Kinneyc marketing plan mkt333

Marketing Plan Book Ends and New Beginnings

by Carol Kinney

for MKT333-Principles of Marketing California Baptist University Doug Lainson

June 24, 2014

I. Executive Summary Book Ends and New Beginnings is a creative and sustainable home-based business that marries an age-old concept with new media. The co-owned company is designing and creating homemade crafts by utilizing the social media site Pinterest. Book Ends and New Beginnings positions itself in the home-based crafting industry by using mainly recycled materials, and using Pinterest and other social media sites as a communication, marketing research, and marketing tool.

Every day, over 16 million people use the social media site Pinterest1. About 80 to 90 percent of those users are women, depending upon varying statisticians. Book Ends and New Beginnings is reaching out to those women to satisfy their desires and needs for handcrafted fashions, accessories, home décor and gifts.

One of the “fastest growing”2 social media sites so-far, Pinterest allows users to search, organize and share online images which are called “pins.” Each user is free to organize pins any way that they choose on “boards” that the user labels. Other users can “follow” another user or just one of their boards, as well as “like,” “share” or “re-pin” other users’ pins. Users can also choose to link their pins and boards to other social media sites.

One of the goals of Pinterest is for users to find inspiration to create new items for themselves.

However, only 64 percent of Pinterest users actually do this. Given that a majority of Pinterest users are women, who are between the ages of 35 and 54, this is no surprise.

Women in this age group are busy with careers or families, and in many cases both.

Additionally, 30 percent say that they prefer to use Pinterest while watching television and another 5 percent pin at work, so it is easy to forget what the users pin or find time to recreate the items for themselves.

Book Ends and New Beginnings fills that void of time for the average Pinterest user, and creates the items that are creatively timeless or trending on the social media site. We save the customer the effort and time of searching for supplies and making the items, while satisfying their desire to obtain unique products by allowing them to customize their purchases. For local customers who would rather recreate the products for themselves, we also hold community workshops at local libraries in which we supply the materials, instructions and knowledge for a fee.

Book Ends and New Beginnings fills the consumer need for nostalgia3and new media through its creations, communications, research and marketing. By using this model, Book Ends and

1

Statistical information Retrieved from Digital Marketing Ramblings. http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/pinterest-stats/#.U6oIGfldWSo 2 Horn, L. (13 Feb. 2012). Pinterest Users . . . PC Magazine. Website. Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400187,00.asp.

3 Leone, M. (2014). Longing for the Past: The Nostalgic Semiosphere. Academia Share Research. Website.

Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/5501556/2014_-_Longing_for_the_Past_The_Nostalgic_Semiosphere.

New Beginnings is positioning itself for profitability and growth within the home-based crafting industry.

II. Detailed Product Explanation A. All of Book Ends and New Beginnings products are classified as consumer products.

B. All of Book Ends and New Beginnings products are created with only the safest and cleanest recycled materials for the adult consumer in mind and are not meant for consumption or intended for use by children.

However, we cannot control the use of our handmade products once they are sold to the consumer. That statement being true, Book Ends and New Beginnings has taken the time and care to protect the consumer by placing intended use labels on all products. We also are practicing sound business responsibility by insuring the company in case of accidental claims against the company.

Book Ends and New Beginnings also integrates social responsibility into the day-to-day operation. By creating products solely from recycled material, we are being environmentally responsible and helping to educate our customers of the benefits of purchasing locally made and/or sustainable products. Our business operation strategy supports this also by using minimal electricity, business supplies mainly made from recycled products including shipping materials, and encouraging local purchases and sales which cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions. Even our company vehicle is a small, hybrid-class.

We also practice social responsibility by never refusing a request for a product donation from local charity events. We also donate 11-percent of all profits to local charities on a monthly basis through our “Charity of the Month� promotion by which a different local charity or cause is chosen from our online application.

C. Book Ends and New Beginnings products are handcrafted items made from recycled materials. The products are divided into two separate categories: Book Ends products and New Beginnings products.

Book Ends products are accessories, decorative items and gift items that are produced by using the bindings, covers and/or pages from old books, newspapers and magazines.

Some of the products in this category are purses, lamps, paper flowers, wreaths and greeting cards. We only use material that is not soiled, musty, mildewed, moldy or have any other element that may be harmful to the customer.

