What Has Been Achieved So Far

Facebook

Before we started our campaign Cupcakes by Jo already had a Facebook account set up.  This is how they generate the business and is the only way people can order cupcakes by finding Jo's e-mail on the page or posting directly on the page.  Without this page Jo stated that her business would not be able to exist.  Facebook has allowed her to reach a mass audience and with our help we have now increased her likes from 1,500 to 1,740 all in the space of one week.  This is extremely impressive for her business as it is only a small stall in the Market which is not very well known.  

As discussed previously, we are now all administrators of the Facebook page and below are photos of what we can view.

Twitter

When we started our campaign Cupcakes by Jo was a stranger to Twitter,  by setting up another social media tool we are now reaching an even wider range of people.  The Twitter is updated daily about the cupcakes for sale that day and some general information about the business.  We currently have 136 followers on Twitter.  This was achieved within one week and everyday we are continuing to get new followers.

We have been relatively successful already on Twitter, with Original FM (a leading radio station in Aberdeen) telling their followers to follow Cupcakes By Jo by using the 'follow friday' hash tag.  They have 1,933 followers at the moment which means many more people will be aware of the small business.

Campaign Success So Far


We had a meeting with Jo on Monday 5th March.  She was overly impressed of how much interest her business has recieved in the past week thanks our work.  She stated that she sold out of cupcakes at her shop for the first time ever on Saturday, and has had a high demand for her newest cupcake trial, the Creme Egg cupcake, which was only promoted through her Twitter account by us. 

Radio 1

On the 9th March at 7.35am Cupcakes By Jo was shouted out on the Chris Moyles Show on Radio 1.  This is an amazing achievement as Radio 1 is the biggest radio station in the UK, and the Chris Moyles Breakfast Show is one of the most popular shows on radio.  This is very exciting and we hope to achieve more things like this.

History of the Cupcake Market

The cupcake market boomed in 2000 when an episode of Sex and the City showed Miranda and Carrie indulging in cupcakes outside New York's Magnolia Bakery.  Now, there are fan pages for cupcakes all over the internet, from Facebook pages with thousands of 'likes' to Twitter accounts with thousands of followers.  Blogs, YouTube channels and much more tools are being used by businesses and fans alike, adding to the massive growth in popularity for the tasty treats.

YouTube

There are thousands of videos on YouTube relating to cupcakes.  These include stop motions, recipes, 'how to' videos and much more.  At the moment, if you search 'cupcakes' on YouTube there are over 33,200 videos, some having millions of views.  This shows the extent of their popularity and the vast amount of interest people have in this market.  

Why are cupcakes so popular?

What makes cupcakes so popular? Are they really the perfect dessert? The answer may be in their individual size; small enough to eat by yourself but big enough to satisfy a craving for something sweet. Is it their decoration? They can be plain or fancy, casual or formal, crazy colored or pristine white. Is it because they bring back memories of childhood? The delight of having a cake small enough to fit in tiny hands and not having to share…the peeling off of the wrapper like a little present.  Perhaps it is the versatility of a plate of cupcakes. Suitable for a midmorning coffee break, afternoon tea or even a wedding reception, cupcakes are always welcome. They can be decorated for specific events or seasons, making them current and exciting. Everyone loves a cupcake.

Cupcakes are also very popular with celebrities, which obviously is why they are seen as trendy and fashionable.  Even Kim Kardashian has launched her very own cupcake!

Statistics


In 2011 cupcakes sales rocketed by 11% and they account for 9.9% of all cake sales worldwide.  The cupcake market is growing year-by-year despite the recession, and shows no sign of slowing down.


According to www.nationalcupcakeweek.co.uk total cupcake consumption occasions (in home/carried out/out-of-home), excluding homemade, reached 44 million, up 11% year-on-year; this rises to 65 million occasions if you include home-baked cupcakes, up 52%.  These figures show that there's still a massive, growing demand for cupcakes. It's craft bakeries, coffee shops and independent cake decorators that are behind the growth - data shows they are by far outperforming the supermarkets, which struggle to match them on skill and creativity.

