Help needed - crazy but cheap marketing ideas/stunts.

[NobleLord]

OK, next week we're launching a new internet business. So as not to offend the mods, I won't mention the name, but it's basically a place where you can store your files, digital photos, videos, etc online as well as on your PC. You can then share them with people really easily and access them from any internet connected PC when you're away from your home or office. There are products out there that have done this in the past, but we have a few unique features that we hope will make a big difference to the whole user experience.

The typical customer will be the professional consumer, keen internet user, business traveller and small business owner.

So, I'm trying to come up with some really good marketing ideas that will get us either a lot of exposure in London and other major cities and/or some really good press coverage as a result of what we do. It needs to remain legal mind you - we can tread the fine line, but need to stay on the right side of it

My real challenge is to come up with ideas that are good and really inexpensive or even free to do. As many of you will know, internet services live or die by how much it costs to get each user to come and signup - CPA (cost per acquisition). The best ideas are the ones that are really cheap and get a lot of people to come to the site and signup. Obvious really.

Anyway, over to the PH masses. Help me out and let me know what off the wall and creative ideas you can come up with that can be pulled together in time for next Wednesday

Cheers,
NL

[ShadownINja]

Facebook fan page; tell your friends to add themselves.

MySpace page; add random friends.

Google Adwords isn't expensive.

Buy an old London bus or a Russian Mobile Rocket Launcher and... oh, hang on, done before...

[Mattlan]

Steve Wright in the afternoon a la Friends reunited! Job Done!

[bazh]

ShadownINja said:

Facebook fan page; tell your friends to add themselves.

MySpace page; add random friends.

Google Adwords isn't expensive.

Buy an old London bus or a Russian Mobile Rocket Launcher and... oh, hang on, done before...

Try Twitter aswell.

[chunkymonkey71]

How student friendly is your business?

If you think it would appeal to students drop me an email and I'll see what I can do to help out here. You'd only be reaching 10,500 people, but its a start!

[rhinochopig]

Drop me a tenner and I'll tell some folks in my local.

[ALawson]

Will people need to pay to gain storage or are you going to use companies advertising on the site to supplement the running costs?

[NobleLord]

ALawson said:

Will people need to pay to gain storage or are you going to use companies advertising on the site to supplement the running costs?

It's a paid service... £39 a year for unlimited storage; no adverts.

[NobleLord]

ShadownINja said:

Facebook fan page; tell your friends to add themselves.

MySpace page; add random friends.

Google Adwords isn't expensive.

Buy an old London bus or a Russian Mobile Rocket Launcher and... oh, hang on, done before...

Funny you should say that. We already have an old London bus covered in branding, but can't bring it into London anymore due to the emissions issues with old buses

NL

[G'kar]

NobleLord said:

ALawson said:

Will people need to pay to gain storage or are you going to use companies advertising on the site to supplement the running costs?

It's a paid service... £39 a year for unlimited storage; no adverts.

I hope you have a hell of a USP.

[randlemarcus]

G'kar said:

NobleLord said:

ALawson said:

Will people need to pay to gain storage or are you going to use companies advertising on the site to supplement the running costs?

It's a paid service... £39 a year for unlimited storage; no adverts.

I hope you have a hell of a USP.

He's not wrong.... http://skydrive.live.com/

25Gb isnt unlimited, but its a good start for 99% of people...

[NobleLord]

randlemarcus said:

G'kar said:

NobleLord said:

ALawson said:

Will people need to pay to gain storage or are you going to use companies advertising on the site to supplement the running costs?

It's a paid service... £39 a year for unlimited storage; no adverts.

I hope you have a hell of a USP.

He's not wrong.... http://skydrive.live.com/

25Gb isnt unlimited, but its a good start for 99% of people...

But have you tried using Skydrive? It's painfully slow and lacking in a LOT of features that we and others have had for a while.

And yes, I'm pretty confident that we have a few nice USP's

NL

[ADJimbo]

Go Gorilla Leafleting (not dressed as one, obviously) at major London, and UK train stations...

Your team will soon be asked to stop - waste the challangers time and tell them that you have permission, as you agreed it with Mr X - they will then have to double-check, which will take minutes... When challanged again, introduce a another cover storey, which they need to check...

I know of an agency who do this on Waterloo / Kings X at prime commuter time, and make £'s in the process. I have used it, it works...

One agency managed to spin their 'unoffical time' on Waterloo for a staggering 96 minutes - they must have leafleted 6k people in the process...

Flame me, PM me, only an idea...

[Nobody You Know]

Just walk around London Dressed as the Stig silently handing out leaflets, I bet that'll casue a bit of commotion.

[fastfreddy]

So let me get this right. You want us to give you great marketing ideas for free so you can make money?

Have I got that right or am I missing something and you have set this up for a charity and don't intend to make any profit out of it?

[ADJimbo]

fastfreddy said:

So let me get this right. You want us to give you great marketing ideas for free so you can make money?

Have I got that right or am I missing something and you have set this up for a charity and don't intend to make any profit out of it?

Whilst I'm happy to give the OP some marketing advice, whether he makes any money is a seperate discussion!

[fastfreddy]

ADJimbo said:

fastfreddy said:

So let me get this right. You want us to give you great marketing ideas for free so you can make money?

Have I got that right or am I missing something and you have set this up for a charity and don't intend to make any profit out of it?

Whilst I'm happy to give the OP some marketing advice, whether he makes any money is a seperate discussion!

Are you in marketing?

[ADJimbo]

fastfreddy said:

ADJimbo said:

fastfreddy said:

So let me get this right. You want us to give you great marketing ideas for free so you can make money?

Have I got that right or am I missing something and you have set this up for a charity and don't intend to make any profit out of it?

Whilst I'm happy to give the OP some marketing advice, whether he makes any money is a seperate discussion!

Are you in marketing?

Not currently, as I'm at home. I will be back in Marketing cum 07:30 in the morning. We sit next to sales, and fight with finance...

On a serious note, my background is sales, marketing, PR and consumer... All major FMCG...

[Mr Fenix]

Contact various small business federations and target them with email/leaflets for their members. Also worth checking out any local enterprise groups/council ste and pass on the details.

In general, Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, Twitter, Youtube, Gumtree and Craigslist are a good way to reach out and get the message across. High Density commuter spots are great but you need a ballsy team to have any real impact.

Make up a few sandwich boards, t shirts and business cards and start walking around leaving them everywhere.

[ALawson]

Give away say 20 yearly subscriptions via London lite or one of the other st dailys that get handed out at the stations, you could get the paper to run the competions as a sponsorship thing with you obviously providing the prize.