Digital Marketing

Media Plan

Nicole Velasquez
Delaney Roberts
Michael Gossel
Luke Chval
Jack Gallagher
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary ................................................ 3
Situation Analysis ................................................... 4
Objectives ............................................................... 8
Strategy ................................................................. 10
Tactics ................................................................... 15
Actions .................................................................. 20
Control .................................................................. 23

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
HopeBoat Productions is a wedding photography and videography company run by a married

couple in Whittier, California. OJ Baclig began the company 16 years ago and has since established a

wide network of venues and clients across the Los Angeles and Orange County regions. The necessity to

keep driving sales to maintain fixed operating costs and to stay afloat in a competitive landscape

requires conducting a six-tiered digital analysis using the SOSTAC framework.

For Situation Analysis, it is key that HopeBoat has a positive online presence, especially a strong

website and engaging social media content. However, the company has a number of differentiators it can

capitalize on, especially in experience and personalization. To achieve more efficient ad spend,

HopeBoat needs to generate more booking requests digitally and will set objectives to improve its digital

performance, the key among those being Sell, Serve, and Speak. Using 2020’s Marketing budget, they

will implement a plan to derive 25% of bookings from digital conversions. They will Serve by doubling

Facebook and Instagram followers, and Speak by doubling online reviews in 6 months. We have

identified a Target Audience, created Buyer Personas, and identified 5 stages of the Buyer Journey to

help guide this digital plan that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. The plan for

Strategy requires a Content Strategy to convey these core messaging themes to the audience by

implementing a new digital channel strategy using Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and email using

HopeBoat’s brand persona and voice. For Tactics, we will create several Marketing interventions within

reviews, website, email, and social media to execute the Strategy. Actions will involve a timeline and

assign each team member to a specific task within each Tactic for completion. Finally, Control will

entail using a Google Data Studio Dashboard to track KPIs and campaign success, staying within the

allotted budget of $3000, and upholding a Crisis Management Plan to sustain a positive brand image.

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SITUATION ANALYSIS

Customers
 Increasingly rely on digital avenues to research and plan their weddings, especially social media
platforms, wedding planning websites, and review sites accessed via mobile devices

Demographics: According to industry data, 67% of the wedding planning is done by the bride and the
median age of Americans at their first wedding is 30.1 years for men and 28.3 for women. In the last
year HopeBoat’s website had 1,389 new customer visits. The majority of visitors were female, between
the ages of 24-34, and resided in Los Angeles, California.

Buying Behavior: 20% of engagements occur around the holidays, especially Christmas and New Years
and 90% of newly engaged couples announce the engagements on social media. According to
WeddingWire’s 2020 Newlywed Report, nearly 90% of wedding planning is done online, 53% of
couples set up a wedding hashtag, and 64% use a wedding planning app with a planning checklist. The
first booked will always be the venue, but there are on average 40 categories to consider. 75% of couples
use social media for inspiration during planning and 41% of brides ‘follow’ wedding photographers on
social media. The use of smartphones to access wedding planning websites nearly doubled from 2011
(33%) to 2014 (61%). The top tasks done on mobile devices are looking up vendor information on
websites, using planning websites, researching vendors, browsing photo galleries, and reading reviews.

Spending: According to the Newlywed Report, 60% of couples increase their original budget, especially
for must-have items they find in their research (45%) or for added value through personalization (35%).
However, 62% don’t regret splurging and 47% of brides increase their budgets specifically for
photography. Furthermore, 60% find the style of photography to be the most important evaluative factor.

Market
 Differentiation is key in a slow growing, highly saturated market. However, HopeBoat often
operates above industry standards (see Figure 1) especially on capacity and experience.

The Wedding Industry: On average, there are about 2.4 million weddings per year in the United States.
According to IBIS World, the wedding services industry in the U.S. tends to be resilient to economic

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downturns. However, annual growth is only expected to by 0.7% over the next 5 years and total revenue
is expected to fall by $73 billion in 2020.

Wedding Photography: The photography industry experienced an average annual industry growth of
0.3% from 2014 to 2019. Industry revenue has fallen at an average annualized rate of 2.6%. However,
HopeBoat is above average by many industry standards. The average photographer/videographer has the
capacity for 21.1 weddings per year and spends about 14 hours editing raw photos, which takes up 55%
of the production process. The average cost for wedding photography in California is $2400.

Wedding Videography: On average, videographers receive 110 inquiries per year, and 59% include
pricing on their website. The majority of wedding videographers have 5-10 years of experience and only
22% have over 10 years. Half of videographers use
Figure 1
documentary style, which captures major events
21.1 capacity 40-50 capacity
INDUSTRY

HOPEBOAT
throughout the wedding day as opposed to providing 14 hr edit 8-10 hr edit
only a 15-30-minute highlight video. Wedding videos $2400 $2000
5-10 yrs experience 16 yrs experience
take one month on average to reach the couple after the
1 mo turnaround 1-2 week
wedding day. turnaround

Trends: One trend in the industry has been the tendency for photographers and videographers working
weddings to ask for all guests and families to go “Unplugged” for the ceremony, that is, turning off all
devices and refraining from taking their own photos. Product delivery has also shifted from physical
prints and albums to digital downloads and cloud hosting. Some photographers differentiate themselves
through personalized photo gifts such as a locket.

