Idea to promote Fauna

[Red Eyed Three]

Howdy hey,

I have worked in customer service for quite a few years, mostly outsourced inbound customer service telecommunications. Something we always strive for is 100% customer satisfaction. Some of the best ways to measure this statements would be via customer service surveys and reviews, which the call center industry is absolutely obsessed about. Businesses and breeders in our world also know that good customer service experiences are necessary to build trust and establish repeat customers, so we definitely want to encourage every customer to leave feedback after business is completed.

I was thinking about ways to promote Fauna, and also help promote breeder/business reputation here (or help with appropriate accountability).

Something that may be useful would be a type of flyer or card that can be sent with each animal/product that points to Fauna Classifieds as the best source of accountability in the Herp World. We can include our profile ID, any applicable thread, an invitation to sign up at Fauna(including instructions), etc.
Fauna could possibly market this and outsource a company to print some beautiful, customized business cards or flyers for us to purchase and send out with our animals.

-We will help promote the FaunaClassifieds name (this applies to sales outside of Fauna)
-Fauna can gain some financial support from us either purchasing the flyers, or obtaining rights to send out a flyer linked to fauna, or benefit from increased traffic (dependent on what WebSlave would want)
-It will help remind customers to leave valuable feedback if they are already aware of Fauna, and provide them a great option to leave feedback if they didn't know about Fauna trader ratings/the BOI.
-This can be tied in with being Good Guy Certified, to further share outstanding customer service ideals and high standards of a particular entity.

Just a thought to help promote a great community.

I would like to see some discussion from the community on some other thoughts to promote Fauna Classifieds, Whats good for Fauna is good for all of us!

 

[WebSlave]

Heck, I have a box of flyers lying around here somewhere if anyone wants some of them to distribute. And of course, everyone is welcome to spread the word about this site as much as they care to. There have been a lot of suggestions over the years concerning calendars, coffee mugs, pens, koozies, etc., but there was the issue of purchasing large enough quantities to get a decent price break and then the REAL issue of where to store all that inventory as it HOPEFULLY got all sold off or otherwise distributed.

Honestly, word of mouth is a powerful force, and I think there is already a substantial inertia in place based on comments I see in new registrations. I also think a lot of new members even come here after hearing some alleged bad guys bad mouthing this site because of them being outed here, so even bad press is good advertising, apparently. Certainly, however, this site is not universally known and a household word to everyone.

So in any event, I'm open to suggestions.....

 

[Slashmaster]

Ideas, ideas, hmm...

The first idea that comes to mind would be contacting the owners/organizers of reptile-related conventions. In many (if not most) conventions, attendants get a "goodie bag" full of stuff from the sponsors - stuff like free samples, ads, coupons, and that sort of thing. The idea would be to have a brochure about Fauna placed into these goodie bags so that customers, most importantly the ones that are new to the industry and most vulnerable to be taken advantage of by scammers, can get some valuable information on how to protect themselves.

How do we convince these organizers to include a brochure, ideally for free? I think the answer to this is by stressing the public service that Fauna provides, and to tie it into the convention-goer's security and peace of mind. The more a convention-goer feels that they have the tools to make sure they aren't scammed (or the tools to lessen this possibility), the more money they are likely to spend in confidence, and the more money is made by venders in a convention due to this confidence in spending. When venders make more money, that makes the convention's tables more valuable commodities, and this is beneficial to the organizer.

Let's face it, the reptile hobby can be an expensive one. Not everyone feels comfortable dropping anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple thousand for an animal. Additional peace of mind will be a positive influence on sales. The more hobbyists, especially new and vulnerable ones, have access to the valuable information Fauna provides, the less that these vulnerable individuals can be preyed upon by scammers as well, which is a benefit to the hobby. Higher anti-scammer information dispersal should hurt successful scammers and "Bad Guys" and hopefully force them out of the hobby faster.

