BLINQ Campaign Book

Created by:

Madison Conner, Tess Dyer, Maggie Giannini, Jessica Goul & Robert Scible

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 Table of Contents

Introduction

Research and Diagnosis

Goals & Objectives

Planning Tree

Strategies

Tactics

Implementation, Evaluation, and Reporting

References

Introduction (Executive Summary)

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In this report we have developed a detailed communication campaign plan for BLINQ to become

one of the leading e-commerce retailers. The plan was based on this organizational goal and

fleshed out through the development of objectives, strategies and tactics that guided the company

towards success. Some of these objectives include increasing media coverage of BLINQ by 50%

and sales by 25% over the course of the next three months. BLINQ is a business that stands out

because of its environmentally conscious business practices, low prices on high-demand brands,

and commitment to satisfying its customers. The strategies and tactics we created were based on

illustrating these qualities to our target audiences. While we would eventually like all

demographics to buy from BLINQ, our initial marketing strategy is to target people who would

positively respond to the values of BLINQ. This included consumers shopping on a budget and

guided by environmentally conscious principles. In order to successfully market to our target

audience we developed a number of events over the course of the next three months that guide us

towards achieving the organizational goal. These events include gaining a minimum of 30 new

partnerships with leading retailers, creating sponsored posts on multiple social media networks,

and developing a tv commercial that will air on popular networks. In order to monitor our

progress we will be conducting a number of reports that measure the success of our strategies

and events. These reports will consist of both quantitative and qualitative assessments that will

be used to adjust our strategies and tactics and guide us towards the best possible outcome.

Part 1: Research and Diagnosis

● Situational Analysis
According to LeBlanc in 2019, 15 million tons of textile waste is created every year ,

taking hundreds of years to decompose. Unsustainable practices including producing cheap

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clothing, makes it easier for people to continue these harmful practices. In fact, each person

throws away approximately 80 (LeBlanc, 2019) pounds of clothing each year. When this textile

waste is dumped into landfills, they release greenhouse gases such as methane, which are

harmful for the environment as well as those who inhabit it. Clothing made of natural fibers such

as cotton can still be harmful to the environment as the process they go through to end up at their

final stage can release harmful toxins when incinerated at the landfill. Synthetic products can

release these same toxins while also taking hundreds of years to decompose (Wicker, 2016), thus

leading to an environmental and clothing crisis for our environment.

The current market has shifted towards online shopping according to Stojanovic in 2019.

By the year 2021, there will be over 2.1 billion online buyers as opposed to 1.66 billion online

shoppers in 2016 (Stojanovic, 2019). As the increase of online shopping occurs, so does the rate

of return. According to Saleh in 2018, 30% of online orders are returned while only 8.89% of

items purchased in brick and mortar stores are returned. Returns are very costly for businesses as

they must factor in the cost of return shipping, processing and potentially repackaging an item

for resale if they are able to resell these items at all. To avoid these hassles, companies have

resorted to simply discarding these returned goods. This niche portion of the market is where

BLINQ comes in.

BLINQ is a solely e-commerce company that focuses on saving customers money while

also working to help the environment. They capitalize on the market of reselling name brand

goods that were returned to companies or are overstocked that otherwise would have been sent to

the landfill. Once they receive these overstock or returned goods, they review all of the products,

pick the ones that meet their standards and then resell them to consumers online. BLINQ sells a

wide variety of goods including clothing, household items, electronics, children's toys and more.

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 According to Optoro (2017), BLINQ’s parent company, BLINQ’s main values are

discovery, access and impact. They want their consumers to have access to new and innovative

products while being able to feel great about the purchases they have made in that they are

reducing the effect on the environment. BLINQ offers their products for a discount of up to 70%

off the original retail price (Roy, 2019).

