Hurlbert 1

Public Relations Proposal for Dāva

This proposal focuses on increasing Dāva’s sales by 5% through marketing towards the

local university population. This project will address the dearth of student customers and the

lack of presence this boutique has within the local university communities, which there are

more than six of. The theme of this project is flight: as local students are gaining their

momentum and honing their skills before entering the professional world, we at Dāva must also

spread our wings and create a presence in these communities in order to expand our customer

base and increase sales.

Hurlbert 2

Research and Background

Dāva is a jewelry boutique, art consignment, and lifestyle store in Hamden, Connecticut.

Along with all-natural clothing, hand-crafted jewelry, and pottery, the company sells an array of

gift and novelty items. Coleen Campbell opened the store 31 years ago as a futon and

sustainable lifestyle store, but today it has removed the futons and expanded to include

clothing, gift items, and the work of over 70 local artists who consign at the store.

Dāva moved to its current location at 2100 Dixwell Avenue, Hamden Plaza in 1991, and

over the years Dāva has maintained its focus on all-natural products and sustainable living by

selling natural-fiber clothing, products made of recycled materials, and organic health and

beauty aids. About 50% of the company’s sales are from clothing and jewelry, and the company

has a yearly revenue of around $700,000. Along with its focus on sustainability, Dāva also tries

to emphasize the importance of shopping local. About 85% of the products Dāva carries are

made in the USA, and by consigning local artists, the company gives these entrepreneurs a

chance to showcase and sell their work. Most of the artists have not gone to art schools, and

they range in age from teenagers to senior citizens and everything in between. The most

popular artists are jeweler Karen Cornelius and potter Jean Strauss Novick.

Products, Services, and Suppliers

The boutique’s collection of U.S. suppliers include Burt’s Bees from Raleigh, N.C.,

Crabtree and Evelyn from Woodstock, Conn., World of Boxes from Arlington, Mass., and

Woodstock Chimes from West Hurley, N.Y among many others. The natural-fiber clothing lines

are purchased from suppliers as far as California to as close as Massachusetts. Excluding the

company’s U.S. suppliers, the other 15% of products sold at Dāva are fair trade, meaning that

the producers in developing countries were compensated fairly for their products and were not

taken advantage of. This rules out any products made in sweat shops or hazardous working

conditions, and fair trade certification ensures that the producers receive sufficient pay for their

exports. This often means higher costs for imported goods but also higher social, economic, and

environmental standards. Dāva sells fair-trade goods including jewelry, toys, and crafts from

India, Thailand, Bali, and Nepal.

Hurlbert 3

Philanthropy is another facet of the company considering they raise about $6,000 every

year for charities with events like AIDS Project New Haven, a benefit event held since 1996. The

store has raised over $25,000 to date for this specific cause. Along with the commitment to

local businesses and charities, Dāva focuses on improving the global market and industry as

well. The company is a member of the Green America Co-op, an organization of over 8,000

businesses who enforce a sustainable marketplace through the methods of fair trade,

boycotting sweat shops, using sustainable energy, and supporting local suppliers. Dāva received

the highest level of certification and is recognized for its support of fair trade and local

suppliers. The hardest challenge Campbell faces when trying to run a sustainable, “green”

lifestyle company is making a profit while maintaining their philosophy and standards.

Artists, Employees, and Customers

As previously mentioned, Dāva consigns the work of over 70 local artists ranging from

potters and sculptors, to jewelers and knitters. Dāva collects 40% of their profits while the

artists receive 60%. Along with the consigned artists, the company has seven current

employees including Campbell (the owner, bookkeeper, and office manager) and her husband

Pierce. Manager Tina Durgan is in her inner thirties and directs the staff while also planning

and executing events for the company. Campbell considers her a self-starter, fashion-savvy, and

skilled in customer service. There are three other sales associates who range in age from their

late teens to their twenties, and all are considered by Campbell to be excellent with customers

and to have creative mindsets.

