Possible WhizSpark Marketing Strategy

I've been talking to Buck Paxton (among many others) about how to market WhizSpark. My super secret stealthy plan involves giving away our services to what Seth Godin would call connectors. I'd also arrange for these people to get backstage at concerts like System of a Down, no cover charge at bars like Irish Times, dates with girls like Krysy and other VIP perks. Further, they'd have the opportunity to make cash by helping to promote other events through email, their own websites or blogs. We are basically trying to build an army of citizens that wield much more ROI-driven event sponsorship power than any old media company ever could.

In the beginning, this'll be a method of lead generation for WhizSpark. People will have to fill out a form to apply. They'll have to meet certain criteria. Not everyone will be accepted. The free services would be free for a limited period of time.  And if these people aren't good at getting others to events, they won't continue to be part of the program.

Assuming this works and this generates business... Eventually, we'll be a self sufficient event promotion cooperative of affiliates. This'll involve some more development to faciliate promoter to promote transactions. But, the tracking and tools are in place to manage the cross-promotion now. We'll also have to build some trust and performance measurement mechanisms to manage reputation. So, in the beginning, we will ensure the quality of the people promoting and ensure that these people get what they deserve (or what they are promised) from planners of bigger events for helping to promote the bigger events.

The question is: What do we call it? And how do we position it? What criteria do we use to accept people? How do we scale it past Massachusetts? How do we get lots of people to apply?

Buck doesn't seem to think that it will be a problem to get people to get involved:

...but your tool set is so flexible, you could convince almost anyone to use it.  Martha F$%king Stewart could use your product to sell limited edition spoon caddies... (Pete's note: Published with permission from an AIM conversation. I edited the bad word.)

What do others think? 

I really need to get more feedback regarding this so we can do it right. And so we know the effort is worth it. We are at a big junction right now where we are deciding who are customer is and what markets to pursue.  If we are going to go after what we call the "public social" event market encompassing everything from networking events to fundraisers to concerts (ie any event that benefits from more exposure), it is do or die time. Leads are coming in for business related events: seminars and trade show exhibitors who need to send invitations and collect RSVPs (not marketed to the general public). And these cats have cash to spend. There's no reason we can't do both. But, right now, we need to focus on what's going to generate cash flow. Giving away our tools to connectors with not much cash to spend isn't the best way to generate short term cash flow. Unless, of course, we can invent a new marketplace of people that help market events in exchange for prizes, perks and payment. That is a billion dollar business that is yet to be invented.

I know I can deliver the prizes, perks and payment. The question is: can we gather the people that want that stuff? And will work for it? And how do we do it?

So, what do you think? 

If you know of people in the business of getting people to events, I'd appreciate it if you could send them a link to this post.

Comments

[Stephen]

Interesting post and I like the WhizSpark idea. I could use this service for one of the business networking events I sponsor. Shoot me and email and we can discuss.