● Organization Overview

BLINQ saw its beginnings in 2009, as the online retail market began to boom. Its creators

Adam Vitarello and Toby Moore first saw the opportunity to help people sell their valuables with

ease. Soon, they found themselves in contact with some of the nation’s largest retailers to assist

in clearing their warehouses and getting their products to people for a fraction of the original

price (BLINQBlog, 2010). Ten percent of all products people buy get returned and with today’s

fast-paced consumer culture, brands move inventory in and out quickly. To reduce the back-and-

forth driving of products around the country, and the amount of retail waste ending up in

landfills , BLINQ offers these items at huge discounts. “You get to save green while being green

(BLINQBlog, 2017)”. In the wake of today’s urgent need for environmental salvagary, BLINQ

has a huge opportunity to become a large, leading online retailer. They have begun an important

conversation around retail waste as the online retail market continues to expand (Souza, 2019).

BLINQ has many strengths as sustainable shopping becomes less niche. With their free

shipping and easy returns on such an easily accessible platform, buying name brands for cheap

prices has never been easier. Their competition is fierce, with Amazon and Overstock

dominating the market, but their vision to create a more sustainable way to shop sets them apart.

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With the help of more brand partnerships, and more customer reviews, BLINQ can become the

face of sustainable retail in a time where it is more necessary than ever.

● Audience Description

A primary audience for BLINQ is an individual or business that is directly impacted or

influenced by their marketing campaigns. As BLINQ is a resale-centric e-commerce store, a

majority of their marketing is targeted towards big businesses such as Best Buy, Under Armour,

Nike, Target, and Jet.com. These companies are targeted by BLINQ because they provide a way

for their products to be redistributed after they have been returned. Another group of primary

audiences for BLINQ include consumers such as deal hunters, college students, and

environmentally conscious shoppers. These primary audiences are targeted by BLINQ as

consumers for the goods recovered from retailers. It is important to take a look into those

companies demographics and psychographics in order to best market to these consumers.

College students and are usually between the ages of 18 and 25 and come from all backgrounds

and cultures. An important aspect of this primary audience is that they are most likely tech

savvy. In order to effectively market to them Business.com says that you should send both snail

mail and email, make them feel special, hold events on campus, and make sure that your website

is easy to use and linked to all social media accounts (Alderton, 2014).

Both deal hunters and environmentally conscious consumers come in all ages and from

all backgrounds. In order to market to consumers concerned with being environmentally

conscious it is important to show how shopping through your company makes a positive impact

on the environment (ecolonomics.org, 2014). For BLINQ, this could mean an easily visible

graphic on their homepage stating how much waste they save by selling returned items.

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In order to target deal hunters it is important to understand who these people are. In our research

we found that the households that are more mindful of their expenses are the middle-income

households (annual incomes between $20,000 and $50,000). Middle-income households have a

more selective buying behavior compared to highly affluent families. This means that they would

rather shop at discounted outlets than higher end store options (Downtown Market Analysis,

2019). Looking at Target, their highest percentage (60%) consumer base make about $50,000 per

year, making them a middle-income household average. (PYMNTS, 2016).

This means that Target’s primary audience is similar to the primary audience for BLINQ and

provides a comparable business for our team to base its marketing strategies off of.

Secondary audiences, those not directly influenced by marketing campaigns, for BLINQ

include small businesses, smaller retail stores as well as all other consumers not included in the

primary audience portion. These audiences are also important because while they may not be the

target of our initial marketing tactics we hope that eventually they will recognize BLINQ as a

leading retailer.

Part 2: Goals & Objectives

● Organizational Goal:

Make BLINQ the leading resale retailer in America.

● Communication Goal:

Increase awareness and differentiate BLINQ as a pioneer of sustainable retail

● Rationale:

As the organizational goal is supposed to be aspirational, aiming for BLINQ to be the

leading resale retailer in America gives the company an impressive goal to work towards. This

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goal helps to define the overall purpose of BLINQ and helps them to grow in a specific industry.

