[BPB] Marketing Thread

m_s_nixon

Hey guys,

I'm going to be looking after marketing of the book for this year, hopefully we will be able to surpass last years total :pac: I wasn't around for this last year so if people can share anything about how the book was marketed last year i'd appreciate it. was there a launch party? any press coverage? links to other sites? a full website announcement on Boards?

Any ideas people have on anyway we can increase sales then please post here!

If we can get company's to do some sponsorship are people for/against this? i can see why people might be against it but if it means more money for charity then it's all good, right?

Does SSF know that we're doing this again this year for them?

that's a lot of questions, thanks for the help guys,

Mark

m_s_nixon

if everyone is in agreement, we could put an ad in the photobook saying that all photo's are for sale, include a price list and people can get in touch to have their favourite photo's printed, all profits going to SSF

thoughts?

sineadw

I handled most of the PR (with a LOT of help!) last year. I'll PM you when my head's not hiding in a corner as it is now...

Dodgykeeper

m_s_nixon wrote: »

if everyone is in agreement, we could put an ad in the photobook saying that all photo's are for sale, include a price list and people can get in touch to have their favourite photo's printed, all profits going to SSF

thoughts?

This throws up a few questions, how will the files be printed/distributed, will it be centrally or up to each individual contributor, how long will they be available for?

m_s_nixon

i'd be willing to stick my details in the book and handle any requests made for prints, and i don't see any reason why they wouldn't be available indefinitely, do you reckon that would pose a problem?

melekalikimaka

m_s_nixon wrote: »

top secret stuff

i like that, tis a bit of work for <snip>tho... maybe remove that post and pm him first, it'll be kinda backing him in a corner to nod yes otherwise...:o

.Longshanks.

Lots of us post in other sections of boards - so surely its a given that we all insert a link to page where you can buy / get more info on the book in our signatures?
I realise lots of people view board with signatures turned off, but not everybody....

m_s_nixon

I didn't even know you can turn off sigs!

if anyone can do up an e-mail sig and maybe a flyer then please do and post it in here

does anyone know anything about last year's launch party, how many people attended, what media covered it, etc

AnCatDubh

m_s_nixon wrote: »

if everyone is in agreement, we could put an ad in the photobook saying that all photo's are for sale, include a price list and people can get in touch to have their favourite photo's printed, all profits going to SSF

thoughts?

Not a bad idea at all as an additional fundraiser.

The devils advocate side of my mind says that it does change the basis on which people would contribute their image so it needs to be clear and up front from the outset. The last year scenario was such that people contributed to the book on the participative basis - the image copyright was retained by the photographer. A mechanism would be needed if prints / licence to reproduce prints from the sources of copyright (individual photographer) would be granted.

If it were to be done then it best be handled at time of submission. Also i'd imagine it does need to be an all or nothing approach i.e. everyone does it rather than someone finding an image, deciding to get a print and finding out then that it isn't for sale.

I like the idea though. The print / distribution logistics would need to be reviewed. I think Steve (stcstc) may have a solution that he has been working on for a while which might be an 'out of the box' solution, if it were generally agreeable to empower him to be an official print representative.

It could become a feature of a gallery on a web site if that were to come to pass.

Good idea. Does need a little further thought i'd think.

m_s_nixon

I've contacted Steve and he's happy to get involved and look after handling the printing and distribution for us

I'm not sure about the all or nothing approach, i wouldn't want to pressurise people into having to get on board if they don't want to, as soon as Mele has a list of contributors i'll set about pm'ing everyone to see how they feel about it

maybe having the prints available for a limited period of time would be better than having them available indefinitely?

pullandbang

How about asking people to stick a link (when it's available) on their own websites / flickr / pix.ie / blogs / twitter/ facebook / bebo:eek: etc.

I'll stick one on my own site while it's needed. It mightn't generate a huge amount of traffic but every little helps!

ThOnda

Don't forget that there is a web page, domain and blog dedicated to the book.

Complementing all those parts we should be able to create and link signatures, banners and information.

The only way is to get in touch with people who took care of those issues last year.

m_s_nixon

ThOnda wrote: »

Don't forget that there is a web page, domain and blog dedicated to the book.

