Marketing & Branding Plan
2020
BOI
Redefining Sexy
B
OI PLANS ON LAUNCHING IT'S E-COMMERCE STORE
AND FIRST COLLECTION IN 2020. THE FOLLOWING IS A STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN AND BRANDING PLAN IN PREPARATION FOR THE COMPANIES LAUNCH. OUTLINED IS OUR MARKETING STRATEGIES, TACTICS, ACTIVITIES, COSTS, AND THE PROJECTED RESULTS OF OUR EFFORTS.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Section
Title
Pg.
01
Executive Summary
01
02
Who We Are
05
03
Our Brand
15
04
Our Products
25 4
04
The BOI's
33
06
Market Analysis
39
07
Marketing Strategy
55
08
Financial Analysis
75
09
Summary
79
10
Bibliography
83
11
Appendix
87
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
BOI LINGERIE
2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING
2
1
In today’s lingerie market, there is a large gap when it comes to queer representation. Based on a survey we conducted, 86% of the people surveyed felt that the lingerie industry does not or cater to the
LGBTQ+ community (see appendix 1.1). Due to this, the
brand BOI was created in order to f ill this gap. We are essentially creating a brand that does not see diversity as just a box to tick but as the bases of who we are. Combining this with a sustainable model of production. BOI will be a success in the market; setting standards high for already existing and future lingerie brands. The following document is a strategic marketing and branding strategic plan for the launch of BOI.
WHO WE ARE BOI is essentially a lingerie brand for queer people by queer people. The brand was started by Ivy Hope, a femme lesbian who saw the gap in the lingerie industry and decides to f ill it. Mission: Our lingerie aims to aid our customers in their journey of self -love; empowering people who have been undervalued by the mainstream lingerie industry. Values: Honesty, Accountability, Passion, Inclusion, Sustainability Vision: A world that values diversity and inclusivity, allowing every being to feel beautiful in their skin, no matter their identity.
OUR PRODUCTS BOI specializes in handmade sustainable lingerie. Our products are made f rom bamboo silk, jersey, and organic cotton; and hand dyed with plants such as turmeric, indigo, and madder root. In addition, we use deadstock lace, allowing us to have a minimal environmental impact
THE BOI CONSUMER As mentioned, BOI is a brand for queer femme-presenting people. Our target customer essentially lives in urban areas, is apart of generation z (16-25), a student or recent grad, and non-gender conforming.
MARKET ANALYSIS Over the past few years, the lingerie industry has been experiencing a large shift; moving towards diversity, inclusivity, and comfort. With this is also a rise in the industries market share. There are not many lingerie brands that are operating the same as BOI. However, in our competitor analysis, we do outline three direct competitors; JBC Lingerie, Origami Customs, and Playful Promise.
MARKETING Our marketing plan is based on four methods: cause, relationship, digital, and word of mouth. Our marketing team will use a mix of these efforts that co-function with each other and drive one another, a unique and effective combination. Our success measurements are based on three key components: Sales Reach break even within the f irst 2 years of operations Generate 100 marketing qualif ied leads within the f irst year of operations Digital Reach a 10% monthly website traff ic growth rate by the 4th quarter. Reach a social media engagement rate of 2% per post by the 4th quarter Community 3 influencer partnerships within the f irst 6 months of operations. 200 email list subscribers by the end of the f irst quarter
Marketing Efforts: Social Media Campaign Pop-up Shop The BOI’s Club Blog Email Marketing Campaign External Media Relations
BRANDING Outlined in our branding section are our packaging design, website layout, and our overall brand image.
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS Our f inancial analysis suggests that we need an average of £50,000 f rom investors to successfully launch our marketing campaign and an average monthly sales of £12,000 to sustain the campaign and business operations.
WHO WE ARE
5
BOI LINGERIE
2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING
2
6
BOI
HISTORY BOI was created by Ivy Hope, a queer femme woman. A few years ago, she realized how queer femme visibility in the lingerie industry is relatively non-existent. There were no brands that were marketed ‘for queer, by queer’,much like underwear for gay men and she wondered whether this was because lesbian designers were scared of alienating straight customers. With this in mind, she came up with a lingerie brand that would speak to straight women even though she was marketing to queer, femme presenting individuals. However, she did not want to stop there, she also wanted to create an environmentally and socially conscious brand that not only produced pieces that her customers can treat a luxury but act as a safe space for the queer community. This is where BOI was born.
7
Executive Summary
MISSION Our lingerie aims to aid our customers in their journey of self -love; empowering people who have been undervalued by the mainstream lingerie industry. We aim to to offer them an experience that reflects their identities, their bodies, and their values.
VALUES 1.
VISION
Honesty
Our vision is a world that values diversity and
2. Accountability
inclusivity, allowing every being to feel beautiful in
3. Passion
their skin, no matter their shape, size, age, gender,
4. Inclusion
sexuality, or color.
5. Sustainability
8
BOI
OUR VALUES Core values are what support the vision, shape the culture and reflect what the company values. T6hey are the essence of the company’s identity – the principles, beliefs or philosophy of values. Core values help companies in the decisionmaking processes. Core values educate clients and potential customers about what the company is about and clarify the identity of the company. Lastly, core values play a major role in recruiting and retaining good employees. Roy Disney once said “It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.”
Inclusion
Sustainability
Honesty
It is no longer a question of
At BOI, we believe that, to be truly
commitment to diversity with
whether
successful in business and in life,
the aim that every one of our
needs
employees and customers have
practice
a full sense of belonging within
a
of
distributors and our employees.
our company. We believe that
production and operation. For
Strong and positive relationships
everyone should be represented
BOI, this means being socially,
that are open and honest are a
and have a voice no matter
environmentally, and f inancially
big part of what differentiates
their age, gender identity, race,
responsible
day
BOI f rom most other companies
sexuality,
socio-economic
whether it has to do with the
in the Lingerie industry. Strong
status and we aim to radiate
way we produce our garments
relationships
that belief through the way we
or the way we interact with our
accomplish much more than we
interact with each other, our
customers.
would be able to otherwise.
We
have
customers,
an
or
and
unwavering
operate
the
fashion
more
industry
businesses
and
work
sustainable
every
out
business.
9
that
we must always be honest and
around
open with our customers, our
model
single
allow
us
to
Who We Are
Accountability
Passion
The BOI team holds ourselves
Boi was built based on a passion
to high standards and
for
each
inclusivity,
representation,
other responsible for our actions.
and creating a safe space for
We have an environment that
the
is
it is essential that out team
open
to
vulnerability
and
queer
exudes
embedding an internal sense of
and motivating us to excel and
accountability in our employees.
provide the best products and
We teach our employees that to
service to our customers.
they f irst need to be accountable to themselves.
10
passion,
So,
honesty which is essential in
be accountable to each other,
this
community.
driving
BOI
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) company policy refers to our responsibility toward our environment. Our company’s existence is not lonely. It’s part of a bigger system of people, values, other organizations and nature. The social responsibility of our business is to give back to the world just as it gives to us. Our policy is divided into the following four areas:
Philanthropy
Community
Environmental
11
Transparency
Who We Are
Philanthropy As a company dedicated to marginalized communities in society, we use a f raction of our prof it to donate to charities that we fundamentally believe in and are committed to helping these communities. Mind Out Mind Out is a LGBTQ+ mental health service working to improve the mental health and wellbeing of LGBTQ communities and to make mental health a community concern. Last year they helped 1,342 people struggling with social isolation, suicidal distress, f inancial hardship, discrimination and prejudice, hate crime and exclusion (MindOut, 2019). BOI will donate 1% of our prof its to this organization starting September 1, 2020. She The First She The First is a non-prof it organization that f ights gender inequality through education. They support girls who will be f irst in their families to graduate f rom high school & train students everywhere to be global leaders. BOI, will gove $50 USD per month to this charity, money that goes to providing after school support to girls in the program.
Community At BOI, supporting our community directly is a large part of our CSR. We will do this by hosting monthly events and workshops for the marginalized people in our community and volunteer with local charities. Starting December 1st, we will be hosting monthly workshops in our studio targeted towards the queer community and marginalized women. These workshops will be centered around various topics such as but not limited to: self care, empowerment, and mental health. *More about these workshops will be outlined in the Marketing section of this document. Every quarter, we will give our employees a full day to volunteer with a charity of their choice. By doing this, it allows us to recognize the diversity among our employees, allowing them to choose a cause that they are potentially passionate about. This in turn establishes a company culture of social good at BOI.
