INTERNET MARKETING PLAN chelsea monahanowen mooresuzie morgannicole praguekate rosinski

“turn old fabrics into new favorites”

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT PLAN .............................................. 2 WEBSITE FLOW DIAGRAM ................................................ 4 HOMEPAGE PROTOTYPE ..................................................... 5

SEARCH MARKETING PLAN ..................................................... 7 GOOGLE ADWORDS ............................................................ 8

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES .................................................... 12

Credibility will be added to the website by registering with the ‘TRUSTe Certified Privacy Group’ and their certified logo will be implemented into the footer of the website, which will link through to the privacy policy page.

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT PLAN

The strategy of our website architecture will consist of creating different tailored click-paths for task-oriented us-ers and experiential users.

Our task-oriented users will visit the site with the intention of acquiring an outcome, whether it be the purchase of a product, creating an example of a bag/cover from a certain fabric, answering a question or solving a problem through descriptive information, FAQ’s and online technical support.

The experiential users will generally visit or stumble across the site and find themselves creating different bags to share with their friends through social networks, with no intention of purchasing or browsing/voting for the contest winners.

The navigation menus will consist of 1st layer header navigation and 2nd layer left column body navigation, which will also appear as drop downs on the 1st layer navigation and click path below the header. For example: “about > laptop covers > 17 - inch Apple laptop”. This design element constitutes effective website navigation, as the customer now knows where they are, where they have been and where they can go.

The use of integrated video media from our YouTube channel will give the the website a greater ability to engage us-ers, which creates a stickiness appeal for the experiential users.

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Strategy:

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Design Model:

Garret Model - the elements of user experience

The simple goal for the Cover & Carry website is for users to order one of our items. On the other hand, the goal for users would be to find or build a product which fits their needs. Therefore, the strategy to accomplish these goals is to articulate to the user the many features of the whole range of products in a simple and comprehen-sive manner. This information should in turn satisfy all the needs which a user is looking to fulfill with a protective bag, cover or sleeve for their electronic item.

The features and functions of the website can be identi-fied in the website’s architecture. The following page provides an outline of the pages that will make up the Cover & Carry website. The website flow diagram dem-onstrates the website’s elements and sub-elements, which further explain the facets of each element.

Scope:

Footer content will include:sitemap, search bar, social media logos with links, Truste Certificate Logo, copyright © 2010 Cover & Carry, “All rights reserved.”

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Domain Availability:We will use "www.covercarry.com" but, in case of mis-spelling, we will also purchase "www.coverandcarry.com," "www.covercary.com" and "www.cover&carry.com." These alternate domains will offer a 301 redirect to www.covercarry.com, which will also assist in our SEO rank.

The URL name covercarry.com is effective as it cover some of the simple rules of purchasing a domain, such as:

Easy to type - • avoid "q," "z," "x," and "p"Dot-Com - • rather than .org , .net , .tv or .eduEasy to remember • - increases word of mouth marketingKeep as short as • possibleReject hyphens and • numbers

SEARCH MARKETING PLAN

Organic search results will be an important part of our marketing strategy to help improve Covery & Carry’s SEO. To make sure our site is indexed, we will submit our website to Google, Yahoo, Bing and on DMOZ open directory project. Some people think that the DMOZ is no longer useful and it has been suggested that bribery is one of the only ways to get indexed. However, since it costs nothing to register, we will attempt this method. Our title tag will read, “Custom Laptop Bags, Electronic Accessories by Cover and Carry.” The first words on our website feature our slogan and read, “Turn Old Fabrics into New Favorites with the Do-it-Yourself-Design process. Create Now!” Under the About section, we sum up our offerings as follows: “Create your own laptop bags, cellphone cases, iPod covers, etc! Send in your own material or choose from our options. Recycle old fabric and protect your electronics.” We will also use meta tags so that we can improve our rankings on smaller search engines. These meta tags will be the same as our Google Adwords, as listed on the following page. In addition, we will use path and file names so customers can easily navigate to important parts of the site. Path examples include: - http:///www.covercarry.com/DIYD - http//www.covercarry.com/faq

Organic Search Strategy:

We would also to like increase our popularity by asking others to link to our site. Cover & Carry contests and other promotions involve social media, so our name will be linked to pages like Twitter and Facebook . We would also like blogs that are focused on fashion, technology and sustainability to link to us. One example of a blog that aligns itself nicely with our company is Painfully Hip, a blog that focuses on fashionable young women who share their sustainable style.