Competitors
 Competitors strengths include engaging social media content, a customer-oriented web
experience, and a strong presence on WeddingWire.

Social Media: Many competitors behave similarly to HopeBoat on their social media pages, posting a
few times a week with pictures related to their most recent projects. However, with benchmark business
Looking Glass Photography, there are a few key differences: Their posts focus on the couples they’ve
featured first and foremost. They also follow several related hashtags with which they tag their posts so
people following those hashtags can see them. Hashtags seem to be a great way to slowly amass
followers.
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Website: Websites tend to be significantly different between individual photographers and their styles.
For example, most of these have ecommerce options in multiple tiers or customizable forms so that
customers can denote specifically what they want in their wedding. Some have bots able to respond to
simple consumer questions, while others have a sophisticated CTA section that directly sends an email.

Wedding Wire: Wedding Wire is a one-stop wedding planning website with 16 million active monthly
users which provides aggregate vendor search tools, design inspirations, planning tips, and vendor
reviews. This is a highly competitive platform with over 1,500 listings for wedding photographers in
Los Angeles alone. Top listings have over 50 reviews, though HopeBoat has only 5. An easy way to
boost marketing credibility found on several of the benchmarks and more directly competing businesses
were WeddingWire awards. In order to receive a WeddingWire Couple’s Choice awards, one must
contact WeddingWire after having at least 5 5-star reviews.

Performance Analysis
 HopeBoat’s inefficient ad spend on expo sales and WeddingWire leads to lost revenue

 Web traffic is highly seasonal which opens up digital marketing touchpoints and opportunities
Lead Generation: HopeBoat’s current advertising budget is heavily weighted towards the beginning of
the year, with around a $6,000-$8,000 ad spend in January and February primarily on wedding
expositions (expos). Expo sales typically account for 50-60% of HopeBoat’s annual bookings. However,
these sales are highly competitive and often must be discounted, often with other free incentives, in
order to generate same-day conversions. Other leads come from vendor or venue referrals as well as
client referrals. A running Groupon promotion for a discounted engagement shoot also generates many
leads but rarely results in the purchase of a full wedding package. Leads also do not come directly from
Facebook or Instagram at this time.

Wedding Wire: This year, 2020, HBP also invested $3,200 in a WeddingWire subscription. As of
April, this subscription had yet to produce any quality leads and, in fact, has generated a number of cold
leads due to an automated “Request Pricing” button. However, it is important to note that Wedding Wire
and the Knot together are the most trusted sources in the industry for vendor reviews and planning tools.
Even if clients are not finding HopeBoat through vendor search tools, they still likely use these sites to
find reviews on vendors they are interested in.

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Seasonality: The HopeBoat’s website is highly seasonal in Figure 2

traffic, with high peaks centered biannually in the months

of January/February and July (Figure 2). It is highly
likely that each peak represents a different stage in the
buying process and digital marketing efforts must be
tailored to reflect this. In order to analyze the difference
between these two peaks, we plotted the proportion of
new users to users during this past year (Figure 3). The
proportion of new users was highest in the winter months Figure 3

and lowest in the summer months, leading to the

hypothesis that the winter peak is the first engagement for
many of these users who then return for the summer
peak when they are further along in the purchase cycle.

Similar to the website data, the Facebook Daily

Impressions average shows a peak in the January and
February months. The fact that this seasonality trend is observed through two different media shows that
the Facebook page drives traffic to the website, and that the peak observed in both datasets is a
convincing consumer trend and not a data coincidence caused by random variation.

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
 Knowledge/Experience  Social media presence
 Personalization  Inefficient ad spend
 Unique background  Few reviews
 Network  Minimal Paid Online
 “Splurging” trend Advertising
 High capacity  Simple Pricing Model
 Fast delivery/editing  No Chatbot
process
 Affordable
 Documentary style
 Specialized equipment SWOT
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
 Couple hashtags  Falling Revenue
 Engagement  Coronavirus shutdowns
announcements  Competitor Social Ads
 Vendor Relationships
 Slow Industry Growth
 Seasonality
 WeddingWire Couple’s
Choice awards
 Reviews

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OBJECTIVES
SELL: Generate 25% of 2021 wedding bookings from website leads over the next year within
2020s marketing budget.
Because wedding expositions are so costly and WOM is essentially free, the overarching goal for
HopeBoat is to shift the portfolio of conversions from its current state of 50% WOM and 50%
expositions to a 3-channel split: 50% WOM conversions, 25% exposition conversions, and 25% digital
conversions at the end of the one-year term following the Figure 4
implementation of this plan. Social Referrals
Based on past website data, we have determined that about 2% 100% - 1450

of web visitors referred from social media will book a phone consultation Phone
Consultations
for pricing information, availability, and initial evaluation. After the phone 2% - 29
consultation, around 50% will book an in-person consultation with OJ, often in In-person
Consultations
a coffee shop. Once the client meets OJ in person, he has a very high closing 50% - 15
Final
rate, around 90%. In order to achieve 13 final bookings through website leads, Bookings
HopeBoat will need to generate 1450 social referrals (Figure 4). 90% - 13

 KPIs: social referrals, lead generation (phone consultations booked), bounce rate, new users,
returning users

