Triple Registrations in YOUR Online Community by Don Philabaum

w w w. i nte r n e ts t rategiesgroup.com

Planning Guide

Tripleâ&#x20AC;Ś registrations in just 9 months! Ste p by s te p g u i d e to i n c re a s e t h e n u m b e r o f a l u m n i re gi s te re d i n yo u r a l u m n i o n l i n e co m m u n i t y Januar y 2007

Internet Strategies Group The Internet Strategies Group helps alumni and advancement offices develop comprehensive Internet strategies to increase participation, contributions, data collections and to provide a maximum return on your investment (ROI). Our consulting is based on a decade of experience in building online communities, sharing best practices in our blog, www.wiredcommunities.com, producing over 40 webinars as well as the information in our following books: 1.

Create a NET-Centered College Campus, 1998

Alumni Web Strategies, 101 Strategies to Build Community, 2006

Create a NET-Centered Alumni Office, 2007

And information we have learned from our expert guests and participants in our: 

Executive Briefings



Strategic Discussions



Online Courses



Best Practices

Our goal is to save you time, money and prevent you from making costly errors in creating your Internet strategy, investing in social networking/online community software.

Table of Contents Introduction

Section ONE: Determine the value of an email address

Savings in postage/printing

Contributions

Self Service Savings

Summary

Section TWO: Outline your 9 month marketing campaign

Goals

Definitions

Marketing Tool Planning Guide

Section THREE: Traditional Marketing Tools

Postcards

Letters

Flyers

Phone Wizard

Email Appending

Annual Giving Calls

Press Release

Magazine Ad

Webinars

Grand Totals

Section FOUR: Internet Marketing Tools

Text Broadcast Email

HTML Broadcast Email

Multi-Media/Animated eCard Broadcast Email

Grand Totals

Grand Totals: Combined Marketing Tools

Section FIVE: Submit a request for funding Letters, Reports, Power Points & Marketing Materials Conclusion

34 35 36

Introduction We love to remind organizations like yours that spammers have 100 percent of your alumni email addresses!

What percent do you have? You have a unique opportunity to increase registrations in your online community by concentrating traditional marketing and Internet marketing ideas. This Planning Guide will take you through proven steps to determine what marketing strategy will work best for your organization. It is designed to help you triple your registrations in just 9 months. There are three reasons why you should mount a comprehensive strategy to increase registrations in your online community: ď Ź

Communication

ď Ź

Contribution

ď Ź

Connectedness

One single email address enables you to communicate more frequently with your alumni, which will give them a feeling of being more connected with your institution. This results in more contributions. The investment in time and money you make today will pay off a hundred times during the lifetime relationship you have with your alumni.

We offer an optional Excel report if you would prefer to complete this using a spreadsheet. The report includes a training video. Armed with this information, you will be able to approach management for the resources to implement your plan.

Introduction Additional Support We’ve identified four distinct phases you will need to prepare for as you develop your strategy to triple your online registrations in 9 months.

Phase One You are well on your way of completing Phase One by completing the course and this Planning Guide. During this and future phases, you have the option of engaging our services and joining other industry professionals in discussing and learning on how to move successfully through each area of responsibility.

Phase Two In the second phase, you will need to develop a cover letter and Executive Summary that will present your research, findings, and outline your marketing strategy, along with the resources you will need to accomplish it. Done properly, from our experience this will require 30-40 hours to prepare a professional document and Power Point presentation, both designed to gain management support. If you don’t have the time, or are on a tight deadline, consider having our team develop both. We’ll provide you a professionally written letter, Executive Summary, and a Power Point presentation that will require minimal editing by someone on your staff.

Phase Three Once you have your funding in place, you’ll need to create the theme, copy for mailings, letters, graphics for postcards, letters, eCards, email, HTML mailings, scripts for Phone Wizards, and much more. We can eliminate much of that by providing you professionally written copy that has been designed by marketing geniuses who know what it takes to get people to act.

Phase Four Our methodology provides you a series of channels in which you can get your alumni registered in your community. Your final responsibility would be to analyze each one to gain a better idea of which were more successful, so you can improve the next time you run this campaign. Should you avail yourself to our consulting services, we can provide the tools that will automatically analyze these for you.

