising/marketing efforts including specific target markets -Although Instagram and Twitter are updated regularly, website is not updated enough with sample work for potential clients to see.
WEAKNESSES THREATS
-Annual pageants mean new clients every year -Big city location offers unlimited growth for potential clients. -Being a young company allows the company to expand into markets other styling firms are undeveloped in. -Increase follower engagement with contests and give-a-ways -Social media expansion with Pinterest, managed by a team of social media interns
-Lookbook catalogs -Free stylists offered in stores and online -Competitor personal stylists, such as Alexandra Greenwalt, have more years of experience
Beholder EL THE CHALLENGE
Identify specific target markets to recruit mainly through online mediums.
Share relevant content through website and social networking sites that is engaging and brings the target market back for more. Updating website content to increase Search Engine Optimization.
Beholder EL BRANDING STRATEGIES Abby
Analyzing aspects of In The Eye Of The Beholder EL, including company history and services offered and digging to research styling competitors, made it easy to narrow down where Beholder EL needs to start focusing brand efforts toward. I could already see from most of the research I had done on Beholder EL where the fashion styling firm is growing the fastest and strongest. With that said, there are areas of the company that are stagnant and are not adding any value to the brand. The online boutique aspect of the Beholder EL needs
When updating the website, it is important to change the metatag to read: “D.C./ NYC Personal Fashion Stylist. Pageant Stylist. Hair and Make-Up Stylist. Custom Photoshoots.” Currently when one searches say “personal stylist DC” in the google search box, Beholder EL is not found. We will work to create the best possible organic search for Beholder EL’s styling services. On the home page, and every other page too, there needs to be at least a small to be removed. It has been “closed” for a couple of months. It is irritating to a visitor of your site when they click on your boutique paragraph of content that contains keywords potential clients and followers will be searching. An example could be: link and it is blank. You don’t want any aspect of Beholder EL to “Beholder EL is a full-service fashion and beauty styling agency even look like it might be slacking. Better to be solid in a handful for personal and pageant needs. DC/NYC based fashion stylist. Custom of areas than to spread the company too thin and not highlight the best features. Beholder EL also needs to drop the event plan- hair and make-up by our team of professionals.” Repeating keywords like fashion, stylist, beauty, pageant, etc is ning, custom decorations, and custom invitations. It was a stronger aspect when the company first started but now that Beholder EL critical for Beholder EL to show up in organic search results. has found their niche in strictly fashion and beauty styling, there is really no need for the other extensions at the current moment.
Although Beholder EL shares similarities with competitors, it is important that they focus on their strengths and opportunities to set them apart and above from other styling firms. Beholder EL should emphasize on: -The quality customer service each client receives by keeping their experience personal, genuine, and unique for every client -The positive atmosphere Beholder EL creates by giving clients and followers encouraging words pertaining to self image. -Showcasing their satisfied and successful clients -Creating a stronger online presence
Beholder EL CURRENT WEBSITE
Beholder EL
OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW Abby
Even though the fashion industry and trends are forever changing, there are always icons and pieces that remain timeless. I wanted to create a new appearance for the Beholder EL brand that keeps the basic established design principles as a foundation to build on. I decided that Beholder EL needed to clean up the colors to produce a sophisticated and glamorous feel not only for the website but also for the brand in general. I wanted to keep it somewhat neutral for a couple of reasons: 1) There are many pictures that are posted on the website that show case the work of In The Eye Of The Beholder EL including glamorous ensembles and bold make-up artistry. The website should place emphasis on services and the portfolio of Beholder EL, not be a distraction. 2) A predominately neutral color palette is appealing to larger range of people versus bright controversial colors. Just because someone is into fashion, doesn’t mean they are attracted to loud colors and busy patterns. Just like pairing red shoes with a little black dress, there has to be an element of pop to the palette for Beholder EL as well! Pink was the obvious color that had to stay. It has been the main recognizable color for the Beholder EL brand. I decided to tone down the pink in between a hot pink and baby pink. This move is to create the more sophisticated feel for Beholder EL. Any event that Beholder EL is working at, employees are always wearing all black with their pink name tags displaying the logo. This creates a good connection as to why black should be added to the color scheme. Typically when an individual thinks of pink and black together it is seen as a little edgy. Adding the light grey, elegant khaki, and nude peach really soften up the palette to give it a very chic and feminine touch that is attractive to our target market.