SERVE: Double the growth rate of followers on both Facebook and Instagram in the first 180
days and 90 days respectively.
Because social referrals are the first step in the sales funnel, HopeBoat needs to increase its
following early. In the last 180 days, Figure 5
Facebook had an annual growth rate
of 14%. The objective of this plan is
to double the annual growth rate to 28
percent (Figure 5). This would mean
that in the next 180 days of this
plan’s implementation, the number
of page likes would increase from 150
to 172. From the Instagram data for

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Figure 6
HopeBoat, there was a 22% annual
growth rate in the number of
Instagram followers in the past 90
days. In the same method to
extrapolate a goal as the Facebook
data, that annual growth rate was
doubled to 44% (Figure 6) to increase
the number of Instagram followers
from 747 to 835 in the next 90 days.
 KPIs: Facebook page likes, Instagram followers

SPEAK: Double the number of ratings and reviews from Yelp, WeddingWire, the Knot, and
Facebook in the first 6 months.
These key review sites were chosen because they are the primary sources of Google’s review
aggregator and are the first to show when the business is searched on Google.
 KPIs: Google reviews, Google star rating

Pipeline Targets
Below are the targets needed on a per month basis to achieve pipeline goals.

Table 1
2020 2021
June Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May
SELL
Social Referrals 181 181 91 91 91 91 91 181 181 91 91 91
Website Lead 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 2 2 2
In Person 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1
Consultation
Final Booking 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1
SERVE
Facebook Page Likes 156 160 164 167 171 176 180 184 188 193 197 202
Instagram Followers 799 829 861 894 928 963 999 1038 1078 1116 1159 1202
SPEAK
Google Reviews 5 3 2 2 3 2 1 2 3 2 1 1

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STRATEGY

Target Audience
In order to better understand the needs of HopeBoat’s target audience, three personas were
developed at different lifecycle stages. Behavioral data from WeddingWire’s 2020 Newlywed Report
was used to provide insights on budget, age, decision-making units (DMUs), and other lifestyle
characteristics. Facebook’s Audience Insights was used to provide career and interest information (See
Table 2).
Key Insights:
 These shoppers are “hunters” who have a general idea of the product they want very low
knowledge of the product category. They require significant guidance and support along their
information search. However, they are also hunters in many product categories, such as venues
and vendors. This provides an opportunity for HopeBoat to meet this need by offering industry
knowledge and vendor suggestions.
 These shoppers seek trust both in product quality and in the ability to provide personalization.
 Visionary Viv’s needs overlap most with the other personas and is HopeBoat’s highest priority.

Buyer Journey
Based on these personas and the “Situational Analysis,” we have identified 5 key stages of the buyer
journey:
Dreaming: Seeking Inspiration At this stage, the consumer may or may not be engaged. Many
begin wedding planning and even follow vendors online before engagement. Dreamers follow Pinterest
boards for inspiration and follow vendors on Instagram and Facebook. Once engaged, they will
announce engagements on social media and plan an engagement party. They download planning apps
either through WeddingWire or the Knot and create planning checklists. At this stage, they have no
budget in mind and are simply looking for engaging content that inspires them.
Research/Consideration: Seeking Information At this stage, the brides-to-be will set budgets
and begin serious research and planning. They quickly become overwhelmed by the number of to-dos
left on their checklists. They book a venue, create a wedding hashtag, and build a wedding website.
They inquire to multiple vendors in each category, primarily based on what catches their eye, and are