Section ONE Determine the value of an email address.

his section will help you identify what value your organization places on an email address.

Our example will show you the value of an email address could be as high as $144.20 over ten

years. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

just ONE email address!

Experience has shown, once you understand the value of an email address, the easier it will be to get funding to acquire more. Plus, the more excited you, your team, and volunteers will be when you get one in!

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the value of an email address?

hirty years ago, credit card companies paid students on college campuses twentyfive cents for every credit card application they collected. At the start of the dot Net boom, organizations were paying three dollars for an email address. There are three ways we evaluate the value of an email address:

Savings in postage/printing.

Online contributions.

Saving in staff time.

Section ONE

1. Savings in postage/printing Identify how many times you expect to send broadcast emails to alumni during the year to announce homecoming, annual giving, reunion, athletic, and other special events. Then determine how frequently you will send out an eNewsletter to alumni. A. How many email addresses of alumni do you currently have? B. Number of times in one year you expect to send broadcast emails? Annual Giving Events and Activities Sports/Athletics Other

A B

C. What would it cost you to send a letter instead of an email? Paper Design Printing Postage Labor Other

Total

.02 .00 .04 .32 .05 .00 .43

D. Number of times in one year you expect to send eNewsletters?

E. What would it cost you to send a paper newsletter instead of an email?

Paper Design Printing Postage Labor Other

Total

.07 .10 .25 .52 .06 1.00

Now take the B X C and multiply it by A. For example with B = 10 and C = 43 cents (postage, printing etc) and A = 8,000, you would have spent $34,400 to communicate with your alumni TEN times during the year via email. Internet Strategies Group d d Triple Registrations d d ÂŠ copyright 2007

Section ONE

F. Your cost to send letters to each alumni:

Now take D X E and multiply it by A. For example with D = 4 and E = $1.00 (postage, printing etc) and A = 8,000, you would have spent $32,000 to send four print newsletters to your alumni during the year. G. Your cost to send E:

Now add F & G and divide it by A. In our example we will add ($34,400 and $32,000 and divide by 8,000 and we get $8.30. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the value of an email address. Combined YEARLY, your savings of sending emails and enewsletters instead of paper letters and newsletters is: H. G X 10:

Our example shows the one year value of an email address in saving from traditional mailing costs for letters and newsletter is $8.30 for one year and $83.00 in ten years!

Section ONE

2. Contributions

Our experience has shown that you will receive unsolicited online contributions from alumni who have visited your site. Some will find it to be a convenient way to share their enthusiasm and positive experience they gained from attending an event or activity. Others may be reminded that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a quick way to reduce their taxes prior to the end of the year. Regardless, it makes sense to include giving opportunities online. If you have an online community currently, find out how much money has been contributed online in the previous year I.

Total Online Contributions last year:

Now take that amount and divide it by the total number of alumni registered. J. Divide the total number registered:

In our example, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll use $22,000 as the amount contributed. $22,000/8,000 = $2.75. K. Average unsolicited online contribution per K person registered:

Our example shows the one year value of an email address from unsolicited online contributions is $2.75, and th e ten year value is $27.50!

Section ONE

3. Self Service Savings When your alumni register for an event, activity, change their contact information, or get information from your online community, you save staff time. Think about how much it costs you to handle each of these transactions. How much time does it take for your staff to handle a call from your alumni, write down, and then update the information in your database? How much time does it take for your staff to take a call to register an alum for an event, take, and then process their credit card? In the P, Q, and R fill in any others you can think of! Number in a year

Cost to handle each Manually

Total Savings

Address changes

Registrations for events

Online contributions

Totals:

For our example, we are using 3,000 for each of the above, and identifying a cost of $3 to handle each. Our total cost to serve 9,000 activities would have been $3 X 9,000, or $27,000. T. Average labor savings from “self service.”:

Now divide the total number of alumni A(8,000)/by the total dollars saved to get the average value per email address in “self service” cost.

Our example shows the one year value of an email address in labor savings from “self service” is $3.37, and the ten year value is $33.70!

