bike & build group 1 final report
TRANSCRIPT
Bike & Build 2015 Strategic Marketing Plan
Dr. Janée Burkhalter May 5, 2015
Saint Joseph’s University, Erivan K. Haub School of Business
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary………………………………………….…………………………… 3 Internal Analysis………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Background Information…………………………………………………………. 4 Segments, Markets & Positioning ……………………………………………….. 4 Financial Analysis………………………………………………………………... 4 Strengths & Weaknesses…………………………………………………………. 6 External Analysis………………………………………………………………………… 7 Industry Analysis…………………………………………………………………. 7
Competitor Analysis……………………………………………………………… 8 Opportunities & Threats………………………………………………………….. 10
Primary & Secondary Research Analysis………………………………………………… 12 Strategic Issue Identification……………………………………………………………... 14 Bike & Build Objectives & Goals………………………………………………………... 14 Organizational Objectives………………………………………………………… 14 Marketing Objectives……………………………………………………………... 14 Bike & Build Marketing Budget………………………………………………………….. 14 Marketing Strategy Proposal……………………………………………………………… 15
People, Product, Price, Place & Distribution, Promotion Evaluation & Control …………………………………………………………………….. 19 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………. 20 Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………… 21 Saint Joseph’s University Marketing Team Contact Sheet………………………… 21
Competitor Financial Comparison Table…………………………………………… 21 Projected Growth in Demand for Non-Profit Institutions in the U.S. ……………… 22 Key Primary Research Survey Results (Graphs/Charts)……………………………. 22 FY2015 Bike & Build Marketing Budget (provided by Bike & Build)…………….. 26 Bike & Build Sample Social Media Marketing Schedule…………………………… 26 Sample Social Media “Mock-Up” Content & Reasoning…………………………… 27 Garmin & Strava Prospective Sponsor Proposal Letters……………………………. 30
University Student Life & Bike Club Contact Sheets………………………………. 32 SWOT Matrix………………………………………………………………………... 34
Bike & Build Performance Metrics…………………………………………………... 35 Bike & Build Input-Impact Model……………………………………………………. 36
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………… 37
3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Bike & Build is an independent 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that was founded in 2002 by Marc
Bush, previously a leader for the Habitat Bicycle Challenge (Bike & Build). The Bike & Build mission is to benefit the affordable housing cause in the United States and empower the young adult population nationwide to engage in community service initiatives as well as spread awareness about the affordable housing cause.
The Bike & Build Program consists of recruiting riders between the ages of 18-25 to learn about the affordable housing cause, bike cross-country and stop along bike routes to rebuild homes/spread awareness to local communities about the affordable housing crisis in the U.S.
Our marketing team was asked to strategize and develop a marketing plan in order to help the organization in the recruitment process. Specifically, we were asked to develop marketing tactics to spread awareness, and subsequently increase the number of participants from the West Coast/ Western region of the U.S. Currently, Bike & Build has recruited very well from the East Coast, however, from the West Coast they have not seen many new participants join the program. Bike & Build currently relies heavily on word-of-mouth from alumni riders as a way to spread awareness about the cause and the program; due to this heavy reliance on alumni word-of-mouth, Bike & Build has struggled to gain brand recognition and a prominent presence on the West Coast/Western region of the U.S. An extensive internal analysis of the current status of the Bike & Build program was conducted in addition to an external analysis to identify what competitive forces or opportunities exist in the American market place that could be capitalized on to spread awareness and increase participants from the Western U.S. We continued by conducting primary and secondary research to identify top issues that need to be addressed and ways to overcome those challenges. Primary research methods included in-depth- interviews with West Coast/Western U.S. 18-25 year old young adults. Each interview was recorded via Skype and submitted in the form of video and transcript as raw data. We also launched one survey to West Coast and East Coast 18-25 year olds focusing on what aspects of the Bike & Build program are of most concern and possibly deter the participants from joining the program; we also gained insight from respondents regarding best ways to spread awareness to this target age group, and asked what other alternatives to biking they would like to see that would make them more inclined to join. After surveying both West and East Coast young adults, we ran several ANOVA tests to determine if there were any statistically significant differences in opinions between the two coastal populations—there were not, so we combined results to make for a more representative population. Finally, in addition to primary research, we engaged extensive secondary research on the latest social media and fitness trends, as well as looking at the demand for non-profit organizations and community service activity for this age demographic overall. After research was combined and analyzed, we identified the top issues to be addressed in our marketing plan; the issues centered on time commitment, opportunity costs of summer work to participate, finances, biking abilities and distance biked, and the desire for alternative ways of participating in the Bike & Build program.
Combining all of that knowledge, we set marketing goals and objectives in line with the organization’s given objective and mission. We then strategically developed a marketing mix to be implemented between now and year-end 2016. We decided to add two (2) new target markets of less-intense/non-biking populations and redeveloped the Bike & Build program to offer enticing programs/activities for each target market. Prices for each program were determined using the current full, cross-country and 3-Week bike tours as pricing benchmarks. Promotion initiatives to spread awareness and engage current riders/prospective participants included the use of social media marketing, sponsor acquisition and team-ups with the listed set of 13 universities given. Finally, the team brainstormed a set of metrics in order to constantly measure the success, effectiveness and efficiency of the marketing plan so as to ensure progress can be made in the coming year(s).
4
INTERNAL ANALYSIS
Background Information Bike & Build is an independent 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that was founded in 2002 by Marc
Bush, previously a leader for the Habitat Bicycle Challenge (Bike & Build). The Bike & Build mission is to benefit the affordable housing cause in the United States and empower the young adult population nationwide to engage in community service initiatives as well as spread awareness about the affordable housing cause.
Bike & Build carries out its mission through a total of eight (8) different cross-country summer-long bike tours, with each bike route starting and ending at different points along the east and west coasts of the U.S. The organization has also begun to offer two (2) shorter-distanced, 3-week bike tours known as “Regional Drift” that start and finish on the same coast. Riders must be between the ages of 18-25 and can range from beginner’s level to experienced/expert level cyclists.
These bike tours benefit the affordable housing cause in multiple ways. First, in order to participate, riders are required to raise a minimum of $4,500—if they fail to meet the $4,500 threshold, riders are not permitted to participate in the bike tour. Primarily, the funds that are raised by the Bike & Build riders goes to support various affordable housing organizations and their efforts to mitigate the crisis in the U.S. Additionally, throughout each bike tour, riders will cycle long distances and then stop along the way at various building sites to assist builders in rebuilding homes and other construction efforts for various housing projects. Finally, the Bike & Build participants are advocates and educators about the affordable housing cause, and actively engage with local community members at their different rest locations and building sites along the way.
Over its twelve (12) summers as an established nonprofit organization, Bike & Build has contributed over $5.1M to fund projects and support affordable housing groups across the nation, and has successfully recruited over 2,600 riders to participate in its program.
Markets, Segments &Positioning Market: Bike & Build is established in the non-profit sector of the American marketplace. Within the non-profit sector, they are humanitarian advocates supporting the affordable housing cause and working to better the lives of Americans by spreading awareness of the crisis, rebuilding homes and giving people safe, reasonable conditions in which to live. Segment: The Bike & Build Organization currently searches for participants within the athletically inclined, service-oriented, young-adult U.S. population segment of the U.S. Target Market: Specifically, the organization aims to recruit participants who are active, comfortably strong bike-riding, community-service oriented young adults between the ages of 18-25, bike leaders eligible up to age 28. Positioning: To the physically active, adventurous, charitable 18 to 25 year old American bike rider, Bike & Build is a leading non-profit organization that combines biking, building, and educational awareness, while simultaneously fostering growth and empowering each rider to be a leader and advocate for the affordable housing crisis at large. Financial Analysis
[See Appendix for Competitor Financial Comparisons] Based on a 5-Year Average from 2009-2013, Bike & Build brings in an average annual income of
$1,351,609 (Bike & Build). The income comes predominantly from “contributions” which, for the most recent 2013 audited financial statements encompass (89% or $1,239,921), a positive indication that the organization is raising a significant amount of money to be contributed towards its cause, and an indication that it has a positive relation with stakeholders. Based on the same 5-Year Average from 2009-2013, Bike & Build expenses amounts to $1,360,382. Notably, “grants” make up approximately (46% or $620,662) with “programming” (42% or $564,331) following close behind.
The “grant” category is comprised of the Bike & Build competitive grant program in which the organization elects to donate proceeds from summer bike tours to various affordable housing groups nationwide
5
that are organized, planned, and led by the young adult and student population through age 28. Also within the “grant” category: pre-arranged gifts that fund housing construction projects and organizations (RI, CO, VA, FL, NC and PA), rider-designated grants, On-the-Road donations to host sites, Chris Webber Memorial Contributions and Fellowships to Bike & Build members and housing projects (Bike & Build).
The “programming” category comprises expenses from bike trips, all on-road expenses (food/fuel for medical vans/accommodations/van repairs, etc.), Bike & Build apparel, van/trailer cost, first aid training, gear, director travel, liability insurance, auto insurance, van storage, program director salaries and benefits, and leader stipends (Bike & Build).
After examining these average annual expenditures, it is positively shown that 46% of funds are, in some form, going towards the affordable housing cause and related groups.
