Re: Fwd: towards cooperation of SE5 Forum/CIC and Camberwell Guide on Towntalk Scheme
Camberwell is Cool
I don’t know if this helps at all but, unlikely as it may seem, I was left ‘holding’ the Norwood Town Talk website when the TC office closed in 2009. Apart from the fact that – like any website I guess – it can only be as good as the information that’s live on it (timely sourced from where?) and the person who is responsible for it (-_-), the cost was not supportable by the forum (then anyway, and now the Norwood Forum’s got it’s own website) and we stopped all interaction with it. It seems to still have a modest life of its own though.
In summary – I would say that if you can be assured of a capable and dedicated person to be the driver of activity (both business updates and visitors) then it might be worth the cost. I suspect that Lambeth’s various Town Talk websites failed to thrive because the town centre office ownership was withdrawn.
http://www.norwood.towntalk.co.uk/
Bon chance,
G.
From: c...@se5forum.org.uk [mailto:c...@se5forum.org.uk] On Behalf Of Camberwell is Cool
Sent: 29 May 2013 12:19
To: pauline; priya prakash; Nigel Hogan; Kelly O'Reilly; Barbara Pattinson; Alan Bell
Cc: Giles Gibson; hugh....@networkedneighbourhoods.com; Evans2,Gerry; Gunn, Elaine; Keates,Jeremy
Subject: Fwd: towards cooperation of SE5 Forum/CIC and Camberwell Guide on Towntalk Scheme
Dear All;
Your comments would be highly appreciated before we proceed.
Could you please look at the Q&A below and let me know what you think ?
Best Regards
Bora
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Matt Abrams <matt....@towntalk.co.uk>
Date: 29 May 2013 10:10
Subject: RE: towards cooperation of SE5 Forum/CIC and Camberwell Guide on Towntalk Scheme
To: CBN Moderator <c...@se5forum.org.uk>
Morning Bora
As I mentioned yesterday, Ive been through your enquiry with our team and to make it easier Ive simply highlighted my comments in blue under yours. This should make it easier to cross reference.
1. About the income generation below. Is there any scheme where businesses can register / sign up / make payments on/offline to make use / purchase any of these services ? Are you planning to develop some ? Are you involved in them at all ? or is it all down to us on site ?
- With regard to payments Bora were not sure what you mean. The site could be setup to take payments but how would this work? Would you receive the money and action the requests or would TownTalk? What are the payments for; becoming a member, banner advertising, newsletter features? Personally I think an invoice system whereby you invoice your customers and arrange for them to pay via BACS or cheque would be easier and would have no additional cost implications.
2. What are our additional costs when we ask:
- to upload a banner
- There is a flat rate fee of 10 per banner.
- to make additional skin changes in the newsletter section (we would prefer our receivers to see it with our branding)
- To redesign the header and footer of the newsletter so that it carries the Camberwell is Cool branding and additional contact information would cost 95 + VAT.
- to change the top left COOL logo on our page (it was again another great favor with very good intentions and we will need to change it)
- There would be no additional charge to change it for a final time. We just need to new logo or artwork that you wish to change it to. If you need to change it a 3rd time later down the line then there would be a fee of 25 + VAT.
- to insert share on facebook and share on twitter buttons on each feed / this must be very easy as the feature exists on the back end
- Free, this will be present across the network over the coming weeks.
- to set up the existing facebook / twitter accounts to our ones (we know the tariff for that 55 - it is a shame that it did not set correctly in the beginning)
- If you just want the account tying in so that anything added to the website automatically gets posted in Twitter and Facebook then this is free.
- If you want your website to display the latest posts and tweets then there is a charge of 55.
- opening the gateway for users seems to be free on your side - correct ?
- Yes, you can do this yourself through the Admin Centre. You simply select to turn a Gateway On within each business.
- any other Frequently asked features your best performers make use of ?