Enviromental Being that the fashion industry is one of the largest
Transparency
polluters in the world, producing 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions (Ghgprotocol.org, 2019), BOI
At BOI, we believe brand transparency is not an option, it is a
decided to use a slow fashion model to minimize our
requirement. According to a study conducted by Label Insight, of
carbon footprint as much as possible. In order to do
more than 2,000 customers , they found that 94% of people are
this, we are committed to a fully sustainable production
more likely to be loyal to brands that are completely transparent
chain; we only use organic bamboo and silk fabrics
(Karapetian, 2016). This means BOI will be able to create a
with up cycled lace, natural dyes such as turmeric,
connection and relationship with our customers through our
and biodegradable cardboard packaging. All of our
transparency.
intimates are handmade and hand dyed in our London
Efforts will include: publishing out annual reports, making our
based studio, limiting the pollution that comes with
employee salaries transparent, being honest about our pricing,
importing clothing f rom overseas countries. This slow
and creating a platform for open and honest dialogue through
fashion model not only allow us to make garments that
social media.
last but that are ethical and environmentally f riendly.
12
BOI
THE TEAM
Culture Our seven member team at BOI is the most important aspect of our brand. Its very essence
Zahra Daniel
speaks for what our company is about and what we stand for: visibility and representation. Our
Founder
team is made up of a diverse and talented set of queer cis-gendered and transgenderd women. We make it our mission to ensure that anyone working within our company no matter what position they are in, feel as if they are apart of a family. We focus on mentoring and learning f rom each other while allowing room for growth, creativity, and innovation.
Our founder works directly with everyone on the BOI team. Her main role is ensuring that the day to day operations run smoothly, keeping the vision of BOI alive, designing new collections, and being the face of the company. On a daily basis, she does whatever is crucial for the company to run, which can include sewing garments, packaging, marketing efforts and controlling company f inances.
13
Who We Are
Serenity Chapman
Tabitha Murphy
Miranda Norriss
Publicist
Marketing Director
Marketing Assistant
Our in house publicist if responsible for communicating the brands message to our consumers with impact and influence. On a daily basis her roles are writing press releases, press kits, managing our influencer relationships, and updating our blog.
Our marketing director is in charge of developing our annual marketing plan, creating a calendar of campaigns, setting our marketing budget, and analyzing the market and our competitors, and managing company public relations. She ensures that our products reach our consumers on the right platforms with the right campaigns and efforts .
Our marketing assistant directly helps our marketing director with all marketing ans public relations efforts. Since our marketing efforts are so big, her role is crucial to the smooth operation of BOI. On a daily basis she is directly in charge of our social media marketing ,the planning of our workshops and events, and packaging shipments.
Lucia Delgado
Carla Fox
Alexus Weiss
Financial Director
Seamstress
Seamstress
Our f inancial director has the job of ensuring that BOI's f inancial commitments are met and developing all necessary policies and procedures to ensure the sound f inancial management and control of the company’s business. Main responsibilities include: Contribute to the achievement of the company's business objectives by providing advice and guidance on f inancial strategy and develop and control the company’s annual operating budget to ensure that all f inancial targets are met and f inancial and statutory regulations complied with.
Our seamstresses are directly in charge of sewing and dying our lingerie and
assist
with
taking
customer
measurements if needed.
They also
contribute to the designing of new collections. They both have versatile skills that allow them to work with a variety of patterns and designs. For now, we only employ two seamstresses but as the company grows and our sales
grow,
we
will
employ
more
in order to ensure our customers a relatively low production time. 14
OUR BRAND
15
BOI LINGERIE
2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING
3
16
BOI
BOI Redefining sexy
RGB: 223 215 202
RGB: 223 231 218
RGB: 242 225 176
RGB: 239 225 216
Text
HEADING
Mirador 49 pt
SUBHEADING
Mirador 15 pt
Andamus sequi dellabo. Odi denimin ciunti
Montserrat 12pt
ut enis erum quati conse ne del ipsus nam eratempero conem autaque secae restrumque et assi omnia doluptate sus ad que volupti tem iusdae nonemUndit molorpori dolum de nonsequat explite
Savoye LET 15 pt
Accent Text Secondary Logo
Inspiration
BOI 17
OUR BRAND
THE NAME
The name BOI was inspired by the Always campaign "#likeagirl". This campaign essentially made it clear that actions do not have a gender; phrases like "you throw like a girl" are harmful to not only women but men as well. This goes for clothing too, which also has no gender. So, we took a word that is typically used to describe one gender, men: who in a hereto-normative societal perspective does not wear lingerie, and twisted it to essentially be a word that could represent more than one gender or no genders at all. A word that will be used to describe all of our consumers. In regards to our Logo it is simple making our brand fairly easy to recognize. The tagline: "redef ining sexy" is the perfect explanation of what we do. We are changing the lingerie industries def inition of sexy and putting it in the hands of our customers.
18
BOI
BRAND PYRAMID
ESSENCE An
innovative
lingerie
brand
that
gives
queer
individuals a voice of meaning and empowerment
PERSONALITY Empowering | Safe | Inspiring | Inclusive
PROMISE To provide our queer customers lingerie that is a representation of who they are with an ethical means of production. Also being a brand that inspires marginalized communities to feel comfortable and beautiful no matter their gender, sexual preference, age, or shape.
EMOTIONAL REWARD BOI will make our customers feel apart of a community. We are not just a lingerie company, our brand is a safe space for all queer and marginalized communities to come together and celebrate their existence in a world that so heavily opposes them. In addition, our lingerie is hand-made with the best quality natural fabrics to help our customers feel beautilful and valued.
FUNCTIONAL BENEFITS Motivational tool to inspire consumers to support independent brands who are dedicated to creating a better world socially and environmentally. Essentially making less space in the industry for brands that do not value representation by giving consumers a choice. 19
OUR BRAND
BRAND IDENTITY MATRIX
•
Natural colors
•
Simple Logo
•
Modern designs
•
playful
Physique
•
•
Craftsmanship tailoring
•
Humanistic philosophy
Personality
Our customers are apart of the
•
Safe Space for queer community
BOI community; a fun, accepting
•
Def ining what sexy means to you
and fluid group of people.
•
Accepting of all body shapes,
Relationship
Reflection •
Sleek and sophisticated yet
Culture
sizes, colors, and ages
Self Image
Boi would describe our customers
•
Customers see the beauty
as unique, artistic, educated, and
in all human beings and the
has a youthful spirit.
importance of representation, authenticity, and safe spaces for marginalized individuals.
PICTURE IF RECEIVER 20
INTERNALIZATION
EXTERNALIZATION
PICTURE IF SENDER
BOI
PACKAGING DESIGN
At
BOi,
we
believe
that
the
packaging of our products is just as important as the product itself. It
ensures
that
our
customers
unboxing experience is exceptional and different f rom our competitors. Depicted is the designs for our packaging, thank you cards, and clothing tags. We decided to go with very subtle designs and colors that will compliment the lingerie, not outshine it. All of the materials used are f rom the company Earth Pack. Both the boxes and bags are 100% resuable, locally made in London, and made with mostly recyclable materials. The boxes are made extra durable for shipping purposes.
Thank You for your order! 21
OUR BRAND
PRINT PRODUCTS
Business card (f ront)
BOI PopUp Shop
Business card (back)
Don't miss out on our annual summer pop-up shop. The opening night will be filled with free drinks, music, our summer collection preview,
Our print products will mainly be
and fun, fun ,FUN!
our business cards, flyers promoting
JUNE 1-20 | 7AM TO 11PM MON-FRI
the annual pop-up shops. These will all be consistent with the BOI brand,
implementing
the
brand
colors, fonts, and images.
THE YELLOW SHOP, SHOREDITCH HIGH STREET Pop-up shop flyer
22
BOI
WEBSITE DESIGN BOI's website is at the top of our brand necessity list. For many of our customers, it will be the f irst touchpoint with out brand and essentially dictates their f irst impression of us. This is why it is important for our website to be simple, easy to use, and highly mobile f riendly. According to Google, 53% of mobile website visits are abandoned if a mobile site takes longer than three seconds to load. For every one second delay in site load time, conversions fall by 12% (Google, 2018). Because of this, BOI website interface design was outsourced to OmDesigns. This company was able to create a website (depicted on the right) that was exactly in line with our brand image while also creating a smooth visitor experience.
23
OUR BRAND
24
OUR PRODUCTS
25
BOI LINGERIE
2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING
4 3
26
BOI
HANDMADE LINGERIE Every single piece we create is naturally plant dyed by us. Printing & dying the bamboo ourselves in our studio in London. Natural dyes are not only benef icial not only for the earth but also for our customers skin. The combination of bamboo and natural dyes is our secret recipe for nourishing the skin and protecting the body. We embrace the slight variations in knowing each garment is truly unique. Each batch is slightly different to the next. The plants we use are currently: Turmeric Indigo Madder Root
Using natural dyes is an important step in the production of our garments as they have a minimal environmental impact as they come f rom nature, are biodegradable and disposing of them does not cause pollution.