The communication goal to increase awareness and differentiate BLINQ as a pioneer of

sustainable retail will also help to reach the organizational goal. This communication goal was

chosen as setting BLINQ apart from their competitors and how they are unique is essential in

them becoming the number one resale retailer in America. It is important for consumers to know

why they should choose BLINQ over any other resale retailer and for them to be at the cutting

edge of the resale industry. Since sustainable clothing is such a recent trend in a niche market,

that has become popular as of recent (with a 66% (Williams, 2019) increase in the Google

Search for sustainable clothing since 2018), it is important to be on the forefront and seen as the

largest player in this game early on.

● Objectives

○ Increase media coverage of BLINQ by 50% in the next 3 months.(Awareness

Change)

○ Increase consumer opinion of best quality for best price products by 10% in the

next 3 months. (Opinion Change)

○ Increase sales by 25% within the next 3 months. (Behavior Change)

○ Increase employee engagement with BLINQ services by 60% in the next 3

months. (Internal Behavior Change)

○ Increase breadth of products offered by increasing brand partnerships by 80% in

the next 3 months. (Awareness Change)

● Rationale

Increasing media coverage is essential in achieving the organization's goal for BLINQ.

This increased media coverage would lead to more opinion leaders and consumers in general

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having knowledge that BLINQ exists. By increasing consumer opinion of purchasing best

quality goods for the best price, more consumers will be drawn into resale retailers such as

BLINQ, giving them a chance to increase their sales. Increasing sales by 25% will help in

achieving both the communication and objective goal as it would mean brand awareness was

increased leading them to be the number one resale retailer. If more employees utilize BLINQs

services, they will be able to tell their friends and family about the items they received while also

being able to more accurately account the experience when helping customers. When employees

are involved in the buying process, they can better help the customers looking to buy an item.

Finally, increasing partnerships with other companies and expanding their product selection will

lead to more options for their consumers. According to a study done by Nielson in 2013,

consumers are more likely to buy from a brand they already recognize. Having these brand

names can lead to increased brand awareness as well as making the company more attractive to

consumers as they will have the items consumers are looking for on a more consistent basis.

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● Planning Tree

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 Part 3: Strategies

● BLINQ is on its way to becoming a leading e-commerce retailer

● BLINQ has some of the lowest prices on popular goods

● BLINQ is making a continuous effort towards environmentally conscious business

practices

The primary message represents the overarching information the company wants to

present (Mack, n.d.)

The primary message that we would like to establish for BLINQ throughout our

campaign is that BLINQ is on the rise to becoming a leading e-commerce store. In order to

achieve this image for our brand we will need to show that we have the same capabilities as other

large retailers and our competitors. One key message that we would like to establish for BLINQ

is that our business model separates us from other big e-commerce websites because of our

commitment to environmentally conscious practices. Another key message that we would like to

establish is that BLINQ has affordable prices for their products equal to or better than their

competitors. In order to achieve both of these goals we must employ a number of different

campaign strategies. One strategy to establish BLINQ would be to expand our product

inventory. By partnering with more name brand stores, such as our current partners Under

Armour and Best Buy, we will be more attractive to a wider population. This will cause people

to use BLINQ to shop for a wider variety of items which means more website traffic. While we

would really like all consumers to shop using BLINQ, our primary messages targets deal hunters

and environmentally conscious consumers. We believe that these specific key messages will be

successful in helping BLINQ achieve its organizational goal as they separate BLINQ from

similar companies and competitors.

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 Having secondary messages will help BLINQ achieve goals and main messages. In order

to promote BLINQ in the public eye and to emphasize their sustainability initiative , it is

important to have popular news outlets writing about BLINQ. When BLINQ starts being

compared to similar large companies the public will be encouraged to look into BLINQ. Creating

TV commercials helps spread BLINQ’s message of sustainability importance in the retail market

in an efficient way. Airing commercials brings awareness to potential customers’ screens all over

the country. Bringing in as much awareness as possible can lead to BLINQ becoming a leading

e-commerce retailer.

Part 4: Tactics

To further these strategies, we have created tactics that will help to achieve the objectives

and overall goals. This section will also look at the different aspects of the PESO model and how

they are all utilized to achieve different aspects of this campaign.