- Polls to find out what people like/dont like (this could be anything). Competitions to engage the audience, let them interact. Business Forums to allow businesses talk about their issues if a closed environment where they each contribute to one anothers questions and concerns.
3. Could you give me average figures of good earning town centres- We would love to contact them and learn from them - follow their steps to make it up and running in Camberwell as well.
- Not all town centres attempt to raise money Bora; some simply run it and pay for it out of their marketing budget. However, those that DO, should earn very healthy amounts; it depends on how much effort they're prepared to out in and whether they have anyone who can sell.
Ashford have a very healthy site run by Viv Kenny, and she used the site to develop a membership organisation, and she used the income stream from the members to build the Partnership. She raised between 20 - 30,000 last year i understand.
In Orpington, they have a similar set up and having just gone down the BID route, they expect the website to generate a profit from banner ads, newsletters etc.
In Barnsley, the site raises approximately 20,000 per year. If it helps Bora, we can ask the guy who advises Orpington to talk with you and to come up with some ideas; possibly he can develop your strategy for you on a consultancy basis.
4. Matt gave me the good news about the coming mobile app - Could you please update us about it ? I am sure that businesses can also put their offers etc but the most importantly - is the app geoactively showing relevant content to the user what is around them at the moment of using the app ? That would be actually marvellous. Any interactivity with social media.. You would just wow us. We are excited to hear more. // If not - are you planning to open your `doors` for other local app initiatives we would approach to show `your` content on mobile ?
- Yes the basic app covers all the features youd expect; news, events, offers, jobs, businesses. You will be able to use Google maps via geo-locating to get the latest info as well as being able to search via all category types. The basic app is charged at 1800 at the moment but as per your earlier email Bora we would be happy to let you drive the app with its basic functionality for 1500. Additional features such as Social Media and the ability to add data will be coming after its launch later in the year. Advanced functionality would be charged separately but the core App will definitely do everything youd expect (after all weve been doing town centre website and software for 18 years!)
5. If there are any joint opportunities if we talk to our connections to our local authorities/ neighbouring Town Centre Management teams etc - please let us know.
- Again, it all depends on what you're trying to achieve Bora. I don't think neighbouring towns are going to be keen on a joint venture with Camberwell unless they feel that Camberwell have something to offer, rather than simply have their brains picked. The easiest way to look at this, is for us to understand what Camberwell's vision is for 2013-14, then perhaps we can point you in the right direction. If you could let me have a copy of your finished Business Plan, I'll take a look and come back to you with names of people who can be of most use.
I hope this helps Bora and helps you move things forward.
Kind regards,
Matt Abrams
Operations Director
t : 07515 275 085
t : 0845 686 5855
You're one in a million!
TownTalk now reaches over 1 million unique visitors every month!
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This communication contains information which is confidential and may also be privileged. It is for the exclusive use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient(s) please note that any distribution, copying or use of this communication or the information in it is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error please notify us by e-mail or by telephone 0845 686 5855 and then delete the e-mail and any copies of it.---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: CBN Moderator <c...@se5forum.org.uk>
Date: 23 May 2013 15:52
Subject: towards cooperation of SE5 Forum/CIC and Camberwell Guide on Towntalk Scheme
To: Phil Davies <ph...@towntalk.net>, Matt Abrams <ma...@towntalk.co.uk>Dear Phil
Time is coming to unlock the income streams of the Camberwell - Towntalk site and I am preparing my proposals for the board now and would like to update myself with you. All the income opportunities you have mentioned in your last e-mail are great - even getting more difficult as on line presence is getting easier and cheaper every day we still have important assets we can offer added value to our local businesses and residents - especially our recognised brand which has build in an important amount of trust in the `consumer` eye; we can hopefully now turn into sustainable support for the organisation.
Here are my questions:
1- About the income generation below. Is there any scheme where businesses can register / sign up / make payments on/offline to make use / purchase any of these services ? Are you planning to develop some ? Are you involved in them at all ? or is it all down to us on site ?
