These Folks are Kinky

It’s Tuesday morning and I am sitting in a café trying to think of e-marketing issues that I can possibly write about on my blog- it’s been a while since my last post and I’m beginning to feel guilty about my lack of imagination.

As I sit staring into my coffee, racking my brains for some new and semi-interesting idea I overhear my brother talk about how the café he runs is in the process of creating their website… and BAM (like a comic book punch in the face) there it is- something to blog about.

This blog is going to be a bit different because instead of me telling you about an issue I am going to ask for your input – so please comment with any ideas : )

Kinfolk café is a Not for profit café that runs out of Melbourne’s CBD (look at above post Kinfolk for more information) All of their food is sourced locally and their coffee was 100% donated by DiBella. Kinfolk donate all their profits to four different development projects in Rwanda, Ghana, Palm Island and Melbourne. Kinfolk runs day to day with the support of volunteer staff. Kinfolk is a social business which allows individuals to make a difference in their daily activity i.e. buying a cup of coffee.

"Kinfolk - A place where simple choices contribute to the well-being of people and planet"

                                                                                          Courtesy of ArtShine

So, with all this in mind the question I put to you is… How can Kinfolk use their website in order to create interest from and market themselves to;

•      Volunteers?
•      Potential sponsors?
•      The wider community?
•      Café goers?
•      Foodies?
•      Local and state Government departments?
•      Other not-for profit organisations?

spoken like a real ...

I
Is this the new way to campaign?

This ad was found on Facebook after a friend posted it- The ad is from a website called get up- action for Australians and encourages people to donate in order to get the ad on the television.

The website also encourages individuals to share the ad on Facebook and twitter in order to get the message of the ad out in the world.

Seeing this on Facebook got me to thinking, does the ad actually have to be on the television when so many individuals are sharing the ad on the web already?

I wonder how much more attention it would get on the TV. Of course there are those individuals such as older and younger Australians who would see it if it were on the TV but by putting it online and allowing people to put it on their Facebook etc are they allowing for better targeting.  I also think that it is a fantastic way of getting people to really connect with the ad and its message instead of just watching it like just another election campaign commercial.

I think this ad really works

Let me know what you think?

Here's a link to the website
https://www.getup.org.au/campaign/Australia_GetsUp_2010&id=1251 

Freemium

Okay, so I was recently sitting back at home attempting to do some much needed study or should I say I was procrastinating in the attempt not to study- whoops

Anyway as often happens I wound up watching repeats of greys anatomy on foxtel- as often happens on days like these I became completely engrossed (or just enough to stop me from needing to pick up a text book) the show ended and I wanted/ needed to know what happened next. So online I went and ended up watching the next two episodes of greys. By this time it was too late to start studying : ) 

During the third episode a box appeared saying something along the lines of you have watched 120 minutes please wait 60 minutes before you may continue or to continue watching now click here. When you click it takes you through to a page where you can sign up to pay a certain monthly access fee which allows you to watch X time dependent on the amount you pay.

Well for me the answer was simple.

I closed the site and started watching TV again- by this time there were repeats of Sex and the City on so I was fine. But it just got me to thinking, would anyone really ever pay, I can’t imagine myself being so desperate that I cant wait another 60 minutes for a show but then again maybe some people would be…  So does the freemium model work?

Any thoughts? Can anyone think of a time when they would pay to upgrade for a thing that they can basically get for free?

Marketing on a budget

At the start of the year my brother set up a Not for Profit café called Kinfolk in Melbourne’s CBD. As he was attempting to do so with almost no money I was concerned being the serious marketing student that I am : ) I was concerned about his marketing campaign.

So, how do you market an organisation for free...

The answer is actually quite simple, you let other people do it for you.

Without spending a cent on marketing Kinfolk now have roughly 6 pages of results on google full of articles, comments, blogs and news about the café.

This is intriguingly the result of individuals themselves deciding that they want to spread the news about the café, so the customer’s have been doing the marketing without Kinfolk needing to do anything except provide a good/ amazing (yes I am biased) service

In a way it seems that the meaning of the term word of the mouth marketing has changed it is no longer what we once would have imagined it to be i.e. a person simply telling their friend about a café they went to the other day. In fact it can be a friend telling their 300 friends on facebook or actually writing a blog entry about it that can be read by anyone on the web or even adding photos displaying the venue. The day that Kinfolk opened their doors they had individuals (not friends or family) blogging and getting the word out about the new space.

So I find myself questioning, in a world where anyone can be a reporter do organisations need to spend money on marketing or should they be investing more in the actual product or service and relying on it being able to sell itself over the web?

And here is my attempt at marketing…

If you feel like some amazing food and great coffee with a conscience…

Check out Kinfolk café – I’m there Thursdays : )

673 Bourke Street, Melbourne (near Spencer Street)

http://ygap.com.au/initiatives/kinfolk/  

Hello blogger world

Hello to all you bloggers out there or those enrolled in mkf3881 forced to test their technological skills for this assessment.
I must admit I have never written a blog before or even really read one (whoops) but i am quite intrigued by the whole concept, I’ll probably end up becoming one of those blogger addicts : ) 

Hopefully,this blog will be a fun and light-hearted space for me to share a few of my ideas on current eMarketing issues and for you to respond.  

Ok so here we go

fingers crossed  

xoxo