Digital Marketer for www.carhuddle.com EQUITY

[Purso]

Hi Guys,

I am hoping to find a hungry young digital marketer who is passionate about cars to run the digital marketing for www.carhuddle.com. The core skills I need are google analytics/email marketing/social media/ppc. The position would be part time few hours a week. I know its a long shot but thought I would ask! Equity on offer. Please email me through piston heads.

Thank you

[NewChurch]

Hi Purso,

Here's some harsh, yet hopefully pertinent opinions/questions.

1, You need to hire a half decent front end web developer first and foremost.

2, Are you offering £xx/hr + equity, or just equity?. If it's the later, don't even bother.

3, What is your monetisation strategy?

4, At the minute, you've got something I could not only copy, but substantially improve in a few hours.

I may sound harsh, but I'm being realistic. Do you have any insider contacts or other relevant info that you can leverage?. From an outside prospective, I don't see this site making money as it is.

All the best to you though.

[Frimley111R]

NewChurch said:

2, Are you offering £xx/hr + equity, or just equity?. If it's the later, don't even bother.

.

I was watching one of those business programmes recently with Karen Brady and the guy on there did exactly this, gave equity for marketing work/services. KB said not to do this as he was giving future profits away, just pay for the services.

[Frimley111R]

NewChurch said:

4, At the minute, you've got something I could not only copy, but substantially improve in a few hours.

True I'm sure but the difference is he's actually doing it.

[technodup]

Frimley111R said:

I was watching one of those business programmes recently with Karen Brady and the guy on there did exactly this, gave equity for marketing work/services. KB said not to do this as he was giving future profits away, just pay for the services.

She's assuming there will be future profits to give away. She's also assuming there is money available to pay for the services in the first place.

I'd respectfully suggest that in this case there may not be much of either.

[maffski]

Frimley111R said:

True I'm sure but the difference is he's actually doing it.

But someone like NewChurch has to weigh up the opportunity cost. 'Why don't you take the risk for my business' is not a fantastic proposition.

The OP needs to think of it from NewChurch's point of view, his pitch currently sounds like he is currently focused on why he needs a marketer, he needs to think 'why does a marketer need me' e.g. contacts or domain knowledge

[User name]

We have previously spoken via here and email - I COULD, that's COULD be interested in helping you with this, as I previously built and ran a similar website but paid work got in the way and it stagnated - my fault.

Do you have an actual marketing budget?

Do you have a business plan?

Do you have monetisation plans? I can see 2 or 3 direct routes to monetise.

Fire me an email and we can chat.

Peter

[uber]

I would agree with a lot of the advice given by NewChurch which should be seen as constructive to hep you build a decent platform.

1) The forced signup will damage traction especially at such an early stage
2) The UI needs work and more needs to go into presentation like image scaling, unused field removal, general layout
3) Backend looks like it needs work looking at URL structures etc

Offering free equity in something as early stage and requiring as much work will be a hard sell unless you can offer some kind of financial reward on top as these kind of offers are floating around all over the place. I would try and find someone who can code and run basic campaigns and offer them half to start with so you have a working product which can be proven. You can then focus on adding and updating events and dealing with the customer side

[Frimley111R]

technodup said:

Frimley111R said:

I was watching one of those business programmes recently with Karen Brady and the guy on there did exactly this, gave equity for marketing work/services. KB said not to do this as he was giving future profits away, just pay for the services.

She's assuming there will be future profits to give away. She's also assuming there is money available to pay for the services in the first place.

I'd respectfully suggest that in this case there may not be much of either.

Yep, indeed. It feels a bit like 'I had an idea, made a quick website now what?' Now a lot of successful businesses can start like this but it needs to be thought through very clearly. A well known centre of all car events info is a great idea but getting a site there and monetising it so it makes enough £ is another thing.

[NewChurch]

Frimley111R said:

True I'm sure but the difference is he's actually doing it.

Indeed, and props to him for doing so.

