Riipen

SEO and Social Media Strategy

Positions available: 2 students individually or in a team Our team is looking for a social media marketing wizard who can help us drive more traffic and improve our SEO positioning. The primary project requirements include: Keyword analysis to determine relevant search terms to our organization A strategy document to outline: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) requirements to ensure our organization appears on the first page of Google for relevant keywords Social media requirements to increase the number of followers/likes and share Content Calendar Execution: Timely deployment of all our social media content to drive maximum traffic to our site Determining if any content changes are required for our website and if so, creating engaging content We’re excited to work with students who can help us not only brainstorm, but also execute a strategy to achieve: To be known as the company that people think of for fun tours and experiences, when visiting the Blue Mountain and Collingwood area. This is a great project for students to prove their digital marketing expertise to future employers, as the impact of their work on this project can be easily measured and communicated.

Digital Content Creation

Positions available: two teams of three students, or two individual students We would like students to help us with creating content that is aligned with our vision, mission, and tourism sector. We will ensure the student has a clear understanding of what these elements are for our organization. As of Feb. 3 this year, we rebranded to the new name of Blue Mountain & Collingwood Adventure Tours as our previous name did not reflect what we offered. We have not been operating since October 2020, due to Covid-19 lockdown. Like most businesses, especially tourism related ones, we have seen a dramatic decline in business for the past year. We are located 90 mins north of Toronto in a 4 season resort area. Once the lockdown is lifted in Toronto (our target market area), we will resume operations and anticipate a huge interest in people wanting to get out the house and have fun with friends/family. Our area is very popular for visitors and our wine, beer and adventure tours are ideal to escape and have fun. A rebranding campaign has already been done to announce the new name and introduce the new logo, website and social media. Our challenge is to continue to gain awareness, confidence that we take safety seriously and work around the group size restrictions etc. that Covid-19 presents. All messaging has to be very sensitive to Covid-19. To accomplish this, we expect the student(s) will: Write blog articles, email newsletters/sequences and other content pieces on assigned topics Assist with a social media content to promote our organization Evaluate recent successful user-generated campaigns, preferably in our sector Identify media outlets that are most beneficial to share our story Ultimately, you will be working on content creation for our organization, including social media and other collateral that we can use as go-to marketing tools. If you like the sound of our culture, and are ready to tackle this challenge with us, then we'd love to hear from you. A student or team with excellent writing skills for social media that speaks to millennials would be the ideal candidate for this project.

Matches 2

Category Marketing - general + 4

Strategic Marketing & Communications Plan for Re-branding

When we bought an existing small local tour company 3 years ago, we changed the name to Ace Transportation Group. Part of the reason was that the existing name had some reputation issues associated with it. After working with previous student groups in Riipen, it was strongly recommended that we change our company name as it doesn’t resonate with tours/experiences. We have embraced their suggestion, chosen a new name and are in the process of assessing all that's required to go forward with re-branding. (Ace Transportation Group will still be kept for our transportation division.) You can assist us by developing a custom content and communication strategy for our social media that informs current followers of our new name, then establishes brand awareness over time as well as attracting a new audiences. Content can also be applied to our new website, newsletters, e-blasts and any other means of communicating our re-branding message.

Matches 2

Communication and Content Strategy for Re-branding

When we bought an existing small local tour company 3 years ago, we changed the name to Ace Transportation Group. Part of the reason was that the existing name had some reputation issues associated with it. After working with previous student groups in Riipen, it was strongly recommended that we change our company name as it doesn’t resonate with tours/experiences. We have embraced their suggestion, chosen a new name and are in the process of assessing all that's required to go forward with re-branding. (Ace Transportation Group will still be kept for our transportation division.) You can assist us by developing a content and communication strategy for a social media campaign that informs our current followers of our new name and builds brand awareness with a new audience. Content can also be applied to our new website, newsletters, e-blasts and any other means of communicating our re-branding message.