27
Our Products
HOW ITS MADE BOI lingerie is handmade to order, allowing a personalised shopping experience. Quality craftsmanship + attention to detail are essential, meaning you receive a product that has been made for ultimate comfort + durability. The perfect antidote to fast fashion
DEAD STOCK LACE What is deadstock? This is lace that is ex-designer, endof-line or f rom closing factories + mills. Running limited lines allows BOI to use the last of these quality materials, that would otherwise be sent to landf ill
NATURAL, ORGANIC & SUSTAINABLE FABRICS We use bamboo silk, jersey + organic cotton in all of our lingerie.
The natural composition of these fabrics
is incredibly soft and allows your skin to breathe. Their processing is minimal, using no pesticides or chemicals that harm the environment they're made in. Plus they have been ethically sourced f rom fair trade companies
MINIMAL WASTE Offering made to order products allows BOI to keep waste to an absolute minimum. Any scraps and off cuts are collected and donated to local projects. All other materials associated with manufacture and running a business are also recycled wherever possible
28
BOI
29
Our Products
BOI S/S 2020
30
BOI
RANGE PLAN The following is the range plan for BOI's opening collection. We will be starting with ten pieces: f ive bralettes and f ive knickers. Since our items are made to order, customers will be able to choose f rom a range of colors that we have available during the season. During the season of our launch, we will be offering the following colors:
Sheer Pink
Sago
Gallnut
Hot Bronze
Shining Sand
Optic White
Corset Inspired Bra
Hard Set Bralette • • • • • • •
£40 w/o padding 45 w/ padding Made with A-E Cup + custom sizes Made with bamboo fabric Straps made with silky elastic for optimal f it
• • • • •
Mesh Knickers
High Waisted Knickers
Black
• • • •
£30 Made 100% with bamboo Soft elastic waist band xxs-5xl + custom sizes
*All knickers can be made into 'tucking panties' allowing extra room for penises *All gussets are double lined in bamboo for optimal moisture absorption
31
£40 w/o padding £45 w/ padding xxs-5xl + custom sizes Made with comfortable silk mesh Adjustable straps that can convert f rom straight to cross back
• • • •
£25 xxs-5xl + custom sizes Made with comfortable silk mesh Lined with silky elastic for optimal f it
Our Products
Lace Bralette • • • • •
£40 w/o padding £45 w/ padding Made with handembroidered deadstock lace Straps made with silky elastic for optimal f it xxs-5xl + custom sizes Lace Thong
• • •
Bustier
Full Cup Bralette • • • • • •
£25 Made with deadstock lace and organic bamboo xxs-5xl + custom sizes
£40 w/o padding 45 w/ padding xxs-5xl + custom sizes Lined with deadstock lace Made with organic bamboo fabric Straps made with silky elastic for optimal f it Cheeky Knickers
• • •
£30 xxs-5xl + custom sizes Made with deadstock lace and organic bamboo 32
• • • •
£40 w/o padding 45 w/ padding A-E Cup + custom sizes Made 100% with bamboo fabric Retro Knickers
• • • •
£35 xxs-5xl + custom sizes Made 100% with bamboo fabric Lined with silky elastic for optimal f it
THE BOI'S
33
BOI LINGERIE
2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING
5 4
34
BOI
OUR CUSTOMER
The
Lingerie
industry
currently
has
a
diversity problem. When it comes to size, shape, skin tone, and gender the industry caters to only a specif ic image: tall, thin, cisgender,
and
overwhelmingly
white.
Although there is a rise in body and gender conscious lingerie brands, there is very little emphasis on the overall marketing of these much needed companies. This in turn creates very little brand awareness and continues to allow room in the industry for non-inclusive brands.
Geographic Our target customer ideally lives in urban cities, such as London, with a large queer population.
To better understand our customer, we decided to analyze our target market through three prof iles; socio-economic, geo-demographic,and psycho-graphic. This will allow us to get a sense of our customer and tailor our marketing and branding specif ically for them which in turn will increase the overall return on investment(ROI). Our ideal customer holds an intersectional identity being apart of gen Z and the queer community
According to a study done by the Off ice for National Statistics, 4% of people ages 16-24 in the UK(340,000 people), identify as LGBTQ+ (Sexual orientation, 2019); for BOI, this means that we have access to a relatively large demographic being London. Since our target customer is ideally in college or a recent graduate they would be living in a private rented accommodation.
35
The BOI's
Psycho-graphic It is crucial for a company to understand their customers psychological characteristcis; they make up customers personality traits, beliefs, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles. To fully grasp how our customer thinks, we decided to use the VALS Model. According to this model, our customers are 'Strivers' and 'Experiencers' (Strategicbusinessinsights.com, 2019). Strivers: Have revolving employment; high temporary unemployment Use video and video games as a form of fantasy Are fun loving Are imitative Rely heavily on public transportation Are the center of low-status street culture Desire to better their lives but have diff iculty in realizing their desire Wear their wealth. Believers: Believe in basic rights and wrongs to lead a good life Rely on spirituality and faith to provide inspiration Want f riendly communities Watch TV and read romance novels to f ind an escape Want to know where things stand; have no tolerance for ambiguity Are not looking to change society Find advertising a legitimate source of information
Geo-demographic
Value constancy and stability (can appear to be loyal) Have strong me-too fashion attitudes.
To better identify our target customer, we decided to use the Mosaic geo-demographic system. This cross channel classif ication system will aid us in understanding where exactly where and how the BOI customer lives. According to the Mosaic classif ication, our target customer falls under the ‘O - rental hubs category’ (Mosaic, 2019). This essentially means that our customer is educated, young, and privately renting in an urban city. Currently in the UK, this makes up 18% of the population (Mosaic, 2019). •
Geography: Live is a largely diverse city; ideally London.
•
Age: Gen Z 16-25
•
Education: In college or recently graduated
•
Occupation: Student or recent graduate
•
Income: low-Mid range income
•
Gender: Non-gender conforming
36
BOI
GEORGIA
Georgia is a 23 year old trans-woman living in London. She is a recent graduate with a degree in journalism. She is currently a writer for a new media publication by women and non-binary people of color: Gal-dem Magazine. On the side, she runs her own fashion and lifestyle blog that explores her experience as a trans woman and serves as a platform for other trans women and non-binary people of color. She rarely has any spare time but, when she does she loves to spend time with her f riends and family and travel the world. When it comes to shopping she prefers to shop with brands that acknowledge her existence and represent the LGBTQ+ community authentically. However when it comes to lingerie she has found that it is hard to f ind companies that not only represent her but that offer items that f it her properly. This is where BOI comes in.
Hardworking
Ambitious
37
Creative
The BOI's
38
MARKET ANALYSIS
39
BOI LINGERIE
2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING
6 5
40
BOI
41
Market Analysis
INDUSTRY TRENDS Although the lingerie industry is heavily female focused, it is male dominated which in turn creates a fundamental misalignment; lingerie being marketed f rom a male perspective. This misalignment inevitably leads to a very sex focused industry. However, women are beginning to take back an industry that was meant for them. It is predicted that the United Kingdom's lingerie industry will reach a market share of 3.06 billion GBP by 2020(Lingerie – multiple countries, 2016). For BOI, this means that during our launch year, we will have access to a larger audience that has a demand for our products and our message.
Empowerment Sustainability Nude Tones Size Inclusion Shapewear 42
BOI
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS Name
Products
Bralettes Underwear Garter belts Leotards Outerwear Sizes: xs-xxl; A Cup- H Cup Custom Made Orders*
Size/ Following
21.7k followers
1.3k followers
N/A N/A
Binders Bodysuits Bras Garters Nursing Bras Slips Harnesses Custom Made Orders* Sizes: XXS-5XL
4.4k followers
3.9k followers
28k monthly viewers 296 followers
Bras Briefs Suspenders Nightwear Accessories Swim wear Active wear Hosiery Corsets Sizes: UK 8-30 ; Cup A-H
195k followers
86.3k followers
27.5k monthly viewers 1.3k followers
43
Market Analysis
USP
Strengths
Weaknesses
“Our lingerie aims to aid you in loving yourself – to feel confident, happy and empowered in your body, sexuality, and who you are.”