Dāva’s customer base is mostly women in their late 20s to early 50s who live in the

surrounding towns including New Haven, Hamden, Wallingford, Northford, and Meriden.

Customers are mostly middle to low-upper class, educated, and socially-aware women who

choose to shop at Dāva for its natural fiber clothing line, its fair-trade products, or because the

boutique has one-of-a-kind pieces and artwork you can not find elsewhere. According to the

owner Coleen Campbell, Dāva has a reputation as a positive community member that treats

customers well and that has a strong ethical base in regards to what is sold in the store and

how it is run.

Hurlbert 4

Previous and Present Public Relations

Previous public relations for the store have been limited towards their usual audience,

and in some cases it’s been unsuccessful. Campbell said advertising in the town newspaper was

not worth the cost, but through involvement in the community, Dāva has created a presence

and gained a larger customer base. Campbell participates in the local high school’s jobs fair, and

for small business Saturday (the Saturday following Black Friday), the owner tried to spread

awareness and gain support through signage and by wearing buttons for a month that

advocated shopping small. Dāva has hosted a yearly birthday celebration sale, jewelry trunk

shows for showcased artists, and sidewalk sales during the summer. These successful events

are prime examples for future public relations targeting different audiences.

As mentioned earlier, Dāva also contributes to the community in a lot of philanthropic

ways, so these fundraisers, benefits, and non-profit auctions are also ways for the company to

make their presence known within the community. Lately, the company just started advertising

with a start-up paper in Cheshire that has a large distribution for the holidays, and Dāva also

has a Facebook page, a frequent buyer discount card, and a newsletter.

Coleen approached me and asked if I could come up with ways to draw more students

like myself into the store. Despite what some may think, prices are not outlandish for the

student budget—there are plenty of things in the five to 20 dollar range—but I think the

problem is that students simply don’t know about the store because all of the community

involvement and advertising has been directed at an older age bracket. Also, Hamden Plaza is

not a chic shopping district like downtown, and our location in Hamden Plaza is too hidden; we

are tucked in the corner on the opposite end of the plaza from places like Froyo and Panera

Bread, eateries often frequented by college students. In order to increase sales, we must

increase the company’s presence in the students’ world, and we could do this by fine-tuning

the company’s public relation materials, organizing more events for the student community,

and advertising in more effective media. Previous PR and events Dāva has organized have been

for the most part successful in expanding the customer base; however, if we want to target

students, we have to draw them in to our company by going to their communities.

Hurlbert 5

Objectives and Goals

As mentioned on page one, the theme of this proposal is “flight.” It ties in with Dāva’s

nature and environment-conscious philosophy and the target audience. When a bird flies for

the first time, it explores a new realm and makes its presence known. While university students

are preparing to do just that, to launch themselves into the professional world, we at Dāva

must also explore and create a presence in the campus community. In order to broaden our

customer base to include university students, we should introduce the company by integrating

it within the students’ lives on campus. In order for students to leave their campuses to shop at

Dāva, they must know we exist, and the best way to introduce ourselves and gain recognition is

to become a positive part of their community.

Targeted Audience

Our intended audience is the local campus population, and this is mostly students but

also includes the faculty and professors. More than six universities and colleges are located

near Dāva, so the audience is there; our job is to draw them into the store. Focusing on

students, we know the student body is both residential and commuter, but by studying

enrollment we can determine which universities have a higher residential population and

therefore advertise more heavily on those campuses. This would be because students living on

campus are already based near Dāva and would want to travel off campus for a break from the

work. Commuters may not live in the area and would therefore be less likely to visit the store.

Also Quinnipiac, Yale, and Southern have shuttles that provide free transport to Hamden Plaza

for students stuck on campus. This is advantageous for Dāva because this means students have

direct access to the store without paying any transportation fee thanks to the universities.

Lastly, we would also focus mainly on attracting the female student body more so than the

male population because college-aged women would be more likely drawn to our main

products including clothes, jewelry, and art than college-aged men.

