Fouru Rivers Comm nications

Table of Contents
Executive Summary 1 Four Rivers Communications ....2 The Management Team .....3 History ...8 Situation Analysis ..10 The Publics ........12 Central Problem Statement .14 The Public Relations Plan 15 News Releases ..16 Pinterest ..17 YouTube .....18 E-newsletters .19 Evaluative Measures ....21 Editorial Calendar ..22 Supporting Documents .23 The Industry ...24 Works Cited 27

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Executive Summary
A Good Thing Consignment Home Furnishings is located at the south end of Murray, Kentucky on Highway 641 (South 12 Street). It serves the quad-state region with high-end furniture and dcor at reasonable prices. The following public relations campaign has been created to increase awareness of the business among its publics: local homeowners, Murray State University Students and mass media outlets. AGT suffers from a reputation management crisis because most consignment stores in the area are known as junk sellers. Four Rivers Communications has crafted an effective campaign plan that will generate increased awareness among key publics within the next six months through the following tactics: News Releases, Pinterest, YouTube and regular E-letters (email marketing).

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About Four Rivers Communications

Four Rivers Communications was founded in Paducah, Kentucky, in the spring of 2012. FRC identified a need among small businesses in the Jackson Purchase Area. Many smaller companies were overlooked because they struggled to communicate with the appropriate publics. IBM was the first to blog. Pepsi and Coca-Cola have found social media gold on Facebook. There are countless examples of larger corporations communicating on the cutting edge of todays digital media. FRC is helping small business become better business by harnessing many of tools and trends in the modern public relations. Bringing experience from all around the world, FRC is able to offer its clients a full range of communication options and plans: social media, press releases, research and everything in between.

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The Management Team

Brandon T. Orr, President & CEO As President and CEO of FRC, Orr works directly with clients to implement campaigns; he also oversees all management teams and ensures optimal account service to all clients. Worth C. Shemwell, Editorial Technician As Editorial Technician, Shemwell supervises the creation of intriguing content to provide to all of our clients. He works closely with both the creative and research departments to enhance the overall campaign. Luyao Yang, Research Director As Research Director, Yang gathers information that is vital to the overall success of the campaign. She works to collect data both from the publics and the industry. Dexter Durrante, Creative Director As Creative Director, Durrante oversees the design process for all collateral material that a client may need. Using both creative and traditional techniques, Durrante works to enhance the overall campaign.

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Brandon T. Orr
3363 Furches Trail Murray, KY 42071 (270) 227-2565 borr@murraystate.edu

Objective
To use the education and experience I have gained to gain a career in the Public Relations field.

Professional Experience
A Good Thing Consignment Shop, November 2010 to Present

Arrange furniture to appeal to customers Manage Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress blog and website content Perform customer service duties Handle $15,000 monthly payout to consigners

Hawkins Research, Inc., November 2009 to December of 2010

Make cold calls to prospective customers Work with customers on software trial to enhance the knowledge of the product

Education
Murray State University Murray, Kentucky

College of Journalism & Mass Communications, ACEJMC Accredited Bachelor of Science in Public Relations, December 2013 Minors: Marketing, Chemistry

Activities

Brother of Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity (2011 Present) Murray State University Student Ambassador (2010 - Present) Member of Racer Marching Band (2009 Present) Member of Racer Pep Band (2009 Present)
References available upon request

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Worth C. Shemwell
4536 US Hwy 641 South Hazel, KY, 42049 (270) 293-5176 worthshemwell@gmail.com

Objective
To be Christ like and make a difference in lives through the knowledge attained in and outside the classroom.