New Beginnings products are also accessories, decorative items and gift items, but these items are created by using a wide variety of other recycled materials such as toilet paper tubes, t-shirts, wood pallets, plastic shopping bags, tin cans, glass jars and bottles, and other items that people usually throw out or outgrow use for. Like the Book Ends products, the items are then refashioned into new functional and beautiful products.

Some of the products in this category are skirts, pillows and gift card packages. The

materials used are not soiled, stained or contain any harmful chemicals. We only use biodegradable, gentle cleansers to clean those items like t-shirts, cans and bottles before refashioning them into the new products.

D.

The products are branded as up-cycled or repurposed items, and as semi-corporate Branding. The items in the Book Ends category have the branding associated with that corporate image, and the items in the New Beginnings category carry the branding associated with that corporate image. Both categories also utilizes individual branding in that each item has its own name and image.

III. Customer Analysis A. Segmentation.

Through extensive marketing research, Book Ends and New Beginnings has identified the target market at women between the ages of 35 and 50 (APPENDIX A).

Women aged at the lower end of the target market (35-42) are likely to have been married at least once and have school-aged children living at home. Nearly 60 percent work outside the home4 and out of those women:

Percentage Working women with children in specific age groups 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 under 18

4

six-17

under 6

under 3

U.S. Department of Labor (2013). Latest Annual Data. Website. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/wb/stats/recentfacts.htm.

infants

Percentage of Women who Work Full-time vs. Part-time 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 FT 35+

PT <35

In addition to a large number of women in the target market working outside the home and caring for their homes and families, a number of these women also care for an elderly family member. It is estimated that 59-75 percent of all caregivers are women5 with an the average age of 46 who are married and working outside of the home.

Women over the age of 45 are most likely to continue working outside the home, even after the children have left home for college. For these women, they may have more time to pursue hobbies to replace children’s activities, however their hobbies are more likely ones that are not spent at home6. These women, who have more disposable income, are more likely to go on romantic vacations, purchase new vehicles, or pursue dreams that have been put on hold while raising children. Or women in this age group may be transitioning from empty nesting to “boomeranging parents” due to the “tough job market7.” These women often find that the time they gained when their children went to college, is no lost when these same children move back and more housework and cooking needs to be done again.

When all of these statistics regarding the target market are considered together, it is reasonable to conclude that women of the target age group are busy, leaving little time, or energy for hobbies, such as crafting.

5

Family Caregiver’s Alliance. (2014). Women and Caregiving: Facts and Figures. National Center on Caregiving.

Website. Retrieved from https://caregiver.org/women-and-caregiving-facts-and-figures.

6 Sullivan, M. (2011). Can Empty Nesters Still Afford to Splurge? Marketwatch. Website. Retrieved from http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-empty-nesters-blow-their-nest-eggs-1315256086923.

7 Emling, S. (2013). Empty Nest Syndrome May Be a Thing of the Past. Huffington Post. Website. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/28/empty-nest-syndrome-doesnt-exist_n_2566671.html.

Book Ends and New Beginnings, having done all of the research, knows the advantages of pursuing this target market. · Based upon their usage of Pinterest, the target market has a strong desire to obtain unique, handcrafted products for themselves or to give as gifts. · Although the target market lacks time, these women have disposable income to purchase products that they not only need, but want.

IV. Analysis of the External Market Environment and Competitor Analysis A group of twenty business women were having lunch and the topic of Pinterest was discussed. The overall consensus of the women was that Pinterest is a unique social media site that is loved as a way to connect with friends, but also has potential negative impacts.

A majority of the women agreed that Pinterest often cause them to feel inferior because, as busy women, there is not enough time to re-create the ideas. Ideally, the women feel that if Pinterest were to have a lasting impact in their lives, they would be able to re-create the items for themselves instead of just pinning the pictures to a virtual bulletin board.

After an analysis of Pinterest demographics, it is fair to say that business women cannot be the only ones who feel this way. ·

A “vast majority of users of Pinterest are between the ages of 25-54 (60secondmarketer.com).”

·

Roughly 80% of Pinterest users are female

·

60% have had “some college 19% hold bachelor’s degrees

·

35% earn between $25K and $49K per year

·

34% earn between $50K and $74K annually

·

23% have combined household incomes of $75K and up

A. Social and Cultural Environment Given these demographics, Pinterest users lead busy lives. After spending time in their careers, caring for their children, spouses, homes and often their aging parents, running from one child’s extracurricular activities to the next and trying to carve out some time to spend with friends, or even volunteer for a favorite charitable cause, there just is not enough time in the day for the

“vast majority” Pinterest users to actually have time to re-create the things that they post to their virtual bulletin boards.

