Promotions
The business will be promoted on-line with an effective web presence. Estimates for the cost of this approximate $5,000. Such an investment will allow the creation of a site that has a level of interactivity to it - this will promote the business as technologically sound and advanced. (Note should be made here of the number of cybercafe websites that are poorly designed and executed. See for instance, www.flowergarden.com and www.bytesic.com ). Additionally, the café will be promoted through signage (if possible) at LAX, perhaps even a billboard on the freeway leading to the airport.
Other means of promotion will be the production of a weekly editorial/opinion piece on an Internet-related subject to be offered for publication in the local newspaper. This would be done free of charge on a purely promotional basis. Additionally, the café would be promoted on-line via banner advertising on select sites and listings in the various "webrings."
Promotional Budget
Website development - $5,000
Banner advertising - $500 per month
Billboard near LAX - $15,000
Additional print materials, i.e., brochures, business cards etc - $5,000
Location
The location near LAX has been selected as the site for the cyber café since having the business here will make the café accessible to "locals" but also to travelers and commuters. There is a significant advantages in have the café here since, with the correct promotional materials, travelers could be drawn in numbers from the airport.
There are also disadvantages to locating near LAX. The most significant concerns the increase of "do-it-yourselfers" - those business people who travel with a satellite laptop for instance. Moreover there is the potential to be at a competitive disadvantage when beside an airport since the actual land surrounding such organizations is often taken up with service-oriented businesses. Thus, the café runs the risk of being just another business service "out there."
Pricing...