Marketing Business Plan

Get on the Bus

May 19, 2016

Presented to: Cynthia Gonzales

Presented by:
Jesenia Virrey, Daniel Lee, Maritza Garcia, Alejandro Escalera,

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Letter to CEO_____________________________________________________
Marketing Agreement/Contract_____________________________________
Executive Summary________________________________________________
Parameters of Project_______________________________________________
Need Assessment of the Situation____________________________________
Listing & Summary of all Research__________________________________
Categorical Coverage_____________________________________________
Recommendation for future actions. Studies, revamping______________

LETTER TO CEO
Cynthia Gonzales
Get on the Bus
Center For Restorative Justice Works
6400 Laurel Canyon Blvd. Ste 304
North Hollywood, CA 91606
Dear Cynthia Gonzales,
Marketing service in todays highly competitive environment can be a challenge to
any new or old business. The unpredictable condition of the market and a highly
informed customer base in the nonprofit sector, make it a specialized task to position
your brand for both maximum visibility and enhanced respect among the customers.
We provide custom made marketing strategies and services for your brand in
accordance with the vision of your company and its goals. The results are an
enhanced market presence for your brand and a significant return on your investment
and gain brand recognition.
It would be our honor and pleasure to work with your company in marketing your
products to a wider customer base. Given an opportunity, we can prove our value for
your company by producing and delivering a specific marketing plan aiming to reach
your target market.
Please take a moment to go through our marketing proposal to find out the value our
collaboration promises to bring to your organization. We look forward to hear from
you soon.
Sincerely,

Virrey, Lee, Garcia, Escalera

MARKETING AGREEMENT
This Marketing Agreement is entered by and between Get on the Bus and
a California State University, Fresno (CSUF) Marketing Students. Get on
the Bus and CSUF Marketing Students are sometimes referred to herein
collectively as the parties or individually as a party.
A.

Get on the Bus

B.

CSUF Marketing Students

Now, therefore, in consideration of the above premises, the

representations, warranties and covenants set forth herein, and for other
good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is
hereby acknowledged, and intending to be legally bound hereby, the
parties agree as follows:
All intellectual property utilized during this marketing plan developed by
California State University, Fresno marketing students, Alejandro
Escalera, Maritza Garcia, Jesenia Virrey, and Daniel Lee is sole property
of Get on the Bus. Through research and practice, the aforementioned
students have agreed to assist Get on the Bus in the development and
execution of the marketing programs during 2016 Spring Semester.
Get on the Bus
Name (s)
Date:
Cynthia Gonzales ____________________________________________
Title:________________________________________________________

CSUF MARKETING STUDENTS

Alejandro Escalera ________________________________________________
Maritza Garcia:____________________________________________________
Jesenia Virrey: ___________________________________________________
Daniel Lee: _______________________________________________________

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Muffins with Mom
Doughnuts with Dad
July Jamboree
Get on the Bus is a nonprofit organization which connects children
and their imprisoned parents by taking the children and their guardians
to visit the parent in prison at no cost to the child or family. In the Central
Valley Get on the Bus is having problems with lack of awareness of the
program this business plan should help guide them and increase the
awareness of the program in the Central Valley. To bring a brand
awareness of the program Get on the Bus should incorporate Muffins
with Mom on Mothers day, Doughnuts with Dad on Fathers Day and
July Jamboree where they can have a festive day with their parents. The
expected time frame of completion for this program is 2016 2017.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Get on the Bus brings children and their imprisoned mothers
and fathers together. This is an annual event, Get on the Bus offers free
transportation throughout the State of California for children and their
caregivers to prisons. Get on the Bus provides travel bags for the
children, comfort bags for the caregivers, a photo of each child with his
or her parent, and meals for the day (breakfast, snacks on the bus, a
special lunch at the prison with their parent, and dinner on the way
home), all at no cost to the children's family. On the bus trip home,
following a four-hour visit, each child receives a teddy bear with a letter
from their parent and post-event counseling.

OBJECTIVE AND GOALS

The objective of our project is to create awareness and educate the
public on the program offered by Get on the Bus. Our focus is on the
Central Valley not only what the program is about but also the various
ways in which they can be a part of the cause. Our goal is to gain
maximum exposure about the cause as well as secure sponsors and
donations to further the help that this non-profit has to offer. One of the
main goals is to secure a recurring sponsorship to help cut the cost of the
program.

NEEDS ASSESMENT

In order to accomplish this project, we will reach out to local radio stations,
television stations, and newspapers in order to create awareness for Get on the Bus
and inform the general public of the programs value. We will create a local following
on social media which will include Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. We
will use Face Books Custom Audiences tool to target our desired demographics and
share stories about our past success stories. On YouTube we will showcase our efforts
by sharing our heartwarming mother and father child reunions. We would like to use
Instagram to share photos of those life changing moments in the lives of children
when they are once again reunited with their mothers and fathers. On Twitter we
would like to create a conversation by offering facts such as the statistics on the
number of children who have a mother in prison we would also accept donations
through Twitter. Lastly, we also aim to increase Get on the Bus presence on Googles
search engine and have it appear as the first search result given when searching for
Get on the Bus.

TARGET MARKET
Profile: Low Income Families $26,000-$35,000
Foster House: Foster Care Children or Guardians in charge of family
members because this is where children of imprisoned parents usually
end up living in.
Segmented Markets
Volunteers: We aim to target volunteers in order to facilitate bus visits
and coordinate day camps for training. Volunteers are essential in
making the trips run smoothly and help grow the event and create a buzz
about the organization and program benefits.

Children/Guardians: The main goal of the program is to reunite

children with their family members and therefore most of our marketing
efforts must be used to reach this market segment. The more people are
aware of the program the more likely they are to participate.

