5/4/2012

Krystal Buggs | Tia Guntz

I REP

THE

BOOT, LLC.

ONLINE MARKETING CAMPAIGN

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Table Of Contents Situation Analysis…………………………………………… 2 E-Marketing Strategic Planning……………………… 5 Objectives& Strategies…………………………………… 10 Strategy Implementation……………………………….. 13 Website Development…………………………………….. 16 Budgeting………………………………………………………. 18 Analytics& Evaluation…………………………………… 19 Website Screenshots…………………………………….. 20

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Situation Analysis Review of Existing Marketing Plan (On & Offline)

Our client, I Rep The Boot (IRTB), is currently lacking a formalized version of a marketing plan for both on and offline components. When we discussed their existing marketing plan, they informed us that instead of having a marketing plan that was formal and in writing, they have been playing it by ear. For example, they are trying out different marketing methods in order to see what is working and what is not. In doing this, I Rep The Boot focuses on making adjustments when they feel necessary. One of their main focuses is on maintaining positive, beneficial relationships with their consumers and in their professional network with suppliers and their distribution channels.

Market Review

The target market for I Rep The Boot is defined as youth and young adults in the state of Louisiana. The age range of their consumer market is 13-25 and they aim to target consumer who have pride in the state of Louisiana for the apparel component of their company. As far as their community service aspect, this is geared toward low-income youth in Louisiana. They want to create a movement aimed at tapping latent potential that exists within members of our statewide society. In this aspect, through networking, collaboration and improved connectivity, I Rep The Boot hopes to provide these individuals with an avenue of ideas, hope, and inspiration to change the world in a positive manner. Social outreach with community service and entrepreneurship with individual economic gain is the main focus of this component of their company. As far as their blog is concerned, they are aiming to use this as a platform to inform consumers of all of their upcoming events such as their IRTB Fall College Tour. In doing this, their experiences from their events will also be reported and documented through their blog. The most important focus for their blog is to serve as a cultural literacy tool reporting on different topics in the social, political, economic, and cultural spheres. They also want to regularly feature columns highlighting individuals who embody the spirit and positively represent the brand, I Rep The Boot.

SWOT Analysis Strengths: The strengths of our client, I Rep The Boot, are that they have a unique apparel concept focusing on state pride for Louisiana among urban youth and young adults. They also have strong relationships with their customers and suppliers. I Rep The Boot is able to have a unique brand that is protected by supply agreements. Also, Due to their concept of Louisiana pride, this also allows them to have a strategic alliance with other Louisiana based businesses. Weaknesses: Some weaknesses faced by I Rep The Boot are that they do not have their own equipment, such as screen print machines, company computers, etc. They also lack industry

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knowledge, have a low workforce, have low awareness of their community service and blog aspects, and the apparel is only sold online. Most of these weaknesses are due to insufficient financial resources that are necessary to fund changes within the company and make improvements.

Opportunities: I Rep The Boot has a variety of opportunities they could take advantage of. They could diversify their business interests by expanding into supplier fields, product ranges, and customer bases. On major opportunity for IRTB is that the culture of Louisiana creates opportunities for peak business times such as Mardi Gras, college sports seasons, Bayou Classic, cultural festivals, etc. They could take advantage of this by expanding their geographic coverage and creating custom color schemes for certain events.

Threats: The main threat to I Rep The Boot is that there are time periods of slow market growth throughout the fiscal year. There is also a growing power of suppliers. Other major threats are the changing Internet policies, increases of online hosting fees and general changes in fashion trends and in customer needs.

Rules for New Entry

The rules for new entry have not changed for our client. They are listed below in a summary:

Apparel: It is important to determine if you want your company to be cost based or value based at the beginning. In the apparel industry, you are either mid-low cost or high-cost. The price directly reflects the quality of the product as well as defines target consumers. You must build a strong relationship with suppliers. A strong relationship with suppliers will allow for a cost-efficient relationship between suppliers and the company and determines the type of cost structure you can build. Also have a strong recognizable brand and connect clothing with the goal of the company. This means having consistency in product quality, logo, and meaning of the brand itself.

