1. Fun in the Gump Marketing Plan
Katrina M. Crandell
Columbia Southern University

2. Montgomery is a wonderful place, but with any city, it can be challenging to meet friends
and to get acclimated to a new area. Fun in the Gump is perfect for meeting and socializing with
others. It's an active group for men & women in the Montgomery/Tri-County area who are new
or just looking to expand his/her network of friends. The goal of the group is to bring people
together while experiencing some of the fantastic things that this area has to offer such as
restaurants, music, wine tastings, happy hours, outdoor adventures, sporting events or parties.
Also, if you want to make new friends of the opposite sex, then Fun in the Group is the way to
go! Fun in the Gump strives to have non-intimidating, comfortable social events after work and
on the weekends. The typical age range for our members is between 25 and 45 but everyone is
welcome whether you are new, kind of new, not so new or new again. Unlike other social
groups or organizations, we "do not" charge any annual membership fees or dues! If we charge
fees, they will be based on the individual event and cover any out-of-pocket costs that we incur
and/or advance venue commitment fees. We host numerous events! All are welcome, no matter
what your relationship status. Our events bring together friends and friends to be. There are no
match-making or other dating related pressures with this group. It's all for fun and a good cause!
When a member joins our group, they are agreeing to do 3 simple things to make sure
that being a part of our group is a great experience for everyone involved; attend at least 1 event
every 2 months, RSVP (either yes or no) to at least 1 event every month, do not "no show" more
than 3 times. This has a bunch of benefits for our group. More people are willing to host events
when they know that it will not be a waste of their time and resources. More people attend
events when they know it is going to be a real chance to meet people, and sure to be a good time.
And of course, being able to count on our RSVP's to be accurate lets us approach bars,

3. restaurants, fitness places, wineries and any establishment we frequent for discounts and freebies
for our members! Members will be asked to leave the group after 6 months of non-participation.
Situational Analysis
Fun in the Gump is entering its second year of being a social group within the River
Region and continued marketing will be key to the development of the brand. Some of the ways
that will market the brand locally and through the internet will be essential in the growth of the
brand. We are currently analyzing the most effective ways to market Fun in the Gump, whether
it is through an onset of social media markets such as Twitter, Pinterest, a blog or the meetup
site. Also, we will be analyzing traditional markets as well, which are t-shirt, koozies, posters
and yard signs. Our biggest competitors are social organizations that are already established
such as country and social clubs: Junior Civitan, the Junior League of Montgomery, the Capital
City Club, Lion’s Club International and certain lodge affiliations. Other competitors are
churches, sports organizations, and other large social organizations as well. Churches provide
that social network that most people are looking for and a home-base for people to establish roots
in the area. However, the downside to churches is that you must have religious affiliations. The
downside to the other large social groups is that you must pay dues to be able to participate in the
group functions associated with these groups. A meetup group is a social network unto itself and
does not have any religious affiliations. Also, Fun in the Group does not cost anything for its
members to participate in events. The only cost to the members is the cost of the event itself and
their level of participation. Our monthly potluck cost is minimal as we try to provide the main
course and beverages. The only cost to members is what they bring to the potluck. Also, when

4. attending an event hosted by a local municipality or social organization or restaurant, the only
cost to members is the cost of the items that they purchase. Fun in the Gump is also looking to
raise funds through sponsorships and t-shirt and koozie sales. The sales of these items would
initially go to members and then to people in the local areas. It is possible that the sales of these
items will bring in more funds than a sponsorship program. The purchase of these items by any
individual would offset the costs incurred by the organizers of the meetup group. Providing a
certain level of income to the group is essential for its growth and sustainability.
Strengths:
 Funin the Gump isthe largestco-edmeetupgroupinthe area.
 Funin the Gump islocatedat the top of the searchengine requestswhenyousearchfor
meetupgroupsinthe area.
 Funin the Gump currentlyhasover200 membersandwe are still growingstrong
 Funin the Gump currentlyhas6 organizersall withawide varietyof interests.
 There isno limittothe numberand wide varietyof activitiesthatcanbe plannedforthis
meetupgroupincludingbutnotlimitedtotravel,partiesandattendingsocial eventsand cause-
worthyrelatedeventsinthe area.
Weaknesses:
 The costs of maintainingthe meetupsite at$45 everyquarteror$180 a yearincurredbythe
organizations
 Lack of attendance atmeetupfunctions
 Loss of membership
 Lack of activityonthe meetupwebsite
 Lack of fundscominginto Funin the Gump
Opportunities:
 Ability toparticipate inlocal organizedeventscreatedbylocal municipalitiesandsocial
organizations.
 The Abilitytocreate our ownmeetupsandactivitiessuchas:cookouts,parties,tailgating,etc.
 Abilitytocreate a logoand beingable tomarketourproducts to the groupand to other
individualsinthe RiverRegion
Threats:
 Anotherorganizercomingintocreate anotherco-edmeetupgroupsimilartoours.