Paid Search Strategy:Cover & Carry has chosen the following keywords to purchase through Google Adwords

laptop bagslaptop caseslaptop sleeveslaptop covers

custom cell phone coverscustom cell phone casescustom cell phone skinscustom phone skinsrecycle old clothes

customizable laptopscustom casescustom laptop casescustom computer casescustom pc cases

Additional keywords include

buy laptop casecomputer casecase computernotebook computer caselaptop computer case

laptop caselaptop cases and bagslaptop carrying caselaptop carry caselaptop travel caselaptop case baglaptop bag caselaptop case cover

laptop case sleevelaptop luggagestylish laptop caseunique laptop sleeveunique laptop bagdesigner laptop casecustomized laptopscustom leather cases

electronic caseelectronic coveripod caseipod coverphone casephone coverdesigner phone caseportable dvd player case

cover&carrycover & carrycoverandcarrycover and carrycustomizablecustomizable bagsdo it yourself designdo-it-yourself-designold clothes into cases

These additional keywords are more ideal for when people want to search our product, but currently not enough people search them. As we become established, these are highly targeted to our products and we hope people would search these keywords to find us. These keywords are included in our budget, but are rough estimates only.

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1. Create buzz and awareness about the Cover & Carry site and brand to get it on the map as a competitor to “customizable” laptop bag e-sellers 2. Attract 600 unique visitors in the first three months 3. Produce a minimum of 100 custom-made bags in the first two months 4. Build social media aspects of site by getting 30 or more people to post pictures to the site in the first two months

Goals:

With our first goal in mind, we want people to wonder what Cover & Carry has to offer. We have several short text ads that we hope will get people curious enough about us that they will click to check out our site. When a user types in any of the aforementioned keywords, ads such as these will appear on the right side of a Google search where the sponsored links are, as pictured below

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Other examples of our short text ads that will be appear on Google’s sponsored ads sidebar are featured to the right.

Our campaign will be in English, first in the United States, then later expanding into Spanish and French and into neighboring countries like Mexico and Canada.

Some of our Google ads are also linked to specific pages within our site. For example, the ad to the left would be directly linked to our page dedicated to the DIYD system, specifically the “laptop” section. That way, people can get to the site and start creating their sleeve or cover right away. Some of the keywords on our list that would be linked to this ad and to this page would be “do it yourself design,” “customized laptops,” “old clothes into cases,” “unique laptop sleeve,” and “customizable bags.”

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Budget:Cover & Carry will use a budget of $14,000 for the year. This is a substantial increase from the online budget we proposed in our earlier marketing plan, which stated $1,000 for total marketing. However, we realized we had not allocated enough money to search and have made the appropriate adjustment.

Budget for Keywords Explained:With the 16 keywords listed below averaging $1.35 per bid, we also estimate $0.05 per keyword for our additional 38 keywords, which currently have no bids. This would make about 595 times people could search each keyword and have our ad show up per year. We would tweak this if certain words were being searched more than others.

keyword monthly searches competition suggested bid (in USD)laptop bags 15,000 9 1.44laptop cases 10,000 9 2.06laptop sleeves 4,400 8 1.29laptop covers 2,800 8 1.50custom cases 660 8 1.50custom computer cases 1,200 8 1.63custom pc cases 440 8 1.26custom laptop cases 125 8 2.00customizable laptops 280 9 3.17custom cell phone cases 125 8 1.31custom cell phone covers 190 8 1.02custom phone covers 125 8 0.73custom cell phone skins 125 8 0.49custom phone skins 125 7 0.45custom leather cases 66 7 0.70recycle old clothes 52 4 1.04

The following table outlines the keyword budget, with all ad groups falling under the name DIYD

keyword monthly searches competition suggested bid (in USD)laptop bags 15,000 9 1.44laptop cases 10,000 9 2.06laptop sleeves 4,400 8 1.29laptop covers 2,800 8 1.50custom cases 660 8 1.50custom computer cases 1,200 8 1.63custom pc cases 440 8 1.26custom laptop cases 125 8 2.00customizable laptops 280 9 3.17custom cell phone cases 125 8 1.31custom cell phone covers 190 8 1.02custom phone covers 125 8 0.73custom cell phone skins 125 8 0.49custom phone skins 125 7 0.45custom leather cases 66 7 0.70recycle old clothes 52 4 1.04

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES

Advertising:We plan to design a banner ad to place on other sites that focus on the DIYD culture, such as Etsy, Michael’s and Jo-Ann Fabrics. In order to decrease the overall cost of this ad, we will make an agreement with these compa-nies to swap ads. For example, the Cover & Carry site will display an ad for Etsy, which features the specialty products created and sold by individual designers, and we will receive ad placement on their site in turn.

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Aside from banner ad swapping with these affiliates, we also plan to place smaller ads on popular blogs that deal with fashion, technology and sustainability. Such blogs include the aforementioned Painfully Hip (as illustrated below), as well as other fashion blogs like The Cut and The Sartorialist, technology blogs like Gizmodo, Lifehack-er, and TechCrunch, and sustainability blogs like TreeHugger. We hope to rotate our advertisements and receive placements on three blogs at all times.

