A Proposal to Update Marketing Tactics for Big Hollow Food Co Operative
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GUIftry6oOyXlbyEOhLDRg5bNRfOGCYMzt-wIMyjWRU/edit?usp=sharing
For:
Jeff Hubble and Big Hollow Food Co Operative Store
Chelsee Dellinger
Michaela Jones
Kelsey Lowrey
Colleen Dorfler
Emily Lescure
English 2035: Writing for Public Forums
University of Wyoming
A Proposal to Update Marketing Tactics for Big Hollow Food Co Operative
Proposal:
We are writing for approval of our plan to educate community members on why it is important to shop at Big Hollow Food Co-op, to provide information to the community on what a cooperative does, and to gain more student memberships.
Background:
The Big Hollow Food Co-op describes themselves as “A little grocery store with a big heart. We're located in historic downtown Laramie, Wyoming. Big Hollow offers an eclectic variety of specialty foods, international cuisine, beauty supplies, allergy–friendly products, local and organic produce, and a variety of other knickknacks” (Big Hollow Food Coop). Big Hollow supports local agriculture, provides foods at a reasonable price, and gives the local community a voice (Who we are).
Our group is composed of five individuals with varying majors and diverse backgrounds. We are all currently in the course English 2035, Writing for Public Forums, and our ultimate goal is to assist Big Hollow with their advertising needs. Additionally, as college students, we have been able to experience Big Hollow’s marketing tactics directed towards the University of Wyoming population. Our group serves to assist Big Hollow with advertising and educating the community about cooperatives.
With large competitors such as Walmart and Safeway, community members do not always acknowledge locally owned and supported food stores such as Big Hollow Food Co-op. In addition, many community members may be unaware that Big Hollow exists, and others do not understand why supporting a local co-op is so beneficial. Our group intends to educate the community about the importance of supporting Big Hollow and other cooperatives. Our ultimate goal is to spread the word of what Big Hollow Food Co-op does and stands for. We hope to accomplish this goal by providing education to the community and teaching others about importance of co-ops. In order to educate others, we hope to add more informative content to the Big Hollow website and Facebook page.
The Problem:
Big Hollow, before anything else, is a small business. The co-op needs the support of the local community to keep their business running. How do we ensure that business is always flowing for Big Hollow; we must first figure out what is wrong. As a group, we looked online at not only their website, but their Facebook page. While doing this, our English 2035 group found that there is not much information about Big Hollow online. While they have an existing website and Facebook page, it is not as current as most people would expect a company to keep a website. With technology growing as rapidly as it is, businesses have to recognize that having a good looking and up to date data base is essential to a businesses success.
A problem identified by Big Hollow to the group was that they want to educate the community about how they are more than just a small business, they are a co-op (cooperative). A co-operative is a group or store that voluntarily cooperates with other small businesses and farms for their mutual, social, economic, and cultural benefit. Because of this, Big Hollow is helping the community, which is another reason people should shop there. How do we get the word out? Advertisements; Big Hollow does not advertise as thoroughly as they could. Not only do they not put their products online in a timely manner for receiving shipments, but they do not advertise their store as much as they do the food. While they are yes, selling their food, they are also selling the store, and why people should shop there instead of the chain supermarkets.
By addressing the problems that our group has seen, both Big Hollow and the locals of Laramie will benefit. Big Hollow, as a store, can benefit by our ideas; by addressing the problems that they have, and then going on and fixing the problems, they will of created a more constant form of advertisement that will be out in public for the average Laradite. Residents of the Laramie community will benefit by knowing about a local grocery store with heart healthy, local food as an option instead of going to the corporate stores like Safeway and Walmart.
Proposed Solutions:
After conducting extensive research on Big Hollow, as well as many other Food Cooperatives, our group has determined that in order to increase the membership of their store, Big Hollow needs to direct their focus on improving their advertising. One of the main mediums of advertising we have decided to focus on is updating Big Hollow’s website.
Big Hollow does a great job with their Facebook page and keeping it up to date on advertising products; however, the Co-op’s actual website needs to be updated to include more information for current customers as well as potential customers. A webpage describing Washington Electric Co-op goes into great detail regarding what a Co-op is, the importance of its members, the savings returned to the members, and how the Co-op works and is structured (“What is a Co-op”). Big Hollow does present some of this information on their website, but they could present their information in a more clear and concise way. Providing this information to the public is essential to increasing the awareness of the Co-op and why they are an important business to support.
More of our research indicates that making the name of the company stand out in any advertisement is crucial to getting customers into the store (Entreprenuer.com). If we can focus on getting more people to recognize the store and getting people into the store based on the advertisements, Big Hollow will benefit greatly by an increase in membership.
Another way we plan to improve Big Hollow’s website, if time allows, is to create a short video clip describing all of the above information on what a Co-op is. We will not only post this on the company’s webpage, but we will also spread it throughout the web to reach out to more potential customers in the area.
Research has shown that college students respond well to many types of advertising (Marketingcharts.com). Our group intends to work on improving Big Hollow’s advertising strategies in order to reach out to a higher demographic in Laramie, the college students. Once the students realize and understand what Big Hollow is and what they stand for, we are confident that the membership of the store will increase.
Timeline:
Below is a timeline that includes the benchmarks we will accomplish and when.
1st Presentations: March 31st
Revised Project Proposal: April 14th
Work on advertising updates and create the video clip (and solutions agreed upon with BH)
Final Project: April 28th/ May 3rd
Final Presentation: May 10th
Conclusion:
Big Hollow Food Co-op is a local grocery store that is dedicated to the Laramie community and is looking for more ways to reach out to its members. That being said, our group’s intentions are to help bring in more customers, as well as notify the community regarding information about cooperatives. In order to create more business, we believe that various forms of advertising will benefit the cooperative. Keeping Big Hollow’s social media updated and putting up flyers will hopefully catch people’s attention, thus bringing in more revenue. As for educating the community about cooperatives and why people should shop there, our group thought that a descriptive video would be the most fitting and interesting way to go about the issue. As a group, we have concluded that these ideas are all attainable goals and feel that Big Hollow will be able to benefit from our ideas.
Works Cited
"Big Hollow Food Coop." Big Hollow Food Coop. Big Hollow, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
"Entrepreneur - Start, Run and Grow Your Business." Entrepreneur. Entrepreneur Staff, n.d.
Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
"What Is a Co-op?" Washington Electric Coop RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
"Which Types of Ads Do College Students Pay Attention To?" MarketingCharts. Marketingcharts.com, 15 July 2014. Web. 03 Mar. 2016.
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