Marketing+Objectives

In terms of implementing our marketing strategy, we will have to set realistic marketing objectives in order to achieve our goals of increasing the brand awareness of CBMA and building a significant clientele by May 2012. We have chosen May of this year as our goal because this is when prom and bridal customers will be seeking our client’s services. It would be ideal to establish an online presence for CBMA just in time to capitalize on this rush. In order to execute our marketing strategy, we will employ the SMART criteria in order to set realistic goals for our client and ourselves.

First, we need to be // specific // about our main objectives: we want to build consumers, increase brand awareness, and help CBMA book her clients. We will use Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter as platforms for promoting our client. In terms of building consumers, we are keen to build a rich clientele of potential customers that will continue to return to CBMA and in turn promote the company to their peers. In order to do so, we must set CBMA apart from its competitors and cater to the industry’s most promising aspect: bridal make-up. Although the client will focus on all aspects of make-up artistry, we will build consumer demand by enticing potential bridal customers (through promotions and in-home services) before branching off into the other services and clientele that CBMA will cater to. In order to get the CBMA name out there, we will need to market the brand in such a way that // all // potential clients will be aware of it – this is where our social media presence will be a helpful asset. Although bridal clients will generate the most revenue, our social media strategy will promote the CBMA brand to all kinds of potential clients. Our main goal is to promote the client’s brand so that they may stand out and be well known in their industry. In addition to creating brand awareness and building consumer demand, we will also have to focus on tactics that will help CBMA book their clientele, namely gaining personal relationships and showcasing our client’s services through the social media platforms. Our strategy will have to entice potential customers and help our client hold on to their business.
 * Specific **

In addition to being specific, our marketing objectives will have to // measurable // so that we may keep track of our client’s progress and examine exactly how our strategy is holding up purely in terms of the numbers. Since a great deal of our marketing strategy involves the use of social media platforms, we will be able to measure exactly how much and what kinds of activity are taking place in relation to CBMA. Many platforms allow their small business users to view the statistics of their “pages” by charting their progress in terms of views, comments, shared links, “likes”, followers, tags, etc. Supplementing these numerical breakdowns will be the client’s personal interaction with customers online. CBMA will be able to measure its popularity and success merely according to her online interaction with users. We will also be able to measure our client’s success by examining the amount of customers she has booked and the number of pay-videos that have been ordered. Social media, client-customer interaction, and order/booking numbers will each allow us to evaluate and measure exactly how much activity is surrounding our client.
 * Measurable **

Next, we will have to ensure that our marketing objectives are // achievable. // We believe that our marketing objectives can indeed by fulfilled within the suggested time frame since they are fairly simple and quick to set up. The online presence is definitely achievable because all of the social media platforms we intend to use are free and user-friendly – meaning that our client and their customers will have no trouble engaging with one another. Also, since our client already has her own loyal clientele, which she has gained from a current occupation, she may do additional offline promotion through these customers and aid in the “booking of clientele” aspect as outlined in the abovementioned specific marketing objectives.
 * Achievable **

With achievability comes the fact that our marketing objectives need to be // realistic. // Our current strategy and its objectives are indeed realistic as they are flexible and do not require a lot of labour and finances. We will use the Internet and its free social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter) to create CBMA’s social media presence. Our client will also need to interact with consumers online, helping her gain relationships on a more personal level – this is important since she will be providing clients with in-home services. Seeing as the interaction will take place mostly online, it will be relatively easy for our client to interact with consumers on her own time and at her own convenience. CBMA will also need to publish weekly tutorial/promotional videos and post them online. This could potentially be the most time-consuming aspect of our marketing objectives, but will greatly aid in promotion of the brand, similarly to the current YouTube make-up artist sensations we have become accustomed to seeing. We believe that since our client already has a Facebook page and is accustomed to interacting with customers (both online and offline), she will have no problem expanding her online presence.
 * Realistic **

Our current objective is indeed // time-based // as we would like to establish our client’s online presence by May 2012, just in time for bridal and prom season – the most profitable time of year in the make-up industry. If we are able to effectively promote CBMA by this deadline, we will be able to provide our client with enough brand awareness to ensure that she gains clients for the remainder of the year.
 * Time-Based **

Our intended marketing plan is aimed at generating awareness of CBMA’s brand in addition to helping our client establish a lasting relationship with her customers. We want our client to come across as personable as possible – her brand needs to not only exude professionalism, but friendliness as well, especially since her prospective clients will be inviting her into their homes and social circles for services. We hope to provide our client with an online presence, particularly within social media platforms, and establish her brand as one that stands apart from its peers. If we succeed in promoting lasting relationships between our client and her consumers, we can guarantee that she will have many satisfied returning customers, as well as the business of their peers. In addition to creating an online presence and promoting brand awareness, we hope that our strategy will also build a consumer base and help CBMA begin booking new clientele. Her online presence will enable her to reach out to customers beyond the loyal clients she already has and hopefully allow her to gain new contacts and clients in the make-up industry.
 * Desired Outcomes **

The // measurable // and // time-based // aspects of the SMART objectives will be the best indicators at determining the success of the marketing strategy. Since our strategy involves a mainly online approach, the results of our client’s social media activity will be almost instantaneous. By interacting with consumers online through her social media platforms, CBMA will be able to receive immediate feedback in regards to her success, therefore allowing us to adjust our marketing strategy/tactics accordingly. Also, we will be able to determine the success of the social media presence simply by looking at the numbers surround the client’s activity within these platforms – we will be able to see what potential customers like/dislike/want/need. Also, seeing as our strategy is time-based, we essentially have a deadline that will help us determine the success of our client’s marketing plan. We hope to implement our strategy by May 2012 so that we may capitalize on the upcoming weddings and proms of this season. CBMA will be able to determine exactly how successful our strategy is depending on the amount of clients she has received as a direct result of our marketing plan.
 * SMART Objectives as Success Indicators **

Although our marketing strategy will undoubtedly take a while before it can actually perform successfully, we have a few short-term goals in mind. We would definitely like to implement as much online and social content as possible in order to promote CBMA and make the brand as accessible as we can. We aim to do this by creating business accounts on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter – these three platforms will help us reach all types of social media users. We also expect our client to promote herself and her new brand to her current clients so that they may direct their peers to her online presence. We hope to interact with CBMA’s budding clientele base in order to find out their needs, wants, likes, dislikes, etc. and adjust our strategy accordingly. We would also like to begin the online video subscriptions so that our client may cater to customers that are not close by or require online make-up tutorials. In order to build brand awareness and entice potential customers, we will also encourage CBMA to offer promotions/coupons in order to get bookings and build a clientele. Once clients take advantage of these offers, they may be inclined to return to CBMA and even promote amongst their peers.
 * Short-Term Goals **

In terms of long-term goals for our client, we mainly hope to provide her with constant clientele through our online strategy. By incorporating interactivity into our strategy, we hope that CBMA will gain long-term loyal online followers and subscribers. We also hope to ensure that our client develops a broad clientele for in-home services that she can continue to depend on. And we would also like CBMA to regularly interact with her online consumers in order to maintain connections with potential and current customers.
 * Long-Term Goals **