[skwdenyer]

Purso said:

Hi Guys,

I am hoping to find a hungry young digital marketer who is passionate about cars to run the digital marketing for www.carhuddle.com. The core skills I need are google analytics/email marketing/social media/ppc. The position would be part time few hours a week. I know its a long shot but thought I would ask! Equity on offer. Please email me through piston heads.

Thank you

I write all of the following subject to this caveat: you have done it, you have got this far, you have a site, and I salute you for doing so. Getting to this stage is often far harder than might be imagined. Well done.

Returning to your question: why do you say young? Because you want them to work for no cash? Because you believe only young people understand this stuff?

Young can be cool in this space, but good "digital marketing" IMHO only comes from a thorough understanding of marketing more generally - and that is a discipline in which experience can count for a very great deal.

My wife (who is not young by the standards you're likely to be talking about but is certainly not *that* old) has a background in marketing (traditional and digital), a marketing career that has spanned from L'Oreal to Brands Hatch via many points in between, and who might actually be interested in an equity-share project right now to which she could add proper value. So do you have a business plan, how much equity are you offering, and are you looking for somebody who can add strategic value or "only" a digital marketer who would execute your strategy?

I'd be asking who is going to run marketing strategy for the business? How much research has been done into the target market? Where is the identified opportunity (including monetisation)? How many sacred cows are there?

There's basic stuff that needs to be address. I see no trading name / address information on the site (required by law). Is there a company? The domain is registered to an individual. If no company, how are you offering the equity? Are you assuming that you can incorporate and take all of the user data with you? Do your terms allow that? How is GDPR affecting you?

It also isn't reassuring that carhuddle.com seems to be for sale for $350 on various premium domain websites. Did you know this? Or are you hedging your bets at this stage?

If you'd like to take the conversation offline, feel free to drop me a PM. Even if not - genuinely - I wish you well! Conceptually I see there's a need for the site you've got.

[Purso]

Thank you for all the helpful comments, all suggestions are either being implemented or are on the roadmap. The site is a startup that went live a couple of weeks so I hope you follow the journey! Also, no the domain isn't for sale, I guess that is only down to some site having my details and if they had interest trying to broker a deal with me. I will contact the ones I find and politely ask they remove it. Thank you

[Frimley111R]

Just to add, allow sorting by distance. I don't care much what the date is or how popular it is if its 100 miles away or more. This element will be very important to users.

Keep us updated...

[Purso]

Thank you and noted!

[48k]

Nothing to add to the above from a business perspective. From a website perspective, seeing things like "1 PEOPLE ATTENDING" makes my teeth itch.

[feef]

There is also the question over licensing of some of the images used.

For example, the image on the login screen is lifted directly from the Lamborghini website : https://www.lamborghini.com/en-en/brand/masterpiec...

It could get expensive if their legal teams take issue with it

[Frimley111R]

Tons of free images out there. I doubt big organisations have the resources to follow up images on tiny sites. Plus who wouldn't want images of the products shared?

[boyse7en]

Frimley111R said:

Tons of free images out there. I doubt big organisations have the resources to follow up images on tiny sites. Plus who wouldn't want images of the products shared?

There are

They don't. There are companies that specialise in tracking down misuse of copyrighted photos then claiming damages for a percentage of the claim who will do it for them. The size/popularity of the website is irrelevant.

Most companies will let you use pictures if you get permission. They really aren't keen on their products being featured on random sites.

[Purso]

Thanks for the heads up I will rectify!

[NewChurch]

boyse7en said:

Frimley111R said:

Tons of free images out there. I doubt big organisations have the resources to follow up images on tiny sites. Plus who wouldn't want images of the products shared?

There are

They don't. There are companies that specialise in tracking down misuse of copyrighted photos then claiming damages for a percentage of the claim who will do it for them. The size/popularity of the website is irrelevant.

Most companies will let you use pictures if you get permission. They really aren't keen on their products being featured on random sites.

What boyse7en said needs emphasizing, anyone hosting a website, DO NOT use a photo, illustration, vector etc. without permission. It's now a no win, no fee business. They will find you and cause a right pain in the arse. Just pay the few quid and have the peace of mind. To be fair, It is stealing.

Edited by NewChurch on Friday 18th May 00:43