thestudentzone.net at ut dallas

www.TheStudentZone.net

David Golynskiy Georgia Gottsacker

Elin Britton

Ricky Calderon

Problems• Availability of student advice

• Inconvenient trade

• Freedom of expression

• Student collaboration

Solutions• UTD Forums

• Classified Advertisements

• Student Exposition

• Prof/Class Ratings

• Mobile Accessibility

Competition• Forums

o Facebook Groupso College Confidential

Competition• Classified Ads

o Dallas Craigslist

• Professor Ratingo RateMyProfessor.org

Perception• How do we want to be perceived?

o Usefulo Communityo Safeo Creative Expressiono Modernized

Dedicated

UsefulUseless

Undedicated

Dedicated / Useful

Undedicated / UsefulUndedicated / Useless

Dedicated/ Useless

Target Markets

Current UTD Students• Ages 18-25• Mix of experience and

demographics• Segments of interest:

o Freshmeno International students

Student Body Profile

Target MarketsProspective UTD Students• TX High school seniors• Local community college

transfersUTD Alumni• Recent graduates• Local professionals, still active

on campus

Market Research Plan• Survey current UTD students to analyze:

o Website attributes & functionality students valueo Additional values & concerns of studentso international students’ language preferences

• Further research the student body’s demographic• Create profiles for:

o A student in each year (Freshman, Sophomore, etc..)o A graduate studento A prospective studento An alumnus

• Create a test market— analyze which features are more important to student and how the market perceive our product

Product Market Grid

Market Segment Classified Forums Blog

Current Student P P P

Prospective Student

P S

Recent Graduate P S P

Less recent Alumni

S

Primary Market= P

Secondary Market= S

Pitch/Advantages• How many use Facebook? Craigslist?

RateMyProfessor.com?

• Would you like the services of all these websites consolidated into one?

• “ From One Comet to Another… ”

• TheStudentZone.Net

Promotion• Target hot-spots on campus:

• Student Services Building, Student Union, Activity Center

• Arrange promotional deals with on-campus restaurants and Pub to increase users

• Grouping with other companies that target college students:

• Jimmy John’s, Off Campus Books, etc.

• Community colleges• Collin College, DCCCD, Richland, Brookhaven

• Networking

Place• Advertisements in local newspapers and on-

campus newspapers• Flyers at popular off-campus destinations:

o Starbucks, Fuzzy’s Taco

• Flyers at off-campus housing:o McCallum

Place• Flyers around campus and housing

Price• Membership cost? FREE!

• Donation Box set up to PayPal accounto Students helping students

• There will be a charge for outside companieso Pay-per-Click Advertisements, Promotional Advertisements, Job

Marketers

Financials & Sustainability

• Currently Seeking Investors o $10,000 start-up cost

• Donations from users• Income from Pay-per-Click Advertisements,

Outside Enterprise Fees• As website grows, so will income

Market Analysis: SWOT

Strength Weakness

ThreatsOpportunities

Source: 1 - http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_21761042/building-better-crutch

Questions?