Barefoot Business
Barefoot Business conversations with event professionals and segments from the Club Ichi Telethon Membership Drive, held December 12th, 2024!
Barefoot Business
Ichi Telethon | It's Snö-ing!
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Unlock the power of community-driven growth with Rachel and Stefan from Snöball, the trailblazers in event marketing. Amidst a snow-kissed Montreal scene, we explore the game-changing strategies that Snöball brings to the table, transforming Club Ichi Telethon's membership drives and event promotions into a bustling hub of over 450 enthusiastic registrants. It's not just about reaching out—it's about creating a movement that everyone wants to be a part of before they even know they do, encapsulating the essence of 'preemptive FOMO'.
In this lively discussion, our guests share their passion for the boundless potential that Snöball's platform offers, from tracking referrals to stoking the flames of excitement for Club EG's exclusive insider opportunities. They also unveil the charming origins of Snowball's name, a fortuitous twist of fate that perfectly mirrors their vision. By harnessing the inherent trust within our own circles, Rachel and Stefan reveal how any community can witness profound growth and unshakeable engagement—all thanks to the magic of Snöball's referral mechanics. Join us for an episode packed with innovative ideas and infectious energy that promises to leave you inspired and ready to set your own community ablaze with excitement.
Want to be a guest on the Barefoot Business Podcast? Join Club Ichi as an Insider member today! https://www.weareichi.com/
It is snowing in Montreal and it is snowing all over the world , Thanks to snowball . Rachel , Stefan , I am so excited to have you here . Snowball has been incredible for the Club Ichi Telefon . We have over 450 people registered and it is all thanks to you and everything you're doing . Why are you in the snow ?
Speaker 2Well , it's not snow , but if I'm not in the snow ? So I had to find a spot and I was hoping that it snowed in Montreal when I did this . But you know you can't control this snow , but we can control the other snow , so we were so happy to be part of this .
Speaker 2And Liz Nicole , I was listening to you and you know your reputation exceeds everything that you've been doing and you know word of mouth in your case . You know I heard so much about what you do that the minute you said you're doing something crazy . And then I didn't even finish reading it and I said I have to be part of this . So I'm so happy to be part of it to help snowball , whatever you do , because it's worth snowballing .
Speaker 1I love it Well and you know , with Club EG and me and Nicole , we don't like to . I wouldn't say we wanna break the mold . I wanna say we like to push the boundaries . And Snowball is an event marketing tool and I know that it is used . When you register for the event you then it pops up and asks you if you wanna share with other friends and you can track where it's going and who's your top refer and all of this amazing stuff . But we are pushing the boundaries a little bit with you because today we are also using Snowball for Club EG Insider Purchases . So when you become a member you also have the opportunity to share that . You are on the inside and other people can join too , and we are tracking those referrals . The first person to get 15 tracked referrals in Snowball will win a spot on either the cruise in Croatia or Argentina . So like it's magical what you do and this is I guess I wanna say thank you for letting us kind of stretch what you do a little bit . How are you feeling about that ?
Speaker 2Well , I feel amazing and that's why I jumped on board when you said you're doing something crazy , because I knew that we can push boundaries , we can innovate , because , I mean , the platform is so flexible . It's just really your imagination and what you wanna do with it , and we can let it happen . It's about referrals , about scaling word and mouth . Whether it's a membership drive , whether it's an event drive , it's all about getting the people to help you get the word out . It takes a village to promote an event . It takes a village to promote a membership . It's tapping into the trust of your community to help you get there .
Speaker 1I think that is so spot on . I truly feel like FOMO is gone . Nobody's looking around going oh my gosh , I wish I was there . What's really driving people to go do things is that network effect of seeing . It's not . I wish I was there and I'm sad I missed it . It's all these people are going . I have to go too , and so it's kind of this preemptive FOMO thing , so that it's not a negative anymore . Now it's a really positive snowball effect . Gosh , how'd you come up with that ?
Speaker 2It was by fluke . Actually it was by fluke . I had the idea a long time ago and we were all referring into it as all the project , the project . And then I give the credit to my developer at the time that while we were talking and he said , well , let's call it bulldoinage bulldoinage in French is snowball I said wait a second , david , this is it . And that was it . I mean , it's exactly what we're trying to do .
Speaker 1That is incredible . I do have to say that your developers , your support team , has been an unbelievable help during this entire process . I am , you know , back in 1995 , I could do my fair share coding of HTML , but these days there's so many APIs and cross things and RMT , like I don't even know what's happening behind the scenes , and so to just be told you know what , provide us a graphic and even if it sucks , we're gonna fix it for you , we're gonna get in there and code it where it needs to go , that was magical . Do you do that for everyone , or is that just because you like me ?