Music Blog: To successfully enter the music blog industry, you must have content generation, a strong social media strategy to attract readers, a differentiation strategy to show how you are unique and stand out from other numerous blogs, and create discussion. The content generation must be frequent and consistent to captivate and retain the attention of the target audience. Also, a bond can be created between readers and the blog when the readers can participate in discussions and voice their opinions. They often appreciate this interaction and this helps increase the retention rate.

Community Service: To have a successful community service organization, there needs to be altruism and honesty, events that align with your mission, and a stable network for partnering with other organizations. Your goal and mission need to be transparent to society and events

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must match your mission so that the community will have a positive view of your organization. Through networking and partnerships, opportunities to expand your brand are presented. Also, financially speaking, you should apply for state funding if you do not already having the financial backing necessary to start your organization.

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E-marketing Strategic Planning

Business Canvas Highlights

I Rep the Boot is a multi-faceted organization that ultimately seeks to better the community. Its overall business plan can be broken down into three revenue streams: Apparel, Music Blog, and Community Activism. In the future I Rep the Boot would like to be a leader in the online and offline world builds communities across the nation. Their overall business strategy is diversified because of the many streams they operate that appeal to a wide range of audiences. They currently operate online, but do not have a clear e-marketing strategy in place. We have chosen to focus on their main audiences’ college-aged kids and High School teens for the online strategy. Current Value Propositions include Brand/Status, Customization, and Newness.

Primary Segments

Urban college-aged kids (18-24):

o Personality

Socially aware

Engaged in community

Engaged in the “now”

Spot and participate in trends

Spend almost 8 hours per day on the internet

Social media

Leisurely browsing

Low expendable cash

Willing to try new things

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Purchase online

Entrepreneur mindsets

Middle/High School Kids (13-17):

o Personality

Mobile – online via phone

Social networking – Mainly Facebook

Cyber bullying is an issue

All about sharing with friends also

Most are not purchasing online w/o parent consent

Watch videos – YouTube

Business Model Options Note: Many of the Business Models presented visualize more than one revenue stream. We

thought it would be beneficial to combine them and allow the client to see a bigger picture and

be able to select and eliminate various revenue streams.

#1 – Community Service Funding Models

Value Proposition: With allotted budget I Rep the Boot

would provide various services to the low-income

community in Louisiana mainly focused with upward

mobility.

Digital Value Strategy: Attract investors by giving them

an easy medium through which they can donate.

Mediums: Kickstarter, GoFundMe (no associated cost)

3-month revenue increase: Set Goal of $2,500 for one

particular project. The project should gain steam over a 3 month period.

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3

Funding ($) $500 $1000 $1000

% Increase 50% 50%

Total $2,500

Implementation Steps:

Create attractive overall plan for organic community service projects and package in pitch video

Create profile on online funding site

Post project with set date for funding goals

Promote on social media

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#2 ---Music Blog Artist Spotlight Auction

Value Prop: Providing value to new artist by auctioning a special space for them.

Digital Value Strategy: Gaining exposure to a larger online audience and possibly fans.

Mediums: Designated section on music

blog worked into design as a highlighted

section and PayPal

3-month revenue increase: The pricing

for the artist spotlight would be priced

based on a bidding process with a base

of $30. We anticipate the awareness to

catch on by the third month the model

is in place. Keeping the price low for the

time will give small artist an advantage

and eventually the pricing; since it is

based on a bid will increase exponentially.

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3

Bid Pricing (per month)

$30 $30 $36

Bid Increase 20%

Total $96

Implementation Steps:

Change layout of blog and add “Artist Spotlight” section

Promote with social media and WOM buzz

PayPal used for payment of spotlight space

Content manager works with Artist to update section

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#3 – Online Customization Program for shirts

Value Prop: Providing NEW value to existing shirts by allowing customers to use a given design

and interactively pick type of shirt along with colors where they can visually review shirt before

online purchase.

Digital Value Strategy: Use online program to let customers customize shirts without hassle of

phone orders.

Mediums: RSK NetShirt

3-month revenue:

This is based on the current price of I Rep

The Boot’s Apparel online, $19.99. The

Markup is based on a cost of software

that would eventually break-even and

providing an extra value to the customer.