Intended Messages

Our basic message for students would be to shop at Dāva because it is affordable, has

what they need, and offers a one-of-a-kind shopping experience. Through public relations

materials we can convince students to shop at Dāva because it is where the socially and

Hurlbert 6

environmentally-conscious shop, and therefore the store provides a smarter and more

meaningful shopping experience than a typical department store. While some things at Dāva

are out of the average student’s price range, much of the merchandise is priced under $30. In

order to gain a larger student consumer base, we should emphasize the more affordable

products and offer occasional discounts when advertising to students.

A slightly different and underlying message intended for the campus audience would

include showing how Dāva is a part of their community and not a shop just for an older age

bracket. The only way we can change the way people see our company is to show them how we

want to be seen. For example, part of our reputation is how we are seen as a philanthropic

company, and this is because we have contributed to the community through charities and

fundraisers. Similarly, we can create a new reputation among the university population by

taking action and holding events in which Dāva collaborates with campus clubs and

organizations.

Measurable Goals

In order to spread these intended messages and include female, university residents

within our customer base, Dāva’s presence needs to be increased in the campus community

before seeing results. Consequently our first goal should be to initiate interaction with local

campus communities like Quinnipiac and Southern and to create a presence on these

campuses. We can do this by advertising within their student papers, posting fliers around

campus, and collaborating on events with student organizations. Let’s start with these goals:

advertise and post fliers in the two most residential campuses, contact the art departments and

modeling clubs of four campuses including the two residential schools, and hold an event by

the end of October 2013. If we successfully do this, we’ll have a whole school year following our

enhanced PR in which we can measure its effects.

After this, we can measure how much student sales have increased by offering students

discount cards and counting how many we’ve handed out. These cards would be a variation of

our current frequent shopper card. They would be exclusively for students and handed out at

the register when the student makes her first purchase. The card will be stamped every time

Hurlbert 7

they spend $10 and present their student ID, and after filling the card with eight stamps, they

can receive 15% off their next purchase.

By keeping track of how many cards we hand out, we can get an estimate of how many

students responded to our public relations. Because students must present their ID in order to

get the discount, we can also keep track of how many students are coming from each university

and therefore measure which public relations methods were most effective. We can measure

how advertising worked on the residential campuses, if it increased sales and drew more

students in, or if it’s not worth it. We can also measure how effective events targeting the

university audience were at drawing students to the store, and to do this we could hand out

coupons or redeemable discounts at the event. By counting how many of these coupons are

used, we can roughly measure how many students from the event came to the store.

In summary, our goals for this proposal are to create a positive presence within the local

university communities, to hold an event by October 2013 in which we collaborate with student

organizations, to advertise heavily in the more residential campus communities, to offer

student discounts in order to entice our targeted audience, and to increase our profits by 5%.

Action Plan and Execution

Summary

So the audience is there, but how do we get them to our store? As I’ve already

emphasized again and again, we must introduce ourselves to the student population, show

them what we have to offer, and let them know who, what, and where we are. Only then will

they be provoked to visit the store. In order to this we must fine-tune our PR materials and

target the audience from a bunch of different angles including print advertisements, Facebook

ads, events, mailed brochures, and e-blasts. If we are successful in using our public relations

effectively, we can achieve our goal of a 5% sales increase and an expanded customer base.

Print Advertisements and Fliers

Our print advertisements in the past have not been very successful in increasing sales,

but we can test to see if it is more effective when targeting a different and more isolated age

bracket. Students on universities are stuck in a bubble of sorts, they most likely do not read the

Hurlbert 8

New Haven Register or New York Times daily, but they may occasionally pick up their university

paper. By advertising in a couple university papers and not advertising in others we can

measure how effective the ads are at drawing students to the store.