Category Communications + 2

Marketing Our New Product

Industry travel surveys have indicated that many people are more comfortable with travel closer to home, as a result of Covid-19. Rural areas and smaller towns with less density were more favourable. This puts our business in a good position. Even though we are in a four-season resort area, many businesses struggle with the off seasons (spring and fall) and mid-week bookings. All of this information has provided us with the opportunity to look at diversifying our products. We recognize a need for mid-week, multi-day getaways in these off seasons that are either culinary or health/wellness themed. We have a draft business plan, identified potential target markets and have venues in mind that will provide unique getaways that cannot be easily found online, because they are carefully crafted with local businesses. You can help us by researching and construct a business plan, that meets our goals and objectives, to launch this new experience in Spring 2021. Your plan will include, but not limited to, assessment of the market situation, market segmentation, targeting and positioning, as well as marketing strategies for the roll out of this new product.

Media and Writing Challenge for Tour Operator

When we bought an existing small local tour company 3 years ago, we changed the name to Ace Transportation Group. Part of the reason was that the existing name had some reputation issues associated with it. After working with previous student groups in Riipen, it was strongly recommended that we change our company name as it doesn’t resonate with tours/experiences. We have embraced their suggestion, and are in the process of narrowing down a couple of names. (Ace Transportation Group will still be kept for our transportation division.) Once a new name has been chosen, we will be creating a new website. You can greatly assist us by coming up with PR opportunities, writing content for a social media campaign that informs our current followers of our new name and builds brand awareness with a new audience.

Category Marketing - general + 4

New Market Challenge

Industry travel surveys have indicated that many people are more comfortable with travel closer to home, as a result of Covid-19. Rural areas and smaller towns with less density were more favourable. This puts our business in a desirable position. Even though we are in a four-season resort area, many businesses struggle with the off seasons (spring and fall) and mid-week bookings. All of this information has provided us with the opportunity to diversify our product offering to mid-week, multi-day getaways in these off seasons that are either culinary or health/wellness themed. We have a rough draft business plan, identified our target markets and have venues in mind that will provide unique getaways that cannot be easily found online, because they are carefully crafted with local businesses. As innovation consultants, you can help us conduct an in-depth needs and market analysis, review our draft plan and sample itinerary, review digital marketing strategy, propose alternatives and finally present a full business plan that meets our goals and objective to launch in Spring 2021.

New Product Launch

Industry travel surveys have indicated that many people are more comfortable with travel closer to home, as a result of Covid-19. Rural areas and smaller towns with less density were more favourable. This puts our business in a good position. Even though we are in a four-season resort area, many businesses struggle with the off seasons (spring and fall) and mid-week bookings. All of this information has provided us with the opportunity to diversify our products and develop mid-week, multi-day getaways in these off seasons that are either culinary or health/wellness themed. We have a draft business plan, identified our target markets and have venues in mind that will provide unique getaways that cannot be easily found online, because they are carefully crafted with local businesses. You can help us by creating an action plan for the roll out of this new product/experience in Spring 2021. Your plan will include, but not limited to, new brand name, recommendations relating to the market assessment and current trends, sales strategy, and timelines for the implementation.

Culinary Getaway Experience Creation

Industry travel surveys have indicated that many people are more comfortable with travel closer to home, as a result of Covid-19. Rural areas and smaller towns with less density were more favourable. This puts our business in a favourable position. Even though we are in a four-season resort area, many businesses struggle with the off seasons (spring and fall) and mid-week bookings. All of this information has provided us with the opportunity to diversify our products and develop mid-week, multi-day getaways in these off seasons that are either culinary or health/wellness themed. We have a draft business plan, identified our target markets and have venues in mind that will provide unique getaways that cannot be easily found online, because they are carefully crafted with local businesses. You can help us by researching and creating your business plan, that meets our goals and objectives, to launch this new experience in Spring 2021. Your plan will include, but not limited to, recommendations relating to the market assessment and position, marketing strategies, competitor analysis and timelines for the roll out of this implementation.

