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~ Capella University ~
Winter Quarter, 2000
An Introduction to E-Business
MBA8300
Course Tutor: Bonita L. Severy
Learner: Leanne Carson Boyd
9850 Federal Blvd. #262
Denver, CO 80260
(303) 464-7090 (W - home-based business)
(303) 464-7090 (H)
refugeearth@uswest.net
Mentor: TBD
Field of Study: Education
Degree: Ph.D. -
Education, General Program
Courseroom Posting: February 1, 2000
(The Marketing Strategy of Draft E-Business Plan for:
Refuge_Earth, an Earth-Savvy
Portal Web Site &
Communities
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http://www.refuge-earth.org
artwork by Leanne Carson Boyd 1984 - 2000
8.0.
Marketing Plan
* (units 3 & 4)
8.1. Introduction
to Refuge_Earth:Communities — Life-changing options
Refuge_Earth.org (Refuge_Earth:Communities, RE:Communities) is an
Internet Portal entity, made up of a growing set of online communities.
The communities have grown up around a concept for online learning environments,
the Refuge_Earth: Academy. Much of the philosophy, and all of
the history of this online Portal, is in keeping with the original CyberSchool,
and the Proposal for funding and establishing this school. Information
can be found at:
http://www.refuge-earth.hispeed.com/BoydZoo/campus/Novaweb/DCTE/OLEweb/final-pt-1.htm
.
(Note: an excellent definition
for PORTAL may be found at NetLingo, an Internet dictionary for computing
and Internet terminology, at:
http://www.netlingo.com/lookup.cfm?term=portal
)
It is important to understand
the beginnings of Refuge_Earth:Communities. This description comes from
the Proposal for the CyberSchool, and outlines the description for the
communities that have grown up around the concept of the school:
Refuge_Earth:Academy
- Our structure
"The
proposal describes the target population of the RE:Academy, within the
local area of Denver, Colorado. The initial establishment of the cyberschool
will be within existing programs of Denver Public Schools, which are
designed to reach certain "at-risk" populations in the school
district. These "at-risk" targeted groups are especially sensitive
to the offerings of a cyberschool such as this, as they will be allowed
to re-discover and re-learn wrong messages that have heavily influenced
prior academic choices. This proposal provides resources, opportunities
for mentoring, partnership, or internship, and coursework to supplement
the central courses of study at the late high school or early college
levels, or, grades 11 through 14. The offerings of the cyberschool will
provide this segment of students with a pathway that will allow them
to recapture an enjoyment of learning. At the same time, these young
women will learn to improve their level of productivity, as well as
elevating their feelings of self-worth and capability in more difficult
subject areas."
Our links
to community
"The
purpose of this proposal is to show that the online environment has
vastly changed the traditional concept of education, both by nature
of "the classroom," as well as the usual concept that all
paths to higher education must be lengthy and expensive. This proposal
shows that Online Learning Environments can be excellent in content
and delivery, as well as being very cost-effective. RE:Academy's structure
will prove, over the proposed five years of startup, that the local
"school" can again be a central hub in the community. It will
provide a setting of equity, allowing ... opportunities to advance in
"hard sciences." It will provide a strong link between high
school and higher education, by providing literal bonds between the
secondary school partners and the community colleges. It will prove
the strength of the mentoring program, allowing seasoned professionals
to be significant contributors in the career lives of young people."
(Boyd, Proposal for Cyberschool,
1999).
Refuge_Earth Communities, as
with the Academy (RE:Academy), will provide life changing options for
learners (with an emphasis on young women) seeking to enter career areas
in math, science and technology. RE:Communities provides an exciting
gateway into sharing ideas concerning related topics. One of the main
emphases at Refuge_Earth is environmental issues and green, sustainable
living. Closely related are emphases on equity issues, diversity, and
global community. It is a refuge, indeed. There are many opportunities
to become involved, such as chat rooms, bulletin boards, and terrific
shopping experiences (especially for specially researched items for
an earth-savvy home). There are news items and articles in abundance,
tips and tricks for home business and entrepreneurs, activity areas
for all age groups, music and book offerings, a travel center with a
specialty area on historic Bed & Breakfasts, and many other choices
in this Global Village of ours.
The education center is named
A Pale Blue Dot and is dedicated to the memory of Carl Sagan.
The cyberschool, Refuge_Earth:Academy is located there. One community,
Walking on Water, allows the visitor to explore culture, religion,
spirituality, and other ways we attain "internal grace" as
members of The Gentle Zoo, planet Earth. There are abundant links to
related Web sites, and a bi-monthly newsletter, "The Gentle Zoo
Gazette."
