This weeks Learning Activity is:
“Now that you have built and tested your website, I would like you to market it. Let’s say that your budget is NOK 10 000 (or 1800 $ US). Please do the following:
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Do some research on what advertising costs. You could for instance contact your local newspaper, print shop and other websites.
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Make a detailed list of how you would market your website. Remember to keep your budget in mind.
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What if you had double the budget? Come up with a second marketing strategy, this time with NOK 20 000 at your disposal. (3600 $ US)
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Come up with a viral idea. It doesn’t have to be a video; it can be guys dancing at the airport in gorilla suits. You can use ANYTHING that is at your disposal. Be creative!”
1. Research:
Adds in the local newspaper: 2600 NOK for a small ad for 5 days, this ad will reach also the neighboring villages as they have the same local newspaper. 4600 NOK for web and paper.
Facebook ads: ca 3500 NOK for 60 days. Reach: 1500 – 4000 per day.
SEO optimization cost around 3000 NOK for the startup fee and then a montly fee for around 250 NOK, with Norwegian companies.
The local print agency take about 700 NOK for 25 full color one page flyers. There is online companies that are cheaper than the local, but I think printing local and support businesses in Vadsø would be beneficial to my website in the long run. It also makes my website a talk subject for the local crowd, as words spread fast in a small community. But later when I saw how much reach I would get for 2100 NOK. 75 flyers I decided to put the money in to online advertising. They also make banners and posters. I was thinking of creating a banner to hang up somewhere at the yearly festival, but my research reveled that having that banner up anywhere in the actual festivals area (next to the stage or at the bar area) would cost more than any of the marketing budgets I have for this project.
2. The list: How I would market my website and why.
My website is an information site about my hometown, the tiny town in North-Eastern Norway. It has a very small tourist industry (if you can call it that) and most its visitors come to see the exotic birds and the bird colonies during the summer time. Other than that it is a harbor town for the boats from Hurtigruten (tourists) which stays in the harbor for about 30 mints before the boat sails on to the next tiny town with a harbor, several hours away. So I have been thinking about who the target audience for the site is from the beginning of the website development. I have focused on the birdwatchers and the yearly jazz festival and just giving general information about Vadsø as a tiny town, worth visiting.
So who are the people that would benefit from visiting this site. First its the locals (around 3000 of them that are adults). Then its the bird watching enthusiasts around the world, and last the tourists that come. The tourists I want to reach is the hikers, skiiers, those who want to see “untouched” nature, and the exotic nature of the north. They are outdoorsy people, they love photography, the special light of the north, snow kiting, birds and wildlife.
- Social media marketing: Social media marketing would be my main marketing strategy. The website would have its own connected Facebook Page and Instagram account. Here the focus would be the nature and wildlife surrounding the town, and Instagram in particular is beneficial to promote using stunning pictures of the birds and nature. Here creating content and posting consistent is important. How my site would do that, you have to have the pictures, I could provide them myself or buy them form others. There is not alot of free stock photos on Vadsø but its could be managed, maybe local photagraphers would provide pictures in exchange for recondition. I have spoken to a few and they where interested, but for some it depended on the amount of followers the account has.
- Facebook and instagram ads: 4000 NOK reach: 1500- 4000 every day Ad run: 60 days
- Local Newspaper: 4600 NOK for 5 days reach 35.000 readers
- 1400 NOK is left I would use this for e-mail marketing templates and automation. A e-mail template in the same look and feel as the website that can be sent regulary to the local hotels, tourist information , Hurtigruten and also the front desks of the businesses in Vadsø. So that they can inform their customers, print out the e-mail letter.
Free marketing: Since the budget is so small, I would also focus on marketing the website in groups on Facebook, where the locals hang out and post about different happenings. The local newspaper would maybe like to do a story about the website project and also the festival would get an e-mail with a link. Spreading the word as much as possible and encourage people to use and link to the website.
3. If the budget was double 20 0000 NOK:
I would add 4000 NOK to the social media marketing, keep the same amount of days, but increase the reach. 8000 NOK.
Invest in SEO 3000 NOK in start up and one year of monthly fee 12X250 = 3000 NOK. 6000 NOK.
Local Newspaper: 4600 NOK for 5 days reach 35.000 readers.
1400 NOK is left I would use this for e-mail marketing templates and automation.
4. VIRAL IDEA:
A small animation of a funny conversation between some of the birds, because they look very interesting some of them. Maybe play on the ‘we are gonna go south’ (because Vadsø is affected by depopulation).
My reflective journal 