5.  Othersocial organizationsthathave alreadybeenestablishedinthe area
 Churchesandotherreligious organizations
Marketing Strategy:
The Fun in the Gump marketing strategy is complex and a unique organism to itself. Fun
in the Gump markets events to its members through a Direct E-Mail campaign and through
commenting and posting on the events as they are in progress. Fun in the Gump will use a cross-
market and Integrate marketing communication strategy to market through social media and
traditional marketing strategies to local businesses. The traditional marketing strategies included
Event Marketing, advertising ourselves through T-shirts, koozies, and yard signs. The Integrated
marketing communication is essential to growing the meetup group. Using sites such as
Pinterest, possibly Twitter and a blog could increase followers on other web-based media sites
which could increase membership locally as well. As Fun in the Gump continues to grow, then
we will introduce a more in-depth sponsorship program to local business possibly by having
them sponsor us while we participate in a local 5k run or something similar. The use of all these
strategies will increase the credibility of the Fun in the Gump group and its relationship with
people and businesses in the River Region.
Financials:
The cost of running this meetup group is $180 a year for the meetup site. The cost of
running the meetup group can be offset by members and locals buying Fun in the Gump
paraphernalia such as T-shirts and koozies all being purchased through the organizers with a

6. slight mark-up to allow for additional income into the group. As we have just created a logo
within the last few weeks, we have not been able to work with a local printing company to
analyze the cost of each of these items individually to the organizers to know how to mark them
up where members can purchase them. This will be happening in the near future as we have just
found a local printing company to work with.
Controls:
Our controls are analyzed through Google Analytics which provides a monitoring of our
website through their free analytical system. We did not have this valuable tool in place initially,
so we lost much of the research that would have provided in the first year. These tools allow us
to compare certain variables and provide valuable marketing research. These Analytics can
provide valuable insight into the customer satisfaction and traffic on the site. Another way to
gauge the performance of Fun in the Gump is through a free doodle-poll or a poll provided
through a direct email marketing campaign.

8. Marketing Research:
Our marketing research is performed by Google Analytics who can monitor your website
and the people and members who visit your website. This is a free service provided by Google.
As well, when we incorporate a blog or Pinterest page to the Fun in the Gump meetup group then
we will be able to monitor those websites as well. To fully grasp what our demographic is
searching for, we can also conduct a doodle poll or something similar once a year to find out
what interests and events the members of Fun in the Gump would like to see. A part of this
strategy would be to the Google Anayltyics after we send out an email explaining the details of
an event and what the event entails to see if this increases visits to the website. We can also
analyze how many times a person visits the website as we increase news and buzz through
comments and picture uploading as well. This research and the research conducted through a
doodle poll will allow us the necessary research to keep conducting fresh and hew marketing
strategies. The content reports in Google Analytics allows you to find out how often people visit
each page of your site, how long they stay, and how often they convert (Google, 2013). Standard
reports make it easy to measure and understand engagement on your site (Google, 2013). Using
the tools in the Google Analytical suite, we can ultimately customize our reports generated by
the things we want to know about happening on our websites. Even the basics of these tools can
tell us some key information about our segment of the members who visit our site. I have
provided below some of the reports that have been generated through Google Analytics for the
last month. Some of the questions and issues that we will need to address in the future of Fun in
the Gump is: the continued membership with lack of actual participation, why people sign up and
never participate, what drives a person to participate in an event, does personalization and careful
attention to each individual help us to gain a steady following and participants in meetup groups,

9. what events, new and old, do people want to see when they join our meetup group, is this
something we offer as a paper survey at the first event they attend or do we email it out
immediately upon joining the meetup group and does customization of the web page engage the
participants more.
Customer Loyalty
Fun in the Gump will engage a periodic doodle poll or email poll to gage our members’
satisfaction with the meetup group itself. Customer loyalty will be created through showing
appreciation when members show up and by keeping each member as actively involved as we
can. It’s essential to hear feedback from members and what they think about events and what we
can do to improve events and the types of events they would like to see. We have found that
some of the events that members would like to see are not available in our area such as late night
clubbing or dancing. People have also come in from other meetup groups and suggested
activities that are not going to happen in the River Region and it is hard to tell people that we
have tried their suggestions but that they don’t work in our area. Montgomery is a moderately
sized city with several smaller cities on the outskirts. It is not a metropolis such as San Antonio
or Phoenix and we are not going to be able to sustain having several activities available during
the week when they expect the main organizer to be there. The best we can do is to have
meetups where we reach out to the members who are there and ask their opinions. Also, we can
perform simple surveys and request feedback from the members through the meetup site where
they are able to rate an event. It’s anonymous and they give it a star rating from 1 to 5. This is an
extremely helpful tool to let us know what was successful and what was not. The key to
successful membership loyalty is the ability to engage the members online and at an actual event.

