Promotional Plan

Connie Economos, Abby Gindorff, Calla Harper,

Victoria Schindler, Mackenzie Ste. Marie, Taylor Tachovsky

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Table of Contents

Executive summary……………………………………………………pg. 3

Situational analysis…………………………………………………...pg. 4

Audience analysis……………………………………………………..pg. 5

Potential trends…………………………………………………….….pg. 5

Secondary research……………………………………………………pg. 6

Primary research……………….……………………………………..pg. 6

Competitor analysis…………………………………………………..pg. 7

Big idea…………………………………………………………………pg. 7

Media plan……………………………………………………………..pg. 8-9

Budget………………………………………………………………… pg. 10-11

Appendix……………………………………………………………….pg. 12

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Executive Summary

For our social media campaign project, our team decided to help Rover's Playhouse. Rover's Playhouse is a local dog daycare and boarding facility in Fargo, ND. They offered additional amenities for all dogs, such as web cams, anti-anxiety medication, and the largest indoor play area in the Fargo/Moorhead Area. The main concern that the staff at Rover's Playhouse brought to our attention was the lack of regular daycare customers. Regular daycare is their main source of profit, so there is a strong need to increase their clientele base in this area.

We began by conducting primary research through our survey, a focus group, and a personal interview with the owner at Rover’s Playhouse. These resources all gave us data that was relevant to our market because everyone who responded to our survey was a dog-owner in the Fargo/Moorhead area. We were also able to conduct secondary research by thoroughly examining our immediate competitors, Eddie and Barkus and Southbark, with our competitor analysis and content analysis of their social media.

Armed with our data, we created a plan that, we feel, will allow Rover’s Playhouse to run with the rest of their big competitors in Fargo and rise to the top as the obvious choice for regular daycare for dog owners in this community. Our plan to increase their clientele is to craft a social media campaign that will allow Rover’s Playhouse to emerge as the top choice for dog-owners. We hope to increase their followers on all forms of social media, and their Google ranking. We feel that with success in these fields, Rover’s Playhouse can expect a rise in regular daycare customers.

Rover’s Playhouse has clear advantages over their competitors that we feel can really make a splash on social media. We will target 24-50 year-old, middle/upper class, working dog-owners on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. After analyzing our research, strengths, and target audience, we were able to design a campaign focusing on the inclusion of all breeds, large indoor space, and individualized care for each and every dog. We are confident that this campaign will not only increase the online presence of Rover’s Playhouse, but launch them to the top of the dog pile in the dog daycare market in the Fargo/Moorhead Area.

Sincerely,

Team Rover's

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Situation Analysis

• Non-breed discriminant • Trained, knowledgeable staff • Puppy training provided • 3000 square foot indoor play area • Voted #1 People Love Us ’16-‘17

• Quick staff turnover • Little outdoor space • Little social media activity

• Playdates with friends and their puppies • Online schedule and calendar of events • Create a stronger Facebook and Instagram

presence • Increase regular doggy daycare clients by

advertising strengths • Competition with more outdoor space • Grooming services elsewhere • Lack of social media sharing from our clients

O

T

s

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Audience Analysis

As part of the audience analysis to evaluate demand for a dog daycare, a survey was implemented on Facebook of 79 Fargo-Moorhead dog owners. Surprising results showed 79.49% of responders leave a dog home alone more than four hours a day, 42.31% have used dog daycare in the past, 75.64% (59) would use a dog daycare occasionally, but only 21.79% (17) would use a dog daycare on a regular basis.

These figures left us wondering why. What would make a dog owner choose occasional but not regular daycare and what could we do at Rover’s Playhouse to bring the regulars in? First can Rover’s Playhouse fit in more regulars? Is this an area of opportunity? An interview with Rover’s Playhouse showed they had room and it was an area of opportunity.

Dog owner interviews at a dog park to clarify audience analysis of why dog owners would use or not use regular daycare. In these interviews, 25 people at two local parks, Dike East and Brandt Crossing gave us feedback. All interviewed dog owners would try regular daycare to help their dog release energy through all-day play, however they were unanimously concerned about costs adding up. One respondent was concerned about leaving his or her dog with a stranger.

