Public Report

Public Report

    This is going to be a super exciting year because my husband and I decided to start a business! Towards the end of last year, we were approached with the possibility of buying some blind cleaning equipment from a local guy who is retiring and looking to sell. We both work for a restoration company in town, so cleaning is a part of our everyday lives. We've worked with this local guy a few times at work as a sub-contractor and we also have a blind cleaning machine at work, so we're fairly comfortable with the process. 

    My husband and I have been married for two years now, so we've been toying with the idea of starting a family. Finances are a scary thought for both of us, so some extra income while we're both in school full-time was a very enticing idea. We decided to go for it at the beginning of this year! Since I'm a Communications major with an emphasis in Public Relations and a cluster in Social Media, I've decided to head the project of generating a marketing plan for our new business. 

    This marketing plan will include 1. An entire branding style guide, 2. Social media content templates &  editorial calendar, 3. a full PR plan which includes a SWOT analysis, a budget, an advertising plan, strategies & tactics, etc., 4. advertising materials, and 5. a rough draft website (we will have a professional do the major work on the website). This project will take me the next 10 weeks to complete. 

January 25-31, 2021

    This week we finished the paperwork for the LLC and tax EIN stuff (I'll leave the business specifics to my husband ;)) with the help of our accountant. I also started working on designing a logo! For weeks, I went back and forth trying to decide if I should let a professional design the logo or if I should do it myself. I just didn't want to be responsible for something everyone would see in case I didn't like how it turned out. However, I decided to put on my big girl panties and do it myself. I've designed logos before, I'm just insecure about them compared to professionally made logos. 

    My husband knew exactly what he wanted in a logo, so I felt like I could probably whip something together and have it look alright. I used the app Procreate on my iPad to roughly sketch out our ideas. I then took those sketches and started putting them into Adobe Illustrator. It took me a while to remember how to use Illustrator, and I know I'll have to keep working on it to get it exactly how I want it, but here's what I did this week! Below are a couple of my sketches, one rough draft logo I made on Adobe Illustrator, and an hour log for the week!

 

   There are things I really don't love about this logo, like the font and I wish the oval was a little shorter. I will work on that next week!

Hour Log

January 27- Logo sketches (2.25 hr)

January 29- Logo sketches (1.25 hr)

January 30- Adobe Illustrator Logo Design (1.75 hr)

TOTAL: 5.25 hours

February 1-7, 2021 

     This week I worked on designing a style guide. It's been hard to decide on a logo and I still want to get more opinions on it, but I know my husband and I both liked the idea of this one, so since I know it's going to be similar to the one at the bottom of last week's sprint, I just added it to the style guide as-is. The style guide consists of the logo, typography, and a color palette. It will be used as a reference to anything we make content-wise. Such as flyers, social media content, advertising materials, etc. 

    Since this business is my husband's baby, he had an idea in his head of his perfect style guide, so I'm just bringing it to life. He wanted to keep everything simple and clean. As for brand colors, he only wanted black and white. I might be able to get him to budge on a pop of yellow, so I added it to another style guide just so I could test the waters to see how he likes it. Other than that, everything else is simple with clean lines. 

Hour Log

February 4- Research colors and font combos (1 hr)

February 4- Start designing style guide on Canva (1.75 hr)

February 5- Research competitors social media accounts (1.5 hr)

February 6- Finish designing style guide (1 hr)

TOTAL: 5.25 hours

    

 

February 8-20, 2021

    For this sprint, I moved on from styling and branding and jumped into the deeper planning for the business. The thing I wanted to accomplish first was to create a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) Analysis for the business. I've made lots of SWOT analyses in the past and they are always helpful in the future for creating realistic goals and staying on track. First, I had to do some research about realistic expectations for a brand new business, what to expect, and so on. Then I had to do some deep thinking about what we want to gain from the business and how social media marketing can help us get there. I made a rough draft and then spent some time designing a template for my SWOT Analysis. I used my rough draft logo because I hadn't started designing the final logo yet. We did decide not to go with the yellow though, so the template is white and black. Now that I'm seeing the fonts I chose together, I'm not loving them, so I might update that this sprint as well. After I put the content in the template, I got a second opinion from my husband and we added some more things to the analysis. As we continue to grow this business, I'm sure I will think of many more things to add to the analysis, but for now, this is a good start. 

    My next goal for this sprint was to create a content editorial calendar for social media. Before diving into it, I did some research on social media of similar businesses in the industry to see what kind of content they use. I did my social media marketing internship in a similar industry, so I also pulled ideas from my own experience from what I know works. Since this is a brand-new business, it's a little harder and our initial posts are going to be a little different than normal, and probably different from the posts I have written out in this schedule. I created a template with a post idea for each day of the week to keep it consistent. I also included extra ideas at the bottom for double posting or special events, etc. Next, I did some research about the best times to post on social media for our chosen channels and how many times to post a day for ideal impressions and engagement. I also made a template for that.

