Help on best way to promote new parenting scheme

[forparents]

Hello everyone,

How are you enjoying this so hot weather? Its way too hot for my liking.

Anyway back to my post. I've been working on this project for a while now, sometimes I would change my plan then the next day I would divert to another thing, sometimes would be nice to have a dedicated mentor type of help to get this business moving and doing something.

OK my project is where parents join as members and they receive discounts and offers - will be inviting retailers online as well as off-line ie: soft play centres, restaurants and so on to join the scheme and then everytime our members shop or use their services they would receive an exclusive discount or offer.

I was thinking of just doing it for online stores at first but then I think it would benefit the parents more if they could also use it on places such as playcentres etc..

Now my dillema is should I charge the merchants to join or not- after all their business will be promoted to a highly targeted audience and not just the general public - if they were to run a special offer or sales offer they would have to pay for an ad in the paper.

I was thinking offer free for the first year then charge a small listing fee the ff year, sometimes offering this free ads does not seem to have that much value to people and they would join but not really appreciate what its all about on the other hand if they pay for it then they would also try to promote our product via their own marketing and will have more value to the receiving end.

Forgot to mention parents will be buying a yearly membership in return for this exclusive priveleges.

I've looked at all avenue, maybe there is another way of promoting this and structuring the whole scheme, If you have some suggestion or advice I would very much welcome them, thank you in advance.

Rx

 

[dcs]

If you get this project up and running I might be interested in advertising on your site. For me, I'd only pay if I was sure that my target group would visit your site regularly. And - as a startup - I am in no position to pay a large sum of money for it in combination with a discount to your members.

Not sure what you mean with the following:

I was thinking offer free for the first year then charge a small listing fee the ff year, sometimes offering this free ads does not seem to have that much value to people and they would join but not really appreciate what its all about on the other hand if they pay for it then they would also try to promote our product via their own marketing and will have more value to the receiving end.

Why would I promote your product? If I were to promote anything it would be my own business. Especially if I am paying you for a service. Or do I misunderstand?

 

[forparents]

Hi DCS,

Thank you for your reply. That's exactly is the selling point - is that your business will be seen by your target audience unlike in some medium ie: advertising in paper or similar which usually just goes to general public or similar to mail dropping they're hardly targeted. If your business is aiming to reach the mummy market, new mum, parents with young children then thats where we'll be promoting our membership to.

regard to the last message - what I meant was that I'm trying to get some kind of strategy on how to get merchants to join us - I was advice to get them on board for free but some people have said that sometimes free advertising can devalue your product/service (kind of well its free can't be that great - not always but sometimes can be the case) and when people pay for something in life it seems to get appreciated and value more than the ones that it's free and because they value it more then they're likely to pass the message on to others.

If anyone have more advice or suggestion please type away. Thank you.

 

[little_stork]

let me know when your up and running i'd be interested. I will need all the help i can get
Little Stork

 

[forparents]

Hi Little Stork,

Thank you. Will get in touch as soon as I get everything finalised.

If anyone here have more advice and ideas it will be much appreciated.

really need some advice on where and what's the best route to take.:|

Regards

 

[dcs]

What I look for in a directory or any type of advertising is what type and how many people actually visit the site and how frequently they visit. If and how much I'd be prepared to pay would depend on these figures. I'm not put off by free advertising, but I would want to know how this person is making money. If it would be through parents that pay a subscription fee (and from the figures it seems that people will actually visit the site) then that would be fine.

I'm only just starting up a business myself, so don't pretend to know the answer to your question. Hope my comments are useful. And - as I mentioned before - let me know what you decide because I may be interested!

 

[mattk]

It's very much a chicken and egg situation you have. Parents are not going to pay a subscription to a site unless you have plenty of well know companies on board and with good offers and as DCS said, companies are not going to pay to advertise on a site unless they can see that you have lots of frequent visitors that are their target market.

I suggest that you run with the 12 months free offer for businesses as this should allow you to get plenty of companies on baord and for them to experience how good your service is. As for parents, I think you'll be shooting yourself in the foot trying to charge them to use your site. Let the parents on for free and the paying-businesses will soon follow.

 

[forparents]

Thanks DCS, your input is greatly appreciated.

Hi Matt,

Thanks for your reply. Yes I was told to go for free for the first year for the merchants to join, exactly my problem chicken and egg situation, no merchants no interest. Just to note I'm not having a directory or anything of that website and I'm not charging the parents to access the site - I'm actually trying to set up a members club - kind of a Hi life thing - they buy membership in return of exclusive discount and offers which are only available via the club. So when they visit their local soft play centre they get lets say 10% off, discount and offers on day-outs, eating out at fave restaurant, toy shop, discount on nursery essentials etc. What I'd like to do instead of getting the revenue from paying members I'll split the revenue sources so that way can afford to sell an affordable membership and just charge the merchants a small listing fee.

 

[forparents]

If anyone at all could give me more advice or some guidance :|

Thank you.