BigCrumbs Marketing Strategies: Offline Marketing

This is the third article in a series of three relating to my strategies for growing a BigCrumbs referral network. For a brief overview of the BigCrumbs program and internet-based strategies, please be sure to read my first two articles. This will deal with offline marketing.

Behind being an Ebay Powerseller, this method probably has the most opportunity, although it requires more creativity and effort than my Powerseller strategies-especially to hook that big fish. The first method is the most obvious, yet for me-the most challenging. It's the most challenging for me because, much as I readily admitted my ineptitude at social networking websites, I am equally inept at face-to-face social networking. The first method is simply telling family, friends and acquaintances to join. The advantage of this method is that, hopefully, you already have developed credibility and rapport and it should be easy to convince them to join. Some BigCrumbers tell everyone they encounter, whether or not they just met them doesn't matter. Unfortunately, it just isn't in my personality to do this. If you can pull it off, your network will grow faster then mine!

The first thing you must do is register an easy-to-remember domain name and either build a website around a BigCrumbs theme, or have it redirected to your BigCrumbs referral link. I know-this is not the internet marketing article, but this is critically important for offline marketing because people have to be able to give you credit when they sign up. They need an easy to remember url instead of having to remember to enter your name as the referrer, or remembering the impossibly complicated referral url.

Now that you have this domain name, you can start offline marketing. Being the introvert I am, I prefer the more subtle, stealthy tactics. I had business cards printed up that have a catchy tag line, my personal url, and a list of some of the more popular retailers. It's simply tells them what it is, where to go, and enough information to whet their curiosity. You can paint to town with these business cards: leave them with waiters, hand them to cashiers, post them on bulletin boards, etc. Anywhere you can leave a business card, leave some! You can also employ postcards and fliers.

Direct mail marketing is another option, though much more costly. Your marketing will be perceived to be more credible if it is included in a well-circulated magazine or newspaper, or maybe even one of the advertisement magazines that always fill our mailbox. There is a trick to defray the costs...spread it out! Remember that you get referrals 5 generations deep. If you can get a direct line a couple of generations deep to commit to contributing to the advertising, the cost is divided up and everyone will benefit from the referrals.

I'm going to expand on this idea a little bit. It is critical that everyone in this line of referrals be CrumbEarners and not CrumbSavers, because it ensures the referral credits pass all the way up the chain. (You can see the BigCrumbs FAQ for more details on this). To identify the chain, first choose one of your level 1 CrumbEarner referrals. I'd pick someone who has the most referrals because they are already a proven producer. Then, look at their level 1 CrumbEarners to find the next link in the chain, and so on. You can also work up by contacting your referrer and your referrer's referrer. The goal is to get as many-up to 5-direct referral CrumbEarners committed to commit to some mass advertising. The marketing should use the referral link of the lowest level on the chain, so the referral credit is passed up 5 (or however many you can get to commit) generations. The $600 printed newspaper ad will be $125 per person. I believe this would be a worthwhile investment-provided the distribution market is right.

My final suggestion is the "big fish" that I am still trying to catch. Landing this fish will make your network be set apart from all the rest, and this is why I am saving the best for last. If you can get some organization to join, whether it is a PTA, church, Boy Scout troop, charity, your referral will grow exponentially even if you don't do anything else! Think about it for a second-if you can get a group of 100 people who are dedicated to a common cause to buy into the BigCrumbs program, each of those 100 people will be working independently and collectively to grow their own networks. I'm sure you've seen the chart on BigCrumbs.com that show how many referrals you'll have if you refer 3 people and your 3 refer 3 and so on. Imagine if you kick start it by referring a PTA who nets you 100 or more 2^nd tier referrals! Wow, I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

As I said, I haven't pulled this off as of yet. But you can guess with some certainty which members have. If they have only been around for a couple of months, yet have hundreds or thousands of referrals-it's a safe bet that they have the PTA or Boy Scouts or Food Bank working for them. This is the "big fish" that will bring rapid success, instead of the slow, gradual growth over time. So, if you have a connection with a PTA, church, or any other organization who might want to participate--make that referral!

Many BigCrumbers won't share their secrets with you until you are referred to their network. I think that's not the best approach because I signed up for BigCrumbs before I knew much about it and I'm sure most people have as well. I put the link to my BigCrumbs based website in the first article, but have made no other mention joining my network. If you like the articles, please forward the link to your friends, family and-most importantly-your BigCrumbs downline.