This averaged to be $5 per shirt. Sales

increase is based on the current growth

of shirt with a factor of higher increase after implementing.

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3

Sales/Pricing (current)

$19.99

Customization Markup

$5.00

New Price $24.99 $24.99 $24.99

Shirt Sales (#) 15 orders 18 orders 23

Sales increase 15% 25%

Total Monthly Revenue

$374.85 $449.82 $574.77

Implementation Steps:

Install new program from e-commerce portion of site

Email marketing programs to previous customers

Promote on social media

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#4 – Overall Improvement Model (Implement HootSuite and Time Release feature for

Wordpress)

Value Prop: By implementing these programs I Rep The Boot content managers can efficiently

plan social media plans and promotions along with new blog post.

Mediums: HootSuite & Time Release

feature for WordPress

3-month revenue: This model is an

improvement model presenting those

working for I Rep The Boot with a

more efficient way to handled blogs

and social media post. This model will

free up some time for more task.

Implementation Steps:

Install Programs

Plan out social media and blog post

Research high and low times of social media sites and programs post to correlate with

those times.

Differentiation

Differentiation: Combining all of these models along with a website that correlates with all

facets leads to a “one stop shop” on www.ireptheboot.com. This one stop shop will embody

the culture of the segments targeted: apparel, music, and community building.

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Setting Objectives and Marketing Strategies

Specific Marketing Objectives

We have a number of specific marketing objectives for the online program for I Rep The Boot. These objectives fall into three categories of acquisition, retention, and customer growth. Acquisition is concerned with acquiring new customers, readers, and members to participate in the community service aspect of IRTB. Retention focuses on retaining existing customers and making increasing the customer lifetime value. Lastly, customer growth, or organic growth, is the idea of increasing the number of visits to the sites by consumers while also increasing the amount of merchandise purchased. These increases are performed simultaneously by existing customers in order to grow the customer base and increase profits and conversion rate.

Acquisition: For acquisition, IRTB should increase brand awareness (on and offline), increase the number of affiliates, aggressively partake in e-commerce, and participate in selling advertisement space on their music blog and apparel website.

Retention: In order to retain existing customers, readers, and members of their community service organization, they should allow more feedback and discussion on their music blog. As mentioned earlier, this type of interaction will cause the reader to form a bond with IRTB music blog, which will, in turn, increase the readers’ loyalty and stimulate positive word of mouth promotion. Along the same lines of feedback on the blog, they should also include a forum on the apparel website. This forum could include ideas about new products, commentary on current products about quality, pricing, etc., and just feedback in general to let IRTB know what they’re doing right, what they’re doing wrong, and suggestions on how to make improvements. Customer Growth: To increase customer growth, which is perhaps the most important of these three components, IRTB should focus on increasing their sales and conversion rates. This can be done by implementing a loyalty program or providing certain discounts for subscribers’ (e-mail club members) birthdays, etc. Growth can also be obtained by starting to sell apparel products in stores and boutiques that are similar in fashion merchandise and community goals. Finally, they should really focus on community service partnerships with other organizations that are already established and well known. This will increase growth and awareness for I Rep The Boot.

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Marketing Strategies and Objectives Relationships

Specific Performance Metrics I Rep The Boot’s Marketing Campaign will be measured on 3 main components. Their current website is hosted by Intuit and they provide analytics to track the following.

Number of visitors

Amount spent per visit

Time spent on the site

Integration of Online Marketing Programs

Some of the integration of the new online marketing programs with the offline marketing programs that are already being used are increasing brand awareness through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Also, affiliate linkages are in progress with competitors such as The Dope Game, OkayPlayer, and The Boys & Girls Club. IRTB is also in the process of setting up a loyalty program and e-mail based permission promotions. Lastly, they are looking

Search Engine Advertising & Paid Placement Strategy

Email based Permission Marketing Plan

Link Building & Content Generation

Social Media Plan

Affiliate Links

Sell ad space on music blog and apparel site.

Sales increase for new and existing customers.

Increase affiliates through websites like Kickstarter.com

Increase brand awareness through social media platforms.

Provide affiliate links with music blog and apparel site.

