Thread: How To Sell Yourself on Fastlane

Have a business? Product? Blog? Post your business venture here. This is your opportunity to be somewhat promotional.

This is your opportunity to let everyone know what you are doing (Advertise Your Gig!) without being labeled "SPAMMY!"


RULES

1. You need 50 posts to create a new thread.
2. ONE POST ONLY PER BUSINESS. You can continually refresh the thread with your own updates.
3. You can also use this forum to offer book trades, things for sale, etc.
4. Your business cannot compete with a PAID SPONSOR, subject to grandfathering.
5. FASTLANE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY TRANSACTIONS YOU CONDUCT AS A RESULT OF THIS FORUM -- DO YOUR OWN DUE DILIGENCE!!!

Also, this "forum" is subject to removal dependent on how it goes!

Oh! No. Don't delete.

I think people just don't see thread. Maybe put that on top or somewhere more visible with wording like "Free Advertisement on FastLane .... Market place"

Or maybe, for a few weeks, add some type of ****NEW FORUM***** flag so that it catches your eye, on the front page??

Btw, MJ - is what you have seen so far what you had in mind? I meant to ask you when I initially posted but then forgot. Is it too much detail? Too little?

Did you have a format in mind?

I need to work on mine.... marketing/advertising has never been my strong point. I struggle with getting my point across, without using too many words. I strive to be more like Kimber but it never seems to work out!

I honestly didn't notice it until I saw this thread show up in "new threads"

Didnt even know this was here until it showed up in new posts. Will be utilizing this shortly.

MJ,

Some thots:

I am like the rest-- didn't see/notice this at all (not on my radar).

Perhaps an announcement above the forums, for a while? (or that comes up the first time anyone logs in after a while?).

Ideally, I'd set aside a space on the front page that LOOKS DIFFERENT-- a store icon, or a gas station quickie mart, or something-- that catches people's eye.

There are so many who posted to this thread that I think it's a good idea-- it just needs visibility.

-Russ H.

I'll be the first to pimp my business

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Se Habla Espanol

Originally Posted by Jbellefeuille

Have you had “Enohp” opportunities?

Did you know that October is a month filled with historical technological events? In fact it was on this day in 1988 that the “Communicator” debuted on Star Trek. Although the episode was filmed in the 60’s it never made it on to the screen. It was that day the mobile phones took shape in America’s imagination and eventually our pockets. Another event occurred on October 13th 1994; Netscape Navigator brought the World Wide Web to the masses. Without these two events the product I am going to be presenting to you would not be possible. Although the mobile phone is over forty years old it’s still a technology in its infancy. We have continued to improve, shrink and expand on the mobile devices since 1964 and have reached the point where anything is possible. In the past few years innovators in the mobile device industry are truly taking the Enterprises mission seriously “To boldly go where no man has gone before.”

Most recently the most important event to occur in the industry happened. The iPhone revolutionized the mobile device market with its sleek, sexy, and highly intuitive features. Apple was not the first mover into this market. “Smart Phones” have been around long before Apple’s iPhone messiah brought their existence into the newspapers and pockets around the globe. Smart Phones had thousands of applications available pre-iPhone and even today, 70% of Apple’s applications are games. I only mention Apple’s app store statistics because for my target market it’s really the only ones that matters although there are a number of available distribution options. Yes, I am creating a Smart Phone application. I call “Enohp”. I created this application because I have had Enohp of the high fees and expensive choices available to me in the US market. I have had Enohp of having no control over my monthly bill. I doubt that I am the only one, or more importantly the only person who is fed up with the costs associated with a mobile phone. Have you had Enoph? (Yes. it is Phone spelled backwards…Slick I know ☺ )

What is it?

In one sentence what am I proposing? I am proposing a smart phone application for Small-medium size businesses to target price sensitive users who are in their target demographic, when they are at the most willing to purchase, and for the lowest free market cost available. I offer an auction format, using bases prices and premiums and allow our clients to bid on the specific demographic, blocks of time, specific locations,

Enohp’s target market is Small – medium size businesses that want to compete with larger national competition. Buy using a highly targeted advertising campaign and strategy the family owned business at 1st and Main can compete with the national SuperStore by having more knowledge and targeting the target market and competition with a scalpel. Will this tool be available to larger enterprises? Yes, but our target market is still small to medium sized businesses, because there are so many more of them. They are less unified, and more importantly would appreciate a low cost accurate marketing venue.

Who wants it?

With our business model we really have two customers. First the paying customer’s mentioned before, and more importantly the users who download this application. Why would they be interested in opening the gates of Troy to advertising?
Simple, because we pay them to, on a sliding scale depending on how valuable a consumer they are based on their demographic profile. Not only do we pay them a percentage of revenues generated by their phone, we also give them an opportunity for special ads based on where they like to shop. Essentially, a user of any SmartPhone on any service could opt in to use the Enohp app.

