Total Tech

Marketing Plan 2012-2013

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Executive Summary
The following marketing plan was created for RootAxcess, LLC., set to begin October 1, 2012 and last one full calendar year, up for evaluation October 1, 2013. This plan focuses on how RootAxcess can best deliver their message to the target audience, with the undertone of branding marketing efforts under the Total Tech brand. The RootAxcess customer is looking for an excellent quality cloud solution, without sacrificing a good value. This customer is looking for not only an enterprise class IaaS provider, but also the 100% SLA that RootAxcess is going to provide. Total Tech encompasses the idea that once you entrust your cloud computing needs with RootAxcess, you will receive as much, or as little support as you require, totally tailored tech support. Through the process of research of market, analysis of competitors, and overview of current marketing efforts, this plan was created with the RootAxcess customer in mind. This includes, but is not limited to, the new RAMP tool on the RootAxcess website for easy customer management portal, routine webinars to educate clients and prospects, increased search engine optimization for visibility on the Internet, and a completely revamped social media plan in order to not only communicate with the RootAxcess community, but connect with every individual that comes in contact with the RootAxcess brand.

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Research Summary
In order to better understand the needs of RootAxcess marketing efforts, secondary research was conducted via the Internet on topics ranging from the basics of cloud computing, historical background, industry overview, trends, competitors, the company and its products, and the RootAxcess consumer. Resources range from industry analysis publications, to Gartner studies and findings, to competitor websites and social media platforms. The following page includes some of the major findings from this research that served as the foundation for this marketing plan.

By 2010, cloud services reached

Three major drivers of companies switching over to cloud are: 1) The ability to add new infrastructure quickly and at lower costs 2) Ability to increase or decrease the amount IT resources at any given time without wasting any unnecessary equipment

$ 81.3 Billion
Currently, most high profile IaaS Public Cloud operation is:

is the most high profile Managed Hosting and Private Hosted Cloud provider

3) Outsourcing critical but non-core IT infrastructure to reduce CapEx management, maintenance, operation and staffing of structure

Disaster Recovery is the #1 concern for those currently using cloud services
51% of Facebook users would be more likely to buy a product after liking the brands official Facebook page

By 2020, US organizations that move to cloud could save $12.3 billion in energy costs, the equivalent of 200 million barrels of oil.

B2B companies that blog earn 67% more leads than those that dont

57% of companies list scalability as the number one benefit of cloud computing

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Situation Analysis: The Company

RootAxcess, LLC launched in the summer of 2011 as a leading provider of enterprise-class cloud IaaS hosting solutions and colocation services. They provide cloud and managed hosting solutions that enable businesses to accelerate growth and scale operations while controlling costs and reducing IT infrastructure. Though headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, RootAxcess also has operations in New York, NY, with data centers located in Chicago as well as Ashburn, VA and San Jose, CA. These facilities are Tier 3, SAS70 Type II certified, with multiple tier 1 backbone providers. The cloud solutions are powered by CISCO, VMware, and vSphere with Dell PowerEdge servers. As stated by Director and Co-Founder Gavin McCarty, RootAxcess brings a rich set of cloud-based services built on enterprise-class cloud architecture. One of the major strengths of RootAxcess lies in the experience of its founding members. Mr. Eric Wince-Chief Executive Officer Eric served as Co-Founder, Director, and Chief Operating Officer of Globalcom, Inc. from 19952008. In his time there, he led the development, growth and sale of Chicagos premier network service provider with over 20,000 square feet of data center space, 96 colocation facilities and 3,000+ fiber optic route miles and network infrastructure, MetroE, colocation and managed hosting services. He was responsible for all aspects of operations, particularly Information Technology, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Customer Care, as well as development and execution of business and financial strategies. Before his time at Globalcom, Eric was a top sales performer for Metropolitan Fiber Systems. Mr. Jeffrey Cohn- Chief Information Officer Jeffs experience comes from his former position as Chief Information Officer and SVP of Technology and Facilities at Playboy Enterprises, Inc. He is a senior technology executive with over 20 years of experience in multiple industries, including media, entertainment, broadcasting, ecommerce, online, product licensing, insurance, retail and distribution. He has been responsible for building and managing multiple 24/7 datacenters (both domestic and international) that delivered highly trafficked PCI compliant web sites, HD broadcast quality transmission facilities, in addition to all traditional corporate technology functions. Jeff is also a regular speaker at many industry events across the country, such as Henry Stewart NY/LA and DCM- Digital Content Monetization.

