Note: This post is Part 2 in the series. Read Part 1 here.

How well did the Crowd Sale work for our Tarotic Story Prompts Deck? The results are in.

In one week, we sold a total of 53 decks. (If you’d like to buy one now, you can do that here.)

How did that happen? Let’s take a look at the breakdown of promotion.

First, social media shares:

Twitter

Facebook

  • 21 Posts made by me (5 were shared in private groups) – for examples of what I shared, take a look at my personal FB page.
  • 37 Posts shared by others (that I know of)

Pinterest

  • 7 Pins made by me
  • 5 Pins/Re-pins made by others

Google +

  • 2 Posts made by me
  • 4 Posts made by others

LinkedIn

  • 6 posts made by me (5 in private groups)
  • 2 posts made by others

Other PR and Promotion

  • Three mentions on two other websites: here on WritersFunZone and on TheTarotLady here and here.
  • Two emails to my own list — one specific to the Crowd Sale, one that included the Crowd Sale among other content.
  • Three days each of Facebook ads and Pinterest promoted pins (total ad budget = $30/ $5 per day each site)
  • I also reached out to about a dozen storyteller influencers to see if I could engage their help with sharing. Only two expressed a desire to help, but in the end, both weren’t able to share with their folks in time.

Not an extensive launch campaign by any means, but still pretty time intensive.

As I like to remind my clients, the Marketing Rule of 7 is crucial when you’re planning for revenue. If the number of sales planned for is just 1% (industry average), that would mean I’d need to get my content in front of 5,300 people. And not just once, but 7x (or 37,100 times).

I’m sure we never hit that number of views or impressions.

Did the Crowd Sale model help increase the odds that I’d sell more decks (over regular sale models)? Perhaps.

It certainly seemed to help motivate others to share the offer. (At least 3x more than what I’d normally see with a promotion.)

But when I look at who actually purchased, 97% were already on my list or connected to me on social media. Only 3% were strangers.

Which just goes to show you that RELATIONSHIPS with others are The Key to successful sales.

Will I do it again?

I do think I’d like to try something similar for a workshop or a program in the future. The only thing hindering that (for now) is the lack of appropriate technology.

WordPress plugin creators: we need you to make us something to handle this.

Where did the idea for Crowd Sales come from?

Take a listen to my conversation with Tavis Parker of The Game Crafter. He talks about how it works, where the inspiration came from, and how to ensure a successful sale of your own.

What do you think? What questions do you have?

Would you try a Crowd Sale for your own products or services? Share your thoughts with us in a comment below.