Professional Experience
Murray State University Curris Center, August 2008 to Present

Information Personnel Provide assistance to guests of the University

Education
Murray State University Murray, Kentucky

College of Business, AACSB Accredited Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, May 2012 GPA: 3.5

Honors / Skills

Deans List Fall 2008, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, and Fall 2011 Phi Eta Sigma Academic Honor Society for freshman Kentucky Colonel The highest honor awarded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky Hard-working Working with others Using Microsoft Office Reliable - Perfect Attendance throughout High School

References available upon request

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Luyao Yang
8564 Springer College Murray, KY, 42071 (270) 978-6760 luyaoyang.iris@gmail.com

Objective
To assist my colleagues complete better Public Relation plans for our client

Professional Experience
Summer Finance Intern, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Jinning, Kunming, Yunnan, China July 2011-August 2011

Assist customers with bank business Collect customers feedback

Education
Beijing Language and Culture University Beijing, China

College of Business Bachelor of Finance, June 2013 Exchange student in Murray State University, Murray, KY, U.S.A, Aug 2011- May 2012

Honors / Skills

Fluent in English, written and oral Financial English Certificate TEM 4 (Test for English Majors-Band 4) English Certificate CET 6 (College English Test-Band 6) English certificates. Using Microsoft Office Hard-working

References available upon request

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Dexter Durrante
1706 Brooklyn Dr Murray, KY, 42071 (931) 241-0730 ddurrante@murraystate.edu

Objective
To earn a challenging position in the advertising industry.

Professional Experience
Boys and Girls Club, Clarksville, TN (2008-2010)

Advisor to a group and monitored the kids activities Chaperoned different events Mentored a boy named Nicholas Organized meetings in high schools

Education
Murray State University Murray, Kentucky

College of Journalism & Mass Communications, ACEJMC Accredited Bachelor of Science in Advertising, December 2012 Overall GPA/ Major GPA: 2.7/3.2

Activities

Four Years Letter in High School Football and Basketball Four Years on Honor Role throughout high school Four Years Letter on the Murray State University Football Team

References available upon request

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History
In late 1997, sisters Jere Hendrick and Carla Stokes, with the help of Jeres
husband, Ben opened A Good Thing Consignment Home Furnishings to serve the western Kentucky area. The business employed family members Angela Adams, Johnny Hendrick and David Chambers. It grew into a thriving business serving the quad-state region. The business was originally a partnership between the two sisters. The original location was the corner of Glendale Street and 12th Street in Murray. The original inventory included pieces purchased from yard sales and estate sales. As the companys reputation grew so did its consignment inventory. Consignment pieces began to pour in from northwest Tennessee and southern Illinois, building to nearly one thousand consigners by the end of 2002. The year 2002, brought with it a new swell in business and several changes. Following a buyout, the company was forced to relocate to a second location, losing nearly half of its floor space. This forced the business to become more selective in the choices of pieces brought in for consignment. The business continued to grow through 2010. In November 2010, Billy and Angela Adams purchased half of the ownership by the Hendricks team. They then purchased the remaining half share of ownership from the Stokes family. Ben and Jere stepped down to work part-time, while the Stokes left the business completely. Johnny Hendrick and David Chambers left after this change in ownership.

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The company has continued to grow and now employing both Adams sons, Brandon and Zachary Orr. With almost 3,500 consigners today, A Good Thing is one of the largest family-owned consignment stores in the area.

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Situation Analysis
A Good Thing has many strengths. Its biggest strength is the shops appeal to a broad range of consumers, from college students to senior citizens. The company has a careful screening process for every item that it takes in for consignment. It only accepts high quality furnishings. This high quality inventory allows the company to maintain, loyal repeat customers. Another benefit is the stores family oriented reputation. Customers are treated as family. Purchasing furniture at AGT is a simple process. Four Rivers Communications found that A Good Thing Consignment Home Furnishings is more than just a furniture consignment store to its customers. Through research, we learned that more than 75 percent of customers are repeat customers. AGT currently has a working and up-to-date Facebook page that is used to communicate with its existing publics. AGT is located on the south end of Murray in a convenient location, but it isnt as well known as it could be. The stores Facebook page, is used to communicate with its existing customers and, is the only means of communication currently employed. A Good Thing is not utilizing all the resources available to communicate with its publics. People who have heard about the store may not know where it is located. Through research we also found that approximately 90 percent of those surveyed were unaware of the business location. AGT is a consignment shop. The general public associates the word consignment with thrift, and the word thrift with cheap. Associating consignment stores with thrift shops is a problem within certain publics. Most people dont want to