The real revenue doesn’t come from the subscription service. It comes from advertising powered mobile phone service utilizing all networks in the USA (to begin with although I think Asia is a better market). Our Application would target a Mobile phone users who has downloaded our $2.99 a month application, this user has filled out all the necessary forms sharing their demographic information, preferences and other relevant surveys with us (a 5-10 minute process), but more importantly opting in to receive advertisements from our clients based on retailers and services they already use (to begin with). Most importantly authorizing us to have access to their real time location via the GPS in their phone (We have this information but we do not share this with our clients. Under any circumstances – Privacy is most important). Essentially this means that my grandfather will not receive advertisements from Skateboard City or from Flowing Ink Tattoo Parlor unless he expressed an interest in those services during the application process, although he may receive advertisements from Cabela’s.

An Example Target Demogrphic: My grandfather: LeRoy Bellefeuille, Married, 67 years old, White, Male, Retired, Income $50,000.

When given a choice of 100 companies located in Minnesota opted into the following retailers and services; Cabela’s, Granite City, Erik’s Bikes, Michaels, Denny’s, McDonalds, Cub Foods, Trader Joe’s, McGovern’s, Starbucks. These are the ten advertisers my grandfather chose out of a list of 100. These are businesses that he already purchases products from. Based on his opt in list, I would then promote these products and services from these retailers when my grandfather is in near their premises (within 1 mile) or inside their stores. I would suggest promotional items, sales, discounts and/or coupons on products that he buys most, or products that associate with his purchases or just send a thank you for shopping at Cabela’s note after leaving the store. A more valuable campaign would be sending him a special offer if he is in a shopping mall on Black Friday, anytime three weeks before Christmas, or my personal favorite while he is shopping at a competitor. He always has the real time opportunity to opt out of any advertisement as long as he subscribes to at least 10 advertisers of his choice.

Additionally, based on this information and general demographic information about my grandfather, I am able to suggest that he may also want to shop at Target and Wal-mart. Our application would then suggest both stores to him when he is in the vicinity (1-mile) of any Target or Wal-mart worldwide, also providing the address and if applicable directions on how to get there. He is then presented with a choice. He can either request that Target and Wal-mart be added to his opt in list or that he no longer receives promotions from either store, or an “ask me again later” button leaving the decision to be made the next time he visits the store.

Why use Enohp?

As business executives you may ask yourself “I would never use this service, why would you or your grandfather?” The answer to this question lies in disposable income. As a student I have a very limited disposable income, either my parents pay for my cell phone bill or I pay for it out of my tuition or meager earnings. Interestingly enough despite my low earnings I am also right in the middle of the ideal target market for products. I am a white male between the ages of 18 and 25. I spend more of my disposable income than any other demographic; you want to have access to my cell phone because I am easily influenced to make purchases targeted towards me. I used my grandfather as an example of the other ideal target market. He is a baby-boomer on a fixed income, as the baby boomers retire just as he did just recently, many of them will be operating on a fixed income and will be attempting to extend their nest egg to last to cover potential medical expenses and a longer lifespan than ever seen in American history. Thus a phone that has little to no monthly, or even less of an expense is seen as a boon. (Realistically probably cut your phone bill in half)

What makes Enohp different?

Now you may be asking yourself, is this another one of Obama’s initiatives to offer free phone service to students and senior citizens? The answer is no. The real question is who pays for this service and who benefits from this information other than the user and Enohp’s investors? The answer as I am sure you have heard too many times is that this is the next “google” using the power of advertising. I am not the next google. This is Enohp, we are going to eliminate google from relevancy by using specifically target advertisements. Google will begin copying us or attempt to buy us. Our customers are varying from your neighborhood hardware store to Starbucks and Coca-Cola. We would offer two options for advertisers to advertise and pay with a variety of delivery options through our distribution network which would include the Apple App Store, Google’s Android Market, RIM BlackBerry’s App World, Nokia’s Ovi Store, LG Application Store, Sony Erickson’s PlayNow Arena, Samsung Application Store, Window’s Market Place for Mobile, Verizon’s VZAppZone, Sprint’s Software Store and the Palm App Catalog in addition to an Open Source Free Version available on GetJar.

There will be three payment options for our Clients (Not users)

CPC (Cost per click)
CPM (Cost per Image)
Text/SMS

Many may be familiar with these advertising business models. But just in case, here is a brief explanation: For Example: If Starbucks wants to advertise up to 10,000 of our users per day it has a few choices with our service.

Option A: CPM; we show the advertisement to 10,000 of our users at random via our back screen advertisements that change the advertisement on the back screen of your phone every minute. Base Cost to Starbucks $10.00. $.001 per image. Specific times, dates, demographics and locations carry an additional premium.

