Welcome to the thread. I warn you, it contains potty language.
To begin with I notice that a common mantra is to look to those with success and do what they do. But this has never truly resonated with me - not exactly. "Don't bother emulating the successful persons methods. Study them, learn why they're successful, then use them in parallel to your own ideas when appropriate." that's my view on it. Do I feel my way is better? Nope, not at all. It's just a reflection of my personality. I was that kid who got C's in school because I had a need to make my work my own, instead of what was wanted/expected of me.
So from here on out I'll be giving little bits of knowledge and opinion about marketing. Yes, it's one of those things that can be ignored by those of you who feel they don't have time to read unproven stuff. I won't be offended.
Throughout the years there have been many things I've noticed, deduced, or have heard that have altered my perception of what good marketing is. One of the most recent was Kung-Fu Steve's reply about marketing to fear and statistics. From that I added the piece of philosophy of "People need to know how the product will impact their life." Although it's common sense, his words opened up that common sense into insight.
To paraphrase what he actually said, he markets with statistics such as "1 in 3 children will be attacked by the time they turn 18." (I always thought it was much closer to 100%. People are violent creatures.)
If the music industry is the 800 pound gorilla, then the videogame industry is the 749 pound gorilla. Before steam was filled with indie games, before flash games were good, and before anyone had a snowballs chance in hell of getting their game onto a consoles 'arcade' marketplace, it was a nearly impenetrable giant from the indies point of view. At the time I had dreams though, and my research was focused around how to make a meager living off videogames.
Through my research I happened across many websites with humble charm written by little game developers. Most of what I chanced upon has been ignored, the lessons unappealing or uninspiring to my brain.
However, what I took to heart was a story about advertising your game about golf, in a magazine about golfing.
Such a simple lesson it was, there is little competition since people looking at something normally focused on the physical aspects of golfing, on the surface, won't be gamers. This is where my eyes lit up. The person who did that wasn't stupid or lucky. He knew that that if you find people who are interested in an aspect of your topic, can be converted into people who are interested in the medium of your topic. This isn't finding a market. This is creating one. The market isn't some static number, it's more like a living ecosystem that can be influenced when you change the basic ... Stuff ... That the market thrives off of.
So my lessons were this: There are parallel markets you can influence. Teaming up with other compatable products is powerful. Markets can be created when you show the right type of person that they will enjoy your product. Diversify your marketing efforts, your targets live in the trees, not just the ponds.
Another one is that I heard redbull got itself started by going around to colleges and giving out cases to students. When I heard that my jaw-dropped and it'll stick with me forever.
There's nothing special about the idea... Product samples aren't new, they were just exposing themselves to their target audiance.
The execution! It's so strategically brilliant! The people get to experience the value, the product will be mentally linked to success and or fun (some of them get their caffeine high on and have a good time. Some of them use it to stay up all night and get their stuff done), so it's now feelgood. And almost as important... From then on out, many of those students when they look at their corner store fridge and see the lines and lines of energy drinks will look at all the others and say to themselves "They're all ripping redbull off! What a bunch of loser!"
Dale Carniage's(sp) book "How to win friends and influence people" hasn't influenced my way of life much. But there was a small story in it that has influenced the way I look at advertising.
The story goes something like this. Dale received a letter one day from a company hoping to sell him something. The letter went on and on about the virtues of the company, their mission statement, age, etc. But Dale didn't care. All he could think was "Ok, but what can you do for -me-?"
The letter never said it. Rather than being impressed, he was annoyed at the junk and tossed it away.
I laughed to myself, because a famous quote from south of the border came to mind. "Ask not what your country can do for you - but what you can do for your country!" I laughed because I gained insight. While the statement looks like it's the exact opposite of the "Ok, but what can you do for -me-?!" it isn't.
The quote was playing on the individuals patriotism. On the surface it said 'Forget about you, think about us.' but to the right person, it says 'Now is your chance! Do something for what you believe in! You will be a hero!'
... So the lesson from that was actually exactly what the book was saying. "Don't talk try to impress with yourself, impress with what you have to offer."
Hmm... I think it was MJ that posted a video some time ago that posted the studies that show people who are thinking about money, become more self-reliant and less apt to help other people. While I haven't connected the dots yet to use that, it did show me that there are powerful ways to influence peoples frame of mind, and if I do gain the insight I expect to have 100% better advertising capabilities.
Games and social networks have taught me one thing. People feel entitled to keep getting what they've always gotten, or something better. I've gotten many invitations to very popular (yet misguided and unfortunately malicious) groups on facebook that bitch and whine about "no I'm not paying facebook 9.95 a month
issed:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
In the games I've watched enthusiastic developers say 'We're thinking about trying a revenue model, would any of you guys pay $5 a month to help us out?" and I can just imagine the poor bastards reading the comments. "wtflolno!" "no plz don't make us pay I can't afford it!!!! or at least make it so the people already playing get to keep free! that would be best!" "FU-cK you! I'm not paying a fiver for this Sh!tty as$ game! If you charge us everyone is just going to quit! And then there won't be anyone to play with and NO ONE will pay!" ... Then one guy will say "Guys, it's just $5, come on. If you like it is it really that big a deal? You pay more for a WoW subscription." "yah but woW is good graphics and awesome gameplay this game is 2d so not worth it."