In essence, Pinterest has created new ground-breaking business opportunities for those who want to help these women obtain what they feel is out of their reach.

This is the concept behind Book Ends and New Beginnings: Helping Pinterest users obtain their dreams.

Pinterest’s mission statement says “Pinterest is a place to discover ideas for all your projects and interests, hand-picked by people like you (Pinterest.com).” This is a wonderful idea, but if you fall into the category of the “vast majority” of Pinterest users, there is not time to reach Pinterest’s goals.

Pinterest is just four years old, founded in 2010, and because Pinterest has rapidly become the second most popular SNS in a short period of time (Creedon, A. 2013), Book Ends and New Beginnings can capitalize upon this trend and fulfill the dreams, wants and needs of Pinterest users to obtain hand-crafted, unique objects for themselves, their family, their homes, and gift giving.

B. Economic Environment Because a majority of Pinterest users tend to fall into the middle, upper-middle and upper class, based upon annual household incomes and education, they will be able to afford to purchase ready-made items from Book Ends and New Beginnings.

The economic benefit to Book Ends and New Beginnings is that the items are created by utilizing materials that are recycled and cost very little, if anything, to obtain. In turn, Book Ends and New Beginnings can keep prices lower than competitor hand-crafted items which make our items more appealing to the consumer. These factors will not change, regardless of overall economic fluctuations.

One economic factor that could negatively impact Book Ends and New Beginnings in the future is if Pinterest drops in status, becomes a publically traded entity or is replaced by a different trending SNS. Any of those external and internal factors could take away the creative inspiration of Book Ends and New Beginnings and opportunities to fulfill wants and needs of the consumers.

C. Technological Environment As Pinterest grows, more technological advances designed for businesses and individual users will make it easier for Book Ends and New Beginnings to utilize those tools to enhance its own business.

Pinterest is currently “looking to expand into overseas markets such as France, Germany and Japan (mashable.com), and this can enhance Book Ends and New Beginnings business by opening up new markets and trends, leading to more unique product creations.

However, Book Ends and New Beginnings will have to watch Pinterestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technological developments closely in order to utilize these tools in its own business for the betterment of its own target markets.

D. Political Environment If Pinterest should become a publically traded entity in the future, governmental regulations on creative license could negatively impact Book Ends and New Beginnings. As Pinterest currently functions, ideas can freely be re-created for personal use and/or profit for a majority of all craft items with the exception of those ideas linked to current websites with already patented or copyrighted products for sale. If Pinterest changes its policies due to regulations on publically traded entities, Book Ends and New Beginnings will have to find new creative inspiration so as not to infringe upon those licenses.

E. Legal Environment Book Ends and New Beginnings plans to remain legally and ethically clear of illegal and unethical creative theft by making sure that all items created for sale will use ideas from Pinterest, but not copy items exactly.

F. Competitor Analysis 1. As a home-based craft business, Book Ends and New Beginnings faces some competition.

1. As a local owned and operated business, Book Ends and New Beginnings sees its competitors as other home-based crafters who sell at local craft shows, markets and on the internet.

2. As a home-based business who also sells its product on its own website, other crafters who do so are seen as competition.

3. As an internet seller, Book Ends and New Beginnings may utilize other craft-selling internet clearinghouses, such as Ebay and Etsy, and sellers on those sites are also seen as potential competitors.

4. Once Book Ends and New Beginnings introduces its business mission and concept to the public, other competitors may emerge.

2. Book Ends and New Beginnings overcomes competition through a variety of differentiation tactics.

1. By creating items that have presented long-lasting trending on Pinterest, such as items crafted from used books, we will be able to fill wants of the target markets.

2. By allowing customers to be a part of the creative process through some material selection, custom features and product idea generation, we will be creating a personable experience for the customer. This sets us apart from competitors that create items first without the customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s input and material selection.

3. By creating products that are environmentally sustainable, this sets us apart from competitors who use suppliers to provide materials to create their products. This adds value to our product in the eyes of the consumer.

4. Book Ends and New Beginnings will practice ethical and caring top-notch customer service by always listening to its customers, watching trends, and being knowledgeable about trends, the customer, the materials we use, the environment and our product. This creates value to consumers who need to be heard, educated and up-to-date on a variety of issues while obtaining items that they want and need.

