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C.P.R.
Emily Webb, Jennifer Sorman, Alexandra Alias,
Hung Tran, Tashia Taylor, Tin Dao
Table Of Contents
Situational Analysis...................
1
S.W.O.T. Analysis......................
2
Opportunity Statement.............
3
Goals...........................................
3
Target Audiences....................... 4-5
Objectives..................................
6
Strategies and Tactics................ 7-9
Timeline..................................... 10-11
Budget......................................... 12
Evaluations................................. 13
Meet the Team............................ 14
Situational Analysis
Chegg’s History:
Chegg is a Santa Clara based company that offers academic services for high school
and college students. The company, founded by Osman Rashid and Aayush Phumbhra, had
small beginnings; Chegg was launched at Iowa State University in 2005 as a hyper-local
classifieds directory as a way to eliminate the tiring process of procuring books from university bookstores. Since then, it has grown extremely fast due to its affordable textbook rentals.
Since its national launch in 2007, they have acquired CourseRank, Notehall, Student of Fortune and the popular Cramster. Chegg now offers its services to more than 6,400 universities
and community colleges across the country. With a mission to save students money, Chegg is
considered one of Silicon Valley’s most successful start-ups.
In reaching its goal of saving students and parents money, Chegg also devotes its time
to the community and environment through its philanthropic program “Chegg for Good.”
This program is dedicated to the empowerment of students giving back and making a difference around the world. Over the past years, U.S. book publishing industries have consumed
more than 4 million trees each year on textbooks. Chegg made a difference by offering students who rent, buy or sell books to plant a tree in the process. Chegg has planted more than
1.5 billion trees.
Due to the increasing competition from Amazon, Apple and other used-textbook sellers,
Chegg has reinvented itself from a primarily used-textbook seller into a company that offers
broad and diverse services for students. They want to be a part of the students academic career from high school, college, graduating and everything in between. In their drive to become a social education platform that students continually use throughout the year, they have
expanded their services to homework help, course reviews, flashcards, course planners and
personalized scholarship matching.
With CourseRank, students are aided in choosing their classes through CourseRank
class ratings, grade distribution and scheduling information tools. Student of Fortune is an
online tutoring website that allows students to receive tutorials from other students and Notehall allows students to buy and sell their notes online.
Chegg’s Homework Help aims to help students understand their school work and finish
it faster through its Q&A board and step-by-step textbook solutions. Students with questions
simply has to ask a question on Chegg’s live community board and an answer will be given in as little as 90 minutes. An archive of previously asked questions is also available. For
those looking for step-by-step solutions, Homework Help also offers textbook solutions from
various fields such as biology, engineering, math, business, etc. In addition, all these services
are offered through apps on your phone, which makes for easy to get help on the go.
1
S
W
O
T
Strengths:
- Provides affordable textbooks to students to rent
- Known as the #1 textbook rental company with great delivery time
- Excellent interaction on social media platforms
- Provides easy to follow applications
- Acquired Cramster, a well known Q&A service for STEM students
- Provides scholarship matching, course reviews and course planners
- Offers services to more than 6,400 colleges across the country
Weaknesses:
- Homework Helper has bad reviews
- Having issues canceling subscriptions
- Not all homework questions are getting answered
- Points for Homework Help are pricey
- Not as well known as other companies
- Apps not compatible with all smartphones and android products
- Has monthly fees and subscriptions
Opportunities:
- To become the first social media platform for student education, “Hub”
- Have the ability to mobilize students nationwide as brand advocates
- Receive growing press coverage for saving students money and time
by offering Homework Help
- Receive more investments, endorsements and sponsorships
- Offer services through Homework Help that no competitors have the
ability to do
- Extend not only to college but high school students as well
Threats:
- Large competitive field to work with
- Amazon, local bookstores, campus bookstores
- Homework competitors
- Falling short of the company’s mission statement
- Not holding up to standards of decent and reliable help with homework
for students
2
Opportunity Statement...