Virtual Internship Opportunity: Seeking Entrepreneur Minds for New Service (3)

One of the divisions of our company, Ace Transportation Group, operates local tours/experiences (such as wine tours & hiking excursions) in a small 4 season town. Understanding that we have a market post Covid, we have created a couple of new service offerings to pivot and grow our business. These are multi-day curated Culinary and Wellness get-a-ways that support local businesses and promote experiencing tourism in your own backyard. We know that post Covid, people will want to get out and have some fun with a small group of friends and a get-a-way not too far from home (yet providing the escape) will be desirable. Our research shows that there are no such curated multi-day get-a-ways in our area or target market. Therefore, we are confident that this will fill a void in the market. Our organization is able to offer a virtual internship for 1-2 teams. The primary focus for the students will be: - drill down on how to find our target audience of women 55+ - describe our dream client by persona - define where these clusters of people are - what's the best way to reach them with a limited budget - what's the look, feel and message to reach the target audience A secondary focus could include: Coming up with a new name for our tour division, instead of Ace Transportation Group. Our goal at the end of this experience is: with the information you provide, that we will be ready to market these two experiences for fall 2020 We plan to communicate with our virtual intern by: Riipen or email Student's primary contact: Patti Bowden, Marketing & Sales Manager

Category Communications + 4

Virtual Internship Opportunity: Seeking Entrepreneur Minds for New Service (1)

Category Communications + 4

Virtual Internship Opportunity: Seeking Entrepreneur Minds for New Service

Category Communications + 4

Marketing Communications Plan

After a year of social media & marketing/advertising without a real plan in place, it's time to create one & we could use your help. We were focusing more on the brand & services, instead of a target market(s). And in fact, believed that our audience was older. After reviewing the past year, it's now clear that our target market is females 26-35 years of age. We need to re-position to Millennials & Gen Z. Our goals are: establish an effective communications plan to reach these markets implement a strategy as well as ways to measure the plan create engaging & relevant content for the audiences ensure that all communications speak to our brand & complement existing marketing efforts establish best platforms, key words & best times to communicate with our target markets identify problems & any opportunities that we haven't thought of increase bookings overall, as well as during our slower seasons

Category Hospitality, tourism & culinary arts

Strategic Communications Plan Development

The area we would like you to focus on would be our tours/experiences. Our communication problems are: 1) how to effectively reach & speak to our target audience who are females between the ages of 26 & 35 2) effectively communicating with the local population. Our goals are: create more awareness of what we have to offer to our prime target market, as well as the local population establish an effective communications strategy & plan communicate key messages to our audience ensure that all communications speak to our brand & complement existing marketing efforts establish what strategies, platforms, key words & best times are to communicate with our target market increase bookings

Strategic Communications Plan

As mentioned above, we have many areas of our operation. The area we would like you to focus on would be our tours/experiences. Our goals are: create more awareness of what we have to offer to both the local market, as well as our prime target market establish an effective communications plan communicate key messages to our audience ensure that all communications speak to our brand & complement existing marketing efforts establish best platforms, key words & best times to communicate with our target market increase bookings

Social Media Content

As mentioned above, we have many areas of our operation. The area we would like you to focus on would be our tours/experiences. Our goals are: to increase the number of bookings unlock new markets & build our customer base foster repeat business create meaningful social media content that is relevant & meaningful to our target audience create effective & engaging social media content for different platforms connect better with readers & viewers create more awareness of what we have to offer

Digital Marketing & Media Challenge

We have just launched a couple of new tours/experiences that we need to develop a marketing plan & communication strategy for each. Students should be prepared to: Review our competitors, which we will provide names Research potential customers as well as our industry Suggest ways to reach these potential customers before they get to our area. One of our challenges is that we have to give our partners at least 48 hours notice, so customers can't book last minute. Develop a digital media strategy/campaign Present their findings in a way that we can understand & implement them

Category Marketing - general + 4

Competitive Analysis

It’s important for us to have a better understanding of how our target audience perceives our brand and competitors. We want to develop clarity on our competitive advantages and optimize our marketing strategy. We believe this project will involve: An analysis of three of our business categories (segments) and competitor analysis within those categories and their market share. We will provide the names of the competitors. An analysis on future competitors (if any). Building a competition portfolio of our competitors, their features, services, price, and logistics. Review of competitors websites, social media, Google ads, etc to determine their communication strategy (wording used to reach target market, message, etc). Based upon the above, a marketing communication strategy that we can implement to make us stand out from the competition. We will give you access to organizational assets to support this project such as personnel, website analytics, sales and brand collateral, and more. We hope to gain a comprehensive understanding of the competitors in our space and how we can differentiate.