5. By actively participating with the customer and building a solid reputation, Book Ends and New Beginnings will be able to sustain its business when new competitors emerge.

3. Book Ends and New Beginnings works to overcome competitive barriers by continuing to differentiate itself from its competitors, continuously seeking new products and markets, expanding into a larger local geographical territory, continuously researching customer wants and need, communicating with the customer, use new technologies and being flexible to change when trends change.

See APPENDIX B for citations for the Analysis for the External Market and Competitor Analysis V. Porter’s Five Forces Analysis of the Market According to Michael Porter (1999-2010), there are “five forces” that make up influences of industrial competition. Those five forces are: supplier power, threat of new entrants and entry barriers, threat of substitutes, buyer power, and degree of rivalry. The suggested use of Porter’s model is for the “strategic business manager” to create an analysis of competition in order to “better understand the industry context in which the firm operates. This is an analysis of Book Ends and New Beginnings’ competition using Porter’s “framework.”

A. Buyer Power: Low Threat The pricing strategy of Book Ends and New Beginnings is to keep costs low for buyers. This alone makes the negotiating power of the buyer weak and other factors in Porter’s model supports this.

Book Ends and New Beginnings, as a privately owned small business, is the sole distributor and retailer of its products and controls the flow for the buyer.

Book Ends and New Beginnings maintains brand identity. This makes the buyer weak in that while the company has many competitors, the products that it produces “cannot easily (Porter)” be substituted by mass produced or other hand-made items.

The main threat to the company in Porter’s Buyer Power “characteristic” is that the buyers will have some influence over product selection and production. Book Ends and New Beginnings offers buyers the ability to vote on trending items in which the company will produce. Additionally, the buyers can customize certain products.

However, while this may make buyers strong, it also increases the value of the company to buyers by being an interactive company that strives to build a relationship with buyers. It also maintains the company’s mission to act similarly to the social media site Pinterest and buyers can easily identify their positive experience with that site with Book Ends and New Beginnings.

Additionally, because the company allows buyer input, there is a low margin of storage cost and turn-over time. This saves the company money in the long run, and having to find ways to sell old and outdated products.

Overall, because of Book Ends and New Beginnings production, pricing and marketing strategies, the buyer power is weak.

B. Supplier Power: Weak threat to Book Ends and New Beginnings

Because the materials to produce the products that Book Ends and New Beginnings offer are easily found for free or at an extremely low cost, the suppliers are weak. The materials to make the products are from recycled products found at tag sales, rummage sales, garage sales and donations of cast-away items also make the suppliers weak, and pose no credible threat in competition. Additionally, at the present time, there is no specialized equipment necessary in order to produce Book Ends and New Beginnings’ items for sale, which also contributes to the weakness of its suppliers.

C. Threat of Substitutes: Moderate to Low Threat The low cost and high availability of competitor products of Book Ends and New Beginnings’ products, makes the threat of substitutes high for the company. Because this is true, the demand is “elastic (Kotler & Armstrong 2014).” The strategy of Book Ends and New Beginnings to thwart this threat is to convince buyers that the quality and sustainability of our products teamed with the time-saving benefit of purchasing our products is no match for the competition. When buyers purchase competitor products they would be losing these benefits.

Buyers are already pinning ideas to their Pinterest boards, yet lack time and/or skill to execute the ideas. Book Ends and New Beginnings can offer these benefits over the competition.

D. Threat of New Entrants and Entry/Exit Barriers: Moderate threat to Book Ends and New Beginnings Book Ends and New Beginnings will always have the threat of both “incumbent rivals (Porter)” in similar local home-based and global craft producers via the internet, as well as mass producers of gift items. Additionally, there are many new producers of hand-made craft at any given time that enter the market. Both incumbent and new entries pose a threat to Book Ends and New Beginnings.

Yet, what makes this threat moderate, instead of high, to Book Ends and New Beginnings is that the “barriers to entry” that Porter lists are non-existent or minimal. There are no government barriers or “asset specificity.” Additionally, the brand differentiation that Book Ends and New Beginnings makes as a sustainable business give the company a selling advantage other competitors that use new materials in the production of their products.

Currently there is no “patents and proprietary knowledge” that will “restrict” Book Ends and New Beginnings entry into the market. While there is also no restriction on the entry of competition producing similar items, Book Ends and New Beginnings is expected to differentiate itself first in the market before competition enters, and before any proprietary knowledge restrictions may come into effect. This will give Book Ends and New Beginnings an industry advantage.