Diverse brand image Reasonable prices Strong social media presence Great campaigns Large press coverage Offers payment plans Consistent branding
Not much insight to company operations Small product range Low international presence Online Only
“We are an ethical, values-based company, using sustainable fabrics and manufacturing, in Tio’take/ Montreal”
Partners with various charities and LGBTQ+ organizations Large amount of press coverage (Buzz-feed, Bustle, The Guardian) Large Product Range Sustainable Model Insight into company story
Low international presence No social media marketing effort No consistent branding Long production wait time (2-4 weeks) Online Only
“Playful Promises is a London de- Strong social media presence signed lingerie brand, which mixes 15 years of operation quirky, directional design with all Sold in ASOS things playful, flirty and even a little Affiliate Program bit dirty.” Points Program
44
Blog is poor quality Website difficult to navigate No insight into company story
BOI
International Presence
Style
Comfort
BOI
Local Presence
The brand positioning mad depicted on the left, shows where BOI stands compared to our immediate competitors. The positioning is based on whether the other brands prioritize style over comfort and whether they have a more international presence or local presence.
45
Market Analysis
Playful Promise is a well known London based brand that focuses on body inclusivity. Although they do prioritize comfort, many of their intimates are made mostly with style in mind; using synthetic fabrics such as nylon and polyester that can often be found as uncomfortable. However, this brand has been around for 15 years so they do have a
relatively
international
presence
with
stockist all over the world (Promises, 2019).
JBC Lingerie is an Australian brand that celebrates all genders and body sizes. This brand focuses on both style and comfort, offering
intimates
that
are
not
only
hand made but made with comfortable breathable fabrics such as bamboo. When it comes to presence, JBC Lingerie seems to be growing fairly quickly with a small international presence based on their 22.2 thousand Instagram followers (Instagram. com, 2019).
Origami
Customs is a Canada bases
lingerie brand that specialized in handmade lingerie and swim wear for people of all genders, sizes, and abilities. This brand focuses more on the comfort and f it of their pieces rather than the style, producing fairly simple designs. Origami Costumes has more of a local Canadian presence rather than international based on their social media following.
The BOI positioning is based on where we project BOI to be in the f ive years since all of our competitors have been open for f ive years or more. Our designs prioritize style and comfort, we feel that our customers should be able to feel sexy in what they wear as well as being comfortable in our breathable bamboo fabric. In terms of presence, we project that based on our marketing efforts, we will be able to break into international markets within f ive years.
46
BOI
QUALITY PRODUCTS
SATURATED MARKET
Being that our products are completely handmade, this allows us to
The lingerie market is currently very saturated with many
have total control over the quality and outcome of each piece. We
small players and few large players such as Victoria Secret.
also use organic bamboo and silk, ensuring not only comfortability
This means that BOI will have to make strides to be seen
but durability.
and set apart f rom others in this market.
CSR
SMALL TEAM
Today, where consumers are no longer accepting unethical business
Many of our larger competitors have a relatively large
practices, it is important to not only have a compelling CSR but also
team compared to ours. This allows them to have a faster
follow it everyday. At BOI, we made it a priority to have a strong
production time and able to handle more customers. BOI
Corporate responsibility plan. This will ensure that our business runs
will have to make sure our entire team is prof icient and
ethically.
highly skilled in order to stay with a 2 week production time.
SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION CHAIN
RELATIVELY LONG PRODUCTION TIME
According to The Carbon Trust, clothing accounts for around 3% of
Many lingerie brands produce intimates on a fast fashion
the global production or 850 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions
model. Having their products sourced f rom overseas
per year (Carbontrust.com, 2011). To limit our carbon footprint, BOI
factories. Since BOI completely hand makes all of our
is committed to a fully sustainable production chain. We only use
products, our production time is about 2 weeks. However,
organic bamboo and silk fabrics with up-cycled lace, natural dyes
our slow-fashion model of production will allow us to make
such as turmeric, and sustainable cardboard packaging.
higher quality lingerie than many of our competitors.
LOCATION
NO BRICK AND MORTAR LOCATION
Being that we are a brand that markets to the LGBTQ+ Generation Z
We are a brand that is completely online so this gives us a
community, Shoreditch is the perfect location for our pop-ups and
disadvantage to our competitors. However, to make up for
our off ice. This area is home to many LGBTQ+ venues and the hot
the lack of physical presence, we will be having quarterly
spot for all of the newest trends.
pop-up shops near our off ice. These shops will embody the BOI brand, giving our customers the in-store feeling.
BLOG BRAND AWARENESS Our blog is going to be one of our biggest tools to help build our community online. Many other lingerie brands do not have a blog or
Since we have not yet launched, our brand awareness is
if they do, they are not update. We plan on posting content around
relatively low. We plan to increase this through this 2020
the topics of inclusivity, self love, self care, and create a space for
marketing plan.
people to safely share their experiences. This will also allow us to increase our search engine optimization, support our social media initiatives, build authority in the lingerie industry,and increase leads.
S
47
W
Market Analysis
GROWING MARKET SHARE OF GENERATION Z AND LGBTQ+ CONSUMERS Currently, Generation Z and the LGBTQ+ community is becoming one of the fastest growing consumers in the world with a combined buying power of nearly $1 trillion USD (Debtf reeguys.com, 2019). This means BOI will have access to this untapped market, giving us a large advantage on our more traditional competitors.
INFLATION RATES Inflation rates have the ability to affect our consumers purchasing patterns, our inventory cost, and our employee wages. This is something that is based solely on the economy so, it is out of our control.
RAPID DEVELOPMENT IN TECHNOLOGY Although we are not a technological company, rapid tech
DEMAND FOR DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE BRANDS
advancements can still pose a threat to our business. We
Generation Z is currently changing the way brands and companies look at inclusivity, forcing them to take a deeper look at their company culture.60% of Gen Z will support a brand if they stand for equal rights, sexual orientation, and race,(Cardador, 2019). This could be because over one third of this generation identif ies as LGBTQ+. For BOI, this means that there is already a demand for what our brand stands for.
will have to make sure our employees and designs stay up to date. To do this we will have bi-annual trainings on the latest design software and hold weekly brief ings.
COMPETITORS UNDERCUTTING PRICES There are many Lingerie brands or companies who sell intimates that use a predatory pricing strategy; selling at very cheap prices. This can be a threat to BOI because, these companies can take a large portion of our target
LINGERIE INDUSTRY MARKET SHARE INCREASING
market that prefer price over quality.
The lingerie industry’s market share is increasing year by year. The UK lingerie is expected to reach a market share of 3.06 billion GBP by 2020 (Lingerie – multiple countries, 2016). For BOI, this means that during our launch year, we will have access to a larger audience.
INNOVATION The fashion industry as a whole has to continue to be innovative to stay relevant and if company does not keep up, they risk falling behind. At BOI, we have to make sure we have a talented and up to date creative team to ensure
LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA
our designs and our brand stays relevant in these rapidly
Today in the digital age, it is more important than ever that
changing times.
brands use social media platforms to their advantage. This will allow BOI to focus in on our target market, increase conversion rates, increase brand awareness, spread our company message, and interact directly with our customers.
O
48
T
BOI
P.E.S.T.L.E ANALYSIS The following is an analysis of the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors that directly affect BOI on a macro-level.
S
T
ocial
According
the
Gay
LGBTQ+
Today, as technology is changing rapidly, it is
community is 88% are more likely to support
important for all brands to keep up with the latest
companies
conscious
technological trends. For BOI, this rapid growth
and that support charities and fund-raisers(Gay
allows for us to use social media to increase our
Consumer IndexTM, 2007).
brand awareness, engagement, and sales.
Today, it is more crucial than ever to have brands
Technology is also playing a role in redef ining the
that represent inclusivity and equality, no matter
overall e-commerce landscape and its consumer
who their target market it. BOI, being a queer
behaviors. According to Statista, there Were 1.66
owned brand that targets the LGBTQ+ community
Billion Global Digital Buyers in 2017 (Statista, 2019).
specif ically is a socially responsible brand. We
This means 21.8% of the world is buying digitally
donate 2% of our annual sales to and partner with
and in 2021, that number is supposed to increase to
various charities and organizations. Not only are we
over 2.14 billion. BOI, being an e-commerce store,
f inancially responsible, we also make an effort to
this results in an increases in the pool of buyers
spread the idea of inclusivity across all of our social
that we have access to.
that
are
Ad
Network
echnological
overall
,the
socially
platforms. We showcase models of all sizes, genders, ages, and sexualities. 49
Market Analysis
E
P
conomic
olitical
Changes in trading laws due to government bills
Inflation Rates essentially impact our customers
such as Brexit would essentially make retailers
purchasing power. It is forecasted that in 2020,
pay to trade with the EU, thus tariffs would be
inflation rates will decrease to 2% (Stastista ,2019)
added to clothing and footwear. Tax and export
resulting in an increase of the purchasing power of
and import rates and rules could change and
the BOI target customers. This also means that our
increase, therefore meaning that trading between
marketing efforts can be more focused on brand
countries could become more diff icult.
awareness rather than persuading our customer to buy our products.