● Strategy 1: Promote BLINQ through media pitches to 10 news outlets

○ Tactic A: Pitch to Business Green, HuffPost, Business Insider, Buzzfeed News,

Vice, TheSkimm, The Guardian, The New Yorker, New York Times and

RetailWire about the rebranding of BLINQ

○ PESO Element: This tactic would fall under the earned media section of the

PESO Model utilizing media relations, more specifically print media. This

specific utilization of earned media would be very beneficial to BLINQ as one of

their issues seen is building brand awareness. In the building stages of building

brand awareness, consumers may be skeptical as to if this is too good to be true or

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 if the deals are real. By having a third party comment on the positives of BLINQ,

the brand will be able to gain both consumer trust and awareness.

● Strategy 2¹: Create three individualized campaigns on different platforms

○ Tactic B: Create a social media ad to promote on Instagram, Snapchat and

Facebook for users who follow similar brands

○ PESO Element: This tactic would fall under the paid media section of the PESO

Model, more specifically digital media. This would be effective as it would more

closely target an audience of potential consumers as they could choose to place

their ads on pages that cover the topics of online shopping or sustainable

shopping. If the ads placed were effective or were to become viral, this tactic

could spread into the shared media section of the PESO Model. This would also

help BLINQ with their brand awareness as consumer’s friends would be the ones

sharing this information. This also has the opportunity to be shared, making it a

converged PESO element.

¹Note: This strategy would also be utilizing tactics C and D.

● Strategy 3²: Create TV commercials about the importance of sustainable clothing and

highlight BLINQ’s low prices

○ Tactic C: Use commercials on social media like YouTube and Instagram

○ Tactic D: Air television commercials on 5 popular networks (abc, E!, MTV,

Lifetime, FOX) at least once a day

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 ○ PESO Element: Tactic C and D both fall under the paid media section of the

PESO model. Tactic C would be considered digital media using social media

while Tactic D would be considered traditional advertising using broadcast TV.

Tactic D would be effective as it would target a larger, older audience than the

social media ads would be targeting as the average age of TV watchers is 65,

according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2018. Tactic D, similar to tactic B,

would be relying on a specifically targeted group represented on social media.

²Note: This strategy would also be achieved through the use of Tactic B.

● Strategy 4: Create a company newsletter that contains all employee information

○ Tactic E: Send the company newsletter once a month, every month to all

employees via email

○ PESO Element: Tactic E would fall under the owned section of the PESO model,

more specifically under traditional collateral as the newsletter would be owned

and circulated within the company.

● Strategy 5: Pitch partnerships to 30 new brands

○ Tactic F: Email 30 brands about partnerships within a month (brands could

include Lululemon, Nike, etc)

○ Tactic G: Update website to be more user friendly and organized

○ PESO Element: Tactic F and Tactic G are owned media tactics under the PESO

model. Tactic F would exhibit the company doing informational outreach as they

would contact the name brand giving them information about BLINQ as well as

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 inquiring about a meeting for a possible partnership. However, Tactic G would be

an essential tactic to ensuring both internal and external use of the BLINQ

website was running as smoothly as possible.

Part 5: Implementation, Evaluation, and Reporting

● Calendar
Paid Paid
Own Shar Earn + +
○ Key: Paid
ed ed ed Shar Earn
ed ed

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 ● Rationale:

This calendar shows our implementation timeline of our tactics. The key above shows the type of

media these tactics support (Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned, Converged). Here, our

implementation begins on January 6th for all tactics, and the due dates are displayed on the

calendar. We’d like to have our website overhaul and 30 new brand partnerships solidified

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before we pitch to news sources (HuffPost, BusinessGreen, Business Insider, Buzzfeed, Vice,

TheSkimm,etc.) about BLINQ’s new look. When doing this, it’s important that we build

relationships with reporters, rather than sending our releases straight to editors (Masek-Kelly,

2017).We’d also like to begin the new year off with our first of many monthly newsletters for

our employees, the first being sent out on January 31st. By February, we’d like to have curated

and boosted our first sponsored post on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. This will keep the

conversation about BLINQ going before having secured media coverage about our brand

overhaul, which we’d like to have by February 14.