Section ONE

Summary Now we get into the really fun numbers. All the hard work you’ve done to this point sets the foundation to really see the reason why you need to immediately launch a comprehensive program to register all of your alumni. Take your numbers from the corresponding lines and enter them below.

Savings in postage/printing

Contributions

Self Service

One year

10 year

One year

10 year

Totals: Here is how our example would look:

Savings in postage/printing

$8.30

$83.00

Contributions

$2.75

$27.50

Self Service

$3.37

$33.70

$14.42

$144.20

Totals:

The reason we’ve gone through this process is simple. You will need to explain to management why you require a significant amount of money to invest in marketing methods in order to increase participation in your online community. Use this methodology as a simple way to show board members, and members of the President Council, that an investment today will have near instantaneous payback.

Section TWO Outline your 9 month marketing campaign!

n Section Two, you will be able to share with your board, and those in charge of the budget, what the funds are that they will need to provide you in order to triple the number of alumni who are registered in your online community.

You will have an opportunity to create a customized marketing program utilizing traditional marketing methods to reach alumni, as well as Internet marketing techniques for alumni who you have an email address for, but are not registered in your online community. Using Internet marketing techniques to reach this segment will reduce your overall costs.

Section TWO

Goals One of the first things you want to do is set some goals. Depending on the resources and commitments you get, you may have to come back and modify these. Our Example Total addressable alumni

80,000

Number of email addresses we have

18,000

Number of email address NOT registered

10,000

Number of registered users you want this campaign to produce

24,000

Name of Month

Our Example

2,000

3,000

4,000

Section TWO

Definitions Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s take a quick look at 16 different ways you have available to market to your alumni.

Ten Traditional Marketing Tools 1. Postcards

Standard 4x6 postcards via USPS.

2. Letters

Traditional letter in envelope via USPS.

3. Notes from alumni

You provide stationary & envelope to alumni to mail.

4. Flyers/Handouts

Hand out at events.

5. Phone Wizard

Thirty second calls to alumni.

6. Annual Giving Calls

Students request alumni register or get emails.

7. Email Appending

Purchasing email addresses.

8. Press Releases

Professionally prepared press release.

9. Webinars

Hold webinars to show value of community.

10. Magazine Ads

Traditional flyer/handout.

Three Internet Marketing Tools 1. Text Broadcast email

Standard text broadcast email.

2. HTML Broadcast email

HTML/Graphic broadcast email.

3. Multimedia/Animated Flash eCards

Audio, video, text multi frame cards.

Techniques to use in any of the above 1. Testimonials

Alumni offering testimonials.

2. Endorsements

Famous alumni endorsements.

3. Viral Marketing

Techniques to get alumni to forward to friends.

4. Push/Pull Techniques

Techniques to pull alumni to the site.

Section TWO

Marketing Tool Planning Guide This guide will identify which tools you want to use each month. In the course we provide you specific suggestions. While we recommend you follow those suggestions and you use these tools to calculate your costs, use this to customize your goals and budget. Month Number 1

Actual Month Name Example 1. Postcards

2. Letters

x x

3. Notes from alumni

x x

Ten Traditional Marketing Tools 1. Postcards 2. Letters 3. Notes from alumni 4. Flyers/Handouts 5. Phone Blasts 6. Email Appending 7. Annual Giving calls 8. Press Releases 9. Webinars 10. Magazine Ads Three Internet Marketing Tools 1. Text Broadcast email 2. HTML Broadcast email 3. Multimedia/Animated/Flash eCards

Section THREE

etâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s take a closer look at the different marketing tools you can use to increase the number of registrations. In this section, you will be able to identify your goals, costs, and expectations. Following this, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll look at the Internet Marketing Tools you can use to encourage the alumni you have email addresses for, but are not registered, to register.

Section THREE

Traditional Marketing Tools

Postcards… Postcards are low cost traditional marketing tools. Consider developing a series of Postcards that have content developed to relate to alumni by their graduation year.

