Building A Brand With Social Marketing
Exchange Hunter Jumper.com Building a Brand with Social Marketing
T he Internet and Web have enabled thousands of business ideas to become
online realities. The Internet has reduced the costs of starting a small
business and allowed small players to effectively use the same marketing
and selling tools as major corporations. Small businesses usually occupy
a market niche not occupied by big players or corporations. One such market niche
in America, comprising about 10,000 to 30,000 players, is the high-end horse show
circuit. These are people who are willing to drop $200,000 on a horse that can jump a
five-foot fence with ease. This may be a very small market, but its members are highly
motivated to both buy and sell horses, and they are willing to spend in the process.
ExchangeHunterJumper.com is one example of how a small business focusing on a tiny
niche market was able to successfully build an online brand.
According to Dagny Amber Aslin, founder and owner of ExchangeHunterJumper
.com (The Exchange), a website created to help owners and professional trainers sell high
end competition horses, it’s hard to “get rich” or even make money on the Internet. She
adds, “There are a lot of preconceived notions … I beat down a path previously unplowed.
QUESTION
1. Find a site on the Web that offers classified ads for horses. Compare this site to exchangehunterjum per.com in terms of the services offered (the customer value proposition). What does exchange offer that other sites do not?
2. In what ways were social media effective in promoting the Exchange brand? Which media led to the highest increase in sales and inquiries? Why?
