Marketing

Basic Department Description

What do you do for the convention/What is your purpose?

• Your purpose is to spread the word of VancouFur via ad trades and postings. You focus on advertizing both physical and digital through forces outside of VF. (While Social Media is the account that posts marketing from VF’s own sites.) You guys are part of the same marketing team but work mostly separate from one another.
• You will be working with Conbook/Printed ads, Digital ads with other convention sites as well as purchasing ad space with various websites!

What skills are handy for those in this position?

• Interpersonal communication skills & Emailing
• Photoshop for ad making (Or get the art lead/resident photoshop wiz to make them for you)
• Knowing how to size images to fit the sizes required of you. (USA and EU sizing will happen!)

What is your staff email?

• [email protected] (These are the forward facing “job” emails that get posted to the public and forward emails to your personal VF email. Your personal VF email is what you log in to and use to read and respond to emails.)

Yearly Responsibilities

What do you need to do during the year for your department to function before con?

• Contact as many conventions as possible and try to solidify ad trades with them.
• Purchase ad space on websites such as FA, Sofurry, E621, etc!

Sofurry	140 clicks*, 780000 views*, $19 USD/mo - Great experience http://wiki.sofurry.com/wiki/Advertising_on_SoFurry
Furaffinity	140 clicks /week*, 398,500 views/week* (Before IMVU mass ad block) - Good source of traffic, worth looking into especially in the months leading up to the con. Sometimes will provide free space to cons. [[1]]
Furbuy	5-10$ USD/mo [[2]] page banners would be prefered as they show up on auction pages, which most people view. home page ads are alright as well. (no data as of yet)
e621	$20 a month = 800,000 impressions. e621 averages 100K a day. (they can spread it out to fit the month.)
Deviantart	$20/500 clicks - Accepts our ad since we are not for profit @ [[3]] for the AdCast Profile Page(New)
Other Places to look into	Facebook? [[4]] (no)

• Get fliers out to other conventions, events and find places that may take a flier or printed ad for their window (Game stores, alternative lifestyle outlets, etc.)

• You may need to print out alternative versions of certain fliers to showcase different events or to add an extra blurb in the corner of one to advertize for our conbook ads, panel submissions, vendors information, charity, etc! Be creative! Push marketing to the best of your ability!

• Network and create good relationships with other conventions! These are our nerdy brethren and we should be advertizing and helping eachother!
• Make sure you look up conventions and dates in BC that arent furry to advert to! Places like Vcon, Anime evolution, Northwest fan fest, comic cons in ontario and aberta, etc! Look up other nerdy conventions to advert to! Not all do free trades but some will! Sometimes its wortt it to buy and ad. Just be sure to stay within your budget and ask the chairs/your exec first before purchasing stuff!

Are there things you need to order during the year?

• Fliers (Vistaprint on discount/sales are cheap and fast.)
• Possibly posters depending on your needs.
• Ad space on websites
• We may need to purchase conbook ad space with some conventions! (We usually do this for big conventions if they have run out of trade space.)

Do you need a function space map created for your department?

• Nope

What do you need to do during the year to function AT CON?

• You do not work during the event.

• Make a note of which updates/prompts should be sent to Social Media. (Remember, they can send out notices for more volunteers, due date reminders, opening dates, etc!)

• If you have received any pictures of our ads in other conbooks, send them to social media to post and say “Look for us in the ___ conbook! Have a great con -insert con here-” sort of deal.
• Make sure you notify the social media team if we have any social media specific trade arrangements.

Your Department on the Website/in the Conbook

• Your received conbook ad trades will be sent to [email protected] - They are responsible for creating our sizes and rules for what our ads will need to be for the year so make sure you converse with them about it before requesting ads from anyone!

12 - 11 months before the con, what do you need to have done?

• Send out initial emails to cons to contact them for ad trades, table trades and other cross marketing material
• Begin the digital marketing plan. Examine the data from Google Analytics (contact media exec for access) and determine where your traffic was coming from and make a budget for paid advertising.

