[BPB] Marketing Thread

m_s_nixon · 24-09-2009 12:01am #1

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 · 24-09-2009 12:18am

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 · 24-09-2009 12:21am

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 · 24-09-2009 12:42am

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 · 24-09-2009 12:54am

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 · 24-09-2009 12:58am

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. · 24-09-2009 8:35am

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 · 24-09-2009 9:34am

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 · 24-09-2009 9:38am

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 · 24-09-2009 9:46am

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 · 24-09-2009 9:57am

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 · 24-09-2009 11:07am

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 · 24-09-2009 11:10am

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 · 24-09-2009 11:37am

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 · 24-09-2009 11:58am

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 · 24-09-2009 12:01pm

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 · 24-09-2009 12:05pm

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 · 24-09-2009 12:07pm

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 · 24-09-2009 12:09pm

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 · 24-09-2009 12:20pm

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 · 24-09-2009 10:01pm

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 · 24-09-2009 10:12pm

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 · 25-09-2009 12:40am

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 · 25-09-2009 7:08am

[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 · 25-09-2009 11:48am

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 · 25-09-2009 5:11pm

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 · 25-09-2009 9:11pm

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 · 29-09-2009 11:58pm

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 · 01-10-2009 9:31pm

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 · 01-10-2009 9:50pm

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 · 02-10-2009 12:21am

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!!

[BPB] Marketing Thread

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