Chegg 2014 Annual Report Download - page 45

Table of Contents
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approximately 750 colleges, including public colleges and private colleges. We have conducted national campaigns with a
number of brands attractive to college and high school students. During 2014, we had advertising contracts with approximately
68 consumer brands and relationships with thousands of local merchants.
Sales and Marketing
Students
We use several major direct marketing channels relevant to students. We deploy search engine optimization, (SEO)
techniques designed to increase the visibility of Chegg.com content in organic, unpaid search engine result listings. We
supplement our SEO efforts through search engine marketing using keyword simulation and bid management tools to analyze
and categorize search keywords, optimize bidding, increase impressions and drive conversion. We also use display marketing to
drive awareness of our brand and services by running display ads on major online and mobile advertising networks, such as
Google Display Network. We integrate our textbook services on affiliates’ websites and work with a large ad network that
recruits individual online affiliates in exchange for pre-determined revenue share or commissions. We utilize three types of
email marketing campaigns: onboarding programs to drive activation and retention, personalized cross-sell campaigns to
deepen engagement and promotional campaigns to drive sales and interests. We use social media to manage organic and paid
programs across top websites, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. We also acquire and engage students through content
generated by student bloggers, syndicated through partners, around key student concerns and interests such as admissions,
resume preparation, transition to college and picking a major.
Through our campus activation programs, we partner with brands to bring entertainment events, such as concerts, trial
promotions, on campus ambassadors and product giveaways to students. We also engage students on campus to help them
elevate their voice behind timely social issues beyond academics, such as the Student Voice campaign tied to the 2012
presidential election. The Chegg for Good program connects students and employees with partners to engage them in causes
related to education and the environment. We work with the nonprofit conservation organization American Forest to plant trees
around the world and our funding has enabled the planting of more than six million trees to date. In May 2013, we formed the
Chegg Foundation, a California nonprofit public benefit corporation, to engage in charitable and education-related activities. As
part of our College Admissions and Scholarship Services marketing efforts, we identify select partner organizations who offer
complementary content and services that support students in exploring colleges. We enable these partner organizations to use
our college match service through their websites to enable students to request information about colleges that may be of interest
to them.
Colleges and Brands
We secure contracts with colleges and brands through direct sales by our field sales organization, which sells
enrollment marketing services to college admissions offices and brand advertising services to large brand advertisers and
advertising agencies seeking to reach and engage college and high school students. This sales organization is comprised of two
teams, one focused on colleges and universities, the other on brand marketers and their corresponding advertising agencies.
Both teams have field sales people and inside client success managers and share operations and marketing support.
Student Advocacy
We are committed to providing a high level of customer service to our students. We trust our students, understand the
critical role our products and services have in their education and strive to resolve all problems quickly and thoroughly. Our
student advocacy team can be reached directly through phone, email and online chat during business hours. We also proactively
monitor social media to identify and solve problems before we are otherwise informed of their existence. We endeavor to
respond to students’ concerns within five minutes.
Competition
While we do not have any competitors that compete with us across our business in its entirety, we face significant
competition in each aspect of our business, and we expect such competition to increase. The actual and potential competition in
each of our primary areas of operations is described below.
Products and Services for Students. The market for textbooks and supplemental materials is intensely
competitive and subject to rapid change. We face competition from college bookstores, some of which are
operated by Follett and Barnes & Noble, online marketplaces such as Amazon.com, eBay.com and Half.com and