Chegg has the opportunity to increase brand awareness of their product Homework Help by using a public relations plan. As a new addition to Chegg, we see
large potential for Homework Help to appeal to young audiences, specifically college and high school students between the ages of 18 and 24. We believe our public
relations plan will help generate a desire for students to use Homework Help due
to its innovative features that are great for college and high school STEM (science,
technology, engineering, math) majors. Our public relations plan will highlight the
unique characteristics of Homework Help.
We will attract consumers within the diverse target audience by first building
an awareness of the product. This will include a social media campaign and various
events in which potential customers can purchase and experience Homework Help.
The challenge within this opportunity lies the lack of awareness of the benefits of the product, Homework Help. An extensive public relations plan is crucial in
order to change the public’s perception from a textbook rental only company to an
academic hub.
This public relations plan will communicate to Chegg’s target audiences why
Homework Help is such a stand out product against any competitors such as Course
Hero. Our plan will show potential consumers that Chegg’s Homework Help is one
of a kind.
Our Goal is...
- to increase awareness of Chegg’s product Homework Help.
- to change Chegg’s image from textbook rental
company to one-stop academic hub for all students
needs.
3
College Students:
The main focus of this campaign is to target college students
using Chegg’s Homework Help as
their main resource of study tools and
help with course material. Every student has to take course classes in
science and math.
Target
Audiences:
Primary Focus
STEM Students:
The Homework Help application
focuses mainly on STEM student
majors. Our campaign will help those
students use Chegg’s Homework Help
as their main resource of study tools
and help with course materials.
High School
Seniors:
By targeting high school seniors,
students could use the academic hub
in high school and that can translate
through their college career as well as
use Homework help for their science
and math needs.
4
Target
Audiences:
Secondary Focus
College Professors:
College professors can promote
Homework Help to students. The
first step in using a program is being
aware of it. The more professors
that promote the product, the likelihood of more students using
it increases.
Dean of
STEM Colleges,
STEM Academic Staff:
Same as the college professors, however with Homework Help being primarily focused on STEM students, it
would be more beneficial for them.
Parents of
High School AP
students:
Parents of high school students would
most likely be paying for course material aid. By targeting the parents they
would be more willing to pay for a
program that they know will be
beneficial for their child.
5
Objectives
1. To educate our audiences on the benefits of Homework Help
and encourage audience to use it.
2. To increase web traffic and social media presence of Chegg,
specifically Homework Help.
3. To expand the reach to include larger audiences, such as STEM
students, teachers, college professors, STEM academic staff and
high school AP student parents.
4. To increase sales of Homework Help among college and high
school students
5. To generate brand recognition for Chegg not only as a textbook
rental service, but an academic hub for students, primarily STEM,
to use through high school and college.
6. To increase the reach from students needing textbooks to a
social education platform for students.
6
Strategies and Tactics
Strategy 1:
Creating a theme for Public Relations Plan
Tactics:
1. Brainstorming ideas to support all different events
2. Select the theme
3. Incorporate theme into the rest of the strategies
Strategy 2:
Conduct a social media campaign through Facebook and
Twitter in order to reach our target audiences
Tactics:
Twitter
1. Create Twitter account
2. Create hashtags
3. Develop a content strategy campaign to launch on Twitter
4. Promote Chegg’s Homework Help and Chegg’s “Harlem Shake” video contest
Facebook
1. Create a facebook fan page that allows our stakeholders to interact with us on a personal level
2. Develop a content strategy that consistently posts status updates and disscussion questions on our
wall to keep it active. Ask questions to problems, holiday themed updates, inspirational education
quotes, etc.
3. Update page with pictures.
4. For the midnight movie premiere, take a picture of the audience before the movie, post picture and
have audience members tag themselves. This will generate good publicity and will appear on fans walls.
5. Reward loyal supporters with free stuff such as points for Homework Help.
6. Integrate Facebook plugins into Chegg’s main site.
7. Give quizzes with points to Homework Help as a reward
8. Encourage stakeholder participation by asking them various questions such as, “What is the best
excuse given to a teacher for not having your homework?” and “What was your most frustrating finals
week experience?”
