Case Study

CASE STUDY

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.

Copyright<02014, E�changeHunterJumper.com, Eohippus LLC C a se S t u d y 491 5-6 SENTENCES PER 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?