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INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | JULY 1, 2003 SHOESTRING MARKETING Giving It the Old College Try A startup offering university-admissions counseling draws a mixed review from our expert. Fair start, she says, but must try harder
The Company: IntoTheBest.com The Service: The Web-based outfit offers personalized counseling to high school graduates to help them choose and gain admission to colleges and universities. The Entrepreneurs: Tim Van Hooser and Steve Edwards, co-founders The Challenge: To spread the word about this college-admissions and tutoring service, which is a small fish in a very large pond, with numerous regional and several national corporations amongst its competitors. Hooser and Edwards have attempted to differentiate themselves by providing a "niche" service that offers personal comments and advice provided by graduates of the same colleges that their clients are thinking of attending. These tips include comprehensive information about the admissions and educational experience, and IntoTheBest's founders pride themselves on going beyond the usual generic lists of "must do's" that most such companies provide. The Solution: IntoTheBest announced an essay contest on its Web site and offered a $250 college scholarship to high school juniors. Hooser and Edwards also contacted guidance counselors and principals at high schools in Long Island, N.Y., and asked them to encourage their students to enter. In addition, the duo exhibit at trade shows attended by school counselors and participate in entrepreneur-focused workshops. The Results: These efforts have steadily helped this fledgling company gain recognition and land clients seeking help with college admissions. Although only two years old and still staffed only by the founding partners, IntoTheBest has continued to meet growth targets and will soon expand its offerings, currently focused on the New York area, to include more information about schools nationwide. The Expert's Verdict: "IntoTheBest is a strong concept waiting to be noticed," says Meg Goodman, who specializes in strategic marketing services and new-business development. "However, simply waiting doesn't necessarily make things happen -- a strong marketing plan can achieve results much faster. There is absolutely nothing incorrect about the marketing tactics currently being implemented, but I am looking for more direction, more expectation, and more focus from this company." While a scholarship of any size is always welcome, Goodman also notes that the $250 IntoTheBest is offering to the winner of essay contest won't go far at any of the A-list universities listed on the outfit's Web site. The partners "have built something they truly believe in -- and with what they have achieved, they have already won half the battle," Goodman says. "However, in this case, as in so many I've seen, the entrepreneurs know their business very well, but they don't know how to correctly market it. I suggest that they stay the course in building the operational side of their business and seek out some advice from marketing professionals about how to really get it noticed. Their personalized service is top notch. Now, they must work at creating the buzz."  By Karen E. Klein Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | JULY |
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