TheTwelve Billion Dollar Marketing Strategy
The marketing strategy I’ll be disclosing here is none other than the one used by Facebook and I call it a twelve billion dollar strategy because thats the company’s current valuation. Facebook is one such company which spent very less amount or almost close to nothing on marketing and promotion. It was their ideas and unique ways to tap into mass networks which brought the company to this level. They had to face many set backs, but they made it and I was really impressed by the way they promoted their sites and services, and I felt that I’d got a live example for my beliefs and principles on marketing.
The below methods are not meant for only social networks or sites, its meant for all webmasters and even businesses. The points below are principles not exactly methods because they help justify and does not contain instructions to achieve, so in this post you’ll learn why and what to do and learning how to do all depends on you.
Friends, family and other contacts – your first audience
Whether its your first blog or business, getting the first few clients or users are usually the toughest, but later on its spreads like wild fire. And their is no better first customer or user other than your friends, family members and other contacts. Thats why entrepreneurs with good influential contacts are made for success. In case of Facebook, just after 24 hours of launch 1200 students from Harvard joined it, thats because Mark Zuckerberg had built a great network in Harvard and almost all of them were willing to help the young entrepreneur, this way Facebook got a quiet good audience on the very first day, the initial base which triggered a viral chain leading to millions of visitors.
The number may seem small, but will be worth millions in the long run, this was the first step Facebook took towards their glory and I think this is the first milestone every business should achieve. This is will also help you get feedback and suggestions before you get the big customers and you can also find loopholes.
Showcase yourself where the crowd goes
Another thing which every entrepreneur should master is showcasing himself successfully where ever he finds an audience. This usually starts with a pen and paper and ends in forums and party’s. If I had to do this you’ll usually find me in forums, meetups and party’s with a wide audience and related to my niche. This results in more promotional methods rather than users, because at such places you’ll usually see the media, powerful persons and celebrities, so you see these guys cannot be your potential users, but a medium to spread out the word of your business.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg started this by visiting colleges in his locality and exposing his project to the students there, and as expected all of them were eager to try it out. This is not very recommended in case you don’t have a very unique idea, so if you don’t attend party’s where you’ll find people whom you know
Be controversial
Most of you would definitely have heard of the movie Blair Witch, which happens to have the highest profit to cost ratio in history. The movie wasn’t going to be noticed by anyone, not even the critics because it had a low budget, unknown actors and bad direction, but something made everyone eagerly wait for the movie, that is because the movie makers spread out a rumor according to which three movie makers had died before they picked up the story. As I said they weren’t liars they were just story tellers.
Facebook did not have to do anything controversial them self as many celebrities and politicians did that, this may have affected the careers of some politicians, but gave Facebook everything it needed.
Thats why I say that every modern day entrepreneur should have abundance of creativity, and those who do will attract popularity if they implement it well. Being controversial may have short term side-effects, but it’ll definitely help in creating a long term brand strength.
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