In 2020-2021, I worked with Lacy Bird Academy, an educational project that provides professional training for florists, both online and onsite. LBA is the largest educational project in this niche globally, with a strong subscriber base of 305k on Instagram and around 70k clients in the database.
The pandemic impacted travelling and by that, decreased the demand for on-site education. That made the Academy look for new markets and expand its range of online products. My goal was to expand the business to new markets.
Background and Challenge
I took on the role of a Customer Strategist and International Business Developer at the same time to identify potential countries of business expansion where the demand for floral arrangements aligned with the teaching style and where people were interested in pursuing a florist career.
No previous research on the international markets and consumers within the Academy had been done before. For the company, the Globe seemed like a completely new unexplored planet.
Steps of the project
- Understand consumption patterns for flower arrangements in different countries
- Identify countries where there is a potential interest in florist education
- Test the hypothesis and evaluate demand in selected countries
- Develop effective communication messages for targeted markets
- Expand the customer base through international leads
What I've done
- Conducted analysis of Instagram subscribers and CRM database contacts to identify 9 potential countries for expansion
- Utilised qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys to gather insights and refine communication messages for 7 countries
- Tested the communication messages through advertising campaigns on Google Ads
- Achieved the best conversions and potential markets in the UAE, Romania, and Mexico and increased the customer base by +12% with international leads
- Received a request from a Chinese hobby education app (link), resulting in the sale of 12 recorded online master classes
Fragment of database analysis and conversion funnel
Finding the right positioning on the global scene
Competitive analysis: key messages and positioning territories on the market
Refining the positioning for the international markets
Results
This project opened the doors for further development of Lacy Bird Academy which now estimates its revenue from international markets at 20% and has opened its branch offices in Kazakhstan, the UAE, and Mexico