Sponsors Donors: With a limited budget, Get on the Bus is in need of

steady funding to be able to provide its program. Sponsorship packages
and donors have been set up in order to achieve this goal. Emotional and
transparent appeals must be made in order attract potential donors.

PARAMETERS OF THE PROJECT

Key Drivers: Reunite disjointed families, children especially, with
their parents to help cope with their absences. Help the incarcerated
parents develop good behavior to boost their morale and encourage
them to do well so they can get out sooner. Increase awareness of the of
the non-profit to gain further movement. Schedule more visits throughout
the year during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Create awareness through
public functions such as career fairs, volunteer fairs, and other events that
raise awareness. Lastly, host fundraisers to generate funds to help
facilitate with the any expenses

Goals: We would want to increase the amount of visits to the detention

facilities by 30% or more. Calculate the release rate of family members
and share their stories of how the program has helped them. Gain media
coverage across all major TV stations, radio stations, and local events.
We would also want to host fundraiser nights, dinners, and silent auctions
to raise $10,000 per year.

Strategies: Create a plan at the start of each year and coordinate with the
correctional facilities to see what dates are available for Get on the Bus

visits. From there a schedule of campaigns to increase awareness for

the following dates would be created Muffins with Mom (Mothers Day),
Doughnuts with Dad (Fathers Day), Christmas, Thanksgiving, and 4th
of July Jamboree. Press releases would be created for radio stations to
gain airtime to share what's going on in the valley and raise awareness of
this program. Gaining PR will ultimately lessen the budget limitations
which occur by sharing about the prison visits, ways to get involved, and
how you can donate or sponsor the cause.

Hosting a Fundraiser night at Wolf Lakes Park and using

connections to gain a discount on the dinner and markup the price to
raise funds. We would also host a silent auction on desserts for the table
to increase even more funds raised. At this event we would share stories
of past children who were reunited with their parents because of the
program.

Limitations: The budget is $10,000 per year and the source of income
lacks transparency. There may also be potential backlash and social
fracas plague. Lastly, Get on the Bus suffers from limited staff/volunteers.

Process: Further secondary information about program to further

educate the general public should be gathered. The research studies and
statistics gathered should favor in support of the program and establish
its credibility. Generating surveys and conducting focus groups to gain
market insight on their familiarity with the program or similar programs is
a critical need for the success of Get on the Bus.

The marketing outlets that will be implemented are social media,

sharing stories of past children and parents who have been reunited
through the program, inform our audience of the work that occurs to put
on the event, and creating engaging videos to appeal to their emotions.
Lastly, we would like news media coverage where we can possibly have
talk show appearances, interviews, press releases, bus wrap, billboards,
radio, and outdoor advertising (should budget permit or donations.)

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY INFO

Our primary research will give a great feedback about how
well our community is aware of Get on the Bus program. Online survey is
a great tool to collect data and analyze weaknesses and strengths. Figure
1 will give a rough idea what types of questions we would be asking to
our Fresno County community. For example, if our survey shows that
Fresno County is not aware of Get on the Bus program to support children
with incarcerated parents. We would increase the awareness of the
program by visiting near foster houses.

CATEGORICAL COVERAGE
In order to make the program work in the future, it is important to
let the community and society know about these kids because often times
can be neglected. Educate community how much children needs their
parents attention and current programs needs supports to run necessary
programs for these kids. Children with incarcerated parents believe that
concerned people are the key to change their lives.

Get recognized by the community, therefore, community can

support the organization and children that are involved. To increase
funding, we would like to modify the current levels of sponsorship
packages Get on the Bus offers. Figure 1 depicts the current levels of
sponsorship support; we would like to incentivize future donors by
offering our Event Partners a prominent display on our websites
homepage. The display will consist of our partners logo on the
homepage of our website www.crjw.us/ which will link the logo to the
partners website. The red rectangle in Figure 2 of our website shows
where our Event Partner logos would be placed on our website to give
them maximum exposure for their companies. Our Bus Benefactors and
Family Supporters will also be displayed on our websites home page,

they will be displayed on a much smaller platform at the bottom of

our website in the yellow area depicted in Figure 3. Lastly, our Childs
Angel level supporters will receive a handwritten thankyou note from a
child they sponsor.
To increase volunteer participation, we plan on establishing a
recruitment plan to sign up volunteers to help prior to and the day of the
event. We would want to recruit at schools that require students to
complete volunteer hours or at schools which advocate volunteering. At
Fresno State we would promote Get on the Bus at the Career &
Internship Expo, Community Service Learning courses (COMS 101), and
present at campus student organizations (sororities, fraternities, and
clubs). At the Career & Internship Expo we would set up a booth where
we would give informational handouts which explain what Get on the Bus
is and have our promotional videos playing on a tablet. In the COMS 101
and student organization presentations we would explain what Get on the
Bus is and give our informational handouts along with a business card
with the local representatives contact information.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

RECOMMENDATIONS
The organization could educate the community through
holding or participating in an event that shows childrens emotion and
development at a young age can be very dependent on parental
involvement. However, children with incarcerated parents are able to
visit only once or twice per month. Another possible improvement would
be increasing the awareness of social media platforms. Today, most of
population is using mobile devices and have access to their social media
accounts. Organizations can obtain more community support through
social media presence.

Suggestions: Logo revamping (if allowed), creating a website for the

Central Valley location and have the main website offer a user friendly
experience by simplify website navigation, search tools, and reducing
the amount of information given on home page. Foster Home Care
presentations about Get on the Bus should be given to the director.
Finally, donation packages, press releases, and demographics should all
be addressed.