Lastly, it is easy for Book Ends and New Beginnings to exit the market. The assets will be salable and useful to other people and businesses, thus making exit costs low. Since this will be an independent business, this will also make it easy for Book Ends and New Beginnings to close shop if the co-owners agree to do so.

E. Degree of Rivalry

Because Book Ends and New Beginnings is entering a growth market in its location and is marketing itself as a relatively new concept in home-based craft businesses following the new social media site Pinterest, the degree of rivalry is low.

Additionally, because the buyer power, competitor substitution, entry/exit and supplier power threats are moderate to low, the degree of rivalry for the company is low.

The co-owners of the company will continuously monitor rivalry threat levels and will use three of Porter’s strategies to thwart rising competitors. First, the company will continue to market itself as having a “product differentiation” from the competitors in the supplies used to create the products, and customizable, trend-following products that buyers are already seeking to purchase. Book Ends and New Beginnings is also fulfilling the buyers’ need to acquire the product without sacrificing their time.

Second, the company will seek to use “distribution channel[s] that [are] novel to the industry. If another similar social media site to Pinterest should compete with that site, Book Ends and New Beginnings can easily follow that trend if it is in the best interest of the customer to do so.

Third, the company can build “relationships” with new suppliers of materials and use that as an advantage to the company and the customer to keep costs down and to continuously differentiate itself as a sustainable company.

See APPENDIX C for citations for Porter’s Five Forces Analysis VI. Price A. Book Ends and New Beginnings uses market-based pricing (Kijewski & Yoon 19908) in which the price is based upon research of the target market, competitors and the total cost to produce the products. Because of the diversity and low cost of the supplies this “differentiated pricing” method we can position our company to achieve greater profits than competitors with similar products, while still charging a lower unit price to satisfy customers’ needs for value. This pricing model works to the advantage of the customer and the company.

B. Cost of the product is determined by cost of supplies + time spent producing the product + marketing cost + business cost.

The cost of supplies is minimal because Book Ends and New Beginnings products are mainly created by using materials that are found free or at minimal cost at garage sales and rummage sales. Additional supplies may include, but are not limited to paint, glue, and thread.

Each different product that Book Ends and New Beginnings makes takes a set amount of time to produce after the learning period. The price of the cost of time varies from product to product and is determined by comparable pricing of competitors.

8

See APPENDIX D

Because Book Ends and New Beginnings is a home-based business, and the co-owners currently do all of the marketing for the company, the cost is minimal. Advertising, costs, travel, booth rental, website, and social media fees are considered into marketing costs. We recover these costs by sticking to a yearly budget for each line item cost and then dividing the total cost by the estimated number of units we expect to sell in that year. The quotient is then added to each unit. We do not profit from these expenses, however our profit is made by savings in supplies and marketing differentiation.

The business costs are figured the same way as the marketing costs. These expenses include, but are not limited to, electricity, equipment, and office supplies.

VII. Place A. Channel of Distribution Book Ends and New Beginnings uses mainly a direct channel, selling directly to the customer through local sales and our own website. Occasionally, when we want to test a new product, we also sell indirectly through online selling groups, such as Etsy.com.

B. Type of Retailer Book Ends and New Beginnings is a co-owned, home-based small business. The company is run by a mother/daughter team from one home location.

VIII. Promotion A. Objective The objective of our promotion is to present as much information about our sustainable products to the customer and the public, to increase the demand for our product over our competitorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; products, and to differentiate ourselves within the home-based crafting industry and to the target market.

B. Positioning For women age 35-50, Book Ends and New Beginnings is a time-saver, wish-fullfiller and sustainable business that is interested in building relationships with the customer and the local community. Book Ends and New Beginnings cares for the customer, the community and the environment.

Book Ends and New Beginnings establishes and maintains relationships with the customer that is built on high-quality customizable creations of products that the customer wants that equates to a unique shopping experience.

The products we produce are good for the environment by using supplies that are no longer wanted by other people or would have ended up in the dump.

We care for the community by giving back a portion of our profits on a monthly basis, as well as never refusing a product donation request from reputable charitable event coordinators.