• Review the data from previous years to find the best place to pay for advertising
• Determine which websites will have free advertising
• Coordinate with social media to create twitter/facebook ads
• Determine the keywords and phrases needed to make the ads as successful as possible. (Keyword list to be provided May-June 2017)

• Have the first batch of fliers in progress as soon as theme is ready to go.
• Coordinate with website to make sure there is room for digital ad trades.
• Begin yearly contact spreadsheet. (one exists but is not up to date with current cons and is missing some)

6 Months before con, what do you need to have done?

• Make sure you have sent out contacts to all conventions on your marketing list by now! Some may not be ready for you yet, so hang tight and contact them back later but the brunt of the work should be done.
• Send out a reminder to all pending/unanswered trades that the vancoufur conbook due date is at X time and that they need to have an ad in before then or to contact you to see if an extension is needed.
• Push marketing by getting fliers to other cons, get your team/staff to organize fliers to be put up at game stores or other alternative or nerdy places that might accept it! (Think about the theme too!)
• Send all incoming conbook ad trade files to the conbook so they can use it in their mockups.
• Reevaluate the digital marketing plan to make sure it is performing to specifications.

3 Months before con, what do you need to have done?

• Send out a final reminder about the vancoufur conbook due date to all outstanding trades on your list. (Make sure to send another one 1 week before the due date as well! Give them all the chances in the world to get them in. Many will forget or will just simply not send one. A few of the ones you will get, will probably be late so reminders are great!)
• Check in with the staff/chairs/board to see if a new chair has been chosen for the next years’ event and if a theme has been chosen. KEEP ON THEM ABOUT IT! The earlier you know about the theme, the earlier the art team can make a simple ad and the sooner you can get a head start on the marketing for events we usually miss because they are around the same time as us. This is really important as it really gives us the edge to be early!
• Make sure you have sent all current conbook ad trades to the conbook team.
• Make sure you communicate with the conbook lead on their deadlines for the conbook, when they are sending things in for print, etc. Late ads do happen and we may still be able to squeeze some of them in!

1 Month before con, what do you need to have done?

• If conbook lead can still fit ads in and more have come in, send them ASAP!
• Theme for the next year should have been chosen by now and either you have an ad ready to start marketing for, or the art team is working on it. Either way, stay on top of the due dates for upcoming cons and have a template email ready to go the moment the ad hits your inbox! The more cons you can get the next years ad to, the better!
• You won’t be working during the con (unless you want to keep and eye on your email inbox on a mobile device but that’s really optional. Enjoy the event and get whatever feedback you can from the hiss’n’scritch, other staff and even other convention staff if you can! Feedback helps us get better each year.)

After the Convention/Before the Firing Party

• Make sure all your volunteers (and yourself) got inputted into the system for their hours.
• Update your guide with any new/relevant information/changes.
• A staff feedback survey will be emailed out and sent into the staff chats. Please fill this out ASAP!
• Make any staffing suggestions to the next years’ chair. (If you want to work again, staff who excelled and where, etc.)
• If VancouFur owes you money for department spending, PLEASE PLEASE send your reciepts to [email protected] & [email protected] and then fill out [[5]] ^[[[a]]]

Break down of contacts

Who on staff do you need to be in contact with regularly for your department to function?

• Conbook - [email protected]
• Social Media - [email protected]

Who is your executive contact?

• Media Executive - [email protected]

Do you have contacts outside of VF staff that you should be in contact with?

• All the conventions and events that you can! Your 2017 list is at [[6]] but it will change year by year. You need to make sure you check convention listings for new conventions, conventions that are no longer and update the list! (furry and non furry events!)

• Howloween gets automatic ad trades because they are ‘sister’ events but can sometimes be hard to get a hold of to confirm it so stay on them!

Department Inventory and Ordering Resources

• list who you have ordered products from (if any) and be sure to list price/currency/quantity and if there was a representative you were in contact with, please list their name.

• Vista print has sales often and are great for getting business cards and fliers for VERY cheap and with decent shipping times. CAD PRICES!
• Other places like got print and whatnot may be used in a pinch. USD though.
• [[7]] - Cheap, quick service! Great printing. They did badge inserts for is in 2016 when another company screwed up. Need to contact [email protected] directly though as he is the owner and the one who worked with us. Friends of staff. Makes signs, posters, prints, badge inserts, books, etc!