In addition to this internal financial audit, our team compared Bike & Build’s finances against its five (5) top determined competitors so as to examine their level of expenditures and to what or where their funds are going. Top competitors were determined based on several factors of consideration (See Competitor Analysis section of report below). Each competitor’s program, administrative, and fundraising expenses are expressed as a percentage of the organization’s total functional expenses to empirically assess and compare Bike & Build’s organization across the competitive landscape. According to database Charity Navigator, charitable organizations should aim to have program, administrative and fundraising expense percentages as follows in order to be considered an appropriately efficient and legitimate charitable organization (Charity Navigator). • “Program Expense Percentage” or PEP refers to the percent of total operating expenses that an
organization spends on its programs and services. A high percentage (>75%) indicates that an organization is allocating its charitable income efficiently.
• “Administrative Expense Percentage” or AEP refers to the percent of the total operating expenses that an organization spends on its management-related activities. A low percentage (<20%) indicates that an organization is allocating an appropriate amount of its charitable income towards its management.
• “Fundraising Expense Percentage” or FEP refers to the percent of total operating expenses that an organization spends on its fundraising-related activities. A low percentage (<15%) indicates that an organization’s fundraising efforts are appropriately scaled to the amount of charitable income it generates.
After examining each of these percentages, we created a point system in which these organizations could be ranked overall. The organization with the highest PEP was given a score of 6 and the lowest was given a score of 1. The organization with the lowest AEP was given a score of 6 and the highest was given a score of 1. The organization with the lowest FEP was given a score of 6 and the highest was given a score of 1. Those organizations in between the max and min were then given appropriate scores in relation to their rank in each particular segment. Each organization’s score was then totaled and the organizations accordingly ranked with possible scores ranging from a maximum of 18 to a minimum of 3 points. The results were as follows:
1. Rebuilding Together (17) 2. Habitat For Humanity (11) 3. Solutions For Change (10) 4. Bike & Build (8) 5. Climate Ride (8)
This analysis concluded that with a high score of 17 Rebuilding Together was the overall most efficient organization in terms of how appropriately it allocates its expense costs in relation to the amount of contribution’s to causes it makes. Bike & Build was tied for last place with Climate Ride with each organization only totaling 8 points. These results show that Bike & Build, while performing efficiently enough to be considered a legitimate charity, is not operating as efficiently as it could be in relation to its competition, especially within the program and administrative expense categories where it earned the lowest possible score of 1 in each. While this may look unattractive for Bike & Build, they scored higher in the FEP segment where they earned the highest possible score of 6—a positive indicator for fundraising methods.
Listed below is Bike & Build and their competitor’s ranked highest to lowest in terms of their total operational expenses, as well as their corresponding efficiency points:
1. Habitat For Humanity…….(11)………..$260,600,000
6
2. Rebuilding Together………(17)……….....$25,093,441 3. Solutions For Change……..(10)…………....$3,737,956 4. Bike & Build………………(8)…………..…$1,043,357 5. Climate Ride………………(8)…………….….$953,098
Based on this list, our team believes that Bike & Build can become more competitive in their industry by either reorganizing their management structure so as to allocate a smaller fraction of their total operational expenses or by working to decrease their total program expenses in relation to the amount of money they actually donate to their cause. Strengths & Weaknesses [See Appendix for SWOT Matrix] Strengths: While our consulting team has identified a number of strengths, we have chosen to elaborate on what we believe to be the top four strengths, and moreover resources to be capitalized on going forward with the Bike & Build marketing campaign:
1. Alumni Database Network: Over the twelve (12) years that Bike & Build has been actively contributing to the affordable housing cause via bike tours, the organization has reported over 2,600 young adult participants. Alumni are a valuable resource to the organization as they help Bike & Build to spread awareness about the organization and act as brand ambassadors across the country. Bike & Build relies heavily on alumni riders to help recruit and connect with prospective as well as current Bike & Builders. There is a Bike & Build Alumni Facebook group as well as an Alumni Council database that is accessible to any Bike & Build alumni. Ideally, we hope to utilize the extensive alumni network to spread awareness and become actively involved in the recruiting process by attending Bike & Build events.
2. Riders: Evidenced by the extensive alumni network, Bike & Build has successfully recruited over 2,600 young adults to participate in bike tours over its twelve years. These tours have been effective ways to raise money (each rider is responsible for fundraising a minimum of $4,500) for affordable housing organizations across the country and continue to fulfill its mission in rebuilding homes and spreading awareness among local building site-community members nationwide. The ultimate goal is to continue to recruit riders from all over the U.S. to continue to grow the Bike & Build community and one way to do so is to utilize those past riders to advocate for the cause and organization’s efforts.
3. Funds Raised and Distributed: Bike & Build has proudly raised and contributed over $5.1M to affordable housing organizations by means of empowering their young adult riders and giving them the power to spread awareness and gain support for the affordable housing cause. This is a strength to Bike & Build as potential new donors, existing donors, and/or prospective participants will likely view the organization more positively. A charity that has raised and distributed a high monetary amount of funds is helpful in terms of how stakeholders perceive the organization and its efforts entirely.
4. Sponsors: Bike & Build’s corporate partnerships help prospective riders to participate. These relationships with Giant, Bokoo Bikes, Hincapie Sportswear, Earth Balance, Cascade Designs and Smith Optics, allow more young adults to consider participating in bike tours. Essentially, without these partnerships, the cost of participating in a Bike & Build ride would be much greater which would potentially decrease the number of applicants and the funds that are donated each year. Therefore, these partnerships and sponsors are valuable to the mission of the organization and provide unique products/services specifically designed for Bike and Build riders and bike trips.
Weaknesses: Same as above, our consulting team has chosen to elaborate on what we believe to be Bike & Build’s top four weaknesses that need to be addressed in order to improve and continue to fulfill its mission and goals.
1. Duration of Bike Tours: Currently, Bike & Build offers eight (8) cross-country bike tours that are summer-long. Only two shorter coastal tours, “Regional Drift” bike tours are offered that take place over
7
a three (3) week period of time. As will be shown below in our primary research, such long-lasting time commitments are of concern to many young-adults between 18-25 as they typically have job and/or educational commitments whereby taking such long blocks of time off to participate in Bike & Build is of strong concern. This concern of prospective riders must be addressed if Bike & Build’s goal is to attract more young adults to join their efforts; if left unaddressed, this weakness may continue to deter prospective riders who cannot afford to take such blocks of time away from their lives.
2. Distance of Bike Tours: Bike & Build summer tours span the U.S. beginning on one coast and ending at the other. Three-week tours, while staying on the same coast still is no easy task for a biker of, say for example, beginner’s level. Currently there are two (2) three-week “Regional Drift” tours, one on each coast, that involve biking 830-950 miles in three (3) weeks. Another area of concern to prospective riders, more specifically those at the beginner/intermediate cycling level, may lack confidence in their abilities to bike such great distances. This is a weakness in that prospective riders may be deterred by the fact that they would have to bike such long distances that they would opt out of participating in the Bike & Build program.
3. Poor Brand Recognition and Top of Mind Awareness: As exhibited in our primary research survey results and in-depth-interviews, Bike & Build does not have the level of brand recognition it could potentially and ideally achieve. When participants in our market research studies were surveyed and interviewed, the percentage (%) of young adults 18-25 who had heard of Bike & Build was significantly lower than, say, a like-organization such as Habitat for Humanity. Particularly this is of concern if the goal of Bike & Build is to continue to expand its reach and attract new riders into its community. First, if people do not know what Bike & Build is, or have never heard of it, then it cannot possibly attain a top-of-mind awareness, and this may hurt the organization in terms of recruiting new riders.
4. Limited Means to Actively Participate in the Organization’s Service Activities: The only way in which young adults can actively participate in Bike & Build’s service activities is by going on long-distance bike trips and building homes along those routes at designated building sites. After surveying and interviewing our target market, which is shown below in the research section, young adults would be more inclined to actively participate the Bike & Build service endeavors if there were other options offered as ways to be actively involved. Currently, the way Bike & Build is positioned is exclusive to the athletically inclined, young-adult, and biking population. This positioning could be expanded to include other young adults who may not feel confident in their biking skills, but would be interested in doing some other sort of activity to help contribute to the cause, even if it is on a more local level. Therefore, the limited means of participation should be revaluated and expanded to allow for a broader young adult population to be more inclined to participate in the program. If left unaddressed, the organization may lose potential recruits.
EXTERNAL ANALYSIS Industry Analysis
The U.S. nonprofit sector is composed of roughly 60,000 established organizations bringing in a combined yearly income of around $120 billion (First Research). Additionally, the fifty largest U.S. nonprofit organizations are responsible for bringing in more than 25% of the industry’s revenue overall. Also important to note is that to be given nonprofit status, the primary purpose of the organization must be religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational in nature; their purpose must be to serve the public good versus a private interest. Furthermore, nonprofit institutions include grant-‐making foundations, giving services, advocacy groups, civic clubs, and social organizations.