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Table 2
Persona 1
Indecisive Isabelle
Background Job A senior in college. She works in retail right
now but plans to start her new teaching job
soon.
Family Lives with her parents. She and her
fiancé will likely stay with parents for a while
Demographics Female, 21, $20,000 (expects higher soon), but
her fiancé works full time as well earning
$60,000
Identifiers Wedding 11-month engagement, 150 guests,
will have a hometown wedding and a wedding
shower. June Wedding.
Communication prefers mobile, very active on
social media, mostly Pinterest and Instagram
Budget $18,000. Parents are paying for most of
it.
Demeanor she’s got her Ring by Spring but
now is overwhelmed by how much really goes
into planning a wedding. She’s independent, but
still heavily relies on her parents for advice and
support. She wants her dream wedding but is
starting to wonder how she can afford it. Still,
she’s excited to move forward with her life.
Goals To succeed in “adulting.” To get her degree
and start her career and life with her fiancé. To
achieve her dream wedding with her limited
resources.
To impress her family and friends who may
think she is too young for marriage.
Challenges Budget must be approved by parents
Time due to school
What we can Demonstrate Value Price packages that can
do be tailored to what she needs.
Personalization Emphasize how the
personalized video will help separate her
wedding from her friends.
Objections Too expensive
Persona 2 (Highest Priority)
Visionary Viv
Job A nurse. Lives in Whittier, CA but commutes to
work in Los Angeles.
Family Lives with her fiancé. They have a dog together
but are thinking about kids.
Female, 30, $100,000
Wedding 15-month engagement, 130 guests, will have
a wedding shower, but not a hometown wedding.
October wedding.
Communication active on social media, mostly
Facebook, Instagram, and now Pinterest. Uses mobile
for research, but desktop for contacting vendors and in-
depth research
Budget Will plan for $25,000 but end up paying
$30,000. Parents are paying for most, couple is
contributing about 40%, mostly from savings
Demeanor Confident, practical. Had been planning
some wedding aspects on Pinterest boards for years.
She knows what she wants just not how to get it.
To give herself the wedding she deserves. She has
worked hard her whole life and is ready to treat herself.
She wants her wedding to represent her and her life
with her fiancé.
Time demanding job.
Information overload. Difficulty narrowing down
choices on vendors, finding out who will best help her
express her style.
Streamline the decision process through easy to use
digital tools for booking an appointment.
Personalization Demonstrate how each shoot is
tailored to the personality of the couple without extra
work/time on their part.
Expertise offer suggestions for other vendors who he
knows will also prioritize individuality in their products
Isn’t quite “me”, Too stressful
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Persona 3
Prudent Peggy
Job Sales manager. Lives and works in Orange
County.
Family lives with her fiancé. Has 2 kids from a
previous marriage. One still lives at home.
Female, 46 $120,000
Wedding 16-month engagement, 100 guests, will
not have a hometown wedding or a wedding
shower
Communication uses social media for life
updates but prefers desktop for research. More
comfortable entering personal information,
especially payment, on desktop
Budget $20,000. Couple is paying, mostly from
savings
Demeanor She never thought she would get
remarried. She’s already done the dream
wedding once and just wants a simple ceremony
to celebrate this next chapter with her family and
friends. Her children will push for more bells and
whistles.
To celebrate a fresh start with her children and
close friends and family.
Weddings have changed a lot since she’s
planned one. There are new traditions (first looks,
personal vows) and she doesn’t know what she
needs or wants in her own ceremony.
Expertise Lead her through the process with
easy to access information on what traditions are
common and why one might include them.
Provide insights to which best meet her needs
Family Show how HopeBoat can best capture
those precious moments with family and friends.
Too complicated, My kids don’t like it
likely to begin increasing their budgets. They use online search, advice from family and friends,
suggested prices on planning websites, online budgeting tools, and social media for references on price
and value. They rely heavily on reviews for narrowing choices. When evaluating reviews, brides care
most about ratings, photos submitted by the couple, and recency.
Consultation/Booking: Seeking Trust These brides-to-be are ready to meet with potential key
vendors through personal phone calls, in person meetings, and email communications. With so many
decisions to make, they are looking for transparent pricing and an easy booking process. During the
consultation, they will want to view portfolios and are looking for someone they can trust to make their
day special. They may book an engagement shoot first as a test run. If this trust is found, they are keen
to book quickly. However, they will also be inundated in invoices and emails from other vendors. Clear,
concise communication about location, expectations, and other details are essential at this stage.
Experience/Delivery: Seeking Catharsis Brides will be experiencing a mix of stress, nerves,
and excitement on their wedding day as they execute their plans and communicate with multiple
vendors. They expect vendors to deliver on every promise made while also keeping the experience fun
and engaging. Guests will share photos on social media with the couple’s hashtag. After the wedding,
the newlyweds will eagerly ask for updates on their photos/videos.
Advocacy: Seeking to Share the Moments The bride and groom will share photos/videos with
family and friends on social media. They will want the final product to capture their personalities and be
memorable, creative, and lasting. They will write reviews on planning sites and other sources. Because
wedding planning is such an intensive process, the couple now considers themselves advisors to
engaged friends and coworkers. They will offer vendor referrals, price references, and direct friends to
the websites they found most helpful in the process.
Key Touchpoints:
 Social media: Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, engagement announcements, couple hashtag
 Review/Planning sites: Wedding Wire, the Knot, Yelp, Facebook, blogs
 Other: website pricing/recommendations, venue coordinators, engagement shoots, WOM

Positioning
A message hierarchy was developed to determine how best to position HopeBoat in the
marketplace (See Table 3). This produced three key themes to emphasize in messaging: experience,
personalization, and quality.

