How do you spread the word?

[Oxajil]

Hi All,

Some time ago, I decided, by advice from Laura, to buy a T-shirt to wear on a day when I would speak in front of many people (I was asked if I could come up with some kind of speech).
Well, through some issues, I didn't had the T-shirt then, so I painted my own, but the weather was really bad, so I was afraid that the paint won't work.
Due to the weather, just a few people were present. But there was a guy who came up to me when I finished and said that he agreed with what I had to say.

I spoke about the vaccine for the flu, I had a little sign about comets in my speech and so forth. At some points when I was reading my speech, there was a bit fear present, that I was saying these things out in the open. It scared me, so I think that I could've made this speech less direct with more ''hidden'' signs in it. But well, my first ''speech'', so I guess I did well.

Anyhow,

I think that in the future there might be more moments when I could wear a SOTT shirt, so I got one now, being ready for those times to come!

It looks quite simple, but I like to share this with you guys. Laura said:

And if you come up with a nice design, put it on the web so we can see it and other people can make them too!

I added two pictures, one in which it is being worn and the other just the shirt. I think it looks quite cool :)

--

My call for you is that you can design your own too. Though maybe before you want to design one, share your ideas here, so other members can have their say. You can also put nice texts beneath it, I have read some nice ideas elsewhere on this forum.

Let's be creative and spread the word! I also like the idea of stickers/pens/posters/bags/other clothing etc. so share your ideas here, if you'd like. And how it turned out!

I just searched for a nice ''design your own t-shirt'' website on the internet and ordered one (be sure to check out the website before ordering!). It costed me around 30 euros, but it depends on what you like to have on your shirt.

Thank you for reading.

 

[Thomas Alan]

Hi All,

And if you come up with a nice design, put it on the web so we can see it and other people can make them too!

I added two pictures, one in which it is being worn and the other just the shirt. I think it looks quite cool :)

--

Cool shirt, Oxajil! Thanks for the pics.

Maybe a t-shirt with www.cassiopaea.com/eiriu-eolas and the Prayer of the Soul?

Mac

 

[Bluestar]

Very cool. I love the colors of the butterfly and my impression of it's meaning.

 

[Erna]

How 'bout something like this?

With cassiopaea.org at the bottom. Think people will tear it off? I would. But then again, I'm also a tad on the curious side.

 

[Mountain Crown]

Hi Mac,

Just wanted to point out that the extension for the link you provided should be .org instead of .com

Great idea by the way!

 

[knowledge_of_self]

Great idea & pics Oxajil! :D I really like the shirt you designed, it's very simple, elegant and to the point. It reminded me of this crop circle picture. So maybe I'll make one like that... you got me thinking now!

And E, if I was walking by a sign like that I'd be interested, but than again I'm curious too :P

 

[Erna]

[quote author=Deedlet]
And E, if I was walking by a sign like that I'd be interested, but than again I'm curious too :P
[/quote]

I think you just have to choose your location well, like a UFO conference or a metaphysical gathering of some sorts etc.


Just around the crop circles alone one can make some great promotional items - and it's beautiful!

Like this pendant:

Then you can engrave a message with the URL at the back.

The crop circle formations would make great t-shirt designs as well! Like this one:

I would buy a t-shirt like this...and the Cs are not going to slap you with copyright infringement. ;)

The jewellery avenue can be explored in great length - message jewelry for example:

On this one you can engrave at the bottom "Come hang out with us" with the url.

These message beads work well:

Oxajil, these t-shirt designs might also have worked for your talk! ;)

These glass vial pendants can also work well, with the url inside...

...even sott bookmarks at the counters in bookstores can work (or maybe more appropriately in the philosophy / esoteric section).

 

[truth seeker]

I was just thinking over the past 2 days that it might be a good idea to make up flyers for the breathing program and post them in metaphysical bookstores/shops. It could link directly to the site so that people who are more interested in meditation would have access to it.

Also, perhaps if it was okay with Laura, I was thinking if there was a web banner available, people could put the one up for the EE program on their websites/blogs.

edit: added a sentence

 

[Beorn]

Hi Oxajil, the T-shirt looks great! I like the idea.

How about a shirt that just says:

Knowledge Protects

www.SOTT.net

Or something like that?

