Four Click Freedom

http://bit.ly/4sLzg9

This article is about the traditional mobile couponing campaigns underway.  My mom sent this to me and here was my response:

That is not what I am doing but very effective.  I allow users to collect the coupons rather than just be an open portal to discounts that they may or may not use, thus receiving anything and everything.  Also here in China I have to deal with no computers at the point of purchase but still have to verify that the coupon is valid.  I can also go from print to feed to mobile.  Not just surfing the net to feed to mobile.  By feed I mean that the users have a personal account at advertual.com and can collect more coupons from around the Internet, set their settings for advertisers to direct to sell to them, and access their feed of coupons from their phone, much like what I see in this article.  Sounds the same but mine can work for any retailer no matter how big or small with point of sale computers or not.

I checked out the sites that were in the article.  The coupons are so un engaging it is the exact same as cutting coupons the way you used to except on the computer.  Completely boring.  There is no sale done by the retailer except the money off.  Apparently the sale already has to be made then you have to find the coupon and then save.  My clickboard makes the sale, gives you the discount, and then rewards you at the final purchase.  This is advertual, not couponing.

Well, things could be changing for me.  My oldest Chinese friend, Zhang Kai, went with me to a party over the weekend.  There, with a bunch of his friends, we ate at the local foreigners bbq house.  We started to talk about Clickboards and how the CEO of mGuanxi liked it and then about what I do.  I told them I was the Chief Editor of the local foreigners magazine and they started to take interest.  I found a copy at the front of the restaurant and let them take a look.

I told them that this magazine probably makes about RMB1,000,000 a year.  That got their attention and they asked if I could do it on my own.  I started telling them about printing, which is probably RMB2 per copy, the staff needed, and fact that the magazine should probably be an emag.

They are still interested in we are in the midst of thinking this over.  My idea would be to make about a forty page editorial and journalistic magazine.  We would launch it at the same time as our new website.  The website would have all the listings and maps and relevant info on it.  And I will discuss the Clickboards option with them.

What I want is to have all the information on the website able to be sent to your phone.  So if you are looking at a listing or a coupon, you can send it to your mobile.  So in a sense we would be launching three things at once: a website, a magazine, and a mobile application.

The mobile application would be created by Alvin from mGuanxi, this group I am now in contact with would create the website, and I would create the magazine.

I would also be responsible for bringing all the advertising clients from Jin and Tianjinexpats to the new magazine lineup.  I want to call the magazine and website ‘The Grind’,  but I’m sure I will think of something better.  Selling advertising in the beginning is going to be hard and cheap.  But I think I could get people to sign contracts that they would start at a base pay and then month after month the price would go up 5% until the retail price has been met.  However, with the whole operation based on advertising sales based on a very infantile start-up, things are shaky.

So let’s see.  I want to do this, thing is I will probably have to support myself till there is actual revenue.  Hopefully the others feel the same way.  Maybe my old professor Shafa could help out because he keeps telling me I should buy Jin Magazine, where I currently work.

http://www.google.com/adwords/gadgetads/

This is starting to really get somewhere.  The interactivity is what it is all about.  The actions on the ad can be tracked.  However there is no user input.  I’m sure this will eventually be incorporated.  Another down play is that you still need to be directed to a third party website in the end for various options.  I know that is most advertisers point, but in the end it is unnecessary and is a draw back.

I want Clickboards to be much like the Google Gadget Ads and I think if I want to start I should probably just create them and become a client of Google and just use them the way I want to.  It’s not hard with this format to promote discounts and relay enough information to promise the user that when they disclose some information about the product they like that the next time they go to the store to purchase the advertised item, the discount will be waiting there for them.

Clickboards are a new type of Internet advertising that I developed. I have chosen to use them in conjunction with print and mobile couponing.

Clickboards.net is currently under construction. Coupons will be able to be collected from the site and around the Internet using the Clickboards and sent to users coupon feed on Clickboards.net.

Coupons in users feed can be redeemed and verified at the point of sale for the records of the vendor and then be expired from the users feed.

Print and other media can use mobile device to collect coupons and send them to users feed to later be redeemed again using their mobile device.

Right now the mobile number and service is going to cost me RMB5000 a month.  The set up for the application to be used with the website will cost me RMB10000 a month for development.  The initial cost for development is water under the bridge and probably won’t be recouped for maybe a year.  I do believe I can sustain the site with no losses making RMB5000 a month.  Charging advertisers RMB1 a click or maybe RMB3 per acquisition of the coupons, that would mean I need 1500 coupons collected each month.  So if most people collect at least three coupons I would need 500 unique visitors to my site.  I believe that that number is attainable if I promote myself well and people see the relevance of the coupons.  Either it will become sustainable or die a quick death.