C. The promotional mix (Kotler & Armstrong 443-445)9 that Book Ends and New Beginnings is currently using consists of: 1. Advertising: We use social media sites such as Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to advertise our products. We also advertise through local selling event brochures and ads, as well as rely heavily upon word-of-mouth advertising by our satisfied customers.

2. Personal Selling: We develop relationships with our customers when we customize their products. We keep detailed records of preferences and products purchased to personalize shopping experiences. We also develop relationships with customers face-to-face at selling events.

3. Sales Promotion: We do not currently use any sales promotions.

4. Public Relations: By working with local charities through our profit-sharing program, we are able to receive positive public relations. Oftentimes, the charity will publish a press release in local newspapers and in their organizational newsletters. We also receive positive public relations when we donate items for use at local charitable events such as auctions.

5. Direct Marketing: Like advertising, we utilize social media sites as our main direct marketing tool. We also sell directly through our own website. We do not currently have a print catalog or engage in direct mailings.

IX. Conclusion Book Ends and New Beginningsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; average customer is a busy wife and mom of three School-aged children who also cares for her aging parents while juggling a career, her childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extracurricular activities and volunteering at their school and for at least one community charity. After all that she does outside the home, and taking care of her home, she would rather spend a romantic evening with her husband or a fun-filled night out on the town with her best friends. Even though she has a desire to create unique items for herself, family, friends and home and seeks out how-to instructions in an average of 20 minutes per day on Pinterest, she just cannot seem to find the time.

Book Ends and New Beginnings is there to fill that need and desire by creating trending crafts found on Pinterest or to prepare all of the supplies for the target market, making it easier for her to fill that need to create.

Book Ends and New Beginnings is a company that thrives on nostalgia while using modern technology to benefit the customer, the environment, the local community, and the company.

9

See APPENDIX D

APPENDIX A Segmentation

Book Ends and New Beginnings is a business built upon Pinterest, hence the demographics are nearly the same.

Salman Aslam, of CMO and co-founder of Omnicore Digital Marketing, provides many of those demographics in his research. According to Aslam, the segmentation of the target market for Book Ends and New Beginnings is: 1. Gender: a. 83% of all Pinterest users are female.

2. Age: a. 32% are between the ages of 18 and 34. b. 45% are between the ages of 35 and 54. c. 23% are 55 years or older.

3. Geography: a. 70 million worldwide users of Pinterest. b. 15.8 million active users in the United States. c. 23% of all users reside in suburban areas; 19% reside in urban areas.

4. Education (Duggan & Brenner, Pew Institute 2013): a. 11% have a high school degree or higher. b. 16% have some college. c. 20% have college degrees.

5. Income segmentation, provided by Cooper Smith, of Business Insider Magazine:

6. Demographics of geographical proximity to Book Ends and New Beginnings: Herkimer County, NY (city-data.com):

a. Population: 98% urban/suburban; 2% rural. b. 53% female. c. Median age range: 37 years old. d. Median household income: $26.5K. e. 14.8% have a Bachelor’s degree or higher; 85% have a high school diploma or higher.

7. Demographics of geographical proximity to Book Ends and New Beginnings: Oneida County, NY (city-data.com): a. Population 67% urban/suburban; 33% rural. b. 50.2% female. c. Median age range: 40 years old. d. Median household income: $63K. e. 18.3% have a Bachelor’s degree or higher; 79% have a high school diploma or higher.

Target Market Comparison between local geographic area to average Pinterest Users 100 90 80 70 60 Local

50

Pinterest 40 30 20 10 0 % Female

Ag. Age

% Ed Above HS

Inc. Av. In Thous.

Explanation: The percentage of females in Book Ends and New Beginning’s local geographical area is lower than that of the Pinterest users. The average age of Pinterest users and those residing in Book Ends and New Beginning’s geographical area are within the same age range. The average percentage of those educated at the high school or above in the local region is higher than the

average Pinterest user. The average income in the local region is lower than that of the average Pinterest user, but still within range.

Other comparisons: Geographically, the local region of mainly urban/suburban dwellers matches that of the average Pinterest user.

Target Market decision: Based upon the comparison of the demographics, it is determined that the target market for Book Ends and New Beginnings should and does equal that of the average Pinterest user.

