Public Relations Emphasis – Business & Marketing Project
Project Proposal
The purpose of this project was to help a small business owned by a friend of mine, Emily Chibarria, who sells Brazil-inspired custom jewelry in Utah County. As she has limited business and marketing experience and struggles with the English barrier, I offered to take over the financial, managerial, social, and internal aspects of her business as a plan to develop and promote a line of unique and exotic jewelry designs inspired by Brazilian flora. By doing so, create a strong brand identity through social media, build an online presence through an e-commerce platform, set up an Instagram store, and apply for an EIN number in order to legalize the business and a Square website. A simple financial plan was implemented by her request as she intends to use this business and marketing plan to acquire investors.
The Project
Below is the attached business, marketing and a simple financial plan (estimated by owner’s request) I worked on in the past couple months alongside of Emily, in order to make it all come to life:
The Website
It is understandable that it took longer than anticipated to get the website up and running due to the legal requirements involved in selling products online. Emily’s lack of an EIN number or ITIN number as a non-American citizen added an extra layer of complexity to the process. These identification numbers are required by the IRS for tax purposes, and without them, it is not possible to legally operate a business in the United States. Obtaining these numbers can be a time-consuming process, and it is crucial to have them in place before launching an e-commerce platform. Therefore, the delay in getting the website done was due to the necessary steps being taken to legalize the business to sell online and ensure compliance with U.S. regulations. However, I was able to work with Emily and come up with the necessary funds to hire a accountant who was able to issue the document for us.
The link below is the website I created in SquareUp with the remaing inventory we possessed:
https://floralizbrazilianjewelry.square.site/
Social Media
Emily expressed her desire to take care of most social media related work. However, I helped her create a business Instagram profile and generate content such as photography, captions, and hashtags that would align with her brand’s values and goals. By doing this, I ensured that the profile represented the brand in the best possible light and appealed to potential customers.
Here’s how it turned out:
Emily’s Review
Successes & Failures
This was overall a very successful project. I am very happy with how everything turned out, however, I wish I could have done more with the website and social media. Due to the lack of tax documentation and the long wait to receive them, I was not able to complete an online store on Instagram and not dedicate enough time on the website. Above all, everything that I could have accomplished as I had committed to do, I did. It was a pleasure working with Emily and I am happy that she is satisfied with the project and all that it entailed.