this is a recommendation I prepared for a ski/snowboard e-tailer that wants to launch a social/mobile marketing initiative

1. Mobile/Social Marketing Recommendation
Prepared By Brad Stageberg
August 2011

2. Overview
Assignment
Develop and execute a mobile/social marketing plan to convert 300,000 + members of a
unique social network devoted to ski/snowboarding to customers and grow member base.
Business Situation
The House, a successful catalog/e-tailer of ski/board/skate/water equipment, recently
purchased a competitor website with 300,000+ registered users that had been using the site
as a social network for adventure sport athletes. The company wants to convert members to
customers and grow the member base to drive a return on their investment.
Challenges
•Highly fragmented product market and sales channel
•Heavy reliance on discounting to churn inventory
•Short peak selling season + impact of annual snow conditions
•The House (parent company) relies on push marketing tactics, no social/mobile know-how
•The House owns four additional sites that will compete with trusnow for sales
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3. Trail Map
• Opportunity assessment
• Where does Trusnow fit?
• How do we enter the community?
• How will we know if it’s working?
• Action Plan

4. Opportunity Assessment
22M+ snow sport enthusiasts
5,000,000 google searches/month for “snowboards”
Source: SIA RetailTrak Data 2010/2011

5. They’re Buying Gear…
• 2010-2011 sales hit new high at $3.3B (+12%)
• Specialty shops still dominate sales revenue
• Internet sales strong, surpassing chain stores

6. …From Many Places
Ski/Board/Skate
Specialty Shops
Bricks & Mortar Internet
Chain Stores
Broad Outdoors

7. Key Online Sales Drivers
High
Industry Importance
Medium
Low
Price Brands Fulfillment Incentives Image
Industry Competes On

8. Primary Internet Competitors
• 50-100k daily visitors* • 10-15k daily visitors*
• 15k daily visitors*
• Skews older, educated, • Primarily Snow and Skate
• Snow, skate, water product product focus
female (25-34 yrs) focus
• 300,000+ facebook fans - • Strong Facebook activity
• Brand focused on image (128,000+ followers)
high quality content and self expression
• Broad outdoors gear • Celebrating snow/skate
• Low price guarantee
product mix lifestyle
• Brand focused on outdoor
adventure
• Tout their top-notch
customer service
* source: Alexa.com

9. A new type of competitor to watch…
Deep member discounts on short-term sales
Incentives to invite friends into the “community”
Broad outdoor category products
Not much choice -- have to buy what they have.

10. Where Does Trusnow Fit In This Market?

11. Let’s Start With Them…
22M+ snow sport enthusiasts
– 75% Ski or Board; 35% Ski and Board
– 73% of snowboarders < 25 years of age
What’s important to them:
– “Their Crew”
– Mobile technology
– Authenticity
– Adventure, risk taking Source: SIA RetailTrak Data 2010/2011

12. Traditional Digital Marketing.
SEO/PPC Click on our site
We’re like you (image)
Buy something…please.
Opt-in to our marketing
Continuous sales messages

13. Trusnow Community Is A Golden Opportunity To Deviate
From The Pack-- They Already Participate.
300,000+ Members

14. Youth Marketing Trends To Leverage
= A Promise ≠ Marketing Strategy
How are you going to put me into this
story that you’re telling?
(It’s tough sledding if you don’t include them in the process)
Source: Understanding Mobile Youth Culture Since 2001; slideshare.com

15. Youth Marketing Trends
Sell The Community Selling Social Values To Create
Movements
Promote The Influencers Marketing Is Creation
(or the Death of Sponsorship)
Source: Understanding Mobile Youth Culture Since 2001; slideshare.com

16. Convergence Teeing Up A Big (Natural) Opportunity
Youth Marketing
Trends
300,000+ Members
Marketing Technology

17. A Community Of Them, For Them,
About Them, By Them.

18. Initially, Keep A Narrow Focus
On Snow…
Ski/Board
ecommerce Community +
ecommerce
Chain Stores
Broad Outdoors

19. …And Play The Game A Little Different
trusnow Industry
High
Industry Importance
Competitive
Advantage
Medium
Low
Price Brands Fulfillment Incentives Image Community Experience
Industry Competes On

