Aaron Rissler Product Marketing Manager

Maximize Your Online Auction & Intro to Mobile Bidding

Ashley Wade Marketing Manager

Tweet this webinar:

#OAsuccess @BiddingForGood

@PTOToday

About Us

Who is BiddingForGood?

Leading online auction solution provider for schools and nonprofits since 2003.

Who is PTO Today?

The #1 resource for PTO & PTA leaders, offering free tools and expert advice to

help your parent group build involvement and run successful fundraisers and events.

4,700 schools

Online fundraising

auctions

Schools have reached 250K

bidders on our platform

Schools have raised over $50 million

We Heart Schools

Is your school ready for an online auction?

We work with all types of schools in the K-12 sector, including public, private, faith-based, vocational, and specialized schools.

Menlo School (Atherton, CA) – independent, college prep Raised over $155K in 2011 with 2 online auctions. Eleven online auctions closed since 2005.

Harbour School Foundation (Annapolis, MD) – public, urban Annual event, online auction raises between $5-10K annually.

Sacred Heart Schools (Chicago, IL) – private, faith-based Online auction revenue by year: $20K $25K $35K $57K 2008 2009 2010 2011

What We Will Discuss

Barriers to auction success

Tips for social media promotion

Why mobile?

Recipe for online success

Q+A

Pros of an Auction Event

Why auctions are a great

option:

Excitement and buzz surrounding your

event

Opportunity to involve family &

friends

Tap the household budget vs. charitable

giving budget

Tried and true method of fundraising

Barriers To Auction Success

Barriers to Auction Success

Non-attendees can’t bid

Combining an auction with a party

Bidders having to fight the crowd

Hard for bidders to find the items they want (esp. with social distractions)

Physically difficult to bid on multiple items in different locations at once

No alerts to bidder when they are outbid

And the most awkward of all..…

8

The Awkward Ending

Challenges in the Room

They come to your party to do this:

Not this:

All add up to…

Auction Technology

Old New

Social distractions Attendance challenging Subject to weather Long checkout lines Limited exposure for sponsors & donors Awkward ending

Broader reach

Anywhere, anytime availability

Suite of planning tools for organization & efficiency

Run multiple auctions

In-room mobile bidding

12

Why Online Auctions

Extend your fundraiser beyond one night

Expand your reach beyond event attendees

Branded auction website provides

money-raising features: • Pre-event promotion

• Sponsorships

• Cash donation

• Ticket sales

• Refer-a-friend

13

Planning an Online Auction

14

1. Recruiting volunteers 2. Setting a goal 3. Promoting your fundraiser

Project Management Tools

Track your progress

Set goals & milestones

Get new/fresh ideas

Manage your donor relationships

Get sample letters & templates

Centralize your auction data &

processes

Arm your volunteers with resources that will position them for success

Integrating an Online Auction with Your In-Room Event

Data shows that schools that begin at least 90 days

prior to the auction open date perform best.

Online

Auction

Ends

Powering your auction, helping you raise more $$$

B4G Bidding Engine

Online auction

publishing platform

Item acquisition

and volunteer

mgmt tools

Bidder Community

Your live event

Winning Formula: Seamlessly Combine

Online with Silent/Live Auction O

nli

ne

Au

cti

on

Op

en

s

200 items in the auction publicly available to bid O

nli

ne

Au

cti

on

Clo

se

s

100 items close online

Eve

nt

- S

ile

nt

Au

cti

on

90-95 items move from online to in-room

Eve

nt

- L

ive

Au

cti

on

5-10 high-ticket items in live auction

Note: More efficient to close items online – less to carry into the room = more intensive bidding focus on remaining items

December 1 December 12 December 10

Tell Your Story

HINT: As a school, you have the best storytelling assets at your fingertips – the kids!