Complementing all those parts we should be able to create and link signatures, banners and information.

The only way is to get in touch with people who took care of those issues last year.

Do you know what the web address is?
and do you know who looked after that last year?

smelltheglove

I agree Steve would be the best for looking after the prints. Do I take it that any monies earned from the prints would also go to SSF? I'd be happy for this anyway.

On the sig side of things, many of us had our own sigs last year which included direct links to wher the boojk could be purchased from Blurb, however maybe a better designed sig could work and possibly be designed according to the book cover.

edited to include
I store the boards photobook with my sample albums and often actually show it to clients, if their eye catches it they may ask 'what is this album' many many of them would never have heard of SSF or any idea such as this so I think marketing past boards would be a great idea, for the likes of facebook and twitter etc maybe a standardised marketing message could be decided upon for us to post every once in a while to draw more attention.

Morrisseeee

I hope this is the place for this post, ie. mainly directed at making more money for the SSF.
If we are still going to use Blurb, what about having 2 books ! (I think I mentioned it before), but............wait, don't knock the idea yet, think about it first. The main 'positive' about it would be that you would have 2 books that are filled with lovely interesting photos, but are competitively priced, wheras if we have 1 'large' book (because it looks like we have a much larger entry this year) costing €50/60 (way more than last years) then the 'take up' might be slow !!!!!! The cost of producing a smaller book with Blurb is........well......less, so you could bump up the price a little more so that more money goes to the SSF, but with a large book, the production cost is more & hense you cannot put much more ontop of this for the charity ! KWIM ? Less is more :eek::D
You could have a black & a white book, or a landscape/portrait book, or alphabetically done etc.

m_s_nixon

Steve is going to get back to me later on with a pricelist and i think we should bump up the price by about €5 per print to give to SSF

hopefully everyone will get on board with this but there's no pressure if you'd rather not have your print reproduced

smelltheglove

m_s_nixon wrote: »

Steve is going to get back to me later on with a pricelist and i think we should bump up the price by about €5 per print to give to SSF

hopefully everyone will get on board with this but there's no pressure if you'd rather not have your print reproduced

I'd say there may be more room for an up than €5, Steves prices are very reasonable, remember the general charge for an 8x10 is around €20. Also are the images going to be mounted? This would raise the cost per print also.

Personally I'd be more inclined to stick an image into a presentation folder than send in singular in an envelope, its all about presentation. There are places where you ca get the presentation folders ridicously cheap, photmart have a cheap version that arent actually kinda nice.

m_s_nixon

Morrisseeee wrote: »

I hope this is the place for this post, ie. mainly directed at making more money for the SSF.
If we are still going to use Blurb, what about having 2 books ! (I think I mentioned it before), but............wait, don't knock the idea yet, think about it first. The main 'positive' about it would be that you would have 2 books that are filled with lovely interesting photos, but are competitively priced, wheras if we have 1 'large' book (because it looks like we have a much larger entry this year) costing €50/60 (way more than last years) then the 'take up' might be slow !!!!!! The cost of producing a smaller book with Blurb is........well......less, so you could bump up the price a little more so that more money goes to the SSF, but with a large book, the production cost is more & hense you cannot put much more ontop of this for the charity ! KWIM ? Less is more :eek::D
You could have a black & a white book, or a landscape/portrait book, or alphabetically done etc.

great idea but i'm not sure how well it'll go down with everyone, what we could do is do 3 books, a full book and then 2 books with half the photo's in each

m_s_nixon

smelltheglove wrote: »

I'd say there may be more room for an up than €5, Steves prices are very reasonable, remember the general charge for an 8x10 is around €20. Also are the images going to be mounted? This would raise the cost per print also.

Personally I'd be more inclined to stick an image into a presentation folder than send in singular in an envelope, its all about presentation. There are places where you ca get the presentation folders ridicously cheap, photmart have a cheap version that arent actually kinda nice.

I'll put it to Steve and see what he says

I assume you meant to say they are nice?!

smelltheglove

yeah I actually said arent that bad and changed to are nice but in my bimbo manner did it wrong. I bought them once when I was selling a fair few prints, a box of 50 is very cheap, normal slip in mount with a semi transparent page as the folder part. I got a cream colour which was lovely but they are available in a variety of colours.