Beholder EL
TWEETREACH STATISTICS FOR @BeholderEL
Beholder EL MEDIA MONITORING Abby
TweetReach analyzes the impact of your twitter conversation. It is an easy way to track how many impressions your tweet has made, the number of accounts potentially reached, your most retweeted tweets, etc. For Beholder EL, this tool is helpful to see what content followers take most interest in. During and after the Miss D.C. USA and Miss D.C. Teen USA 2013 pageants, there was a jump in activity for @BeholderEL. Miss USA 2010 Rima Fakih, who was a judge for the 2013 pageant, raved about how much she loved her stylist (BeholderEL) and the dresses Beholder EL chose for her to sport. Sure it is great when any client is praising your work, but it makes more of an impact when people are talking about you that have a Klout score above 40. Lucky for Beholder EL most of the clients that mention them have a Klout score of 70 and above creating an awesome amount of exposure for the company and its services. The amount of tweets that you are sending out is not as important as the engagement from your followers which can be seen by the number of replies and retweets you receive. This also applies to other social networking sites including Facebook and LinkedIn. “The more engagement and action you inspire with the content you create, the greater your influence.” In turn, this increases Beholder EL’s personal Klout score. Beholder EL currently has a Klout score of 46 so it is just above average. Again, this goes back to the plan of making sure there are plenty of connections being made on social networking sites and the best quality content is being posted to receive lots of quality feedback.
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 3,144 FACEBOOK LIKES: 1,363 LINKEDIN: 6 connections
It is imperative that Beholder EL start using GoogleAnalytics to monitor the bounce rate of their site and what areas of the site visitors are staying on longer. The site (not just the blog) needs to be constantly updated of the weekly work of In The Eye Of The Beholder EL so site visitors have a reason to keep coming back.
Beholder EL SOCIAL MEDIA REACH
The management of social media is currently divided between Eny and one intern. Only the blog is handled by the intern which means the other five digital mediums (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn) are managed by Eny herself. Eny is already extremely busy catering to her clients needs in person so more time consuming sites like Youtube and Facebook seem to get pushed to the back burner. The proposed branding plan includes that a team of 3 media interns work together to optimize the engagement of followers. Using TweetReach to see how the content being shared by Beholder EL is spreading will be important to keep track of so the company knows what tweets and posts create the most excitement. Taking those topics and expanding on them will help to keep the current followers interested in what Beholder EL is up to and will also give them buzz to share with their friends.
YOUTUBE: Along with creating content that will be of interest to our 3 target markets, the media interns will start uploading at least one video a week of a tutorial of hari or make-up or a little video of some of the work Beholder EL has done that week. The videos of the company in action should have a catchy name like “Backstage with Beholder” or “Beholder EL Behind the scenes.” FACEBOOK: The posts on facebook should be more than just copies of what is on the blog. Beholder EL will start hosting contests for its followers to post picture of their outfit of the day and the post with the most “likes” will win a mini-set of Beholder EL’s go to products for getting ready for an event. The prize can vary TWITTER: Twitter is currently the leader in followers out of all of Beholder EL’s social networking sites. Contests will apply to twitter as well with the hashtag #BeholderEL & #OOTD LINKEDIN: Create more connections with styling and fashion companies on LinkedIn. After all, it’s all about who you know. PINTEREST: This is an opportunity that Beholder EL has REALLY been missing out on. All three target markets are most likely to be on this site looking for exactly what Beholder EL has to offer; direction of great style. Contests such as “Pin It to Win It” could be held to increase retention of consumer.