Cost Analysis Target Audience / Number to send /Design / Printing/Postage Example Month One All Alumni Month Two 2000 – 2006 grads Month Three 1990 – 1999 grads

80,000 15,000 20,000

$250 $250 $250

$8,000 $2,400 $3,000

Total

$16,000 $3,000 $4,000

$24,250 $5,650 $7, 250

Month One Month Two Month Three Month Four Month Five Month Six Month Seven Month Eight Month Nine

Totals:

Results Expected Number Sent

X X

Cost to mail: Avg. cost to acquire emails:

Total Cost

Response Expected Cost to Mail Registrations

= = =

Registrations Total Cost Avg. Cost

Our example:

115,000 X 3% = 3450 Registrations Cost to acquire registration: $37,150 / 3,450 = $10.77

Section THREE

Traditional Marketing Tools

Lettersâ&#x20AC;Ś Consider sending personal invitations from the Deans of each of your colleges, or a letter from well established faculty within specific major areas.

Cost Analysis Target Audience / Number to send /Design / Printing/Postage Example Month One Month Two Month Three

Business School Engineering Arts & Scienc

10,000 2,000 20,000

$250 $250 $250

$10,000 $2,400 $20,000

Total

$3,200 $2,000 $4,000

$13,450 $4,650 24,250

Month One Month Two Month Three Month Four Month Five Month Six Month Seven Month Eight Month Nine

Totals:

Results Expected Number Sent

X X

Cost to mail: Avg. cost to acquire emails:

Total Cost

Response Expected Cost to Mail Registrations

= = =

Registrations Total Cost Avg. Cost

Our example:

32,000 X 5% = 1600 Registrations Cost to acquire registration: $42,350 / 1600 = $26.47

Section THREE

Traditional Marketing Tools

Notes from Alumni… Alumni will respond to the request from their classmates faster and more frequently than from an official from the alumni association or college. Print up postcards and mail to alumni who volunteer to look up friends and classmates who are NOT registered and invite them to register. Set a goal each month to get twenty-five alumni volunteers to agree to look up and send cards to fifty UNREGISTERED alumni over a twelve month period. (That’s only four per month!) Over the course of a year, 300 volunteers will reach 15,000 alumni.

Cost Analysis Target Audience / Number to send /Design / Printing/Postage Example Month One Month Two Month Three

100 volunteers 100 volunteers 100 volunteers

5000 5000 5000

$250 $250 $250

$500 $500 $500

Total

$1,500 $1,500 $1,500

$2,250 $2,250 $2,250

Month One Month Two Month Three Month Four Month Five Month Six Month Seven Month Eight Month Nine

Totals:

Results Expected Number Sent

X X

Cost to mail: Avg. cost to acquire emails:

Total Cost

Response Expected Cost to Mail Registrations

= = =

Registrations Total Cost Avg. Cost

Our example:

15,000 X 30% Cost to acquire registration: $6,750 / 4500

= 4500 Registrations = $1.50

Section THREE

Traditional Marketing Tools

Flyersâ&#x20AC;Ś Cost Analysis Design/ Card Cost/ Target Audience /Number to send Postage

Total

Month One Month Two Month Three Month Four Month Five Month Six Month Seven Month Eight Month Nine Totals:

Results Expected Number Sent

X X

Cost to mail: Avg. cost to acquire emails:

Total Cost

Response Expected Cost to Mail Registrations

= = =

Registrations Total Cost Avg. Cost

Our example:

5,000 X 10% Cost to mail: Free X 35 cents Cost to acquire registration: $1,750 / 500

= 500 Registrations = $1,750 = $3.50

Section THREE

Traditional Marketing Tools

Phone Wizardâ&#x20AC;Ś Phone Blasts are a great way to launch your campaign. In a blink of an eye, you can call 1,000 or 100,000 alumni. The caller can be a famous alum, the President, someone from your office, or someone from the athletic department. Their message will be simple. Come to the online directory/community and register. We recommend this technique be used a minimum of two times during your campaign.

