Has anybody ever sought investment?

[nick-harper]

I have a great concept website which is one of a kind with a lot of ptotential BUT I am just a designer / developer and don't really do marketing so it is at the point where it needs outside help.

I was going to either try and find a partner to take on the marketing side while I look after the dev / design side or maybe even investment from somebody who has experience in that sort of thing (Dragons Den Style)

Has anybody ever done this sort of thing before? I've decided I'd much rather 50% of something than 100% of nothing!

 

[max99x]

I have a great concept website which is one of a kind with a lot of ptotential BUT I am just a designer / developer and don't really do marketing so it is at the point where it needs outside help.

I was going to either try and find a partner to take on the marketing side while I look after the dev / design side or maybe even investment from somebody who has experience in that sort of thing (Dragons Den Style)

Has anybody ever done this sort of thing before? I've decided I'd much rather 50% of something than 100% of nothing!

This is something i'm doing at the moment, me and my business partner and creating a pitch deck and most likely going to go after crowd funding.

Is it for the site in your sig?

 

[nick-harper]

Yep it is for that site. It works really well for the members on there currently, it just needs more members.

It needs somebody to basically hammer social media, email newsletters and generally tell people about it now it is working!

 

[Skinner]

Lots of what you need is now done for a fee by "social influencers", i.e. the Stephen Fry type but not quite celebs. The article publishers for big blogs and such, seems the time where a social media manager could cut it are over now.

 

[nick-harper]

I have spoken to people like that, so many of them seem to want silly money and when you look at what they promote it tends to just get ignored anyway

 

[ChrisMM]

Yep it is for that site. It works really well for the members on there currently, it just needs more members.

It needs somebody to basically hammer social media, email newsletters and generally tell people about it now it is working!

Have you looked at ways to incentivize your current memberbase to do this for you?

I don't know if the numbers work out, but you could look at crediting say 10p per active member referred by that individual to the site (based on a metric you determine to mean activity). Make it easy for them to do that via social media/email etc.

If you already have a core group of members using the site I'd definitely look to leverage them.

 

[nick-harper]

The customers do already get 5% of anything anybody they sign up but my issue is the communication side of it / email shots to explain it all and get them gee'd up to tell their friends.

They also get a % of cashback just from linking them if they don't signup.

 

[Admin]

it might help you to get a copy of hootsuite.com and take the pain out of publishing to lots of social media sites by doing it scheduled or all at once.

Admin

 

[nick-harper]

Thanks Admin, already using that It is just the time to interact so much and build up the buzz and the know how.

 

[donton]

Try 10yetis for a PR campaign? I believe they also do social media nowadays too. There's usually plenty of mileage for deals type sites in the national media, so PR may be your best bet.

 

[martin-s]

I know some of the guys from 10 Yetis relatively well, but you'll need to be prepared to spend big bucks.

Think outside the box. Emoji quizzes are red hot right now, why not try something along those lines?

See this post on Buzzfeed if you're not familiar:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexfinnis/wtf-is-number-12

 

[nick-harper]

I have spoken to some PR people and they literally want thousands before they will even have a look at it which is why I was thinking about investment.

I have also tried the paid blog posts / paid promotion with bloggers and people on Twitter and it is useless.

Was much rather hoping for somebody who would actually want results also.

The issue with things like quizzes and the competitions you then need people to feature them, which is where I lack on the marketing side / PR side.

Competitions have also proved useless as you just get people signing up for the prize, no interest in the content.

 

[diablo]

I have a great concept website which is one of a kind with a lot of ptotential BUT I am just a designer / developer and don't really do marketing so it is at the point where it needs outside help.

I was going to either try and find a partner to take on the marketing side while I look after the dev / design side or maybe even investment from somebody who has experience in that sort of thing (Dragons Den Style)

Has anybody ever done this sort of thing before? I've decided I'd much rather 50% of something than 100% of nothing!

http://potential.vc/funding/

 

[nick-harper]

http://potential.vc/funding/

Thankyou, looks interesting. Although you need a fair bit of info and "pitch stacks" so might have to look into things a bit more first.

 

[diablo]

Thankyou, looks interesting. Although you need a fair bit of info and "pitch stacks" so might have to look into things a bit more first.

Really weird. The quote is longer than your post!*

But do take a look. Any investor is going to want to do due diligence so there will always be hoops to jump through, but going through those hoops could take you to the next level.

Talk to them first for an initial impression. They won't bite!

*Must have read it just as you edited it - as it was shorter when I read it until I clicked reply.

 

[nick-harper]

Starters you need a linked in profile and also need to know how much investment you want. Have absolutely no idea or how to work it out.