10. This is a struggle that any social organization will have and have to deal with. We find that
making sure that our graphics stay current and that our pages stay up to date with featured events
really makes everyone want to see what’s happening on the meetup page. Once the members are
in attendance at an event, it is especially important to engage them there too. The organizers
engage the new members by inquiring about them and finding out what they are about and what
brings them to meetup. It’s important to know why they are there and what will keep bringing
them back to meetup. Fun in the Gump works to build lasting friendships that go beyond just
attending our events. We want our members to socialize outside our meetup group and form
their own bonds and friendships. These bonds and friendships only help our meetup group grow
because if one member is there then certain other members will also be in attendance. If Fun in
the Gump can continue to engage members, online and offline, we will have continued growth
and sustain our membership in the years to come.

13. Marketing Segmentation
Segments can be defined in geographic, demographic, psychographic or behavioral
segmentation. Psychographic segments are divided into personality traits, lifestyles or values.
Behavior segments can be divided into the consumer’s use of, or attitude toward a product. The
segments of the population that we will be marketing to are the segments of the population who
have moved to the area who don’t have friends in the area or people who have moved back to the
area and have lost all contact with high school friends that used to live here. The most important
thing about the segment we are marketing to is that they have no one currently in the area that
they know or can hang out with. The age range of this segment is between 25-45 and are either
divorced, single or married looking to make a connection or connections with people in the area
who they can form friendships with. The goal of Fun in the Gump is to help people form lasting
friendships and to socialize with acquaintances that eventually form lasting friendships. Another
goal of meetup is to use the internet to get people out and socializing with people locally. The
founders wanted people to engage on the internet to get them engaged in their local community.
This is especially one of the goals of Fun in the Gump as well. The more that people engage on
the website, the more people will engage in the real world and local community around them.
Facebook, Myspace and social media sites allowed most people to become disengaged with the
world around them. Meetup used the Internet to re-engage these same people through
challenging people to find people in their local area that share their same interests and to go out
and participate in a meetup group. This segment of the population have often lost their identity
through divorce, moving around through different jobs and loss of family and friends. The
market segmentation of our members is such that have to remind ourselves to engage our meetup
group in with events that appeal to everyone and get them to participate. Since our age range is

14. from the mid-twenties and ranges upwards to people in their late forties and fifties, it’s important
to have events that interest everyone. Some of these events that engage everyone from every age
are the large hosted events such as parties and the potlucks. Another event that was successful in
engaging every age range were the city hikes that ended up at a restaurant or bar to hang out
afterwards. Our happy hours also tend to be able to engage people of every age range. It’s
important to know you are marketing to and their likes and dislikes. Striving to find a balance of
fun and creative activities for a 20 year age difference is a challenge and often rewarded with a
very successful event engaging other members online through the website who aren’t
participants of the event.
Membership Buy-in
Fun in the Gump allows members to attend events for free or for whatever the event costs
through the organizations who put the event on or the establishments we frequent. In this
economy, it’s important to have free events and nearly free events so that every member can
participate if they would like to. Often, this is why we attend happy hours at local restaurants or
engage in activities such as Second Saturday or the potlucks which are free to participants. We
have had many inquiries about paraphernalia such as koozies and t-shirts and we hope that many
of our members would want to purchase these items once they become available. Fun in the
Gump engages its members through online social media such as posting comments and pictures
and sending direct email campaigns about upcoming events. This is encouraging the participants
to get involved in the group and to stay engaged with the group on a regular basis. Fun in the
Gump has to market itself through many different channels and encouraging a successful
dialogue within the group whether it is through the social media sites or when they attend events.

15. It’s important that members buy into what Fun in the Gump is offering which is an easy
environment to help you find friends in the local area who you can relate to and that you can find
lasting bonds outside the meetup group. As an organizer you have to appear excited and
engaged through comments on the website and when people actually attend the event. This
engagement is what members are buying into. Being able to engage in the local community and
the community of Fun in the Gump is the biggest part of becoming a member of our meetup
group. Since there is no cost to join Fun in the Gump, it’s important you engage members
through content, direct email marketing and social media marketing. Using as many different
channel levels will also engage different business and others who want to be associated with our
meetup group. We will be able to more successfully be able to market ourselves through the
presentation of our logo, business cards and tshirts. All of these presentations of our group give
credibility to our meetup group which most meetup groups do not have. Keying in on what
members want and engaging them by reaching out through the social media channels and a direct
email marketing campaign will sustain our meetup group well into the future and also keep the
costst to our members low. It is our goal of Fun in the Gump to keep members from ever having
to pay a membership fee to participate in our group. Therefore, being one of the affordable
options for meeting and socializing in the local social organization market.
Brand Elements
Achieving the right brand identity involves creating brand awareness, which initially
involves linking the brand – brand name, logo, symbol and so forth – to certain associations in
memory (Gunelius, 2013). Fun in the Gump is the first integrated social group in Montgomery
through http://www.meetup.com. To differentiate us from the competition, we will have to keep

