See my response below each of your embedded questions and comments.
On 2/10/2011 10:21 AM, Frank Gmeindl wrote:
Jonathan,
Your suggestion is innovative, rational and practicable.
Please see my questions and comments embedded below.
On Feb 10, 2011, at 4:54 AM, Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote:
I have read through this whole thread, and while I observe
some good
thinking going on, there really isn't anything
earth-shattering about
the approaches being discussed. Targeting businesses has
been
discussed in the past, but what I mostly hear being
suggested is that
we change our jingle.
News alert. I don't think that we have failed in our
marketing efforts
at all. In fact, I think the results we are getting are
typical for
the particular media approaches we are employing.
In general, it is pretty common for media marketing to
produce very
small percentage returns. While it's a great approach for
large
companies who are targeting large populations, it is
probably not in
the BB's best interest. I am sure all of you receive spam
mail, and I
suspect that 100% of you absolutely hate it or completely
ignore it,
but alas, probably about 0.00001% of people who do receive
it become
repeat customers which makes it a very lucrative business
for its
proprietors. But ironically, it also means none of you
probably become
the customers. These stats tend to be true with many
types of media
marketing.
Lets do some numbers. Let's say we have a $70k budget
and we spent
about $25,000 last year, and Morgantown's MSA
(Metropolitan Statistical
Area) population is 118,506. Let's say 40 people took
our course last
year. That means, our costs were $625.00 per each
individual, and our
market penetration was 0.00034%. Note: I am
guesstimating some of
these numbers.
Just for demonstration, let's say that after everything is
said and
done, we are paying $525.00 in marketing costs for each
person we are
bringing into our program What's wrong with this
picture? A lot.
Here is the solution I suggest. Let's employ a
traditional sales
approach. Initially, we will find people who are
interested in
marketing our program.
What approach do you recommend to "find people who are
interested in marketing our program" and who would implement
your approach? From your writing below, it seems people that
have completed TS101 or that have demonstrated that they know
the material would qualify as marketers. I ask who would
implement your approach because it won't happen unless
somebody does it so the first job would seem to be to find
somebody(s) that will take this on.
A person who took the course should in theory be the best marketer
if they can share their excitement, and inspiration with other
people; we should reward them for making an effort in bringing new
folks to the program. However, sales do take skills, and we
shouldn't rely only on people who have taken the course to
accomplish this task, but rather on people who have expressed an
interest in marketing the program. These people could be located
via help wanted ads, job agencies, WVU, etc. People who have
responded to our marketing opportunity could be required to take the
course to understand our product and/or they could be provided with
a marketing kit. Ideally, we should find a sales manager who could
establish what the best practices would be. The sales manager in
turn would find and train sales associates. The sales manager would
be commiserated for their work by receiving a percentage for each
successful sale completed by a sales associate. It would behoove
the Bicycle Board to initially find a person who would serve as a
sales manager. A sales manager could be located via help wanted
ads, job agencies, WVU, etc. First, I would suggest going to WVU,
because a student may want to do this as part of a project or one of
WVU's work-learning programs. Contracts will need to be drawn up.
In the case of a Sales Manager contract I would recommend that they
be required to train an assistant sales manager who would take over
the Sales Manager's duties if the Sales Manger can't continue their
duties.
This is the fun part
because we wouldn't have
to pay them $525 for each person they successfully get to
enroll in our
program, we could pay them $50 or $35 or maybe even $25
for their
effort. I could see this approach being really successful
at WVU.
First we would ditch offering free courses to WVU
students. If you
were a WVU student and you could make $600 by convincing
12 of your
friends to enroll and successfully complete the course,
wouldn't that
motivate you to market our program? Yes!
Do you mean that the City would pay our "marketers" $25
for each person that they got to sign up for the course?
This payment would be a commission to the marketer for every person
they bring into the program who successfully completes the course.
The amount that a sales person would make per commission should be
determined based on a cost analysis along with the expert advice of
a sales manager (see earlier response).
Now here's a creative approach building on Aira's concept
of raising
our price. Let's raise the price to $100, but lets give
our marketers
coupons with their sales ID written on it. If their
friend brings the
coupon when they enroll, they will receive a 60% discount
or maybe even
a 100% discount! Once they complete the course we will
offer them a
sales ID which they can use to invite all their friends
and
associates. But, because good marketers aren't
necessarily people who
have taken our course, we could open up the marketing
program to anyone
who is a good marketer, i.e., we would interview them
first, and if
approved, hire them as an independent contractor and
provide them with
instructions on how we want our program presented to the
public.
Are you personally willing to manage this?
No.
I say, let's get a good paid sales force because that's
how the Bicycle
Boards Education's 7,000,000 pennies from its Grant will
be most
effectively utilized to successfully build a large program
that will
produce a nice population of enthusiastic bicyclists.
-Jonathan
Gunnar Shogren wrote:
On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 8:46 PM, Ryan Post <rpostwvu@gmail.com> wrote:
Ya, we got Old, Young, Woman and Cantankerous. Frank and Gunnar can fight
over which 2 persona they are.
I'm really liking the idea of getting word out to businesses. I'm thinking
it'll be a better bang for the buck, and also is probably less time spent by
BB members than working up a new commercial. As much as I'd love to be in a
4th cycling commercial!
I'm expecting that word of mouth will be the most powerful advertising once
a bunch of people have taken it.
Oh, and how do we get to this "bunch of people"?
-----Original Message-----
From: bikeboard-bounces@cheat.org [mailto:bikeboard-bounces@cheat.org] On
Behalf Of Elizabeth Shogren
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2011 8:15 PM
To: Alice Vernon
Cc: Jim Rye; chip wamsley; Elizabeth Shogren; Bicycle Board; Frank Gmeindl
Subject: Re: [Bikeboard] Course participation
Thanks, Alice!
I am thinking the commercial could "introduce" our LCI instructors.
Sometimes people are more apt to sign up for something if they can see
that it is not taught by some scary hard-core freak. Establish a
connection and all that...
On second thought, this idea could backfire. HAHA!! Just kidding!!!
On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 6:52 PM, Alice Vernon <vernon.mail@gmail.com> wrote:
I think Betsy is right about the commercial and people not reading the
paper.
Alice
On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 6:08 PM, Gunnar Shogren <gshogren@gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 5:59 PM, Elizabeth Shogren
<elizabeth.schauer@gmail.com> wrote:
I say let's make another commercial! Tons of people saw our PSAs,
while I am not so sure that many people actually read the newspaper
that often (especially students and other active types).
And the commercial that Betsy is talking about is one that promotes
the CLASS and not just safe riding in general.
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