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associate themselves with cheap furniture because cheap furniture doesnt last long and causes problems. These minor weaknesses can be readily addressed in the minds of consumers through a well-planned PR campaign. AGT has many opportunities to become more easily identifiable to its publics. Through a variety of PR tactics, the company can reach and motivate several untapped publics.

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Targeted Publics
A Good Thing serves Murray and Calloway County. The business started in 1997, and maintains stable annual revenue. The publics A Good Thing need to communicate with fit into three categories: the primary public, a secondary public and the media. Local Homeowners AGTs primary public is the people who work and/or live in Murray. More specifically, they are families and most own a home, which generate the need to shop for home furnishings. According to an informal poll conducted by the agency, respondents aged 44-55+ were familiar with A Good Thing and most have visited the store or made a purchase in the past. Building and managing relationships with existing customers and mature homeowners and local resident families is significant. Murray State Students The secondary public is the Murray State student population. According to our poll, 90 percent of students under 25 are not aware of AGT. Although many college students do not yet have a need for home furnishings, they are potential customers and students account more than half of Murray population. AGT must build relationships with college students and generate greater awareness in order to ensure future business. The Media The final public targeted in this campaign plan is the Media. The business has a website and a Facebook page, making it searchable online. Agency research indicates that 19 percent of the primary and secondary publics targeted use newspapers as a

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mainstay for news; 59 percent use the Internet, 7 percent listen to radio and 7 percent use other media including television (WPSD Local 6). The media outlets selected for the ensuring plan include; The Murray State News, The Murray Ledger & Times, The Paducah Sun, WKYQ (Bristol Broadcasting), Froggy (FM 103.7), Murray Life magazine, Roundabout Murray (WXEL), WKMS (an NPR station) and PR newswire (an online dissemination network).

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Central Problem Statement

A Good Thing attracts customers in the region but it lacks a formal plan for communication with its publics. The business faces a reputation management challenge because consignment shops are perceived locally as junk sellers. AGT is unique in its marketplace as the only upscale high-quality outlet for gently-used merchandise. Delivering executed persuasive messages to the right publics can easily solve this problem.

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The Public Relations Plan

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Tactic: News Release

Targeted Public: Homeowners age 45+. Rationale: Targeted news releases are an ideal tactic for reaching this primary public, based on agency research. This public responded to a survey telling our team that it receives most of its news and information from traditional media outlets, including: The Murray State News, The Murray Ledger & Times, The Paducah Sun, WKYQ (Bristol Broadcasting), Froggy (FM 103.7), Murray Life Magazine, Roundabout Murray (WXEL), WKMS (NPR) and PR newswire (online wire service). Description: The campaign plan calls for a minimum for of seven news releases disseminated on the third Wednesday of each month until Dec 31. The agency will disseminate information through the media outlets listed above. The news releases will have a several different human-interest focuses including: o AGTs continuous donations to local charity, Angels Attic o History of the unique antique o Two-year anniversary announcement o Featured consigner biography o Three generations of the Hendrick family, working together for 15 years o Feature on Angela Adams design work for the city and well-known clientele
o