16. setting ourselves apart from the other Meetup groups in the area by creating a social group that is
above board and handles itself in the local community with ease. The Fun in the Gump name is
becoming well known in the local area by businesses and the City of Montgomery. For any
Meetup group, you have to start thinking of yourself as a business and cultivating a group that
commands respect in the local community. The fast and exponential growth of our Meetup
group has caused us to fast track several brand elements. “To build brand equity, brand elements
should be memorable and distinctive, easy to recognize and easy to recall the sticky factor.
Secondly, brand elements need to be meaningful to convey the descriptive or persuasive content”
(Gunelius, 2013). For example, brand logos, color palette, marketing materials, letterhead,
signage, messaging, and so on are all tangible representations of your brand that make up its
sensory identity. If one element doesn’t fit into the brand identity, it can damage your entire
brand (Gunelius, 2013). The first and foremost branding element that I have used and will
continue to use to further the brand will be my own personal brand. A personal brand is the
marketable expression of a person's value, ability and personality (Montoya, 2004). Essentially,
personal branding translates your "elevator speech" into marketing, public relations and
networking that promotes you, not your company. It puts your value directly in front of the
decision-makers you want to attract. It makes you the expert of choice (Montoya, 2004). The
next brand element that we will be using is the creation of a logo within a low cost budget has
been frustrating. Through my jewelry business, Chloe & Isabel, I was able to source a graphic
artist who designed our logo and will potentially help us brand ourselves in the future. In fact, I
have just created our first logo, I’m in the process of using some of the improved functions on
the Meetup site and I am learning new social media to integrate into our website. One of the key
elements is building the Fun in the Gump brand will be social media. Keeping up with the trends

17. and using the new software to create new elements to the site are essential to members who are
social media savvy. Another key element that we have used is a slogan, which is “an exciting
way to meet people”. The most important element of growing a group such as this is to keep
coming up with new kinds of meetups and mixing them with the meetups that we have had in the
past. By keeping the ones that work, building on them, and trying new ones. The branding of
Fun in the Gump has been a trial and error process and with the help of this marketing plan, the
future looks brighter than ever.

18. Market Positioning
The appropriate positioning for Fun in the Gump is as follows. Fun in the Gump is
perfect for meeting and socializing with others. It's an active group for men & women in the
Montgomery/Tri-County area who are new or just looking to expand his/her network of friends.
The goal of this social group called Fun in the Gump is to bring people together while
experiencing some of the fantastic things that this area has to offer such as restaurants, music,
wine tastings, happy hours, outdoor adventures, sporting events or parties. The group strives to
have non-intimidating, comfortable social events after work and on the weekends. The typical
age range for our members is between 25 and 45 but everyone is welcome.
Competitive Strategy and Strategic Group
Our strategic group is a male or female between the ages of 25-45, single or in a
relationship. The factor in determining our strategic group was what age groups would be the
most compatible. Now granted most twenty-somethings do not have anything in common with
thirty-somethings, but we have found a way to make it work. In fact, one of our organizers is 28-
years old, while most of the others range in age from mid-thirties to forties. One of our
competitive strategies is exclusivity when building the Fun in the Gump. Once our membership
reached 100 members we closed the group off so that non-members can see some of the
information but not all. This allows us to stand out to the rest of the meetups in the area because
they are all open where even outsiders can see what is going on with their meetup group.
Exclusivity within the meetup also allows for privacy as well. Only members can see locations
of certain meetups and view pictures from those meetups as well. This also allows members to

19. choose the pictures that they want posted on their own social media sites. Our key competitive
strategy is to keep our meetups fresh and new, but also pay homage to our roots by keeping some
of our key meetups in place. One of our key meetups is our monthly pasta dinner/potluck and it
can remain the same or become different, as it needs to. As we are a co-ed group, getting the
men involved was essential and to do so we found it key to offer a pasta dinner cooked by the
women in the group. This beckons back to an article that I read in GuidePosts where a woman
would host a weekly dinner at her home and invite strangers, neighbors and friends to partake in
a Spaghetti Dinner. This weekly group fostered many friendships and became a welcoming
respite to many of her friends and neighbors. We sometimes change the potluck to reflect the
seasons. One of our most successful was the chili night and beer tasting event. In this age of
immediacy, PR practitioners understand it's not just the target audience impacted by brand
messages but a host of audiences that have access to everything the corporation communicates
(Bush, 2007). Another key strategy is to be active on the Meetup site by posting comments and
getting members involved through email mail-outs and posting comments to events. We have a
powerful, competitive approach to offer marketing communications clients by moving beyond
media relations, defining our strategic expertise as the facilitators of human exchange and
packaging that expertise under a branded product (Bush, 2007). This is a key statement because
Fun in the Gump is a group of friends and neighbors that come to each other aid as needed. For
example, over the Memorial Day weekend, we helped a friend clear out overgrowth in his yard
and most recently, helped another friend who was without a car by providing transportation to
and from her new job. Fun in the Gump is a social group that fosters friendships, bonds and
socialization through the Internet and beyond.

