Torrey
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- Jan 5, 2012
- 18
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Okay, so I'm about to go "boots on the ground" with my proposed fastlane strategy by taking massive action. Before I make the 100% commitment, I need some constructive criticism regarding my business concept, as well as my models of revenue and marketing.
Concept: My business is a website that allows collegiate students (my niche) to make transactions of textbooks, class notes, study guides, previous exams/homework samples, classroom materials, dormitory wares, and study group networking with other students on campus.
Here is how my concept fits into the CENTS model:
Need: Students always need easy access to textbooks, notes, and class materials. There is a huge need for these materials, and yet from what I have seen, there are few websites that cater to all of these needs mentioned above. Some sites are textbook specific, some are notes specific, etc. My website aims to bring all of these together to make the "hunting and gathering" of essential classroom materials easier.
Entry: Entry would be tough building and harnessing the magnitude of a website like the one I have in mind. Please read my marketing strategy below for my differentiation from websites with similar concepts.
Control: I would be able to have majority control over the company, with a small percentage of management going into my breadth of weakness (computer programming). I hope to team up with a programmer or two and make this a collaboration effort. My marketing strategy combined with their technical skills.
Scale: Has national and global potential. Every college campus could reap the benefits of my service.
Time: This business model would require a vast amount of time and energy into building the money tree. After it becomes a proven model and expansion becomes easier, it should run on its own.
Now that CENTS is covered, here are several of my models:
Revenue Model: Revenue would have to be entirely from advertisements after the site has been scaled. I have toyed with the idea of taking a percentage of revenue from notes/study guides sold from using my site, but I have ran into a road block: If users can pay for notes off of my site and download them into hard copies, what stops them from distributing those hard copies to other students for free? I can't enforce copyright laws because technically, student notes are not original material. If anyone has an answer to this, feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Marketing Model: Honestly, my marketing model is the real reason why I am interested in pursuing this venture. Why? Every website that I have stumbled across does a terrible job in marketing their service. Let me first pinpoint the differences in my model versus similar models already out there: On the one hand, I have not seen anything that offers a "holistic" marketplace for all campus transactions (like I said earlier, some are textbook specific, some are notes/study guide specific, some are study group networking specific, etc.). On the other hand, all of these websites have scaled way too quickly. For instance, this website (Notehall - Buy and Sell Class Notes) has massive scale (lists over hundreds of universities with their website affiliation), but when you search for a class that you want to buy notes from, there are very few sellers. Why? I believe its because of the old "quality vs. quantity" debate.
My website would start very small. We would focus on one university, get students to use the marketplace for all classes at that university (by promoting notes and other materials for said classes), and establish a large community within this university of students who use our marketplace for all collegiate transactions. To scale = rinse and repeat until we have covered most universities.
Anyways, I have been tugging at this idea for the past year and a half. I either go through with it now, or throw it away if it seems too implausible to make a fastlane strategy out of it.
Here's the feedback I would really appreciate:
Does my concept violate CENTS in anyway?
Does my revenue model seem to slow? The average university has about 10,000 - 20,000 students. Would it take too long to see revenue via advertisements if I use my marketing strategy?
Any ideas on how to tweak my revenue model so that I am not relying on ads alone?
Can I use lead sales in anyway?
Is my marketing strategy sound? Will this define me from my competitors enough?
Are there any websites that you are familiar with that have the specifics my concept website addresses, or use a marketing strategy similar to mine?
All feedback is greatly appreciated. I can't tell you how thankful I am to live in an age where you have access to people who know what they're talking about.
Concept: My business is a website that allows collegiate students (my niche) to make transactions of textbooks, class notes, study guides, previous exams/homework samples, classroom materials, dormitory wares, and study group networking with other students on campus.
Here is how my concept fits into the CENTS model:
Need: Students always need easy access to textbooks, notes, and class materials. There is a huge need for these materials, and yet from what I have seen, there are few websites that cater to all of these needs mentioned above. Some sites are textbook specific, some are notes specific, etc. My website aims to bring all of these together to make the "hunting and gathering" of essential classroom materials easier.
Entry: Entry would be tough building and harnessing the magnitude of a website like the one I have in mind. Please read my marketing strategy below for my differentiation from websites with similar concepts.
Control: I would be able to have majority control over the company, with a small percentage of management going into my breadth of weakness (computer programming). I hope to team up with a programmer or two and make this a collaboration effort. My marketing strategy combined with their technical skills.
Scale: Has national and global potential. Every college campus could reap the benefits of my service.
Time: This business model would require a vast amount of time and energy into building the money tree. After it becomes a proven model and expansion becomes easier, it should run on its own.
Now that CENTS is covered, here are several of my models:
Revenue Model: Revenue would have to be entirely from advertisements after the site has been scaled. I have toyed with the idea of taking a percentage of revenue from notes/study guides sold from using my site, but I have ran into a road block: If users can pay for notes off of my site and download them into hard copies, what stops them from distributing those hard copies to other students for free? I can't enforce copyright laws because technically, student notes are not original material. If anyone has an answer to this, feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Marketing Model: Honestly, my marketing model is the real reason why I am interested in pursuing this venture. Why? Every website that I have stumbled across does a terrible job in marketing their service. Let me first pinpoint the differences in my model versus similar models already out there: On the one hand, I have not seen anything that offers a "holistic" marketplace for all campus transactions (like I said earlier, some are textbook specific, some are notes/study guide specific, some are study group networking specific, etc.). On the other hand, all of these websites have scaled way too quickly. For instance, this website (Notehall - Buy and Sell Class Notes) has massive scale (lists over hundreds of universities with their website affiliation), but when you search for a class that you want to buy notes from, there are very few sellers. Why? I believe its because of the old "quality vs. quantity" debate.
My website would start very small. We would focus on one university, get students to use the marketplace for all classes at that university (by promoting notes and other materials for said classes), and establish a large community within this university of students who use our marketplace for all collegiate transactions. To scale = rinse and repeat until we have covered most universities.
Anyways, I have been tugging at this idea for the past year and a half. I either go through with it now, or throw it away if it seems too implausible to make a fastlane strategy out of it.
Here's the feedback I would really appreciate:
Does my concept violate CENTS in anyway?
Does my revenue model seem to slow? The average university has about 10,000 - 20,000 students. Would it take too long to see revenue via advertisements if I use my marketing strategy?
Any ideas on how to tweak my revenue model so that I am not relying on ads alone?
Can I use lead sales in anyway?
Is my marketing strategy sound? Will this define me from my competitors enough?
Are there any websites that you are familiar with that have the specifics my concept website addresses, or use a marketing strategy similar to mine?
All feedback is greatly appreciated. I can't tell you how thankful I am to live in an age where you have access to people who know what they're talking about.
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