Digital Marketing Strategy: How can we leverage digital to increase sales and increase brand for Cannonadale

1. CANNONDALE
GROUP C

2. INSIGHTS
1) Cannondale is product centric - focusing on just ‘selling the product’ and not on the ‘whole
mountain biking experience’. They are not just manufacturers and suppliers of bikes and bike
accessories - they are capable of becoming ‘a friend’ or ‘a hobby’ to someone.
2) Cannondale currently offers ‘aspirational products’ to the educated customers. Thus, downselling
their products will shift the consumer perception about these products from ‘aspirational’ to ‘smart’
products.
3) They offer high-end sophisticated products to professionals and experts in the mountain-biking
sport. Thus, they are blinded on the opportunities of introducing new entrants in this sport. They
could benefit by becoming more approachable to the amateurs by targeting them as well.
4) Entry level strategy, they should hook the customers at an early stage (hobby development stage).
Cannondale should become synonymous to the sport itself (Mountain biking) as well as adventure
and nature. Cannondale can become a companion to the bike enthusiasts and grow with them.

3. CONTEXT
Current Positioning (Problems) Desired Positioning
- Good quality bikes but not ranked among the top 3
by professionals and experts
- #1 choice of mountain bikes in the US
- Biased customer perception of quality of bike: based
on move to Asia for manufacture, shift to carbon
made bikes and poor customer service
- Changing customer perception by emphasizing quality
and by using social influencers
- Niche market focused but blind sided by other
potential markets
- Become a symbol of adventure, health and sports
- Become synonymous with the sport itself (Mountain
biking)
- Expanding target audience
- Allure different segments (nature lovers, outdoorsy
people)
- Awareness of product very low: keywords based on
brand and product
- Focus more on the experiences and not just the product
to expose the sport and create a desire for the
experience
- Website is focused on segment that already knows
about the product
- Website should also concentrate on targeting young and
beginner bikers
- This is also an opportunity to hook people in the moment
where they are more likely to get attached to the brand

4. COMMUNITY
● Social community building on a national level and then a city wide level
● Using brand advocates to control social communities
● creating events and using brand advocates in specific cities to go on trails (especially with amateurs)
● Co designing and publishing these on Instagram pages
● using brand advocates to customize the bikes
● Making people more involved with the experience of using the product
● recording unique bike trails and uploading them
● Social media pages
● content development and being very personable
● suggest pages where people can go for a ride
● inviting people to join in for a bike
● Create hashtags
● Sponsoring activities in community and events broadcasted through Twitter/Facebook
● Bikes in national parks
● Bike-a-ton
● Triathlons
● Creating allies on social media with other companies with the same concept
● such as northface, a company that is related to outdoor activities and adventure
● Go pro, recording the experience of the bike
● Different social media outlet for different target segments
● Amateurs/beginners - specifically instagram
● Mature/loyalists - specifically forums
● Brand ambassadors that are relatable for target market to endorse the brand
● creating ads on youtube (Youtube pre-rolls)
STAY YOUNG. STAY SIMPLE. GROW WITH US.

5. CONTENT
1) Personal videos - record video on the personal use of the brand to
show the consumer the riding experience (Vimeo/Youtube)
2) Draws to enter competitions with other riding enthusiasts
(Website)
3) Pictures of community building events (Facebook)
4) Blogs on reviews of bikes (Tumblr)
5) Forums on advice (Own website)
6) News updates on events (Twitter)
7) Articles written about Cannondale (Online magazines)
8) Getaway contest to win trips by sending in pictures of views from
trails (Instagram)

6. OUTREACH
● Brand ambassadors
● Mountain biking teams that are related to the target segment
● Celebrities who have an interest in mountain biking (such as Patrick Dempsy, he
could associate Cannondale with The Dempsy Challenge )
● Use people who can bring awareness to different segments (such as Gum-Rita
Dahle Flesja, she can draw women to the sport)
● Associate Cannondale with causes for example, fight against obesity
● Increase awareness by broadening the distribution of Cannondale
products, to a place where amateurs and new enthusiasts can have access
to the bikes. Change the purchase area from specialized stores to sporting
goods stores in general.
● Give bikes to bloggers and encourage them to write reviews of the bikes.
● Organize family oriented events so as to bring awareness to young users at
an early age.
● Use their apparel to create awareness of the brand. Giveaways online to
promote offline effects.