AnCatDubh

Thinking at the moment about social networking - viral marketing is all the buzz today.

Perhaps a RT day on twitter when the web site is up and running.

Facebook for people? I don't use it myself but what is it 300,000 users or something like that??? (maybe that's 3 billion)

How about a LinkedIn Group - anyone in our professional networks will see your joining and perhaps a status update. Curiosity factor may kick in.

Hey if we only got one additional sale from all of the above then it would probably be worth it. Whether sales ensue or not, there is an exposure factor to be gained.

Bebo???? I'm too old for bebo

Have we any of these sorted already?

Thoughts / ideas ???????

smelltheglove

Don't use bebo much anymore but as far as I can see it is still used by many models etc, thing is there, say I have a fair few on my friends list that have over 5 or 600 friends, they only have to copy my saying and many many more people will see it. Knock on effect like!

Facebook, I ignore pretty much all status updates as do many so just putting it as a saying is a better way in my opinion, i.e. tomorrow morning I put in my saying Rachel Fox is taking part in the new boards photobook supporting SSF click on this link to order your copy proceed go to charity....

I dont twitter so dont have a clue about that.

stcstc

ok i sent prices to mark i will let him sort that out


on the slip folders idea, i think we should aim to sell bigger prints than 10*8

what i suggested to mark was

16*12
20*16
30*20

in 3 ways,
normal print
fine art print
canvas


this allows people to buy not only a simple smallish print, but a decent sized canvas

why not aim high, i think people will pay for nice decent prints. and when it comes down to it, if someone has bought the book already then spending on their fave image i dont think will be an issue

the other thing about this that could work really well, if people who own the book, showing it to people and telling them that prints and copies can be ordered etc, word of mouth marketing is by far the best thing

I have also said to mark i will donate a percentage of my profits to the ssf from any prints done

Thoie

[FONT=&quot]Some things from last year:[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]There was www.tinyurl.com/boardsbook that directed you straight to the blurbpage (and still does)[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Someone (cooliomartin?) set up and paid for the www.boardsyearbook.com domain, which still redirects to the Blurb page.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]DeV put up a mention on http://www.santastrikeforce.com/[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]The "launch" was held in a pub in town - asked them nicely, they said yes, and provided free sandwiches.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Someone (who?) made up a variety of bumper stickers and a few other bits and bobs - one of the bumper stickers is still displayed in the pub.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]In advance of the launch mails were sent to most of the Dublin radio stations that do "Community Bulletins" or whatnot.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Someone (who?) also wrote a proper press launch and circulated it through "channels" - iirc that person was involved in doing press launches as part of their job and had lots of contacts already.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Sineadw (or was it smelltheglove - sorry, can't remember!) got in touch with a costume company, who loaned us Santa outfits for the launch.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]I bought two extra copies of the book and placed them in two B&Bs, with details on how to purchase - they're still there and on display, with the pages getting turned over regularly.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Announcements/stickies went on various places in Boards telling people where to buy, and including preview links from Blurb.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Word of mouth.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Pix.ie blogged about it: http://pix.ie/blog/2008/11/16/boards-photography-community-publish-charity-photo-book[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]People printed out posters etc from here: http://pix.ie/boardsbook2008 and put them up in workplaces.[/FONT]

dakar

Ok I've set up a twitter account for the book here for updates.

Feel free to follow. When I get a chance, I'll go to the twitter thread in the forum and drum up a bit of business:D

artyeva

not being from the eastern seaboard i'd be happy to help out in any way i can in marketing it in the northwest...

local papers in sligo/leitrim/mayo, local radio stations, putting posters in places that might attract the kinda peeps that would purchase a book, etc etc... if i can be of any help just ask

pullandbang

I've stuck a link to last year's blurb on my own website which I'll change to the new url once we have it. (I nicked the boards logo from the twitter page to jazz it up!)

sineadw

I did the PR last year (with a LOT of help!!) so press releases, costumes etc...