Speaker 2Well , I like you , I like you , but we do that for everybody .
Speaker 2We like everyone . So that's one of the things also that clients appreciate the most with us is that we are marketing to begin with . We're marketing team , but to begin with , so we're there to help them set everything up . We don't wanna add more to their to-do list , so we ask them send us your stuff . We'll take it from there . Obviously , you'll get to approve everything before it goes out , but let us do all the hard work for you so you don't have to .
Speaker 1I love it . So , Rachel Stefan , CEO of Snowball , tell us where you are right now . You're coming to us from Montreal . Did you go to a ski resort or is this just your backyard ?
Speaker 2I wish that's a golf course next to my house . Actually it's beautiful In the winter it's a very exclusive golf club , but in the winter they close it off and they open it up for everybody here that they can go take some walks and do that . But yeah , I wanted to give a shout out actually to the most valuable advocates on the campaign for this event , the Telethon . I don't know if you wanna announce them , but I wanna give a shout out to Nick . I don't know if she is watching or attending this one here . Great job , one of the top influencers for this campaign .
Speaker 2You brought in Anita Rose , allison and so much more , and Michelle Alilovic I don't know if you said the name right Brought in Chiara , william , alfredo they all came because of you . Thank you so much . It worked Wow . I'm excited to do this . And the other thing is also that we were able to tell . I mean it was interesting to see where people were sharing it because in majority were linked in , but then you have email . I was also surprising to see , ah , what's up ? I mean , of all the different , we have 13 different social channels that they can share it to . They used nine out of the 13 .
Speaker 1Wow , really Did anyone use threads ? Tell me .
Speaker 2Oh , no , no it's not in there . But Instagram is very , I know , I know and most of the registration , no surprise there it came in yesterday . I kind of spike , you see the beautiful spike there of referrals coming in . So you know that doesn't change and it seems to be happening more and more in events . You know , the last few weeks , in virtual last few days , are key .
Speaker 1Do you have the dashboard in front of you ? Are you looking at the full dashboard ?
Speaker 2No , I took notes . Oh , okay , okay .
Speaker 1Well , I was just wondering because I didn't look today , but I know that the last time I checked , there were , I want to say , three metrics , and one of them was really how many people saw the amplification of it , and one of them was how many people clicked and , like , read or did something with it . And then there was the actual conversion that was tracked to the person . Is that right ?
Speaker 2Yes , exactly , we can see all of that specifically . So there's a in addition to conversions , with most people try to kind of focus on that , but there's also the whole amplification , the visibility it generates and , in most cases too , like in , you know , like any advertising too . You see things you might not decide to join right away , but you might go back to it later on . We won't take credit for it , but you know at least somewhat . You know , created awareness around the , around the event . Well , right , and it's .
Speaker 1it's no joke that in marketing you have to have at least seven touches for someone to even consider taking action , and I read something that said it's 15 now . So the more you can create this amplification of the message on LinkedIn , social media , all these other places , in addition to getting an email from the actual event organizer and getting you know the personal phone call from your sales rep or whatever , to come to an event , just seeing that everyone else is going , I think it's really important . I know Julius Salaris called out that . That was one of the main reasons he went to SEMA Summit this year . All these people were seeing snowball like that . We're saying I'm going , I'm going , and he thought , well , I have to go too . So I think it definitely is valuable .
Speaker 2Well , it is one of the top reasons why people go to events is seeing who else is going there , and that's , you know there's data data behind it . You know you check your events , you check the content a little bit , you check the pricing and then you're going to see who else is going and then if you start seeing all these people , it will drive you . You mean , you skip a few steps of the awareness that the interest in everything you can , your people have the trust of their friends and colleagues . So if they trust that , if they're going , it's a good . It has the seal of approval , you got social proof on your event , so it gets you closer to that registration and getting more people to go to the event .
Speaker 1It just comes in Fantastic . So if you're looking to amplify your events at snowball without the W , is there a reason behind it ?
Speaker 2Oh , just for fun , because we're different . Just for fun , make yourselves different .
Speaker 1I absolutely love it . We are going to take a little break now . Rachel , I cannot thank you enough , not only for being here with me today , but for everything you have done for us in Club Uchi . I'm so glad to have you in the community and can't wait to get you in front of literally everyone who needs to amplify their events . Thank you so much . Thank you so much . Have a great day . Take care everyone . Thank you , we'll see you soon . We'll be back in just a minute .