In March, we aim to have produced a commercial featuring our new brand look and partnerships.

We’ll pitch these to networks such as E!, FOX, MTV, FX, Lifetime, Freeform, ABC, Vice, and

more. We’ll further spread that commercial by sharing on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram.

● Budget:

(From rubric) While budget is an essential part of the campaign plan Rather than draw up

random numbers we will just leave the budget as a placeholder for this project.

● Evaluation Plan:

In order to make sure that our plan is being conducted thoroughly and actually making an

impact on our target audiences, there will have to be multiple evaluations of BLINQ’s progress

over the three month period. The first evaluation will take place at the beginning of the three

month period and will consist of a quantitative analysis of BLINQ’s sales and website traffic as

well as a qualitative analysis of BLINQ’s customer satisfaction. This analysis will give us an

initial number from which we can base the growth of sales. It is also important to have an initial

qualitative analysis because we want honest feedback from our consumers about things we can

change to make BLINQ even better. This could include partnering with specific retail stores to

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obtain a wider variety of products or modifying our website to make navigation and purchase

more accessible. After we have our initial evaluation we will be conducting monthly progress

reports to gauge the success of our efforts. In these evaluations we will be conducting another

quantitative analysis of our sales and website traffic and comparing these numbers with previous

reports. Another qualitative analysis will also occur to measure consumer satisfaction. This

qualitative analysis will take place through an online survey that consumers can complete after

they have made a purchase with BLINQ. It will ask questions such as: How would you rate your

experience with BLINQ on a scale of 1-10. What could we do to make the experience better for

you? Is this your first time shopping with BLINQ or have you shopped with us before? After

analyzing the data from these progress reports we will be able to adjust our communication plan

based on its effectiveness and consumer feedback. These monthly check ups will also give us a

period to make sure that all communication events were successfully completed. (Pell Institute,

n.d.)

Appendix¹: S.W.O.T

Strengths Weaknesses

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 ● Niche in the market for sustainability ● Multiple larger competing companies that

in retail are in the same market

● Low Prices for products ● Some used items

● Free shipping ● No storefront to shop at/return items to

● Easily accessible (online presence) ● Limited item sizes

● Name brands available for purchase ● Random array of products

● Sell through Ebay ● No customer reviews

● Clarity of mission on website

● lack of public awareness

Opportunities Threats

● Become a Go-To retailer like ● Competitive market of discount name brand

Amazon items (Amazon, TJ Maxx)

● Increase market for sustainable retail ● Small team

● Take advantage of growing online ● Starting up/ opportunity to flop

shopping trend ● Cheap online retail competition-

● Storefront possibility oversaturated market (Romwe, Wish,

● Great mission Shein)

● Become the face of sustainable retail ● Lack of trust in quality of product (resale)

References

A Greener Way to Buy: Deals You Can Feel GOOD About. (2018). Retrieved 2019, from

https://blog.blinq.com/stories/greener-way-to-buy/.

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Alderton, M. (2014, August 11). Marketing to College Students. Retreived from

https://www.business.com/articles/marketing-to-college-students/

BLINQ.com: Complaints: Better Business Bureau. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.bbb.org/us/dc/washington/profile/ecommerce/blinqcom-0241-

236027495/complaints.

BLINQ's Beginnings: Who We Are. (2010). Retrieved 2019, from

https://blog.blinq.com/stories/blinqs-beginnings/.

Consumers More Likely to Buy New Products from Familiar Brands. (2013, January 23).

Retrieved from https://www.nielsen.com/eu/en/press-releases/2013/global-consumers-

more-likely-to-buy-new-products-from-familiar-b0/.

