SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
Already has 10% of the school system in the United States of America using the product.
Developed by an experienced educator.In September 2012, NoRedInk won NBC’s $75,000 Innovation Challenge.
Raised $2,000,000 in funding from 2013 from companies including Google Ventures.
Backed by Imagine K12.
Gives feedback to students immediately and adapts questions to their needs.
Already integrating with other educational technology applications such as Edmodo.
Main site is free.
Already have a blog and a Facebook page.
Is currently hiring five additional employees.
Weaknesses:
Requires an internet connection which limits its market to those with online access.
Does not have a mobile application.
Has not invested any money into marketing, everything is based on word of mouth.
Premium pricing is has not been made public.
Pricing plan may not be effective.
Price points may exclude many of its users from actual purchasing it, leaving the purchasing to schools or districts.
Opportunities:
Has not invested in marketing, so this is an area that could potentially help NoRedInk to grow even faster.
Could expand to develop the same concept for other languages or markets outside of Canada/USA.
Could expand to offer tutorials for English Language Learners in both English and their mother tongue.
Development of an offline version.
Development of a mobile version.
Premium versions are in development which are paid and offer additional content, customization and better tracking of student progress.
Has a blog of grammar bloopers and allows for user submissions, this could be further developed for marketing purposes.
Additional pricing plans to make it more accessible for teachers and students alike.
Threats:
Many grammar practice sites already exist.
Big names such as Oxford and Cambridge play a large role in the grammar teaching world.
As a mobile app does not exist, someone could create one that does something similar and beat NoRedInk to that market space.
Other companies may copycat and create similar sites.
Already has 10% of the school system in the United States of America using the product.
Developed by an experienced educator.In September 2012, NoRedInk won NBC’s $75,000 Innovation Challenge.
Raised $2,000,000 in funding from 2013 from companies including Google Ventures.
Backed by Imagine K12.
Gives feedback to students immediately and adapts questions to their needs.
Already integrating with other educational technology applications such as Edmodo.
Main site is free.
Already have a blog and a Facebook page.
Is currently hiring five additional employees.
Weaknesses:
Requires an internet connection which limits its market to those with online access.
Does not have a mobile application.
Has not invested any money into marketing, everything is based on word of mouth.
Premium pricing is has not been made public.
Pricing plan may not be effective.
Price points may exclude many of its users from actual purchasing it, leaving the purchasing to schools or districts.
Opportunities:
Has not invested in marketing, so this is an area that could potentially help NoRedInk to grow even faster.
Could expand to develop the same concept for other languages or markets outside of Canada/USA.
Could expand to offer tutorials for English Language Learners in both English and their mother tongue.
Development of an offline version.
Development of a mobile version.
Premium versions are in development which are paid and offer additional content, customization and better tracking of student progress.
Has a blog of grammar bloopers and allows for user submissions, this could be further developed for marketing purposes.
Additional pricing plans to make it more accessible for teachers and students alike.
Threats:
Many grammar practice sites already exist.
Big names such as Oxford and Cambridge play a large role in the grammar teaching world.
As a mobile app does not exist, someone could create one that does something similar and beat NoRedInk to that market space.
Other companies may copycat and create similar sites.
Recommendation by Ashley Bayles
As both an Educator and an Educational Venture Analyst, I strongly recommend investing in NoRedInk.com. My personal experience with the site in my class and the experience of my colleagues has proven to me that the application is popular and delivers as promised. Additionally, as an Education Venture Analyst, I understand the marketplace and see that there is a need for NoRedInk, and that there are many opportunities for it to be further developed and to be extremely profitable. Once additional content is created for the site (which it will be soon as they are hiring content creators), there will be even more opportunities for teachers to teach the content that will best help their students. Since the site uses a colourful display of student progress through learning analytics, it has an edge over other grammar practice sites. Not to mention the personalization of questions based on student interest.
As marketing up until now has been mainly word of mouth, a small investment in marketing could greatly help to increase users of the site and if teachers and students find out about the site and demand access, perhaps more districts will subscribe. While there is the issue of pricing that has not been made public and as such is difficult to comment on, the free content in itself is very good and if priced correctly the site could do extremely well. Additionally, there may be the possibility to offer certain type of content on a per-piece price, rather than a full site subscription to make it more affordable for some people. The fact that it aligns itself with Common Core could definitely help with market penetration in the United States.
One area that I see as a huge opportunity is to use the NoRedInk technology and system to create a mobile app version of the site. This would allow it to compete in an even greater market as many people use mobile devices to access content and students would then be able to practice using their data plans while on the bus to school. A limitation of the site is that it is all cloud based, so the possibility of creating an offline version of the site or an app that has some content that is available offline and that can then be synched to the main site once an internet connection is made, could offer even greater access for different market segments.
All in all, based on the popularity of NoRedInk in such a short period of time, and the many opportunities it has for further development and expansion of the brand make it an excellent option for investment.
As marketing up until now has been mainly word of mouth, a small investment in marketing could greatly help to increase users of the site and if teachers and students find out about the site and demand access, perhaps more districts will subscribe. While there is the issue of pricing that has not been made public and as such is difficult to comment on, the free content in itself is very good and if priced correctly the site could do extremely well. Additionally, there may be the possibility to offer certain type of content on a per-piece price, rather than a full site subscription to make it more affordable for some people. The fact that it aligns itself with Common Core could definitely help with market penetration in the United States.
One area that I see as a huge opportunity is to use the NoRedInk technology and system to create a mobile app version of the site. This would allow it to compete in an even greater market as many people use mobile devices to access content and students would then be able to practice using their data plans while on the bus to school. A limitation of the site is that it is all cloud based, so the possibility of creating an offline version of the site or an app that has some content that is available offline and that can then be synched to the main site once an internet connection is made, could offer even greater access for different market segments.
All in all, based on the popularity of NoRedInk in such a short period of time, and the many opportunities it has for further development and expansion of the brand make it an excellent option for investment.