One essential component of Refuge_Earth:Communities
is that it stands as a model for the most state-of-the-art in technology
and navigation techniques. It is a learning and self-improvement area
that is also an ongoing learning setting in itself, experimental in
latest technologies, and the exploring of current solutions for Internet
shortcomings (such as bandwidth problems and searching for amplified
communications abilities).
8.2. On-line/off-line
marketing strategy
Understanding Projections for Online Shopping
Online shopping is becoming more
mainstream. It is projected that, by 2005, the sale of consumables will
reach $120 billion. The entire E-Retail market could reach over $2 trillion,
at that time. Not just items like vitamins, pet food, health and beauty
products, but even grocery items, as effective delivery systems are
implemented. (eMarketer, 2000).
"Collectively, Consumables
shoppers account for a majority of online purchase transactions (58%
of items purchased, 56% of purchase dollars). This study looked at past
year shopping patterns among a number of consumable products purchased
repetitively - Health & Healthcare, Health & Beauty items, Pharmaceuticals
Food & Supplies, Groceries & Household Supplies, Gourmet Foods
& Beverages and Pet Supplies."
(ActivMedia, 2000). This is extremely important for more relative
projections for Refuge_Earth, as most of the Affiliate programs are
in consumable goods.
Brief Description of Target Market(s)
Refuge_Earth's target market
is very specific, as it is comprised of people of various ages who already
have commitments and attachments to institutions and organizations,
online and real-time, whose focus is on education, environmental issues,
or science and technology. Many members will initially link in to Refuge_Earth
via one of these Web sites: GreenPeace, Sierra Club, MotherNature.com,
etc. The primary age groups of this "duo target market," are:
1) late high school and college-aged students; and 2) head-of-household,
primarily "Baby Boomer" and about one decade younger, parents
of children older than elementary school. A third target group would
be made up of the first two, and will include persons highly interested
in the environmental theme of Refuge_Earth. As the Communities expand,
more target groups will be identified, as topic areas increase in membership
and interest. The topic areas appeal to a growing niche market, with
groups concerned with global warming, for instance, and with massive
changes arising in business and education.
Patricia Seybold, in
Customers.com, states that "The Internet culture has raised
people's awareness of the importance of community."
(Seybold, 1998, p. 314) One of the premises of the Refuge_Earth:Academy
also describes the type of community member that will navigate to this
Portal site:
"RE:Academy recognizes that
no one can change social structures without changing the self - and
the community around self - and vice versa.
(Steinem, 1992) The learning environment has been created to
invite students to inspect their gendered conceptions about traditional
science, math or technology curricula. In developing their own histories
and portfolios, RE:Academy holds a strong goal of encouraging young
people to think critically about the cyberschool's - and their own -
roles of recording and describing their stories. This becomes part of
the bonding and commitment to the community ... [learning] to become an
expert in the culture of the content, in dissembling and reassembling
the meanings, and making layers of the interpretations of events, as
their experiences become richer."
(Boyd, Proposal for Cyberschool, 1999).
Almost all marketing strategies
will be in the online environment. Limited direct mailing marketing
techniques will be tested, especially in color postcard form, and with
limited mailings of hard-copy samples of "The Gentle Zoo Gazette."
8.3. Underlying
Funding: Grants for the CyberSchool site
Initial
funding for the CyberSchool is being sought, through Grants. This will
allow for the RE:Communities to exist side-by-side with the school.
Please see:
http://www.refuge-earth.hispeed.com/BoydZoo/campus/Novaweb/DCTE/OLEweb/final-pt-1.htm.
During this same time frame, a 501(c)(3) Not For Profit Organization status will
be sought.
Market analysis shows that within
the first six months of operation, one of the prime objectives will
begin to be met: that the affiliate programs and referral sales will
provide enough revenue for the entire Refuge_Earth.org Web site to be
self-sustaining.
8.4. Sales tactics
Refuge_Earth.org's early market
research indicates that its customer:
Has a large amount of disposable income (average income of apx. $30,000,
yet many are students),
Spends money on technology (over 80% have computers and over 90% have
Internet access) and
Is not particularly price-sensitive (average importance of price on
a scale of 1-7 was less than 5.0).
Furthermore, this group currently
has access to top-of-the-line services, including better bandwidth solutions,
which will allow better choices for implementing high-level offerings
on the RE:Communities Web site. These could include advanced audio,
video, animation, and interactivity components. The general trend is
that what members of many online communities are coming to expect. Our
intention is to deliver!