20. Five product levels: core benefit, basic
product, expected product, potential
product.
The first product level to be addressed is the core benefit level. What do members get out
of joining our meetup group is the essential question. Members become more involved in the
local community and meet friends to hang out with through the meetup group and outside the
meetup group. Socializing in a meetup group or any kind of group such as this, wards off
depression and keeps people involved outside of the internet, which has become the primary
focus of most people’s socialization and lives. The second product level is the basic product,
which in my case is the actual meetup group. “Meetup's mission is to revitalize local community
and help people around the world self-organize. Meetup believes that people can change their
personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful
enough to make a difference” (Meetup, 2013). Our meetup group focuses on developing lifelong
friendships and making a difference in our local community and the community within our
meetup group. The third level of the product level is the expected product, which means the set
of attributes or characteristics that buyers normally expect and agree to when they purchase a
product. This in itself poses a unique proposition for any meetup group and especially mine. The
goal of Fun in the Gump is to bring people together while experiencing some of the fantastic
things that this area has to offer such as restaurants, music, wine tastings, happy hours, outdoor
adventures, sporting events or parties. The group strives to have non-intimidating, comfortable
social events after work and on the weekends. Our events bring together friends and friends to
be. There are no matchmaking or other dating related pressures with this group. Essentially, the

21. expectations of the group are that there will be no “hook-ups” at one of our meetups and no
“break-ups” at one of our meetups. This is one of our biggest expectations and one of the
hardest to maintain. Since it is a co-ed group, there will be people who meet and date within the
group. The expectation is that if anything happens inside your own individual relationship you
take it out of our group setting. The fourth product level is the augmented product. This is
defined as additional features, benefits, attributes or related services that serve to differentiate the
product from its competitors. Some of our additional features and benefits of Fun in the Gump
are the organized weekend trips to different areas such as the mountains or the beach. Another
additional benefit is throughout the year there are continued and widespread different activities
that are planned. Fun in the Gump strives to provide interesting and unique activities for its
members. The fifth and final product level is the potential product. Fun in the Gump will need
to strive to continue the wide variety of activities that members come to it for and create new
outings for those who want to explore different options, like museum outings and nights out on
the town.
Pricing objective
Our primary pricing objective is not to charge any membership dues to our members and
to keep the cost for attending functions low and affordable. If Fun in the Gump charges a fee, it
will be based on the individual event and cover any out-of-pocket costs that the group incur
and/or advance venue commitment fees. This allows the membership to continue growing while
keeping the costs low for our members. To bring income to our group, we will proceed with
asking local business to sponsor us and have exclusive advertising space on our web page that
includes their logo and why our members should spend their dollars with them. The sponsorship

22. program to be featured on our page would be $20 and they will get free advertisement for a year
and the extra benefit of being able to add special discounts or promotions to drive people to their
local business. The sponsorship program is an excellent way to get the Fun in the Gump name
out there to the local business and in return, the local businesses get exclusive advertising rights
on our website. Home business such as Advocare and Passion Parties can easily afford
advertising within our meetup group. However, this sponsorship will also help organizations
such as insurance companies, salons, etc. to build their businesses as well. The main implication
of our pricing decisions is that we have to fund the $45 a quarter or $180 a year through personal
funds. However, the ability to get local business to become sponsors on our website will offset
the costs of these personal funds. Another implication of going to businesses to be sponsors will
be to continuing to get those businesses to sponsor you and want to sponsor you year after year
even if they don’t see a cost benefit right away. However, I feel that local businesses respect will
be more easily gained with a professional logo and a business card that truly reflects who we are
as a group and we will be able to gain more sponsors more efficiently. With the new logo, our
organizers and members will want to wear t-shirts when we are at an event. The cost of the t-
shirt can be marked up to offset the personal costs incurred year after year. The t-shirts will also
be free advertising and will help market the group locally and when we travel. These are all easy
ways to start incorporating more outside funds into the FITG meetup group.
Packaging and Labeling
Our packaging and labeling is made through our website and through some of the
decisions made recently about our logo, business cards, and –shirts. Increasing the use of the