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Table 3

HopeBoat Productions Message Hierarchy

Value “For individuals recently engaged, looking to capture the memories made on their special day. Through
Proposition quality customer service, unique personalization, deep knowledge of the industry, and a welcoming
personality HopeBoat Productions can allow you to enjoy your special day while we capture your
experience”
Core Messaging Why HopeBoat?
Themes
1. EXPERIENCE - 16 years, film background, vast vendor network
2. PERSONALIZATION - different shooting style, poses, edit for each couple to reflect personality, including music
selection and edits
3. QUALITY - specialized equipment (audio, dolly, Glidecam), polished look, lower thirds
4. AFFORDABLE - streamlined process/experience enables higher quality at lower costs
5. SPEED - fast turnaround
6. COMFORTABLE - infectious personality, puts you at ease, great customer service
Target Indecisive Isabelle Visionary Viv - Highest Priority Prudent Peggy
Audience/Need  Needs guidance on the  Needs someone to help her bring her  Needs help navigating
overwhelming amount of items creative vision to life new wedding traditions
to plan for her wedding  Needs help finding other vendors that and deciding what’s best
 Needs affordable services for can do the same for her wedding day
her limited budget  Needs an easy, quick process with  Needs someone to
 Needs to prove she’s ready for someone she can trust capture the precious
memories with her
marriage to her family and  Needs untraditional wedding photos to family
friends reflect her personality
What we want to  Manage your budget with  Personalize your day with photos that  Capture the moment
communicate transparent pricing that can be represent the personality of you and with our documentary
(Outcomes) customized to meet your your spouse style to provide full
needs  Let us do the work. We understand coverage of your day.
 Stand out with a unique your vision and handle the creativity so Never miss a moment.
shooting style from our unique you can enjoy your big day  Simplify your planning
shooting background. Your  Find great vendors who also prioritize by speaking with an
wedding will look nothing like individuality in their products through experienced
your friends’. our industry knowledge and network professional who has
knowledge on wedding
 Speed up your decision process traditions and vendors
through easy to find information and
appointment booking
Proof Points for About Me page - video about film background, films in the Philippines, Veteran’s documentary project, Star Wars,
these messages Sharknado friends
Vendors We Love page - list key venues, bakeries, and other vendors HopeBoat has a strong relationship with
Industry statistics - fast turnaround, more experience, lower pricing, documentary style
Blog mentions - La Dolce Idea, I Do!, ClassyFun DJ Entertainment
Creative Weddings/Photos - zombie, Up, art gallery, Where the wild Things are, cultural
Assets Required Video testimonials, newlywed quotes, portfolio/gallery samples, lead form, website chatbot, booking service

Content Strategy
In order to communicate these core messaging themes and meet the needs of our target audience,
HopeBoat will leverage 4 types of content: content to engage, content to educate, content to inspire, and
content to convince. Content to engage should create awareness through entertaining, shareable, and
easy to engage with posts. These should have an emotional appeal and encourage user-generated content
through, for example, sharing engagement stories. Content to educate should create awareness and help
guide brides-to-be on completing their wedding checklist, through rational appeals of shareable,

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informative content. This can include vendor highlights and examples from past weddings
communicated through photographic posts on Instagram and Facebook as well as short stories on web
pages. This content type has the added benefit of strengthening HopeBoat’s vendor network which could
increase WOM referrals. Content to inspire should create awareness of the brand and drive traffic to
the website through shareable content which connects with the target audience on an emotional level.
This may include customer testimonials emphasizing HopeBoat’s personalization, unique wedding
stories, and examples of cakes, dresses, or other past weddings communicated primarily through highly
visual content on social media. Content to convince should push towards the conversion of booking a
consultation on the website. This type of content should appeal to rationality and include key HopeBoat
differentiators to aid decision making. Examples include pricing, customer testimonials, and information
on how to book.

Digital Channel Strategy

This digital strategy will rely heavily on social media for building awareness and engagement
with the brand while driving traffic to the website. Pinterest will be used primarily for content to inspire
with photographic examples from past weddings organized into themed boards. Instagram will also
primarily include content to inspire but also content to engage, both with a focus on the more stylized
HopeBoat photography and unique aspects of personalization the company has to offer. Facebook will
primarily feature content to educate and content to engage. As longer ad copy is acceptable on this
platform, it is the best social avenue to communicate customer testimonials and unique wedding stories.
Remarketing will be used on both Instagram and Facebook with content to convince in order to drive
traffic back to the website for booking a consultation. HopeBoat’s website will be central to the
marketing plan as it will provide proof points for each of the core messaging themes, highlighting OJ’s
experience and film background, the personalization offered in the products, the quality and value of
specialized equipment, transparent and easy to understand pricing, and an efficient booking system
through a preprogramed chatbot and detailed lead form. Email will be used primarily for customer
relationship management after booking, including venue and schedule details, product delivery updates,
and encouraging advocacy post-delivery. All content should carry HopeBoat’s brand persona and
voice which reflects the infectious personality of the owner. It should remain friendly, fun, and inviting.
It should not try to take itself too seriously, communicating trustworthiness through experience and
proof points rather than an overly professional tone.
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TACTICS
Based on the Content Strategy and Digital Strategy, marketing interventions have been identified across
the buyer journey (Table 4) with 70% of the budget allocated to Social Media (60% Instagram, 40%
Facebook), 20% allocated to third party tools, and 10% to a free experimentation fund.
Table 4

Dreaming Research/ Consultation/ Experience/ Advocacy

Consideration Booking Delivery
Promoted/Organic Promoted Promoted Organic Organic Organic
Organic
Pinterest Instagram Pinterest Snapchat Instagram
Social (priority) Facebook Pinterest
Media Instagram Facebook
Facebook
Attractive Pricing Tab YouCanBookMe Reviews
landing pages Testimonials Tab Lead Form
Website from promoted About Us Tab
content Vendors We Love
Portfolio Tab
Emails Confirm Booking Product Delivery Updates Anniversary Message
Ask for Review Ask for Review

Dreaming Figure 7
Pinterest: A Pinterest Business Account
will be created, using the same profile
image as HopeBoat’s Instagram and
Facebook pages. Content will be
exclusively organic. Wedding category
boards will be created with the following
themes: wedding poses, wedding cakes,
wedding themes, custom edits, bride and
groom, and unique wedding ideas (See
Figure 7). At least 5 photos will be posted
to each board at the start. During the
routine photo editing, new images will be
flagged for various boards and posted at
least weekly to keep them dynamic and fresh. Images will be primarily portrait orientation to optimize