In regards to BOI, this would not affect our production chain much due to the fact that our lingerie is produced locally and handmade. However, trading taxes could possibly affect the import cost of our fabrics, causing us to raise the prices of our garments.
E
L
nviromental
egal
To prevent our designs f rom being copyrighted,
Ecological
all designs have to be legally trademarked.
concerns
such
as
water
pollution
has grown signif icantly over the past few years, resulting in apparel brands moving towards more sustainable ways or production. Specif ically in the context of the lingerie industry, this is an industry that uses a signif icant amount of cotton. Research has suggested that the widespread use of cotton leads to soil erosion and degradation, pollution, and water contamination (World Wildlife Fund, 2019). In regards to BOI, our entire production model is structured in a sustainable way. We use 100% vegan and eco-f riendly sourced fabrics such as Hemp, Soy, and Bamboo. All of our Lingerie is also handmade, reducing the amount of energy our brand uses.
50
BOI
ANSOFF MATRIX
51
Market Analysis
(Current Products)
(New Products)
MARKET PENETRATION
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Pop-up Shops
Lounge wear As our brand grows, we can introduce a line of lounge-wear. This
When we establish ourselves, it would be benef icial to the
would include slips, robes, pajama set. Being a brand that already
brand to have various pop-up shops around London. This will
sells intimates, this would not require any drastic change to BOI’s
allow us to give our customers a more personal experience with
overall company structure. Nonetheless, it will allow us to expand
BOI, allowing us to become more of a multi-channel brand.
our market and attract a more diverse set of customers.
According to Harvard Business, multi-channel sales help retain
(Current Markets)
73% of customers (Sopadjieva, Dholakia and Benjamine, 2017).
Workshops
This will allow BOI to appeal to our customers who prefer to go into the store to see, touch and smell what they’re going to
Since our brand at its core is made for the marginalized LGBTQ+
purchase.
community and we are founded by a queer woman, we understand the everyday struggles of this community. These struggles include
Offering payment plans
being more vulnerable to poverty, facing discrimination and violence due to sexual orientation, being more susceptible to
Since our customer base has a low-middle range income,
body image issues, and experiencing various heavily overlooked
offering them interest-f ree payment plans will allow us
physical and mental health problems. Due to this, BOI feels like it
realistically acknowledge our customer base and their needs.
is our responsibility to help make a difference and we could do this
We could do this through programs such as After Pay. Offering
by offering various workshops in our London based studio. These
payment plans could also allow our customers to purchase
workshops would be centered around topics such as self care and
more items at once.
mental health with an underlying theme of building a community. There would be a fee for most of the workshops, thus creating another stream of income for BOI.
(New Markets)
MARKET DEVELOPMENT
DIVERSIFICATION
Brick and Mortar
Concentric Diversif ication
Throughout our f irst few years, BOI will be solely an e-commerce
BOI could expand by opening a store that essentially only sells
store with occasional pop-ups. However as our prof its and
handmade, sustainable products made by us and other brands
brand awareness grows, we could open a brick and mortar
that are dedicated to marginalized communities. We would want
location in London. This will allow our customers to have a
our brand to keep its overall character so we would stick to more
consistent touch-point with the brand therefore strengthening
intimate, home-feeling items such as intimates, lounge-wear and
our relationships with them. The layout of the store would be
home-goods. This would introduce us to the completely different
similar to the pop-ups, giving our customers an experience
market of home-goods and propel us more into the apparel market.
instead of just a product.
Conglomerate Diversif ication International Pop-ups To further diversify our brand, after BOI has an established
In order to develop our international reach, after a year of
community, we could start a magazine that aims to celebrate not
operation we can introduce pop-up shops to international
just the queer community but all marginalized communities. This
markets. To minimize risk we would pop-up in markets that
will introduce BOI to the print industry and require our company to
are similar to London such as New York City and Los Angeles.
develop new skills and operational methods. However, being in the
The atmosphere of these pop-ups would be similar to the
print industry could give us another stream of income and allow us
ones in London and representative of the BOI experience. This
to reach other international markets .
would also allow us to test these markets and see how well our products do there and strengthen our overall brand awareness.
52
BOI
MARKETING MIX PRODUCT Actual: BOI provides high quality, handmade intimates in our online store. Our intimates are made of natural bamboo fabric and natural dyes, allowing us to have an ethical production chain and minimize our carbon footprint. During our launch, we will be introducing our 10 piece collection. Design: Our designs will be using whites, nudes, browns and soft pinks.
to attract loyal customers who believe not only in
Packaging: Our packaging has a very minimalistic
our products but the message of our company.
design. The boxes that we ship our product in are all white on the outside with the BOI logo printed and
All of our products are handmade and made to
the inside is our signature yellow.
order so, our prices are relatively mid ranged. •
Core:
Bralettes - Starting at £40 w/o padding; £45 with padding -We have sales for bralettes: 2 for £80
•
Comfortable and durable Lingerie
•
Handmade with natural bamboo and up-cycled
(saves customer £15)
lace •
Accurate bra sizing
•
Size and shape inclusivity
•
Bodysuits- Starting at £45
•
Knickers- Starting at £25 - £35
•
Sets (Bralette and Knickers) start at £60
PEOPLE
Augmented: Our employees are the most important aspect •
Free custom f itting
of BOI. We employ a team of 6 people that is
•
Quality customer care
responsible for our everyday operations, f rom online
•
Payment Plans
marketing to sewing the garments. Being that we
•
Membership to our monthly events
are a company that is inclusive of all identities, we must ensure that we are hiring staff that already has a level of customer service knowledge,who is comfortable with diversity, and who believes in the
PRICE
message of BOI.
PLACE
The pricing strategy we will be using is value-based pricing. This will allow us to focus on the value that we are actually giving our customers instead of
We are an online retailer so, we do not have a
focusing on our competition. This will also allow us
physical store; but our production studio is located 53
Market Analysis
in Shoreditch, London. At this location we are
3. 1-2 week production time
able to custom f it our London based customers if
4. Receive email to track shipment
needed. Being that our product is targeted towards
5. If our customers have any questions they will be
the queer community, Shoreditch is the perfect
able to email us or call during business hours
location.
(9am-5pm)
To make up for our lack of a physical location,
We accept returns and exchanges of all unworn and
will be having quarterly pop-up shops near our
unwashed merchandise within 14 days of delivery.
production studio.
After the 14 days, all sales are f inal. Customers will be responsible for paying their own shipping cost
Promotion
when returning items. If customer would prefer an exchange, the second shipment cost will be
Boi’s marketing team will be using a mix of
complimentary.
methods that co-function with each other and
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
drive one another, a unique combination of Cause Marketing, Relationship Marketing, Digital Marketing, and Word of Mouth Marketing.
Along with customer orders, they will receive a business card, a brochure on how to care for their
Our efforts will include press outreaches, events,
items, and a PDF invoice.
social media promotion, maintaining our blog, launching aff iliate programs, and using search
The overall branding of our online platforms will be
engine optimization (SEO).
inline with the BOI aesthetic and will be clear and
Process
consistent.
Our customer process is relatively simple. 1.
Complete Order
2. Conf irmation email 54
MARKETING
55
BOI LINGERIE
2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING
7
56
BOI
OVERVIEW As uncovered in the market analysis, our target market prefers marketing that is purpose driven, entertaining, influencer based, and straight to the point. Based on a survey we conducted it was also revealed that customer feel it is important for brands to make them feel apat of a community; 93% of our respondents feel this way. With this in mind, BOI's marketing will be driven by social media, creative blogging, and yearly pop-up shops.
The goals of this plan is broken down into three categories: sales, digital, and community.
Sales •
Reach break even within the f irst 2 years of operations
•
Generate 100 marketing qualif ied leads within the f irst year of operations
Digital •
Reach a 10% monthly website traff ic growth rate by the 4th quarter.
•
Reach a social media engagement rate of 2% per post by the 4th quarter
Community •
3 influencer partnerships within the f irst 6 months of operations.
•
200 email list subscribers by the end of the f irst quarter
57
Marketing Strategies
58
BOI
Introduction Our social media will be out main focus when it comes to our marketing efforts; this is because it is the main channel that the BOI customer uses. Through this we will build pre-launch hype around the brand, launch our campaigns, promote our blog, and our influencer relationships over a period of one year.