All of this research (the surveys and dog interviews), demonstrated that Rover’s Playhouse needed to determine a system of price incentives for regular dog daycare users. They further needed to promote the price incentives, their trained, safety-conscious, dog-loving staff that were uniquely accepting and friendly toward all breeds. Rover’s Playhouse also is the only dog daycare with an enormous 3000 sq. ft. indoor play gym for year-round exercise, which needs to be emphasized in advertising.

Potential Trends

Past national trends in pet spending have led to an increase in dog daycares in the U.S. If current trends maintain course, 2017 will hit a record of almost $70 billion spent in the pet industry. This continual increase likely will overflow into the market of dog daycare, thus resulting in an overall increase in spending for our market. There are currently 78 million dogs as household pets in the United States. That means the pet market is booming, resulting in the expansion of dog daycare and boarding around the nation.

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Secondary Research

Our secondary research was based on the social media following and content of Rover’s Playhouse and their top two competitors, Eddie and Barkus and Southbark. This provided us with an idea of what our competition’s social media following was focused around and how Rover’s Playhouse compared to similar businesses in their market.

Rovers Playhouse Eddie and Barkus Southbark FB: 1,038 page likes FB: 1,393 page likes FB: 1,724 About 13 likes/post About 28 likes/post About 34 like/post IG: 225 followers IG: N/a IG: 189 followers About 22 likes/Post N/a About 21 likes/post Twitter: 78 followers Twitter: N/a Twitter: N/a About 1 like/tweet N/a N/a

Primary Research

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Competitor Analysis

Big Idea

Rover’s Playhouse is a unique entity in the Fargo/Moorhead Area. They are one of the only non-discriminant daycares in the community, and they have the largest indoor play area in the community as well, so dogs are never restricted during the freezing winter months that the Midwest is so famous for. Rover’s Playhouse also welcomes dogs with separation anxiety, and they have staff who are able to administer medications that will help the dogs relax. Finally, Rover’s Playhouse was voted the Best Dog Daycare in the Fargo/Moorhead Area by Locals Love Us in 2016-2017. With all of these things in mind, we feel it’s time to show the community that Rover’s Playhouse is a place where all paws can play. This type of promotion will appeal to the entirety of our target audience, as well as new customers looking for somewhere to board their dog.

RoversMid-rangepricing,stongsocialmedia,photosofdogs

throughouttheday

SouthbarkLowerprices,

moreofasocialmediapresence,groomingservices

highlighted

EddieandbarkusHigherprices,

privatewalksforafee,notruesocialmediapresence

Vettechs,webcams

Grooming,competitive

prices

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Media Plan

Rover’s Playhouse takes all breeds and gives them a chance to play—it is the only dog daycare in Fargo with an indoor facility that size.

Earned Media and Public Relations Our main tactic within our plan is earned media. Each platform makes a conscious effort to earn media through shares, retweets, and likes. Earned media is essential for Rover's to increase followers and have a larger impact with their posts. Public relations, responding to messages via Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram in a timely matter is important. Interacting with customers through tweets and comments will also be an easy way to engage with our followers.

Goals, Objectives, and Evaluation For Rover’s, our focus is to improve the social media the company already uses. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are all very well-known platforms with extremely large numbers of users. These platforms offer easy ways to promote posts and link content to other platforms.

Objective 1: Promote Rover’s on Facebook Strategy 1: Create a posting schedule to increase interactions and impressions and pay to promote posts

• Post every other day, unless a special event or holiday is taking place, during workday hours. Doing this makes it more likely for a dog owner at work with his or her dog at home to see the post and feel a sense of guilt for leaving the dog home alone.

• Using the method of promoted posts on Facebook gets the most impressions for our investment at five dollars per thousand views.

• Continue offering the service of sending individual Facebook messages to owners with photos of their dogs for a fee (Figure 1).

• Promotional giveaways for a free day of daycare • Post a video of a tour of Rover's

Strategy 2: Have more variety in content of posts

• Post pictures and staff biographies to showcase employees and communicate the knowledge and love employees have for dogs. Primary research showed dog owners care greatly about the people taking care of their dog (Figure 2).