Beholder EL Abby
TARGET MARKETS
I chose the following three target markets based on my research of pageants, regional fashion influences, and everyday fashionistas that have high end tastes. Two-thirds of the target market attend large scale events on a regular basis and are anticipated to have a large portion of money to use for special events they attend on a regular basis. One-third of the market focuses on ladies around
Beholder EL CONSUMER ANALYSIS PAGEANT POLLY
“In the Eye of the Beholder EL gave me the chance to really feel like a superstar! The entire staff went out of their way to make me feel like my wants and needs were of importance.”-Megan Pinckney, Miss South Carolina USA 2013 Competitive pageant girl is first target group that will be focused on by Beholder EL. Beholder EL already has a great reputation in the pageant industry, after all the company is the official stylist of the Miss DC and DC Teen USA. According to statisticbrain.com, out of the 2.5 million girl that participate in pageants each year, 72% hire some type of stylist or coach It is no surprise that serious pageant participants have substantial funds they spend on the “perfect image”. According to an interview with a former Miss USA candidate by dailyfinance.com, her parents spent more than $20,000 on pageants alone over the course of three years and she never even held a national title. Beholder EL should be the first stylist that comes to mind if a contender is serious about wanting to achieve the best pageant style that will win over the judges. The website currently doesn’t showcase all of the achievements and work that Beholder EL has done for the pageant industry, so it is vital that when revamping the website, a page is included specifically for pageant services.
When contestants are looking for a stylist, they want to see winning results from past contestants that have been styled by the styling firm. By having a section dedicated to the many pageant successes of Beholder EL, it will be nothing but easy to reel in new clientèle.
Beholder EL Abby
CONSUMER ANALYSIS SOCIALITE SASHA
Beholder EL has had some experience with entrepreneurs and doctors around the DC/NYC area. It is really an area that the company needs to push to continue to grow in. Most socialites in the area are girlfriends/wives of a wealthy and well-known husband. He could be a political figure, nightclub owner, or a successful businessman but whatever the case his lady always makes it a point to put on her best for any occasion, small or big. Not all of these socialites are tied down though. Many come from wealthy families and graduate college but are still supported by their parents in their mid twenties simply because they can! These ladies may be sharing someone elses wealth, but they are still individuals that like to leave a positive impact on society. This target has somewhat of an “unlimited budget�. She is very influential and is surrounded by other influential people as well.
Beholder EL CONSUMER ANALYSIS TRENDY TRACI
When a girl first graduates college and gets her first “real job”, she doesn’t mind to treat herself once in a while. This market was created to target those ladies heading towards their mid twenties who may not own every single Burberry or Tory Burch bag, but they sure don’t mind creating a collection of various luxury goodies. Now more than ever, women turn to the internet to see what’s hot and what’s not. Since Beholder EL likes to post pictures of upcoming trends and their own personal work, it works out for want to be up on the latest trends and buy some high end pieces but are not able to afford a complete style makeover. This target is also good for smaller areas of business like group tutorials on hair and make-up. She would be able to afford
Beholder EL COMMUNICATIONS FRAMEWORK
Abby
WHY: In The Eye Of The Beholder EL has already done a good job in starting a quality fullservice fashion styling agency. After I made some revisions of cutting out a few aspects of the company , it made it more simple to narrow down to who Beholder EL’s target market is and the message that needs to be known by them. Since the beginning of Beholder EL, they have dabbled in many different areas like event planning, but now the company needs to communicate their official expertise to all current and potential clients. WHO: Pageant Polly Socialite Sasha Trendy Traci
SINGLE MINDED PROPOSITION: Beholder EL needs their clients and followers to know that they are a full service fashion and beauty styling agency for pageant and personal needs offering a unique and positive experience from a reputable.
Beholder EL COMMUNICATIONS FRAMEWORK All target markets will be reached through online mediums including the previosuly discussed social networking sites. Each target will have specific contests, boards, tweets, etc. geared towards them to get optimal engagement.
Beholder EL Abby
NEXT STEPS
The first step needs to be revamping the website. It needs the new creative foundation as well as revising the content to be boost Beholder EL’s SEO.
Beholder EL SOURCES
beholderel.com hootsuite.com missdcusa.com klout.com pinterest.com twitter.com linkedin.com tweetreach.com kellycooperstyle.com
hbcubuzz.com makeoverdc.com cakestyle.com alexandrastylist.com tarastylesdc.com statisticbrain.com styleauteur.com polishedimageandstyle.com Eny Oh, Beholder EL CEO
Past and present pageant contestants