Just found a place where you can design your own T-shirts, upload images and see how it looks:
_http://www.pistolclothing.com.au/customise

 

[Oxajil]

Thanks guys, the website itself had many images and I just searched for ''butterfly'' and that one popped out! :D

Wow, you guys have great ideas! :D I really love them, I think that it will attract quite some people. I also like the flyers idea of the EE program. People might do it just for fun and when they see that it helps them in some way, they might search further and discover what cassiopaea.org etc. is all about. Maybe flyers of the Knowledge and Being video could be a good one as well.
I remember seeing a T-shirt saying ''Knowledge Protects'' on the Knowledge and Being video and it looks cool and to the point! so I think that's a great idea JP! Also like the idea of a pendant (and others) :) and also the idea of presenting the Prayer of the Soul (or maybe a few phrases of it?), with the EE url, on a T-shirt. So many possibilities. Now we just maybe have to try to make it happen. Together.

And also what is I think important is to think about when and where we should wear such things or where to put the flyers and such. And you have made great suggestions: UFO conference or a metaphysical gathering of some sorts, metaphysical bookstores/shops

I also read somewhere on the forum that a member sticks flyers/cards on boards in stores or shops, like organic shops for example.

And also what Laura said in another thread:

They also use their presence in a school environment as an opportunity to "plant seeds" by way of leaving bookmarks or bumper stickers or written material around so that it can be "found" by others.

There are also these Ponerology flyers made by Tigersoap! : http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=8560.msg61235#msg61235

In this thread Laura said:

Did you ever think about doing stuff "undercover" so to say? It's never a good idea to take on the world (Mouravieff calls it the "general law") directly and face to face. He suggests working from within a "strategic enclosure." That is to say, play a role in life that doesn't bring wrath down on your head or cause you difficulties, all the while you find what you CAN do to systematically challenge the system. This can be anonymous distribution of flyers or posters or stickers; putting bookmarks in books in libraries and bookstores; graffiti... just a whole host of fun activities that can plant seeds everywhere you go. I'll see if I can get the guys to re-post the link to the SOTT artwork that was created for just these purposes.

Will this all make a difference? Well who knows, we could just try and see what happens :)

Recently, I ordered a Block note with www.SOTT.net on it and ''The World for People who Think'', since I write notes during college, I can use that one, and maybe some people will (un)consiously notice it and might want to check it out. I think it's really smart that it (sott) is short and it's not so difficult to forget. Cassiopaea.org or the other websites are good too to mention of course!

There are also flyers that are made by Appollynon which s/he mentioned in this thread: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=8431.msg60562#msg60562

I thought that s/he could perhaps share those with us, but I see that s/he was last active on May 18, 2009. Hope everything is okay.

 

[MichaelM]

Hello all!
Great ideas for spreading the word. Just wanted to add my two cents to the discussion.
I was initially thinking about how internet marketing works. I tried my hand at it a few years back but didn't follow through. But I did pick up some interesting things about internet marketing that could be considered for this "campaign".

1. Spam
- Most MLM (multi-level marketing) outfits usually have a paragraph or page about spamming. In a nutshell, they discourage it's members from spamming because it will get the business in trouble.

- Considering spamming in the context of spreading the word, there might be a difference between a couple of bookmarks hidden in a couple of books in a public library or a poster on a street pole with some tear-offs, and putting flyers on every car in a parking lot or the ones parked on a street.
(also, gotta watch out in areas with "neighborhood watch"!)

2. Checking the effectiveness of a campaign
- One of the methods I'm familiar with is appending a unique identifier at the end of the home page url so the internet marketer could track the number of hits to that specific url and track the effectiveness of a specific media.
For example:
Poster with tear-offs media: http://sott.net/P01
Bookmarks in books in a public library: http://sott.net/L01
Flyers on cars: http://sott.net/C01
Banner ad on site 1: http://sott.net/B01
Banner ad on site 2: http://sott.net/B02
After some time, results are tracked and media with a low number of hits usually gets scrapped and another media is thought up.

This is much more effective and feasible and transparent on banner ads. Having the "extension" printed out (on paper, shirts, etc.) however might have a negative effect on the viewer (i.e. makes it harder to remember).

On the one hand, measuring metrics is a good idea. On the other hand, from the "5 years" schedule, maybe given the time constraints, measuring metrics might be "unnecessary overhead".

3. Writing good copy
Copy in the marketing sense refers to the marketing text that the "reader" (i.e. "potential customer") first encounters and which baits and reels the "reader" in and eventually convinces him that making a purchase is in his best interests (by tugging at some unconscious drives like fear, greed, lust, etc.)

A definition of copywriting: _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copywriting
Some tips on writing good copy: _http://www.captureplanning.com/articles/27409.cfm?