7
Strategies and Tactics
Strategy 3:
Getting the teachers involved! Encourage STEM teachers
to promote Homework Help to their students by holding a 6
week contest that will provide them with a monetary prize.
Tactics:
1. Develop the contest rules which are as follows: for the top 5 teachers that sign up at
least 25 students for six months (one full semester), recieve $1500
2. Reach out to STEM teachers/professors through email and letters announcing the
contest
3. Reach out to STEM department or STEM college leaders through direct phone calls
informing them of the contest opportunity
4. Provide each school with a code, students will provide teacher name next to school
code
Strategy 4:
“Harlem Chegg Video Contest” in Northern California
Tactics:
1. Develop contest rules which are as follows: Students will be able to submit their own
version of a “Harlem Shake” video. Video must contain at least 6 students.
2. The video will be marketed to Chegg by having at least one person, item or thing in
video that will have the orange Chegg logo.
3. The video will be marketed to Homework Help by having the name Homework Help
written or shown somewhere in the video
4. Upload videos to Youtube account and share on created Facebook page or upload directly to Facebook page
5. Contest will go on for a month, 10 videos will be chosen out of all the submitted videos and will go into a round of voting for 5 days. The videos will be voted on the most
likes on the video and the most creative use of the Chegg logo.
6. The most creative logo use video and most likes video will be respectfully recognized
with a monetary prize and a midnight showing for “Thor 2”
8
Strategies and Tactics
Strategy 5:
Midnight movie premiere for winners of “Harlem Chegg” video
contest
Tactics:
1. Partner with either Regal, AMC or Century Theatre to rent out a theatre room for the
midnight showing of the release “Thor 2”
2. Create a movie snackpack for the movie
3. Contact the winners to let them know when and where the premiere will be
4. Create a list of names for the showing and have a Chegg representative at the theatre
5. Have a trivia Homework Help and Chegg product give away.
Strategy 6:
Host a mini Chegg-I-Con that includes a Homework Help
scavenger hunt
Tactics:
1. Find a location to rent for event
2. Find local sponsors and booth renters
3. Create a promotional campaign
4. Decide cost of admission for event ($5.00 per person)
5. Develop a scavenger hunt to ensure that those who attend the event learn about Homework Help. The scavenger hunt will consist of small groups of people getting pieces of
an equation to solve from different booths. The group will then use Homework Help to
solve the equation.
6. Groups for scavenger hunt will have a max of 4 people. The first 3 groups to turn in
the scavenger hunt will recieve a day pass to Comic Con 2014
7. The first group to turn in the scavenger hunt with the correct answer to the equation
will win a 4-day pass to Comic Con.
9
Timeline
September
Week 1: September 1st - 7th
- Create hashtags and content strategy for Twitter
- Create facebook fan page for “Harlem Chegg” Video contest
- Compile a list of schools and faculty to contact for “Getting Teachers Involved”
- Develop contest rules for “Harlem Chegg” Video contest
- Develop contest rules for “Getting Teachers Involved”
- Purchase Comic Con tickets for the Chegg-I-Con event giveaway
- Brainstorm and finalize campaign theme and slogan
Week 2: September 8th - 14th
- Continuation of social media promotion for all projects
- Contact teachers and faculty to distribute information for “Getting Teachers Involved”
- Contact theatres to set up movie premiere reward for “Harlem Chegg” contest
- Contact event centers for Chegg-I-Con event
- Contact possible sponsors and vendors for Chegg-I-Con event
Week 3: Septemeber 15th - 21st
- Continue social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter
- Launch “Harlem Chegg” video contest
- Continue recruiting sponsors and vendors for Chegg-I-Con event
- Launch “Getting Teachers Involved” contest
Week 4: September 22nd - 28th
- Continue social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter
- Start promotional campaign for Chegg-I-Con event
10
Timeline
October
Week 1: September 29th- October 5th
- Continue social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter
- Extra promotion for last week of “Harlem Chegg” video contest
Week 2: October 6th - 12th
- Continue social media campaign for Facebook and Twitter
- Last submission for “Harlem Chegg” videos on Thursday Oct. 10th at 11:59p.m.