Viral Videos

When creating a marketing project such as this, a vital aspect to consider is the concept of 'Viral Videos'.

These are videos that are created and shared through your business website, blogs, emails and other media sharing websites such as Youtube. These are passed on via emails and social networking sites such as Facebook at a fast rate to many more people, which makes it “viral”. The main reason these videos are passed on are because they contain humour or content that is meaningful to the person. These videos are an important promotional tool as when a video goes viral it can increase business and awareness of your product/service vastly. These videos are also a great way of advertising your business as they are low cost and easily shared unlike other methods such as television or radio.

An example of a successful viral video use can be seen with the now world famous "Charlie bit me" video. This video now has over 400million hits on YouTube and has gained world wide "viral" status simply by being passed on via emails and social networking sites.

By creating videos such as this for Cupcakes by Jo we believe this could generate even more business, particularly as there are holidays such as Mothers Day and Easter coming up in the near future. Videos could be themed around these events, possibly using characters such as 'The Easter Bunny' to add some humour, and therefore making the video more likely to be passed on and become viral.

Website

We decided to create a website for Cupcakes by Jo because it creates a professional image of the business. Also, older customers are more likely to search for a website to place an order rather than using social media. The website will allow us to showcase a gallery of her products to potential customers a stylish and effective way.  We will use DSLR cameras to take high-quality photographs of the cupcakes which will persuade people to purchase them.


The website is a perfect opportunity to give a more descriptive view of the business. As it does not have a limiting word count like Twitter we can include lots of information on specific cupcake flavours, contact details, location, events and promotions.

The website will allow for information access 24 hours a day, which is essential with the busy lives of people today.


A key aspect of the website will be that it helps create and promote a strong brand image by linking all our social media together. There will be links provided to both our Facebook and Twitter pages. and YouTube channel. Without a website we could potentially miss a large range of customers that use websites rather than social networking sites.

Facebook

Cupcakes By Jo's current focus is Facebook, which is already a big success and reaches a large number of people.  Facebook allows us to share both images and posts about products, promotions and events.  People who "like" the Facebook page will be able to view all the updates and this will encourage them to become loyal customers. In addition, Facebook users will have the opportunity to ask questions and order from the business.  By updating daily this allows fans of the page to view new products and be aware of upcoming promotions and events.

To allow us to monitor Cupcakes by Jo's Facebook page we have been given the opportunity to be administrators. This gives us full access to the page itself and all followers of the page. By having this means of control it allows us to regularly update and edit existing information.  We are able to monitor success through the 'Insights' tab on the page, which shows us 'likes', reach, check-ins, people talking about the business and information on the fans, e.g. gender, age, location, etc. 

An advantage of Facebook is that it is a more persuasive tool than advertising as people are more likely to trust what their friends and family are talking about. Facebook is also free and easy to use. A wide range of ages use Facebook as a means of social media which will allow us to reach our target audiences easily.

In addition, as some of our competitors do not use Facebook or are not very active on their accounts and this gives us a big advantage as our target market will not be overwhelmed by similar competing pages. 

Target Market

The target market for Cupcakes By Jo is everyone within the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire areas.  The cupcake market is so diverse and appeals to everyone, so we have to ensure we target everyone within this project.

Our promotional activities, competitions, events and social media have to appeal to all ages and both genders.

Children

Cupcakes are a fun and tasty treat for young children.  The bright colours and decorative designs are especially appealing to this age range.  The cookie monster cupcake is a perfect example of this as it is brightly coloured and is decorated as a children's television character. 

Teenagers

Cupcakes are becoming very trendy and fashionable in society today, and teenagers are always trying to be 'cool'.  Cupcakes are also becoming very popular for birthdays for teenagers, replacing actual birthday cakes, particularly for milestone birthdays e.g. 18th.  

