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Our Team

Stephanie Dean

Director of Marketing

Emma Hayden

Director of Research

Natalie Konopka

Director of Community Relations

Catherine Blood

Director of Logistics

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Executive Summary

Give it a Whirl, Girl! campaign focused on empowering and connecting local female business owners and potential business owners while also aiming to end the stigma surrounding being a female entrepreneur. Furthermore, this campaign aspires to bring more awareness of the resources that the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council can provide for these women.

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Client Overview

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Non-Profit Partner: Greater Peoria Economic Development Council

The Greater Peoria Economic Development Council (GPEDC) is a non-profit organization established in 1981 and based out of Peoria, Illinois. With the investments from other businesses, organizations, cities and counties (Logan, Mason, Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford) GPEDC is fully supported.

"The Greater Peoria Economic Development Council, in collaboration with our local economic and workforce development professionals, drives economic growth in Greater Peoria through targeted business and talent development and attraction.”

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For-Profit Partner: Silver Lining 309 Boutique

Silver Lining 309 is an online boutique based out of Washington, Illinois. Dawn and Peyton are a mother daughter duo who wanted to focus on affordable clothing for women and children. These two ladies started out as best friends, whose fondest memories were shopping, and wanted to continue the tradition.

"Our focus is on serving our customers and providing ways to give back to our community.”

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Secondary Research

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Secondary Research: Why is women entrepreneurship an issue?

According to Bizwomen, just over 30 years ago throughout the United States, women who desired to obtain a business loan required to have a signature from a male relative or spouse.

1988: Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988 terminated this because of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO)

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Secondary Research: Why is women entrepreneurship an issue?

Rev Collective is a community of females offering peer-to-peer mentorship and accountability in Milwaukee, WI.

Four females started this organization due to the frustration from the lack of resources and support that the city had to offer
Rev Collective enables women a space to share advice and encourage each other to grow
Members are placed into small groups called “collectives” and receive access to an online community of female professionals

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Secondary Research: Why is women entrepreneurship an issue?

Peoria Magazine stated that “the Kauffman Foundation reports that women start ventures with eight times less funding than their male counterparts”

Female entrepreneurs have a greater fear of failure than men

According to the United States Department of Labor Blog, women-owned businesses employ over 8.4 million workers and generate $264 billion in payroll.

However, 99.9% of women-owned businesses are considered “small businesses.”

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Primary Research

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Beginning Target Audiences

Primary: Current female small business owners in the Peoria Tri-County area aged 18-35
Secondary: Women aged 18-35 years old in Peoria Tri-County area
Marginal: Female high school/ college students in the Peoria tri-county area

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Types of Primary Research Conducted:

Interest Survey

Compiled a list with Silver Lining 309 of known female business owners and messaged each on FB and Instagram with link to survey

Instagram Poll

Posted on female business owner’s instagram (@darlingauthority) with same questions of interest survey

Pre-Event Survey

Gathered before the event by attendees in order to gather attitudes towards entrepreneurship, the Peoria community, etc.

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Interest Survey

Purpose: To develop topics for workshop and identify potential attendees and speakers
Result: 13 responses

Q1 Findings:

None used community resources
Several wished there was a community of like-minded females they could lean on
Many used friends / family

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Interest Survey

Q2 Findings:

Many are comfortable with their brand / logistics
Confident in knowing who their target audiences are
Only 2 comfortable with social media

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Interest Survey

Q3 Findings:

Things they want to work on include:

Finances
Social Media
Networking

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Interest Survey Demographics

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Instagram Poll - @darlingauthority

Purpose: Gain public responses to the interest survey through a medium where our target audiences would see it (3rd Party)

Findings:

65% of women have thought about starting their own business
81.3% didn’t believe they had the resources to get started

Demographics:

76% women aged 18-24
10.8% women aged 24-35
14% aged 45+

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Instagram Poll - @darlingauthority

Result: We tried!

Very inconsistent and varied results
Poll average: 40
Open question average: 4
Not targeted enough
3rd party platform reached the wrong people

What we could do next time:

Post on our partner’s social media
Stick to private primary research methods

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Final Target Audiences

Primary: Women aged 24-35 in Peoria Tri-County zip codes 61604 & 61614, 61525 (Dunlap), and 61550 (Morton)
Secondary: Female high school/ college students in the Peoria tri-county area (Dunlap, Bradley, ICC)
Marginal: Current female small business owners in the Peoria Tri-County area aged 18-35

Justification for zip codes: these are among the highest for annual income in the Peoria area, thus making women more likely to start or grow a business

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Pre-Event Survey

Purpose: The Scene PR conducted a pre-event survey on Qualtrics to be taken by participants at the workshop. The Qualtrics QR code was presented on the screen and attendees were advised to scan the code and complete the survey before beginning the workshop. This survey was created to gain an understanding of the current stigmas women have on the idea of female entrepreneurship.

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