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The problem is that you need to connect with the person who is traveling at exactly the right time. too soon and you lose mind-share, too late and it's no longe

The problem is that you need to connect with the person who is traveling at exactly the right time. too soon and you lose mind-share, too late and it's no longer necessary. you need to figure out the delivery mechanism that works well. Maybe see if you can partner up with groupon travel destinations as an adder and offer them a split of it. so if groupon sells a hotel package in Chicago you should be offering your Chicago package. I think living social offers vacation packages too. You can offer a few different levels of service too: default is web/you print at home. You can offer a full color printed version with the order if you want as well. logistically this is harder but it seems like more of a deal. There is also the fandango way of doing it too. offer the ability to prepay for the tickets and take a small commission off the top for that. that's tougher to sell to the consumer because you don't have the trust relationship and might leave them stranded at the venue with no valid tickets. It would be slick to have this so that they didn't have to wait in line at all. make it opt in though and let them select what they want to actually go to see/do. An iPhone app that has everything integrated would be great but it could also be as easy as just an interface for the pdf. If you got it into the appstore you would increase your visibility a bit especially if you target the "what should I do in x" queries with adwords that linked to a specific version of your app. you could also have inapp purchases that would download a new guide. cross selling in your apps is a good thing in this case. pretty interesting idea. I'd probably buy the sf one if I go there ever but you have to reach me at the right time....

Mamady 15y ago
Thanks for the great ideas - some of our thinking has been along the same lines. One of our biggest barriers is funds, which means we have to push as hard and fast as we can before we are totally depleted. Design is something on our list, but neither of us are designers, and getting a good design will cost a fair amount. We have tried to provide them in physical format, but the price significantly exceeds that of a travel guide - I'm not sure if it makes sense. We haven't considered the fandango route - I guess it is a revenue stream that we should investigate. The iphone app is coming... but its not feature packed, because we had to outsource it, and as always, funds are limited.
- weaksauce 15y ago
  I'd say go for the print version with the expectation that not too many people are going to buy it. There is a well known psyhcological device called price fixing that shows that people are more likely to buy/pay more for the mid range option when presented with a high priced option. Look at the basecamp signup page for this. People are predictably irrational. (check out that book for more good stuff like this; chapter 1 in particular for this example) Do you get to own the code for the iPhone app or are you beholden to one company for updates?

Mamady 15y ago

Thanks for the great ideas - some of our thinking has been along the same lines. One of our biggest barriers is funds, which means we have to push as hard and fast as we can before we are totally depleted. Design is something on our list, but neither of us are designers, and getting a good design will cost a fair amount. We have tried to provide them in physical format, but the price significantly exceeds that of a travel guide - I'm not sure if it makes sense. We haven't considered the fandango route - I guess it is a revenue stream that we should investigate. The iphone app is coming... but its not feature packed, because we had to outsource it, and as always, funds are limited.

weaksauce 15y ago
I'd say go for the print version with the expectation that not too many people are going to buy it. There is a well known psyhcological device called price fixing that shows that people are more likely to buy/pay more for the mid range option when presented with a high priced option. Look at the basecamp signup page for this. People are predictably irrational. (check out that book for more good stuff like this; chapter 1 in particular for this example) Do you get to own the code for the iPhone app or are you beholden to one company for updates?