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Situation Analysis: The Company

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Competitive Analysis

Amazon Web Services (EC2)

Brand Platform Products/Services

Innovation. Powered by AWS. Cloud IaaS focused Cloud storage; cloud content delivery network; PaaS-like services

Network Availability 99.9% Market Track RecPricing

Market share leader $ Use based and subscription

Strengths

Specialized infrastructure options for high performance computing and big data applications Largest pool of capacity Does not offer colocation or private network connectivity

Weaknesses

Does not offer any managed services Weakest cloud compute SLA Adding offers that automate aspects of infrastructure management, such as Relational Database Management

Opportunities

Many software vendors have specially licensed and packaged their software to run on EC2 One of few infrastructures suitable for batch computing, especially workloads that require short-term provisioning of multiple servers Customers can purchase colocation or private networking data center of select partners Invoicing available upon request, but billing reports are difficult to understand and audit

Threats

Low priced, but add ons substantially increase prices Provides only basic ACL's controlling network access to customer VM's, rather than full fledged firewall service

Support is NOT free Recommended Us- Cloud native applications; bath computing; big data applications; e-business hosting; test and es development
Support Key Features

24/7 diagnostic tools, forums, online guides, phone, urgent response Critical data privacy, snapshot backup, intrusion detecion

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Competitive Analysis

Rackspace
Brand Platform Products/Services

Fanatical Support Public cloud IaaS Enterprise level hosting services Managed hosting; hybrid hosting; private cloud IaaS; cloud storage; cloud PaaS; cloud monitoring; hosted virtual desktop; SaaS 100% Second largest market share $$$ Sales representatives well versed and knowledgeable

Network Availability Market Track Record Pricing

Strengths

Lives up to "fanatical support" Straightforward, easy to use Does not offer self-service security

Weaknesses

Account activation can be slow Single account model Missing many features other providers offer

Opportunities

Add ons very simple to tack on No SSH access

Threats

Pricier than most competitors Poor track record for releasing cloud features at a less than competitive pace

Recommended Uses Support

Hybrid hosting where IaaS is supplemental; test and development for individual developers phone; forums; urgent response; online resources; live chat Free support

Key Features

Easy to scale on-demand; 24/7 support

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Situation Analysis: Product | Public Cloud

RootAxcess is a Cloud Computing IaaS company that specializes in Cloud Servers. Offerings focus on five types of services; public cloud, private cloud, colocation services, cloud backup and recovery and managed services.

RootAxcess Public Cloud is a standardized, highly automated, massively multitenant offering, where compute resources, complemented by storage and networking capabilities are owned and hosted by RootAxcess and offered on an on-demand basis. RootAxcess Public Cloud is the only enterprise-class cloud IaaS offering that includes hardware-based security and scalability; complete customization and control; easy integration; 24/7 live support and 100% availability guaranteed. This self-service model provides virtual machines (VMs), and associated storage and network resources, from a shared, multi-tenant pool of capacity. RootAxcess manages the data center facilities, hardware and virtualization, but everything above the hypervisor layer is managed by the customer, or is an addon managed service from the RootAxcess team. The unique infrastructure includes hardwarebased Layer II VLANs, full network control, free load balancing, free firewalls, customization and easy integration. RootAxcess Public Cloud supports a multitude of operating systems, including; CentOS Release 5.6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 Ubuntu 8.4.4.4 LTS Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SP2 Enterprise Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SP2 Standard Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2 Enterprise Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Standard Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard

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Situation Analysis: Customer

RootAxcess is well on its way to making a name for itself in the Chicago land area, particularly due to some of the big names on its current client list. RootAxcess currently provides cloud solutions to the United Center, Epay Systems, Lakeland Radiology, and Lyons Consulting Group. Under RootAxcess partnership with Lyons Consulting Group, they provide hosting solutions for companies including:

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Problems and Opportunities: SWOT

Strengths

Opportunities

Network control-security True server flexibility Fast deployment Self-service portal Business and leadership skills Business experience Industry contacts Executive track record Weaknesses

$25B market Business developers and service providers in process of migrating to the cloud Customers need tools Customers need transition support New SMB market opportunity not being addressed Fresh start- no baggage from last company Threats

No value add (OpSource Reseller) Poor user experience website Marketing message Website content Functionality Orchestration Marketing plan Transition services No hybrid solution Customer service & trouble shooting systems Market presence Lack of clearly defined brand/market Sales and product infrastructure

Commoditization New entrants- with barriers to entry getting lower Large, well-capitalized competitors DIY solutions/private clouds Noisy market message makes differentiation difficult

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Market Segmentation
GEOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION Location: Nationwide Culture: English Speaking Americans Government: Democracy
Urbanity: Urban/Suburban

FIRMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION
Age: Founded in last 20 years Size: Small to Medium Number of Employees: 10-1,000 Ownership: Private, Public or Government Customers: B2B Technology: Mid to High Tech Industry: Primary: e-Commerce, SaaS Secondary: Healthcare, Medium to Large Enterprises Tertiary: Small Enterprise Businesses

PRODUCT USAGE SEGMENTATION:

Volume: Medium to High Usage Continuous cloud hosting, backup & recovery Frequency: Regular/Continuous Product Uses: Multiple Applications, e-Commerce, Web hosting, Disaster Recovery, Backup Importance: Mission Critical Component Adoption: Innovators-Followers

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Primary Target Market Profile | Lyons CG

Industry: ecommerce Solution providers Technology: High tech Size: Medium sized (50-200 employees) # Locations: 4 Ownership: private Age: founded 2003 Geographical Location: Midwest, Southwest 2 locations in Illinois 1 location in Michigan 1 location in Texas Product Life Cycle Stage: Growth Stage Social Media Activity: Very active (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) Experience with cloud: Some Values:

Customer focused Integrity Commitment Experience Scalability: Ability to scale CPUs and RAM up and down depending on demand Control: Want to be able to control it themselves, maintain independence but with the availability of RootAxcess managed services in case desired Performance: Customer Management System performs better under VMware hypervision Value: More economical than other providers Security: Free firewall protection Total Tech Support

Why do they want RootAxcess?

