Marketing Plan

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Marketing Plan
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Contents  

• Domain Name and Branding
• Product Selections- Key Areas of Focus
• Margins and Price Competitiveness
• Competition
• Marketing Channels
• Custom Development

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Domain Name and Branding    

• Given market saturation, brand is essential to
  forming niche
• Top brands from spreadsheet generally appeal to
  LEO   community,"weekend warriors", and the home
  defense market
•  Attempt to get name and branding that captures
  the pro and   semi-pro markets with relevant
  keywords 
•      -Ex. TacticalDefenseGear.com
• Branding would convey that we are a purveyor of
  pro-grade equipment at consumer-grade prices
• Dark, "tactical" colors would be used 
•      (ex http//www.511tactical.com/Shop)

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Product Selection

• Include all of Top Brands spreadsheet products  
   
• Separate into main categories of "Tactical Gear",
  "Law Enforcement Equipment", and "Firearm
  Accessories"     -Sub-categories from there will
  parse out products
• Theme each main page around the product
  selection, ie change creative slightly at
  "Tactical Gear" page from homepage.
• Option for group purchasing from agencies
•        (EX https//www.galls.com/age
  ncy/gaweb.dll?reflinkhdr_agencyTab)

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Margins

• Target 30 margins on most products
• 15 for loss-leader products such as 
•      -Under Armour (try to hug MAP as close as
  possible)
•      -5.11clothing
•  

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Competitors

• 1) LAPoliceGear.com
• 2) Galls.com
• 3) Brownells.com

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Competitor Analysis CheaperThanDirt.com
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CheaperThanDirt.com

• Primary focus on firearms and ammo
• Products carried cover guns, weapon accessories
  such as sights, shooting equipment such as weapon
  cases, ammo, clothing, holsters, hunting
  equipment
• Do not carry most of the top-selling brands
• Primary value proposition based around price
• Secondary value proposition based around weapon
  selection
• Store is a 'one-stop shop' model

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CheaperThanDirt.com

•  Does not use PPC
•     -However, they have other domains    
  (www.CheaperThanDirt.net) that do have PPC 
•      traffic guided to them
•            -PPC budget around 15,000 per
  month           -Focus on camping/hunting
  keywords
• Average amount of SEO done (article pages indexed
  awkwardly in right hand nav area)
• No presence on Google Shopping, NexTag, or
  Pricegrabber CSEs
• No affiliate for CheaperThanDirt.com
•      -CheaperThanDirt.net does run their own
  affiliate, 
•      used to be on CJ

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CheaperThanDirt.com

• Lots of e-mail marketing

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CheaperThanDirt.com

• Lots of e-mail marketing

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CheaperThanDirt.com

• Print magazines
•         -They do not have an online version of 
•          their catalog

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Competitor Analysis MidwayUSA.com
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MidwayUSA.com

• Primary focus on shooting accessories, ammo,
  reloading, and hunting
• Product lines carried are very similar to scope
  for our proposed store (Under Armour, Tapco,
  etc)    -Do not carry guns like CheaperThanDirt
• Take advantage of running multiple promos at once
• Store's branding does not directly compete in
  'tactical' arena

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MidwayUSA.com

• PPC campaign budget about 1,200 per month
•     -Example keywords bow hunting supplies, bow
•      sights  reloading equipment, pistol
  magazines,
•      trapping supplies, digital hunting cameras, 
  reloading
•      powder, hornaday reloading, leupold scopes
  mark 4,
•      aimpoint sights
• Decent SEO content, indexed in the footer  
•      (ex. How To Guides)
• Strong CSE presence on Google Shopping, not on
  other feeds
• Does not seem to have an affiliate program
• E-mail marketing
• Catalog online and in print

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MidwayUSA.com
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Marketing Channels

• 1) PPC
•     -Needed at launch to gain presence and
•      market share
•     -Ad texts important to branding
•         -Banner ads
•     -Bing and AdWords
•     -There should be no issues with policies for
•      our selection
•     -Budget 5,000 per month to start, expect
•      heavy losses here

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Marketing Channels

• 2) CSE
•     -Google Shopping key
•     -Bing Shopping
•     -Check policies of other networks, ensure
  that they
•      offer the products
•     -May want to alter feeds for certain networks

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Marketing Channels

• 3) SEO
•     -Number one marketing channel to pursue
•     -Important to get noticed for key clothing
  brands
•      (Under Armour, 5.11) and the guns for which
•      accessories will be sold (AR-15, AK-47, etc)

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Marketing Channels

• 4) Affiliate
•     -Worth a try on one network
•     -Must check policies beforehand

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Custom Development

• -Incorporation of data feeds to both import
  product information as well as to export to
  partner sites (affiliates)
• -Possibility to build out exploded-parts view of
  products (ex Remington rifles) to allow for
  people to easily find parts
• -Possibility to build out search refinement
  system to narrow down clothing section by color,
  size, etc.
• -Possibility to use Year/Make/Model search to
  narrow focus onto a user's individual firearm and
  relevant components, 
• then remember that by cookie-ing the user's
  computer.