Compelling storytelling

requires a few key elements:

Authentic tie to school & fundraising

mission

Truly engaged

community

Impassioned “ask”

5 Tips to Getting Social

Don’t over-promote

Don’t get defensive if you get negative feedback

Reward loyalty

Interact with your followers

Prominently display event information & contact info

Did you know? Social networking accounts for 1 of every 6 minutes spent online.

Post open-ended questions that solicit follower feedback

Ask for opinions

Thank followers

Always reply to comments

Jump in on trending convos on Twitter

Ask them to post a review on your page

Post photos, reviews, and results from your event

Engaging Your Audience

Why Mobile?

Ability To Bid Anytime, Anywhere = More Bids = More $$$

And It’s Becoming a Mobile, Mobile World

89% of US online consumers age 15+ own a cell phone

• 41% smartphone (higher among high income segment)

• 48% cell phone with text messaging

Sources: ExactTarget, comScore, IDC

It’s Becoming a Mobile, Mobile World

# of US smartphone users expected to increase 49.6% this year

150MM US consumers will have smartphones by 2015

Your supporters are ready to embrace mobile bidding

B4G Bidder Survey:

• 97% own a mobile phone

• 55% own smartphones (schools much higher)

• iPad fastest growing BFG segment

Non-Profit Client Survey:

• 81% own smartphones

The Most Important Features of an In-Room Mobile Bidding Solution

Reliable mobile enabled bidding engine

Training and support (process, technical, access to rental equipment)

Turn-key registration and checkout

Mobile Bidding Survey, Nonprofit Clients, June 2011

Proven, Reliable Technology

Bidding Engine

99.9% uptime

Able to process

5,000+ bids per hour

5.2 MM bids processed

Over $5 MM invested in back-end

infrastructure

Redundant servers co-located in

secure, controlled environments

Supported by Akamai -largest content delivery

network in the world

8 years of software

development

PCI-compliant

If you are a

techie, here’s

what you need

to know

It Won’t Break If you are not a

techie, here’s what

you need to know

How Does Mobile Bidding Address In-Room Challenges?

Before Mobile:

Online

Auction

Ends

Powering your auction, helping you raise more $$$

Bidding Engine

Online auction

publishing platform

Item acquisition

and volunteer

mgmt tools

Bidder Community

Your live event

Mobile Enables Online Bidding In the Room

Mobile Enabled In-Room:

Bidding Engine

Online auction platform

Item acquisition

tools

Bidder Community

Your live event

After your event

Powering your auction, helping you raise more $$$

Everyone Can Participate

Leveling the Playing Field

Smartphone Solution: HTML5 (all platforms) + iPhone app

Text Message / SMS

Recipe For Success: Volunteers

Volunteers available at the event

Ready to help attendees with:

Registration

One-bid learning curve to use device to bid, checkout, etc.

Proxy bids (absentee bids)

Recipe for Success: Technology

Good wireless connectivity at the venue

Venue staff help with network setup, if needed

A few laptops on site

A few loaner devices

Backup power cords

LCD projector

Recipe for Success: More Bidders & More Bidding

• Mobile enabled bidding = less time fighting the crowd = easier to find/bid items

• Proxy bidding

• Bid extension

• Enable your non-attendees to bid

• Enable Bidder Community

(250,000+ members) to bid

Recipe for Success: Service

• Evening/weekend live support

• Registration checklist, volunteer training webinars

• Checkout integration

• Volunteer training, checklists

• Access to equipment

Mobile Enabled Silent Auctions Can Now Be Everywhere

Stadium

38

Golf

Walk

What are the benefits to you?

Raise more money – 10-30% more

Add new level of excitement to your fundraiser event

Streamline your event – no long lines, no frustrated attendees, easier closeout

Be a hero at the cutting edge of innovative fundraising

Questions? #OAsuccess

@BiddingForGood @PTOToday

Get Your Free Mobile Bidding Overview! www.biddingforgood.com/oasuccess

Thank you for joining us!

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http://www.ptotoday.com/auctions http://www.facebook.com/PTOToday

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http://www.biddingforgood.com/online-auction-services http://www.facebook.com/bidding4good