Marketing Wilderness
(Now That I Have Your Attention)
Ralph Swain
USFS Rocky Mountain Region
Wilderness & Rivers Program Manager
303-275-5058
rswain@fs.fed.us
Background
• Undergrad: Marketing and Economics
• Masters: Natural Resource Management,
Specialization in Wilderness
Colorado State University
Aldo Leopold
• “We abuse the land
because we regard it as a
commodity belonging to
us. When we see the land
as a community to which
we belong we may begin
to use it with love and
respect.”
Definition of Marketing
Providing a product or service (commodity) to
customers at a price (profit)
Process of communicating the value of a
product of service to customers for the purpose
of selling that commodity.
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Basic concepts of marketing have not changed – Marketing segmentation, product life cycle,
customer profiling- - but the tools have drastically changed.
Promotion – social media tools to reach customers have
#changedforever! (140 characters)
Marketing = Advertising
Marketing = Promotion
• Marketing is much more!
• Uses all the 5 P’s of Marketing
• Develop a Marketing Plan
5 P’s of Marketing
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
People
Enlarging the Base
*Bell curve of primary customers
*Target the fringe
*Find new ways to reach the
larger wilderness community
Wilderness
Ranger
Cookbook
Interagency
Wilderness Ranger
Cookbook 50th
Anniversary Edition
Produced August 2014
by SWS
Now available, REI,
B&N, Visitor Centers
Marketing = Stewardship
• Product – goal is untrammeled wilderness – protect
wilderness character. Currently, Kmart model, low quality
product sold to mass market. Stop trying to be all. W. is not
for everyone.
• Price – the value of wilderness increases daily. Currently,
treated as low investment, low return.
• Place – fixed. Spectrum of landscapes– (earn wilderness)
• Promotion – currently mixed messages established by
customers and branding is shot-gun, not targeted.
• People – Currently, PC - target youth. No! target women –
mother earth – nurturing values of women align best with
wilderness. Reach men and youth through women.
Zahniser’s Legacy