Within our ad we should create a situation or illustrate a feeling that university students

can relate to. My ad using the Alice in Wonderland theme, included in the materials attached to

this proposal, would work because it’s something university women would have heard of,

experienced, and remembered. I also think this advertisement would capture the reader’s

attention, which is a characteristic emphasized within our text book (page 134). A lot of ads

within the university papers are for restaurants in the area and school events, so an ad that

creates a more abstract but fantastical feeling will stand out and intrigue readers more than the

block of text announcing textbook rental due dates. The headline is a call for adventure, and

considering students living on campus are practically starved of adventure due to their

monotonous schedules, the ad should prompt action and cause students to visit our store for

the sake of adventure. The copy within our ad should be conversational and interesting (page

136), so I would focus on introducing students to the store, informing them about what and

where it is, highlighting the benefits of shopping at Dāva, and prompting them to visit the store

and discover our variety for themselves.

Fliers would also be an effective way to create a presence on a campus. We could post

them on bulletin boards in the most populated and frequented areas of campus like the dining

hall or student center. Like print advertisements, the fliers would use eye-catching visuals and

bold headlines to draw the audience’s attention, and we could use them to advertise

everything from the store to events. To make the flier more interesting and effective, we could

have tear and share tags on the bottom with the company’s logo, address, phone number, and

website. The flier I have already designed has a strong visual of a woman surrounded by and

melding with nature, and while this could be used for such purpose as on a campus, I think

other types of fliers would be more interesting and appealing. For example a more comical flier

would stand out in comparison with others on the bulletin board. A more comical idea for a flier

would be two women eyeing each other because they are wearing the exact same outfit. We

could then say something along the lines of “Shop at Dāva and avoid that awkward moment

Hurlbert 9

when they wear it better than you…” Simple but comical ideas like that might be enough to

spark interest among the university population.

Facebook Advertisements

Today’s world is one that incorporates many facets of technology, and we at Dāva can

use this to our benefit when deciding on our public relations tactics. Facebook is probably the

multimedia site that our targeted audience, university women, would use frequently if not

daily. Therefore Facebook could be an effective way to approach our audience from yet

another angle. By advertising on Facebook, we can determine the age group, education level,

and areas we want to target. For example we could target women, ages 18 to 25, living in

Hamden and New Haven, and currently enrolled in college. We could also make that search

even more specific by advertising to those who “like” natural fiber clothing, art, organic

products, jewelry, clothing, and other products related to our company. Web advertisements

like this should show benefits while being concise (page 152). Likewise the advertisement

should be simple—maybe comprised of one image and a simple sentence that displays the

benefits—because excessive animation or scrolling text can be really irritating for the viewer’s

eye (page 153). Our Facebook ad would be formatted in the frame style and would most likely

be on the right hand column of the screen. Because we know the Facebook site’s colors are

blue and white, we can use contrasting colors like red and yellow within our advertisement to

make it stand out more. While keeping it simple, we want a strong visual, like a picture of a

beautiful woman in Dāva clothing or a picture of one of the comical or unique novelty items we

own. This would gain a viewer’s interest and prompt them to read the text. The text should

include a convincing call-to-action that would cause the viewer to click on the ad in order to get

more information. If we have enough money, we should consider using multiple ads and

targeting customers with different interests in order to find out which conglomeration is more

effective and earns the most clickthroughs (page 153).

Special Events

In the past, we have been a company that is strong with organizing, planning, and

executing events. We’ve held sidewalk sales, fundraisers for charities and organizations, and

Jewelry Trunk Showcases for various artists. By using our skill set and previous experience

Hurlbert 10

organizing events, we can easily hold events targeting the university population. Two ideas I

have come up with and planned have been a Natural Fiber Fashion Show and a College Night

Art Showcase and Sidewalk Sale.

For the natural Fiber Fashion Show we must first contact the modeling clubs on

campuses and find one that is interested in collaborating with the company. Then we would

work with them and help them rent out a space on campus that is similar to that of SCSU’s

Student Center Ballroom. From there we would have to provide models with their wardrobes,

determine a date for the show, and design how it should run.