I'd LOVE to play more on the strike force idea this year - didn't have any time to develop it last year - santas in combats and all. If you read up on SSF you'll see the point. I think it'd make for great imagery. We got into quite a few papers last year though thanks to whyulittle's contact? Was it you whyulittle? My brain is dead.

I have all the costumes from last year ready and waiting to go again.

And again, my other half is a proper (paid and all!) web 2.0/ brand storytelling expert. Neither of us have time at the moment unfortunately though to keep up with the thread every day, so can someone/M_S Pm me when and when you need stuff?

College is hard work! (and yes - I can hear you all laughing :P It feckin is though! )

Ideo

Thoie wrote: »

Someone (who?) also wrote a proper press launch and circulated it through "channels" - iirc that person was involved in doing press launches as part of their job and had lots of contacts already./FONT]

Yeah I organised that last year. A buddy of mine circulated it to all media outlets. Not too sure whether it's possible this year though! m_s_nixon, are you in PR? Do you have contact details?

m_s_nixon

Ideo wrote: »

Yeah I organised that last year. A buddy of mine circulated it to all media outlets. Not too sure whether it's possible this year though! m_s_nixon, are you in PR? Do you have contact details?

No i'm not in PR, my plan is just to annoy people until they agree to give the book some coverage

I have a list of a e-mail addresses for a few dozen local papers so i'm gonna e-mail them closer to the time when this is going on sale to see if they'll cover it. Of course, if you can help get some exposure for the book it'd be much appreciated

Ideo

Maybe we could be a little more professional about it I reckon? Like writing up a proper press release, selecting 10/15 images to be sent to all newspapers etc... I'll see what my buddy can can do in terms of circulating the press release for us. I just remember last year it was all very last minute work. Pulling my hair to the release sent out in time! are we going to use the same website as last year?

We should get a proper logo/ sig drawn up that links to the website so we can have an effective marketing theme! I'll think some more tomorrow!!

m_s_nixon

I've no experience of newspapers so i was basically just going to ask them if they'd cover it and then whatever papers said yes, we'd e-mail them after the launch party with pictures and a write up, more or less what you said.
So you reckon it's better not to e-mail them asking for coverage, just e-mail them after the launch party with pictures and details?

Ideo

Wow, serious amount of spelling mistakes in that post last night, stupid phone!

Anyway, yeah i dont see much of a point in inviting them to the release. Unless it was a proper press release before the event with a load of photos and details of the launch. I don't know whether members of the public would read such in a newspaper and come along? I think word of mouth would attract all the people really?What do you think? ill dig out the email of the press release from last year tonight. it in my email a/c but a quick search isn't showing up anything.

Ideo

Also, in last year book there is a page with all of the photographers names, with thanks to etc....

maybe we could put the details about being able to purchase prints on that page?

CabanSail

Does anyone know someone or have a contact who we could invite to be the Patron of this book? It would need to be someone who is a public face & could then promote it & the ideals of Santa Strike Force.

smelltheglove

My husband will be on tv this week promoting a charity event, now I know it is unlikeyl to actually get someone on tv but if someone could do up a bit of information and send it in to the likes of Ireland am you never know, it may get a mention, however I would say the best way to approach this is by actually selling SSF rather than the book.

For example, Kev is doing a gig for children to lapland, the piece on tv will no doubt be more aimed at children to lapland rather than the gig but the front men of the gig will be there and be asked a few things about it. So if the founders of SSF were to write a mission statement and include the book launch it might get somewhere, just an idea.

As for public eye, you never know, I have my sights set on my nephew winning the all ireland talent contest.... will come back and volunterr him if he does;)

m_s_nixon

Really i think the only way to make the book a big success is have it printed here in ireland by the 100/1000s. We could sell the book cheaper and still include a larger donation to SSF, having books ready to sell on the spot would be a lot more appealing than having a book made to order and shipped from 5,000 miles away. Obviously that's not an option for this year but i think it's the only way to go next year