Aim
SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN
Raise
BOI
brand
awareness
and
build
a
community around the brand
Objectives 1. Increase social media following by 400% over all platforms by the end of the year. 2. Reach an engagement rate of 2% per post by the end of the second quarter
59
Marketing Strategies
INSTAGRAM CURRENT SITUATION
POST CAMPAIGN
Followers: 400
Followers: 1,200
Average post per day: 1
Average post per day: 3
Average likes per post: 100
Average likes per post:
Use of hashtags: 2
600 Use 7-8 hashtags per post
Instagram is a platform that focuses entirely on visuals. This causes the platform to have a younger audience; 72% of its users are under the age of 35 (Hootsuite Social Media Management, 2019). This means that Instagram will take presidency over the other social media platforms that we use. Since BOI has not off icially launched yet, our following on this platform is relatively low but, we plan to increase
400
f rom 400 to 1,200 followers by the end of the year through increasing the amount of times we post, using more hashtags, and curating our feed to represent BOI’s branding. We will follow out social media content calender (see appendix 1.2)in order to stay consistent.
Pre-launch content
To build suspense and hype around BOI, 3 weeks before
our launch will be posting pre-launch content. This content will also allow our future customers to get familiar with BOI and learn who we are. With this content, we will also be interacting with our followers; making them feel as if they are apart our brand already.
Post-launch content
After our off icial launch, we will start posting content based
around promoting our products, our blog, and annual pop-up shop. We will also offer our followers a look behind the scenes and into the process of sourcing our fabrics and making the garments.
60
BOI
61
Marketing Strategies
POP UP SHOP Concept The purpose of the BOI pop-up is to offer our customers a physical interaction with our brand. Inside, they will get a feel of what BOI is about and The BOI pop-up will be held once a year for two weeks in June. Depicted to the right is the potential design of the store, reflecting a very simple and minimalistic design while staying true to the fun nature of BOI. Inside of the store, we will be offering our custoers premade versions of our products they will also be able to have their measurements taken and order custom made products.
Location Our pop-up will be located at: The Yellow Shop, Shoreditch High Street Location is essential for the success of our pop-up, it can essentially be the determining factor in our success. Due to this, we chose to use Shoreditch as the f irst location for this venture;this east London area has quickly become a home to young creative, start-ups and artisan coffee. An eclectic mixture of pop-ups and the newest restaurants, ‘trendy’ bars and clubs mean the area is always buzzing with life. Another reason for BOI to have a pop-up in this location is because of the already existing fashion stores in the area. There are many independent shops such as AIDA, Bias, and House of Liza; meaning that people who prefer to shop with independent retailers will already be in this location.
Features: 1,260 square feet Capacity: 250 Full Spot Lighting & Halo Fluro Lighting Furniture & AV On Site High Ceilings Large Windows & Glass Entrance Doors Unlimited & Unrestricted Branding Opportunities Vehicle Access Versatile & Flexible
62
BOI
Introduction The BOI's Club is the title of our blog. On our blog we will feature BOI editorials, lingerie tips, and fashion and lifestyle content. We plan to have various guest bloggers to share their personal experiences, this will allow us to continue to have content that relates to our customers. The benef its of having a blog include increasing search engine traff ic, humanizing our brand, supporting our social media initiatives, improving conversion rates, and facilitating valuable discussions.
Aims
THE BOI'S CLUB
Raise BOI brand awareness to create sales leads Be able to monetize the blog
Objectives 1. Increase website traff ic by 100% by the end of the year. 2. Write at least one blog post a week. 3. Increase email opt-in by 50%.
63
Marketing Strategies
PURPOSE
HOW WE WILL ACHIEVE THIS
The BOi's Club blog will be a large part of our brand.
The ways in which we will achieve our blogging targets
Essentially creating a community for our queer consumers
comes down to a three step process:
off of social media. We will feature posts around lingerie, the queer experience, and lifestyle.
1. Following content calendar 2. Networking/ promotion
According to a study done by Hub Spot, Marketers who
3. Search Engine Optimization
prioritize blogging efforts are 13x more likely to see positive return on investment (ROI) (HubSpot, 2019). This essentially means that BOI will be able to develop a second source of income ideally within the f irst year of
1. Content Calendar
operation.
Staying on track with out content calender ( see appendix Based on the same study, the companies included in the
1.3) will allow out team to stay organized and consistent.
research that had a blog claimed that they generated on
The tools we will use to organize out process are Asana
average 67% more leads than companies without one
and Google Calendar.
(HubSpot, 2019). For BOI this is an opportunity to not only introduce a second source of income but generate product sales.
2. Networking/Promotion In order to build our audience, we will network with various blogging platforms and small bloggers, sending out monthly press kits. We will also create a mailing list for readers to receive updates.
GUEST BLOGGERS Our guest bloggers will be asked to create content around their queer experience or experience as a person of color. This can be specif ically within the fashion and beauty industry or in the world in general, we aim to give out guest complete writing f reedom. With each guest, BOI will conduct a photo-shoot featuring them in our lingerie. Each of the guest below have a unique experience that could be brought to the BOI platform, creating a space for ope dialogue and discussion
Fatima Jamal
Model,
f ilmmaker,
and
Lia Clay
Noel Alejandro
other
Hailing
f rom
Barcelona,
every
the
takes
is
subjects Lia shoots create an added
social
and
champion real bodies, people of
layer of awe. Her lens holds queer
desirability politics, as shown in her
color, HIV-positive folks, and real
models with austerity, elegance, and
ongoing documentary project, No Fats
narratives. His cinematic style is so
an understated grace that we are often
No Femmes.
intimate and oozing with emotion.
not afforded.
64
beautiful,
she
erotic f ilms of his production house
racism,
staggeringly
photo
creator with a radical attention to sexual
shot
While
breathtaking,
justice,
gorgeously
the
hyphenates, Fatima is a world-class
specif ic
BOI
CONTENT
Our guest bloggers will be asked to create content around their queer experience or experience as a person of color. This can be specif ically within the fashion and beauty industry or in the world in general, we aim to give out guest complete writing f reedom. With each guest, BOI will conduct a photo-shoot featuring them in our lingerie. Each of the guest below have a unique experience that could be brought to the BOI platform, creating a space for ope dialogue and discussion
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Improving our SEO will essentially raise our ranking on Google, making it easier for readers and potential BOI customers to find us. Search engine algorithms not only rate the relevance of our keywords on pages, and in the meta data, in relation to a user’s search terms, but they also evaluate information such as the duration visitors stay on our site, bounce rate, broken links, pages viewed, inbound and outbound links, and much more. According to Junto Digital, 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine. With all of this in mind, we believe it is imperative for our blog to have a relatively high SEO ranking which in turn will raise the ranking our product site. The ways in which we will do this are the following: 1. Producing high quality content 2. Optimizing our images 3. Using outbound links 4. Making our site mobile friendly 5. Encourage sharing on social media 6. Using keywords
65
Marketing Strategies
66
BOI
Introduction BOI will be running two email campaigns; one for our blog and another for our products. Luckily for us, email is still widely used. In fact, an article on why email marketing isn’t dead reveals, 90% of adults and 74% of teenagers still use email regularly (Santora, 2019). For BOI, This makes email marketing the perfect tool for building customer relationships to help us generate leads and sales.
Aims
EMAIL MARKETING
Inform customers about blog and store updates Engage our users, raising brand awareness
Objectives 1. Retain a 30% open rate per month 2. Click through rate of 7.4% per month 3. Unsubscribe rate of less than .02% per month
67
Marketing Strategies
BLOG Depicted on the left is a mock-up of the email campaign for our blog: The BOI's Club. This campaign will be a weekly news letter delivering our email list subscribers various articles, brands and news around and in support of marginalized communities. The type of emails we will be sending out are relational; giving subscribers what we promised, a weekly newsletter f illed with inspirations. And transactional; which are the sign-up conf irmations and welcome messages. Content Suggestions: Queer owned brands The BOI's Club Blog updates New artist of color Guest Bloggers Sustainable brands
68
BOI
STORE Depicted above is a sample promotional email for the BOI online store. These emails will be sent out once a week either promoting a sale, exclusive offer, new products, or company updates. The types of emails that will be sent are essentially the same as our blog but included are promotional ones. Content Suggestions: New Items Sales Brand Collaborations Color Updates Order Conf irmations
69
Marketing Strategies
FORMAT Both email campaigns will be in the format of light-boxes. This essentially means that our opt-in forms will appear on any page that the user arrives on f irst and temporarily blacks out the rest of the page (depicted on the right). According to a study done by the Daily Egg, pop-up forms drive 1375% more subscribers (The Daily Egg, 2018). This means that our email campaigns, in this format, could possibly drive more sales than any of our other marketing efforts.
LIST BUILDING Since we are a brand new company, we will have to build our email list f rom scratch. In order to do this, we will use a two part formula: A valuable incentive + simple subscribe opportunities = large email list The incentives we will provide would include compelling content, First order discounts, and shop exclusives. In regards to the simple subscription opportunity, the process of opting in will be easier than ever. All the customer/ reader has to do it enter their first name ans email into the pop-up forum and press subscribe.