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for Pinterest viewing and relevant/SEO friendly keywords and hashtags such as #weddingchecklist and
#weddingphotography will be included in copy.
Instagram/Facebook: Posts will include both promoted and Figure 8

organic content. Creative should consist of high-resolution images

that capture the consumer’s interest, showcasing HopeBoat’s talent
and skill, the couple’s unique personality, and HopeBoat’s emphasis
on personalization. Copy should include relevant/SEO friendly
keywords and hashtags. Content will be uploaded weekly, at
minimum, to ensure that HopeBoat is staying in the consumer’s
mind and on their feed. Copy should spark potential client's interest
and include a CTA that brings potential clients to HopeBoat’s
website, especially the website’s Testimonials Page, Vendors We
Love Page, or Portfolio Page described in the
“Research/Consideration” (See Figure 8).

Research/Consideration
Instagram/Facebook: Organic and Promoted content will be used
on these platforms. Similar content to “Dreaming” will be used, except retargeting capabilities will be
used to promote content. Copy at this stage should include clear CTA’s that drive potential leads to
website, such as “Learn More” and “Link in bio.” An Ad Copy Matrix will be created for promoted
campaigns (See Table 5).
Table 5 Ad Copy Matrix

Experience Personalization Quality

Ad Headline Let us share our knowledge
Tagline for Creative With 16 years of experience, let us
help you
Facebook Caption Choose the one who’s going to
50-120 characters make the memories last
Facebook CTA Make Memories With Us
Let us capture your personality
Get your wedding photos to be as unique as
you
You're not the same as everyone else, why
should your images look like everyone
Make them Your Way Today
High quality, High Satisfaction
Get professional pictures from your
special day
We use studio level equipment to
make sure we capture the best images
possible
Learn More

Instagram Caption Over the years we’ve learned a lot, Your photos, your way We will capture beautiful images to
75 characters or less let us show you that. remember your special day.

Instagram CTA Learn More Create with Us Let’s Make Magic

Landing Page About Us/VendorsWeLove Testimonials Page Pricing Page
Hashtags #photographer #uniqueweddingphotos #bestphotos, #bestposes
#weddingphotographer #cuteweddingphotos #bestweddingever
#bridalphotographer #weddingthemes
#bridalphotography

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Useful Keywords
 Wedding  Wedding photographers  Wedding themes
 Wedding photography  Wedding video  Wedding dream
 Wedding Inspiration  Wedding pictures  Personalization
 Wedding photos  Wedding dream  Expertise
 Wedding poses  Wedding ideas  Customization

Website: 5 key pages will be used to provide proof points for HopeBoat’s core messaging themes.
 Pricing Page: Pricing option will be listed and formatted more consistently with a description of
each item underneath the package. The $4500 photo/video package will be highlighted as
“purchased most frequently.” A short video will be created to demonstrate the value of
HopeBoat’s products and equipment, especially the meaning of terms like glidecam and
documentary style.
 About Us Page: This page will consist of a personal description of the HopeBoat Team,
including Past Work Experience, Industry Awards, Specialties, and most importantly why they
do and love what they do. These sound like the individual and showcase personality.
 Vendors We Love Page: This will include a list of vendors HopeBoat recommends which also
offer personalization in their products. This page will demonstrate HopeBoat’s expertise and
build trust in its knowledge and experience in the industry.
 Portfolio Page: This exists on the website already and demonstrates variety and style.
 Testimonials Page: This page will Figure 9

consist of client reviews paired

with their photos designed to
showcase HopeBoat’s skill at
customization. Reviews should be
chosen based on their effectiveness
in demonstrating HopeBoat’s
personalization and unique style
(See Figure 9).

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Consultation/Booking
Chatbot: The Wix addon Chatbot will be used to answer frequently asked questions on pricing, how to
book a consultation, and package inclusions. It will begin with a friendly “Is there anything I can help
you with?” After answering one FAQ AND receiving a response, it will then offer the wedding
questionnaire/lead form. On the pricing page, it will immediately offer the form with “Would you like to
book a consultation?”
Wedding Questionnaire/Lead Form: This form will contain simple questions such as date, time,
location(s), theme, interest, what the couples want from their images, as well as what products the
couple is interested in purchasing (i.e. engagement photos, highlight video). This form will also be
available on the pricing page, home page, and testimonials page.

Pinterest: Boards will be used to provide examples to clients during in-person consultations.

YouCanBookMe: This scheduling service will allow customers to book a phone consultation based on
OJ’s availability. This will allow HopeBoat to track the number of leads generated from the website.
The tools also allow customized style and notifications to be representative of the company’s values.
This link should be included in CTA of content to convert.
Email: Consultation confirmations will be sent via email. This message should be personalized as it will
be the first time HopeBoat interacts with the client. It should contain elements such as an introduction,
congratulations on engagement, thank you for consideration, confirmation of the booking, and an
attached wedding questionnaire.

