The Half Time Report

Half Time Report:

The 3 month challenge I have set myself in this competition is to identify key routes to market for recruiting new members:

Target demographic [25 to 45 year old ABC1 single professionals who live or work in London] is priority over numbers.

Successful routes will be developed into the 2009 marketing plan and budget with funding secured as necessary.

To achieve exponential growth in membership, key strategic objectives are:
- Conversion
- Retention
- Recommendation

By February 2009 the target is to have 500 new subscription members however once key routes are identified and activated the membership upside is substantial and unlimited.

Progress:

1. Polly and I have a very positive mentor/tee relationship conducted via a weekly out of hours phone call [Monday 7.30!] and a monthly face-to-face scheduled around Polly’s London meetings. Prior to calls / meeting I email an agenda list of updated and new items in a format not dissimilar to this!

2. The most positive things that the mentoring relationship have given me and my business are:

a) Precise focus on key issues.
b) Weekly review and discussion of key issues which allows for development of events and thinking.
c) Challenge.
d) Definition – the need to communicate ideas and thinking encourages clarity and definition.
e) Vision

3. Strategies:

a) Route to Members

Above the line:
- Negotiation with key online and London lifestyle media
- In achieving RTM’s and exposure there is a substantial financial investment / risk requirement. And negotiating favourable terms takes time!These are being mitigated by:

- Hard negotiation
- Rates
- Test campaigns
- Cost per acquisition negotiations

Below the line:

- PR4
- Ambient promotions CPA promotions [1st month paid membership to promoters business as introduction fee.
- Membership ‘Gift Cards’
- Hairdressers
- Lifestyle stores
- Dry cleaning tags


b) Value adding to membership to increase desirability of membership

- Negotiation of a site sponsor
- Final negotiation with a super premium Vodka
- Value added to events with complimentary cocktail hour
- Value added to membership with complimentary 20cl bottle as reward for membership

- Negotiation of member offers
- Naked wines secured

c) Who are we?

- Preparing for the big time by refining and polishing the story of who we are. Socialite is a.... is proving a tough nut to crack!

A members dining club
A little black book of people and places
An open invitation

d) Bug swotting.

- Any complex website will have bugs and we are working hard to find ours and swot them.