In my previous article I have highlighted a list of priority checks that we, as the “Web Designer”, will be required to perform prior to set a customer website live. Now that we have already marked “OK” all this tasks on our clipboard we will feel more confident to start thinking at a proper launch and a series of events that will create a “momentum” all around our newly designed web site.
Below are some ideas and suggestions that I have gathered during my experience in designing websites for clients and to previous website launches I was personally involved to.
The following is an example of a series of Public Relations, Advertising and Marketing activities and actions I have presented to the board of directors at one of my meetings with TUBe Thailand from the launch of their new eCommerce website.
Let me give you a few details of who they are and what they do.
TUBe Thailand is a nonprofit organization and is linked to the Raintree Foundation which is another Charity Organization with its roots in Germany, (under Thai Care), and Thailand.
As stated from their web site, “The main purpose of Thai Care e. V. is to promote our projects in Thailand, manage volunteers and to administrate the foster children program. Basically we are the same organization in two different countries”. Both Charities have their Thai Headquarters in a building located near Saraphi in the outskirts of Chiang Mai. Tube laboratory are located in the mountains villages.
TUBe are bags made of recycled bicycle inner tubes and are handmade by Hill Tribe Women. All the income from the sales of the bags goes towards the remuneration of the Hill Tribe Workers.
I was hired by the TUBe management to design and develop their eCommerce first and to help to organize the launch in a later stage.
SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES I SUGGESTED AT THE MEETING
- Write a script for a presentation of TUBe products. Stress the point of the people behind and the fact that is a nonprofit organization which is helping minorities from different ethnicity to make a living. One thing that will be very effective is if we could organize a special launch event in the Mountains with the locals and Make a video that shows what the Rain Tree Foundation is all about and how it relates to TUBe, always following the script so that we have a proper storyboard to follow..This video will have to show the products, the people involved the community behind. The video and audio can be recorded with cameras or mobile phones; there is no real need to recruit a professional filmmaker. The overall length of the video can consist in more than one clip then mounted together with audio and great background music. (For this last one use channels such as jamendo open source music and just leave credits on a note at the end of the movie). Ask the same photographer who shot the products photos if he can handle to be the person who takes cares of the filming and editing. Take plenty of backstage clips and photos that can be reused to feed an additional ad campaign that we can call the “Life at TUBe behind the scenes”, in which we show that we are real people, we make mistakes while filming, we laugh about it….and we are a great team.
- Contact Chiangmai City Life, ask for a meeting, show them the video and see if they are interested in writing an article in their periodic magazine about TUBe efforts to give a better life to Hill Tribe Thai Women.
- Contact the Chiang Mai Expats Club and see if we can do a presentation of our people and products to their audience at one of their periodic meetings, also query about prices for advertised sponsor on their website. If an agreement for a presentation is reached, prepare some flyers to give away in which we summarize all the details of TUBe as a business for nonprofit and we ask to share the news to attendee’s social media accounts.
- Post the video into TUBe Facebook account and let everyone have a look and share an opinion. Ask everyone to have it circulate into friends and connections.
- Upload the video to YouTube and have it shared to all the contacts that we know.
- Produce some inexpensive TUBe T-shirt with logo and slogan and give it for free for the first 100 online sales. Keep constant updates on Facebook and other social media about how the free T-shirt campaign is doing. Ask everyone that has received a T-shirt to post a picture onto TUBe Facebook wall.
- Offer a free T-shirt for every retweet in Twitter with more than 50 followers. (Genuine accounts, no spammers).
- Create an ad campaign and call it something on the lines of, TUBe Urban, have young Thais and Farang together in places such as Nimanhaemin or The Sunday Market and take some good photo to use as feed for social media. Create slogans that will eventually convert into hashtags for Twitter and other sharing networks. Make this personal; include some stories about reality, who are the TUBe Urban people, where they meet, what is their story about, post periodically photos and a short article about the people depicted in the pictures. Create a trend that circulate and that other people wants to be part of.
- Contact the Chiang Mai news weekly newspaper and enquire about an article dedicated to the Raintree Foundation and about TUBe, including a brief interview to the Foundation Directors.
As you can see there is a great amount of activities that can be done in order to get the newly developed website and business noticed from interested customers and general people. This activities can be modeled according to the business purpose, client budget and other general circumstances.
Marketing and Advertising is not normally a Web Designer business of course, but as a freelancer, it is good to have “all skills” and such experience will help to shape up your personality, achieve greater confidence and better results with later clients.
Thank you for checking in as usual.
Digital Designer, blog writer and also a tech enthusiast.
He loves to write content for blogs, podcasts, design websites, logos, brochures, banners and anything that sends a message to an audience.
You can contact Daniele at the link below:
