I remember it was back in the middle of December ‘07 that I briefed everyone on the idea of the “big ship” and why we should mobilize the entire team to work on the “500 Project”.
And now, we are entering the 6th months of the a4trip Project.
We have came up with 3 guidebooks (one in beta), and by the end of the year, 36 guidebooks will be on sale.
Along the way, we’ve learnt alot about the travel writing business. From the first writer to join the team to the current team size of 60 talented writers, translators and mappers across the globe, we’re moving closer to the “500″ target.
To keep the big ship’s momentum, we are going to be rollling a few things very soon.
Most of you might not have the courtesy to join us in our Daily Marketing Briefings, yes, you read that right. The briefing is a daily ritual in the mornings that usually last about 1-2 hours, every “business days”. While you’re busy writing your guide, or drawing icons for your map or looking up funny words in the translation websites, the Marketing team has been working over the clock to see that the Guidebooks is reaching out to the travelers. The interns that just joined us now are also performing much better than we expected.
After running the Daily Marketing Briefing for about a month, we are now moving to mini-campaigns. Each team member will design a marketing campaigns of their own and then track their own campaign effectiveness.
Next, we are also working on the a4trip.com Manager module. This will make it very simple for the Operation team to notify download stats, earning reports and facilitate payment related issues. We are looking to start using the new a4trip Manager by end of June. We will roll out a4trip.com Friends module too. It would be used by all of you to manage the progress of guidebook and sales of download.
And, leaving the best for last…the new a4trip.com Website! Believe me, you are going to be thrilled to see all the new features we’ve added and improvised. The underlying philosophy of the new site is to simplify the buying process and providing useful information to the travelers the moment they loaded the very first page in a4trip.com. The new site design is due end of June, to all dear writers, ensure your guide is ready for release by then.
The Marketing Team is ready to adopt any tactics that can help to increase the awareness of the a4Trip Guidebooks. If you have a good idea, share it with them!
The Development Team is constantly looking at modifying the a4trip infrastructure to improve the Guidebooks buying process. They could use a little help too if you have a great idea to contribute!
Meanwhile, fasten your seat belts and get ready for the upcoming features!
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