Marketing Challenge. Responses from the top!

I recently sent up some questions to ebid support relating to the marketing challenge. I've no had some answers :)

Here's a brief summary

Q. I had asked about how we would measure the success of our campaign, and in particular the questions posed to new users during sign up.

A. "On the registration page 'Where did you hear about eBid' provides us with information on how a new member heard about eBid"

We will need to encourage any sign ups we get through our campaign, to complete this in a way which gives us credit!

Q. I asked if we would be able to promote competitions/ideas which were part of our plan the ebid newsletter for free?

A.: "if it is applicable to the campaign agreed on and with eBid's oversight and final sign-off. Yes"

Q. I asked if we wanted minor enhancements to the site ( banners, hiomepage links etc..) as part of our proposal. Would ebid do these for free?

A. EBID support reiterated that "The idea is to attract new sign up members to the site and minor enhancements are not part of the PR project" However they did confirm that any enhancements, or site relevant updates would not be deducted from the £2000 budget

The one question i've asked a couple of times now- but haven't had a response to is on timescales. When do EBID want this campaign to happen?. Maybe they want us to decide the timescale too?

For example.

• 1.We could continue to encourage debate and discussion on the ideas thread for a couple more weeks to see if there are any more proposals to be put forward.
• 2. Start of December - Add a poll to the proposals thread and run the poll right through until early January so that as many people as possible get to vote ( I nominate NYK to get us the voters!)
• 3. Once the poll results are in.(Mid Jan) The people who's proposals have been selected need to get together somewhere on cyberspace to discuss the details of the final proposal (who's going to do what, when etc..) and submit our final detailed proposals package to Ebid support. This process could take between 1 & 4 weeks depending on how complex the final proposals are, and on our own availability. Aim to complete this part by mid to late February
• 4. We need to wait for authority from EBID support before we can go ahead.
• 5. Depending on how long point 4 takes, Campaign to run during March or April ?

If our final proposal is very easy to implement ( e.g let me use the whole £2000 to hire Johnny depp for my Youtube video :D) than it could all happen much quicker- but we're getying very close to Xmas now!

What do YOU think about a timeline for our campaign?

Has anyone else received any useful information from 'the top' which might help our planning?

Update Office response from ebid on timescales

"Hi Val,

There is no time limit applicable. It is up to you as a community to decide. Good luck!"
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Hi HannaHolly,
*I would bring the poll forward to now as no one seems to be contributing to the ideas thread with any more new proposals.
* Do you think there should be a step 2A? Before we waste any time planning any proposals, maybe we should ask eBid whether they would be ok with the ideas or not. Some ideas may be unworkable or require permission right from the start.

P.S. I think the reason why a lot of the interest in the thread seems to have fizzled out(judging from the lack of posts) is because, while most eBidders are willing to contribute their time on an informal basis, the thought of spending loads of unpaid man-hours preparing detailed marketing proposals for eBid is dampening the enthusiasm somewhat.

Hi artsbanquet. :)
I'm actually quite encouraged by the proposals already suggested and I can see ways some of these proposals support each other. I've already said i would help drive this campaign forward even if my idea isn't voted on and i'll stand by that.

I'd very much like to include the 1NR promotion on the proposals list and give it a boost by a bit of well targeted paid advertising. Although the 1NR idea isn't 'mine' i would be happy to do the planning work needed to make it happen. I'd like to seek permission from the person who thought up the idea before adding it- so on a personal note, I'm not ready to go to the polls yet :D.

a bit more time to have a think is needed on my part :)

with xmas coming up etc i havent been able to give the proposal thing much thought

not sure if i could come up with anything as good as the ideas already submitted (i really like the 1NR idea) but with a bit more time you never know:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HannaHolly

Hi artsbanquet. :)
I'm actually quite encouraged by the proposals already suggested and I can see ways some of these proposals support each other. I've already said i would help drive this campaign forward even if my idea isn't voted on and i'll stand by that.

I'd very much like to include the 1NR promotion on the proposals list and give it a boost by a bit of well targeted paid advertising. Although the 1NR idea isn't 'mine' i would be happy to do the planning work needed to make it happen. I'd like to seek permission from the person who thought up the idea before adding it- so on a personal note, I'm not ready to go to the polls yet :D.

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Hi HH, if it helps, I just checked back and the first £1 NR (or 99p)auctions I tried were at the start of September and they run with the code NYK in them as a monthly Cyberdosh challenge. We (us eBidders) did a couple, one NYK, one TCBB and then the 1NR that's running now, but there's still insufficient feedback to judge if it was worthwhile with regards to bringing in new buyers. I certainly got a few new of sign-ups.

If this is in the wrong thread, accept my apologies, but I (and others, I believe) did make a request to eBid for the 1NRs to be promoted on site and in the newsletter.