June 27, 2009 at 01:13Offline promotion of an online portal. Instructions for use
In that year, in Nizhny Novgorod, the wedding portal of my company held its first major event. About what there was a corresponding post on a habr " Experience of an offline action of one Internet project ".
This year we held this action for the second time. Last sunday. Everything was again very interesting. But for habrozhitel, it will probably be more interesting to read not only “what is it”, but how all this is realized, various aspects of the campaign’s organization itself.
1. We think over the idea.
Actually, like any startup, any action must first be thought up and thought out. Not in details, but the frame, the essence of the idea - you need to imagine. If something similar already exists, you need to modify the idea in order to stand out.
Example: We decided to hold a wedding event. The action is divided into 2 parts: 1 - girls in wedding dresses in significant quantities (we got 18) appear in various crowded places of the city - shock the public, take pictures, videos, media ... move on a motorcade of limousines (we had 5 limousines). The second part of the action is a show program, girls participating in it (18 people) come there, those who are still waiting for the wedding are invited there and various wedding services and receptions are shown there, of course.
2. We discuss the idea of the action with potential participants, partners, sponsors.
After you come up with and think over an idea - it needs to be tested. To pull a big share alone is expensive, difficult ... and stupid :) Well, if you don’t have a bag of money, of course. Or does not allow the format of the action. How to do it? Chat! And if you see the interest of all interested groups, it means that you did everything correctly and successfully in the first step. And so you can move on.
Example : After we thought out our promotion, we first went to our forum to ask our members of the forum - would they like to participate in this promotion. They wanted to. In the process of discussion, nuances have already developed. The same thing, only in personal communication, we did with potential partners and sponsors of the action. So we found an audience and partners / sponsors.
3. Details
After you have thought through the “framework”, you have run in the idea and realized that the idea is good and you will realize it. You need to work out all the details. Write a stock plan. You can already work directly with this action plan in the future, write press releases on it, come to meetings with partners and sponsors and agree.
Example : After we made sure that it would be very cool for us to do this, we made a detailed plan - time, place, planned expenses, as well as a list of those services that would be useful to us during the campaign.
4. Search for partners and sponsors
Since in one of the steps you already communicated with potential partners and sponsors and they already said that they would be interested in it, as well as you already have a detailed action plan, with this plan we go directly to those with whom we used to communicated. It is enough to agree with a couple of companies so that in the future the whole idea grows like a snowball. Having agreed on financial or partnership support with several companies, you can (if you still need it) go to other companies. Present your program and refer to the fact that "such-and-such" already with pleasure wanted to participate in the action. But it must be true, because nothing will stop them from finding out. So we find partners and sponsors.
Example: I will not write a great example. This year we held an action and with partners and sponsors acted according to this scheme, which I described. This is an honest scheme. So here. 23 companies took part in our campaign (here are partners and sponsors).
5. Work with the media
In order for your action to be successful, you must publicize it well. To do this, you, at a minimum, need to make a competent press release. It is advisable that it was composed by a professional, or, at least, that a professional checked it and gave valuable comments. This is crucial. Because the media will continue to work with your press release and it will be your face initially.
The press release must be sent the first time - a week or two before the event. And repeat 2 days before the action. Your contact information should be indicated in the press release and you should have direct convenient communication with the media.
You can also create a promotional site for your promotion. This greatly enhances your share in the eyes of everyone. This means that your action is not "some garbage", but already "something serious."
Example : This year we received information about us on 3 local televisions, one radio, 5 newspapers, and the local (and not only) websites discussed a lot about this. We also made a promotional site - 2009.svadbann.ru and did a newsletter for the press release on the media.
6. Carrying out the action
Act according to plan. Force majors try to reflect in this regard too. Well, as well as be able to get out of situations. Everything else is a matter of technology :)
Example: At our last action there was a force majeure. Rather, a force majeure :) When approaching the central square (Gorky Square), one of the limousines decided to stop traffic cops. We already met limousines. There were media with us. The first limousine arrived and started to get the actual traffic police. We are a small crowd with photographers and the media began to run up to them. And the whole thing to shoot. At first they didn’t cut a chip and began to curse at us. A minute later, 4 more limousines drove up :) From there, brides and a crowd of photographers and an even larger crowd of media began to leave. Traffic cops apparently caught on from this turn of events and quietly got into the typewriter and quickly drove away. It was funny :)
Most likely, the same rules apply not only to shares of online projects, but also to others as well. But we conducted only for online, so I can only talk about them.
If readers have any questions, I will be happy to answer and supplement my topic with your questions and my answers. If I am not right at some point, then I will be happy to discuss this topic.
