PR Plan for Boston Women’s

Market
Account Supervisor: Date: 2/2/2023
Pamela Zisimopoulos

Account Executives:
Cassidy Leake
Giana Carrozza
Haixia Zhu
Kayla Jiang
Content:
•Situation
•SWOT
•Media Audit
•Objectives
•Research
•Audiences
•Key Messages
•Strategies
•Tactics
•Evaluation
•Budget
•Timeline
 Situation

•Boston Women’s Market is a community of

local, women-led businesses that sell unique,

hand-crafted items around Boston.

•Boston Women’s Market is working with PRLab to improve

their social media presence and brand awareness in the city

and beyond.
Situation – SWOT Analysis

Strengths
● 1,000+ vendors that sell a wide variety of products
● Promoting local, female entrepreneurs
● Female-owned
○ Majority of U.S. businesses are male-owned so it is important to
encourage female entrepreneurs
● Strong community support
○ Each vendor’s individual audience contributes to the whole BWM
network
Situation – SWOT Analysis

Weaknesses
● Lack of real engagement on social media since bots make up the majority
of the accounts interacting with BWM on social media
● Limited products offered on website for sale
● Lack of information available online about the vendors
● High expenses for market rental spaces
 Situation – SWOT Analysis
Opportunities
● Close network of connections in Boston
● Large amount of vendors and very unique products such as handmade soy
candles, wooden artworks, bags, etc.
● Increased attendance of in-person events

Threats
● Cheaper substitutions on Etsy, Amazon, etc
● Other markets like Snowport and SOWA that are well promoted and
attended
● Other female-owned markets like We Are Women Owned
 Traditional Media Audit
Featured blogs and major publications, include:

–Arts Boston
• https://calendar.artsboston.org/organization/boston-womens-market/
–Harpoon Brewery
• https://www.harpoonbrewery.com/event/harpoon-holiday-market-with-boston-
womens-market/
–The Boston Globe
• https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/13/lifestyle/etsy-new-england-boston-womens-
market-returns-somerville-in-person-event/
–City of Boston
• https://www.boston.gov/news/shop-local-holiday-season-makers-markets-across-city
–Timeout
• https://www.timeout.com/boston/things-to-do/boston-womens-market-at-time-out-
market-boston
–The Boston Calender
• https://www.thebostoncalendar.com/events/boston-women-s-holiday-market--4
Traditional Media Audit
- Boston Uncovered

- Hello Tickets

- Boston Central

- Morrison Mae

- Boston USA

- Hey East Coast USA

Social Media Audit- Instagram

- 12.2K followers with frequent posts and tagged photos

- Post Categories:
- Products sold at the Boston Women’s Market
• Visitors at the Boston Women’s Market
• Market calendars and date information
• Features an occasional reel
– Profile Highlights include: “Gift Guide”, “A Look
Back”, and “About BWM”
Social Media Audit- Facebook:
- 3,437 likes and 4,009 followers
- Commonly used hashtags across the platforms include:
• bostonwomensmarket
• bostonwomensmarketshop
• boston
• bostonbusinesswomen
• shopsmall
• localssupportinglocals
• shoplocal
• localbusiness
- Posts are similar to Instagram in substance
- https://www.facebook.com/bostonwomensmarket/
Social Media Audit- YouTube Channel:

- 12 video posts over the last three years

- 19 subscribers
- Features the EmpowerHER campaign, which focuses on
female entrepreneurship tips
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyCkNqjJ-
fgmzt_taUjywIQ
Social Media Audit- TikTok:

– Following 130 accounts, 316 likes, and 115

followers
– Post Categories:
• A variety of market locations (ex.:
Timeout Market, West Action Market,
Speedway Market, etc.)
• Gift guides
• Vendor favorites
 Media Audit - Boston Women's Market
• “Say Hey” email subscription:
– allows for clients to leave their name/email and stay up to date on new vendors and events

• “Shop”:
– offers the option for customers to shop for their favorite products online, without attending a market in
person

• “Marketing and Design Services”:

– offers creative branding to small businesses

• “Our Story”:
– provides readers with the story behind the Boston Women’s Market

• “The Notebook”:
– an blog page that allows small-business experts to share tips with female entrepreneurs

• “Open Vender Opportunities”:

– vendors can apply to sell products either on the BWM website, or in-person at BWM

• Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram icons are linked at the top of the website
Objectives
❏Increase audience engagement across social
media channels by 15 %
❏Create 40 posts of social media content across
all channels
❏Organize 3 partnerships with other Boston-
based social media accounts
❏Increase website traffic by 5%
Research
❏Agency:
❏ Research known competitors
❏ Research Boston-based social media accounts for collaboration

❏ Research the vendor’s experience with BWM

❏ Client:
❏ Rate of return customers
❏ Number of vendors

❏ Number of market attendees

❏ Number of newsletter signups

❏ Analytics of website traffic and social media

Audience
• Residents over the age of 18-60, with moderate
consumption ability, living in downtown Boston and
surrounding areas.
• Given that BWM is a women-led community, women
customers will be the focus.
• Handmade goods or small gifts lovers
• This audiences uses Instagram, Tik-Tok, Twitter,
Facebook.
Key Messages

• BWM is an entirely women-led community, whose goal is to directly bring the

service and products full of women’s creativity and endeavor to the customers.

• Women-led communities matter because they offer services and products that

create a more intimate connection and understanding with female clients. In

addition, promoting women-owned businesses and female entrepreneurs empowers

women in a business market that is predominantly male.

Key Messages

• As a community of over 1,000 vendors, BWM offers a diverse selection of

goods and services that are tailored to customers’ needs.

• A wide variety of products and services can meet customers’ multiple needs at

once. Having 1,000 female vendors work with BWM, a female-owned

business, is empowering for all.

Strategy

1. Increase social media engagement by creating relevant content on a social media

calendar

2. Increase brand awareness by gaining more media attention and pitching to local

journalists and social media accounts

3. Increase traffic to online shop and market events by promoting vendors on social

media platforms
Tactics
❏ Create a content calendar that highlights relevant holidays (e.g. gift ideas for

Valentine’s Day, International Women’s Day)

❏ Create engaging social media content, including product and vendor promotions,

BTS photos, and market events update

❏ Run giveaways to reward customers discount codes or free products for their

review/engagement in social media posts

❏ Reach out to local influencers and bloggers who have a similar audience as BWM

does and ask them to promote BWM’s products or market events

Media Relations Tactics

1. Write compelling pitches that highlights BWM’s story for supporting women-led

businesses

2. Social media pitching e.g. @bucketlistboston, @onlyinbos

3. Create and maintain a strong media list that cover the women’s market niche

4. Invite local journalists to the in-person market events

Evaluation
• Increased audience engagement across social media channels by 15 %, which
we can find in the backend of the apps

• Created and promoted 50 posts of social media content across all channels

• Organized 3 partnerships with other Boston-based social media accounts

• Increasing website traffic by 5%
Media Pitch Timeline
We will be pitching large, Boston-based social media accounts to earn social media coverage for

BWM.

– We plan on ensuring one fresh media pitch is written and disbursed to a variety

of accounts every two weeks.

» Given this, the dates media pitch rounds will be sent out are as follows:

• 2/15, 3/1, 3/15, 4/29, 5/12

Social Media Timeline
• Social Media Calendar:
Budget

❏ PRLab agency fee: $300

❏ Additional out-of-pocket expenses:

❏ Partnership with social media account or influencers

❏ Subsidies for loyal customers

Questions?
Account Supervisor: Pamela Zisimopoulos (917-548-1116,
pamelaz@bu.edu)

Account Executives:
Giana Carrozza (774-265-5212, gianac@bu.edu)

Cassidy Leake (951-805-2910, cleake@bu.edu)

Kayla Jiang (617-406-9468, zihangj@bu.edu)

Haixia Zhu (857-763-9458, hxzhu@bu.edu)