General Business Strategy & Analysis

A couple of our challenges are: 1) Awareness locally despite radio ads, community involvement, social media, etc. 2) Our tours have to be booked with a minimum of 48 hrs notice, so people here for the weekend can't book last minute. Some of the areas this project will look at: Our brand and competitor analysis. Review of digital marketing strategy & recommendations Overhaul of communication strategy in order to address our challenges Go-to-market strategy for a couple of new tours/experiences we've just introduced Analyzing opportunities for growth We will give you access to organizational assets to support this project such as personnel, website analytics, sales and brand collateral, and more.

Digital Marketing Content Strategy

In today's world, most of our communication with potential clients or existing ones is done by email, social media or some form of online activity. Ensuring the content speaks to our brand, is relevant & the right length is key. Ultimately, we want to not only grow our business but also build engagement with our online channels. Having an effective content marketing strategy would be highly beneficial to our success. Students should be prepared to: Develop an audience building strategy for our online channels Provide social media marketing content ideas that engage & build our audience Recommend ideas/concepts on how we can amplify our brand, social media posts, etc. Build an editorial calendar for us Refresh our existing marketing plans to better meet our goals Present their findings in a way that we can understand & implement them

Email Content & Marketing Strategy

In today's world, most of our communication with potential clients or existing ones is done by email or social media. Ensuring the content is relevant & the right length is key. Let alone hoping that your email is opened & read. Ultimately, we want to grow our business so having an effective email/content marketing strategy would be highly beneficial to our success. Students should be prepared to: Develop an audience building strategy/list for our business Provide an email marketing drip campaign with templates that will drive traffic back to our website or to a specific call to action Provide social media marketing content ideas that engage & build our audience Present their findings in a way that we can understand & implement them

Digital Marketing Strategy & Recommendations

We want to be found on the first page of Google. We know that we need to implement SEO, but we’re not sure we have optimized the wording, etc. We would like to collaborate with students to understand what we need to do to generate more traffic and revenue through search engines. Students should be prepared to: Complete an SEO analysis on our website Conduct competitive keyword research Update our website with the best structure and elements for SEO. Develop an on-page and off-page SEO plan. Identify key metrics to track for success. Social Media campaign strategy

Category Marketing - general + 1

Competitor Analysis

It’s important for us to have a better understanding of how our target audience perceives our brand and competitors. We want to develop clarity on our competitive advantages and optimize our marketing strategy. We believe this project will involve: A complete brand and competitor analysis, including identifying our current and future competitors and their market share. Building a competition portfolio of our competitors, their features, services, price, and logistics. Conducting empirical interviews and/or questionnaires for feedback on our brand compared to competitors. We will give you access to organizational assets to support this project such as personnel, website analytics, sales and brand collateral, and more. We hope to gain a comprehensive understanding of the competitors in our region and how we can differentiate.

Competitive Analysis

It’s important for us to have a better understanding of how our target audience perceives our brand and competitors. We want to develop clarity on our competitive advantages and optimize our marketing strategy. We believe this project will involve: A complete brand and competitor analysis, including identifying our current and future competitors and their market share. Building a competition portfolio of our competitors, their features, services, price, and logistics. Conducting empirical interviews and/or questionnaires for feedback on our brand compared to competitors. We will give you access to organizational assets to support this project such as personnel, website analytics, sales and brand collateral, and more. We hope to gain a comprehensive understanding of the competitors in our region and how we can differentiate.

Marketing Strategy & Analysis

It’s important for us to have a better understanding of our customer base, how they perceive us & our offerings as well as our competitors. We want to know our competitive advantages and optimize our marketing strategy. We believe this project will involve: A complete brand and competitor analysis, including identifying our current and future competitors and their market share. Building a competition portfolio of our competitors, their features, services, price, and logistics. Analyzing opportunities for growth (future markets or untapped ones). Recommendations on a marketing strategy within our budget Review of market trends within our industry Review & recommendations on our pricing as it compares to competitors & the market We will give you access to organizational assets to support this project such as personnel, website analytics, sales and brand collateral, and more.