Product Launch in U.S.
We are ready to take our business to the next level. Presently we only exist in Canada but it’s time to grow! Our company requires some assistance is assessing our customer landscape outside of our current territory, specifically in the US. We want to learn more about customer’s expectations and behaviours in the US.Our specific need is an outline of expansion opportunities in the US and what the legal requirements and ramifications are. Key focus areas include but are not limited to:What are the legal requirements?Are there restrictions on what products we can send to the US?What is that customer base looking for?Supply chain - ex. costs, duties, fees etc.InsuranceWhat are the pros and cons to expanding our operations? Competitor analysis in US.
Small Business Accounting & Tax Project
We are a small business and need help managing our accounting records and with preparation to file our taxes. This would be a great opportunity for students to gain experience working with financial statements, transactions, book keeping, tax filing and assessment of our financial position.This project can include but is not limited to:Preparing financial statements, reports, and other documentsBook keeping verificationAccount reconciliationTax planning and preparation
Marketing Project
The primary focus for the student will be: Branding - Conduct a full competitive landscape assessment; identify opportunities and threats facing our brand; assess where and how to improve our brand's presence and differentiate from our competitors.Marketing Communications - Recommend changes to advertising and email campaigns; create an integrated marketing campaign targeting customers and vendors. Include customer stories and testimonials. Market Research - Investigate our competitive landscape; perform market segmentation to identify the ideal target market for (new or existing product or service); conduct customer surveys or focus groups to gain insights into the perceptions and behaviours of our target customers; develop a pricing strategy; identify expansion opportunities; identify key messaging for product.Prospecting Strategy - Evaluate our current customer base and make recommendations for further market penetration; assess our current outreach process and develop and implement targeted prospecting; review our prospect messaging, make improvement recommendations, and create new outreach content.SEO Strategy & Recommendations - Develop and implement an SEO strategy; provide content suggestions and recommendations to increase search visibility; increase our inbound traffic and optimize the customer journey; increase inbound leads.Strategic Social Media Marketing - Conduct an audit of our current social media presence and/or other current communication channel(s); develop and implement strategies for improving our online presence and increasing engagement; create a content calendar; creating useable social media and blog posts.Our goal at the end of this experience is: Branding and Marketing Communications - For the student(s) to help us improve our brand's presence and capture greater market share.Market Research - For the student(s) to help us gain a better understanding of our target market and ensure we are optimally positioned and our product and pricing aligns with our target sector/customer.Prospecting Strategy - For the student(s) to help us implement better prospecting that increases conversion rates and boost our sales performance.SEO Strategy & Recommendations - For the student(s) to help us generate more traffic and revenue through search engines.Strategic Social Media Marketing - For the student(s) to help us improve our online presence, reach more customers, and effectively promote our brand through compelling content.Other duties the student may complete could include: Assist with outbound email marketing campaigns as needed; measure and report on performance of these campaigns.Content development, including social posts, blog posts, LinkedIn articles, unboxing videos, and website copy.
Brand Identity and Graphic Design
Our organization needs some branding and graphic design help! We are looking for teams that can help amplify what makes us unique and create better messaging for our brand. This would include identifying areas of improvement and developing a plan for better promotion and brand awareness. This project may combine research, data analysis, graphic design w/ Sketch or Adobe XD, video creation, one-page creations and more!We believe this project will require:Research to define our unique brand position and create consistent promotional messagingGraphic design using our logo and name to highlights brand awareness and brand positioningA branding guideGraphic design that can be implemented into our marketing collateral, cards, used on t-shirts and products, etc.We will give you access to organizational assets to support this project such as personnel, sales and brand collateral, and more. We can also suggest names of competitors and comparators to research.
Grant Writing
We are looking for assistance in finding and completing grant applications that support our business.We believe this project will include:Assist with defining a company-identified community problem and defining the scope of a corresponding project.Develop a needs statement that characterizes the community problem and justifies the need for our project and funding.Identify potential sponsors and funding opportunities that are a good fit for our organization and project.Interpret a request for proposal (RFP).Improve the clarity and persuasiveness of our company's grant proposal writing.Finding grants for new businessGrants for woman owned business
Website Redesign/UX
We have a website that acts as our e-commerce marketplace and home base for any information about our business. We would like to make a few changes to make our website more user friendly and create more sales conversions per visit. Students should be prepared to:Conduct a needs analysis to determine what should be changed.UX/UI suitabilityCreate a design proposal including mock-ups, budget, and timeline. Implement changes.Content recommendations.Provide training on updating and maintaining the site.Be creative! We want to hear your ideas and include you in the creative process of building a fully functional website that our customers and partners will love.
Product Sourcing
To expand our product offering we need to source more products to be included in our monthly subscription boxes. We are looking to source local and Canadian made products to be included in our upcoming boxes. SOM is looking to develop more partnership opportunities with other Canadian businesses as apart of our offerings.We believe this project will require:Market research into what our audience would be interested in / competitor offerings.Researching existing products and market potential.Defining current needs and limitations for potential products.Outreach to potential partners and Canadian businesses to include in our box.We are interested in gaining insights on popular products and demand of our target market.The final deliverables include: A report on the research, findings, and potential partners and product sourcesContact list for partners and sources.
Small Business Strategy Development
We want to simplify our product development and operational processes to make our business more efficient and reactive to customer feedback. The focus of this project should be on clearly identifying ways to improve our operations and efficiency and reduce time and cost allocations across our operations and suggesting actionable solutions. Students should focus on:Developing a business planAnalyzing the competitive environment in our industry.Creating a Business Model Canvas for an existing or potential business and outlining strategic changes to our organization’s value proposition.Optimizing business processes and strategies.Competitor analysisRecommendations for scalingRecommending improvements to optimize our organization.We hope to implement changes that will help us reduce costs and accelerate innovation for the upcoming monthly boxes we are rolling out in the next year.Our goal at the end of this experience is: Strategy - For the student(s) to help us capture increased market share; for the student(s) to help us capture new revenue streams; for the student(s) to help us secure new partnerships.Operations - For the student(s) to help us implement more efficient and effective processes that maximize performance and customer satisfaction.Marketing - For the student(s) to help us reach more customers and effectively promote our brand, mission, and story.Sales - For the student(s) to help us roll-out better prospecting that increases conversion rates and boost our sales team's performance.Finance - For the student(s) to help us streamline costs.
Trademark Assistance
We are looking to trademark the Stressed Out Mamas brand and logo in both Canada and the US. We need your help initiating and overseeing this process.Tasks will include but are not limited to:Research in both marketsProcess oversightObtaining trademark