I'll get a "pitch deck" sorted also.

I am not sure I just want a bundle of cash, it was also the experience and the input from somebody in that field.

 

[Adam H]

I take it you've just not got the budget to pay for a "social media guy" or marketer monthly for the next 6 - 12 months to test the waters ?

I hate to see people giving away chunks of their ideas/business when alot of the time the expertise or work they receive for that 50% of the company can be pretty inexpensive in comparison of a percentage loss and is effectively shooting them selves in the foot if it does take off.

Personally id get a well proven guy for the job, give him a couple of months to show what he can do and a reasonable price, in those couple of months it will soon give you enough insight to whether it can really work ( assuming the guy you got was half decent ) and whether its worth taking on investors or a partner.

 

[nick-harper]

I take it you've just not got the budget to pay for a "social media guy" or marketer monthly for the next 6 - 12 months to test the waters ?

I hate to see people giving away chunks of their ideas/business when alot of the time the expertise or work they receive for that 50% of the company can be pretty inexpensive in comparison of a percentage loss and is effectively shooting them selves in the foot if it does take off.

Personally id get a well proven guy for the job, give him a couple of months to show what he can do and a reasonable price, in those couple of months it will soon give you enough insight to whether it can really work ( assuming the guy you got was half decent ) and whether its worth taking on investors or a partner.

I have spoken to a couple but they either wanted silly money or I wasn't entirely sure about their methods.

I'd happy pay somebody if it was reasonably for a couple of months but when people are talking £700 - £800 a month there is never a real guarantee that I could be putting 2 or 3 thousand down the toilet.

The market seems to be so saturated with "marketers" and "social media experts". it is hard to find somebody who can actually make a difference and understand the concept rather than wanting to copy and paste onto blogs at £50 a go with no idea if it would actually help. so many self proclaimed experts just offer to buy a tweet off an account that is pumping out adverts and won't convert or buy followers and generally seem spammy and a waste of money.

I'd like to pay them and then also boost it with commission if people do that? Obviously I don't expect people to work for free but if there is a real incentive that they can make more money with their results.

Does anybody know of any proven people?

I think with the right social media management / Facebook ads and getting the word out there it will make the site busier = more people earn commission = more people tell their friends. Once I have fully explained the concept to people, they love it. It is just keeping them engaged and coming back and the site busy!

 

[Adam H]

I have spoken to a couple but they either wanted silly money or I wasn't entirely sure about their methods.

I'd happy pay somebody if it was reasonably for a couple of months but when people are talking £700 - £800 a month there is never a real guarantee that I could be putting 2 or 3 thousand down the toilet.

The market seems to be so saturated with "marketers" and "social media experts". it is hard to find somebody who can actually make a difference and understand the concept rather than wanting to copy and paste onto blogs at £50 a go with no idea if it would actually help.

I'd like to pay them and then also boost it with commission if people do that? Obviously I don't expect people to work for free but if there is a real incentive that they can make more money with their results.

Yeah totally agree, plenty of Warrior forum Specials running around with their marketing and social media "prowess" lol. When your serious about a project best to stick with proven people/company's with a track record of repeated success and knowledge of estimated time scales, anyone in the game will have a good idea of what to expect in 1, 2 ,3 months of work..............but those don't come cheap.

Those price ranges you've been quoted are reasonable ( depending on what was offered ) but it depends on what return it would give you or how fast the investment would return once the ball is running.........sometimes marketing,SEO,Social media just isnt a viable option until there is already revenue and already a budget to play with which is why many Small businesses get stuck in a rut at the start.

I used a couple of people just to manage social pages some months ago at £120 a week, between 5 - 10 social interactions on each profile a day which wasnt too bad for the price as i considered my time more valuable than what they were charging (for lets face it tedious crappy work), it was only a small part of a bigger marketing plan but was what they did a measurable ?............not really but that could be because of how i was using them.

Your niche is a marketers ball ache, it will either be stupidly easy to send things viral or incredibly tedious and frustrating, try and seek someone thats worked in your niche before and has a proven track record of results. Doesnt hurt to get prices and weight up whether its really worth giving away half the business off the bat or to plug away for a bit longer........you might even find a partner in the guy you employ if results start flowing.

 

[nick-harper]

That's the thing, do I really want to spend £400+ a month on somebody offering to do me 6 tweets a day or 6 follows or something like I have been quoted.

I can't really justify £700 - £1000 a month at the minute while it doesn't make money, if it was making £1000 a month then I'd happily throw it all back at it to help it expand.

I guess I am in that rut

A partner who can get results while I do the design / development and also learn from them so I can do things on the marketing site would be a dream!