The initial marketing strategy for Edu-C-Aide is to target school systems in the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, and Chesapeake.  As a continuation of this strategy in the future, we will focus on additional major hubs in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  We will promote and present our product at conferences related to K-12 educations that are held throughout the year.  From here we will provide handouts and give demos as the opportunity arises.  Additionally,  we would like to organize a workshop through the Autism Program of Virginia, which periodically gathers many educators for similar training purposes. When in phase III., we will use one of our prospective funding companies, such as  Education Planet, Merit Software or Scholastic corporation, to advertise our product on their web page linking directly to Edu-C-Aide web site.

According to our research, the school systems in the above mentioned cities tend to have substantial problems with providing special education services.  To be exact, in the fiscal year 2001-2002, there were 120 hearings requested and 349 complaints filled in the state of Virginia, out of which our targeted area had 10 and 22 respectively.  According to Anna Bray Duff, the cost for one lawsuit can range anywhere from $50k-$100k and average legal costs per year range from $250k to $1 million.  The school’s investment in our product will result in alleviation of the costly lawsuits and the projected return on the investment is estimated to occur after 1-3 years.  Considering this, we believe that our product will be a valuable and desirable tool for the school administration.

Based on our analysis, which is thoroughly explained in the 3.5.3, Edu-C-Aide will realize a profit greater then $79k with just three schools purchasing the application at the base price of $140,000.