Fionn

Ok just a few thoughts on marketing
There are several avenues that can be utilised to get the message out there – the primary message from our POV is the BOOK that’s the focus of the marketing!! The secondary message is of course the reason that the book is being produced the SSF. This has to be done with no financial burden on the PR person, so we have to rely on the internet to achieve the marketing. The main avenues that immediately spring to mind are:
The mainstream Media – Newspapers, National Radio & TV and The WWW
Below is a mail list of the main media ones, its not an exhaustive list, but I’m sure could be built upon.
The only snag I see is that if these organisations are bulk mailed with a press release or whatever, they’ll probably be caught by their bulk/spam mail filters. So that presents a problem, I don’t know is it feasible to send them individually, but surely the main (bigger) entities should be mailed/telephoned etc. So if theres anyone with contacts to the media, that’d be good!
morningireland@rte.ie
marian@rte.ie
todaypk@rte.ie
newsdesk@rte.ie
liveline@rte.ie
lyric@rte.ie
prpromotions@rte.ie
grs@rte.ie
lastword@todayfm.com
live@todayfm.com
breakfast@todayfm.com
foley@todayfm.com
ray@todayfm.com
Yvonne.doyle@tv3.ie
Phillippe.brodeur@tv3.ie
eolas@tg4.ie
info@channelsouth.ie
newsdesk@irishtimes.com
herald.features@independent.ie
info@independent.ie
editor@examiner.ie
sbpost@iol.ie
newsdesk@tribune.ie
odoyle@tribune.ie
editorial@argus.ie
info@nenagh-guardian.ie
dmalone@kerryman.ie
news@carlow-nationalist.ie
editorial@fingal-independent.ie
newsdesk@corkman.ie
front.office@peoplenews.ie
mirrornews@mirror.co.uk
editor@waterford-news.com
news@munster-express.ie
info@munster-express.ie
nfo@avondhupress.ie
mail@donegaltimes.com
chris@letterkennypost.com
online@dublinpeople.com
news@dublinpeople.com
info@con-telegraph.ie
editor@clarechampion.ie
gmcinerney@clarechampion.ie
jquinn@clarechampion.ie
info@galwayadvertiser.ie
info@athloneadvertiser.ie
info@mayoadvertiser.ie
info@kilkennyadvertiser.ie
editor@gcn.ie
info@waterford-today.ie
tribfilm@gmail.com
collegetribnews@gmail.com
editor@leinsterleader.ie
Stephanie.manson@jpress.co.uk
gary@dundalkdemocrat.ie
mary.kavanagh@leinsterexpress.ie
eoin.kelleher@tipperarystar.ie
laura.keys@kilkennypeople.ie
editor@sligochampion.ie
ewynne@nationalist.ie
t.butler@southtipptoday.ie
kevin.lynch@mirror.co.uk
beth.hardie@mirror.co.uk

All correspondence/press release, should include as a minimum, the writer's full name, postal address, and telephone numbers (day, evening & mobile ).

The other avenues of approach that I can think of: (even though i dont personally use them, apart from flickr/boards)

Social networking Sites
Google Wave
Facebook
Myspace
Twitter
Windows Live Spaces
Linkedln
Bebo
Flickr
Pix
irc
Blogs
Personal Websites
Message Boards

Posters / Word of Mouth etc.
Last year we developed up posters for web sites and for print. From simple designs to full colour and I think we had html code for sigs/banners etc.


I realise most of the above has been mentioned or covered somewhat in previous posts, but it’s like a list that you can tick off and maybe add to or delete from as appropriate.

Finally I have some banners/posters etc. that I’ll redo for and post up soon.

Apologies for the huge post

MartMax

it's probably a bit immature but if is a good thing to do, we could do away with taking pre-orders now? possibly with deposits say fiver or tenner?

perhaps, a proper website with links to all those marketing/viral/social sites and obviously on-line order, etc. we can think of a system that will work around easily to do all this, few trustworthy individuals in a team looking after this.

Thoie

Fionn wrote: »

The only snag I see is that if these organisations are bulk mailed with a press release or whatever, they’ll probably be caught by their bulk/spam mail filters. So that presents a problem, I don’t know is it feasible to send them individually, but surely the main (bigger) entities should be mailed/telephoned etc.

