Internet Options
Even though we went *off-line* to start the kiosk, there are a lot of really valuable ways to use technology and the Internet to build opportunities for our business. The ones we are currently working with include:
1. Commission Junction
2. CafePress
3. Lulu.com
4. Yourep.com/Flickr
5. Google Video/YouTube
6. Facebook/MySpace
7. Our vendors’ sites.
8. Copper Rain
9. AdSense
10. Word of Mouth (E-mail/Blogs)
11. Yepic.com
12. Press releases sent via the Internet
Think Virally
One of the principles we are testing, is “Think Virally”– using cheap, effective marketing tactics– word of mouth, viral marketing, and natural traffic.
Before we decided on the kiosk at the mall and signed our lease, we learned that we would have access to about 50,000 shoppers per holiday weekend, and we’d be here for 5 weekends. That’s a great location for us to have a storefront in this area– there is no way we could generate that amount of walk-in customers any other way, given our time and budget constraints.
(Maybe in five years… but a month… not likely).
So, after we had been running for a few days, and blogging, there was an online traffic spike of nearly 2000 visitors within a day, which was exciting! And unlike the mall traffic, where people mosey around, and only sometimes notice our kiosk, the online traffic was a pretty focused group who were coming to our site for the most because they wanted to read about what we are doing.
(Although some of our visitors have come from search words like “realistic sleeping kitten that breathes”– I’m happy to say, we are listed on the fourth page of Google search results for those keywords!)
At any rate, that traffic presented an additional opportunity to further use the Internet and the viral marketing principle to boost our kiosk. Though, I do have reservations about many of those tools, which is in part why we haven’t released them yet.
Why A Kiosk Instead of Staying Online?
Frankly, when people ask why we started a kiosk instead of doing an online business, or just picking any one of these web applications, such as Cafepress, it’s a great question. And at times when I am really starting to get sick of being at the mall all day (yes… it does happen!!), I wonder, too. 
If we wanted to just make money, there’s no question it could be done for $0 and extremely quickly on the Internet. Especially if we cut corners, disregarded basic ethics/social rules of the Internet, and just blitzed a hype product or fad.
But mainly, with this experiment, I really wanted a hands-on business, and to apply those 10 principles to everything that makes up a traditional endeavor: employees, cash flow, projections, budget, accounting, budget, market analysis, products, vendors, commissions, sales, marketing, operations, opening the store, pricing… all of it.
These are things that entrepreneurs often disregard when they are thinking about an idea. Many of these things have changed from being concepts into “reality” for me during this experiment. For example, getting the kiosk as an idea sounded like fun, but manning it and making sure everything is taken care of, is not as glamorous.
That said, we do want to apply viral marketing principles to promote our kiosk & The Hundred Dollar Business concept.
We will in the next day or so begin using many of those applications listed earlier in this post, but for the record, I’m also posting my thoughts, reservations, and predictions in Part 2 on what I think could happen from applying these tools to our business.
Leave a Reply