Marketing Wilderness(Now That I Have Your Attention)

Ralph SwainUSFS Rocky Mountain RegionWilderness & Rivers Program Manager303-275-5058rswain@fs.fed.us

Background

• Undergrad: Marketing and Economics

• Masters: Natural Resource Management, Specialization in Wilderness

Colorado State University

Aldo Leopold• “We abuse the land

because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see the land as a community to which we belong we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

Definition of Marketing

Providing a product or service (commodity) to customers at a price (profit)Process of communicating the value of a product of service to customers for the purpose of selling that commodity.

• Basic concepts of marketing have not changed – Marketing segmentation, product life cycle, customer profiling- - but the tools have drastically changed.

• Promotion – social media tools to reach customers have • #changedforever! (140 characters)

Marketing = AdvertisingMarketing = Promotion

• Marketing is much more!• Uses all the 5 P’s of Marketing• Develop a Marketing Plan

5 P’s of MarketingProductPricePlacePromotionPeople

Enlarging the Base*Bell curve of primary customers

*Target the fringe

*Find new ways to reach the larger wilderness community

Wilderness Ranger Cookbook

Interagency Wilderness Ranger Cookbook 50th

Anniversary Edition

Produced August 2014 by SWS

Now available, REI, B&N, Visitor Centers

Marketing = Stewardship

• Product – goal is untrammeled wilderness – protect wilderness character. Currently, Kmart model, low quality product sold to mass market. Stop trying to be all. W. is not for everyone.

• Price – the value of wilderness increases daily. Currently, treated as low investment, low return.

• Place – fixed. Spectrum of landscapes– (earn wilderness)• Promotion – currently mixed messages established by

customers and branding is shot-gun, not targeted.• People – Currently, PC - target youth. No! target women –

mother earth – nurturing values of women align best with wilderness. Reach men and youth through women.

Zahniser’s Legacy