Option B: CPC; We show the same advertisement to as many people as we can, the image rate could be 100,000 images shown to our users, but until 10,000 people click on the advertisement we don’t stop running the advertising campaign. Our cost to Starbucks is $0.10 per click. Specific times, dates, demographics and locations carry an additional premium.

Option C: Text Message Advertising; We directly text message special offers or advertising to our users for our clients. Such as “save $0.50 off a latte today with this text message”. Base Cost to Starbucks $0.10 per text message. Specific times, dates, demographics and locations carry an additional premium.

For every dollar of revenue generated by a user’s mobile phone number we send a monthly check to the user so if the user had 100 Enohp text messages over a month ($10.00) (average teen receives 2000+ per month) and 200 Enohp clicks ($14 over a month) on advertisements as well as 1,440 Enohp images daily, one every 60 seconds ($43.80 over a month)the total amount of revenue generated $67.80 half of which would go to the user, and half would go into Enohp’s coffers. Instead of offering cash we could also offer non-cash incentives, prizes or limited time unique offers as motivation.

What makes Enohp unique?

For our users:
We will be an application that pays it’s users for providing targeted high quality services from organizations that you already use, we will help you discover other products and services that you will most likely enjoy and we will help you save money shopping and on your monthly cell phone bill in the process.

For our clients:
We offer an auction based marketplace where you can purchase very specific highly detailed 3-D market real estate. You will be able to target your potential customers three dimensionally using the following pieces of data. You will be able to target in real time, and specific time periods, additionally you will be able to very specifically target based on the real physical location of your customer, and most importantly you can define your customer based on hundreds of criteria to finely critique and target your potential customers.

Conclusion:

The possibilities to target advertising are endless. The mobile phone is the most personal piece of equipment that a person owns, it knows more about you than any of your family members. It is the most valuable piece of real estate in the world. The Client can name their own price for the service and competes with others for the same 3-d piece of user real estate.

Example of 3-D marketing:

Students (multiple demographic pieces of information) at Davanni’s between the hours of 10-2, and 5-9 Monday through Friday will receive a text message advertisement suggesting Subway as an alternative to standing in line.

For our investors and judges: Enohp’s an opportunity to develop the most important and growing business sector of the century. The Information Age is reaching a historical event when we leave desktops and laptops behind and all of our entire electronic lives will be in our phones. That is the audience we want to target, just as it is beginning to exist. Please choose this idea for the semi-finals. WE WILL BRING THE HEAT including videos, expert testimonials, and demos. If you want a real potential idea based on the principal of thinking BIG that can compete nationally Choose To boldly go where no man has gone before. Celebrate October and Mobile Month! And let October 15th, 2009 live in history.

Cordially,

James Bellefeuille

Our 3-D marketing points: Our information that we share with no one. We send all messages for our client.
a. Demographics (Age, Sex, Race, Usage times, profession, income, buying habits, etc)
b. Location
i. Advertise inside your Competitor’s locations
ii. Advertise within 1-3 miles of all of your locations
iii. Target Hotels and trade shows
iv. Sporting events, Schools, Universities, Corporations, Recruit your competitor’s employees and their business
c. Local Time of delivery
i. Bars can target potential customers while downtown between 8:00 PM and 2:00 AM promoting special offers or drink specials
ii. You can target during your users prime shopping hours
iii. You can target breakfast oriented ads in the morning
d. Special Targeting (Premium Fees)
i. Your Competitors locations
ii. Seasonal – Christmas, Back to School,
iii. Event –Professional Conferences, Trade Shows, hotels
iv. Location Specific
1. Inside Target/Wal-mart/Grocery Store – send special advertisement
2. Within 1 mile
v. Special Event
1. Conferences at Hotels
2. Sporting events
vi. Holiday
1. Black Friday, Saint Patrick’s Day, Thanksgiving, New Years

-I wouldn't have been able to post had I followed the rules...

-no offense but I think posting and getting feedback and responses is more valuable.

-I am not spamming, and I am serious and have the best intentions.

-I hope people look at the unique value proposition instead of the violation of the 50 post minimum.

-A real investor would evaluate the value of the offering instead of the number of prior posts made.

You want feedback?

Why post an obvious "old ad" (that calls for a celebration of Oct 15!?) on this page?

Why not take just a minute to make it CURRENT?

Oh, wait, my bad. You were here April of 2008 and posted 2 responses.

Then, you posted for 2 days in February this year.

And now you come and post this, at the end of the year?

What have you done for this community? Seriously?

How many times have you participated in lively discussions in the past 17 months?

4 posts TOTAL in a year and half, and then today?

Why didn't you introduce what you're doing in a REAL thread, and ask the forums first for feedback?

You've seen how things work around here. You would have gotten MUCH further by doing this is in small bits, and asking the experienced investors here for feedback on your idea.

You want our feedback, but you choose not to actively contribute to this community, nor do you choose to follow the rules.

But that's just my feedback. Mine only.

-Russ H.