Project Objective
Hi everyone! I created an event plan for an ice cream shop called La Michoacana, located in the Chicago Area called Cicero. They are launching a new ice cream flavor, avocado coming early May. They have asked me to help them plan a promotional event at their main location on May 4th. Since this is my first ever event, I had to do research on what an event planner does. With that, I came up with various points that I felt would enhance their event. The owners of La Michoacana, Morelia and Jorge, want this event to bring in more customers. I made sure to keep that in mind while I planned out their marketing strategy. Below you will see everything I did to plan their event. From the layout of the actual event to marketing strategies.
The Project
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges I had while planning this event was trying to stay within their budget. I was given $1,000 to utulize for everything about the event. When talking with the owners, I learned that they wanted something simple but also an event worth remembering. So, with that, I had to figure out how to budget in certain areas to make room for other areas that were important to them.
Another challenge I had was on the marketing front. Since I don’t have a lot of expereince with event planning, I had to do a lot of research to figure out the best way to market an event. I relied on my Mentor on this project to also guide me on the best way to bring awareness of this event. I learned that marketing is not a one and done task. It is something that you have to follow up on and see if it is making a difference.
Project Processes
At the beginning of my project, I started by laying out how I envisioned the event to be like. I would be in constant communciation with the others, Morelia and Jorge, gathering imput from them as well as to what should be changed or kept. That helped me a lot on figuring out what their expectations were on the event. Once I got a good idea on what they were asking, I made great headway on reaching out to vendors, gathering price quotes, seeking out DJ’s, and even going to stores and getting prices on food and decor.
Once I had the layout figured out, I then moved on to marketing strategies. I needed to get that figured out in time so I could start promoting it on their social media page. Since the event isnt until May 4th, I am going to start promoting the event by April 4th. Because of their loyal customer and social media following, I knew I had to make it worth their while. I wanted to create a coupon that they would feel grateful for. Being mexican myself, I have a great perspective on what the hispanic culture expects when it come discounts and coupons. But, I still needed to research on the success rate of certain types to see what will get La Michoacana the success they deserve. I decided to go with one coupon that they could use the day of. Since their new ice cream flavor will be more expensive than their other ice cream, (due in part because they are using avocados) I felt it made sense to offer their customers a “buy 1 get one 50% off” coupon. That way they will feel inclined to bring others to get that 50% off value, thus bringing in new customers as well.
I then made a small social media calendar that they could go by so they know when to post for their event. It wasn’t too dificult cordinating with their social media team as they don’t have much of a schedule, they just post when they feel like. I even created social media posts for them in case they needed some inspiration. I didn’t spead too much time on it as that wasn’t my main focus of this project.
The last thing I did was create a survey they could send out to their customers through their emails. They keep a database of all of their customers emails who have opted in recieving promotional material through their email. I created a survey with a series of questions where the rate their experience with La Michoacana, the ice cream, the employees, etc. The goal of having this survey is to see where La Michoacana needs improvement and where they were successful.
Experience Overview
My overall experience of this project was very gratifying. I feel like I learned and improved on a variety of skills such as organization, being detail-oriented, problem-solving, negotiating, and multitasking. The biggest learning curve I had to go through in this project was when I had to figure out the marketing strategy for this event. It took a great deal of research to know how to implement the correct strategy necessary to acheive the desired goals of the promotional event. I also had a lot of fun learning from Morelia and Jorge on how they run their business. They are through and through self starters who created their business, La Michoacana, with money they saved up over the years. Because of their passion for success they have created a wonderful business where they are able to cater towards the hispanic community and those who desire to taste a little bit of what Mexico offers.
Takeaway
The biggest takeaway I got from this project was how important it is to be organized. An often overlooked skill, it makes the biggest difference in the long run when tackling tasks beyond your own skill level. At the beginning of the project, I was struggling with figuring out where to start. After various attempts, I figured out the best way to organize myself throughout this project was through Excel and Google Sheets. I used Excel for budgeting as I knew how to use their functions and formulas. Google sheets was primarily used for general lists, timelines, and keeping an account of phone numbers, names, and dates. These tools helped me to stay organized throughout the project. I knew exactly where to go after finishing one section of the event planning. Overall, I learned how useful event planners are because they make the planning experience easy and effective.