Today worldwide, nonprofits still continue to recover from challenges brought by the recent economic crisis. The increase in the number of people classified as, “in need,” is one of the main concerns nonprofits have today. Essentially, in order to satisfy the increasing demand for services using relatively “flat” funding, organizations more recently have had to tighten their budgets. However, domestically speaking, the demand for nonprofits is forecasted to grow at an annual compounded rate of 5% between
8
2015-‐2019—a positive external, environmental factor for the Bike & Build nonprofit organization as they actively try to recruit more riders and participants to join the cause. [See Appendix for Industry Trend]
Competitor Analysis The ever-‐expanding non-‐profit segment of the U.S. marketplace holds competing organizations
that Bike and Build competes with, both directly and indirectly. In order to determine the key competitors of Bike & Build, our team analyzed several non-‐profit organizations based on these key variables: the main cause related to the organization, the type of volunteer programs and opportunities offered, and the organization’s financial information related to their program’s efficiency. After our research and competitive analysis of various non-‐profit organizations, we identified five organizations as competitors to Bike & Build: Habitat For Humanity, Rebuilding Together, Climate Ride, and Solutions For Change. Based on the aforementioned considered variables, these four (4) organizations have been determined to be most closely competing with Bike & Build. Our team selected these organizations because they each possess one or more of the following characteristics: an organizational focus on the affordable housing crisis, a similar type of volunteer fundraising structure to Bike & Build, a similarly sized organizational/fundraising capacity to Bike & Build, the Millennial age cohort level of passion for the organization’s cause, supported cause resonates highly with Millennials throughout the Western U.S. or some combination of those characteristics. 1. Habitat For Humanity Habitat For Humanity is a key competitor because of their focus on supporting the affordable housing crisis both nationally and internationally. It was founded in 1976 and is dedicated to building simple, decent, and affordable housing all over the world for those who cannot afford to help themselves (Habitat For Humanity). Habitat helps families in need by building decent homes that can be paid through their affordable loan program. Habitat funds their organization’s mission through individual and corporate donations, and has building projects in over 70 countries. Habitat has vast network of affiliates (national and international), to which families seeking Habitat’s aid must apply in order to receive aid. Family applications are considered based on the family’s level of need, their willingness to become a partner, and their ability to repay the affordable loan. Since 1976, Habitat has served over a million families across the globe, and in 2014 they positively affected over 3.2 million individuals. To fulfill their mission, Habitat utilizes many different volunteer programs for the nearly two million volunteers in their network. • “A brush with Kindness” is a locally operated program designed to help low-‐income homeowners
with exterior home maintenance services such as painting, minor repairs, landscaping, weatherizing, and yard cleanup.
• “Global Village Trips” are groups of 8-‐15 volunteers who travel to locations of their choice for 1-‐2 weeks where they help to build affordable housing. Trip leaders help to organize trips through Habitat’s Headquartered Global Village Department.
• “National Service” is a program designed to help local Habitat affiliates operate more effectively and build more homes by increasing their volunteer capacity. They engage with the Americorps national service program and helped go build over 2,000 homes in 2009.
• “Youth Programs” engage youth’s between ages 5 and 25 to help fulfill Habitat’s mission. o Campus chapters are student-‐led organizations that function to build, fundraise, advocate, and
educate through volunteer work. o The Collegiate Challenge engages students ages 16-‐25 that wish to volunteer during one of
their school’s weeklong breaks. The program has had over 240,000 volunteers and raised over $25 million dollars since its inception in 1989.
2. Rebuilding Together Rebuilding Together supports the U.S. affordable housing crisis in America. It was started in 1973 in Texas with the vision to provide a safe and healthy home for every person (Rebuilding Together). The
9
organization’s mission statement is to bring people and their “communities together to improve the homes and lives of low income homeowners” and they value collaboration with other similar groups (Rebuilding Together). Rebuilding Together’s 100,000 volunteers complete an average of 10,000 building projects across America every year and credits this success to their teamwork orientation. In 2013, Rebuilding Together projects totaled over $86 million and helped reach over 570,000 people. In addition to building and repairing homes, facilities, and community spaces, Rebuilding Together actively supports legal reforms that aid their cause as well as others. Rebuilding Together officials regularly meet with members of congress to address the housing crisis and discuss their projects. In 2013, Rebuilding Together had over 100 elected officials (including 12 members of Congress) their projects. Finally, to encourage volunteerism, Rebuilding Together has developed two different programs: • “Capacity Corps” 60 full-‐time members serving 31 affiliates in 19 states who help to build capacity of
grassroots programs by recruiting and managing volunteers, performing home repairs and outreach activities, and building new programs and partnerships. In exchange for an education grant of $5,730, Capacity Corps members serve Rebuilding Together projects full-‐time for a whole year while gaining valuable professional experience in the Non-‐profit sector.
• “Summer Corps” Members serve a minimum of 300 hours over the summer at seven different Rebuilding Together sites around the US in a watered-‐down version of Capacity Corps. In exchange for their time, Summer Corps members receive an educational grant of $1,195 as well as marketable volunteer experience.
3. Climate Ride Our team identified Climate Ride as one of Bike & Build’s key competitors because of the similarities between the two organizations’ sizes and volunteer fundraising structures. In addition to their similar organizational structures, 42% (the majority) of Climate Ride’s participants hail from the Western US, part of Bike & Build’s current target geo-‐demographic. Climate Ride was created in 2008 and began organizing charitable multi-‐day bike rides and hikes with the mission to “Inspire and empower citizens to work towards a new energy future” (Climate Ride). Climate Ride’s goals are to: raise money for projects and organizations related to climate change, clean energy, active transportation, and sustainable infrastructure, raise awareness of how the climate crisis is effecting environmental issues, engage with elected members to foster civic duty, and promote the bicycle as green transportation option through their multiple Climate Ride events. Since their inception in 2008, Climate Ride has contributed over two million dollars worth of grants to over 100 different beneficiaries of participants’ choosing with total grants exceeding $725,000 in 2014. 35% of Climate Ride Grants go towards “Bike Coalition and Active Transportation Advocacy” groups, 34% go towards “Sustainability and Environment” groups, 27% go towards “Climate Change” groups, and 4% of grants are donated towards “Renewable Energy” groups. Climate Ride currently offers three bike trips and two hikes, and like Bike & Build, participants must meet a fundraising minimum to be eligible for participation. Climate Ride’s three bike tours each span four to five days and over 300 miles with participants riding an average of 60-‐80 miles per day. In order to participate, members must meet the fundraising minimum of $2,800 and secure a $500 donation a month before the ride to secure a spot in the group. Climate Ride’s Northeast ride spans from Maine to Boston on September 17th, the California Ride spans from Fortuna to San Francisco on May 17th, and the Midwest Ride spans from Grand Rapids Michigan to Chicago on September 27th. During the day the participants on Climate Ride’s bike tours are aided by the Climate Ride support team, which provides meals, snacks, bike support, and baggage transportation to all riders. At night, riders are treated to speaker series events in which speakers discuss the topics of renewable energy, climate science, and bike infrastructure. Climate Ride’s two hikes each span five days and between 30-‐40 miles with participants hiking and average of 6-‐15 miles per day. In order to participate, members must also meet the fundraising minimum of $2,800 and secure a $1,000 donation a month before the hike to secure a spot in the group, which has a maximum of 30 people. Climate Ride’s Glacier National Park hike begins on August 24th and their Bryce Zion Nation Park hike begins on October 6th. Hikers participating in Climate Ride’s hikes as
10
well as their bike tours will have access to three meals per day with snacks and water, lodging, support team which carries luggage, sleeping equipment, hot showers, Climate Ride’s sophisticated fundraising software, and a Climate Ride Jersey. 4. Solutions For Change A U.S. study published in 2012 by dosomething.org concluded that Millennials residing specifically within the western U.S. cared most about issues relating to homelessness (dosomething.org). Our team therefore identified Solutions For Change as competitor of Bike & Build, again, because of the geo-‐demographic and high likelihood for Millenials to shift their volunteer hours or donation dollars in favor of this organization over Bike & Build. Solutions For Change aims to provide a solution for “family homelessness across the San Diego area. It helps homeless families with children find permanent solutions to end their homelessness through a model that blends affordable housing, educational opportunities, employment training, and health solutions. Solutions For Change developed a three-‐part system that has fulfilled their mission for 750 families and 1,450 children since its inception. The programs they developed work in tandem to make their families not only survive, but thrive: • “Solutions University” is the only full service leadership development program for homelessness in
the US. This program equips parents with the skills, knowledge, and resources to end their homelessness in a 1,000 day long program. Skills and knowledge gained include career training, work experience, leadership training, teamwork, family management, personal development, and accountability with housing, education, healthcare, and employment all being provided for.
• “Solutions Enterprise” is the organization’s revenue generating program where all profits gained are reinvested in Solutions For Change programs. Members of the Solutions For Change program gain work related training by building homes that serve families in the program, as well as by growing sustainable produce in the organization’s aquaponic farm.
• “Solutions in the Community” integrates members of their program into the community of San Diego by purchasing, rehabilitating, and operating affordable housing projects. Through the community outreach, members of the Solutions For Change program engage leaders in implementing the Solutions For Change Model.
