>> Help needed here - If and when we ran another competition ?

Chasplaya
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:41 pm
Status: Offline

Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:46 pm

TGMatt wrote:
Good start folk...


And so far no-one has created a bold as brass prize..
Depends on how you define 'Bold as brass', my idea of an all expenses trip to attend a 'Live show of Neil's is pretty much up there for me lol.

To get TG out there you maybe need to latch onto a major sponsor and collaborate on a Competition, say Cole Clark's for example lol. Get onto the Ellen DeGeneres or Oprah show! They can give away free memberships to everyone in the audience as well as an 'El cheapo' guitar, say a Taylor! lol

Fill your Porsche with Guitars and we have to guess how many are in it; the winner gets the car and the runners up get the guitars... :laugh:

@Neverfoundthetime, I hear what you're are saying about brainstorming and that's fine for Visions or Missions statements and Strategic planning, but I believe to ensure we have a level playing field you need to have some parameters laid out. For example if it had to involve singing I wouldn't enter, if it involved collaborations I haven't got the technical skills yet, even for recording myself never mind anyone else so quite likely would leave that alone also. Correct me if I'm wrong but the whole deal is about marketing the site really and if you make the scope of the competition harder for the majority you simultaneously narrow the target market. E.g. no way would I go up against Al on recording skills or multi tracking and harmonising etc... same as i wouldn't take you on at the singing side of things.


tombo1230
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 8:27 am
Status: Offline

Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:02 pm

How about build a guitar with a luthier teaching you, as a prize. I saw a package on this type of thing advertised last year and it was a well known luthier who would have you stay either at his home or in a hotel and he would take you through how to build a guitar over a couple of weeks, maybe it was four weeks don't remember. I would think this is a great prize and you have a guitar and knowledge at the end of it.

To get TG more out there you make a prize video and get it on UTube advertising this prize and other prizes for Target members. If the prizes are big enough and appealing enough, guitar signed by slash etc, people may join. If the prizes aren't great I don't think the interest will be great. Other prizes Guitar Pro, Guitar Rig bundle for recording sound. HD Digital movie Camera. Editing software pro/ semi pro, Cardioid mics, mic stands, Project studio Reflexion Filter, Popshield etc.

Use twitter etc to get the message out.

Create an incentive for members to spread the word. If you are really ambitious radio and tv advertising as well, but this could be costly and difficult to reach the right audience. A magazine advert may be a better idea.

Rant over :S

Tom N.

p.s. This kind of thing:http://www.cumpiano.com/Home/Classes/classes.html Not the course I saw before but same idea.


User avatar
neverfoundthetime
Posts: 48
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:14 pm
Status: Offline

Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:00 pm

@Chasplaya: I hear you Chas. It's funny but I was thinking that it narrows things down to only aim at TARGET songs and have no collabs and no singing and that it would open things up to include that and all songs. I especially like the idea of home-made songs in collaboration. Whichever way you look at it, you'll still need to record a video with sound (I'm guessing cartoons will be out ;-)). MY thinking was to keep open on ideas right now and let them rain in. The best ideas will float to the top, I think. For example, we could potentially double membership if every member did a collab with someone we know who is still not a member.

As to getting the message out there, it has to be via youtube, facebook, twitter and the like. Maybe radio stations would work in the US. TG Guitar Hero Competition?


TGMatt
Posts: 0
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2009 3:14 pm
Status: Offline

Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:10 pm

Just as an aid in thinking..

The competition needs to be its own attractant, we wont be spending more money on advertising, and we want free an paying members incentivised to bring new folk here..

As for Target only stuff, unlikely as that shuts down the idea, for anyone not already a part of Target, and the idea is to help us grow beyond where we are at..

Thx keep it all flowing


Chasplaya
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:41 pm
Status: Offline

Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:48 pm

TGMatt wrote:
Just as an aid in thinking..

The competition needs to be its own attractant, we wont be spending more money on advertising, and we want free an paying members incentivised to bring new folk here..

As for Target only stuff, unlikely as that shuts down the idea, for anyone not already a part of Target, and the idea is to help us grow beyond where we are at..