Cost Analysis

Script Target Audience/ Number to Send / Voice Actor / Phone Cost / Total

Example Month One Month Two Month Three

All Alumni X All Alumni

80,000 X 80,000

$850 X $850

$8,000 X $8,000

$8,850 X $8,850

Month One Month Two Month Three Month Four Month Five Month Six Month Seven Month Eight Month Nine

Totals:

Results Expected Number Sent

X X

Cost to mail: Avg. cost to acquire emails:

Total Cost

Response Expected Cost to Mail Registrations

= = =

Registrations Total Cost Avg. Cost

Our example:

160,000 X 5% Cost to acquire registration: $17,700 / 8000

= 8000 Registrations = $2.21

Section THREE

Traditional Marketing Tools

Email Appending… Email appending is a quick way to get email addresses of alumni that you currently do NOT have an email address for. Simply assemble address and contact information for all addressable alumni and a match will be found for anywhere from seven to twelve percent. Then you have to send postcards to convert them into registered users. It’s best to use this technique at the beginning of your campaign. Our experience indicates you will only need to do this at the start of your campaign.

Cost Analysis Total addressable email addresses WITHOUT email

Results Expected Expected return on above

Our example:

70,000 X 9% = 6,300 Emails Cost: 6,300 X 35 cents = $2,205 Cost to acquire emails: $2,205/ 6,300 = $0.35

Your return on investment occurs in less than 1 month!

Section THREE

Traditional Marketing Tools

Annual Giving Calls… We like to remind alumni that there are many ways to give back to the institution. One is simply providing their email address so the college can reduce postage and printing and, at the same time, keep them informed of the great things faculty, students, and administrators are doing to continually improve the college image, which increases the value of their diploma!

Cost Analysis Bonus paid to students for each email address 

We recommend at least 50 cents to $1.00 for each alumni who you don’t have an email address for.

Results Expected Expected return on above

Our example:

30,000 Calls X 15% = 4,500 Emails Cost: 4,500 X $1.00 = $4,500 Cost to acquire emails: $4,500/ 4,500 = $1.00

Your return on investment occurs in less than 1 month!

Section THREE

Traditional Marketing Tools

Press Releaseâ&#x20AC;Ś We recommend you issue a press release each month to the newspapers where your alumni are most concentrated in. The goal is to share a human interest story about alumni reconnecting, starting a business, etc., and somehow relate the information to the alumni online directory. Your press releases should provide a theme that shows the online directory and community has great value.

Cost Analysis Focus of Release Example Month One Alumni doing business together. Month Two Classmates finding each other. Online Webinars for alumni. Month Three

/ Cost or / Total $1,000 $1,000 $1,000

$1,000 $1,000 $1,000

Month One Month Two Month Three Month Four Month Five Month Six Month Seven Month Eight Month Nine

Totals:

Results Expected Number Papers Avg. cost to acquire emails:

X X

Response Expected

= =

Registrations

Until better research is available, we are anticipating ten registrations per Press Release.

9 Press Releases X 30 Cost to acquire Press Release: $3,000/270

= 270 Registrations = $11.11

Section THREE

Traditional Marketing Tools

Magazine Adsâ&#x20AC;Ś We recommend you place an ad PLUS an article in each alumni magazine. The goal is to share a human interest story about alumni reconnecting, starting a business, and somehow relate the information to the alumni online directory. Your ads and articles should provide a theme that shows the online directory and community has great value.

Cost Analysis Focus of Release Example Month One Alumni doing business together. Month Two Classmates finding each other. Month Three Online Webinars for alumni.

/ Cost or / Total $500 $500 $500

$500 $500 $500

Month One Month Two Month Three Month Four Month Five Month Six Month Seven Month Eight Month Nine

Totals:

Results Expected Number Sent

X X

Cost to mail: Avg. cost to acquire emails:

Total Cost

Response Expected Cost to Mail Registrations

= = =

Registrations Total Cost Avg. Cost

Our example:

50,000 X 1% Cost: 15,000 X $0 Cost of registration: $0/ 500

= 500 Registrations = $0 = $0

Section THREE

Traditional Marketing Tools

Webinarsâ&#x20AC;Ś You need to TEACH your alumni HOW to use your online community and what the benefits are. Consider holding a series of webinars that bring specific groups of people together. Send a postcard invitation to their group. You can invite the business Dean and send invitations to all business graduates inviting them to participate in a webinar that will show them how to use the site for business networking.