2- What are our additional costs when we ask:
- to upload a banner
- to make additional skin changes in the newsletter section (we would prefer our receivers to see it with our branding)
- to change the top left COOL logo on our page (it was again another great favor with very good intentions and we will need to change it)
- to insert share on facebook and share on twitter buttons on each feed / this must be very easy as the feature exists on the back end
- to set up the existing facebook / twitter accounts to our ones (we know the tarif for that 55 - it is a shame that it did not set correctly in the beginning)
- opening the gateway for users seems to be free on your side - correct ?
- any other Frequently asked features your best performers make use of ?
3- Could you give me average figures of good earning town centres- We would love to contact them and learn from them - follow their steps to make it up and running in Camberwell as well.
4- Matt gave me the good news about the coming mobile app - Could you please update us about it ? I am sure that businesses can also put their offers etc but the most importantly - is the app geoactively showing relevant content to the user what is around them at the moment of using the app ? That would be actually marvellous. Any interactivity with social media.. You would just wow us. We are excited to hear more. // If not - are you planning to open your `doors` for other local app initiatives we would approach to show `your` content on mobile ?
5- If there are any joint opportunities if we talk to our connections to our local authorities/ neighbouring Town Centre Management teams etc - please let us know.
These are all the questions I can think at the moment Phil
Thanking you for all your help in advance; I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Best Regards
Bora
On 14 January 2013 12:01, Phil Davies <ph...@towntalk.net> wrote:
Hi again Bora
It's important to remember that the sites are generated globally and that as such, you now have a website that would be at least 30,000 if created from scratch. It carries an enormous number of features - only possible if these features are networked and not bespoke.
Consequently any bespoke features will carry a small charge to cover the costs of undertaking them. In cases where there is clearly a global benefit in making such changes across the entire network, then we frequently apply for grant support which results in very low costs to each site or indeed NO costs is we can attract enough funds. There are no 'standard' modifications (if there were then by definition they would be networked). Usually, towns ask us for a "Loyalty Card" feature, or wish to run a competition or survey of some kind. In such cases the costs depend upon the complexity of the feature and what they have in mind.
The changes being launched over the coming weeks are a good example of this. More than 200,000 has been invested in the network upgrade and these costs will NOT be passed on to members. The new imagery will be available very soon and will enable you to finalise your leaflets and other artwork. This upgrade effectively includes all the features that members have raised on their "wish-list" in the past two years since Version 4.0 was launched.
Regarding the mobile Apps, yes this has been discussed by our members although there is yet to be any broad agreement on the features the App would carry. You might like to suggest a format and we can circulate this to generate feedback and interest from other members.
Regarding the RSS feeds and even more generic links to Council sites and features, you can be forgiven for expecting this to be more of a standard feature. However, remember that many of our sites are specifically set up NOT to carry the impression of them being Council-ish.Instead many groups want to retain their independence and not be seen as too close to the Councils. Even those that see the benefit of carrying Council news items, invariably prefer to cut and paste or to edit the story, so that the item is received by the community in a more positive frame of mind.
Regarding the income generation for the site Bora, which i alluded to earlier, this really is very straightforward and can be adopted as part of the general operation of the Partnership.
We do no prescribe how these things should be done (as different groups have different ways of looking at things), but I can give you a broad outline of the kind of features being used elsewhere along with guideline prices which should help you.
1. GATEWAY features; enable EVERY organisation, shop, community group and business to EACH have their own dedicated web feature. (You can see how this works on any of the TownTalk sites you care to visit, such asElephant and Castle). These features carry a location map, profile, contact details, logo, photographs, events listings (which are automatically inserted in the events diary AS WELL AS the gateway; very useful for meetings etc).