TOOLS Creating and maintaining two relevant and simple email campaigns is a big task for our relatively small team. However, we plan to tackle this with the help of the following application: Mail Chimp -Creating and sending out campaigns -Storing email lists Asana -Organizing ideas and sharing them with the team Google Analytics -Tracking success measurements 70
BOI
Introduction Our media relation efforts will essentially b a way for BOI to build an image and gain access to our target audience through magazine outlets, blogs, and influencers. This publicity has the power to provide hundreds of links back to our website, essentially increasing our search engine optimization and brand awareness.
Aims
EXTERNAL MEDIA RELATIONS
Increased
website
traff ic,
editorial
media
coverage, name recognition and brand awareness.
Objectives 1. Create connections with 4 media outlets by the end of the year. 2. Be featured in 2 publications. 3. Make connections with 10 bloggers and feature them as guests.
71
Marketing Strategies
MEDIA OUTLETS The importance of media relations lies in its ability to leverage a high degree of exposure for our message by complementing th needs of the varous outlets we are reaching out to. According to 10 Yetis, 100% of journalists said press releases were their number one way of f inding stories (10Yetis, 2018). This means for BOI that making the effort of sending press releases to various media outlets that are queer and person of color focused, has the potential to massively raise our brand awareness, ultimately leading to more sales and a larger community of loyal customers. Depicted below are the media outlets we plan on sending our release out to f irst.
Independent published millennial print and online magazine. Focusing on Lifestyle,Fashion and Travel. Supporting Queer culture alongside established and emerging talent. FGUK Magazine captures and explores no-go topics,helping to inform both men and women alike with articles and editorials featuring some of the best new talent the world has to offer.
Posture is an independent magazine, podcast, and membership community that champions underrepresented creators and entrepreneurs. Posture is empowering queer designer, artists, and models to be seen by their own community.
PANSY is about daring to be looked at sideways. PANSY is an online menswear magazine aimed at redef ining the modern man, blurring the rigid categories of masculine and feminine and creating a space for f ree and unaffected creative expression.
gal-dem is a new media publication, run entirely by women and non-binary people of colour. With their online and print magazine, they are addressing inequality and misrepresentation in the industry through platforming the creative and editorial work of our community across essays, opinion, news, arts, music, politics and lifestyle content.
72
BOI
INFLUENCERS To improve our reach, we will be using unpaid influencer marketing. This means that we will send our products for influencer to try, allowing them to post content on their social media channel with their own thoughts around the product. This will allow us to keep costs down since we are a relatively small brand. The influencers that this method will work best with are micro-influencers with 1,000-20,000 followers. There are many reasons that influencer marketing is important for the BOI brand. The most important is that todays consumers are more likely to trust influencer recommendations. According to a study done by Keller Fay Group, micro influencers have 22.2x more weekly conversations about what to buy than the average consumer. Further more, 82% of consumers said they were likely to follow these recommendations (Kirkpatrick, 2016). Depicted on the right are the f irst influencers we will target. All three have a following of our target market and use their platform to speak on issues specif ically affecting queer marginalized communities. 73
Marketing Strategies
Avie Acosta (@avie.acosta) 10.6k Followers
Avie is a trans-gender model and activist based in New York City. She was the f irst t transgender model signed with the International Management Group. She uses her platform to challenge gender stereotypes often modeling for both mens, womens, and unisex collections.
“Once I got here I was like, wait, I have a lot of this space to just exist.” -Avie Acosta
Zorawar Waraich (@zeesw) 4,192k Followers
Zorawar Waraich is a London based influencer aiming to decolonize the minds of black and brown people through radical self love. He use his captions on instagram to open up about his journey of self love, wellness, and representation.
“Amongst many of the things that I am able to access as a QTPOC in the West, visibility is one of the most apparent in this moment – I have to ask myself would I be outing myself, posting rants on Instagram if I lived elsewhere”. -Zorawar Waraich
Mars (@Marsart) 10,000k Followers
Mars is a gender fluid artist who founded Art Hoe Collective which has encouraged LGBTQ youth of color to express themselves through art. Identifying as a movement “for us, by us”, the Art Hoe Collective has become incredibly popular, creating a space for queer art to be heard and seen.
“(POC) don't have a voice in this society. It's usually subdued by our white counterparts, and our anger is taken for granted” –Mars
74
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
75
BOI LINGERIE
2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING
8
76
BOI
The f inancial analysis depicted is a prediction of the costs of the marketing efforts outlined in this document; over the f irst year of BOI's operations. Based on our f inancial predictions, BOI will need £50,000 f rom investors and an average monthly sales of £12,000 in order to sustain these efforts and company operations. If these predictions end up being correct, Boi will have a net savings of £94,000 at the end of the year which mens that the overall return on investment of our marketing efforts would be 42%. Essentially, suggesting that our efforts increased BOI's annual sales.
Income Income
Monthly totals:
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
£12,166.00 £12,166.00 £13,166.00 £16,166.00 £16,166.00 £14,166.00 £19,166.00 £17,266.00 £14,316.00 £22,396.00 £16,506.00 £24,266.00
Total
£197,912.00
Average £16,492.67
Investors
£4,166.00
£4,166.00
£4,166.00
£4,166.00
£4,166.00
£4,166.00
£4,166.00
£4,166.00
£4,166.00
£4,166.00
£4,166.00
£4,166.00
£49,992.00
£4,166.00
Sales of Product
£8,000.00
£8,000.00
£9,000.00
£12,000.00
£12,000.00
£10,000.00
£15,000.00
£13,000.00
£10,000.00
£18,000.00
£12,000.00
£20,000.00
£147,000.00
£12,250.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£100.00
£150.00
£230.00
£340.00
£100.00
£920.00
Blog Income
Expenses Social Media
Monthly totals: Buffer Subscription Content Creation Tailwind Subscription
May
£1,193.99 £1,443.99 £1,193.99 £1,193.99 £1,693.99
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
£593.99 £1,193.99 £1,443.99
£693.99
Oct
Nov
Dec
Total
Average
£843.99 £1,193.99 £1,193.99
£13,877.88
£1,156.49
£84.00
£84.00
£84.00
£84.00
£84.00
£84.00
£84.00
£84.00
£84.00
£84.00
£84.00
£84.00
£1,008.00
£84.00
£1,000.00
£1,250.00
£1,000.00
£1,000.00
£1,500.00
£400.00
£1,000.00
£1,250.00
£500.00
£650.00
£1,000.00
£1,000.00
£11,550.00
£962.50
£9.99
£9.99
£9.99
£9.99
£9.99
£9.99
£9.99
£9.99
£9.99
£9.99
£9.99
£119.88
£9.99
£100.00
£100.00
£100.00
£100.00
£100.00
£100.00
£100.00
£100.00
£100.00
£100.00
£1,200.00
£100.00
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£4,328.16
£360.68
Web Hosting (Blue Host)
£31.80
£31.80
£31.80
£31.80
£31.80
£31.80
£31.80
£31.80
£31.80
£31.80
£31.80
£31.80
£381.60
£31.80
Insurance (Blue Host)
£28.88
£28.88
£28.88
£28.88
£28.88
£28.88
£28.88
£28.88
£28.88
£28.88
£28.88
£28.88
£346.56
£28.88
£300.00
£300.00
£300.00
£300.00
£300.00
£300.00
£300.00
£300.00
£300.00
£300.00
£300.00
£300.00
£3,600.00
£300.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
Monthly totals:
Monthly totals: Press Kit
Packaging (Labels, tissue, tags) Website Design & Maintence Brochures
Pop-up Shop (2 weeks)
Apr
£100.00