• Rover’s is unique because of the non-discrimination policy on dog breeds. Promote this with pictures of frequently discriminated breeds at Rover’s along with testimonials from owners.

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Evaluation: Record average likes per post and likes on the page before and after completing strategies. An increase of at least 10% will be considered successful.

Objective 2: Promote Rover’s on Instagram Strategy 1: Post more regularly to increase impressions

• At least once a week, post photos of dogs, facilities, or employees, making sure to include Dog of the Month in one of those posts.

• Use the Instagram "Live Story" feature to show videos of dogs playing daily. This will be helpful in showing owners what their dogs do during the day and for letting prospective clients know what an average day at Rover’s is like.

Strategy 2: Promote posts to gain followers

• Use professional quality photos of dogs, staff, facility and use the Promote feature on Instagram to pay for a spot in the feed of users.

• Use hashtags to gain followers and tag owners in photos of their dog. • Post photos of customer testimonials to highlight customer satisfaction and have

an example of our non-discrimination policy for dogs. (Figure 3)

Evaluation: Record average likes per post and number of followers before and after strategies. An increase of 10% or more will be considered successful.

Objective 3: Promote Rover’s on Twitter Strategy 1: Create a variety of posts geared towards getting retweets

• Share photos of dog clients with a humorous caption and tone, especially on National Dog Day, National Pet Day, and National Puppy Day. Tag the dog’s owner in the photo (Figure 4).

• Post photos multiple dog breeds for non-discrimination posts

Strategy 2: Interact with customers via tweets

• Tweet pictures of the dogs being very active and happy, but tag the owner to get retweets from owners and thus, earn a spot on the timeline of their followers.

• Follow customers on Twitter to be able to reply, like, or retweet posts about their dog that attends Rover’s.

• Tweet coupons at the beginning of the month (Figure 5)

Evaluation: Record number of average likes, average retweets, and followers before and after completing the strategies. An increase of 10% or more will be considered successful.

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Budget (3 Month Period)

Platform Cost per Post/View Budgeted Cost Facebook $5 per 1000 views

Promote 2 posts per week (goal of 1000 views/post)

$180

Instagram $6.70 per 1000 views Promote Rover's weekly Instagram post(goal of about 1500 views/post)

$120

Total Budget: $300

With a budget of three hundred dollars we feel it would be most effective to run a three- month campaign to maximize views and gain loyal followers without paying for promotion for the entire year.

Gantt Chart for Extended Idea Generation Posts would run from the beginning of August to the end of October in order to catch the end of summer vacationers and the beginning of dog owners concerned about keeping their dog occupied during winter months.

Day of the Week Content Rationale Sunday Twitter: Tweet

promotions/coupons for the month

Consumers look for deals when following companies and Twitter is an easy way to earn media by having customers retweet our deals or send them to friends

Monday Facebook: Post about Dog of the Month (Promoted) Instagram: Announce Dog of the Month (Promoted)

The first Monday of each month will be the announcement of Dog of the Month. This content exists to show the diversity among dogs at Rover's and the love the company has for dogs.

Tuesday Twitter: Tweet photo of Dog of the Month using indoor play gym

Client will likely retweet post. Followers will get a view of facilities, as well as seeing the emphasis Rover's puts on giving each dog attention

Wednesday Facebook: Create post about an employee with information about who they are, how long they have worked at Rover's, etc. (specifically viewpoints related to Big Idea)

In our survey, customers found it very important to have caretakers genuinely care about their dog. Communicating employees have love for all dogs, not just certain breeds/ages, tie in perfectly with the Big Idea.

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Thursday Twitter: Tweet photo of a group of dog clients ranging greatly in size, breed, and age

Our Big Idea extends beyond just discriminated breeds. Customers should feel comfortable bringing their dog no matter the age or size.

Friday Facebook: Share latest company video

Diversifying content brings attention to posts and encourages sharing.

Saturday Facebook: Post photo of an individual dog highlighting the indoor play space

Communicate to the audience that dogs play at Rover's, not just sit in a kennel.

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Appendix

Figure1 Figure3

Figure2 Figure4

Figure5