Increase visits to apparel site and music blog

Partnerships with other community service organizations.

Focus on e-commerce campaigns.

Sell apparel in stores and provide the store links on IRTB website.

Forum on website for reviews on apparel products.

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to partner with online magazines in order to increase awareness and build their professional networks.

Rules for New Entry and Objective Reasonableness For the acquisition aspect, increasing brand awareness, increasing the number of affiliates, participating in e-commerce, and selling ad space on the blog and apparel site are extremely reasonable objectives. Increasing brand awareness through social media and word of mouth has no expense to IRTB and can reach thousands of people. Through social media it is also very possible to increase the number of affiliates and grow their network. E-commerce sites allow you to sell merchandise for a small monthly fee but the exposure you gain is incredible. The most difficult part of acquisition is dealing with the selling of the ad space because you have to find someone willing to buy that ad space. However, through networking and expanding the awareness of your brand, this too, is a reasonable objective. For the retention objectives, allowing feedback and discussion on the blog and having a forum on the apparel site is reasonable. IRTB will incur zero costs and it will stimulate interaction and build brand loyalty. For the customer growth it is important to increase sales, implement a loyalty program to serve as a catalyst in increase sales, sell in stores and form partnerships with community service organizations. It is fairly reasonable to increase sales and implement a loyalty program. This effort should prove to be successful as long as the loyalty program is well thought out and planned in a way where IRTB is still making a decent profit. Also the partnership with other community service organizations is very reasonable due to the willingness of other organizations. Most community service organizations are happy to partner and produce events with other organizations. Selling in stores will prove to be the most difficult part of customer growth. It is a reasonable objective; however it might be hard to convince stores to allow you to sell your product in their stores. Also, you have to consider that there will need to be some form of legal contract explaining the details of who gets what percentage of products and other details relating to the amount of merchandise sold, store space, etc.

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Strategy Implementation

Search Engine Advertisement & Paid Placement

Keyword Research: Below we have provided a set of keywords and phrases that best identify the

company in a general sense so that when searching for these terms I Rep The Boot may rank in the

search results and accurately be place in Search Engine Advertisements. Each keyword is complete with

the amount of Google search results found on each one. This gives us insight on how competitive it will

be to rank based on these words and combined phrases.

Louisiana – 590,000,000 results

Fashion – 3,300,000,000 results

Music – 11,940,000,000 results

Service – 12 billion

Networking

Youth Program – 709,000,000 results

Louisiana Pride – 21,000,000 results

Louisiana Apparel – 27,900,000 results

Louisiana Community – 320,000,000 results

Volunteer Louisiana – 18,700,000

Budgeting SEO:

Rank Tracker – one-time $99 fee to download; features include reports based on current

website, keyword tracker, link-building assistant.

E-Mail Marketing Program

Providers:

Intuit App “Campaigner” - $10/per month comes with numerous templates for email blast and

allows you to create contact forms

GoDaddy “Express Email Marketer” - $10/per month custom templates, contact forms, email

reports, promote on social networking sites, also host surveys. Limit of 1000 subscribers.

Benchmark Email - $12/per month for 1000 subscribers. HTML customizable templates, contact

forms, reports, social network promotion, survey, targeted email based on behavior on site.

What should be included in the newsletter?

New in Apparel

Recent Blog Post

Community Service Opportunities for the month/ promote Kickstarter projects

Any upcoming events/news

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12 Month Plan: (June 2012 –June 2013)

Provide a monthly newsletter highlighting a different area of the business each month on a

rotational basis.

Website Requirements:

Install Contact form directly on website and blog for visitors to sign up for the newsletter

Install software that captures e-mails after every purchase of apparel on the e-commerce

portion of the site.

Link Building/Content Generation

Off Page SEO suggestions:

Music Blog

o Feedburner.com (no associated cost)

Work with business partners who also run online businesses to become guest blogger for link

building purposes.

Use social media to promote and direct users to the site.

Submit blog/article links on aggregation sites

o StumbleUpon

o Delicious

o Reddit

A/V Content Use:

Audio:

o Provide audio embedded within blog post about new music to increase time spent on

page.