Adults (mainly women)

Cupcakes are very popular for occasions such as engagement parties, hen nights, mother's day, birthdays, weddings and even for Ann Summer's parties.  As previously stated, they are fashionable and becoming more and more popular.  Also, the majority of cupcake designs are very feminine, with flowers, glitter and pastel colours.  Therefore there will be a very strong focus on this market as they are the most likely to purchase the products out of all the other target markets.  Men will still be targeted to some extent as they may be purchasing cupcakes as gifts for females. 

Cupcakes By Jo will target a variety of markets within Aberdeen and the surrounding areas as cupcakes are seen as a special treat for all.  By effectively targeting our activity to these markets, we will massively increase awareness and eventually increase sales.

Communication

A Facebook mail has been set up between team members. This will allow us to interact with eachother at any time and overall improve communication within the team. Problems can be addressed, meetings can be arranged and general information about the project can be shared. This will increase the effectiveness of our work and allow us to work very well as a team. As we all live in different areas of Aberdeen, and have different schedules of classes and acvitivities outside of University, this allows us to keep in constant contact with ease.

We also have contstant communication with Jo herself, through phonecalls, Facebook and regular meetings.  We will keep her up-to-date with how the project is going, recieve feedback from her and discuss all project activity to ensure she is happy with what we are doing. 

Twitter

Small businesses need to use Twitter for many reasons, which is why this is our first focus of the campaign.  

Firstly, Twitter is quick and cost effective.  It costs nothing to set up or use, but will greatly increase awareness and sales and can be used to interact with existing and potential customers.  It is also very easy to use, whether it is for speaking to customers, answering questions or getting feedback on events and promotions, it is a vital tool to help Cupcakes By Jo become more successful.

Twitter also allows a business to reach out to a new audience who may not be aware of the business yet.  By having an non-private account, anyone can view our tweets and join in conversations.  By receiving new followers, we can keep these people up-to-date with the latest news and information about Cupcakes By Jo, stimulating their interest and eventually increasing awareness and sales.  We can also create loyal customers by regularly interacting with them on the social network site, for example by retweeting, following and mentioning them. 

Having Twitter can also be used to direct people to the Facebook page, YouTube channel and the website which will again increase awareness and sales.  It means that not all information has to be included on Twitter, and people can view full details elsewhere at their convenience.  By overlapping all forms of social media, it will increase awareness of the business to a wide audience.  

After setting up Twitter for Cupcakes By Jo, we aim to get over 200 followers.  We will specifically target local people as this will be more effective than having a wide scope accross the country as only people within the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire area will be able to purchase products from the shop.  We also plan to target accounts that have a large number of followers and that can persuade people to follow our account, for example Northsound 1, Original FM and STV.  If accounts such as these were to interact with us, it would encourage more people to follow and interact with us. 

Initially, we will follow a large number of local accounts to increase awareness of Cupcakes By Jo.  This will also gain us followers. We will interact with these people; upload photos; create Twitter-only competitions (where people have to mention @CupcakesByJo); get involved in trending topics; share links to our videos, website, Facebook; and constantly tweet about the products and promotional activity.

Competitor Analysis

Hannah Bakes Cakes

Hannah Bakes Cakes is a stall situated in Union Square in Aberdeen.  It specialises in cupcakes in various flavours.  She currently has a Facebook page with 700 'likes', and a website.  They charge £1.50 per cupcake and 50p packaging for every 6 cupcakes.  Delivery is £2. 

The biggest strength of Hannah Bakes Cakes is their location.  As the stall is in such a busy place within the city centre, this poses a big threat to Cupcakes By Jo as much more people will be aware of the business and have the opportunity to have higher sales.  This means that a lot has to be done to encourage people to go to Indoor Market instead. 

Another strength of the business is their website which has pages including "About Us", "Our Cupcakes", "Delivery Area" and "Contact".  As Cupcakes By Jo does not have a website yet, this is a potential threat, and means a priority of this campaign is to create an effective website.

The main weakness of Hannah Bakes Cakes is their lack of social media.  They currently do not have Twitter, which is a key tool for small businesses, and this can be used to our advantage.  It means that we can target people on through Twitter without competing with this business.  Although they have a Facebook account, the number of followers is reasonably low compared to that of Cupcakes By Jo, giving us an advantage straight away. 
  