Experience/Delivery
Email: Automated emails are to be sent to consumers informing clients of product/delivery updates.
These messages should sound exciting and may include samples of finished pieces, shareable to social
media.
Reviews: These will be collected via HopeBoat’s Facebook page, Yelp, Wedding Wire, and the Knot.
The website will also contain a link to HopeBoat’s Facebook Review page. Allow reviews to speak for
themselves but monitor daily to ensure they are not fake or vulgar. HopeBoat should also apply for
review awards on wedding planning sites, such as Wedding Wire’s “Couples Choice Award.” Award
badges should be added to the website Testimonials Page.
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SnapChat: Customized filters are offered through Snap’s Website. Price varies by size of location and
duration of filter, starting at $5 per 20,000 square foot. Birthday parties/graduations cost on average $15
to $20. These can be used as a special free “gift” (See Figure 10)
Figure 10

Advocacy
Email: Ask couples to provide a review for HopeBoat as well as personally thank the couple for
choosing HopeBoat and congratulate them on their special day. An anniversary email can also be
automatically sent on the couple’s first anniversary. This email can include a link to the couple’s
highlight video and remind the couple of special moments. This can help strengthen the relationship and
can potentially lead to consumers spreading positive WOM about HopeBoat Production.
Reviews: Reviews should be monitored daily. Special keywords in the review could be powerful in
positive messaging in the future to differentiate from competitors. If the review is longer/more narrative
style, ask the reviewer if they would allow publication of their review on the HopeBoat Website. If so,
leverage the review and pair it with photos from the client’s special day.

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ACTIONS

Risk Management/Contingency Planning

After Hours: Because HopeBoat is run by a small team, this strategy cannot fully be ‘always on.’ This
may lead to unhappy customers or to brand switching. To combat this, the YouCanBookMe lead form
provides customers with the ability to help themselves and the chatbot should be able to answer
frequently asked questions. However, the chatbot should also include messages that let customers know
when to expect a response from either OJ or Sheila. Business hours should also be visible on all social
media pages, the website, and the Google Business page.
Account Hacks: To minimize the risk of hacks, only OJ and Sheila should be allowed access to
platform passwords. It is important to ensure both have access to all management platforms, however, in
case an account is compromised. For example, if OJ’s Facebook page is compromised, Sheila would still
be able to access Later from her Facebook account. Feeds should be monitored daily to ensure content is
posting as expected.
Coronavirus: In the event that venues remain closed for the year in California, HopeBoat can continue
to offer phone consultations and move the in-person consultations to Zoom. As things begin to slowly
reopen, HopeBoat can also offer “social distance photoshoots” for holidays such as Mother’s Day to
continue to “capture the moment” until life returns to normal.
Negative Reviews: Because this is such a high involvement Figure 11

service for clients, there is significant

Listen • Actively monitor reviews, be aware of positive and
negative
risk of negative social voice when
customers are dissatisfied. Google alerts
should be set to monitor when new
Identify • What is the problem presented?
• Is it easily fixed or does it require additional attention?

reviews are posted on key review sites.
Based on current reviews, potential
Review
threats include not coming through on
a free product, missing a wedding moment, and not
following edit suggestions. HopeBoat
• Ensure proper tone of voice, determine appropriate
response
• Respond to all positive reviews
• Determine whether response should be public or private
• Do not delete negative reviews unless hateful or
derogotory speech
• Quickly and Efficiently on all platforms
• Positive - publicly, personally, with gratitude

prides itself not on merely attributing Respond • Long, emotional negative reviews - publicly with equal
effort
• To volatile, particularly upset customers - move to private
message
their own style through the
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photography, but rather the couple’s unique personality and desires. This should be evident in the
personalized responses HopeBoat gives to more long-form negative reviews. Use the name on the
posting account (if there is one) to personalize the message. If it is a more complicated issue, encourage
the customer to direct message HopeBoat to privately solve the problem more in-depth (See Figure 11).

Internal Marketing
OJ provides creative direction and his responsibilities include primary photographer, advertising
and marketing, and direct sales. His wife Sheila oversees customer communications, overall
management of the company, and acts as primary videographer and editor. On a contract basis, they also
hire out second photographers, audio personnel, and specialty camera operators. Though HopeBoat
Production’s team is small, employee motivation and education is still important. OJ and Sheila should
both have a strong understanding of this plan, how to implement it, and their roles in achieving
organizational goals. They can utilize Hootsuite’s Social Marketing Certification Class, available for
free at the online Hootsuite Academy, in order to gain a broad understanding of social media
optimization and strategy. They should also meet once a month to discuss successes and failures and
make any necessary strategy adjustments. It is also important that all contract employees understand
HopeBoat’s core messaging themes and maintain the company’s brand persona and voice while working
with clients.
Roles and Responsibilities: OJ will manage social media platforms via Later, consultations via
YouCanBookMe, and content on the website. Sheila will handle email communications, including
deliver updates, customer relationship management, and encouraging reviews from clients. She will
provide video creative for social ads and the website.

Action Plan for Each Tactic

Specific actions were outlined for each tactic and given target dates of completion as well as which team
member is responsible for each action (See Table 6).

