Maestro Market
Your name: Krista Carnes
Company/Tool Name: Maestro Market
Website: www.maestromarket.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/maestromarket
G+: www.gplus.to/MaestroMarket
What is the “problem” that your tool seeks to solve?
We connect those seeking specific expertise & content to the people who can provide it in cool, meaningful ways. There are a lot of really talented, smart, accomplished people out there who want to help others – they just have a hard time being found. Marketing a service is a major job in itself – let alone performing the fulfillment of that service, and few solo or micro biz professionals can afford outside marketing help.
On the flip side, event planners and conference organizers, operating with tiny budgets, often don’t know how to find those people who would bring wonderful content – and be willing to do so for “small” fees by traditional standards, or just creative non-monetary compensation like travel, room upgrades, pre- and post- event communications, etc.
Until now, there’s been no place to “search” that really vast middle ground between members and speakers represented by bureaus. Content & Education planners have been forced to spend long hours slogging through internet search results, polling colleagues only to come up with the same old, same old; or, they quickly find that the “rock stars” names that come to mind are well out of reach. It’s super frustrating, inefficient and exhausting.
What is the best audience for this tool? Corporate events? Social? Other? Large? Small?
The best audience is anyone in pursuit of personal, professional or organizational betterment! Okay, that’s kind of broad, but really, anyone who plans – or wants to be considered a knowledge source for – events or experiences. Who said that all events must have live speakers vs. a webcast? If your board or staff is having a hard time getting their head’s around an important new aspect of the industry, why not call the leading research or bestselling author and have her explain the basics? If I’m seeking insight into a possible new career tangent, why not ask a leading authority to share his thoughts with me while walking through Central Park, or fly fishing or over a meal at his favorite restaurant?
On Maestro Market you’ll find experience, talent and other accomplished people for everything from one-on-one engagements, to audiences of thousands.
What does your tool help event planners do better?
We streamline the process of identifying, inquiring and securing experts & other content providers to meet the budget, time, geographic and other parameters set.
How is your tool different from/better than the competition?
In some ways we don’t have direct competition – we’re not a speakers bureau because we transact more than simply speaking opportunities w/out minimum fees – and we’re not like the now defunct SpeakerWiki where anyone can post anything about any speaker/expert. We help our Maestros develop their profiles and offerings so they really showcase not only their expertise, but who they are as people because we know that people buy from people they know, like & trust. Our site allows prospective buyers and followers an easy way to get all that information in one place.
What is the single coolest feature of your product?
For event profs especially, hands down it’s the Drop-Off Search. If you’re planning an event – large or small, with one or multiple tracks or speakers, you can tell Maestro Market what you’re looking for and within a couple of days we’ll email a “catalog” of potential matches. When it makes sense, we also want to go public with the offers that come to us so that we can connect you (and us!) with people who meet your needs.
Anything else we need to know?
We believe that most people have some level of expertise worth sharing and we want a huge array of it on our site. So yes, we want you to have a profile and we want you to use our search and match-making services.
If you’re stumped on what to offer ask yourself:
What do you love to do that others don’t really understand? (cleaning closets, vegetable gardening, square dancing – whatever!)
What do friends, family & colleagues seek your advice specifically about? (de-mystifying iPhone apps; the best children’s books for toddlers; new music; fitness encouragement)
What are you “known for”? (business ideas, great networking, event planning, supplier sourcing, crafting) we believe these are the areas you can generate a little scratch helping others learn & do more of what you love!
Here’s a recent blog post: Three Tips for Creating Your Custom Offering.
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Since we’re only just launching, we really want feedback from users – how can we make Maestro Market more of what you need it to be? Where is the experience of the site clunky or really “smart”? What features do you wish we had? Are any of the current ones confusing or not relevant? Give it to us straight. With a rock solid tech team driving this, we can take it. And then run with it!
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