The average target customer of Book Ends and New Beginnings is a woman, between the ages of 35 and 50, who works outside the home, is educated beyond high school, and who has an average household of between $35K and $45K. The target market will include: · Working women Due to the nature of the product, the target market will also include: · Environmentally conscious people · People seeking unique and meaningful gifts and personal use items · Brides · Public library users Places in which to reach target markets: · Pinterest and Facebook · Local public library bulletin board and gift boutique · Word-of-mouth · Local craft shows · Website · Local bridal fairs · Local gift boutiques that feature locally made products · Local farmers markets Potential Growth within Target Market According to the New York State Department of Labor (2014), the unemployment rate in the Mohawk Valley region decreased by 2% for the 15th consecutive month in April of 2014.

Additionally, the jobless rate fell, and is expected to continue falling.

As the new nano technology manufacturing facility in Utica, NY continues to hire and bring in more educated people to the region, the unemployment rate shall continue to fall, and the average income will continue to rise (Cuomo, A. 2014). As more nano businesses, such as the nano film production studio (Tampone and Knauss 2014), move into the region, this will continue to promote growth in nearly all industries, allowing for more people to be employed in the education, service, manufacturing, retail, construction and healthcare fields.

Internal and External Factors in Purchasing Decisions Internal Factors: · Availability of materials

·

Crafting skill ability of co-owners

External Factors: · Customer feedback · Disposable income of customers · Occasions in which gifts are needed or wanted · Migration of residents in and out of local region · Job growth and decline · Competition

Cited Sources Aslam, S. (2014). 30 reasons to market your business on Pinterest in 2014. Retrieved from the Business2community website by Omnicore Digital Marketing. http://www.business2community.com/infographics/30-reasons-market-businesspinterest-2014-infographic-0763727#!SY67u.

City-data.com (2013). Demographics of Herkimer and Oneida counties, New York State.

Retrieved from www.city-data.com.

Cuomo, A. M., Gov. (2014). Governor Cuomo’s press release, April 23. Retrieved from https://www.governor.ny.gov/press/04242014-nano-utica-job-fair.

Duggan, M. & Brenner, J. (2013). Social Networking Site Users. Pew Institute: Pew Research Internet Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/02/14/socialnetworking-site-users/.

New York State Department of Labor (2014). Labor Statistics for the Mohawk Valley Region.

Retrieved from http://labor.ny.gov/stats/moh/index.shtm.

Smith, C. (2013). Social media demographics: the surprising identity of each major social Network. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/a-primer-onsocial-media-demographics-2013-9.

Tampone, K. and Knauss, T. (2014). Meet the film producer behind the DeWitt nano hubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first tenant. The Post Standard. Syracuse, NY. Retrieved from http://www.syracuse.com /news/index.ssf/2014/03/syracuse_dewitt_nano_hub_film_company.html.

APPENDIX B Cited Sources for the Analysis of External Market Environment and Competitor Analysis Creedon, A. (2013). Demographics of users of social media, summarized. Nonprofit Quarterly. Website. Retrieved from nonprofitquarterly.org/policysocialcontext/22969-the-demographics-of-users-of-social-media-summarized.html.

Mashable (2014). Pinterest. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/category/pinterest/.

Pinterest (2014). Pinterest website. Retrieved from http://about.pinterest.com/en/press.

60 Second Marketer (2014). Pinterest user demographic data infographics. Retrieved from http://60secondmarketer.com/blog/2012/02/21/pinterest-user-demographic-data-infographic/.

APPENDIX C Cited Sources for Porterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Five Forces Analysis Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2014). Principles of Marketing 15th Ed. Essex, England: Pearson Education Limited.

Porter, M. (1999-2010). Porters five forces: a model for industry analysis. Quick MBA website.

Retrieved from http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/porter.shtml.

APPENDIX D Cited Sources for Executive Summary, (VI) Price, (VII) Place, and (VIII) Promotion Sections

Horn, L. (13 Feb. 2012). Pinterest Users . . . PC Magazine. Website. Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400187,00.asp.

Kijewski, V. & Yoon, E. (1990). Market-Based Pricing: Beyond Price-Performance Curves.

University of Massachusetts Lowell. Retrieved from http://faculty.uml.edu/vkijewski/priceperf.pdf.

Leone, M. (2014). Longing for the Past: The Nostalgic Semiosphere. Academia Share Research.

Website. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/5501556/2014__Longing_for_the_Past_The_Nostalgic_Semiosphere.

Smith, C. (2014). By the Numbers: 94 Amazing Pinterest Statistics. Digital Marketing Ramblings. Website. Retrieved from http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/pintereststats/#.U6oIGfldWSo.