There are a number of ways this feature can be managed and in ALL cases, the real beauty is that YOU have everything under YOUR control.
a. You can turn on the Gateways for members ONLY; ie if they contribute to the Partnership on annual fee basis for example, they can be given a Gateway as part of their fees (Voluntary organisations are usually allowed their Gateway free of charge). In such cases the Camberwell 'logo' can be applied to each of these members, so that they get the added value and credibility of being an 'approved' local supplier.
b. These Gateways can be sold individually to local businesses, for between 10 and 30 per month)
c. Thee Gateways can be provided to local businesses as above BUT with the addition of handing them their OWN passwords so THEY can add and edit their feature and grow it into something very substantial indeed. For example, they can add special offers, events, job vacancies (or volunteering vacancies, etc); this can be charged at a premium.
Most towns make an annual charge for membership and offer a broad range of benefits, including the website features. This has particular appeal as it keeps administration low and ensures that those who contribute get significantly more than those who don't, without ever becoming 'exclusive' as they can join at any stage.
2. BANNERS offer superb advertising space so that local businesses and organisations can promote a specific event or a business service very cheaply indeed. We would recommend that a charge of between 30-50 be made for these banners. The team here will need to help to upload them for which a small charge is made.
3. NEWSLETTERS can be sent out to ALLK stakeholders and subscribers every month (or indeed every week if you feel it's appropriate). This has a direct and positive cost implication as it almost certainly something you would be doing anyway as part of your core function at Camberwell. The site helps you do in 5 minutes, what may otherwise take you several days and in ADDITION, you can offer local businesses the opportunity to pay to have their business featured, which raises up to 250 every month.
Here' how it works.
a. Members can upload their own news and events items to the website.
b. The wider public can also submit items which YOU ( as Super -User) can validate or amend accordingly prior to them being published onto the site. (Again as a by product of the system this ensures that YOU do not need to have stakeholders sending YOU e-mails with their news/ events, but instead do it themselves through the system, which saves you literally days in administration every month).
c. Each month, on a set day, you select the most interesting and topical news items (often this may be when you have yourself just uploaded items of particular interest which are therefore fresh and current). You can select up to 4 items and then hit the 'send' option which not only formats your newsletter into a well designed and readable document (with headers, YOUR contact details, etc. to remind stakeholders of the work YOU are doing), but which also sends it out to all stakeholders and subscribers in Camberwell AUTOMATICALLY.
d. As events and news items are submitted by stakeholders throughout the month, YOU will be able to identify any which you feel would benefit from being included in the newsletter the following month. For example, the Palace of Varieties at St Gile's Parish Hall on 2nd February, would make an ideal lead feature for which organisers would almost certainly be prepared to pay 100, as part of their publicity campaign. The feature would then take the lead in the newsletter and not only provide stimulating and topical information about what's happening in Camberwell, but which also enables local residents to click through to the site for more details and to book tickets directly with the organisers. IN ADDITION, the poster can be included as a download and circulated to all Stakeholders so they can print it off and help to publicise the event in their shop windows or noticeboards.
I hope this triggers some ideas Bora. For example, new business start ups can be offered a website, banner and feature in the newsletter to get them 'launched' for something like 500 all in. There aren't many ways to launch a business for less!!
In essence a typical month should see you raising the following kind of revenues and the beauty is that you'd be doing this as part of your regular work; as you are liaiising with organisations, producing newsletters, promoting events, etc.
Newsletter; 250 per month
Banners; 200 per month
Gateways; (depends very much on the structure of 'membership' but if you attracted just one new member each week who committed 360 across the year, this would generate a further 1500 per month.
Without a huge amount of effort, the site can bring you in 2,000 / month, which goes a long way to sustaining the project as a whole.
Best of luck with it all Bora.
Kind regards,
Phil Davies
Chief Executive
ph...@towntalk.net
You'reonein a million!
TownTalknow reachesover1 millionuniquevisitors every month!
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
This communication contains information which is confidential and may also be privileged. It is for the exclusive use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not theintended recipient(s) please note that any distribution, copying or use of this communication or the information in it is strictly prohibited. If you have received thiscommunication in error please notify us by e-mail or by telephone 0845 686 5855 and then delete the e-mail and any copies of it.On 13 Jan 2013, at 17:22, Bora Bicakci wrote:
Hello Phil
I have just received a quote from Matt below...
and I am not sure how to guess the price...