23. websites banner system and incorporating pictures from the events will increase traffic on our
website and increase membership participation. The packaging and labeling will be on
documents that incorporate our logo such as personal stationary, business cards, t-shirts that
incorporate our logo design. The organizers will use most of these designs and the members but
the members will have many opportunities to win and/or purchase merchandise with our logo on
it. Being able to pass out professional business cards with a signature logo will increase our
credibility with the local community and there infuse the brand into the local environment.
Keeping the website fresh and new is essential in increasing the people who visit the
website after they become members and increasing their active participation too. Concerning the
website, the banner will play an essential role in bringing new members to the site, which is now
private, and only members can view the events. Being able to update this banner weekly, bi-
weekly or monthly will drive members and non-members to the site as well to look for new
events and it should drive people to the events as well. In addition, being able to give away t-
shirts and cozies with our logo on it will be able to up participation in the meetup group as well.
The more well-known we are in the area will also drive businesses to want to participate in our
sponsorship program. The ability to be able to produce any product with our logo on it will go a
long way towards us branding our group. The branding of our group is essential to the growth of
this local organization and for it to become even better known in the River Region otherwise
known as the Gump. The group has also adopted a local charity called the Family Sunshine
Center that helps everyone with local domestic violence, sexual assault and fostering hope and
healing through crisis intervention, advocacy and community education. Through partnerships
like this and branding our meetup group will help our group gain credibility within our local

24. community. Branding our meetup group is happening faster through as many channels as I can
accomplish with as little time as I have.
Channel Levels
There are a number of distribution channels, including wholesalers, retailers, distributors
and the Internet. Each channel gives you different options for dealing with customers and
prospects (Time, 2013). Since Fun in the Gump is already a web-based business, the number of
channel levels that are appropriate to distribute our product is one distribution channel. Fun in
the Gump uses a zero-level channel called the direct marketing channel. We use the
www.meetup.com website to market upcoming events and to market our group to its targeted
market segment, which are people from the ages of 25-45 looking for activities to do within the
local area. This gives us a low overhead and gives Fun in the Gump a more broad-ranged reach
than other local social organizations in the area. Essentially, our distribution channel is

25. extremely direct and focused on the producer consumer channel of distribution. It is essentially
the shortest route to target our audience and the most cost-efficient as well. To have full control
over distribution and to perform all the marketing activities, the producer or entrepreneur would
use this type of channel of distribution (Business.gov, 2013). This means that we control the
content and the marketing to our consumers. Many of the meetup groups have a certain level of
success because of the type of social group that they are. However, to be able to take a meetup
group to the next level you have to be able to legitimize it to the local community. By having a
logo and somewhat of a business plan is the only way to make the Fun in the Gump meetup cost
effective. The zero-level marketing channel is essentially the only way that we can market our
products, which are the events that we attend and the friendships that can develop from attending
our events. The producer selects only very few intermediaries in exclusive distribution. A deal
where the reseller carries only that producer's products to the exclusion of all others characterizes
exclusive distribution. This creates high dealer loyalty and considerable sales support
(Boundless, 2013). The exclusivity of Fun in the Gump comes into play because of our closing
off our meetup group after the numbers reached 100 members. Not allowing anyone who is a
part of meetup (but not our group) to see our activities provides a certain exclusiveness that other
meetups in the area do not have. However, we are only exclusive on that level. We do not
charge a large membership fee as would be required by a country club or exclusive club such as
the Capital City Club. You will have large periods of growth followed by low membership
attendance, which is true with any meetup group or club. Marketing an event so that people will
want to attend is the hardest thing that a meetup group is faced with. Emails explaining what the
event is about and what the focus is helpful and eye opening to the members. It allows them to
figure out the who, what, when, where, why and what to bring to an event and gives them the

26. confidence to attend the event. This soft sale is the most effective way to make new members
feel welcome and eager to meet the key organizers in the meetup group. Also, being able to
post comments and pictures as the event is happening is an awesome way to get people to want
to attend an event. They are able to see all the fun you are having and want to have the same
level of fun as well. Using this direct level of distribution and marketing is the only way to get
your meetup to grow and for attendance to stay strong. If you let one area slack, like I have with
the soft sell email marketing strategy, then it will take some refocused marketing to start building
attendance once again. Consistency, imagination and perseverance in these soft sell emails,
comments, and picture posting just like with any direct level marketing is the only successful
strategy to use when reaching out to people through an organization such as this and into the
future.
Retail Distribution
An E-tailer is a type of retailer allows customers to shop on-line via the internet and buy
products, which are then delivered. This type of retailer is able to supply a wider geographic
customer base and is highly convenient. E-tailers can offer very competitive pricing due to
lower rent and overheads (Reseller, 2013). Specialty Retailers are a type of retailer specializing
in specific industries or products. This type of retailer can provide a high level of service and
expert knowledge to its customer. They also add value by offering additional related products
and accessories at the same outlet (Reseller, 2013). Fun in the Gump is a mixture of both of
these types of retailers. On one level of retailing, we are the E-tailers because we offer our
products through an online website. The second retailer which we can relate to is the specialty
retailer as we offer a specific product only available through our meetup group. As an e-tailer,

