Event Launch Strategies

A lot of people, who are reading our posts are enjoying them because they are making them think, however, some of them have not really put it all together. I was talking to a member of “my circle of trust” and he asked me what I am going to do now that I have sold “Sleeping with the Enemy” (my old company), I told him; “I am doing it”. I realized then that he did not realize that he was participating in a marketing campaign. Sharing in his classic ‘aha’ moment made me realize that it is high time I posted an article that outlines the power of conversation marketing that has just been validated through this situation.

We started this journey eight months ago and the principle was simple, we add value to everybody by writing meaningful and helpful posts on social media strategies and launch guidelines with lots of high quality content. We invested a lot of time and money in these eight months to add value to as many people as we could touch; we did this to build the trust of people in us. I cross syndicated this content throughout different social platforms through blogging, Facebook, Yahoo Answers, Linkedin, Twitter and attracted an audience of thousands of readers. To give you an idea, we had approx 1500 from LinkedIn, 1500+ from Facebook, 3500+ from Plaxo, 400+ from Twitter and thousands more through various other bookmarking, article marketing and networking platforms. By posting the same content once and sharing it through multiple platforms on auto pilot, we attracted an audience of 12,000+ people who were specifically interested in what we have to say. These people were following us for one reason, because we add value to what they do and we have been doing it consistently, almost daily, for over eight months now.

From then onwards, we’ve driven these people into different level of conversations - surveys, videos and now into Facebook. We have accumulated 3000+ names and email addresses along the way and effectively shifted the conversation to what is going on in Facebook for the last four weeks. Our Facebook group campaign has attracted thought leaders who enjoy challenging themselves and collaborating with other people in their leagues.

Conversations are like a game - with each of us playing his part:

So, to use an analogy introduced to me by one of these thought leaders (Philip A Gornail) in a comment left on a previous note;

“Let the games begin…Let the spectators be entertained…let the coaches coach and let the players play.”

But here’s the thing, attracting and publishing to a growing audience of spectators without cost is just the beginning. Our main conversation walks our audience towards products and services that lead to a sales funnel designed to convert some of our audience opportunities to become great customers. I say great because; leads that are earned this way are not people coerced…our leads are intelligent people who have been engaged in conversation with us for some time, they know us. They know where we are coming from, what we stand for and the value we represent. This happens on the most part without them even knowing the conversation is anything but a conversation they are enjoying great value in being a part of. More importantly than that, when an audience member does turn into a lead, he/she will be introduced to it by someone they already like, trust and respect - so that the introducer could share the journey with them together. It’s this inter-connectedness, the passing of a trust baton that cannot be underestimated when it comes to the power of what makes a successful community. The mindset every new audience member arrives with, that will become the foundation of their experience.

Taking the conversation to new levels is important to keep the campaign interesting, as long as we have an audience; we have a community. If the conversation ends so too will the community that has built around it. From our current audience of 12,000+ we have attracted close to 3,000 people into inviting us into their email inboxes because they all want more from the conversation, those who haven’t are content staying where they are and that’s fine to.

To reference Phillip’s analogy again we have those who are happy to stay at home and watch the game on TV, whilst others (those who subscribe) who prefer to come down to the ground and watch. Our conversation to each segment of the audience will remain constant yet different, to ensure those at the ground receive greater value for being there. Then we get to those who can only watch for so long before they want to play: People who started out watching the game at home on TV with friends, who later started attending the games. Certain personalities will always get to a point where they want to play, they want to start their own conversations, build their own audiences and grow their own communities, these people want to emulate the process and form a community. To continue to grow, these people need to be able to do that without having to leave the community to do it. These players within the greater community are the people we expect will grow into becoming our customers through purchasing the ‘Social Traffic’, book.

Knowing this we are offering 1000 FREE preview copies (first 30 pages) of Social Traffic on Wednesday at 4.00pm (EST- North America). Of the 1000 FREE preview copies readers can read chapter 1 (30 pages) and from that decide if the quality is worth the price we are asking to activate the balance of the 145 page book.

By offering the first chapter for FREE we have backed ourselves, knowing the value readers will experience in that chapter alone is that good that most will purchase the full book. By limiting this launch to 1000 FREE preview copies, we expect a lot of people who would like the book but are not going to jump over any hoops to get one will miss out. What this assures us is that the people who will jump over hoops to get their hands on a copy will become our first generation customers and we couldn’t ask for a better start in business than that.

Good conversations are never meaningless or random:

If we end up with even 1 customer who is appreciative, enthusiastic, passionate and committed about what we are doing from an audience of 12,000+, from a leads list of 3000+ then we are a lot better off than starting the next level of our campaign with 2000 customers who are not.

If we end up with 1000 customers purchasing the book that have the right mindset, that works for us, but the emphasis is on the mindset not volume. I will guarantee that I can grow a customer base of 1 person who has a fantastic attitude into a valuable customer base that will amount to a successful corporation. Conversely, I cannot guarantee to grow 2000 strong customers with a poor mindset into a valuable customer base, in fact it’s probably not possible. People who queue to purchase a copy of ‘Social Traffic’ through this launch want a copy because of the value they have already enjoyed throughout the conversation, they know who they are and are already sold on that idea. I look forward to my conversation with these people being elevated to a whole new level, a conversation that can only be shared by customers who not only “get it”, but will have read the book, so are ready to “do it”. Those people not ready to take the conversation to another level will do so at their own pace, some may prefer to stay in the main grandstand and follow that conversation forever, others will drop out of the conversation all together and the fact they can do that is the power of conversation marketing.

The most powerful attribute of conversation marketing is that;

· people who participate do so at their comfort,

· anyone can break away to start other conversations, and

· all conversations are interconnected by participants.

As conversation marketers, it is our job to listen and feel what an audience wants to hear, then to publish content that inspires them to engage.

Our entry level conversation will continue as it has done over the past 8 months and we expect our audience to grow with the cross pollination of evangelists who have read the book back into the audience, each one of these people who breaks away to build out their own conversation marketing campaign across social media serve as social proof that what we do as a corporation adds value to those who trust in it. Our main conversation will continue to inspire new thoughts aimed at challenging the mindset of all those who listen.

Building a valuable business is about building one fruitful, trusting and respectful relationship with customers. The net worth of any corporation is the sum total of all its good customers and the cost of securing a new customer is a onetime cost. It never ceases to amaze me how businesses spend so much money on attracting new customers only to neglect them once they buy.

We have limited the distribution of Social Traffic to ensure the appropriate amount of value is enjoyed by those who purchase it. We want them to have time to read it, once they have we will begin a new conversation with them, this conversation will be at an entirely new level because they all share something that our general audience have not gone through. They have also invested more into what we do in order to build our relationship to the next level. We take our commitment to ensuring they are taken to the next step very seriously.

Our customer community will become a tight one, those who buy the book not only “get it” but will start “executing it”, connecting all across another level. We have some amazing campaigns planned that will continue to take the social marketing world by storm. Has anyone seen a strategy like this one before? Everything we do is aimed at pioneering a lead of newer social marketing models for community based business. We make it a win-win for everyone involved. don’t just watch other people get to that level, emulate them by acting quickly.

You can get hold of your preview copy of “Social Traffic” here. Bring your circle of trust in business with you so that you’re all on the same page so we move this conversation to the next level, together.

Simon U Ford (SUF.EDBD)

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