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Table 6

Update review profile Add portfolio Apply for review Send review Add review Flag best reviews
information samples to review awards invitation to key award buttons to for Testimonial
REVIEWS

profiles clients website Page

Dates(s) 5/11/20 5/11/20 5/12/20 5/12/20 TBD 5/12/20
Reviews
Team Member Sheila OJ OJ Sheila OJ OJ

Optimize Create Lead YouCanBookMe About Testimonial Vendors Pricing Add Make Images
chatbot Form, connect Subscription, Me Page - link to We Love Page, Tags to Shareable to
WEBSITE

(FAQ to chatbot connect to Page review sites Page video each Social Media
responses) calendar Page
Dates(s) 5/13/20 5/13/20 5/13/20 5/14/20 5/15/20 5/18/20 5/18/20 5/19/20 5/19/20
Website
Team Member OJ for all web optimization

Subscribe to Theme/Template Copy Align with Trello Instrument for Send Campaign
MailChimp Design calendar Google Analytics
Dates(s) 5/20/20 5/20/20 5/20/20 5/20/20 5/21/20 TBD
EMAIL

Booking Details
Delivery Update
Review Invitation
Anniversary
Message
Team Member Sheila for all Email actions

Message Hierarchy Ad Creative Ad Copy Matrix Define Landing Dashboard In Market

SOCIAL MEDIA

Pages
Dates(s) Complete 5/22/20 5/22/20 5/25/20 TBD 6/01/20
Instagram X
Facebook X
Pinterest X
Team Member OJ/Sheila OJ photo OJ OJ OJ OJ
Sheila video

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CONTROL
A Google Data Studio Dashboard will be used to control the results of this plan, with tabs for
social media data, website data, and back-funnel (post-digital) data. The social media tab will focus on
the early funnel goals: impressions, engagements, and clicks. The website tab will track the marketing
spend on the various social media platforms and the organic traffic. Additionally, the website data will
show how traffic from each channel performs on the website, most notably the conversion rate for each
channel. Finally, the back-funnel data will consist of conversion data from the time a prospect submits a
lead to the time they are finalized as a client. This data cannot be inherently digitized, so this tab will
have a data connection to an Excel file that HopeBoat maintains to track the funnel status of all lead
forms. OJ will monitor the dashboard once a week, as HopeBoat has no full-time digital marketing staff,
and he will make adjustments accordingly during these reviews. There are two control objectives
concerning this digital strategy: Efficiency and Volume.

Efficiency
Because the primary objective of this campaign is to leverage digital marketing tools to decrease
the overall ad spend, HopeBoat will know that the campaign is successful when the average marketing
spend is lower from the digital channels than from the traditional wedding exposition channel.
HopeBoat has a digital marketing budget of $3,000 for the upcoming fiscal year. $900 are allocated
toward third-party tools such as YouCanBookMe, which leaves $2,100 annually for the digital
marketing ad spend. Since HopeBoat has the capacity for 50 bookings a year, and half is through WOM,
HopeBoat hopes to shift the remaining 25 bookings into the portfolio into a 50-50 mix of digital and
exposition, the objective is to obtain 13 digital bookings through that $2,100 spend, at a rate of $161.54
per booking.
To achieve this, the metrics will be initially measured using some assumptions from the senior
management of HopeBoat. Based on sales funnel estimates, the digital cost per conversion should be no
higher than $72.69. By tracking the average cost-per-click measures of the paid media and their
respective conversion rates on the website, we can ensure that each channel is meeting their efficiency
goals. In the event that one of the ad campaigns in one of these channels (or an entire channel) is

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performing cost inefficiently for longer than 1 month at a time (to account for adequate sample size), the
ad spend going forward will be redistributed to the most efficient channels.

Volume
Although it is essential that the digital conversions be cost-effective compared to the exposition
conversions, there also must be enough digital conversions to make the entire effort worthwhile.
Although a long-term goal is to shift the entire conversion portfolio to WOM and digital channels, the
objective for the end of the first year is to maintain 50% WOM, and increase digital from 0 to 25%,
while expositions decrease from 50% to 25%. This means that there must be 13 digital bookings in the
next year to reach this goal. Organic search is not mentioned in the efficiency goal, because it is owned
media and not paid media and therefore does not contribute to the marketing spend of HopeBoat. It is
however, a very important channel as it accounted for roughly 19% of website sessions in the past year
and represents a high-intent customer base. Organic along with the social media platforms will be
integral in reaching the 13 digital bookings in the next year.

Metrics Dashboard and Corrective Action Plan

To examine the efficacy of our strategy and simulate how we would react to a month of social media
data, we created a dashboard using data (randomized along a normal distribution from our expected
parameters of reach and conversion rates, etc.). When the volume metrics are examined, the following
conclusions were drawn:
 Instagram has higher performance in early funnel metrics (impressions, clicks) than Facebook,
but similar performance in later metrics (conversion and bookings).

Figure 12 Figure 13

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The above graphs show the dominance of Instagram in the early funnel and the volume goal of control,
however when the conversions are observed per cost for the efficiency goals, Facebook was dominant
(See Figure 14).
Figure 14

In this instance, HopeBoat would adjust their Social Media spend to allocate more toward Facebook
than Instagram in the month of July 2020 compared to June. Not only was Facebook more economically
efficient in the later funnel goals, it had a significantly lower Cost per Click as well.
Figure 15

This simulation also resulted in 3 bookings amongst all social media platforms (Pinterest was omitted
from the cost dashboard since no promoted posts were planned), which is over the objective to reach 13
bookings in one year, however June is a peak month for HopeBoat so not entirely unexpected.

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