The City of Detroit

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The City of Detroit Promoting Detroit on the
Internet
Submitted by Ann Bollinger Gigi R. Moore
John J. Davis August Myers Khalfani
Stephens Saran Hartley
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Executive Summary
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Executive Summary

• We will present a plan for using the internet to
  promote Detroit, which will
• Improve the citys image
• Increase long-term revenue

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Executive Summary
Where we are

• Home to the Big three
• New Casinos, Airport Expansion, Comerica Park,
  Ford Field etc.
• GM's headquarter expansion, riverfront and hotel
  renovation, Compuware and Campus Maritus,
• Violent crime in Detroit is the lowest it's been
  in 30 years,

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Executive Summary
Where we are

• Solid growth in visitors for 9 consecutive years
• Above average growth in 1999 (4.1 2.6)
• 69 of travel to Metro Detroit was for leisure
• Day trips accounted for 6.5 million visitors
• More than half of all visitors came from Midwest
• Increased capacity (dining, rooms, shopping)

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Toronto
Chicago
Suburbs
Minneapolis
Cleveland

-
Fun/ Entertaining
Detroit
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Safe/ Clean
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Current Environment and Trends
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Current Environment and Trends

• Over 174 million households have internet access
  and growing _at_ 2 million users/month
• The internet is the 1 medium for disseminating
  travel information
• Detroits current site is not geared to
  facilitate this trend

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Current Environment and Trends
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Current Environment and Trends

• Promotion of cities via the internet is growing
  exponentially
• Push for outsourcing of municipal web development
• Move towards more interactive sites
• Gotta Have More attitude increases complexity
  and time
• Travel deemed one of the top 5 most addictive
  categories on the web.

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Current Environment and Trends
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Current Environment And Trends
Our Competition

• Chicago
• Toronto
• Minneapolis
• Cleveland

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Current Environment And Trends
Our Bench Mark Criteria

• Functionality accessibility, speed, navigation
• Design user friendliness, aesthetics, layout
• Content purpose, message, quality, clarity
• Originality innovation in content, creativity
• Professionalism and Effectiveness customer
  service, client respect

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Current Environment And Trends
Our Bench Mark Criteria
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Current Environment And Trends
Bench Marks (cont.)

• Clear and Concise
• Good Visuals (not overloaded)
• Maintained by the municipality

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Current Environment And Trends
Bench Marks (cont.)

• Provide Access to City Services
• Attract Businesses and Visitors
• Web Site Maintained Internally 6 Employees
• Engaged Services of D T to Develop Current Site
• Major Redesign for Personalized Portals

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Current Environment And Trends
Bench Marks (cont.)

• Provide Access to City Services for Toronto
  Citizens
• Support Economic Development Strategy Including
  Attracting Businesses and Visitors
• Web Site Developed Internally 23 Employees
• Engaged Services of IBM to Develop Current Site

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Environment And Trends
How we see it

• Every major metro-area has a website
• Detroit has a me-too product
• Detroits closest competitors differentiation
  strategy is killing us
• A properly designed web-site can be a big draw

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
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Strengths Weaknesses Oportunities and Threats
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SWOT
Official City of Detroit Web-Site

• STRENGTHS
• Provides local residents with info. about city
  Departments
• Strong emphasis on educational links
• Links exist to current and future city plans for
  development

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SWOT
Official City of Detroit Web-Site

• WEAKNESSES
• Home Page does not differentiate information for
  citizens, visitors, and potential businesses
• Cultural/Entertainment link does not provide
  detail on current events
• Some city links lead to error messages
• Parking and transportation information not
  readily available

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SWOT
Official City of Detroit Web-Site

• WEAKNESSES
• Budget Constraints
• Calendar of Events links to DMCV which does not
  focus on City events

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SWOT
The Detroit Metro Convention Visitors Bureau

• STRENGTHS
• Excellent address name (visitdetroit.com)
• Near comprehensive calendar of events

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SWOT
DMCVB (Cont.)

• WEAKNESSES
• Focus on business and convention
• No listed special events are in Detroit proper
• Poor verbiage
• Image library
• Contact us

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A light at the end of the tunnel
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Our marketing plan
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Our marketing plan
What we want to accomplish

• Promote a better image of Detroit via the
  internet
• Increase site use by 15 yearly
• Increase of regional visitors by 5 yearly

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Our marketing plan
How we're going to get there

• Focus on Midwest travelers, our target market
• Develop a customer oriented marketing strategy
• Complete a comprehensive review of our target
  markets expectations
• Incorporate municipal web-site Best Practice
  techniques

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Hitting the target
Price Free
Place The World Wide Web
Promotion follow the action plan to make the
Detroit Web-site more effective
Product a visit to Detroit
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Our marketing plan
Getting there (cont.)

• Procure prime space on premier search engines
• Coordinate efforts with the DMCVB to emphasize
  Detroit
• Make the list of events on the website more
  comprehensive
• Keep current (i.e. current years dates and
  events)

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Our Marketing plan
Getting there (cont.)

• Parking/ transportation info. to be added
• Explore on-line reservations options
• Coordinate interdepartmentally to insure a
  consistent message on-line with other media
• Plan and budget for ongoing site development

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Our Marketing plan
Controls

• Progress will be evaluated monitored by
  tracking
• The number of visitors
• Total dollars spent by visitors
• Web development costs
• Number of user sessions
• Numbers will be tracked for the City of Detroit
  specifically, not as part of consolidated Metro
  Detroit numbers

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Our Marketing plan
Contingency Plan

• Instead of accessing information via the web,
  information will be available via print media /
  collateral
• A basic welcome center needs to become the focus
  of Detroit so that information is readily
  available
• Purpose is to share information previously
  created and to continually review and update the
  information

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Our Marketing plan
Contingency Plan

• Print media must be as accessible and dynamic as
  information found on the Internet
• Success will be determined by the speed of
  dissemination, access, and convenience
• Marketing strategy, target market, the four Ps
  and various action items would be similar to
  those outlined previously

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
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That's a wrap