Furthermore, Solutions For Change welcomes volunteers who have a desire to help the homeless in their community. They have a prepare a meal program in which groups of 3-‐6 volunteers can arrange to cook a dinner for 40 members of the Solutions For Change program at the Solutions For Change Intake Access Center on their campus. They also encourage volunteers to set up fundraising programs to raise money, as well as encouraging volunteers to use their own professional skills in any way they can to help out their cause. Opportunities & Threats Opportunities: The following are the most significant opportunities we have chosen to elaborate on for our plan going forward with the Bike & Build marketing campaign:
1. Increased Use of Social Media Tools by American Millennials: Out of all Internet users in the U.S., individuals between the ages of 18-29 are shown to have the highest percentage of social networking site use compared to the other age demographics (Adweek social times). Not only is social media on the rise, but also Millenials are increasingly accessing social media via mobile devices and smartphone apps (Adweek social times). Specifically, the leading social media apps among this age demographic as of June 2014 are Facebook (75.6%), Instagram (43.1%), Snapchat (32.9%) and Twitter (23.8%) among others (Adweek social times). This national, upward trend in social media and social media smartphone app usage corresponds to our primary research surveys in which an overwhelming majority of those Millenials surveyed responded that social media is where they primarily derive information about the different “goings-on” within their communities as well as current events happening state or nation-wide. While Bike & Build does have a presence on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) they need to more actively spread awareness and increase their frequency of posts/tweets to keep their followers
11
constantly updated. This can help keep Bike & Build in the “top-of-mind-awareness” as their followers continue to see pop-up posts, advertising the organization, its cause, and program at large. Essentially, knowing that the age demographic that Bike & Build is targeting for recruits is actively using and accessing social media will give Bike & Build a definite tool to reach more people.
2. Increasing Number of American YouTube viewers ages 18-34: In addition to the most widely used social media tools listed above, recent data shows that the number of YouTube viewers among U.S. young adults ages 18-34 is increasing. In fact, according to recent research, YouTube reaches more U.S. adults within that same age demographic than any other cable network (Fast Company). This presents an opportunity for Bike & Build for an Internet, online video advertising tool. If more young adults ages 18-34 are watching YouTube videos, Bike & Build can create a 15-second advertisement to launch while the person’s video is buffering. Again, it is another way to get the Bike & Build mission in front of the desired age demographic.
3. Rise of Community-Oriented Fitness Regimens for Millennial Population: According to an annual report released in 2011 by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, instead of competitive fitness activities, Millenials are now more inclined to exercise through group-oriented activities where they can exercise with friends as a combined effort to stay healthy, fit and have fun doing it (The Millennial Workout). Shown in 2011, Millennial participation for group cycling and aerobic classes rose by 30% and 20% respectively (The Millennial Workout). Also more recently popular for young adult Americans ages 18-34 is participating in obstacle races (i.e. Tough Mudder), marathons, and utilizing Smartphone fitness apps to achieve and track fitness goals. These Millennial fitness trends are opportunities because Bike & Build can potentially attract participants by offering alternative ways to become actively involved in the cause other than doing summer-long or three-week bike tours.
4. Rise in wearable fitness bands: Data shows that American young adults ages 18-34 are investing in wearable technology such as fitness bands and currently compose about half of all fitness band owners (Millennials: Staying Fit and Focused). The fitness bands are used to track calorie burn and connect with friends and other fitness app users to compare latest fitness accomplishments and, in general, track their own fitness progress. This could be an opportunity for Bike & Build to possibly partner up with fitness brand manufacturers and get them to sponsor the Bike & Build program as their riders train and embark on cross-country or coastal bike tours.
Threats: The following are the most significant threats we have chosen to elaborate on to caution as we continue with our plan going forward for the Bike & Build marketing campaign:
1. Competing Non-Profit Organizations: As shown in the competitors’ analysis, Bike & Build faces a number of competitors that are either involved with supporting the affordable housing cause or are popular charitable organizations amongst the target West Coast population of young adults. These competing organizations are a threat to Bike & Build because young adults on the West Coast could easily join their program as a means to support the cause. Bike & Build faces competition in terms of time, potential participants for the program, and funds to support the affordable housing cause and the Bike & Build program. Additionally, the fact that some of these competing organizations may offer more variety in terms of ways participants can become actively involved with their mission, that could pose a threat to Bike & Build since they currently only offer a summer-long bike tour, or a three-week option.
2. A Volatile Economy May Inhibit Fundraising Efforts: The U.S. took an economic hit with the recession in recent years, but is now showing positive trends towards recovery. With the hope that the economy continues to recover and rebuild, the fact is that the economy is still quite volatile and Bike & Build must be prepared to find alternative ways to fund programs or raise money for the cause. When the economy is unstable, people will spend less and donate less. That could harm their program’s ability to run and therefore contribute to the affordable housing cause.
3. Threat of New Entrants (New Charitable Organizations) imitating the Bike & Build program: Bike & Build’s program involving bike tours to spread awareness and raise funds for the affordable housing
12
cause is not imperfectly imitable—that is, any organization can take that concept and do it better or alter it to make it more accessible to young adults (or whoever their targeted population is) and potentially steal participants from Bike & Build.
4. External Environmental Circumstances and Concerns: Weather and Safety: Severe weather conditions can pose a threat along Bike Tours and could either prevent or significantly delay efforts to get riders to destination point building sites, or even to safe shelter. In the mind of prospective riders this could raise concerns that may deter them from joining the Bike & Build program.
PRIMARY & SECONDARY RESEARCH ANALYSIS In an effort to identify areas in which Bike & Build can grow and subsequently improve its
presence on the West Coast our team conducted primary research through 11 in-‐depth-‐interviews with West Coast 18-‐25 year olds, and a survey launch with respondents from both the East and West coasts. Secondary research was then conducted to analyze the latest social media and fitness trends of the American millennial population. All research findings led our team to develop the strategic marketing plan presented later in this document. The recruiting process for our primary research methods was through convenience samples, which should be factored into the representativeness of the results. Additionally, for the interview recruiting process, there was a snowball effect in which one interviewee would bring another friend or acquaintance to be interviewed as well. The survey launched to each population focused on current undergraduate students and recent college graduates with an age range of 18-‐25. We took the raw data for each coast and ran ANOVA tests (see Raw Data Submissions for ANOVA) and found there were no significant statistical differences between East Coast and West Coast respondents’ opinions on each question asked. Therefore, we have combined the east coast respondent pool with the west coast respondent pool to create one larger population and set of statistics, which in turn makes our data results more accurate and representative. (NOTE: ALL RAW DATA FROM BOTH COASTS WERE SUBMITTED PRIOR TO THIS REPORT, SEE RAW DATA SUBMISSIONS IF NECESSARY) The following analysis is centered on what we believe to be the most important themes/topics/concerns from our population of respondent’s and secondary research. Bike & Build Routes Based on the respondents’ answers to the questions regarding their fitness and cycling abilities there are few respondents that would be highly interested prospective participants for Bike & Build. Many respondents were turned off by either the time commitment, distance of the ride, or a combination of the two. This result was expected so we designed questions to try and identify alternative ways for students and recent graduates to participate in Bike & Build. We asked respondents how inclined they would be to participate if given an alternative to a bike tour lasting the entire summer: 50% strongly agreed and 23% agreed that they would rather participate in an alternative. We then asked how respondents would feel about the alternative being a shorter distance bike tour over less time and the responses were nearly the same: 77% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed. In an effort to narrow down the concerns that our respondents had with Bike & Build we asked them to rank a series of six (6) common concerns: Distance Biked, Food/Shelter, Safety, Work/Education obligations, fundraising/personal finances, and the time commitment. Respondents felt that their prior obligations to job/work and/or school, and the time commitment were the first and second most concerning factors of participating. The fundraising goal and personal finances were a close third in both groups of respondents. We feel that in addition to having to raise $4,500, respondents also must give up three months of working. Food and Shelter was the second least concerning factor for respondents. The least concerning factor was the distance biked. While this may be surprising given that the distance biked was such a concern in previous questions, we believe it is more attributed to the opportunity cost of forgoing jobs and school. These survey results regarding top concerns were the same top concerns
13
mentioned across all interviewees, saying that those top concerns caused them to feel some apprehension or uncertainty about joining. Cause & Brand Awareness In order to find out how much our respondents knew about Bike & Build we asked respondents three (3) questions to see if they were aware of The Affordable Housing Crisis, Habitat for Humanity, and finally Bike & Build. Surprisingly only 53% of respondents were aware of the Affordable Housing Crisis that exists in the United States. About 94% of respondents answered that they were aware of Habitat for Humanity. When asked about Bike & Build only 6% of respondents had heard of the organization. Similarly, most interviewees when asked the same question could not identify the logo of Bike & Build in addition to what their purpose is. Respondent Participation After bringing awareness to respondents of the Bike & Build program, we wanted to determine who would participate, and for those who would not, what alternatives would interest them. We first asked whether or not the respondents would participate in a summer-‐long cross-‐country route. Only 9% of respondents said that they would likely participate with 0% of respondents choosing very likely to participate. This illustrates the need for Bike & Build to introduce additional, shorter routes or other local programs to increase participation. We next asked how likely our respondents were to participate in a 3-‐Week cycling tour. About 31% of respondents would be likely to participate in the shorter rides. It is assumed that reducing the opportunity costs and removing constraints such as big time commitments helped to increase interest for respondents. Because participating with Bike & Build is such a unique program with which to volunteer, we anticipate that many of our respondents would be uninterested in undertaking a cycling tour spanning weeks or several months. As a way to gauge general interest in the program, we asked how likely our respondents were to participate in local community events focused on raising funds or awareness for Bike & Build and its cause; 49% of respondents were interested in a 5k run or walk, 48% were interested in a weekend cycling event, and 46% indicated that they were interested in a stationary cycling (spinning) event. This shows that our respondents are open to participating in activities close to the core values and activity of Bike & Build but with smaller commitments of time. These results coincided with our secondary research discoveries regarding recent fitness trends for the millennial population listed in the “Opportunities” section above. It also corresponded with the interviewee responses saying that they would be more inclined to participate in the program if given alternatives to biking long distances. How to Build Brand Awareness