*template means I will be creating a template for each of these posts in the future.

Hour Log

February 10- Research, plan, & start a rough draft of SWOT Analysis (1.75 hours, .25 hour later the same day)

February 11- Finish rough draft of SWOT Analysis, design SWOT Analysis template, input rough draft into the template (2.25 hours)

February 12- Review analysis with my husband, add a few more points (.75 hour)

Total: 5 hours

February 15- Research industry & competitors channel accounts, make a list of all post & content ideas (1.50 hours)

February 17- Research what content does best on certain days, design social media schedule, input all post ideas into the design (2.50 hours)

February 18- Research social media strategy for time & how many posts/day for the industry, design co-template, input findings in the template (1 hour)

February 19- Update style guide in Canva (.50 hour)

Total: 5.50 hours

February 21 - March 6, 2021

    For this sprint, I got to work alongside my husband which was fun. Together, we created a business plan for investors and to act as a checklist and keep us organized. We both did a lot of research to set realistic expectations for ourselves and then got to work. We included things like what would happen if we brought on a partner, how much we are expecting to take out for a loan, how much we should expect to make this worth it and keep us on our feet, business cards, T-shirts, decals, marketing materials, etc. By doing this, we were able to come together and bring our separate findings and ideas and incorporate them into one solid plan. We are expecting to start the business in April/May, so this will keep us on the right track.

    During this sprint, I also worked on turning the logo into a vectorized image on Adobe Illustrator so that I can start creating templates and marketing materials. It has come with a lot of ups and downs, and yes' and no's. It's still not completely finished because I'm worried I won't like it in a couple years down the road. I'm toying with the idea of having my cousin who is a graphic designer finish it for me to make it look more professional. Overall, it was a very productive sprint that put our future in perspective and pushed us to set realistic expectations. 

Hour Log

Feb. 24- Research competitor's pricing, quotes on loans, make a list of consumables, look over our personal current budget & decide how much we would have to make within a week & a month to match, put it all in a spreadsheet & then in a ppt presentation (3 hours)

Feb. 25- Met with a friend who wants to come on as a partner, later talked about and sketched out a plan to see if it would be worth it (2.25 hours)

Total: 5.25 hours

March 2- Looked into the pricing for car decals, business cards, & T-shirts, added to the spreadsheet & presentation. (1.25 hour)

March 4- Worked on the logo in Adobe Illustrator (1.75 hours)

March 5- Worked on the logo in Adobe Illustrator (2 hours)

March 6- Worked on the logo in Adobe Illustrator (1 hour)

Total: 6 hours

March 7 - March 20, 2021

    I'm not going to lie, I've totally been dreading this last project! I almost planned something else in place of starting the design of the website. After I remembered that I'm not the one doing the actual coding and website set-up, I felt a lot better. I can't make an actual webpage, but I can design one! I took a class on creating online media where I learned how to design websites. For this project, I only designed the homepage for web and mobile. The first thing I did was google some of our competitor's websites to see what I needed to include on the homepage. There are not a lot of blind or window cleaning companies out there, so I also looked at general cleaning companies. 

    I knew I needed to include information about the machine we use, some sort of before and after, and what areas we serve. Homepages are typically the landing page, so it's mostly just an overview of the business with more detail within other pages. The sections I ended up with are: Why blind cleaning, why ultrasonic, before and after pictures, residential/commercial blind cleaning, what areas we service, one testimonial, and a small section about us.

    You'll notice that I played with some different colors on the homepage. If you can remember, my husband wasn't on board with any colors, and strictly wanted black and white. I almost got him to commit to a pop of yellow a couple months ago, but with no luck. However, when I sat down to actually design this homepage, I quickly realized it's totally impossible to design something substantial with only black and white. I looked at some Adobe pre-picked color palettes for inspiration and decided to try out a couple shades of dusty blue. I love it! I think my husband likes it, too. Win! I think it looks so clean and crisp. 

    The only thing I don't love about the design is the logo. I think it looks very out of place and I found myself wishing for a wider and flatter logo. It's frustrating because I worked so long and hard on this one trying to make it perfect, but I just can't stand it. I'm going to hire a graphic designer and hope she comes up with something that fits better with our brand. 

    Even though I was nervous about it at first, this design project ended up being my favorite of the semester. I absolutely love how it turned out and I think it represents our brand so well. It's definitely a step in the right direction. Even though there's still so much we have to do to get this business up and running logistic-wise, I definitely feel like I have a better handle on the marketing and social media side than I did at the beginning of the semester.

Web View

Mobile View

I'm sorry that they're so blurry when uploaded to blogger!

