Internet Cafes as a marketing marvel.

Posted by Aztec13 on Sun, 07/01/2007 - 06:39Firefox Marketing Ideas

I live in Tijuana,MX. Like every other city in this country as I'm sure many others are Internet Cafes on just about every corner. Awhile back I didn't have a job (Aside from a fledgling website), and my computer's internet access had been canceled. I decided a good idea to kill 2 bird's w/ 1 stone would be to look for a job in a internet cafe.

As a leverage tactic I would tell whom ever was in charge that I was a member of "Spread  Firefox"(with authority !). I said I could maybe set up some posters and promotional items if they hired me(it was posted at the time) and that I personally could set them up with a revolutionary set up that all their customers would go crazy for. Utilizing Firefox's Extensions. How each different user could store online at "Foxmarks" and a long list of some other great options I could make available if I were given control over their cafe.

Well needless to say pretty much all of them thought it was a good idea. It's free whats not to like? Not one cafe did I leave w/o personally coaching them through downloading Firefox before leaving. And before not too long someone liked me and my ideas that I actually scored a job. It would be nice to get some promotional stuff really. Since I have taken over the cafe the Firefox use has definitely gone up. I erased that other one completely. And we are no longer running pirate XP for our OS. I installed UBUNTU and nobody has even noticed. I did tweak it to look like XP though.

Anyways before I go way left field, I think this technique I employ at the cafe in conjunction with some promotional added flash would be the nail in the coffin to really drive it home. We need to get Firefox into these Inet cafes somehow. Eventually our customers take Firefox back their own computers,or better yet into the workplace. We should really place some thought into this on a much bigger then "me" arena. I can only do so much myself.


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Marketing in internet cafes is an excellent idea.
Submitted by bencar on Mon, 12/03/2007 - 19:46.

Marketing in internet cafes is an excellent idea. 

Let's go!

Seguros Magazine 

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The best Idea ever
Submitted by Baguz on Wed, 11/07/2007 - 16:39.

Hie am a web application developer and in my line of work we hook up with most people who have cafe's... how can l get hold of firefox stickers, banners ..etc to paste around in their internet cafes.. have already talked to them so.. just need the stuff

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Internet Cafes are an excellent idea!
Submitted by GCVentures on Tue, 07/03/2007 - 14:24.

Marketing in internet cafes is an excellent idea.  I am new to the Spread Firefox community but I am certainly not new to Firefox and its dominance!  You mentioned Foxmarks which is of course an extension.  I run a similar dot com business called Spyshakers.com. Spyshakers users can access their private favorites and passwords through the Firefox Sidebar.  We also protect you from spyware on any computer (which is an industry first).  I think internet cafe users will find our service interesting.  I will check with my internet cafes to see if they have Firefox as well.

Grant Alan Friedline

President - Spyshakers.com 

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May be, you'll find some
Submitted by hybridruide on Tue, 07/03/2007 - 10:48.

May be, you'll find some helpful things here: 

http://mozilla.wikia.com/wiki/Marketing:Mozilla_Materials

and especially here:

http://mozilla.wikia.com/wiki/Marketing:Standardized_Letters:_Internet_Caf%C3%A9s

~peter


 

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I just updated
Submitted by twickline on Fri, 07/20/2007 - 05:38.

I just updated http://mozilla.wikia.com/wiki/Marketing:Standardized_Letters:_Internet_Caf%C3%A9s to reflect FireFox current usage is at 34% and changed the growth rate from 1.5% to 1.0%

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Our mexican friend has some good points...
Submitted by Ash_Rulez on Mon, 07/02/2007 - 21:14.

I agree absolutely with him that converting Internet Cafés is relatively easy and very useful to spread the word!

Therefore there should be not even the already existing letter templates but more important an official sticker per country and a community driven project to visit each and every single Internet Café one by one (statistics, name and address, links to homepage, business hours, automatic google maps route, ...).

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Pirate XP?
Submitted by 3518742690 on Mon, 07/02/2007 - 18:36.

Even I don't do that!


So, you installed Ubuntu and no one's ever noticed... why don't you make it look like GNOME a little, or otherwise use Kubuntu... you know, not a radical difference, but a difference nonetheless.



Look at this blog entry... if it becomes outdated.

Also, Visit my Top 20½ reasons to use Firefox page!