Demographics & Lifestyle Analysis, Division of Extension. Retrieved from

https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/downtown-market-analysis/understanding-the-

market/demographics-and-lifestyle-analysis/

Heller, E. (2018, January 24). Get deep discounts doing your part to save the environment with

Blinq. Retrieved from https://mashable.com/2018/01/24/blinq-discount-returns/.

Introducing the New BLINQ. (2017, May 5). Retrieved from

https://www.optoro.com/2017/05/04/introducing-new-blinq/.

Khurana, A. (2019, June 26). Learn About the Basics of E-Commerce and How It Works.

Retrieved from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/let-s-ask-the-basic-question-what-is-

ecommerce-1141599.

LeBlanc, R. (2019, November 4). Textile and Garment Recycling Facts and Figures. Retrieved

from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/textile-recycling-facts-and-figures-2878122.

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Mack, S. (n.d.). Small Business Chron. Examples of Primary & Secondary Messages in Public

Relations | Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-

primary-secondary-messages-public-relations-69839.html

Masek-Kelly, E. M.-K. E., & Masek-Kelly, E. (2017, February). How To Plan An Effective PR

Campaign. Retrieved 2019, from https://www.business2community.com/public-

relations/plan-effective-pr-campaign-01912257.

Pymnts. (2016, November 3). Average Target Shopper & Customer Demographics. Retrieved

from https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2016/average-target-shopper-customer-

demographics/.

Roy, S. (2019, June 7). Blinq Review – Is Legit or Scam? (2019). Retrieved from

https://www.topreviewssite.com/blinq-review/.

Saleh, K. (2018, April 11). E-commerce Product Return Rate – Statistics and Trends

[Infographic]. Retrieved from https://www.invespcro.com/blog/ecommerce-product-

return-rate-statistics/.

Souza, K. (2019, February 17). Retail growth expected to continue, led by online, discounters.

Retrieved from https://talkbusiness.net/2019/02/retail-growth-expected-to-continue-led-

by-online-discounters/.

Stojanović, A. (2019, November 21). 40 ECommerce Statistics Every Retailer Should Know In

2019. Retrieved from https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/ecommerce-

statistics/.

Television, capturing America's attention at prime time and beyond : Beyond the Numbers.

(2018, September). Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-7/television-

capturing-americas-attention.htm.

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Wicker, A. (2017, March 16). The earth is covered in the waste of your old clothes. Retrieved

from https://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/09/old-clothes-fashion-waste-crisis-

494824.html.

Williams, W. (2019, April 18). Do people really care about ethical fashion?: PBA. Retrieved

fromhttps://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2019/04/do-people-really-care-about-ethical-

fashion/.

(2014, July 24). Institute of Ecolonomics | Because Ecology Means Business. How to Promote

Your Business as a Green Business | Institute of Ecolonomics. Retrieved from

http://ecolonomics.org/how-to-promote-your-business-as-a-green-business/

(n.d.). Pell Institute. Evaluate Your Communications Efforts « Pell Institute. Retrieved from

http://toolkit.pellinstitute.org/evaluation-guide/communicate-improve/evaluate-your-

communication-efforts/

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 ○ Editing for style: Tess

○ Formating: Maggie

○ Submitting: Robert

○ 20 sources check: Jess

Adjustments:

● More specific strategies including channels

● More tactics

● More focus on resale aspect and not on “second-hand”

● Rework as a start up company

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Best practices:

● Internally coherent, logical

● Concise

○ More like a report rather than an essay

● Research-driven

○ Articles about Industry, environmental scanning, behavior of audience and

publics

● Consistent (writing, tone, etc)

○ Task: editing for tone and make it all sounds similar & enough references &

formatting/submitting

● Creative

○ Strategies and tactics have to stand out

● Measurable

○ Evaluation part (6)- measure before campaign starts and after

● Client-friendly

○ clear/understandable

○ prioritized/reflecting their needs

○ Build on your initial plan with additional research and elaboration on ROSTIR

elements

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