Musette
Digital rebrand and marketing audit
This marketing research project was prompted for a Management course where my team and I were prompted to develop a marketing plan for a local business in Davis, CA. We conducted a marketing audit that started off with a client overview, hosted focus groups, created research surveys, and performed competitive analysis.
Musette is a plant-based restaurant located in the University Mall. It was opened in March 2020 with an aim to provide wholesome nourishment to people during an uncertain period. The restaurant is driven by their work to prioritize local farmers, to create near-zero food waste, to be planet-friendly with their ingredients, to be accessible to all, and to support local nonprofits. Their targeted audience is a smaller group within the general population that might place importance on health and being environmentally conscious.
Our marketing plan has the intent of meeting two specific objectives: 10% revenue growth and 10% growth in the number of transactions. Along the way, we also worked on developing a market model, strategies to win in the market, a promotional mix of tactics to achieve our strategies, and a messaging and positioning outline to address our customers' pain points.
Given their small consumer base, Musette relies on its customers who align closely with its values of community, solidarity, and wholesomeness. Most of Musette’s marketing comes from their social media and yelp reviews. Musette leverages their food quality on social media which nearly exclusively highlight their meals excluding other factors such as overall experience visible by their restaurant’s interior design. Since Musette remains in its early development, it lacks sophistication in its technological and marketing strategies. Their website also does not explicitly provide detailed information on what their establishment is but does give a general understanding of what their main focus is directed towards.
1) Rising Ingredient Costs - Environmental effects that could directly harm crops must be taken into account since most of their ingredients come from local farmers or small businesses. Consequently, an increase in product costs leads to an increase in menu prices.
2) Limited Hours - Musette is open from Tuesdays-Fridays from 11 am to 4 pm. These limited hours prevent Musette from garnering a larger customer base. Next, Musette’s lack of promotion has made it difficult for the company to set a lasting impression amongst other Davis restaurants.
3) Lack of Promotion and Advertisement - Currently, their social media racks up 334 followers with 15-30 likes per post. There is a huge gap between the follower ratio and level of engagement- bolstering their online presence could attract a larger clientele. A visual rebrand could bring new quality to Musette and reassure customers of the continual improvements being made to increase the overall experience. Especially since the vegan industry is expected to double by 2026, this would help capture market share and establish greater customer trust.
4) Poor location design -Musette’s storefront has no defining features, no signage that informs customers of the restaurant’s name, or any indoor decor to brighten up the dull atmosphere.
After creating targeted survey questions andconducting two focus group sessions, my team and I collected our raw RFM data. It was important for us to know more about our specific cutomer segmentation. The team also learned first-hand from customers what is currently working at Musette and what is not. This information helped us target issues and pain points that could be solved. We broke down our feedback into the categories of Product, Price, Promotion and Place.
Our team divided our customers into 4 major categories, identified the 3 major risks and challenges posted to customers, and created a hypothetical customer profile.
We strongly believe it will be feasible to attain our two objectives if we focus on 2 major verticals: regulars and infrequent.
Musette’s Average Annual Revenue: $262,288
Musette’s Average Annual Visits: 13,520 visits
Objective 1: increase visits by 10% - 1,352
Objective 2: increase revenue by 10% - $26,228
Regulars account for the majority of sales coming in at roughly $135,200. With our marketing plan, we expect new revenue of $10,491.20 and new visits of 540 people.
By putting the majority of our focus on infrequents, we hope to turn these consumers into regulars. We expect a new revenue of $15,736.80 and new visits of 812 people.
Challenges that are posed to all customers are in the chart below.
To best serve frequents, we plan to tackle their pain points in the environment and cleanliness sector. Frequents desire a restaurant that takes COVID procedures seriously and has a warm atmosphere. For our marketing challenge, we aim to make Musette’s ambiance match the expectation set by its brand and will make improvements in the purchasing experience to drive frequents to become loyal customers.