I’ve already designed a mock flier and rough idea of what the show could be like. My

plan is named “Nature’s Beauty Fashion Show” and would model all of the natural fiber clothing

lines at Dāva along with some of the store’s accessories like purses and scarves. It would give us

a chance to entertain the campus and show students what unique and beautiful clothing our

store has to offer, while also helping the models gain more experience. All models would be

students, which provides them with a great opportunity to do what they love. Students

attending the event will receive a storewide coupon for Dāva, and we can keep track of how

many are redeemed in order to see how successful the show was in drawing students to the

store. Once we have set the fine details and know all of the technical stuff for the event, we can

advertise it in our store, around campus, and online. Because students would be collaborating

with us, they could spread the news by word of mouth, posting their own fliers, and including

the show on the student event calendars. I think this show would be a successful event for us

and the students, and it would help us create a presence within these university communities

because we are basically bringing the store to them. Hopefully by doing this the students would

be impelled to visit our store and purchase what they’ve seen.

The second event I had in mind would be a sidewalk sale and art showcase featuring the

work of students within the local university art departments. This could a reoccurring event so

each university can get the chance to be showcased, and it would be a way for us to draw

students, their friends, and family members to our store. We would start by contacting the art

departments of universities within the area, like SCSU, Quinnipiac, and Yale and offer them the

opportunity to sell their work at our sidewalk sale. The artists would not have to worry about

Hurlbert 11

rain or poor weather damaging their work because our sidewalk is covered by an awning and

fairly well-sheltered. We’d probably hold an event like this one near the end of the spring

semester because the weather would be warmer and students would have a larger collection of

artwork to sell.

The sale would be set up strategically, almost like a trade show booth. Outside on the

sidewalk would be the students’ work for sale and decorations for the event. In order to

purchase any of the items, people would have to go to the register in the store. This would

force them to walk past a great deal of Dāva merchandise, and hopefully they would be

intrigued enough to check out the rest of the store. This sidewalk sale would benefit both the

students and our company because it would give students a chance to market their artwork and

it would draw a larger crowd and new customers to Dāva. As far as profits go, we would most

likely something around collect 20%, the student artist would get 50%, and the remaining 30%

would be donated to the campus art league for whatever trips, events, or supplies the

organization may need to finance. Another way we could entice more students to take part in

the sidewalk sale would be to offer an in-store discount when presenting their student ID.

Hopefully, the work of their friends and peers and the opportune discounts would attract our

targeted audience. Even if we do not have a successful turnout, which I doubt will happen if we

use our public relations effectively, we would still meet new artists that could possibly consign

at Dāva.

Student Appeal

Students need to be interested in our store, and the easiest way to do this is to show

them our products and offer them discounts. We know students most likely won’t be

purchasing our higher priced items; however there is plenty in our store within the $5 to $30

price range. We must convince and persuade these students to shop at our store by offering

them unique, quality items for prices within their budget.

One way we can offer these students discounts while making a profit would be with a

frequent shopper card made exclusively for students. It’d be a variation of our current frequent

shopper card, and for students who present their student ID, they would receive a stamp every

time they spend $10. After eight stamps, they can receive 15% off of their next purchase. As

Hurlbert 12

mentioned earlier, we can also offer students coupons at events we hold. Hopefully after

receiving the coupon, they would feel compelled to visit our store and buy something. Lastly,

we can have one day of the week be a student discount day, so for example, if Friday was the

student discount day, all students with their IDs can receive something like 10% off non-

consigned items they purchase on Friday. This would draw more students into the store, and it

would be most effective if held on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday because that’s when students

would be more inclined to leave campus and take a break from the school work.

Other than offering students discounts, we can also show them what our store has to

offer by showcasing an item of the week. These items would relate to the lives of the students;

for example, in early Fall we would showcase our notebooks and stationery items that connect

to the back-to-school theme, and as the holidays approach, we could showcase more gift items

or health and beauty aids. By using our Facebook page, sales letters, and E-Blasts to announce

these items of the week, we can reach our targeted audience and show them that we have

what they need.