In order to build brand awareness for Bike & Build we asked a series of questions to our respondents about their social media habits and asked them to suggest methods for getting the word out about organizations. We first asked our respondents whether or not they were avid users of social media; 53% of respondents strongly agreed and 36% agreed totaling 93% of respondents who identify as avid social media users. About 9% were neutral and only 2% of respondents disagreed. We also found that social media is the main source of information for respondents. Of all respondents, 43% strongly agree, 36% agree, and 16% are neutral to using social media as their main source of information. Only 5% disagreed. The respondents were asked to rank the social media platforms that they used most. Facebook was the most popular followed by Instagram and Twitter. When asked directly what the best way to spread awareness would be the respondents of both pools answered very similarly. For this we did not use any pre-‐populated answers, but rather had the respondents type their suggested idea; 86% of respondents answered “social media” and 9% of the respondents named Facebook specifically; 3% of respondents felt that word of mouth would be the best approach. One respondent answered: “social media i.e. ice bucket challenge” but we feel that the Ice Bucket Challenge was a phenomenon and is nearly impossible to replicate. The survey results corresponded to our interview responses as nearly all interviewees said social media should be used coupled with some form of word of mouth presence on college campuses would be the best way to
14
spread awareness. Additionally, secondary research suggests that Millenials are avid users of social media and in general, overall use of social media and social media apps by this population is continuing to increase quickly (Adweek social times). [See “opportunities” section above]
STRATEGIC ISSUE IDENTIFICATION Issue Identification After conducting extensive primary and secondary research, it can be concluded that Bike & Build currently faces three main issues:
1. Narrow, Exclusive Target Market: Bike & Build currently focuses too narrowly on a target population of biking-intensive, service-oriented, 18-25 year olds that have a surplus of free time and have the confidence to embark on either 3-week regional or summer-long, cross country bike tours. This is a problem because the organization is excluding a significant pool of prospective 18-25 year old participants that maybe are non-bikers or are less confident in biking abilities in addition to those with less or no free time to bike such long periods of time
2. Concerns About Current Bike & Build Program: Research investigations showed that prospective participants are concerned about the program requirements and participation methods currently offered by Bike & Build. Top concerns of this age demographic [on both tested coastal populations] include:
a. Career/Job/Internship or other Educational Obligations b. Time Commitment c. Money/Fundraising/Self-Financing
3. A Demand For Alternative Ways To Participate: People expressed their interest in, and inclination to participate in the organization’s program if given alternative ways (other than biking such grand distances for such extensive periods of time) to participate. There is a demand for more localized events/programs with little time commitment.
BIKE & BUILD OBJECTIVES AND GOALS Bike & Build Organizational Objectives
Organizational Goal: Bike & Build’s organizational goal is to continue to support the affordable housing cause in the U.S. through its program offerings as well as continue to grow communication with, and recruit young adult participants from all over the U.S. to help fulfill their charitable mission. Organizational Objective: Increase the number of participants to the Bike & Build program by 20% by year-end 2016.
Bike & Build Marketing Objectives The challenge Bike & Build faces today is centered on the concept of brand awareness. In order to continue to recruit more participants to the program, the organization relies heavily on word-of-mouth power of alumni riders speaking to/sharing experiences with college students and other friends between the ages of 18-25. This word-of-mouth method of spreading awareness and recruitment has done well on the Eastern region/East coast of the U.S., as many of their participants are currently from that part of the U.S. However, the organization has not recruited well from the Western U.S. states/West coast. Therefore, word-of-mouth capacity to spread awareness is extremely low. Marketing Goal: Given a list of 13 Western U.S. Universities, [See Appendix G] Bike & Build’s marketing goal is to target, reach and increase communication with this Western/West Coast market of young adults, subsequently attracting them to participate and join the Bike & Build program. Marketing Objective: The marketing objective for this campaign is to increase the number of participants from the Western region/West Coast of the U.S. by 10% by year-end of 2016. BIKE & BUILD MARKETING BUDGET [See Appendix for Bike & Build Budget] The Bike & Build marketing budget was sent directly by Director of Operations and Outreach Justin Villere. The budget provided reflected a total rough marketing fund allocation
15
of $14,950 for FY2015. We decided to take that rough estimate of about $15,000 and built a marketing plan that can be implemented at or under budget. The main costs included in our proposed marketing plan are: the Hootsuite social media marketing coordinating tool ($119.88/year), campus print flyers for on-campus events at target universities (500 flyers for $290.00 multiplied by the 13 Western target universities), finally if Bike & Build decides to run a weekend 5K, the determined cost is estimated at around $4,245.
THE MARKETING STRATEGY: “Taking The Wild West” The Three (3) Prong Campaign Solution “Taking The Wild West” In an effort to achieve our marketing objective, we have structured our marketing strategy around three key components:
1. Maintain current target market for Bike & Build participants with current program offerings 2. Add two (2) additional target markets composed of less-intense and/or non-biking population 3. Redevelop the Bike & Build program and marketing mix to appeal uniquely to all three (3) markets
The Marketing Mix People Segment: The segment of the U.S. population that this campaign will aim to engage is a population determined both by geographic location and demographic characteristics. Specifically, the campaign is trying to engage the geo-demographic segment of young adults ages 18-25 (bike leaders up to age 28) that currently reside, go to school, and/or are employed on the Western Coast or Western region of the U.S. Target Market Breakdown: Identified above, one of Bike & Build’s current problems is that it excludes much of the young adult 18-25 year old Western Coast/ Western U.S. population simply because it is attracting only the biking intensive population with an abundance of free time to spend on extensive trips across the country or along the coast. We have therefore decided to add two (2) additional target markets that are broken down based on behavioral characteristics and psychographic characteristics. Behavioral characteristics are based on the young adult’s level of engagement with bikes and cycling. Psychographic characteristics are based on the level of comfort and overall confidence biking abilities, in addition to the general feelings and attitude towards taking time off to join the Bike & Build program. These are the three (3) determined target market groups: 1. “The Weekend Cruiser”: This person engages in physical fitness activities on a daily basis and is health-oriented. He or she either has just recently begun to take interest in biking or is a novice level in terms of cycling skills/knowledge. This person has a curiosity and interest for what it would be like to do a group bike trip, but is not comfortable in cycling more than two or three nights on a local trail or route for safety and security concerns. Additionally, this person is also not receptive to the idea of dedicating three-weeks and/or a full summer to bike the region or cross-country—they are not into biking on that level or just don’t have that sort of free time to offer. 2. “The Regional Drifter”: This participant is an upper-novice to intermediate level biker with an overt interest in biking; this person has a basic understanding and knowledge about bikes and cycling in general. He or she enjoys frequent rides for recreation with friends/family, or simply to relax and go for long “joy rides”. Since this person tends to bike more often, they have developed a stronger skillset and higher level of confidence in their cycling abilities. He or she would be willing to embrace more adventure and would be interested in donating one-to three weeks of their free time to longer bike trips along the West Coast; Time is still a factor of concern for this prospective rider but has some flexibility to opt into a 1-3 week tour. 3. “The All-American Country Rider”: This person is an intermediate to expert level biker with a passion for adventure, biking, service, and the American people. He or she is an avid biker, maybe has participated in bike clubs or local races and has substantial insight into the biking industry and/or sport overall. Finally this person is nearly 100% confident in his or her riding abilities, and views the summer-long or three week tours as a once-in-a-life-time experience/opportunity to help a good cause and also fulfill biking goals. Product: Program Redevelopment Given these three, newly defined target markets, Bike & Build must be able to build upon, expand and redevelop their current program so as to provide more alternatives and ways in which prospective participants
16
can participate. Given the aforementioned descriptions of each type of potential participant, and in combination with the organization’s current program offerings, these are some suggestions that were determined through our conducted interviews, surveys and secondary research. Programs For “The Weekend Cruiser”: • Weekend Bike & Build retreats biking a total of 160 miles for the weekend • Local community home-building opportunities • City rides to support local city projects and spread support for the affordable housing cause Programs for “The Regional Drifter”: • 5 to 7-Day “Autumn Ride” and "Spring into Action” 300-mile bike tours beginning and ending at given list
of targeted college campuses to be coordinated with individual campus service or biking organizations for Fall and Spring Break Weeks
• 3- Week “Regional Drift” anywhere from 830 to 950-mile bike tours. Regional drifts are currently offered on each coast, however it could be beneficial to offer these 3-week tours more often with more options in the Western region of the U.S.