Tactic 1: Interior redesign and website rebrand
For the interior redesign, there will be banners, business cards, and new indoor decor that tackle the environment pain point.
It is necessary for Musette to rebrand so that customers view Musette in a light that effectively reflects its values and business practices. Originally, Musette’s branding was static and generic. I developed a graphic standard that depicts Musette as a vibrant, down to earth restaurant. These are some logos and motifs I made for their promotions.
Musette’s website is a major source for customer leads and revenue as it is important to make an immediate impression on our frequents. 79% of consumers who dislike a website’s design will leave, and Musette is definitely losing out on customers due to this aspect. Their current site underperforms, but with the redesign, there are detailed pages with information to sway frequents to make more purchases such as a video demo on our home page of the redesigned interior.
Tactic 2: Website Testimonials and COVID Practices
To bolster the amount of testimonials we receive regarding the environment and cleanliness of Musette, we are proposing the creation of a sponsored ad on Yelp so Musette shows up as one of the first results. We also have a COVID protocol page on the website to reassure customers that Musette is clean.
Tactic 3: Photo Contest Giveaway.
We will conduct a contest where customers post a picture at our new floral photo-op with a special hashtag. This sweepstakes will be promoted in the form of print and digital flyers, and the winner will receive an eco-friendly tote bag, stickers, and a gift card.
Our second campaign, “In Unity, We Grow”, will address the needs of our infrequent customers. 80% of infrequents referred to the location as inconvenient while 15% referred to Musette’s operating hours as limited. Our marketing challenge then becomes converting these infrequent customers to frequents by making their purchasing more of a habit. We propose implementing a strategy that leverages the power of collaboration to make the purchasing experience of infrequents more convenient.
Tactic 1: Trader Joe's Partnership
We are ready to partner with our neighbor, Trader Joe’s. By offering pre-made ready-to-go bowls in the fresh foods aisle of Trader Joe’s, we can make our customer experience quicker and more convenient. To promote our tactic we can encourage infrequents to buy pre-made bowls by featuring the new option in Trader Joe’s newsletters, flier advertisements (both digital and physical), as well as promoting Musette gift cards redeemable after an infrequent buys their first pre-made bowl at Trader Joe’s.
Tactic 2: Nugget Market Partnership
To further address convenience, we suggest a partnership with Nugget, another staple grocery store in Davis. This tactic is unique because Nugget is located in South Davis while Trader Joe’s is located in North Davis. Instead of pre-made bowl options, we are prepared to maintain a self-serve bar for customers where infrequents can literally build their own bowl while grocery shopping at Nugget. To promote this partnership, we will give our customers a 20% off coupon from bowls that are self-prepared at Nugget and only accessible via our Instagram Story. These flash coupons will be redeemable for a short period of time to encourage our infrequents to act quick and experience how convenient it is to build a bowl at Nugget.
Tactic 3: Farmer's Market Sampling
We can directly address the issue of limited operating hours by servicing customers at the Farmer’s Market. Musette is only open Tuesdays-Fridays. By setting up a booth at the Farmer’s Market, we can offer infrequents the opportunity to try new bowl flavors and purchase pre-made bowls on Saturdays. To promote this new option, we will advertise pictures of our Musette Booth on Instagram. We will also post A-Frames in front of our main Musette location for infrequent walk-ins to read.
Takeaways
Teamwork makes the dream work. Over the course of this project, I learned how to successfully perform a marketing audit all while incorporating my design expertise. During our case competition presentations, I practiced communicating my design process through active listening and consistent feedback. Having a team that is trusting and open minded goes a long way in practicing creative freedom and producing innovative design.
Next Steps
It was challenging performing a brand redesign, website redesign, all while executing a marketing plan. Keeping track of all the details and design material required a keen eye. As a team, we used our attention to detail within the designs and marketing work. By doing so, we ensured high quality within our work and boosted the credibility of Musette's brand. In the future, my team and I hope to bring our ideas to fruition and work alongside with Musette to implement our marketing plan.