Cost Analysis Target Audience /Number to send /Design / Printing/Postage / Webinar

Example Month Four Month Six Month Nine

Business Grads Engineering Arts & Science

10,000 2,000 20,000

$250 $250 $250

$2,000 $500 $3,800

$2,000 $400 $ 4,000

$1,000 $1,000 $1,000

Total $5,250 $2,150 $9,050

Month One Month Two Month Three Month Four Month Five Month Six Month Seven Month Eight Month Nine

Totals:

Results Expected Number Sent

X X

Cost to mail: Avg. cost to acquire emails:

Total Cost

Response Expected Cost to Mail Registrations

= = =

Registrations Total Cost Avg. Cost

Our example:

32,000 X 3% Cost: Cost to acquire registration: $16,450 / 960

= 960 Registrations = $16,400 = $17.14

Section THREE

Traditional Marketing Tools

Grand Totalsâ&#x20AC;Ś So now we have a chance to roll up the numbers and get a better idea of not only how many alumni your plan will register, but what the total cost will be. Armed with this, you will be able to approach management to get the funding you need.

Nine Month Costs and Results Expected Registered/Emails

Cost

Avg.

Postcards Letters Notes Flyers Phone Annual Email Press Webinars Ads 27

Totals:

Our Expected Results: Postcards Letters Notes Flyers Phone Email Annual Press Webinars Ads Totals:

Registered/Emails 3,450 1,600 4,500 500 8000 6,300 4,500 270 960 500

Cost $37,150 $42,350 $6,750 $1,750 $17,700 $2,205 $4,500 $3,000 $16,400 $0

Avg. $10.77 $26.47 $1.50 $3.50 $2.21 $.35 $1.00 $11.11 $17.14 $0.00

30,580

$131,805

$4.31

Section FOUR Internet Marketing Tools

ith email appending and emails that are not registered, you have to find ways to get this group of alumni registered in your community. The Internet marketing tools available to get this group registered in your community are:

Three Internet Marketing Tools 1.

Text Broadcast email

HTML Broadcast email

Multimedia/Animated eCards

Section FOUR

Internet Marketing Tools

Text Broadcast Email â&#x20AC;Ś Broadcast emails are a great way to reach those who you have email addresses for, but have NOT registered in the online community. They are simple and easy to do.

Cost Analysis Target Audience /Number to send/ Cost to send 1980-1989 grads 22,000 $0.02

Example

Total Cost $440.00

Month One Month Two Month Three Month Four Month Five Month Six Month Seven Month Eight Month Nine Totals: 29

Results Expected Number Sent

X X

Cost to mail: Avg. cost to acquire emails:

Total Cost

Response Expected Cost to Mail Registrations

= = =

Registrations Total Cost Avg. Cost

Our example:

22,000 X 5% Cost to acquire registration: $440 / 1100

= 1100 Registrations = $0.40

Section FOUR

Internet Marketing Tools

HTML Broadcast Emailâ&#x20AC;Ś HTML Broadcast emails are a bit more pleasing to the eye. Depending on the message, you can anticipate a higher participation rate than traditional broadcast emails. You are using this technique, in addition to broadcast emails, to reach alumni who you have email addresses for, but are NOT registered in your online community.

Cost Analysis Example

Target Audience / Number to send / Graphic Cost / Cost to send All alumni 22,000 $950 $.01

Total Cost $1,170

Month One Month Two Month Three Month Four Month Five Month Six Month Seven Month Eight Month Nine

Totals:

Results Expected Number Sent

X X

Cost to mail: Avg. cost to acquire emails:

Total Cost

Response Expected Cost to Mail Registrations

= = =

Registrations Total Cost Avg. Cost

Our example:

22,000 X 15% Cost to acquire registration: $1170 / 3300

= 3,300 Registrations = $0.35

Section FOUR

Internet Marketing Tools

Multi-Media/Animated eCard Broadcast Email â&#x20AC;Ś Multimedia ecards include sound, photographs, and up to seven frames that develop a theme and story. These engage, involve, and can really elicit strong responses.