27. we offer our services to members of www.meetup.com and once they become a member to our
exclusive group, they can see the type of events we offer to them. Fun in the Gump is only
available to those who sign up online and essentially these are the people to whom we market
our events. We are also a specialty retailer because we let members in on events that they might
not be aware of that are happening in the local area. This inside track to local events is a key part
to having your membership grow. However, as an organizer, this is tough because you are
supposed to attend essentially every event and with me being a key organizer there is certain
time where you are giving up your social life to the group and risk burning out. At events, you
have to be on, happy and not feel overwhelmed by the success of the group and the feeling of not
having a life of your own. I want to grow my online business and local business as well through
Chloe & Isabel, an exclusive jewelry line out of New York City, but somehow there are not
enough hours in the day to do everything unless I keep an extensive to do list and follow it to the
t every day. Chloe & Isabel has this rule of thumb which I think leads me into Assignment VII
which are the communication objectives. I think that if I can follow their Daily 5 of marketing
your business for Fun in the Gump and for Chloe & Isabel, I will eventually be able to market
both of my businesses successfully. The Daily 5 consists of reaching out to 5 different people
through online marketing, personal follow-up through text messages and phone calls.
Essentially, if you follow their rule of thumb, then you can have a successful online and local
retail business. I think this is key with Fun in the Gump as well.

28. Communication Objectives and Channels
Fun in the Gump will use an integrated marketing communication channel/strategy. The
concept of integrated marketing communications, or IMC, is that there is a wide array of
methods, media, and channels for communicating with those outside of an organization, and that
an organization needs to coordinate and centralize these activities over the long term in order to
be effective (Owen & Humphrey, 2009). One of the major benefits of integrated marketing
communications is that by using several communication channels marketers can clearly and
effectively communicate their brand’s story and messaging to create brand awareness. IMC is
also viewed as more cost-effective than mass media, since consumers are likely to interact with
brands across various mediums and digital interfaces. Marketers need to utilize different
touchpoints to integrate multiple exposures to their brand as consumers spend more time on
computers and mobile devices. Companies can then view the entire performance of their
communication tactics instead of as fragmented pieces (Boundless, 2013). As a part of this
integrated marketing strategy, Fun in the Gump will use a cross-channel approach to its
marketing strategy. It’s important that we listen to the people who are a part of meetup who use
the site for dialogue and excitement about an event. Internet and social media marketing do play
a large role in how we market Fun in the Gump. A social networking website is defined here as
"one that allows internet users the ability to add user-generated content such as: comments,
feedback, ratings, or their own dedicated pages" (Owen & Humphrey, 2009). However, while
we are at an event, more traditional forms of marketing are effective such as billboards, posters
and the like are effective in getting people involved in the group from outside the meetup site.
We rely heavily on a word of mouth strategy to get people talking about an event and to keep
them talking about Fun in the Gump. Through the meetup site we use direct marketing to tell the

29. members about an individual exciting event such as a party or something that they might be
unfamiliar with to bring them a certain level of comfort and encourage them to attend the event.
Having an integrated approach to marketing is becoming the fastest approach to marketing your
business successfully. For example, I have started using a Pinterest page to allow members that
are a part of Pinterest to be able to post to our Pinterest page. This means that when they hear or
see something that might interest the group, they can pin it to the Fun in the Gump page.
However, the struggle with that is that Pinterest is so new that most people are not on Pinterest
and do not know how to pin. Tweeting is something that most people of our targeted market
segment do not do so is that many not be an appropriate media outlet to use at this time. I also
have created a blog for Fun in the Gump but very people have grasped the concept of actually
reading the blog to find out more about the group so I have posted very little. Maybe in the
future, it would be wise to create a blog featuring an event and send out over our direct email
marketing strategy. I follow several blogs every day and I had hoped that people would want to
follow us on our blog but again I’m not sure how many people of our generation actually are that
social media savvy and follow blogs. We also have not created a Facebook face for our group
because we like the exclusivity of the meetup page, being able to close the group off and only let
members sees the events as they are happening. I do know that Facebook has those settings as
well but Meetup does most of the work for you after you have created an event. They send out
the reminder emails so if we did a Facebook page that part of the email marketing strategy would
lose its effectiveness. These are several concepts that will have to be analyzed in the future and
going forward if Fun in the Gump is going to be a social outlet for those in the River Region.
Using an integrated marketing communication going forward, Fun in the Gump will have to
choose the social media channels that are most effective for the group such as a blog, tweeting,