Sales Letters and E-Blasts

Sales letters and e-blasts would be one way we could reach out to our targeted

audience and compel them to visit the store more often. Within this age bracket, direct mail is

more effective than e-mail, so it would be more useful to mail these sale letters than to use e-

blast because emails are too easy to delete and forget about. Nevertheless, because emails are

so inexpensive, we could try to use both e-blasts and sales letters so we are targeting our

customer base from multiple angles. We can use these e-blasts and sale letters to inform our

audience about new products or featured sales that we currently have in store.

By connecting these sales and products to the audience’s life—for example a sale on

notebooks during back-to-school season or a new shipment of reusable hand-warmers during

winter—we can convince the audience that they need these items and “create a sense of need

or desire” (page 178). While telling the audience we have the solution to their problem, we are

fulfilling our goal, which is “to remind the recipient that something in her life needs to be

better” (page 178). The sales letter would then include a call-to-action in which we would add

urgency to the situation by saying the product is in limited supply or on sale for this week only.

Hurlbert 13

Lastly, I suggest adding a coupon or discount within the e-blasts and sales letters so we provide

more benefits for this possible customer (page 181).

How do we get this contact information for the targeted audience? We ask. When

students sign up for their frequent shopper discount cards or when they redeem a coupon, we

can ask for their email and address so they would be automatically entered on the mailing list

to receive these e-blasts and sales letters. Not only would these e-blasts and letters help us

increase sales because it would compel our customers to visit the store, but customers would

also benefit from being on the mailing list because they’d receive news on sales and coupons.

Redesign our Website

The last major part of my proposal would be to revamp our website in order to make it

clear and easy to navigate. Our website has a lot of great information and pictures on it,

however it is too complicated to navigate and can be constructed in a more effective way. In

reference to the “25 point usability checklist,” our website basically has all of the necessary

ingredients; it just needs to be reconstructed. For example, our two major downfalls would be

“main navigation is easily identifiable” and “home page is digestible in five seconds.”

Main navigation is most effective on the left hand side of the page (page 106), and our

current navigation is at the bottom of the page. Viewers wouldn’t even know it was there if

they do not scroll down. In order to change this, I suggest we move the links from the bottom

of the page to a column on the left hand side, and then use images next to the link to show

what it leads to. This would be a more effective way of using images than our current methods

because they “help the user interact with the site” (page 107). Our current images do not serve

a purpose, but they are effective at displaying our products, so we can use these images but

also give them a purpose. With the links and images higher on the page and located where our

eyes naturally wander, our website will be much easier to navigate and our images would serve

a higher purpose.

Secondly, our home page is poorly organized and does not have the information we

need on it. We should have the logo in the top left hand corner of the page, a short blurb about

what we are as a company, and then the information about store hours, contact info, location,

and directions below. All of this should be accompanied by the left hand column of navigation

Hurlbert 14

tabs. Instead of this, we have a jumbled array of information and by looking at our homepage, it

is unclear what we are other than a boutique. We want to be seen as more than a boutique,

and therefore we need to reorganize our homepage, add a short sentence or two about what

Dāva is, and make the navigation tabs easier to find.

Desired Effect

By completing this action plan we can increase sales by 5% and successfully expand our

customer base to include the local university populations. The more angles and ways we

advertise and market to our intended audience, the greater a presence we will have as a

company in their lives. Through organizing events, advertising strategically, and showing the

audience what we have to offer, we can expand as a company, increase sales, and offer these

new customers the solution to their desires or needs. With over six local universities and

colleges; the audience is clearly there, all we need to do is draw them in to the store, and this

public relations proposal will be successful in doing just that.

References

Marsh, Charles, et.al. Strategic Writing: multimedia Writing for Public Relations, Advertising and

More. 3rd ed. New York: Pearson, 2012. Print.