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great success story
Submitted by Jan Steffen on Sun, 07/01/2007 - 08:51.

Congratulations for this spreading success and for your new job!

I really think targeting internet cafes is a big potential to get Firefox to the masses. Way to go! Offering them some posters to hang up and perhaps lay out some flyers should be really easy and effective.

Jan

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Effective targeting ???
Submitted by Aztec13 on Mon, 07/02/2007 - 00:28.

Of course working at a Internet Cafe in Tijuana isn't my career goal,but it ensures I am  connected to my Website.And sales have steadily doubled or tripled each month so far.So with a little luck Ill have my own cafe soon enough. My point however is that Many of these cafes are little hole in the wall places that make it very difficult to effectively target with traditional methods. Therefor it really is up to us to get out there and do it. I will hearby commit myself to converting a minimum one cafe per week.If anyone thinks you are going to get a cold shoulder walking in a Internet cafe and asking to speak with the manager,to the contrary most are appreciative. You obviously don't have to try and work there just say that you have heard alot of Internet cafes now are using Firefox to offer an enhanced browsing experience. Here in MX myspace is very popular,so I tell them how some of the extensions are tied in with this or that.Again as I mentioned in my original statement "whats not to like,it's free !" Can someone else try and kick up some dust along with me to get this idea mainstream. I'm telling you I have NEVER walked in a internet cafe and saw Firefox up and running. I will even design the posters myself if I can get some help here whats up ? Ive been looking for a project to showcase my new found talents using The GIMP. Come on people lets get these cafes with the program. I'm sick of having to worry how my site looks in other browsers. Aren't geckos supposed to eat butterflies ?

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Try AIDA for effective marketing
Submitted by hybridruide on Mon, 07/02/2007 - 09:32.

No, don't start singing operas now. :o)

I have some experience in product marketing and learned to use the AIDA-principle in some cases. AIDA means Attention, Interest, Demand, Action. Make these four steps targeting your customer (internet café) and have success.

Attention
In most cases the owner of an internet café is also the man at the counter. If not, ask for him and get his attention. "Hey man, I see you are using Internet Explorer on your PCs. Do you know, that it is very dangerous to you?. It's like leaving the door open over night to invite burglars." You will see some question marks in his eyes.

Interest
Tell him about Firefox. Fast, safe, secure browsing. I'm sure you will find enough good arguments.

Demand
He should have the urgent demand to make his internet café safer. He would like to offer a more convenient browsing to his customers. And, very important, show him his benefits. Better browsing - more customers - more money.

Action
Get the permission to install Firefox on one, two or all PCs and make Firefox the default browser. Show him, how easy it is. Show him tabbed browsing, some extensions and whatever is of interest to him. Make him believe, that it was his idea to install Firefox and that he identifies with it.

Some times later visit the internet café again. Ask for the success. Ask if help needed. Give them the feeling that they are not alone. Make them proud to use Firefox. Hand out a large Firefox sticker to be placed at the front door: "This is an authorized Firefox Internet Café" (or something like this). Leave promotional materials. Put posters to the walls. Make this internet café a meeting point of Firefox users.

These tips are not only targeted to Atztec13. Everybody can do things like this at his home place.

 

And while writing this posting, there comes another idea up...

If an internet café is a real café or bar with tables and chairs, how about organizing Firefox User Meetings there? A monthly or bimonthly meeting of Firefox friends at the round table. Sharing ideas, experiences, actions and so on. Benefit for the user: Get closer to Firefox. Benefit for the internet café: Have more revenue . Think about it.

~peter


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promotional materials
Submitted by on Mon, 07/02/2007 - 06:23.

Aztec13 - please get in touch with me with your contact info, and we'll send you a set of promotional materials for you to use. We're working to set up ways for anyone interested in doing similar outreach to apply for help from Mozilla, and this will be a core part of the Spread Firefox update scheduled for August 2007. In the meantime - for anyone else reading this who's interested - email me at pkim -at- mozilla -dot- com. All we ask is that you report back on the results of your outreach. :-)

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Internet Cafe
Submitted by FreeAdLists.com on Wed, 09/12/2007 - 08:21.

I live in South Korea and almost every major street corner has a PC bang (Internet Cafe). The Koreans are big-time computer users and their best gamers are treated like rock stars.  The major games here are Starcraft, Lineage II, Special Forces, Sudden Attack, etc.

 FreeAdLists

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