Video

o Currently I Rep The Boot has music discussions that are video recorded these videos

should be edited and added to the blog via VEVO. (detailed in Social Media Plan)

o Prepare pitch video for kickstarter.com and community service funding include on the

website and VEVO channel as well.

o Capture videos from community service projects to include on website.

Social Media Plan

Currently I Rep The Boot operates their online marketing from a social media stance only. The following

are suggestions to revamp this to continue to increase awareness and intertwine with the other

elements allowing them to synergize. Below are suggestions broken down by major social media sites.

Facebook:

o Pick one day of the week to have a discussion via Facebook about current events (news,

politics, music, etc.) and direct people to the website at the end for a recap.

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o Post new T-shirt color or design photos (actual shirts), pictures from events. Pictures are

imperative in Facebook marketing. They capture the reader’s attention before anything

else.

Twitter:

o Hashtagging: I Rep The Boot should pick one day centered on an organically created

Trending Topic and encourage followers to participate.

o Business: Use twitter to address any issue customers might be having. Open up

conversation by maybe formulating a tweet asking for feedback.

Ex. “Anyone had any issues with ordering, website, etc.? Talk to us! “

Vevo/YouTube

o Create a Vevo and YouTube account specifically fro I Rep The Boot

o This channel would host all videos created whether promotion videos involving apparel

or showing community service projects (further explained in Viral Marketing)

12 month plan:

o Monthly contest: with different giveaways each month. Give users a goal to reach

before drawing for the contest. Ex. “If we reach 2,000 followers by Friday we will have a

giveaway!”

Viral Marketing

For a company such as I Rep The Boot viral marketing would be a great way to reach their target

audience. Each segment explained in the earlier part of the project is a product of the Millennial era

where viral marketing has proven effective.

Video

o As mentioned earlier in A/V Content I Rep The Boot would benefit from creating videos

to embed on their site hosed on Vevo or YouTube.

Implementation

o Create Vevo/YouTube channel

o Create videos for each segment of the business promoting or exposing information on

certain topics suggestion listed below

Apparel: short promotional videos displaying new color options or new designs

Community: Create a cause-related video exploiting an issue in the community

that should be addressed as a call to action.

Music Blog: video music discussion among friends to create buzz around a topic

or certain artist and draw them into the blog site for further discussion.

12 month plan:

o Release a video monthly and encourage others to share so it can float around the

internet.

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Website Development

I Rep The Boot does have an online presence as nearly all if their business is ran online. Their current

domain URL www.ireptheboot.com is hosted through Intuit.

Website Objective

Metrics:

Increase overall visitors by 70%

Increase user-generated interaction

Overall:

Provide a clear value proposition of I Rep The Boot’s organization

Increase awareness of I Rep The Boot

Attract potential investors

Keyword Taglines:

“It’s not just a T-Shirt, It’s a state of mind”

“ I Rep The Boot, a Louisiana based organization provides a network of Louisiana’s youth that

are passionate about community through capturing culture. “

“At the heart of every great historical movement is a sense of purpose, cooperation, and unity. .

I Rep The Boot is a social and economic movement based in Louisiana seeking to establish a

network through which self-motivated, progressive individuals lacking the means necessary to

succeed alone can work together. Through collaboration, these individuals can empower each

other and turn their individual dreams into a collective reality. We also provide you with a fresh

look on the latest fashion and music with customized apparel and a music site to keep you laced

with the newest hits in urban music”

Content/Structure

About Us:

o Mission

o History

The Movement:

o Community Service

Calendar of Events

Forum for user-generated post of local volunteering opportunities

The Fashion:

o Apparel

E-commerce site

The Soundtrack:

o Music Blog

Artist Spotlight

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New music/videos

Roundtable discussion videos

Contact Us

Overall summary of Website Development

With time this website will evolve into a fully functioning “one stop shop” for all things concerning I Rep

The Boot. This basic structure will be a great start to raise awareness and draw back previous customers.

Each sections purpose will be clear and content on each web page will contain key words allowing I Rep

The Boot to increase its PageRank. By using the business models explained earlier I Rep The Boot will be

able to boost revenue and touch on all three goals of acquiring, keeping, and growing customers. Since I

Rep The Boot is a young company it is best they stick with a simple and clean design and really build on

content to draw customers back. Once the company begins to grow a more complex and detailed

website would be sufficient.