Cost Analysis Example

Target Audience / Number to send / Graphic Cost / Cost to send All alumni 22,000 $1250 $.01

Total Cost $1,470

Month One Month Two Month Three Month Four Month Five Month Six Month Seven Month Eight Month Nine Totals: 31

Results Expected Number Sent

X X

Cost to mail: Avg. cost to acquire emails:

Total Cost

Response Expected Cost to Mail Registrations

= = =

Registrations Total Cost Avg. Cost

Our example:

22,000 X 15% Cost to acquire registration: $1,470 / 3,300

= 3,300 Registrations = $0.45

Section FOUR

Internet Marketing Tools

Grand Totalsâ&#x20AC;Ś So now we have a chance to roll up the numbers and get a better idea of not only how many alumni your plan will register, but what the cost will be. Armed with this, you will be able to approach management to get the funding you need.

Cost Analysis Text/ HTML/ eCards

Total

Month One Month Two Month Three Month Four Month Five Month Six Month Seven Month Eight Month Nine 32

Totals:

Our Expected Results: Text HTML ECards Totals:

Registered/Emails 1100 3300 3300

Cost $440 $1,170 $1,470

Avg. $0.40 $0.35 $0.45

7,700

$3,080

$0.40

Section FOUR

Combined Marketing Tools

Grand Totalsâ&#x20AC;Ś Now we can roll up all Traditional marketing costs and Internet marketing costs to determine what the level of funding is that management needs to give you in order to accomplish your plan.

Cost Analysis Traditional

Internet

Total

Month One Month Two Month Three Month Four Month Five Month Six Month Seven Month Eight Month Nine Totals:

Our Expected Results: Postcards Letters Notes Flyers Phone Email Annual Press Webinars Ads Text HTML ECards

Registered/Emails 3,450 1,600 4,500 500 8000 6,300 4,500 270 960 500 1100 3300 3300

Totals: 38,580

Cost $37,150 $42,350 $6,750 $1,750 $17,700 $2,205 $4,500 $3,000 $16,400 $0 $440 $1,170 $1,470

Avg. $10.77 $26.47 $1.50 $3.50 $2.21 $.35 $1.00 $11.11 $17.14 $0.00 $0.40 $0.35 $0.45

$134,885

$3.52

Section FIVE Submit a request for funding

ou’ve done your research, you’ve made your presentation to the board, and now it’s time to gain the support of management who can help you get the funding and commitment to support your plan.

In the last section, we provide you suggestions on what you need to gain support of upper management.

Section FIVE

Letters, Reports, Power Points & Marketing Materials After you’ve completed your research, you will need to develop a report that will help you gain the support of management so that money can be allocated. The following are some suggestions to think about:

Create a cover letter that identifies: 

Why you need to register alumni in the community.



Why you are asking for additional funding.



What risks you face if you don’t do something now.

Create a report that identifies: 

Current situation.



Risks of doing nothing.



The actual cost to communicate via mail with alumni last year.



Identify trends in the market.



Provide details of your campaign.



Summarize.

Create a Power Point presentation that: 

Summarize all the above.

Develop a letter for the President to send to all stakeholders.

Create all marketing materials for your campaign.

Conclusion

e hope you found the course and workbook valuable in helping you gain a better understanding of what you will need to do to increase participation in your online community.

Our experience shows that your current demands and job responsibilities will make it more difficult to find the time and follow up to create your strategy, present a formal presentation to your management, create copy, art work, coordinate the mailings, analyze the results, coordinate the various persons responsible for this program, and analyze the results.

To ensure the successful implementation of your marketing strategy, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to offer our help. By engaging in our services, we can reduce the stress level and increase the likelihood of success. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to do this alone.

Conclusion Call us to learn how we can: Provide overall strategy and advice: 

Setting goals, benchmarks, and milestones.

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Identifying the most effective marketing tools.

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Review industry best practices and trends.

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Suggestions on campaign themes.

Develop documentation that includes: 

Cover letter to administrators, introducing your plan.

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Six page Executive Summary of your plan.

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Power Point presentation for final board and management review.

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Letter from President to campus constituents to gain support.

Campaign materials including: 

Professionally written, benefits oriented copy.

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Professionally developed graphics.

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Internet marketing tools, including flash/Multimedia eCards, Phone Blasts, Email Appends, and marketing Landing Pages.

We can provide a turnkey approach that reduces stress and ensures success!

Internet Strategies Group 520 South Main Street Akron, Ohio 44311 800-968-6005

info@internetstrategiesgroup.com www.internetstrategiesgroup.com