These small ads are also easily adaptable for social networking sites that our target audience frequents such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

Contests:

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As an organization that promotes creativity and the DIYD trend, we plan to run contests regularly. Coinciding with different seasons or holidays, or simply relating to fun themes, our contests will involve participants post-ing pictures and comments and voting on winners who will receive discounts, free shipping, or other prizes. For example, in the Pajama Party contest shown below, participants will post pictures of themselves sporting their old clothes or materials as well as digital uploads of the virtual design created on the Cover & Carry site. They can then share these pictures and their thoughts on the process and their creation with friends and the Cover & Carry community, who will then vote for their favorite within a given time period. The winner’s pictures will be featured on the site (as well as Cover & Carry’s social networking sites, which will be discussed later) and he or she will receive their unique creation for free, plus a $100 gift certificate for future Cover & Carry shopping.

It’s a Pajama Party!Rock your old sleep-wear for a chance to win a free customized laptop cover, plus $100 toward your next Cover & Carry purchases. Share pics of yourself in bright, fuzzy slippers, a comfy bathrobe, some sweet drawstring pants – whatever you used to cuddle up in! Then upload your fabric pictures and create a virtual laptop cover with the help of our digital designer software. Winners will be featured on our homepage plus Cover & Carry’s Facebook fan page. Voting starts now! Contest will end in 16 days.

May the best nightie win.

see the official Contest Rules and RegulationsBrought to you by Cover & Carry

Other contest ideas include:Fabulous in Flannel (featuring • plaid materials)Show Your Team Spirit (featuring • old team jerseys or uniforms)

Seasonal contests include:Spring- Pretty in Pastels (featur-• ing pastels and floral prints)Fall- Book Smart (featuring pro-• fessional attire)Winter- Brrrr-rilliant Fashion • (featuring coats, blankets and other cozy materials)

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Social Networking:FacebookA Cover & Carry Facebook page will act as a public profile that connects Cover & Carry to its fans. Here, Cover & Carry can post information and updates about the site, links to contest news and winners, as well as pictures of products and contest participants “before and after” shots. Users can start discussions about the site, post comments, pictures, and videos and invite others to become fans.

TwitterAs a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time, Twitter serves as a simple and effective platform for Cover & Carry to direct messages at followers. Cover & Carry should tweet about site changes, upcoming pro-motions and events, as well as contest results.

BlogsAlongside placing ads in popular blogs, Cover & Carry will also benefit from starting its own blog. Blog authors can focus on DIYD culture, sustainable fashion trends, and other topics, as well as post about satisfied customer sto-ries and company news, promotions, and events.

It is important that all of Cover & Carry’s social media applica-tions are integrated, meaning there should be links on each site directing users to all other Cover & Carry sites. These sites provide followers with inspiration and DIYD tips, and integration will increase awareness and traffic to the Cover & Carry website.

Event Sponsorship:

Sales Promotions:

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Cover & Carry will hold seasonal discounts during high sales periods, such as back-to-school in August and September and graduation in May and June. These are times when our target market will be looking to fill their electronics needs – entering or graduating from college is a peak time to purchase new laptops – and offering $5 off and occasional free shipping on purchases over $75 will allow them to take care of their electronic protection needs at the same time.

One sales promotion that will create long-lasting customer relationships is Cover & Carry’s gift with initial purchase over $20. For instance, if a first-time shopper creates a customized laptop cover, Cover & Carry will create a matching cover for an iPod, cellphone, or other device from the shopper’s materials or matching in-stock material, free of charge. First-time shoppers will have the option of selecting their preferred small electronic to cover during the check-out stage of the online shopping experience, and this cover will prominently feature the Cover & Carry logo. Not only will this promotion entice users to return to Cover & Carry for their future electronic covering needs and gifts, it will develop an interest in others who see the Cover & Carry logo.

Another simple promotional strategy is offering 20% off purchases to shoppers who refer a friend.

As previously mentioned, Cover & Carry hopes to build connections with established companies like Michael’s and Jo-Ann Fabrics. Jo-Ann’s hosts regular events like crafting workshops and summer camps for kids, and Cover & Carry plans to sponsor a workshop specifically for creating simple electronics cases. This sponsorship will not only benefit Jo-Ann’s by driving in-store traffic and purchases, but it will also increase awareness of the Cover & Carry brand and strenghten our tie with the popular craft store.

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Budget:As previously stated, we have increased our budget from our original estimate. The amount spent on promotional efforts will be included in our revised online budget of $14,000. We will spend more money advertising on sites such as fashion and technology blogs than on Facebook and LinkedIn, and our banner swapping with affiliate sites is free. Our monthly budget for online marketing efforts is outlined below. Our offline advertising is laid out below as well. These costs are subject to change, as they are dependent upon our rela-tionships with companies like Jo-Ann’s and Michaels.

ONLINE- banner ads on affiliate sites: $0- blog ads: $200 per month x 3 blogs = $600- Facebook banner ads = $137 per week or $0.43 CPM- LinkedIn banner ads = $137 per week or $0.43 CPM- social networking = $0

OFFLINE- gift with initial purchase: $6 x estimated 100 purchases in first month = $600- sponsored events: allocate about $1,000