Mail merge to the rescue!

msnixon - if you don't know how to do it I can step you through it, or if you want to send me the press release I can ensure a lovely personalised mail to each address

Dodgykeeper

m_s_nixon wrote: »

Really i think the only way to make the book a big success is have it printed here in ireland by the 100/1000s. We could sell the book cheaper and still include a larger donation to SSF, having books ready to sell on the spot would be a lot more appealing than having a book made to order and shipped from 5,000 miles away. Obviously that's not an option for this year but i think it's the only way to go next year

Jaysus Ms Nixon you are an enthusiastic little bunny, self publishing throws up a lot more problems than you realise, there is the layout to be done, without blurb etc this can be quite a task, printing, distribution and the most important thing is the risk, how will you be garunteed the sales, who bears the risk for the 500 books that remain unsold. The blurb (or its ilk) option cuts down on all these headaches, at the end of the day it is a community project to publish a book of images taken by hobby photographers (with some pros) lets not get ahead of ourselves!

NORTH1

I will stick a link up on my facebook with a lot of friends and family abroad I will be presurizing them to buy copies.

Can someone type up a brief description of Sants Strike force and the people it help's, and I'll copy and paste it onto my facebook.

Can someone set up a facebook page?

Thanks.

Thoie

NORTH1 wrote: »

Can someone type up a brief description of Sants Strike force and the people it help's, and I'll copy and paste it onto my facebook.

I'm not trying to be funny, but I'd imagine the best source for that information would be www.santastrikeforce.com

There's an "FAQ" here:
http://www.santastrikeforce.com/2004/11/some_answers_i_.html#more

NORTH1

Thoie wrote: »

I'm not trying to be funny, but I'd imagine the best source for that information would be www.santastrikeforce.com

There's an "FAQ" here:
http://www.santastrikeforce.com/2004/11/some_answers_i_.html#more

Yea I seen that it seem's to be a little all over the place, like something I'd write.

"We're quietly buying and distributing cool stuff for kids to hospitals and care-centres because it sucks being there for xmas and and Santa is very busy and we feel he should have some human helpers and the positions have been vacant long enough so we're volunteering. These gists are NOT given to the individual kids but rather to the *charities themselves so that all kids will get use of them over the year."

*What charities?

I'm just asking in my ignorance. Don't get me wrong I'm not knocking the charity, I want to put the info out there.

trishw78

Ok I'm just gonna throw this out there...

Has a date for Launch nite been set, the reason I ask as not everyone lives in the Dublin catchment area and some of us will need to be booking hotels/B&B's etc for the night?

Might I also suggest that we might make it a Photo board beers meet as well maybe that night.

Has a location been found for said book launch night?

CabanSail

When the date is set I am going to apply for the use of DCC as a venue. I do not see any reason why that application would be refused.

We could have some wine & nibbles there if we get volunteers to wash glasses & clean up.

There are plenty of Pubs close by for a Photography Beers. We may be able to reserve a section upstairs in Devitts across the road.

m_s_nixon

trishw78 wrote: »

Has a date for Launch nite been set, the reason I ask as not everyone lives in the Dublin catchment area and some of us will need to be booking hotels/B&B's etc for the night?

I've been trying to find out if we can establish when the book will be on sale, can't really organise anything until we have that date. Last thing we want is a launch party with nothing to launch :pac:

melekalikimaka

bump on this badboy... no time for procrastinating:D:D:D:D

rameire

i would like just some things when the time is right.

a standard signature for my boards posts.
something for my facebook
maybe a signature for my email
and i think we need to force a thread of the day with all the details of the book launch.
by pm all people involved to thank the thread.

xia

The more I think about the book the more I'd like to buy last years as well even though I didn't contribute back then. And I suppose I'm not the only one. Do I remember right, that we will be able to buy the book on the launch party (given one has time and can travel if necessary) and not each individually by ordering on the website?
If so, how about getting some of last years as well so that people can buy it that day and can save shipping costs?
Probably people who are interested should say it in advance not that too many books are ordered...

gandalf

The problem with that is who stumps up the cash for the purchase? Especially if they aren't guaranteed to sell them? Unless one of the Community Managers wants to purchase a few on behalf of boards (they would look great on that Dafts Coffee table in the reception area!).