Statistics that have just come
in are very good descriptors of the RE:Membership, currently and for
the very near future. The installed base of residential high-speed Internet
access for 1999 was 1.4 million, with nearly 80 percent of those homes
using cable modems. By the end of 2000, 41 percent of U.S. households
will have access to cable modem service, but only 24 percent will have
access to digital subscriber line (DSL). The entire U.S. market for
residential high-speed Internet services will grow to 3.3 million subscribers
in 2000, and amazingly, will reach 16.6 million subscribers by 2004.
(FlashCommerce, 2000). This rate of growth will allow Refuge_Earth
to immediately expand interactive offerings on the Web site, with expectations
that the customer base is quickly acquiring the same power and speed,
to utilize these exciting additions.
Affiliate Programs (Associate, Reseller,
etc.)
This is a
partial list of the affiliate programs that Refuge_Earth.org
has already partnered with:
8.5.
Advertising
Public relations:
Post Refuge_Earth.org to all Internet search engines (e.g. Excite, AltaVista)
(free) with the help of analytical software, WebPosition Gold, which
optimizes META tags for each search engine, as they all have different
preferences
Post links to Refuge_Earth.org on smaller related sites, such as, but
NOT limited to:
Post newsgroup messages in the appropriate newsgroups, such as, but
not limited to:
Education: |
Math, Science, Technology |
Environmental Issues |
alt.education |
alt.algebra.help |
alt.org.earth-first |
alt.education.alterna |
alt.engineering.elect |
alt.politics.greens |
alt.education.distanc |
bit.listserv.edtech |
gov.us.topic.environm |
alt.education.home-sc |
comp.internet.net-hap |
misc.activism.progres |
misc.education |
comp.lang.c++ |
rec.backcountry |
misc.education.adult |
sci.math |
rec.outdoors.national |
soc.college.admission |
sci.physics |
sci.environment |
ucb.students.internat |
sci.space.news |
talk.environment |
Focusing Marketing Campaigns:
Refuge_Earth will eventually,
in future growth, employ new marketing automation tools aimed at modernizing
existing marketing methods. These tools apply business rules to govern
the way these tasks are carried out, by arranging and re-arranging the
customer database and by selecting the parameters, then allowing the
tool to automatically segment each campaign's target audience. Once
designed, the campaign may be executed by in many modes: direct mail,
email, banner ads, etc. RE personnel can then measure the results by
recording and tracking responses to the campaign. The software allows
for tracking responses not just according to volume but also by demographics
and other criteria.
One choice that Refuge_Earth is considering is Rubric, Inc., at
http://www.rubric.com/.
This tool "uses a graphical program editor to lead marketing
professionals through the task of defining media channels, creating
special offers and promotions, managing customer lists and generating
instruction lists for service bureaus, such as printing houses."
(Rubric, 2000). The choice of this tool will cover Internet as
well as direct mail or other in-person, paper-based campaigns. The software
will also manage sales leads from all sources, such as from the RE Web
site, trade shows, phone calls, and salespeople. The most valuable aspect
of this marketing automation tool, however, is its reporting and analysis
capabilities. Funding for this major marketing implementation will be
sought as both the Communities and the Academy reach a size that will
necessitate the purchase. This will be included in future capitalization
proposals.
The skills for placing such a
tool into service, however, may be acquired right now, with simpler
and less costly substitutes. Currently, at startup, Refuge_Earth has
collected a small grouping of highly effective software and online tools
(most are shareware, or free Web-based services) that will perform many
of these needed, automated services.
8.6. Promotions/incentives
Use public relations, advertising, "personal selling" and
an Associates Program to meet sales goals
Encourage first time purchases
Very competitive introductory sales offerings will encourage loyalty
Highly-researched sale items, discounts, price comparison shopping,
but all with the members' views on quality and earth-friendly qualifications
Use of contests, puzzles, surveys, activities, auctions, classified-ad
specials
8.7. Building
customer loyalty - online community
Provide a harbor, a support-group-type atmosphere. A place that people
will WANT to return to. The Internet is becoming like the "last
wilderness," the last place to seek a peaceful way of interaction.
"The rate at which farmland and private forests were developed
into subdivisions and other commercial uses has more than doubled in
the 1990s, a federal survey released Tuesday shows. The sharp increase
reflects the growing concerns that suburban sprawl is eroding America's
quality of life." (Llanos, 1999).
Make RE:Communities a very special, inviting place to "hang out,"
with state-of-the-art navigation, exceptional interface, user-friendly
services geared toward easing the Internet experience. This is ONLY
a partial list:
NOTE: THE REFERENCES for this portion of the E-Business Plan are complete. They will be submitted in both the February 11
th Draft, and
the final Draft, of this Plan.
This document may be downloaded HERE.
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