ssgcmwatson

So, I've been working on a website for a few weeks now and I'm trying to get traffic to it on a VERY small budget. I had online coupons for free ads at Microsoft and Bidvertiser, those helped a bit, and posting to my school's message board helped, but still looking for MORE.

Today I had something of a brainstorm, and I'd love your input. Now that I'm past ten posts I think I'm allowed to tell you the site: www. freemysteryshopping.info. It's a directory site of mystery shopping / secret shopping companies. I'm hoping to monetize with affiliate sales and eventually PPC ads (I'm google banned due to an honest mistake, so I'm working on getting another good ad provider)

So, here's the idea:

1) Go to http://cafepress.com and design a t-shirt that says something like "I get paid to shop" and then has my URL. I could buy 1 for $15 to $20 bucks and wear it when I go to the mall, the county fair, or any high-traffic place.

2) Submit press releases to local news organizations, with a description of the site and a contest announcement: If you see someone wearing the "I get paid to shop" t-shirt, stop them and ask for a contest entry. The contest entry would be a business card with the URL and some sort of code. I'd have one code that would win something like a $25 amazon gift certificate or some such.

3) If the idea works locally, then get family and friends in other towns to help out and send press releases to their communities.


Comments and critiques gratefully appreciated!

__________________
http://www.freemysteryshopping.info
http://www.getrichatamediumpace.com

Cat

Don't get the T-Shirts printed yet! Promotional T-shirts only work as part of a major PR campaign - ie. if there are several people wearing the same t-shirt in a small area (e.g. in a shopping mall) and are handing things out. If it's just one person walking about their daily business - people will just assume it's a motif/slogan on a t-shirt and think nothing of it.

Also, the words "I get paid to shop" do nothing for me - it's a basic statement about you - it has nothing about me, your potential customer - it looks like you're just bragging!

My reaction to that kind of statement is - "so what?". The kind of reaction you need to get out of me is - "Oooh - tell me how..." and to get that reaction you need to to follow the rules of AIDA. (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)

Grab my Attention:
Sure - a brightly coloured T-shirt might do that - but what if it's cold and you're wearing a coat...? You're also moving too much - it's difficult to read a moving target. Also, people might not want to be rude and stare at you whilst trying to read the website. Maybe get some postcards printed up (vistaprint.com are pretty cost-effective) - ask your local stores to put them on their announcements boards, or even do a door to door drop in a suburb where your target market live. If you're determined to do the t-shirt thing - like I said - have several people doing it at the one time in the same place, and change the slogan to "Want to get paid to go shopping?" on the front "Visit website to find out how" - and have somthing (e.g. a postcard) to hand out to people.

Keep me Interested:
You've got to get me interested - explain more (but not in too much detail) in the postcard about what I'd be doing. Tell me, all I need to do is register and I'll get emails inviting me to go shopping - and I'd get paid.

Make me Desire the product you're offering:
Tell me how easy it is to make money from going shopping. Tell me how great it feels to get paid for doing something I love doing.

Call me to Action:
This is where the really where the postcard idea works so much better than T-shirts - if someone has a card in their hand - they have the web address there in front of them. Accuracy is key here. If a postcard has successfully done the first three stages of AIDA - the "Call to Action" just needs to be a simple "Visit our website and register for free now" type instruction. Also, with a t-shirt, the glimse of your message only lasts for a second or 2 - whereas a physical card in the hand, although it may initially get put in a handbag, or filed with the rest of the mail - people will come across it again - or pass it on to someone else who they think might be interested - which then leads to the ultimate thing in marketing... word of mouth.

Just remember, with everything you write, STOP. Go back. Look at it from your potential customer's point of view and ask "What's in it for me?" If you can answer your "customer's" question, then you're good to go.

Hope this helps.

Cat

__________________
Catriona Mackay
www.rhapsodystringquartet.co.uk