- Oct. 11th- Oct. 13th Review and select the top 10 “Harlem Chegg” videos
- Begin reviewing videos for the most creative use of Chegg logo and Homework Help
Week 3: October 13th - 19th
- Continue social media campaign for Facebook and Twitter
- Oct. 14th announce the finalists on Facebook for “Harlem Chegg” video contest and begin voting on Facebook
- Chegg staff picks a winner for most creative use of Chegg logo video
- Create equation for Chegg-I-Con scavenger hunt
- Follow-up and finalize sponsors and vendors for Chegg-i-con
- Oct. 18th at 11:59p.m. : last day to vote for “Harlem Chegg “videos on Facebook
Week 4: October 20th - 26th
- Continue social media campaign for Facebook and Twitter for Chegg-I-Con
- Oct. 21st: annouce winners for “Harlem Chegg” video contest
- Oct. 26th: Chegg-I-Con event
- Announce winners of “Getting Teachers Involved” contest
Week 5: October 27th - November 2nd
- Evaluations for “Getting Teachers Involved”, “Harlem Chegg” video contest, Chegg-ICon and theme/slogan
- Disperse cash prizes out
*November 8th- Movie Premeire*
11
Budget
DESCRIPTION OF COST
COST
$6,300
$336
$1,000
$1,104
$300
?
$300
$0
$100
$8,000
EVENT
Cheggicon
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Cheggicon
Cheggicon
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Cheggicon
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Venue Cost: San Jose Convention Center (15,000 @ $0.42 per sq ft)
Table rental(30 tables 8ft. By 30 in. and 60 chairs (single day rental)
General supplies (Scavenger Hunt and other costs)
Comiccon ticket prizes (4-4day @ $150, and 12 single day @ $42)
Venue clean up
Licensing
5 Security (6 hours @ $10 an hour)
Staffing (20 Volunteers)
Feeding volunteers (pizza and water)
TOTAL
$1,100
$600
$2,500
$4,200
$24,000
$18,000
$6,000
$3,600
$51,600
Harlem Chegg
Harlem Chegg
Harlem Chegg
Theatre Rental (100 seats @ $11 a seat)
Movie Snack Pack (100 people @ $6 a person)
Cash Prizes
TOTAL
Team Labor: 3 Account Manager ( 40 hours per month@ $100 an hour) 2 months
Team Labor: 3 Account Executive (40 hours per month @ $75 an hour) 2 months
Advertising/Marketing for all events ($3,000 per month for 2 months)
Media Outreach ($1,800 a month for 2 months)
TOTAL
GTI
GTI
$7,500
$1,000
8,500
$72,300
Cash Prizes (5 teachers @ $1,500 each)
General Costs
TOTAL
OVERALL TOTAL
12
Evaluations
The success of our plan will be evaluated
through a variety of methods...
Strategy 1: Our slogan and overall theme is an important part to bring
together all of our strategies. To evaluate this we will use Google Analytics to see how often our slogan is being used.
Strategy 2: The impact of our efforts to increase awareness and heighten
publicity of our campaigns to our target audiences will
be carefully measured. We will evaluate social media campaigns by the
number of likes, followers, tweets, retweets, shares and comments on our
pages related to Homework Help.
Strategy 3: In order to ensure that our campaign is successful in the
most challenging areas and to Northern California students, sales will be
carefully monitored. The ratio between the number of teachers contacted versus those who participate will be tracked. This along with students
sign-ups through the program and the length of each membership will be
tracked as well.
Strategy 4: Our efforts to reach high school seniors and college students
around the bay area will be measured in various forms for the “Harlem
Chegg” video contest. Participation by video submissions will be tracked
along with how many views per video and shared.
Strategy 5: **Reward for Strategy 4, no evaluation needed.**
Strategy 6: The key goal of our campaign is to raise awareness to the
masses on how great our product is. The experience of potential customers
will be measured through surveys as well as their testimonials. The
number of attendees will also be tracked.
13
Meet The Team of
C.P.R.
14