Branding
Email Marketing
Mar
£9.99
SEO (Google Analytics)
Media Relations
Feb
£100.00
Paid Advertisments
Blog
Jan
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£5,177.45
£0.00
£150.50
£126.95
£150.50
£0.00
£277.45
£0.00
£150.50
£126.95
£150.50
£0.00
£903.00
£525.90
£150.50
£150.50
£5,000.00
£150.50
£150.50
£100.00
£26.95
£150.50
£100.00
£26.95
£150.50 £100.00
£26.95
£26.95
£903.00
£150.50
£5,300.00
£1,325.00
£107.80
£26.95
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£419.76
£34.98
Mail Chimp
£14.99
£14.99
£14.99
£14.99
£14.99
£14.99
£14.99
£14.99
£14.99
£14.99
£14.99
£14.99
£179.88
£14.99
Asana
£19.99
£19.99
£19.99
£19.99
£19.99
£19.99
£19.99
£19.99
£19.99
£19.99
£19.99
£19.99
£239.88
£19.99
£19,567.00
£0.00
£0.00 £19,567.00
£0.00
£0.00 £19,567.00
£0.00
£0.00 £19,567.00
£0.00
£0.00
Monthly totals:
£78,268.00
£6,522.33
£8,000.00
£8,000.00
£8,000.00
£8,000.00
£32,000.00
£8,000.00
£210.00
£210.00
£210.00
£210.00
£840.00
£210.00
£65.00
£65.00
£65.00
£65.00
£260.00
£65.00
Staff
£1,792.00
£1,792.00
£1,792.00
£1,792.00
£7,168.00
£1,792.00
Inventory
£9,000.00
£9,000.00
£9,000.00
£9,000.00
£36,000.00
£9,000.00
£500.00
£500.00
£500.00
£500.00
£2,000.00
£500.00
Monthly totals: Rent (Utilities included) Insurance Wi-Fi
Promotion
77
Financial Analysis
Summary Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Total
Average
Income
£12,166.00
£12,166.00
£13,166.00
£16,166.00
£16,166.00
£14,166.00
£19,166.00
£17,266.00
£14,316.00
£22,396.00
£16,506.00
£24,266.00
£197,912.00
£16,492.67
Expenses
£26,334.10
£1,839.65
£1,740.15
£21,283.60
£2,240.15
£989.65
£21,434.10
£1,839.65
£1,240.15
£20,933.60
£1,740.15
£1,589.65
£103,204.60
£8,600.38
-£14,168.10
£10,326.35
£11,425.85
-£5,117.60
£13,925.85
£13,176.35
-£2,268.10
£15,426.35
£13,075.85
£1,462.40
£14,765.85
£22,676.35
£94,707.40
£12,917.91
-£4,168.10
£6,158.25
£17,584.10
£12,466.50
£26,392.35
£39,568.70
£37,300.60
£52,726.95
£65,802.80
£67,265.20
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Total
Average
£12,166.00
£12,166.00
£13,166.00
£16,166.00
£16,166.00
£14,166.00
£19,166.00
£17,266.00
£14,316.00
£22,396.00
£16,506.00
£24,266.00
£197,912.00
£16,492.67
Net savings [1] Ending balance [2]
£82,031.05 £104,707.40
£46,545.81
Income Income
Expenses Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Total
Average
£1,193.99
£1,443.99
£1,193.99
£1,193.99
£1,693.99
£593.99
£1,193.99
£1,443.99
£693.99
£843.99
£1,193.99
£1,193.99
£13,877.88
£1,156.49
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£360.68
£4,328.16
£360.68
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£5,177.45
£0.00
£150.50
£126.95
£150.50
£0.00
£277.45
£0.00
£150.50
£126.95
£150.50
£0.00
£903.00
£525.90
Email Marketing
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£34.98
£419.76
£34.98
Pop-up Shop (2 weeks)
£19,567.00
£0.00
£0.00
£19,567.00
£0.00
£0.00
£19,567.00
£0.00
£0.00
£19,567.00
£0.00
£0.00
£78,268.00
£6,522.33
Social Media Blog Media Relations Branding
78
SUMMARY
79
BOI LINGERIE
2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING
9
80
IN CONCLUSION, BOI'S MARKET SUCCESS WILL HEAVILY DEPEND ON THE SUCCESS THE MARKETING AND BRANDING EFFORTS OUTLINED IN THIS PLAN. THESE INCLUDE: A SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN ANNUAL POP-UP SHOPS THE BOI’S CLUB BLOG AN EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGN EXTERNAL MEDIA RELATIONS WITH ALL OF THESE EFFORTS COMBINED IT IS PREDICTED THAT BOI WILL BE POSITIONED AS A LEADING LINGERIE BRAND, SETTING THE BAR HIGH FOR ALL OTHER COMPETITORS. IT IS ALSO PREDICTED THAT WE WILL HAVE A 42% RETURN ON INVESTMENT, SETTING US UP FOR LONGTERM SUCCESS.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
83
BOI LINGERIE
2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING
10 11
84
Carbontrust.com. (2011). Clothing. [online] Available at: https://www.carbontrust.com/media/38358/
ctc793-international-carbon-flows-clothing.pdf [Accessed 29 Apr. 2019].
Cardador, J. (2019). The Power of Gen Z Influence. [ebook] Kansas City: Barkley, p.4. Available at: http://www.millennialmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Barkley_WP_ GenZMarketSpend_Final.pdf [Accessed 29 Apr. 2019]. Community Marketing, Inc. (2019). LGBT Research | LGBTQ Marketing | LGBT consulting | LGBTQ I
nsights. [online] Available at: https://communitymarketinginc.com/ [Accessed 14 Apr. 2019].
Debtf reeguys.com. (2019). THE $1 TRILLION BLIND SPOT. [online] Available at: https://debtf reeguys. com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/KantarConsulting-Hornet-LBGTQ_6_1_reducedf ilesize-1.
pdf [Accessed 29 Apr. 2019].
Fromm, J. and Read, A. (2018). Marketing to Generation Z? Here's What You Need to Know. [online]
Inc.com. Available at: https://www.inc.com/ryan-jenkins/marketing-to-generation-z-heres-
what-you-need-to-know.html [Accessed 23 Apr. 2019].
Gay Consumer IndexTM. (2007). [ebook] San Francisco: Community Marketing, Inc., p.2. Available at:
http://www.gayadnetwork.com/f iles/GayAbstract07.pdf [Accessed 18 Apr. 2019].
Ghgprotocol.org. (2019). Measuring Fashion: a look at how the global apparel and footwear
industries size up to their environmental impacts | Greenhouse Gas Protocol. [online]
Available at: https://ghgprotocol.org/measuring-fashion-look-how-global-apparel-and- footwear-industries-size-their-environmental-impacts [Accessed 1 May 2019]. Hootsuite Social Media Management. (2019). 22+ Instagram Statistics That Matter to Marketers in
2019. [online] Available at: https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-statistics/ [Accessed 14 May
2019]. Investmentbank.barclays.com. (2019). Gen Z: Step aside Millennials | Barclays Investment Bank. [online] Available at: https://www.investmentbank.barclays.com/our-insights/generation-z. html [Accessed 22 Apr. 2019]. Junto. (2019). 25 Mind-Bottling SEO Stats for 2019 & Beyond | SEO Insights | Junto. [online] Available
at: https://junto.digital/blog/seo-stats/ [Accessed 8 Jun. 2019].
Karapetian, K. (2016). Transparency Leads to Increased Brand Loyalty and Perceived Brand Worth.
[online] Blog.labelinsight.com. Available at: https://blog.labelinsight.com/transparency-
leads-to-increased-brand-loyalty-and-perceived-brand-worth?hsCtaTracking=28d1db2e- 37f2-4cad-880e-7357672fcd25%7C80ae50ad-4703-49ee-bba2-ccc36fadde0f [Accessed 1 May. 2019]. Lingerie – multiple countries. (2016). [PDF] Mintel Group LTD, p.2. Available at: http://marketsizes. mintel.com.arts.idm.oclc.org/query/194470047/performance/market [Accessed 18 Apr. 2019].
MindOut. (2019). MindOut | Mental Health Charity for LGBTQ community. [online] Available at:
https://www.mindout.org.uk/ [Accessed 1 May 2019].
Nrs.co.uk. (2019). Social Grade | National Readership Survey. [online] Available at: http://www. nrs.
co.uk/nrs-print/lifestyle-and-classif ication-data/social-grade/ [Accessed 2 May
2019]. Promises, P. (2019). FAQ. [online] Playful Promises. Available at: https://www.playfulpromises. com/
pages/faq [Accessed 13 May 2019].
Sexual orientation, UK: 2017. (2019). [ebook] LONDON: Off ice for National Statistics, p.5. Available
at: http://f ile:///Users/tionnedebnam/Downloads/Sexual%20
orientation,%20UK%202017.pdf
[Accessed 10 May 2019].
Starpubs.co.uk. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.starpubs.co.uk/sites/default/f iles/pdf/
Mosaic%20-%20Tommy%20Wass.pdf [Accessed 1 Jun. 2019].
Statista. (2019). Global inflation rate 2012-2022 | Statista. [online] Available at: https://www.statista. com/statistics/256598/global-inflation-rate-compared-to-previous-year/ [Accessed 18 Apr. 2019]. World Wildlife Fund. (2019). Cotton | Industries | WWF. [online] Available at: https://www.
worldwildlife.org/industries/cotton [Accessed 18 Apr. 2019].
Strategicbusinessinsights.com. (2019). VALS™ | VALS™ Types | Experiencers | SBI. [online] Available
at: http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes/experiencers.
shtml [Accessed 8
Jun. 2019].
APPENDIX
87
BOI LINGERIE
2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING
10 11
88
Figure 1.1 | Survey
Figure 1.2 | Social media calendar
Figure 1.3 | Blog Content Calendar
BOI
BOI Redefining Sexy
91