Feedback - I have an idea I think has real potential. Am I wrong?

[cierra.avalon]

Love it! Yes I would never have charged the users...doesn't make sense to me. The businesses are the ones making $$ from it so they would have more incentive to pay.


Interesting take though about not charging to be listed, and just charging to blast the list. I definitely feel that more businesses would go for it, but then I would definitely have to charge less for an email blast then for a monthly listing, and have to re-sell it every week...am I wrong? Is there a better way to do that that I'm just not seeing...

 

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[Bigguns50]

LiquidGlass.... You just gave me an idea to use on my site which is being built now. I love the idea of telling a prospective advertiser you're only accepting X number of businesses. I can truthfully do this. It may work out well.

 

[liquidglass]

Glad I could help! Now make some money bud!

 

[Tyr0ne]

HeatMapz ? Clublife
Is this kinda what u were thinking about?

 

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[cierra.avalon]

HeatMapz ? Clublife
Is this kinda what u were thinking about?

Not exactly, but very similar. Looking at the site I'm almost thinking that making it an App instead of a website would be wise. I thought it was interesting how theirs is all about coupons and ratings, very similar but just done differently than I will do it.

Reasons? Well, even if I build an email list with my site, a huge portion of people in my target demographic spend WAY more time on their phones and using apps vs. checking their email. I could send out Push notifications via an App which I feel would be much more noticeable for my target market than an email. ALSO I have access to marketing materials for the app which I can post in the venues and around town! QR codes that people can just scan and instantly download the app, etc.

I've also been thinking, and I think I have a creative way to market this to venue owners. I'm going to make a Youtube video introducing myself, and explaining the idea. A friendly, simple business proposition type video, with the end being an invitation to contact me and reserve their spot on the app. I could take the link to the video (and maybe a still shot of it) and print it onto a flyer with a very brief and effective "hook" to get business owners to check it out...and then I'll hit the pavement giving the flyers out.

What do you think? How can I improve upon this.

 

[Tyr0ne]

Heatmapz seems to be a a Swiss startup and looking into the statistics of their youtube videos it seems they are mainly getting hits from the German speaking countries. Although they are already serving 30 countries (pretty fastlane for being in business 1 year, huh?) I think their marketing mainly penetrates the european market...

Yeah, sure an app is the way to go!

You gotta drop tons of flyers in every corner of your local colleges (thats how I found out about a local app that does the same). Maybe you can cut a deal with the hottest club in town about free entry/free drinks for your new users. Advertising as follows: "Show the installed app at the door of club X this Friday and you'll get free entry instead of paying 10 bucks... Here's my flyer!"

Just my 2 cents

 

[valuegiver]

What you're trying to do is bringing two different kinds of people together in a site. Not only it requires a lot of effort, but also it is very capital intensive.

The Ladies Night Strategy

Businesses that target two-sided markets are extremely hard to build but also extremely hard to compete against once they reach scale. Tech businesses that have created successful two-sided markets include Ebay (sellers and buyers), Google (advertisers and publishers), Paypal (buyers and merchants), and Microsoft (Windows users and developers).

In your case, you're trying to bring event organizers and event attendees together.

 

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[Nosferatu]

Before you get excited... a few things to consider - I can give you this kind of feedback since I've ran a business like this before.

- Updating the website on a daily/weekly basis is a pain. figure out how to automate it before you go in deep....
- Getting in contact with owners to get deals or schedules is a pain, mainly because they hand off these things to promoters. and promoters don't like dealing with other people trying to compete for attention.
- Start small, and test to see if your site responds before going in. for example, on my site i did it by niche.
Bars, Nightclubs, Tours, -etc
- You will find a lot of resistance getting going.


My Result: After a year of trying to get it going, i quit on the project.


Not saying you will fail, just wanted to give you my results
Good luck!

 

[FearAverage]

As for the monetization strategy for this project.
Charging the users is a big NO-GO!
Less people will download the app and if you don't have a lot of users the businesses aren't interested either.
Charging the businesses a monthly fee is also not a very good idea because if they don't host any events they want to promote for a month they're still paying for nothing.

As for the e-mail list, don't send out an e-mail for every event when a business wants to promote an event, if there are 7 events that weekend that means a user will receive 7 e-mails on thursday/friday. Spamming people with e-mails is a surefire way to get everyone OFF the e-mail list.

Here's what I'd recommend for your business:
Make people register an account for your app with their email adress(or login with facebook), that way you have their e-mail adress.
Make it free for users to download and use your app, and make it free for businesses to add their events to the app.
Add something extra for the users with every event(free entrance/drink or discount) if they show your app at the door.
For every user that comes through the door that shows the app the business pays a flat rate($1-$5).
This way the user have an incentive to use your app and show it at the door(free drink/entrance or discount) and the business pays only if the users convert to customers so the business has nothing to lose(not charged a monthly fee if they don't host any events, not charged if they dont get customers from your app).
Apart from the app, send out one e-mail every week with some of the events for that week/weekend and charge a flat rate(depending on the # of people on the list) if businesses want to get their event highlighted in the e-mail.

The only problem that pops up in my mind is how do you know if businesses are being honest about the # of customers they get from your app, either do something with facebook check-in or have a blacklist.
If you ever find out a business isn't being honest about the numbers they get blacklisted immediatly and they are banned from promoting events on your app which means less customers for them.