• what remaining inventory you have from this year. (please also write in things you are unsure about! Just make sure it is clear that you are unsure)

• Fliers are useless to count. They usually get recycled after the year is over.
• Any other products usually get designated to an “at con” department and it stays in their department boxes after that so marketing never has inventory to count or is worth counting as its yearly printing.

• General feedback/tips for future staff when ordering products (sizing, how much the order vs how many expected attendees, etc)

• Always order as early as you can
• Spell check everything, even if you made it, get someone else to look at it and use the spell check functions in your programs!
• Make sure you know what the bleeds are for each item and if you arent the one doing the image, make sure you tell the person who is or find them templates/the link to the page so they can look it up!
• Market hard

Do's and Don'ts of the Department

What worked well/Would suggest doing again?

• Getting a head start on the next years’ marketing
• Being on top of emailing and sending reminders to outstanding trades.
• Have a 2nd! Emailing can get intensive! Make sure you have backup!
• Digital ads.
• Setting monthly reminders to do a “batch” of the next conventions instead of focusing on them all at once. This way you get it staggered so its less painful for you, and you hit conventions as they are in their planning year and not before, which just means more emailing in the end (or emails getting lost in staff transfers)

What didn't work/would suggest to avoid?

• Sticking to just furry cons. Make sure you are looking at furry, anime, comic conventions, sci-fi conventions, etc! Specially in our local area. Vancouver, Edmonton/Calgary, toronto/ottawa and montreal are HUGE for conventions.

What would you suggest to be done for the future years of your department that aren't already in motion?

• pushing for items to be physically sent to cons or put up in shops. We need to push this!

Other Resources

• Google Analytics - Contact [email protected] or [email protected] for access
• Google Webmaster tools - Set up and configure for 2017
  
• List any other websites the dept staff may need (for example, Social Media needs a list of all the places that vancoufur has access to or an account on to run social media and who to ask for password resets for if a new person takes over the job in the future.
• Resources for how you organized your time, any apps that were helpful to you, etc.

• Use the marketing spreadsheet in the VF materials drive/gdocs. Lifesaver. Desktop and mobile.

• Advice on how to work with certain companies if they prove to be difficult. (Some companies we order from, it is best to contact a rep directly instead of doing a straight up online order. )

PLEASE REMEMBER

• Always respond to emails/contacts, even if it is just to say “I recieved your email and will get back to you soon!” / “I don't know the answer but I am looking into it for you!”
• Be sure to contact the Chairs or Admin to make sure you have access to the materials you will need for the year like your Staff Email, Access to any folders/sites with materials, etc. (Be on the lookout for invites or emails to these things and check your junk mail too!)
• Make sure you TEST your new staff email (if any) and report problems immediately to the Chairs! (if you haven't gotten any emails in a while, do another test!)
• Make sure you keep all of your information up to date with the convention staff! Contact the volunteers lead to update your information if the volunteers spreadsheet is not available for direct editing!
• Do not WAIT for someone to contact you. If you have a moment to reach out, do so! Depending on who you are working with, the communication road may not be a 2 way street and you will have to do a lot of poking. Please be proactive!
• Do not edit any staff members’ documentation without permission!
• Keep all VancouFur related documents INSIDE the VancouFur Materials folders. Keeping things on your own gdocs and not inside the VancouFur specific folders makes it incredibly difficult to find needed information for all parties without hassling a lot of staff.
• If you need to make something private in the materials folder (Googledocs or wherever it moves to in the future) Make sure that the Chairs, Admin and Executives CAN STILL SEE IT. We need to know where you are and if your files are all hidden we cannot proactively offer help, guidance, or corrections. Otherwise, just keep things public/view only to prevent people from messing with your info.

• Make sure you know who your Executive is! They are there to help you and oversee the branch of departments you are in. Contact [email protected] / [email protected] to check or check the contact page on the website! You can also use the contact sheet for the year