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Objectives
Marketing Objectives To increase sales by 200% by 3/31/2013 To increase leads by 300% by 3/31/2013 To increase the % of leads turning into clients by 300% by 3/31/2013 To increase sales by 400% by 10/01/2013 To increase leads by 600% by 10/01/2013 To increase the % of leads turning into clients by 600% by 10/01/2013

Communication Objectives To position RootAxcess as the Premier Total Tech Hosting Provider To launch new branded RootAxcess website by October 31 st To increase leads to website by 400% by 3/31/2013 To increase time spent by consumers on RootAxcess website by 100% by 3/31/2013 To increase leads to website by 800% by 10/01/2013

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Creative Strategy
The creative strategy for this campaign is going to focus on the Total Tech brand. This includes, but is not limited to, having tactics such as Total Tech Tip Tuesdays on the social media platforms as well as the Total Tech Times newsletter to be distributed. The idea behind this brand strategy is to position RootAxcess as the completely tailored, high value IaaS solution provider in the market. Most competitors are either low cost and cookie cutter, or highly tailored and high priced. The strategy of RootAxcess is to hit a happy medium in this market. The big idea for this campaign is to relate that customers have total control over their cloud solutions and how much support they wish to receive. For customers that wish to have more control over their solutions, the basic support system will fit their needs. On the other end of the spectrum, the customers that wish to have RootAxcess provide more support for them can opt for it. RootAxcess key selling points are as follows:

Value priced: Neither high priced, or low priced. RootAxcess offers a product at a price that
customers will feel they are getting a good value for the high quality of services and products offered. RAMP tool: The new website will feature the RAMP tool which allows customers to have a user friendly, online management tool to control their RootAxcess products. Highly customizable: RootAxcess products can be tailored exactly to the customers needs. The level of support is also customizable. Total Tech Support: RootAxcess solutions deliver full problem resolution by tightly integrating their local Chicago based technology staff and a world-class Network Operations Center (NOC) supported by 600 engineers and technicians using a custom, SaaS based manager portal. Enterprise Class Infrastructure: RootAxcess products are built upon enterprise-class technology using a compliant multi-tier architecture, making the solutions to be a true extension of enterprise IT. 100% Uptime: Many customers have their entire business resting on the success of their network. The biggest competitor in the market has only a 99.9% Uptime guarantee. Backup & Recovery: Considering that disaster recovery is one of the top two concerns for those considering migrating to the cloud, offering the high quality Asigra backup and recovery services is a great way to get them to consider the RootAxcess product.

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Calendar

September

14 Begin LinkedIn Revamp 14 Join Hootsuite, link to all Social Media pages 18 Begin overhaul of Facebook page 18 Submit RootAxcess proposal to FindtheBest.com 18 Submit RootAxcess proposal to Cloudsurfing.com 18 Finish Data.com to Sugar CRM transfer of contacts 21 Finish LinkedIn Revamp 24 Send out Webinar Invites 25 Begin Product Catalog 25 Begin Twitter Revamp 28 Finish Twitter Revamp 28 Begin Revamp of Brochures

October

2 Launch "Total Tech Tip Tuesday" 2 PRweb Press Release 2 Finish Facebook Overhaul 4 Finish Product Catalog 9 Total Tech Tip Tuesday 11 Send out Total Tech Times Newsletter 18 Begin RootAxcess Blog 16 Total Tech Tip Tuesday 18 Host "Build a Better Backup" Webinar 23 Total Tech Tip Tuesday 25 Blog Update 30 Total Tech Tip Tuesday

November

1 Blog Update 1 Send Out Webinar Invites (5-8) CloudExpo 6 Total Tech Tip Tuesday 8 Blog Update 13 Total Tech Tip Tuesday 15 Blog Update 22 Blog Update 23 Total Tech Tip Tuesday 29 Blog Update

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Budget | Yearly

Yearly Budget Digital Marketing Google AdWords Webinars Website Redesign SEO Cloudsurfing.com FindtheBest.com Banner Ads Direct Marketing Sugar CRM Sales Force Brochures Service Orders Presentations Email Marketing Social Media HootSuite Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Blog PR HostingCon PRweb.com TOTAL $ $ $ 3,595.00 534.00 173,529.88 $ $ $ $ $ 119.88 9,125.00 $ $ $ $ $ $ 864.00 67,000.00 $ $ $ $ $ $ Cost 12,000.00 792.00 76,000.00 2,000.00 1,500.00 -

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Budget | Yearly