BiBi's Bakery

BiBi's has a small shop located on Schoolhill in Aberdeen between the Bon Accord and St Nicolas shopping centres. They also have shops in Edinburgh and St Andrews.  They have a strong brand image and are quite active with their social media having Facebook, Twitter and a website.  They currently have 52 followers on Twitter and over 5000 'likes' on Facebook.  They charge £1.75 per cupcake.

The main strengths of this company is their strong brand image and their central location in the city centre.  The crossing between the two shopping centres is always extremely busy which means a large amount of local people will be aware of the business.  Also, as they have an actual shop as opposed to a stall, this is obviously a big advantage for them as it looks very professional and inclines people to think the products will be of high quality.  They will have a lot more resources - including budget and staff -  than Cupcakes By Jo and Hannah Bakes Cakes as they are a chain of stores accross Scotland.

Another main strength of the business is their website which is very good.  The layout, photography and animation used is very stylish and works extremely well.  It also includes a vast amount of information about their business and gives customers the ability to book baking courses and order cupcakes.  It also provides links to their blog, Facebook and Twitter.

However, even though BiBi's is a big company, they currently only have 52 followers on Twitter.  As mentioned previously, this can be used to our advantage and reduces local competitors on the social netoworking site. 

Blackbird Bakery


Blackbird Bakery is a shop located on Union Grove in Aberdeen. They currently have a website and a blog.  Prices for their cupcakes vary and can be between £1.75 and £2.25 per cake. 


The main strength of this business is that it is a traditional bakery with loyal customers.  Like BiBi's they have an actual shop located in the city centre, portraying the products as high class. 


As they do not have Facebook or Twitter, this is a major weakness. This means they are not targeting their customers as well as they could be, and leaves it open for competitors.  Their website is basic with not a lot of information, and the colour scheme does not work well.


Overall, Blackbird Bakery does not pose a big threat to Cupcakes By Jo as we will be much more active on social media sites and target our audience better.  Also, as their bakery is more traditional and owned by an older person, their target market is not the same as Cupcakes By Jo's and are less inclined to use social media.

Key Dates

These are the planned key dates, however they may change due to unforeseen circumstances.  This schedule will be followed and reviewed regularly to ensure maximum success.  Jo has been given a copy of the schedule too and it will be edited according to her availability.

Interdependencies

The success of this campaign is dependent on certain factors.  The main factor is Jo's availability to meet with us and to complete customer orders on time. As she is the only person working for Cupcakes By Jo, she must be able to deal with all customer orders on time or customers will be unsatisfied.  She also has to be able to meet with us regularly to discuss the campaign to ensure everything is running to plan. 


The groups availability is also a key factor as we have different timetables at university and also have commitments outside of university. However, we will ensure to meet at least once a week and keep in regular contact via the Facebook mail that has been set up between us.  We will distribute tasks fairly between the group taking into considerations people's availability.


As we will have to book out equipment including cameras, video cameras and tripods, we will  be highly dependent on their availability.  This could impact our schedule and changes may have to be made depending on when the equipment is available. 

Limitations

Although we are all confident this campaign will be a success, there are several limitations.

Firstly, the financial aspect of the campaign could limit our ability to create flyers and promotional material to advertise the business and upcoming events. 

Legislation is also a concern within this project with regards to filming the viral videos as permission is required to film in certain locations, for example, shopping centres.  This could prove more difficult than originally planned.  We will also need consent from individuals before we can film them for legal reasons. 


Safety is also a limitation of the campaign, especially for filming the videos.  We must must ensure the public is safe by following risk assessment procedures, and also take care of the equipment.

Reaching older customers could prove to be a problem.  As one of our main focuses of this campaign is social media, we may not effectively reach this age group as they are less likely to use social media or use it a lot less frequently than younger customers. 

Location for promotional activity may limit our success also as, again, we will need permission to hand out flyers in certain places.  