The next topic would be what the brochure would include. Of course, first and foremost we would have information about the BOI, encouraging people -- convention goers too! -- that information about a seller is possibly one click away, especially when so many people have smart phones that can connect to the internet. All they have to do is look at the convention table seller's name, search it on Fauna, and they immediately get some results upon which they can make their decisions.

But that's not all it could include. BOI familiars could help write small articles or lists for the brochure on topics like the following: "What questions should I ask a breeder before I purchase an animal?" "What are the most common signs of a scammer?" "What are the most common signs of a flipper?" Anything that the reptile community feels would be beneficial for new herpers to know and information that will make new hobbyists less vulnerable to scammers.

There are ultimately going to be some conventions that require a sponsorship (e.g. money) to have content put in their goodie bag. Fauna can handle this cost by having brochure sponsorship slots, similar to the ones that are in the current marketplace forum areas. The sponsorship fees would cover the cost of having Fauna then become a sponsor of a particular convention (it could also help cover the cost of printing the brochures too). These sponsorship slots would, ideally, be only accepted from names that have proven their "Good Guy" status, and their logos could be placed on the back of the brochure with a page like "Here are some Good Guys that have sponsored this brochure for your benefit."

This could be enough to pay any sponsorship fees to have Fauna included in the sponsors for the convention, and thus included in the goodie bag. Though I do feel that there's a strong argument for including Fauna brochures in goodie bags due to it being a service to the community.

Regarding storage, brochures could be printed on demand according to any particular convention's needs. There's no need to have to store boxes of them in a warehouse or storage space if the needed amount are ordered and delivered directly to the convention organizer (or the convention location during set-up times -- whenever).

Convention organizers and owners, venders, and customers alike benefit from having "Bad Guys" exposed in the hobby. I don't think anyone truly wants to see someone get scammed in our hobby. And Fauna and its community will benefit from having a larger pool of people and their experiences to weigh in on Good Guys and Bad Guys. More data.

Fun fact: based on a cursory Google search, the cost of 45,000 8 x 9 brochures with a front, one page, second page, and back page is $4491.00, or about $0.09 per brochure.

 

[tarawr]

Slashmaster- I personally like the idea of the brochure in goodie bags, but I wouldn't focus entirely on scammers-- that can make the reptile industry look even worse than what it really is. I'd focus more so on the assets the forum provides-- a wide range of users sharing tips on the care of various types of herpetofauna AND the BOI for references of who most people have had issues doing business with certainly would seem much more friendly for not only the people just getting into breeding, but also someone who is casually getting into keeping reptiles/amphibians.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117690

If you are a breeder using this site I see no reason why you wouldn't include one with every sale. Helps the site and drives more traffic here to view your ads.

I won some free color copies in a business raffle and printed some more copies up of the flyer Rich sent out in the above thread. I could give some to someone close to my area if they are positive they will use them. Edit: Maybe 100-150

It might just be my computer I'm on now but I couldn't get the PDF to open for the flyer. *flier

PDF
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/flier/fc_flier.pdf

 

[Dennis Hultman]

________

 

[Red Eyed Three]

Awesome. Some great thoughts, perspectives, and examples. The more people we bring over, the better for all.

 

[allreptiles1966]

Honestly,I find that the people I sell to locally have no clue what Fauna and the other site are. I think some advertising would be great. I tell everyone I deal with. I know for a fact I got a few people right here in my area to join. The didn't become paying members. Yet!
I would help promote this site and be glad to do it to. I do what I can by word of mouth.

Let me know if something is needed. I'll do my best to help.

 

[Slashmaster]

Oh, I just thought of something else... every time NARBC meets in Illinois (possibly its other meetings too, but I'm not sure about the other ones) it runs an auction for USARK contributions. These auctions are widely attended. Fauna could contribute some Contributer-level account upgrades to these auctions. This not only helps raise money for USARK, which is good for our hobby, but gives Fauna advertising to that platform too.