I Revitalized Marketing & Operations at a Small Business
Hi! I’m Jessica, and I wanted to help a small business and learn how to manage a large scale project. I set out to improve operations and marketing at a local Flower Shop. I documented the entire process through blog posts and videos. Keep reading to find out what I achieved and how!
Why I chose this project:
When deciding on a project, I wanted to pick something I was passionate about. Having worked at the Flower Shop, I knew what areas needed improvement and had several ideas on how to do it. Having a personal connection to this company motivated me even more to succeed.
I had several goals for this project.
Learn how to successfully manage a project
Create a value proposition compiling all of my documentation to show the Flower Shop
Improve my technical and writing skills
I achieved all my objectives. I completed my list of tasks on schedule while making adjustments as needed and documenting every step. I received positive feedback from the Flower Shop on my work and they even utilized several of my ideas. Finally, over the course of 1 month, I wrote 7 blog posts, recorded 5 Loom videos, and used 5 tech tools. This project gave me the opportunity to not only showcase my personal and professional growth, but also contribute value to a real life small business.
My Weekly Progress Updates
Week 1 Planning: outline, and task management.
Week 2 Operations: Excel, and TextExpander.
Week 3 Marketing: social media strategy, and informational blog post.
Week 4 Final touches: Mailchimp, polishing landing page, and review.
What I did this month:
Marketing
I created a social media strategy for Facebook & Instagram; including designing a theme, writing captions, and figuring out a posting schedule. You can read more about it here.
I designed Facebook & Instagram content using Canva. You can view the video explaining my design process here.
I wrote an informational blog post for the shop’s website. It answers FAQs bridal clients have about wedding flowers. You can read the blog post here.
I made a personalized email campaign to boost holiday pre-orders. I combined a promotional email with a newsletter format. You can read more about it here.
I designed custom email templates using Mailchimp. Each email follows a particular holiday theme. You can view the video here.
Operations
I used Excel spreadsheets to digitalize clients’ wedding flower budget information eliminating the need for handwritten notes and calculations. You can view the video here.
I created an Excel template for wedding flower budgets that can be duplicated for future clients. You can view the video here.
I used TextExpander to answer customer FAQs efficiently and without typos. You can view the video here.
Testimonial: “Jessica Haley has some great strengths which are very valuable to any business. I was happy to utilize some of her ideas within my advertising and her ability to connect at a professional level in many different areas of our business was truly very effective. Jessica is good at improvising methods that stand out dramatically and has the ability to really promote areas that need to be brought alive . I highly recommend Jessica for any business believing she has the ability to escalate a business 100 percent into the public eye” ~ Flower Shop Owner
Skills I gained:
Throughout this month I built several new hard and soft skills while improving ones I already possessed. I gained a better understanding of both marketing and operations roles and how I approach them. In no particular order, this project showcases my ability to:
Teach myself new information and tools on demand
Create a plan and see it through while managing my time effectively
Use Excel, TextExpander, Canva, and Mailchimp
Use video documentation (Loom) to demonstrate tutorials
Clearly explain concepts in writing
Find creative solutions to problems
Design engaging social media content
What I would have
done differently:
With the benefit of hindsight, I can look back and make changes if I had to do it all over again. Though this project was very successful, there are a few areas that I could improve.
First: allow more time to make edits or change a concept that doesn’t quite work. I had a tight schedule, and though I prioritized quality and finished all my tasks on time, there were a couple instances where I wanted to change something last minute or came up with a better method of documenting a task. I felt rushed to add these unforeseen edits on top of my already full workload. Next time I would schedule in extra time to review each task and make changes if needed.
Second: dive deeper into tech tools. I had a lot of ideas for this project that required using lots of tech tools. This allowed me to achieve basic proficiency in all of them, but I would have liked to choose just one or maybe two tools and master them completely. In the future, instead of dividing my project into many subcategories, I would pick a single area of focus and devote myself to becoming an expert in that one field.
Problems I overcame:
Luckily for me, my project went very smoothly and I did not run into many roadblocks. The few problems I did run into, I overcame with a combination of creative problem solving and perseverance.
Time delays: especially in the first week when I was traveling, and a few more times when other commitments required my attention and my project productivity dropped. I compensated for this by planning my project around my traveling dates. Other times I switched around my schedule depending on how much time I had, like recording a video one day instead of writing a blog post.
Lack of social media experience: Using social media for the purpose of marketing a business is completely different from running a personal social media account. I only have a personal Facebook page that I rarely update so learning how to post on a business Facebook and Instagram page was completely outside of my comfort zone. I did lots of research on the shop’s previous content, as well as current social media trends so I could figure out a way to best combine them. I enjoyed the process of becoming more social media savvy and learning how to market a brand effectively on various platforms.
Final Thoughts
I am proud of everything I accomplished in this project. I improved my time management, learned new tech tools and skills, overcame obstacles, and most importantly created value for the Flower Shop. This Portfolio project proves I can hit the ground running and learn new things quickly. It is a real world example of what I can do in marketing and operations roles. I look forward to taking the knowledge I gained creating this project and applying it to future opportunities. Thank you for following along with my journey!