30. Pinterest or its on social media site. To reach a broader audience, we will also use traditional
marketing concepts as well such as promotional t-shirts, cozies and posters so that our name will
become word of mouth in the River Region.
Event Marketing
Event marketing is a tool for experiential marketing that focuses on consumer
experiences, and treats emotionally and rationally driven consumption as a holistic experience
(Close, Finney, Lacey & Sneath, 2006). Communicating through events involves promotional
activities designed to communicate with attendees and add value to the consumption experience;
events provide an opportunity to engage the consumer with a company, its brands and the
community (Close, et al, 2006). Event sponsorship is Sponsorships involve the acquisition of
rights to affiliate or associate with a product, event or organization for deriving related benefit
(Close, et al, 2006). Event marketing is essentially what Fun in the Gump utilizes while it is in
its early stages. Compared to sponsorship, which involves payment for the association with an
activity, individual, or organization, event marketing refers to the staging of an event and/or
efforts by a firm to associate with another entity's event with or without paying a sponsorship fee
(Close, et al, 2006)
To explain more broadly why this is more cost effective for us now, it simply means that
we get name recognition for attending an event sponsored by another group or business. Most
likely most business will want us to return again and again because of the numbers that we can
bring to an event. For example, the Capital City Club sends us regular emails for us to advertise
their free events or limited cost events that non-members can attend to be advertised on our web
page. This is beneficial to both organizations as the Capital City Club gets access to more people

31. who might be interested in their club and our members are aware about some cool events that
happen at the club and that you do not have to be a member to attend. The latest one was the
Blues, BBQ and Brews event which is their largest membership drive of the year. The cost was
$10 for anyone to attend. Fun in the Gump brought in over eight potential members to their
event and got to enjoy the event without actually being a member of the club. Another way that
Fun in the Gump uses event marketing is that we go to local events held at restaurants, by the
local municipalities and the like. This engages our group in the community and gets us involved
on a different level than most organizations. We also have participated in food drives, clothing
drives and such to give back to the local communities as well. Attending these events leads to
credibility within our target market and leads us to more people that might want to become a part
of our group. Event marketing lends us to brand awareness and recognition by attending events
held by other local organizations, restaurants, and social groups. Also, important, is that these
outings give us an opportunity to present our brand to more local businesses and give ourselves
more resources to use when planning our outings at their restaurants. For example, two local
restaurants have encouraged us to use their restaurants for our events. The first of these was the
Irish Bred Pub which seated 15 of our members after a 4-mile moonlit hike and made sure that
we had service and got everything we needed. I had met the owner at a local event held every
month called Second Saturday. I went to his tent for shepherd’s pie and ended up with meeting
someone who was familiar with Meetup and encouraged us to plan events at his restaurant in his
private room area. What ended up happening was that after the moonlit hike, we ended up
crashing his restaurant with all 15 members in attendance. He accommodated us and made us
feel very welcome and more than happy to return. The second of these types of associations
happened when couple of girlfriends and I wanted to try a new restaurant called Jan’s Beach

32. House and grill. Jan is an awesome business woman and made us feel welcome. She invited the
group back to hear all the local bands and also designed to awesome drinks that were
inexpensive for us to partake of anytime we are at her restaurant. She also has a private room
where we can book events at no cost to us as well. If we are able to raise funds through koozie
and t-shirt sales then eventually we might look into sponsoring a local event. However, we are
working in the reverse as we are looking for local businesses to sponsor us in the meantime as I
have explained before.
New Product Launch – T-shirts and
Koozies
The two products that we are conceptualizing now are t-shirts and koozies with our logo
on them. Both of these will initially be in limited release and given away at events then they
would also become available to buy through our website and other social media outlets. This
would generate income for us to maintain the group without dipping into our personal financial
resources. Eventually, there might be more Fun in the Gump gear as the group warrants it but
for now, I feel that these are two inexpensive outlets for us to reach our target market and to
continue to reach people outside the meetup group. People will love the logo and want to know
where they got the t-shirt and/or koozies and either want to participate in the group and/or buy
the paraphernalia. It is also good to have these items to have on hand so that we can give them to
the local business owners that we would like to do business with. All social organizations have a
way of advertising themselves and this would be our way of doing so. We would also design
yard signs and posters that we can set in the ground while we are attending the events. This will
give us free advertisement as well make it easier for people to locate us when we are at a large

33. social event such as Second Saturday or the City of Wetumpka’s blues event. We can also use
the yard signs and posters when we have an event at a person’s home so that when navigating to
a new location, we can say just look for the yard sign/poster. With these four merchandising
tool: the koozie, the t-shirt, the yard sign and the poster, we will be able to put our name out
there in ways that are discreet but yet will have people asking what is that group and how do I
get involved. Most Meetup groups do not think of marketing their group as a way to sustain it
and make it grow. However, with any such social organization comes a certain level of burn out
to the organizers and you have to have a way to bring new life and excitement to the group. In
using these new marketing tools, we will find new members and businesses to associate our
name with. The organizers will also not be the main source of income for the group, having
members and people outside the group wanting to purchase our gear will bring in more income
and help the group sustain itself in the long run.

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35. Close, Angeline G., Finney, R. Zachary,Lacey, Russell Z. & Sneath, Julie Z. (2006). Engaging the
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