Programs for “The All-American Country Rider”: • 3-week regional drifts up and down the West Coast • Cross-Country Summer-long tour biking about 80 miles/day with stops along the way, spending about 190-
hours on each building site. Price: Cost to Participate
The current cost to participate in the Bike & Build program is based on their established cross-country and 3-week tours. For the cross-country tour, each rider must fundraise at least $4,500. The 3-week tours are currently priced at a minimum fundraising amount of $2,250 with a similar fundraising model. Bike & Build donates the majority of the raised funds to youth-led affordable housing projects across the country. In addition, the money fundraised will contribute to trip expenses including: bike and basic attire/equipment, food, and fuel for the support van.
After reflecting on Bike & Build’s current pricing model, some questions were raised from a enrolled college student/recently graduated/newly employed young adult’s perspective. For this age group and given the current economic situation in the U.S. with the economy slowly rebounding from its years of recession, money is not typically in abundance. In fact, many students currently must take out and repay loans for their education, or are on some sort of financial aid/scholarship to offset such high educational costs.
That said, the idea our team has is that the newly added shorter and more localized program opportunities can be offered at lower costs to the rider. Essentially, expenses could be cut down in terms of food and fuel costs, and safety staff would not need to be paid for such long periods of time as the cross-country/3-week tours. The varied programs can make the Bike & Build program more attractive to the prospective rider in terms of monetary and time commitment since different people have different personal situations and financial statuses.
Keeping the current cost structure of the cross-country and 3-week tours, the following are prices that our team developed for the proposed shorter/alternative program offerings: Cost to Participate: “The Weekend Cruiser” • 2-3 day tour roughly around 3/7 of the cost to ride a one week tour: $325/rider Cost to Participate: “The Regional Drifter” • 5-7-day tour about 1/3 of the 3-week tour: $750/rider • 3-week tour currently priced at $2,250/rider Cost to Participate: “The All-American Country Rider” • Summer-long cross-country tour: $4,500/rider Place & Distribution: Bike and Build’s current headquarters is located in Philadelphia, PA, and has been at this location since 2006, after relocating from their offices in New York. Additionally, based on Bike and Build’s expanded target audience and goals to increase participants from the West Coast/Western Region of the U.S., we believe that
17
there may be a new need to create a satellite office on the West Coast/Western region of the U.S. to better, and more directly serve their new participants. Promotion: The purpose of promotion is to spread awareness and promote Bike & Build programs. Three promotional initiatives will be used: social media marketing, sponsor acquisition, and teaming up with the listed target school campuses. 1. Social Media Marketing: In order to engage prospective and current riders through social media platforms, Bike & Build should specifically focus on the Viewing, Creating, and Moderating levels of social media participant engagement. Viewing refers to getting the message in front of prospective and current Bike & Build participants; it is about making them aware of the organization and its latest adventures. Creating refers to actually asking people to create content by posting pictures, videos, or basic comments and attaching the Bike & Build hashtags. Lastly, moderating is trying to generate conversations between Bike & Build and its followers such as asking for opinions and sparking discussion about new creations for the program.
Simply put, it is not only necessary to spread awareness by posting content about the organization and what it does, but it is also important to create an environment in which the target market feels comfortable in interacting with the brand via social media. A brand can attract its target market by creating engaging content that people can participate in. For example, Bike & Build can create photo contests, ask for opinions regarding potential new bike routes, or even start a conversation with the public using a countdown to the next big uniform reveal. For sample “mock-up” social media content (and subsequent explanations) that would engage followers on each of the three aforementioned levels of social media engagement, please refer to the appendix. In addition to In order to receive the most traffic on social media posts, it is essential to know the best times to share content. According to research, the following times are considered “high traffic” or “busy” times and have the potential to reach the most users: • Early morning (7 to 9 a.m.): Many people quickly check in as they hurry themselves and their families out
the door for the day. • Lunchtime (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.): Lunch break is a primary time to check social media. • Midafternoon (1 to 3 p.m.): An "after lunchtime" lull often occurs when people check their social media
platforms in between tasks. • Early evening (7 to 9 p.m.): As people settle down after dinner, they tend to go through their social media
accounts before bed (Dummies). Keeping in mind list of targeted schools, Bike & Build should focus on posting their content for Pacific
Time. If they wanted to reach both coasts at the same times of the day, there are conveniently times considered “high traffic” or “busy” times that overlap. For example, a mid-afternoon post for the East Coast would fall in the “high traffic” lunchtime for the West Coast. In addition to what time of day is best for posting content, the frequency of posting must be considered; in the world of social medial, the average number of posts per day varies depending on the platform: • Facebook: Users tend to get frustrated when organizations post too frequently on Facebook. Therefore, it is
necessary to have engaging and valuable content. The idea is to have quality posts over quantity of posts. At the minimum, posts should occur 3 times per week and 10 times per week at the maximum (Constant Contact).
• Twitter: One can share more frequently on Twitter because it is a fast paced platform and the feed was built to update frequently. The content must still be relevant and interesting to the followers. Tweets should be posted at a minimum of 5 times per day and there is no maximum (Constant Contact).
• Instagram: A typical company posts to Instagram an average 1.5 times per day. Again, content should be relevant and interesting for the followers (Buffer App).
To see a sample social media marketing schedule employing the aforementioned social media marketing tactics, please refer to the appendix. The schedule demonstrates a sample of what a typical week of social media marketing looks like, as well as the amount of social media content that should be included.
18
To manage and post content on specific days and times of the week, Bike & Build can utilize a social media marketing tool called Hootsuite. Hootsuite allows organizations to schedule specific content to be posted at specific scheduled times across various social media platforms. Our team suggests Hootsuite “Pro” for Bike & Build because it is a tool geared towards smaller organizations. Hootsuite Pro is only $119.88 per year and includes a free first month trial. In addition to managing and scheduling automated posts across various social media platforms, Hootsuite delivers enhanced analytics reports that analyze the effectiveness and level of engagement that the organization’s content generates at the time of posting in order to determine which posts, times, platforms, etc. are, in fact, the most engaging (Hootsuite). 2. Sponsor Acquisition: [See appendix for sponsor proposal letters]: In addition to providing funding, Bike & Build also looks for sponsors that are in line with their values and can provide products or services to the organization. Bike & Build currently has number of official sponsors in certain categories. A notable sponsor is Giant, the official bike sponsor. Giant provides the bikes for all Bike & Build riders that they are then able to keep (Bike & Build). Providing a bike for participants helps to lower the cost to participate drastically. Our proposed sponsors will help provide Bike & Build with funding, product, as well as exposure for college students.
First, Garmin is a multinational producer of navigation equipment (Garmin). The company operates in many segments including Outdoor/Fitness. Garmin is extremely popular amongst cyclists for their superior GPS enabled cycling computers. Garmin is a company with a long history of sponsoring athletic events and partnering with non-‐profit organizations (Garmin). Our goal for partnering with Garmin is to create a mutually beneficial relationship that will continue on indefinitely. We would ask that Garmin become the Official Navigation Sponsor of Bike & Build.
Garmin has clearly stated guidelines for sponsorship candidates on their website. They include Timeliness, Product Placement, Non-‐Profit, National, and Competition (Garmin). The following information was taken from Garmin’s guidelines for sponsorship. Garmin requires at least six weeks prior to the event to begin working on sponsorship arrangements. For this reason Garmin would be a target for the 2016 Bike & Build campaign. As far as product placement, Garmin is always searching for new and innovative ways to get their products in front of consumers. Garmin proudly donates to 501(C)(3), tax-‐exempt, charitable organizations whose ideals align with their mission. Garmin’s Mission is “To be an enduring company by creating superior products for automotive, aviation, marine, outdoor, and sports that are an essential part of our customers’ lives” (Garmin). Garmin sponsors events or people with a national presence that will facilitate national activation of a marketing promotion. Garmin tends to sponsor national and regional sporting events/organized races that offer the ability to reach large groups of people. (Garmin)
We will be requesting three (3) things from Garmin: Cycling computers, volunteers, and monetary donations. Bike & Build currently mandates that all riders must purchase cycling computers prior to their tour. Garmin providing computers would eliminate an additional expense that Bike & Build riders currently have, as well as provide a way to keep track of their mileage. Bike & Build could also pre-‐load these computers with the route so that everyone would have a real-‐time map with turn-‐by-‐turn directions.
We would also like to capitalize on the fact that the Central US route passes right by Garmin’s operations headquarters in Olathe, Kansas. Garmin has an extremely competitive summer internship program in Olathe that consists of 80 interns from around the country (Garmin). When Bike & Build riders pass through Kansas, we would like to have a build day in the Olathe area where Garmin interns and Bike & Build riders work together to build a house. This would allow Bike & Build to expose its mission and programs to 80 college interns from around the country.
In exchange for Garmin’s partnership and the above mentioned items, Bike & Build is able to offer Garmin exposure through a descriptive blurb on their website, a mention in the annual report, and make the Garmin logo be featured on their kits. We would also like to give Garmin the opportunity to be title sponsors and attend 1-‐day events that would be held on campuses in an effort to recruit riders. These events would be 5k races, spinning events, and other types of events that align with the products and
19
mission of both Bike & Build and Garmin. Finally, we would like Garmin to become the title sponsor of the Central US route and rename the route The Garmin Route.
