The marketing strategy that I’ve been contemplating up until recently included Facebook groups in every city. One of the advantages of this model is that it could open opportunities for other people to join with me in creating their own business in a city of their choice.
This idea appealed to me, but I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed when thinking about all the social media tasks that are required to make the strategy work. There are so many moving parts and I’ve been concerned that it’s departing too far from the ideal model which is a very automated, systematic approach with few moving parts and little human interaction.
It’s impossible to avoid some customization, and therefore, necessary interation with a client when providing services to local business, but that’s my goal and I would like to get as close to it as possible.
As I was thinking about this, a new idea came to me, although it wasn’t really new. I actually started to test this few years ago when we were in Albuquerque, but had never figured out the whole strategy.
The idea is to build a subscriber list by running an ad on Facebook targeting people with upcoming birthdays. Anyone who responds will be asked for some contact information and then redirected to a list of birthday offers in their city. A certain percentage of subscribers will be business owners and managers and somewhere in the process of getting their information and showing them the offers, they will be exposed to information about advertising opportunities which will include listing their own birthday offer on the website.
This strategy simultaneously builds a list of both consumers and business owners which gives me potential clients and subscribers they can sell to. It does not require local-based Facebook groups or a lot of social media tasks, something I was feeling very uncomfortable with.
Birthday offers are something I can actually deliver from day one because it’s not too difficult to find lists of birthday offers for major city.
Right now, I’m putting together a sales process and funnels that will lead business owners down the path, starting with opportunities to post information about their business free on the website, and advertise their birthday offers for a small fee.
Upsells include adding a digital coupon, targeting people near their location with a customized Facebook/Instagram ad, and the viral loyalty program. That’s what I have right now, although the bots need some work. When I get this off the ground, it will be relatively easy to add other services.
This strategy makes it pretty easy to start anywhere in the country. I think I’ll start with Albuquerque partly because I know the area and partly because they have a Black Angus restaurant which is the only restaurant I’ve found that offers a free steak dinner on your birthday, which is the most genrous offer I’ve found so far.
Right now, I’m putting final touches on the website and trying to design the best sales funnel/process. It will be crude at best, but can be improved over time. I’m convinced this strategy will work if I can design it properly and stick with it long enough.