Although there are limitations, we do not feel these will affect the success of our campaign and we will take all the necessary steps to ensure we avoid all possible problems.  

Assumptions

During the planning stage for this campaign we created aims and objectives that we believed were achievable whilst still being challenging.  

Our group is confident we will successfully achieve all the aims and objectives, and believe we can exceed our current expectations.  

As our group has a diverse range of skills, interests, knowledge and contacts we believe this campaign will be a success.  

We feel that cupcakes as a product are extremely current, fashionable are enjoyed by a wide range of people of all ages.  With occasions such as Mother's Day and Easter approaching, we are confident that they will bring in a high volume of business and interest. Cupcakes are highly popular online with hundreds of thousands of people searching videos and photos of the products. This shows that this market is already very competitive and it is constantly expanding, proving that Cupcakes By Jo can be extremely popular and successful. 


We will create a positive attitude amongst the target market and make Cupcakes By Jo a friendly, happy and exciting business. 

Success Criteria

We will constantly monitor our social media and edit our level of presence depending on the level of activity the business is recieving.  For example, if we have not received many new followers on Twitter within a certain period of time, we will introduce competitions/promotions to increase interest from customers. 

We will have regular meetings with Jo to evaluate sales figures and levels of interest within the store to assess the effectiveness of our work.  This will again allow us to edit our social media, promotion and events accordingly.

Depending on levels of interest in Cupcakes By Jo, we will either increase or decrease activity so that she is not overwhelmed or lacking any business.  



Specific success criteria for social media has been given in the 'Objectives' section.

Objectives

We have numerous objectives to help achieve our aims:

• Set up Twitter and get over 200 followers
• Set up a YouTube channel and upload viral videos
• Increase Facebook 'likes' by over 200
• Create and maintain a successful and stylish website for the business
• Create a logo for the brand
• Keep all social media platforms up-to-date
• Organise special events, promotions and competitions for Mother's Day and Easter
• Organise competitions to create excitement and reward customers
• Interact with current and potential customers

These objectives are within an achievable range with a possibility of exceeding.  By succeeding in these objectives the campaign will have an extremely positive outcome.  All objectives are to be achieved by 18th April 2012 and will be contantly reviewed by the whole team throughout.

Aim/Vision of Campaign

The main aim of this campaign is to increase awareness of Cupcakes By Jo in the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire area to a wide market.  She already has a large number of customers, but this project will expand her range of clients and potential interest from local businesses even further.

Our other main aims are to increase sales by 20%.  This is an achievable target as she is already very busy and would not cope with a higher percentage increase. 


We also aim to create and build Cupcakes By Jo as a brand by inventing a logo, designing flyers and businesses cards and effectively using social media.  This will also help achieve our other aim of creating loyal customers within the area. 

Background Information

Cupcakes By Jo was founded in 2010.  Jo began baking when she received a cupcake baking kit at Christmas, and from then on her cakes became extremely popular with her friends.  This then expanded to a wider circle of clients and she decided to create a business to sell her creations to the public.  She set up a Facebook page in May 2011 to create awareness of her business, and because of the high demand for her cakes she set up a small stall in the Indoor Market in Aberdeen.  This stall was located in her Mother's news agent.  She then went on to purchase her own larger premises also in the Indoor Market.  


Currently Jo is baking between 200 - 300 cakes a week to cater for the high demand of her product.  In addition she does personalized orders, cake-pops, and mass orders for businesses.


All of the products are baked by Jo herself.  A lot of time and effort is put in to creatively decorating and presenting the cakes, making them very appealing to customers.  Although there are other cupcake businesses in Aberdeen city centre, Cupcakes By Jo is unique and stylish. 


At the moment, Jo only has one form of social media to interact with potential and existing clients.  This is her Facebook page, where she currently has just over 1500 'likes'. 

We feel with the combination of our Public Relations and Media skills, we can help expand Jo's business by increasing awareness through social media, promotions and events. This will also expand her client base. 


Jo herself does not have enough time or skills to create and keep up with social media demands, therefore we feel she is a perfect client for us.