Can I Create the FOMO Effect?
Today I must be brief because my workflow requires me to stay on task, and there sure are a bunch of them! “Champagne Dreams” started out as conceptually simple — secure an appropriate, accessible space, bring the skates for rent, set up music, and invite folks.
Well while that IS the basics of a roller-skate dance party, in order to deliver a unique brand experience and to compete against other New Year’s Eve parties happening in NYC, I’m going to need to do a whole lot more.
As of now, I’m managing an event that is logistically filled with lots of tiny moving parts covering two areas that are essential to making the party a financial success: advertising, marketing, and sales plus preparing, sourcing all materials, and confirming a crew of workers. I must designate attention and energy to both arenas simultaneously which has led me to develop a layered plan to avoid becoming overwhelmed.
Let’s stay focused. Today I’m only gonna talk about the strategies of this day, Tuesday, December 20th. I’m about to test a sales strategy using promo codes, direct messaging on Instagram and the scarcity effect.
I’ve split the promotion campaign into segments, starting with Early Bird tickets, which are priced at 50% of regular admission. This promotion started a week ago and expires at 9pm tonight. So far, only one person has purchased this type of ticket, even though last Friday, I hand-picked 145 people from my competitors' followers and sent them an invitation with a link.
For today’s experiment, I’ve created a new promo code for my close associates to access tickets that cost $25, a $55 discount. In my message, which I will cut, paste and personalize as I DM my followers on Instagram, I will also ask them to repost the party flyer announcing the end of the Early Bird discount. The catch is there are only 25 tickets available, and I will let my homies know it’s a first-come, first-serve type of deal.
What I’d like to see is:
- How many of my peeps use the code right away to get $25 tickets knowing the full price is $80?
- How many of them will repost my flyer announcing the expiration of Early Bird tickets?
- How many people will purchase Early Bird tickets now that there are less than 12 hours left to the promotion?
The effect I’m going for is to create a concentrated echo chamber of messaging. The more people repost the flyer within the next 24 hours, the more it will be seen repeatedly by shared audiences, and the bigger the event will appear. The compounded results of multiple reposts of the same message should inspire FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) in those who have not yet purchased tickets. They’ll begin to feel left out because it will seem like everyone they know is going to or affiliated with this party, and will rush to get a ticket too.
Tomorrow will kick off the second phase of my marketing strategy, a paid ad campaign and the start of the party ambassadors program, which must be designed in advance.
So yeah, I’ve got my work cut out for sure today and it will be very interesting to see the results. Gotta dash now and get to it!
See ya,
~SuperGoode