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Budgeting

IRTB Online Marketing Cost Budget

May 04, 2012

Monthly Yearly Cost % of

Expenses Total Source of Estimate

MONTHLY COSTS

Email Marketing $10 $120 4.0%

SEO Tracking 99 $1,188 39.5%

Host Cost 50 $600 20.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

Miscellaneous 0.0%

Subtotal $1,908 63.5%

ONE-TIME COSTS

Customized T-Shirt Software $96 3.2%

Website Redeisgn 1,000 33.3%

Other

Subtotal $1,096 36.5%

TOTAL ESTIMATED COST $3,004 100%

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Analytics & Evaluation Plan Roadmap of How Online Marketing Strategy Will Evolve Step 1: The first action that must take place to jumpstart the new online marketing strategy for I Rep The Boot is to launch their new, updated version of their website. This includes revamping the original site, changing the name of their music blog site, and adding relevant content to the community service part of their site.

Step 2: I Rep The Boot must start focusing on the social media aspect of their new online marketing strategy. They should start increasing awareness about their Facebook page and their Twitter. In doing this, the number of “Likes” on Facebook, and followers on Twitter should increase. They should manage these accounts daily and focus on customer interaction. In this interaction they should promote their music blog and community service events.

Step 3: By the sixth month, they should have a significant increase in the number of followers on Twitter and fans/likes on Facebook. At this point they should implement their customer loyalty program as well as their e-mail club. This should start to increase the sales volume, and as a result, increase awareness as well as profits.

Step 4: Next, they should have their forums and discussion boards up and running on the music blog. Also, on the apparel site, there should be a space for consumers to write comments and requests about the products.

Step 5: At this point, their brand awareness should have increased significantly. The consumers should be more involved with their community service events and should interact on the music blog. The sales and profits should increase, as well due to the loyalty program and e-mail club.

Expected Improvements Some expected improvements are to see an increase in customer interaction. In order for this to happen, the customers must be aware that they now are being presented with the opportunity to voice their opinions on products, events, music, etc. They also must be aware of the loyalty program and email club that would be taking place. In the loyalty club, customers who frequently purchase merchandise will be offered exclusive deals. For the email club, those who sign up will receive special notifications of new products, events, blog posts, etc.

Three Analytical Measures

Increasing the average order from $25.00 worth of merchandise to $50.00 worth of merchandise.

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Achieve and maintain a growing readership and active participation on the music blog. The comment/post rate should be 60-70 per month

Increase the amount of people participating in the community service events by 20%.

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APPENDIX: Project Checklist

(Included as appendix in the report)

Inventory of Online Program Elements (check appropriate space for each element)

Current Description Proposed

No Yes Yes No

___ _x_ Website If Yes, provide URL: www.ireptheboot.com Required Acquisition Programs (check all that are used) _x_ ___ Search Engine Advertising/Paid Placement Required _x_ ___ Display/Banner Advertising ___ ___ _x_ ___ Contextual Advertising ___ _x_ _x_ ___ Search Engine Optimization _x_ ___ __ _x_ Social Media/Network Required _x_ ___ Affiliate Program _x_ ___ _x_ ___ Link-Building/Content Generation Required ___ ___ Other: _Viral Marketing___________________ _x_ ___ ___ ___ Other: _________________________________ ___ ___ Retention Programs (check all that are used) _x_ ___ Email-based Permission Newsletter Required _x_ ___ Loyalty Program ___ ___ _x_ __ Customer Personalization _x_ ___ ___ _x_ Social Media/Network Required ___ ___ Other: _________________________________ ___ ___ ___ ___ Other: _________________________________ ___ ___ Revenue Models (check all that are used) __x ___ Display Advertising ___ ___ _x_ ___ Contextual Advertising ___ ___ _x_ ___ Affiliate Links _x_ ___ ___ _x_ E-commerce ___ ___ ___ ___ Content Provider ___ ___ ___ ___ Other: _________________________________ ___ ___ ___ ___ Other: _________________________________ ___ ___