BTW, let me ask you this: When is the last time you clicked on facebook ads yourself?
The CTR for facebooks ads is horrible(Average CTR: 0.04%-0.05%), I think that CTR is about as "good" as regular e-mail spam.
I'd recommend flyering at college's/university's and gyms.

Good luck and keep us updated!

 

[cierra.avalon]

Wow, you all make really really good points.

I actually spent a lot of time yesterday thinking over this project and really picking it apart. I didn't want to fall in love with an idea that won't work, so I was really honest with myself.

I'm definitely going to go with an App. No one in my target demographic really checks their email or even frequently checks websites outside of Facebook. Even with a huge email list I just don't feel it will be super effective. But they all use Apps. Besides this, I'll be able to reach a much larger audience, vs. keeping it local.

I also spent time "mapping out" how an App would be easy to use and simple to understand for both users and venue owners. I would make it FREE for both users and venues.... as soon as they download the app they click one of two buttons that takes them to a designated page. Venue owners can add their location, business info, and photos. For a fee, (in app purchase..) they may also add reservation forms, open "favoriting" capabilities (users can add them to their list of "fave clubs" ) and they will have an additional spot to update with upcoming events, which would be sent to everyone who "favorited" them.
I could make the fee smaller vs. what I would have to charge for a local website, since I will be able to reach more businesses. Making the "basic" setting free will also help me to fill up the app faster so it's not "dead" and boring when people download it. I'll be contacting some popular clubs and getting them a free listing so as the App launches its already loaded with lots of clubs....


Users will be taken to a page where they fill out a basic profile (City, age, etc etc) (maybeee even with a photo and capabilities to connect to other users?) and then they can select their favorites from a large checklist of interests and activities. As soon as their profile is completed they are taken to a page listing LOCAL clubs and bars corresponding to their interests. The paying venues will obviously be more "featured" and will be add-able to the users "favorites" list.

Marketing the app will be pretty fun, I will DEFINITELY be flyering local colleges and beaches, and in addition I'll be reaching out to local young radio stations, entertainment magazines, etc. Also since listing on the App is free, I can probably get local clubs to post the QR code to download the App near and around their venue. If I had more money to budget to this, I'd love to advertise as a local business on the Pandora app as well....that would be a great way to reach people who would be interested in this.

 

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[KirbyRaymund]

i found an event-based social networking site... not launched yet but for you, it might worth looking it up..

it's eventpig

 

[xxcloud9ninjaxx]

This is actually a really good idea, as I found myself googling "What the F*ck is there to do tonight?" not too long ago in that and several other ways, all ending in failure because I'd get the local clubs and whatnot. It sounds like a pain in the a$$, but I've also been thinking of doing something like this because you saw as well as I did that there's potential for something to fill this gap, and as more and more people get smartphones app usage is just gonna continue to go up.

I'm so-so on SEO and marketing right now, but I've been involved in website design several times and I know the general mindset of bored people on a weekend seeing as how my entire city is filled with people in those demographics (18-25) looking for something to do on the weekend, and I live in a busy area so I dunno why they're so bored except that they don't know what's going on. If you wanna do this yourself I respect that this is your thing but I feel like this could definitely work and I'd like to look more into it.

 

[cierra.avalon]

Yes, and it's something that once I explain how it works, every.single.person. I've talked to in my target demographic is like, YES, I would SO USE THIS....

The only thing holding me back now is honestly saving just enough $$ to hire the programmer. I know how to hire them and the process to hire quality programmers, etc... but I'm literally weeks away from giving birth, saving EVERY penny for bills and baby expenses, and even cutting all unnecessary spending its going to take me a tiny bit before I can actually DO THIS. It's absolutely killing me!

 

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[LibertyForMe]

Maybe you could offer a programmer equity if they do it for free?

 

[jeremye]

Just throwing some random idea out there... what if instead of a website for people to "search for stuff to do" You built an app that would tell them what everyone else was doing...

You could start off with an app that listened in their geographic area for "Tweets" or like "Checked into Bar" or some other footprints... and show the most popular local(s) at that moment.

If it looks promising, you beef up the logic, and pretty soon you're planning people's nights for them... and they're paying you for the privilege.

I've come up with a bunch of ideas for ways to monetize that in the few minutes I've been writing...

I think if you cut out the "go to a website to search for a website to find another website" process, you'll have a lot more takers on both ends, users and advertisers.

Good luck.

 

[edpaiz]

Here is how you an prove you concept t yourself and your potential clints (club and bars owners) dont convince them into giving you money jut because you have a idea thatmight work, prove them your ida works. Usin the assumption that customers do spend 80 bucks at a club or bar (i think that is a lot but lets use it for the example) your service can be paid for with the profits from 2-3 customers. So convince the bar ownersof giving you the chane to offer a discount coupon to your clients on your website, and track how many times the coupon has been downloaded. then the coupons will be redeemed at the location, so the owners will know exactly how many customers you sent their way, if you send 5-10 customers per place you have a very good sales pitch setup for you, since you already generated them enough clientele to cover for you service for at last three months without tem having to take money of their pockets. This way you are not selli hopes and dreams but a tangible service with palpable returns, that is way much easier to sell and will be highly accepted. Go the extra mile and tell the club owners you will pay for the coupon beers from your customers to show them that you truly are committed on showing them how this really works.

 

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