Thx keep it all flowing
Going back to my College days, and Marketing studies, you need clear guidelines about what you want to achieve, what's the aim. Next with the actual marketing you need to take care you actually market the product on offer, so are you selling TARGET membership or TotallyGuitars site, they are distinctly different, the pay programme as opposed to the free programme, again different. Further by leaning on collaborations you give the perception you drive that and teach that, whereas its not its the members themselves, so you could be marketing a third thing - the strength of the community? The collaborations are one of the biggest success stories here but TG only provides the medium for its being it doesn't teach you how to perform together so to design a competition around that alone might be construed as misleading potential members unless done in such a manner that no illusion about the 'How To collaborate' was created. As an aside this is potentially a new section 'How To Create A Collaboration' part of a overall Performance Category, same category could have threads about the Techs side of creating recordings using basic set-ups, I don't mean members posts but get real life sound/video engineers in (unless the member is one of those lol)

From a purely business point of view, you already have a pool of free members, maybe an incentive to get them on board in the first instance will provide a wider pool of members with greater knowledge of what's actually on offer, you are preaching to the partly converted, creating a bigger pool and in turn increasing the likelihood getting new folk. So I think as opposed to one competition an internal one first maybe solely for free members, with an incentive to join up to the TARGET programme then once you have a bigger membership launch the mother of all competitions and put up a really big major prize.

So big competition big prize what is it that works, well for example that recent Virgin Digital post I put up that picture went viral in the mid 2000's and there wasn't even a prize.

First I think you need to align with a major company, lets say Taylor or Cole Clark, then maybe hide small Taylor/Cole Clark icon guitars throughout the site which the participant has to download, each icon being different, the first to come up with them all and answer a series of questions about where they found them and what was on that page. Now I mention Coles partially seriously they are still a young company trying to break into various markets they have a quality product and just might be keen to collaborate, the Prize a guitar of Course But Wait There's More an all expenses trip to collect it from the factory where it was made. To advertise this put out a You Tube video of the competition, send Press release to major radio stations, Music shops (get existing members to work for you on this.


tombo1230
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 8:27 am
Status: Offline

Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:56 pm

TGMatt wrote:
Just as an aid in thinking..

The competition needs to be its own attractant, we wont be spending more money on advertising, and we want free an paying members incentivised to bring new folk here..

As for Target only stuff, unlikely as that shuts down the idea, for anyone not already a part of Target, and the idea is to help us grow beyond where we are at..

Thx keep it all flowing
So the idea is to bring people to the site, not specifically join up to Target? but they might join if they get involved and like what the site has to offer, or they might buy lessons. I get it, you are increasing traffic which brings more business. Sorry I was thinking join Target get a chance at the bigger prize or prizes. My bad.

Tom N.


jimcjimc
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:49 pm
Status: Offline

Sat Jan 01, 2011 11:27 pm

(5) How do we choose the winners ?..

In keeping with the social networking theme, the winner is the video with the most Facebook Like's.


AndyT
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 2:06 am
Status: Offline

Sat Jan 01, 2011 11:30 pm

The only reason for a business to run a contest is to increase business. Any other use is a waste of resources.

That's why I recommend teaming with a major e-tailer. They already have hundreds of thousands of people visiting their sites and if you offer a prize that most of them would want, and require a free membership to be entered, then you will get minimally hundreds of new members. More like thousands of new members with the internet being the ultimate in viral marketing.

If you give them a coded link, you can offer them extra entries into the competition for each new member they recruit. Of course you realize you will require a 'Captcha' system on your signup page to prevent robots from flooding you with junk entries.

You give them a 2 or 3 month period in which to sign up and at the end of it, you choose the winner and award the prize(s). In the meantime, you now have a larger email audience for your weekly newsletter that happens to include a free playing tip so they actually read it instead of just having it show up in the spambox.

For the price of the prize you have increased your member base possibly 2, 3 or more times over. How much will each of them spend with you in the future? How well do you market to your list?

The potential earnings are huge. Allowing TG to grow massively and give them the resources they need to get and keep new teachers. Electric... Theory... People need to be paid. This would help do that.

You want more lessons on other aspects of guitar that Neil doesn't do? Get more people signed up.


thereshopeyet
Posts: 130
Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2009 4:19 pm
Status: Offline

Sun Jan 02, 2011 12:41 am

Thanks


willem
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:53 am
Status: Offline

Sun Jan 02, 2011 6:02 am

TGMatt wrote:
[quote]Just as an aid in thinking..

The competition needs to be its own attractant,

So we have to brainstorm on the competition's name or theme..

1.sell your self on TG as a home recording guitarist.

2.sell your self as a theory genius and how you manege the fretboard

3.sell your self as a instrumentalist

4.sell your self as a guitarist that search for someone that will sing on your playing

5.sell your self as that guitarist that makes anyones party

6.sell your self why you like that guitar so much and wanna make all that crazy grips and stretches to make sound

i must say why i like that guitar so much,,oh i think i said it in the 6 point's

everytime i see one singer and one guitar(acoustic)player doing a song i get mad,,,that atract's me to guitarplaying(learning!!)


Post Reply Previous topicNext topic