55 to find and replace the twitter andFacebooklinks in the background
Last time you have mentioned the low cost as being the reason but I did not forget that you have also mentioned earlier that you receive match funding and you can distribute the cost of many developments on 170 clients and you are giving a tried/tested version ready from shelf and appreciating all these facts; I am confident that TownTalk can be the most efficient way to run community websites and I am willing to push this solution to other members on both Lambeth Forum Network and Southwark Council Restoration Fund bidders as well. You may not need more customers maybe but you may like to retain happy ones... (they are 14 in total and many of them do not have proper websites) - I have already started the process in involving the Southwark and Lambeth Communication departments to share the costs of a script to link the local authority sires to local town centre sites with RSS Feeds - I amamazedhow this is not done before....
Here are my questions
1- Can I please have a tariff of you frequently asked modifications /
We willprobablyneed some of them (including the change of Facebook and twitter links) even I would have given them from the beginning.
2- Are you running a wishlist with the other 170 members - where we can expect to see future development and talk to other town centre managers ?
3- I am still waiting for future income generation structures (since we signed the contract)
4- We are hopeful to generate 1500 for a mobile application - which is a market price I got from Greenwich. Are you planning to extend to mobile ?
5- When will the new - more image heavy - version come ? (My 30.000 leaflets are waiting distribution)
Best Regards
Bora
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: TownTalk Web Team <in...@towntalk.co.uk>
Date: 11 January 2013 09:24
Subject: RE: twitter and facebook on Towntalk
To: Camberwell is Cool <vi...@camberwellcool.com>Bora
We can reprogram the facebook and twitter accounts to work with the ones that are already setup. The cost to do this is 55 and well need your username and password for each so that we can build them into the site.
With regards to the newsletter, if you can send a spread sheet over with a list of the emails and names we can upload this into the system so that newsletter can be sent to them.
Kind regards,
TownTalk Web Team
Information & Enquiries
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You're one in a million!
TownTalk now reaches over 1 million unique visitors every month!CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
This communication contains information which is confidential and may also be privileged. It is for the exclusive use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient(s) please note that any distribution, copying or use of this communication or the information in it is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error please notify us by e-mail or by telephone 0845 686 5855 and then delete the e-mail and any copies of it.From: c...@se5forum.org.uk [mailto:c...@se5forum.org.uk] On Behalf Of Camberwell is Cool
Sent: 10 January 2013 13:59
To: TownTalk UK
Cc: Alan Bell; Hilary Payne; jonathan clarke
Subject: twitter and facebook on TowntalkDear All; Hello Matt;
I have just realised that you have opened new facebook and twitter accounts for us. - Thank you very much indeed.
But as it is very difficult to manage them on top our existing ones and we would like to keep the pressure high on one channel
we would prefer to keep our existingfacebook/se5forum and twitter/camberwellcool accountsto be linked to our towntalk page.
Could you assist us with that ? (if you like -we are happy to mention your involvement by including - powered by - or similar slogans...
We are also seeking for solutions for Towntalk site generated newsletter to be sent to our existing database.
Do you integrate with mail chimp ?