To cheer up, I post a photo where I am surrounded by our beautiful participants of this year :)
This year we held this action for the second time. Last sunday. Everything was again very interesting. But for habrozhitel, it will probably be more interesting to read not only “what is it”, but how all this is realized, various aspects of the campaign’s organization itself.
1. We think over the idea.
Actually, like any startup, any action must first be thought up and thought out. Not in details, but the frame, the essence of the idea - you need to imagine. If something similar already exists, you need to modify the idea in order to stand out.
Example: We decided to hold a wedding event. The action is divided into 2 parts: 1 - girls in wedding dresses in significant quantities (we got 18) appear in various crowded places of the city - shock the public, take pictures, videos, media ... move on a motorcade of limousines (we had 5 limousines). The second part of the action is a show program, girls participating in it (18 people) come there, those who are still waiting for the wedding are invited there and various wedding services and receptions are shown there, of course.
2. We discuss the idea of the action with potential participants, partners, sponsors.
After you come up with and think over an idea - it needs to be tested. To pull a big share alone is expensive, difficult ... and stupid :) Well, if you don’t have a bag of money, of course. Or does not allow the format of the action. How to do it? Chat! And if you see the interest of all interested groups, it means that you did everything correctly and successfully in the first step. And so you can move on.
Example : After we thought out our promotion, we first went to our forum to ask our members of the forum - would they like to participate in this promotion. They wanted to. In the process of discussion, nuances have already developed. The same thing, only in personal communication, we did with potential partners and sponsors of the action. So we found an audience and partners / sponsors.
3. Details
After you have thought through the “framework”, you have run in the idea and realized that the idea is good and you will realize it. You need to work out all the details. Write a stock plan. You can already work directly with this action plan in the future, write press releases on it, come to meetings with partners and sponsors and agree.
Example : After we made sure that it would be very cool for us to do this, we made a detailed plan - time, place, planned expenses, as well as a list of those services that would be useful to us during the campaign.
4. Search for partners and sponsors
Since in one of the steps you already communicated with potential partners and sponsors and they already said that they would be interested in it, as well as you already have a detailed action plan, with this plan we go directly to those with whom we used to communicated. It is enough to agree with a couple of companies so that in the future the whole idea grows like a snowball. Having agreed on financial or partnership support with several companies, you can (if you still need it) go to other companies. Present your program and refer to the fact that "such-and-such" already with pleasure wanted to participate in the action. But it must be true, because nothing will stop them from finding out. So we find partners and sponsors.
Example: I will not write a great example. This year we held an action and with partners and sponsors acted according to this scheme, which I described. This is an honest scheme. So here. 23 companies took part in our campaign (here are partners and sponsors).
5. Work with the media
In order for your action to be successful, you must publicize it well. To do this, you, at a minimum, need to make a competent press release. It is advisable that it was composed by a professional, or, at least, that a professional checked it and gave valuable comments. This is crucial. Because the media will continue to work with your press release and it will be your face initially.
The press release must be sent the first time - a week or two before the event. And repeat 2 days before the action. Your contact information should be indicated in the press release and you should have direct convenient communication with the media.
You can also create a promotional site for your promotion. This greatly enhances your share in the eyes of everyone. This means that your action is not "some garbage", but already "something serious."
Example : This year we received information about us on 3 local televisions, one radio, 5 newspapers, and the local (and not only) websites discussed a lot about this. We also made a promotional site - 2009.svadbann.ru and did a newsletter for the press release on the media.
6. Carrying out the action
Act according to plan. Force majors try to reflect in this regard too. Well, as well as be able to get out of situations. Everything else is a matter of technology :)
Example: At our last action there was a force majeure. Rather, a force majeure :) When approaching the central square (Gorky Square), one of the limousines decided to stop traffic cops. We already met limousines. There were media with us. The first limousine arrived and started to get the actual traffic police. We are a small crowd with photographers and the media began to run up to them. And the whole thing to shoot. At first they didn’t cut a chip and began to curse at us. A minute later, 4 more limousines drove up :) From there, brides and a crowd of photographers and an even larger crowd of media began to leave. Traffic cops apparently caught on from this turn of events and quietly got into the typewriter and quickly drove away. It was funny :)
Most likely, the same rules apply not only to shares of online projects, but also to others as well. But we conducted only for online, so I can only talk about them.
If readers have any questions, I will be happy to answer and supplement my topic with your questions and my answers. If I am not right at some point, then I will be happy to discuss this topic.
To cheer up, I post a photo where I am surrounded by our beautiful participants of this year :)