Strava is a hybrid fitness tracker and social media platform offered in both mobile applications and website (Strava). Strava is similar to apps like “Map My Ride” but is geared more towards serious athletes as opposed to casual runners or cyclists. Strava has a feature where groups are able to virtually train together, and charities have used this feature as a way to challenge participants in fundraising (Strava). Strava is a San Francisco startup that has grown rapidly and now has a large headquarters in San Francisco as well as an office in New Hampshire (Strava). We would ask that Strava become the Official Training Sponsor of Bike & Build.
We would like to create a Strava group where Bike & Build riders, alumni, and supporters can share their training activities, encourage one another, and take part in friendly competition. Each month we would create a challenge and request that Strava makes a donation for those challenges being accomplished. For example, Strava could challenge the Bike & Build group to collectively ride 5,000 miles in one month, and if this were accomplished they would make a donation to Bike & Build. This would create a scenario where supporters/participants completing activities at the core of the organization’s mission, provide Bike & Build with another source of funding. The Connecticut to California route begins in relatively close proximity to Strava’s New Hampshire office and ends in Half Moon Bay, which is just past Strava’s headquarters in San Francisco (Strava). We would like to begin and end the trip with a build day in which Strava employees volunteer alongside Bike & Build riders to build houses. We will provide Strava with the same things that we would offer Garmin. We would sell the naming rights and call this the Strava Route. In addition to the exposure from having the route named the Strava Route and placement on our website, kits, and annual report, this relationship would provide Strava with new users. This is extremely valuable to Strava as they are increasing efforts to grow their user base. 3. University Presence at Target Schools [See Attached File for University Contact Information]: Bike and Build’s current challenge is that they have recruited well from universities on the East Coast, but they are having difficulties recruiting from many of the universities on the West Coast. Based on this challenge, Bike and Build identified thirteen universities on the West Coast that they identified as potential recruiting sources, and asked us to conduct research and develop marketing tactics to help recruit more West Coast/Western participants to the Bike & Build program. We used the results from our primary research initiatives (in-depth interviews and survey results), combined with the secondary research found on the latest millennial fitness trends, to determine how to increase awareness/presence of Bike & Build’s program opportunities on the given list of college campuses. Overall, the feedback from our respondents was that Bike and Build’s program requires too much of a time commitment for them to participate, and many respondents did not feel confident enough in their biking skills to bike across country. Instead, they suggested three alternative participation activities. The top alternatives to the Bike and Build summer-long program (mentioned in both interviews and survey responses) that would interest them were: a weekend 5K and 10K Walk/Run, Bike Race Weekend Charity Event, and Spinning/Stationary Cycling fitness event. Through our research, we were unable to find average costs to run Bike Race Weekend Charity Events, or Spinning/Stationary Cycling fitness events due to organizations’ unwillingness to release their budget for these events, but rather highlighting how much money they raised for the cause. However, Delta Sigma Pi, the Saint Joseph’s University Business Fraternity recently hosted a 5K Run on campus for a brother that passed away, and the total disclosed cost for this event was $4,224 (Delta Sigma Pi Saint Joseph’s University Chapter). This cost reflects a 5K with over 150 participants, food, tables, medical personnel, t-shirts, as well as all of the other incidentals that go along with organizing a 5K event. This is a great benchmark for Bike & Build because it involves the target audience that they are pursuing, in addition to the fact that it was held at the a university— something that Bike and Build has already identified as a want. EVALUATION & CONTROL
The performance of our team’s strategic objectives for Bike & Build will be measured in a number of different ways to best gauge whether our marketing objectives have been achieved. All of our team’s
20
social media objectives can be controlled through analytics provided by the subscription to Hootsuite. Bike & Build will be able to measure the success factors of our team’s social media campaign initiatives with the specialized analytics their program provides. Hootsuite’s software will allow Bike & Build to see the percent change in conversation rate such as the number of audience comments per post. Bike & Build can also observe any percent change in amplification rate such as the number of shares or retweets per post. Finally Bike & Build will be able to see any percent changes in applause rate associated with their posts by monitoring the number of likes or favorites per post.
In addition to these social media analytics from Hootsuite, Bike & Build can monitor its progress of adoption of west coast volunteers from our team’s strategic initiatives in a number of ways. Percent of total Bike & Build volunteer associates from the west coast can give an accurate description of how well the strategies have been implemented if change is viewed in a year-‐over-‐year format. Also, Bike & Build can conduct surveys issued to students in the schools executing their 5k runs to measure any overall change in brand recognition post-‐strategy implementation. These techniques utilized will help Bike & Build analyze the overall success of these initiatives, but our team wanted to develop a set of metrics that would allow Bike & Build to see if these strategies have also positively impacted their overall organization. In order to do this, our team developed an Input-‐Impact model of Bike & Build’s overall organization from which we derived a number of specific metrics that can help to understand whether our programs have benefitted Bike & Build as a whole.
An Input-‐Impact breaks an organization down into five core components (Inputs, Activities, Outputs, Outcomes, and Impacts) and helps to show the elementary cause and effect relationships between these organizational components. In the model, Inputs represent the mission statement, vision, strategy, structure, systems, resources, and the general internal environment of the organization (Epstein, Buhovac). These inputs flow into the organizational activities which are the actions taken that allow inputs to be mobilized into specific organizational outputs (Epstein, Buhovac). The organization’s outputs are the products, capital goods, and services that result from the activities completed by the organization and are represented as both Internal and External Outputs (Epstein, Buhovac). Next come the Outcomes, which are basically the short to medium-‐term effects directly resulting from the organization’s outputs and can be characterized by a change in development conditions (Epstein, Buhovac). Finally come the Impacts, or the actual and intended changes in human development as measured by people’s well being (Epstein, Buhovac). Our team created a model specific to Bike & Build from which we derived a list of 20 metrics relating to each one of the five components of the Input-‐Impact model that we believe can be used to understand the total value that our team’s strategic initiatives bring to Bike & Build as a whole. This model, as well as our list of performance metrics, can be viewed in the appendix of this document. CONCLUSION Bike & Build is a non-profit charitable organization that aims to help and spread awareness to the affordable housing crisis. They recruit and empower young adults to actively bike cross-country and rebuild/educate local communities along the way. Our task was to determine a way to increase the number participants and the overall presence of Bike & Build on the given list of 13-targeted universities. Our team conducted primary and secondary research to determine the top issues facing the organization’s ability to recruit. (Those identified issues centered on the current, overly narrow target market (those 18-25 year olds that are confident and avid bikers with substantial free time to donate to riding for long periods of time and over great distances. We therefore used behavioral and psychographic characteristics (factoring in biking confidence/abilities and overall attitudes towards spending much of their free time cycling cross-country) to create two additional less- biking intensive target markets. With three (3) markets of participants, we redeveloped the Bike & Build program so as to give each market an enticing program feature, priced accordingly, and thought of three ways to promote based on primary and secondary research on best ways to spread awareness to this American age demographic. Finally, we developed logical metrics to measure and analyze the effectiveness of our marketing initiatives.
21
APPENDIX Saint Joseph’s University Marketing Team Contact Information:
Competitor Financial Comparisons (NOTE: We have not described the organization “Humane Society” in detail for the sake of page limitations to this document, however we do recommend reading about this organization as a competing charitable organization)
Name Phone Email
Alexis Grieco 973-‐525-‐2377 [email protected]
Daniela Rampa 610-‐717-‐6679 [email protected]
Gabe Fox 717-‐599-‐9642 [email protected]
Matt Fahey 610-‐316-‐6557 [email protected]
22
Projected U.S. Non-‐Profit Industry Demand Growth Trends Copyright 2015 Hoover’s, Inc. First Source Database
http://mergent.firstresearchlearn.com/industry_detail.aspx?pid=92&chapter=8
23
24
Based on a spectrum from 1 (Most Concerning) to 6 (Least Concerning)
25
Distribution of Respondent Universities
26
FY2015 Bike & Build Marketing Budget Provided by Bike & Build
Sample Social Media Marketing Schedule Sample Social Media Content:
27
Here is a sample tweet of a photo contest during a summer tour. The post also engages with the rest of the nation since it deals with Independence Day. If users look through the hashtag #AmericaTheBeautiful, they can see this post about Bike and Build and brand awareness will occur. This post adds personality to the brand. Everyone loves a good love story. This is an example of a couple who met eachother on their tour and fell in love.
28
The hashtag #WhyIRide can help Bike & Build gain a personal brand face. Users can post a photo and describe their reason for riding. It will be interesting to see the varying answers such as fitness, adventure, volunteering, making friends, etc. This post creates friendly competition between the two coasts. For example, the coast that raises the most money could win a free Fitbit Surge. The hashtags used for the competition will be #BikeandBuild and then #WestCoast or #EastCoast to sort the users.
29
This is a sample post of other content that can be added. Bikers are generally healthy and fit people. Posts with healthy snack ideas, new workouts excerises, and even just a reminder of the benefits of sunscreen can appeal to Bike and Build’s target market. The following is what the YouTube page should look like. It is crucial to make sure that all social media platforms have the same image to reinforce brand identity. Originally, Bike and Build’s cover photo was a plain gray screen and the profile picture was not consistent with the rest of the accounts. However, something positive about the YouTube channel is the video content. There are multiple videos created by participants that show the day in the life of Bike and Build. The organization should link these videos to their other social media accounts because they would gain more traffic and it would be more beneficial.