Now specifically for sott.net and the cass site, most people would be automatically turned off by a whiff of "conspiracy theory" and "aliens". Iirc (if I remember correctly) there have been discussions on the forum regarding toning down these themes for the "average joe" and, in retrospect, I think the sott.net site has accomplished this to some extent.

But for the "average joe", I think just the sott.net front page could be a mixed bag of results.
- Some may like the newspaper like format.
- Some might be overwhelmed by all the topics and might have been expecting a short summary of what the site is about. (Commercial sites usually have an "About Us" page with a link to that page somewhere on the collection of site links that are usually comprised of "Home", "Login", "Contact Us", etc.)
An alternative to the "About Us" page is a paragraph or two of "About Us" at the very top of the "Home" page. However it could be a bit messy or add unnecessary clutter but this is usually a design decision.

***********

That's all I could think up right now. I'll add more ideas in another post as the ideas percolate up into the conscious mind throughout the day.

 

[Gawan]

Thank you for sharing Oxajil.

Thanks guys, the website itself had many images and I just searched for ''butterfly'' and that one popped out! :D

Wow, you guys have great ideas! :D I really love them, I think that it will attract quite some people. I also like the flyers idea of the EE program. People might do it just for fun and when they see that it helps them in some way, they might search further and discover what cassiopaea.org etc. is all about. Maybe flyers of the Knowledge and Being video could be a good one as well.

This printed sentence I also found really inspiring and I played with it printing as well one with: "knowledge protects", but so far I never printed any t-shirts, because of showing up self-importance and how I could protect myself when someone is questioning me.
Maybe I'm thinking over it again and change something.

So far I would like to "draw" my own t-shirt, also with one butterfly but with more edges. I can come up with one when I'm finished.
Also I could give it for proofing to a good friend of mine who printed and tested many t-shirts.

They also use their presence in a school environment as an opportunity to "plant seeds" by way of leaving bookmarks or bumper stickers or written material around so that it can be "found" by others.

This I have done already in some places in the highschool I study and visited bars for example.

I found also some techniques quite useful (I saw myself):

using chalk on busy footways, pure and simple: "Thinking!? sott.net". (with this you get less if not any trouble with the police, because it gets washed away with the next rain. Putting flyers on luggage racks of student bikes.

What comes to my mind, is it possible to provide this image for printing t-shirts?

Did you ever think about doing stuff "undercover" so to say? It's never a good idea to take on the world (Mouravieff calls it the "general law") directly and face to face. He suggests working from within a "strategic enclosure." That is to say, play a role in life that doesn't bring wrath down on your head or cause you difficulties, all the while you find what you CAN do to systematically challenge the system. This can be anonymous distribution of flyers or posters or stickers; putting bookmarks in books in libraries and bookstores; graffiti... just a whole host of fun activities that can plant seeds everywhere you go. I'll see if I can get the guys to re-post the link to the SOTT artwork that was created for just these purposes.

Well it motivates me, to leave more signs again, aswell with written links.
Here are two examples what I like to bring up in my paintings: (simple) triskelions and the Cassiopeian constellations.



**edit**
clarified some sentences up.

 

[MichaelM]

Another idea came to mind while going through the thread.
I encountered the activity called "geocaching" from Ure's daily blog at urbansurvival.com
In a nutshell, it's kinda like "treasure hunting with a gps".

some links:
urbansurvival.com page where it was mentioned: _http://www.urbansurvival.com/nl20090725.htm
description of geocaching from wikipedia: _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching
an "official" site for geocaches: _http://www.geocaching.com/

The geocaches could be an additional place to leave "signs" (i.e. bookmarks, stuff with the sott.net url).
Or a "geocache site" or "geocache run" could be listed on geocaching.com.
I imagine that the people who look for geocache sites think "out of the box" to some degree and may be more receptive to following through on any "signs" that are picked up from the cache.

I also imagine it would be fun for both the people who setup the caches and also fun for the people going on a treasure hunt! :D

 

[Erna]

Yeah! Geocaching is a great idea! It's a big craze over here. A friend of mine's husband is totally addicted to it. He's always figuring out new caches, and trying to solve ones which others can't solve.

A much bigger treasure than a tin solder for example, I'm just not so sure about the 'target market' though... :/

Boys playing treasure hunting doesn't quite strike me as 'deep thinkers', but you can put a message in the cache saying something to the effect of "you're looking in all the wrong places!"

 

[Joe]

Just FYI. Sott design Tees will be available for sale in the not too distant future. Stay tooned!