Best Regards
Bora
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Bora BICAKCI
Campaign Lead for Camberwell is Cool
SE5 Forum for Camberwell
c...@se5forum.org.uk
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Bora BICAKCI
Moderator of Camberwell Business NetworkSE5 Forum for Camberwell
c...@se5forum.org.uk
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SE5 Forum for Camberwell
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Bora BICAKCI
SE5 Forum for Camberwell
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Bora BICAKCI
SE5 Forum for Camberwell
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Bora BICAKCI
Campaign Lead for Camberwell is Cool
SE5 Forum for Camberwell
c...@se5forum.org.uk
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Camberwell is Cool
Good sobering points Gerry-Also NESTA released a report today on the size of the hyperlocal media advertising marketThe report commissioner Jon Kinsbury just tweeted it - have reproduced the article below for benefit of others.The problem is for any hyperlocal website to rely solely on advertising as a revenue to sustain themselves is a false start.We need to find new value exchange mechanisms for hyperlocal sites than just expect yet another banner ad to draw footfall to an event or a local biz. People are sophisticated enough to avoid clicking on banner ads these days and rely more on word of mouth - which is where social media has helped. But not everyone is on social media, so there is need for real world interaction along with digital online engagement etcI know Hugh cced here has a rich experience running hyper local sites, would be great to hear from him (and others on this thread) what their experience has been in making these properties sustainable from an operational and revenue perspective.CheersPriya---Jon Kingsbury - 29.05.2013
When we began our programme Destination Local - designed to understand and to stimulate activity in the UK's nascent hyperlocal media industry - there was a lot of assertion and very little hard evidence about its potential.
In March, we published Kantar Media's research into the scale and nature ofdemand for hyperlocal services. This showed that they are popular and that consumption is being driven by the take-up of smartphones and tablets.
And last week, we published the first research on the size of the UK'shyperlocal advertising market, produced by Oliver and Ohlbaum.
Understanding the potential for advertising is crucial. For any hyperlocal service to sustain itself beyond being a socially-important, amateur pursuit it must cover its costs and advertising has been the traditional way of raising revenue in order to do this. At the other end of the spectrum, traditional local media players - perhaps TV companies or local newspapers - trying to respond to audiences going online, will want to know how big an advertising market they are competing for.
The research we have published does not provide heartening reading for hyperlocal media services. First of all, it suggests that big brands will place their ads on location-based platforms rather than spend money with geographically-specific services. Facebook and Google are much more likely to collect advertising spend by providing content relevant to your location than, say, a blog about Birmingham.
Secondly, the research asked small, local businesses from around the UK if they spend their advertising budgets with local hyperlocal publishers. Some do, but out of a total advertising spend of nearly a billion pounds, little more than a few tens of millions go the way of hyperlocals. And this, the report forecasts, is unlikely to increase significantly anytime soon.
The findings suggest to us that traditional local and regional media providers may be better placed. Those able to sell advertising space across media (TV, Radio, Print and online), especially using existing sales teams, will be more successful as they are able to appeal to a broader range of advertisers than those who just run hyperlocal websites.
But this research, alongside what we know about consumer demand, points to two basic challenges for "native" stand-alone hyperlocal media providers. The first, "How to get audience attention?" and the second, "How to make it pay?"
There have been lots of attempts at making hyperlocal media pay, often to no avail. Our landscape report Here and Now gives some great examples. But the right business models are yet to be found. Is now the time to talk about market failure and to ask, if some form of intervention was found to be appropriate, what form might it take?----Get a launch invite:----
On 29 May 2013, at 13:05, "Evans2,Gerry" <GEv...@lambeth.gov.uk> wrote:
I don’t know if this helps at all but, unlikely as it may seem, I was left ‘holding’ the Norwood Town Talk website when the TC office closed in 2009. Apart from the fact that – like any website I guess – it can only be as good as the information that’s live on it (timely sourced from where?) and the person who is responsible for it (-_-), the cost was not supportable by the forum (then anyway, and now the Norwood Forum’s got it’s own website) and we stopped all interaction with it. It seems to still have a modest life of its own though.
In summary – I would say that if you can be assured of a capable and dedicated person to be the driver of activity (both business updates and visitors) then it might be worth the cost. I suspect that Lambeth’s various Town Talk websites failed to thrive because the town centre office ownership was withdrawn.
http://www.norwood.towntalk.co.uk/
Bon chance,
G.
Bora
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You're one in a million!
TownTalk now reaches over 1 million unique visitors every month!
Hi again Bora
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You'reonein a million!
TownTalknow reachesover1 millionuniquevisitors every month!
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priya prakash
Good sobering points Gerry-
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