20. How Do We Enter The Community?
Community Nurturing And Marketing Plan

21. Marketing Strategy:
Engage members in the community with social/mobile
technology to grow membership, daily site traffic, and
sales.
Product
Nurture Community
Marketing Technology

22. Four Initial Customer Targets
Primary Customer Targets
1. Current Members
Land Lovers
Current Trusnow users
2. Your Friends, Friends
Searchers
Current members’ social connections
Friends Secondary Customer Targets
3. Searchers
Current Internet buyers not currently buying
Members
from trusnow.com
300,000+
4. Land Lovers
Primarily specialty store buyers that
search internet in hopes of saving $’s

23. Our Primary Tools
Fluid
Conversation

24. For This To Work, We Need To Remember That
Social/Mobile Marketing Is Not Selling To Them.
It’s About Giving Them A
Reason To Buy.

25. Primary Marketing Goals:
Target Engage in the community
1
Current Members Invite their friends
Strategy:
1. Nurture The Community
Show them we’re committed to the community
2. Mobile/Social Plan
300,000+ Members Make it easy and rewarding for them to share
3. Social Cause Marketing
Give them something to care about

26. Primary Nurture The Community
Target
1 1. Content Plan
Mobile/Social marketing will require a large amount of content -- some user
generated and some brand generated.
Current Members
Brand Content User Content
• Preview of manufacturers • Photo/video uploads
sponsored riders movies • Area information/conditions
• Area snow reports • Best rides
• Behind the scenes videos
• New product teasers
• Stories related to/about
community members
2. Trusnow.com Enhancements/Upgrades
• Prominently feature the community on the home page.
• Live feed of community activity
• Clear link to information about the community
• Make it easy to join
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27. Primary Nurture The Community
Target
1 3. Include Them In Your Business And Reward Participation
Instead of this... Do this...
Current Members
We build your board
Source board designs from the
community, let the community
vote, build the winning designs
Instead of this... Do this...
Rewards when friends join
Reward members when their
friends join -- daily, weekly, monthly
winners.
4. Exclusive Member Opportunities
• Exclusive product only available to Trusnow members
• Enter to win the ultimate ride vacation
• Special opportunities to save money on gear, lift tickets, etc.
• Special event attendance 27

28. Primary Nurture The Community
Target
1 5. Get The Community Offline
Trusnow Social Events Trusnow Riding Events
Current Members
Area Meet-Ups Trusnow Equipment
Demo Days
Find-a-Ride, Share-a-Ride
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29. Primary Mobile/Social Plan
Target
1
The Most Effective Mobile/Social Campaigns Focus On
Three Areas:
Current Members
1. Convenience
• Help people get things done easier
• Offer tangible value
2. Context
• Curate the most relevant local information
• Help people find useful information in real time
3. Fun
• Best way to change people’s behaviors
• Provide fun in unexpected places and ways
• Mix in delight, surprise, and reward to build and retain
relationships
source: slideshare, mobile trends -2011 - trending the future. 29

30. Primary Mobile/Social Plan
Target
1 Mobile App Like Vail’s Epic Mix
That Allows Trusnow members
Current Members
to:
• Share their adventures and information
• Earn rewards points/recognition for
sharing
• Rate best videos, rides, airtime, etc.
Real time ski area information,
discounts, social
Academy Real time local conditions,
hazards, parking information
from community members on
the hill
Share photos/videos from your
(working title)
day on the hill
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31. Primary Cause Marketing
Target Show we’re committed to their passion by providing
1 opportunities for others to learn to ride.
Special shopping days where Teach Someone To Ride Day
Current Members
% of sales donated...
• One day a season where community
members teach someone how to ride or
ride better
• Use TS Academy mobile app to share
progress of riders - earn member points
• Riders at locations all over the country
...to impaired/challenged (or globe) linked by common purpose.
riders foundations
• Provide special prizes (e.g., most
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improved), product deals, etc.

