Rogue marketing

[Guest]

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[Julia]

So I was looking at all these loans to  Azerbaijan and was thinking - "Who would be specifically interested in loaning to Azerbaijan?". So I googled Azerbaijan and found some sites, and am sending them emails telling them about Kiva.

Site 1: American Academcy of Family Physicians - Physicians with Heart Airlift went to Azerbaijan in 2000. 

I sent them this email: 
Hi,
 I was doing research on Azerbaijan and found your website and was quite impressed with the work you do there and in the other countries. Thank you for all that you do.

I am interested in Azerbaijan because I have been lending money to entrepreneurs there with Kiva.org.

Kiva is a new non-profit organization that partners with microlenders and allows individuals (like us) to lend directly to people over the web.  Its truly an amazing concept and it really empowers people.  I know there are a lot of people in Azerbaijan and other countries who have recently received loans that have changed their lives.   

I hope I have encouraged you to visit the www.kiva.org website, and please let everyone in your organization know.

Thanks for your time,
Julia Bailey, Ph.D.
Kiva Enthusiast. 


Other Sites I contacted:
United States - Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce

[Erica]

Julia,

You are such a rock star! I've loved looking at all your ideas for spreading the word -- in fact I was up until midnight last night reading these posts and thinking about steps I can take. I've shared my website with friends and now its time to join the rogue marketing efforts!

Thank you for being such a great idea maven!

Erica

[Julia]

Thank you for your kind words.
I do tend to have a lot of ideas, but I acknowledge that not all of them are good!

I ended up sending about 5 emails last night to places that looked like they might be interested in Azerbaijan. I'll post if anyone responds.

[Ari]

Julia that's amazing!  I hope they respond and Kiva gets more lenders from your effort.  It's a bit strange to have 40 loans from Azerbaijan on there now.  Sorry I haven't  responded to your translatation questions yet, I will

[Julia]

Update - today I recorded who I sent emails to:

Azerbaijan links Today - http://azlink.info/today.aspx

Project Harmony - http://www.projectharmony.az/contact.php

American Bar Association.  (my search lead me here so I figure why not.  I'm hoping they publish something in thier newsletter).

Joined the Azerbaijan yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/azerbaijan/ and posted this in the link section

Help an Entrepreneur in Azerbaijan
Kiva is a new non-profit organization that partners with microlenders and allows individuals (like us) to lend (not give) directly to people over the web for as little as $25. Many of the loans are to individuals in Azerbaijan. Micro-credit will really help the country. Check it out, tell your friends - www.kiva.org

and I sent an email to the yahoo group list serve. It seems to be a pretty active group.

Galen R Frysinger- guy with great travelling pictures http://www.galenfrysinger.com/ I thought he might be interested in Kiva. And since my search lead me there...

I have a document with several wordings that I cut and paste into emails and forms.

[hunger4god]

Hey Julia, I like the way you think. Are you in marketing or what? Those are some creative ways to get the word out. I love it!

I Love Kiva! http://gokiva.blogspot.com

[Julia]

I am an academic by profession (statistical genetics, I do the math part of finding genes for diseases like epilepsy & PTSD, which is why I am online all the time, usually running analysis).  I do marketing though as a hobby, and have for years.  See a few years ago I set up an internet business to help some friends make money at home 'cause they had kids.  We are all in a medieval recreation group so we make costumes. I did the computer work and they did the sewing and now my friend runs it and its doing quite well.  But I did all of the marketing for that, which consisted of a lot of nights with some wine and thinking 'hm, what can I do now to get my link out for free. Who wants to know about us?'.

The site is Garb the World (www.garbtheworld.com). And there's a lot of links out there. We rarely pay for advertising, I just play marketing. I find it more entertaining than computer games.

And business,... its booming.  We just had an 'Easter Rush'.  (we sell custom-made costumes)  My friend runs the company (full time) and has help, and we have many sewers.  I am not at all involved in production, but I do some web stuff and a bit of modeling.  That's me on the home page! We ship internationally (we've even shipped kilts to Scotland).  We sell to many different groups, including official religious organizations. So I know about the power of the internet. And marketing is fun.

[wind5001]

Hey Julia,

I was simply wondering whether you have heared anything back from them? I am interested in whether this approach is working.

Oli