15-year anniversary in Murray celebrating small business

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Tactic: Pinterest
Targeted Public: Primary public of 44-55+ homeowners in Murray and Calloway County. Rationale: Pinterest is a newest, fastest-growing social media network today. Within its popular virtual pinboards, users organize and share all the beautiful things they find online. At the same time, they can browse others pinboards. The site's popularity has exploded in recent months, making it one of the fastest-growing websites in history. According to Ignite Social Media, nearly 80 percent of Pinterest users are female; most are using Pinterest to get ideas on decorating and crafting. Pinterest allows users to post links pictures in order to emphasize visual effects and enhance the viral nature of the site. A Good Thing can communicate more effectively through pictures than words. Description: The agency will establish a Pinterest page for AGT, and then create several pinboards to highlight each area of the home. Pinboards will include the following categories: living room, dining room, bedroom, kitchen, office, outdoor, bathroom and accessories. Pictures of inventory items will be posted in the appropriate categories. Browsers will be able to re-pin photos to their own boards, thus enhancing our viral and social messaging. We plan to feature specific pinboards for older inventory and customer designs. This will allow us the opportunity to feature numerous consignors to convey a deeper sense of all that A Good Thing offers to the community. Content will be updated starting Friday June 8th and every other Friday afterwards.

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Tactic: YouTube
Targeted Public: Murray State University students. Rationale: YouTube videos receive more than 2 billion daily views. The agency selected it as an ideal tactic because it is highly viewed by 18-24 year olds, the secondary public of A Good Thing. Last year, 120.3 million U.S. citizens viewed YouTube each month. Thats more than a third of the U.S. population. With such staggering numbers, we know that the combination of compelling video and the distribution via other social media networks, including Facebook, we can enhance the effectiveness of the overall communications effort. Description: The agency will create a series of testimonial videos to be uploaded to YouTube over the seven months of this campaign beginning in June 2012. We plan to film onsite interviews and edit videos that demonstrate AGTs worth to its customers, consigners and the community. AGT is more than just a consignment store. It has helped many Murray residents to furnish beautiful homes. It has helped community members who have lost everything in tragic circumstances. It is the first furniture outlet that many residents purchased furnishings from for their first homes away from home. Special pieces of furniture carry sentimental value for the customers. We plan to share both meaning and emption in the stories filmed and uploaded on this powerful social media network.

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Tactic: E-newsletters
Targeted Public: Existing and potential new customers. Rationale: Electronic newsletters (or e-letters) remain a popular tool in modern business communications. They are especially helpful to brands that wish to remain relevant with existing customer bases through ongoing relationship marketing. According to research from the Nielsen Norman Group, over the last four years, email user inboxes have grown by 300% in terms of new messaging. This important finding emphasizes the importance of e-letters in the current business environment. The usability of e-letters has been greatly improved over the last decade as digital technology has expanded. By reaching out to existing customers via a well-crafted email publication, top-of-mind awareness can be maintained and relationships maximized. Description: Before we can design and generate content for A Good Things email campaign, the first step will be to build a mailing list by requesting/obtaining e-mail addresses from existing customers and on-site shoppers. We can do this by asking customers and consignors for their e-mail addresses at checkout. Once the email list is constructed, we plan to send an inaugural issue of A Good Thing Insider on June 1. Subsequent issues will be scheduled for the first of each month. An editorial calendar is included in this campaign plan. Each issue of the e-newsletter will present information about special pieces for sales, and a special deal of the month which relates to the season. For example, in June, the listing will feature outdoor furniture while Novembers special may focus on dining room tables and the Thanksgiving holiday. Each month, one section will be devoted to consignors and feature a Consignor of the Month. The

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agencys top writers will craft compelling stories about real people and engage readers with photos and visual as well as written content. Each issue will also feature a biographical profile of one AGT employee, consisting of a photo and short article. Ideally, the December 2012 edition will be devoted entirely to the holiday season and related sales, thus boosting store visits at the end of the calendar year. This tactic will allow our team to develop a regularly recurring communications channel specifically designed to reach an important public and ensure higher levels of repeat business. The corresponding communications objective is to increase interest and repeat business by at least 25% over the next six months.