32. Primary Marketing Goals:
Target Grow community through invites
2
Your Friends, Friends to join from current members
Community Content
300,000+
1. Member incentives to invite
friends
Community
Content
2. Friend incentives to join
Community Content
3. Sell the community value
4. Download Trusnow academy
app.
Invitation to join

33. Secondary Marketing Goals:
Target Make sure they find us
Best prices and mitigate online purchase barriers
Over deliver on service/fulfillment
Sell the community and invite to join
Searchers & Land Lovers
Design A First-Class Shopping Experience...
SEO/PPC
Community content
helps keep us in top
ranks
Rigorous SEO and Relentless focus on Multiple help avenues
PPC plan to ensure online experience
high rankings Live chat
Save My Favorites
(register to use) Links to help and info
Show inventory “How to” videos
levels

34. Secondary Marketing Goals:
Target Make sure they find us
Best prices and mitigate online purchase barriers
Over deliver on service/fulfillment
Sell the community and invite to join
Searchers & Land Lovers
...Over Deliver On Service And Fulfillment
Make It Easy To Buy Communicate Often Rate My Experience
Ensure secure Estimated ship time Provide an incentive
purchase process to rate shopping
Verify my order experience
prior to ship
Provide information
Your order shipped and invitation to join
the community
Trained customer
service agents

35. Secondary Marketing Goals:
Target Make sure they find us
Best prices and mitigate online purchase barriers
Over deliver on service/fulfillment
Sell the community and invite to join
Searchers & Land Lovers
...And Sell The Community.

36. How Will We Know If It’s Working?

37. Measurement Plan
• Key Performance Indicators:
– Community membership
– Member visit frequency
– Daily traffic/page visits
– Facebook followers
– SEO Ranks
– Mobile uploads/activities
• Business Measures
– Conversion rate
– Sales/average ticket
– Returns

38. Pro Forma Projections
Site Traffic Basis
Daily Traffic Conversion Rate Avg Ticket Revenue/Day Buying Days Annual Rev
6000 0.75% $200 $9,000 265 $2,385,000
10000 0.75% $200 $15,000 265 $3,975,000
15,000 0.75% $200 $22,500 265 $5,962,500
20,000 0.75% $200 $30,000 265 $7,950,000
30,000 0.75% $200 $45,000 265 $11,925,000
40,000 0.75% $200 $60,000 265 $15,900,000
50,000 0.75% $200 $75,000 265 $19,875,000
Membership Basis
Add 1 Active Total Conversion Annual Rev
Members friend Active % Members Visits/Wk Visits/Wk Rate Avg Ticket Revenue/wk 39 weeks
300,000 600,000 50.00% 300,000 3 900,000 0.25% $200 $450,000 $17,550,000
400,000 3 1,200,000 0.25% $200 $600,000 $23,400,000
500,000 3 1,500,000 0.25% $200 $750,000 $29,250,000
1,000,000 3 3,000,000 0.25% $200 $1,500,000 $58,500,000

39. Other Considerations
• Gaming: Consider developing a mobile app game
(e.g., Farmville - Farmers Insurance) that’s easily
shared.
• Advertising: Launch campaign on popular snow
sport websites/magazines (maybe) and destination
riding areas.
• Member Swap Area: Ski swaps are a traditional
part of the sport’s culture. Set up an online/
mobile swap site and charge a small fee to post
used equipment.

40. Down The Road?
• Retail store designed
around the values of the
community.
• A “Tru”snow experience
• $2B specialty store sales
in 2011

41. Resources Needed
• Community director
• Web/mobile programmer
• Digital graphic design
• Customer service/live chat rep
• Fulfillment (The House?)

42. Action Plan
Week 1 Trusnow audit, refine strategy/tactics,
begin search for talent resources
Week 2 Budget, marketing calendar, site
revisions, mobile app development
Week 3 Set up key measures, establish baseline
levels
Week 4 Begin content plan roll-out, engagement
incentive offers

43. Questions?
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