College Pro Painters was founded in 1971 by a student to help students pay for school and find careers. It operates in 28 US states and 7 Canadian provinces, treating nearly 25,000 homes per year with well-trained student professionals. The company strives for affordability, quality, and customer satisfaction. A marketing plan outlines targeting new homeowners for services like free estimates through search advertising, social media improvement, and a mobile app. Metrics and a $6,000 budget are proposed to connect strategies to increased traffic, sales, awareness and business success tracking.

1. By Mary Jane MacCready

2. College Pro Painters
 A college student founded College Pro in 1971 as a way
to help students pay for schooling and secure post-
graduation careers.
 Student-run painting and window cleaning company
 Treats nearly 25,000 homes each year
 Operates in local communities across 28 U.S. states
and 7 Canadian provinces

3. Challenges & Goals
 College Pro strives for affordability and quality
 Pride themselves on well-trained professionals that
deliver low costs
 They do not collect final payment on any house
painting or window cleaning until the customer is
completely satisfied.
 Customer satisfaction is the most important goal
 Mission: “For our customers who have shown belief in
young entrepreneurs: To deliver a service that will be
recommended to others.”

4. Marketing Plan Outline
 Targeting the homeowner side of the business
(customers, not student business owners) Roughly 27+
 New homeowners looking to “fix up” their new homes
 Invest in search
advertising
 Advertise their “Free
Estimating” feature
 Improve social media
accounts

5. Search Advertising
 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can exponentially
boost click-through numbers to a business’s website,
which in turn gathers more potential customers and
revenue
 Purchasing keyword phrases through Google AdWord
would allow customers who are intentionally searching
for the service to be directed to the College Pro website
Search Phrases:
How much to paint a home
Free estimate painting home
Cheap local painters

6. Social Media Improvement
 Revamp Facebook page with relevant information
(currently posting internet memes and unrelated content)
 Begin to campaign on Twitter by encouraging customers
and student managers to use the hashtag #CollegePro to
provide feedback and create brand awareness
 Be consistent
 Be professional
 Plug business perks focusing on free house painting
estimations

7. Metrics of Success: Google Analytics
 Understand how visitor behavior leads to sales and
conversions
 Improve online sales with Ecommerce Reporting
 See the complete picture of campaign performance
with Multi-Channel Funnels
 Track customer clicks and behavior on your website
 Will measure success and improvements after business
strategies have been implemented

8. Mobile App
 Application should be directed only at customers
looking for paid services (again, not students looking for jobs)
 Develop a more mobile-friendly website- the current
page does not translate well due to immense amount
of information the site is trying to process.
 Stick to important features
 Business finder by zipcode
 Prices
 Company services and contact

9. Budget
 Google AdWords and purchasing keywords for
internet marketing: $4,000 (Begin in summer for peak sales)
 Social Media improvement: $1,000 (photographers, social
media team)
 App development: $1,000
 Roughly $6,000

10. New Plans: Connected
 Using the company’s newly implemented ideas and
strategies, College Pro can benefit with the following:
 Increased traffic on website Increased sales
 Better social media upkeep Accurate and updated
brand awareness
 Google AdWord purchase Customers brought to
website for services
they were looking for
 Google Analytics Be able to track
success, increased
business, and web traffic