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Evaluative Measures
To measure the effectiveness of this campaign plan, we will repeat the survey research done prior to campaign implementation after six months. The results of the March survey will be compared the results of the new survey. This will provide an accurate portrayal of our campaign results. While the campaign is underway, we plan to employ all the tracking tools available via social media - Insights and Analytics. On Pinterest, the agency can track the number of repins, views and comments. Google Analytics also offers hit counts as does YouTube. These measures will provide the agency and client a full range of important information about the effectiveness of each channel.

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Editorial Calendar
June: - - - - July: - - - - August: - - - - - - - - October: - - - - - - - Halloween e-Letter Pinterest pinboard with a focus on Halloween decorations Designer testimonial video Feature of three family generations working together at AGT Dining Room/Thanksgiving e-Letter Pinterest pinboard with a focus on china/flatware/dishware Feature video about the Hendricks family/history of the business Back-to-school/decorating childrens spaces e-letter Pinterest page with a focus on decorating in small spaces Consigner biography video Feature on the 15 year anniversary of the small business Fall decorating e-Letter Pinterest pinboard with a focus on fall decorating Tutorial video on changing decorating with things found in nature Feature article covering a biography of an interesting consigner Patriotic e-letter Pinterest pinboard with a focus on previous items Tutorial video on changing a entertainment center to a wardrobe Feature on the history of a unique antique Outdoor furniture e-letter Pinterest pinboard with a focus on outdoor spaces Customer testimonial video Feature of Angela Adams design portfolio for the city and well-known clients

September:

November:

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- - - - -

Feature covering the two-anniversary of new management Holiday e-Letter Pinterest pinboard with a focus on holiday decorating Holiday greetings video Feature focusing on AGTs donations to Angels Attic

December:

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Supporting Documents

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The Industry
A Good Thing is in the consignment industry. According to Industry Statistics (2012), as a whole, the consignment industry has grown at a rate of 7 percent in each of the past two years. Even with the current economic downturn the United States is facing, the consignment industry continues to grow. According to Industry Statistics (2012), 12 15 percent of Americans shop at consignment stores. These statistics provide evidence that the number of customers seeking better deals is growing. Customers are watching their money very closely compared to years ago which benefits consignment stores because they are able to sell goods at a price lower than retail. The consignment process is also earth-friendly because consumers reuse the items, which helps keep the world greener. Since the consignment industry is growing, competition among consignment stores is also growing because of the need. A Good Thing competes with other consignment/second-hand stores in Murray, Kentucky. Murrays Peddlers Mall is located at 928 South 12th Street inside a strip mall located within the south side of Murray, Kentucky. At Murrays Peddlers Mall, an individual can rent a booth and put a variety of items from packaged food, antiques, and used furniture. Trends N Treasures Merchants Mall is also located in the south side of Murray, Kentucky, at 1306 South 12th Street. Trends N Treasures Merchant Mall is a flea market which allows people the ability to rent booths and has a broad variety of items for sale including furniture, and antiques. These two competitors are within a one mile radius of A Good Thing. Another store in Murray, Kentucky, is Angels Attic Thrift Shop, which is a non-profit store which supports the Calloway County Community Clinic. Although Angels Attic

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Thrift Shop sells second hand items, A Good Thing has an ongoing relationship in which it donates items to Angels Attic Thrift Shop that were not sold in a given time. Since these businesses have a symbiotic relationship, Angels Attic Thrift Shop is not a competitor.

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Works Cited
Guth, D., & Marsh, C. (2012). Public relations: a values-driven approach (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Ledbetter, E. (2012, January 24). www.ignitesocialmedia.com. Retrieved from http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-networks/pinterest-demographic-data/

Nielsen, J. (2010). E-Mail Newsletters: Increasing Usability. Retrieved from http://www.useit.com/alertbox/newsletters.html What is pinterest?. (2011). Retrieved from http://pinterest.com/about/

Wilcox, D. L. (2010). Think Public Relations. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

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