30
31
32
Student Life Office Websites
Contact Information for Bike & Build's Target Universities
Universities State Student Life Contact Phone Number
University of New Mexico NM (505) 277-‐0952 UCLA CA Not listed University of Utah UT Susan Miller: (801) 581-‐8898
Arizona State AZ (480) 965-‐9665
University of Illinois IL (217) 333-‐1300
San Diego State CA (619) 594-‐5221 Brigham Young University UT (801) 422-‐2731 San Francisco State University CA (415) 338-‐1111 Colorado State University CO (970) 491-‐5312 University of Tennessee TN (865) 974-‐7449 University of Kentucky KY (859) 257-‐1911 Iowa State IA (515) 294-‐8081 Louisiana State University LA (225) 578-‐8607
Student Life Email
[email protected] [email protected] Anna Tsai: [email protected]
Website http://studentaffairs.unm.edu http://www.studentaffairs.ucla.edu http://campusrec.utah.edu https://eoss.asu.edu/dos/campus_life http://studentaffairs.illinois.edu http://studentaffairs.sdsu.edu/SLL/ https://deanofstudents.byu.edu/content/what-‐student-‐life-‐0 http://dos.sfsu.edu/student-‐life http://www.studentaffairs.colostate.edu http://studentlife.utk.edu http://www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/# http://www.sac.iastate.edu/en/clubs_and_organizations_new/ http://students.lsu.edu/studentlife?destination=node/156
33
Universities University of New Mexico UCLA University of Utah Arizona State University of Illinois San Diego State Brigham Young University San Francisco State University Colorado State University University of Tennessee University of Kentucky Iowa State Louisiana State University
Bike Club/Organization Website Bike Club/Organization Website
Inactive http://www.bruincycling.com/home N/A http://asucycling.org http://illinicycling.org https://arc.sdsu.edu/cycling/ http://bicycle.byu.edu http://sfsucyclingteam.blogspot.com http://www.ramscycling.com http://recsports.utk.edu/Programs/Outdoor%20Rec/Bikes/resources.html http://sweb2008.uky.edu/StudentOrgs/Cycling/UKY_Cycling_Team/Welcome.html https://www.stuorg.iastate.edu/site/163 http://lsucycling.com
Bike Club/Organization Phone Number Bike Club/Organization Email
Inactive Inactive
Jason Zeck: (310) 206-‐5575 [email protected] 801-‐581-‐3797 (ask for Utah Cycling) N/A
Contact through website Contact through website Contact through Sports Club: 619-‐594-‐7842 [email protected]
N/A [email protected] Must contact via Google Group on website Must contact via Google Group on website
(515) 240-‐6326 [email protected]
Contact via Website Contact via Website
34
BIKE & BUILD SWOT MATRIX
35
Categories Performance Metrics Metrics relation to Objectives Inputs • % Of strategic priorities that are directly aligned
with the mission/vision statement • Helps to measure whether our
team’s initiatives have been integrated into the core goals of the organization
Activities • Program Expense percentage change • Fundraising Expense percentage change • Administrative Expense percentage change
• Helps to understand whether our team’s initiatives made B&B more financially efficient
Outputs • Number of people participating in related programs directly offered by Bike & Build
• Number of communities being impacted by related programs directly offered by Bike & Build
• Number of total hours Bike & Build participants volunteered at build sites
• Amount of total money raised • Number of grants awarded • Number of community presentations given/youth
engaged
• Helps to measure the impact of our team’s initiatives on the aggregate level of B&B activities
Outcomes • % Of Bike & Build beneficiaries reestablishing themselves within their communities
• % Of Bike & Build beneficiaries reporting major life improvements
• % Of Bike & Build participants planning another trip in the future
• % Of Bike & Build participants planning more volunteer work other than a Bike & Build-‐related program
• Number of members in the Bike & Build alumni network
• Helps to determine the impact of our team’s initiatives on the total number of people directly impacted by B&B
Impacts • % Of people living in an “affordable home” in the US
• % Of renters/homeowners considered to be “severely burdened” by housing-‐related issues
• % Of people living in homes considered to be “physically adequate”
• % Of youth/young adults volunteering within their communities
• % Change of knowledge of the housing crisis among the general public
• Helps to determine whether our team’s initiatives aided B&B in their overall organization mission
Social Media • Using Hootsuite’s analytics to measure: • % Change in conversation rate (number of
audience comments/post) • % Change in amplification rate (number of shares
or retweets/post) • % Change in applause rate (number of likes or
favorites/post)
• Helps to measure overall performance of our team’s proposed social media initiatives
Other • % of new participants from the west coast • Bike & Build brand recognition among of college-‐
aged men and women (west coast & US)
• Helps to measure overall performance of our team’s west coast initiatives
36
37
Bibliography Amazingly Simple Graphic Design. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2015, from https://www.canva.com Arizona State University - Dean of Students. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2015, from https://eoss.asu.edu/dos/campus_life ASU Cycling | Sun Devil Criterium 2015. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://asucycling.org Best Times to Post on Social Media [Infographic]. (2013, May 9). Retrieved April 17, 2015, from http://beingyourbrand.com/2013/05/09/best-times-to-post-on-social media-infographic/ BYU Bicycle Club. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://bicycle.byu.edu Campus Recreation Services | The University of Utah. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2015, from http://campusrec.utah.edu CSU Rams Cycling. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://www.ramscycling.com Cycling Club. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from https://www.stuorg.iastate.edu/site/163 Cycling & Triathlon. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from https://arc.sdsu.edu/cycling/ Cycling Team @ SF State University. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://sfsucyclingteam.blogspot.com Division of Student Affairs. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2015, from http://studentaffairs.unm.edu Division of Student Life. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://studentlife.utk.edu Enhance Your Social Media Management Today. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2015, from http://signup.hootsuite.com/pro-ent-na-english r6/?mkwid=s66tP8E6w_dc&pcrid=42845728174&pkw=hootsuite&pmt=e&gcli =CJvAkpWti8UCFZIdgQodVrcANw Flyer Printing. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2015, from http://www.fedex.com/us/office/flyer-printing.html Garmin - Frequently Asked Questions. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2015, from http://www.garmin.com/us/company/careers/students/ How to Determine the Best Times to Engage Your Social Media Community. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2015, from http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to determine-the-best-times-to-engage-your-soc.html Illini Cycling. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://illinicycling.org Infographic: How Often Should I Post on Social Media? (2015, February 25). Retrieved April 21, 2015, from https://blog.bufferapp.com/how-often-post-social-media Love Your Job? You Should. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2015, from http://www.garmin.com/us/company/careers/lifeatgarmin/ LSU Cycling. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://lsucycling.com
38
More Companies Hiring Interns. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2015, from http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/more-companies-hiring-interns Performance Measurement of Not-For-Profit Organizations. (n.d.). Retrieved May 2, 2015, from http://www.ef.uni-lj.si/docs/osebnestrani/Not-for-Profit.pdf Resources for Campus Cyclists. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://recsports.utk.edu/Programs/Outdoor Rec/Bikes/resources.html Social Media Schedule - Google Search. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2015, from https://www.google.com/search?q=social+media+schedule&biw=1206&bih=63 &tbm=isch&imgil=xyJtf26IV SOM%253A%253B2wxF00UPYxS5xM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252 blogs.constantcontact.com%25252Fsocial-media-posting schedule%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=xyJtf26IV SOM%253A%252C2wxF00UPYxS5xM%252C_&usg=__azfTMYISe4cnyaIR5 1wpsWCidQ%3D&ved=0CC8Qyjc&ei=R6pBVeCFFtWOsQTy3oHIDg#imgrc GZsacKb0V3nzZM%253A%3B_9qZ2oCciVhuxM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%25 Fs-media-cache ak0.pinimg.com%252F736x%252Fbb%252F8b%252Fb2%252Fbb8bb2306c220 9c3c5563c715e39754.jpg%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.pinterest.com%2 2Fpin%252F198088083585434805%252F%3B700%3B540 Student Affairs | University of Illinois. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2015, from http://studentaffairs.illinois.edu Student Life & Leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2015, from http://studentaffairs.sdsu.edu/SLL/ Student Life. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2015, from http://dos.sfsu.edu/student-life Student Activities Center. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2015, from http://www.sac.iastate.edu/en/clubs_and_organizations_new/ Student Life & Enrollment. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://students.lsu.edu/studentlife?destination=node/156 Strava - About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2015, from https://www.strava.com/about Strava Raises $18.5 Million in New Funding, Plans to Take Over the World. (2014, October 30). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://road.cc/content/news/134318 strava-raises-185-million-new-funding-plans-take-over-world UCLA Cycling. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://www.bruincycling.com/home UCLA Student Affairs - Home. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://www.studentaffairs.ucla.edu We Are Student Affairs. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2015, from http://www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/# What and How Often Should You Post on Social Media? | Constant Contact Blogs. (2014, August 2). Retrieved April 20, 2015, from http://blogs.constantcontact.com/how-often-post-social-media/
39
What is Student Life? (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2015, from https://deanofstudents.byu.edu/content/what-student-life-0