Hour Log

March 10- Research cleaning business websites (1 hour)

March 11- Write up an outline of content I want to be included on the homepage (1.5 hours)

March 12- Find and legally obtain images from public domain websites (Unsplash and Pexels) & design elements like icons in Canva (1.5 hours)

March 13- Sketch and design the wireframe for the web view mock-up design in Adobe Xd (2.5 hours)

Week Total: 6.5 hours

March 16- Design mobile view wireframe in Adobe Xd (1.5 hours)

March 17- Convert wireframe to mock-up on web view (2 hours)

March 18- Convert wireframe to mock-up on mobile view (1.5 hours)

March 19- Finish mock-up designs, make adjustments as needed, & add the finishing elements (1 hour)

Week Total: 6 hours

Final Project Report

When I started this project, I underestimated how hard it would be. However, the mental and emotional difficulty paid off in more ways than just one. While this project was time and labor-intensive, it also helped me gain a clearer perspective and better understanding of not only the industry but my future. 

 

At the end of last year, my husband and I decided to buy a blind cleaning business from a local man who was retiring. The business had never been marketed or advertised and he was very successful because there is a high demand in the area due to him being the only one in town who cleans blinds. We have both been in the cleaning and restoration business for over 4 years, so we know the industry pretty well. My husband and I figured starting this business would help get our foot in the door for ourselves and help us save for the future. 

 

Since the business had never been marketed or advertised and was still successful, we both figured that if I put my social media and marketing skills to the test, we could be just as successful. I am two semesters away from graduating with my bachelor’s degree in Public Relations and a cluster in Social Media Management. For the past 3 months, I have been designing and creating a marketing plan and materials for our start date at the end of this month. My mentor for this project was my mentor for my internship, which was in a similar industry. She gave me some tips when I needed them and was very helpful when it came to figuring out how I’m going to grow awareness and engagement for this business. 

 

This marketing plan included an entire branding style guide, social media content templates, an editorial calendar, a social media SWOT analysis, and a website design. 

Branding Style Guide

 

I started out with something I thought would be the easiest part, but I ended up changing a few of the specifics of it multiple times throughout this project! I started out with a simple style guide. I’ve made style guides several times before for other projects and brands, but when it’s for yourself and your own business, it’s a lot harder! I was apprehensive for a while about designing the logo myself because I’m not that confident with my own designs. My husband knew exactly what he wanted, so I drew up a few sketches on my iPad and transferred them to Illustrator later. During the past 3 months, I have gone back and forth over the design of the logo because I still don’t love it! It’s one of the most important parts of a business, so I think I’m right to be picky about it. I sent it off to a graphic designer for her to look over and redesign, and I feel much more confident in that business decision than any of the logos that I created.

The other parts of the branding style guide were colors and fonts. Fonts were the easy part. I chose a couple of sophisticated and easy-to-read fonts. As for the colors, my husband was dead set on just black and white for a long time. I tried to sway him to an accent color of yellow for a while, to no avail. Designing for a business with only black and white is really hard, so when I was designing the website mock-up a couple weeks ago, I tested out some dusty blues that looked amazing. When I showed him, he actually liked them a lot! Win! This is the style guide now, with a new logo coming later this month. 

SWOT Analysis

The next thing I did was create a SWOT analysis for the business. I’ve made handfuls of SWOT analyses’ in the past and they are super helpful for planning for the future and staying on track with realistic goals. It took a little bit of research to do this for a brand-new business, but the listed items are realistic.

Editorial Calendar & Social Media Templates

The next thing I did was make an editorial calendar for social media and some templates. I’ve taken lots of classes on social media, I’ve run a handful of accounts, and I did my internship in social media. I’m confident in my content and in my creative ideas. I had to do some research, again, on the industry and competition to see what their posts are like. Since this business is brand new, I’m sure we’ll have to stray from the calendar here and there, but these are some easy-to-execute ideas for weekly posts with some extra ideas at the bottom if it starts to feel too routine. 

As you can see, in the editorial calendar there is an asterisk with the word template next to it. This simply means that there will be a pre-made template for this type of post. All of those templates are below. They are all cohesive with the style guide and will look great on the social media feeds. These are all drafts until we get our final logo.

Web Design

My last part of this project was a website homepage mock-up for web view and mobile view. I was so apprehensive about designing this, but it turned out to be my favorite part of the project and really got me excited! We are having a professional create the actual website, this is just the design. I started with some research of other companies’ websites and instantly knew I could do better. I included information about why blind cleaning, why ultrasonic, before and after photos, residential/commercial blind cleaning, the areas we serve, a testimonial, and a small section about us. I think this webpage design represents us, our brand, and our business so well. It’s a step in the right direction and made me feel like I have a better grip on the marketing and social media side of this business than I did 3 months ago.

Web View

Mobile View

This business is huge for my husband and me. In essence, it’s a stepping stone for our future. While my husband is the business logistical expert and the one who will be doing the majority of the labor, it was great for me to feel like I’m helping in some way. Now I know my place in this business and I have a good idea of what to expect in the beginning with the tools to help us be successful. There are a few extra things I still need to do before we get going, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. These are the basics that will help us as we move forward and that we will be able to base the rest of our materials off of. Branding is so important for a business’ image and has the ability to turn followers into customers.