... Getting carried away there. Point is, it makes me feel that if you're going to charge, indicate that the free period will expire from the get-go, or charge right away if you can get away with it.
On a very similar note, people hate to feel tricked, profited off of or scammed. It's a chronic condition with some people. I once mentioned that I knew a business owner who wouldn't recycle because the propoganda about it, is that recycling is all about the environment. Since the recycling companies make a profit, he doesn't do it.
There are people who will strip out the affiliate number on links because they don't like the idea that you benefit from them. I think it's most often a misguided feeling that they're being tricked into benefiting you, specifically. At least when I get that urge that's why.
You need to be very careful with what I shall call 'limited truths'. When you lure someone with the notion of "free", for example, the people you attract for the most part will expect everything to be free unless otherwise stated. If this is a 'limited truth', say, you have a free article that leads to a book with the useful information, and you lure someone in by saying 'free information on how to frame pictures!' by and large people will feel cheated and displeased.
Group mentality is important. If you can tap into it, trends, cultures, and even the simple thought of "I'm not the first, so it must be legit." will help you sell. This is what people mean by word of mouth, and why they seek reviews. Since people are social animals, you want them to socially purchase.
As you can see there's very little in there about actual strategies - Just things that might give you insight of what my mind would go through if I were trying to scheme up an advertising campaign. I hope those of you with the stomach to read long winded posts got something out of it, and of course I welcome agreements, disagreements, tips, tricks, insight, questions, experiences and donations of quality beef jerky.
To begin with I notice that a common mantra is to look to those with success and do what they do. But this has never truly resonated with me - not exactly. "Don't bother emulating the successful persons methods. Study them, learn why they're successful, then use them in parallel to your own ideas when appropriate." that's my view on it. Do I feel my way is better? Nope, not at all. It's just a reflection of my personality. I was that kid who got C's in school because I had a need to make my work my own, instead of what was wanted/expected of me.
So from here on out I'll be giving little bits of knowledge and opinion about marketing. Yes, it's one of those things that can be ignored by those of you who feel they don't have time to read unproven stuff. I won't be offended.
Throughout the years there have been many things I've noticed, deduced, or have heard that have altered my perception of what good marketing is. One of the most recent was Kung-Fu Steve's reply about marketing to fear and statistics. From that I added the piece of philosophy of "People need to know how the product will impact their life." Although it's common sense, his words opened up that common sense into insight.
To paraphrase what he actually said, he markets with statistics such as "1 in 3 children will be attacked by the time they turn 18." (I always thought it was much closer to 100%. People are violent creatures.)
If the music industry is the 800 pound gorilla, then the videogame industry is the 749 pound gorilla. Before steam was filled with indie games, before flash games were good, and before anyone had a snowballs chance in hell of getting their game onto a consoles 'arcade' marketplace, it was a nearly impenetrable giant from the indies point of view. At the time I had dreams though, and my research was focused around how to make a meager living off videogames.
Through my research I happened across many websites with humble charm written by little game developers. Most of what I chanced upon has been ignored, the lessons unappealing or uninspiring to my brain.
However, what I took to heart was a story about advertising your game about golf, in a magazine about golfing.
Such a simple lesson it was, there is little competition since people looking at something normally focused on the physical aspects of golfing, on the surface, won't be gamers. This is where my eyes lit up. The person who did that wasn't stupid or lucky. He knew that that if you find people who are interested in an aspect of your topic, can be converted into people who are interested in the medium of your topic. This isn't finding a market. This is creating one. The market isn't some static number, it's more like a living ecosystem that can be influenced when you change the basic ... Stuff ... That the market thrives off of.
So my lessons were this: There are parallel markets you can influence. Teaming up with other compatable products is powerful. Markets can be created when you show the right type of person that they will enjoy your product. Diversify your marketing efforts, your targets live in the trees, not just the ponds.
Another one is that I heard redbull got itself started by going around to colleges and giving out cases to students. When I heard that my jaw-dropped and it'll stick with me forever.
There's nothing special about the idea... Product samples aren't new, they were just exposing themselves to their target audiance.
The execution! It's so strategically brilliant! The people get to experience the value, the product will be mentally linked to success and or fun (some of them get their caffeine high on and have a good time. Some of them use it to stay up all night and get their stuff done), so it's now feelgood. And almost as important... From then on out, many of those students when they look at their corner store fridge and see the lines and lines of energy drinks will look at all the others and say to themselves "They're all ripping redbull off! What a bunch of loser!"
Dale Carniage's(sp) book "How to win friends and influence people" hasn't influenced my way of life much. But there was a small story in it that has influenced the way I look at advertising.
The story goes something like this. Dale received a letter one day from a company hoping to sell him something. The letter went on and on about the virtues of the company, their mission statement, age, etc. But Dale didn't care. All he could think was "Ok, but what can you do for -me-?"
The letter never said it. Rather than being impressed, he was annoyed at the junk and tossed it away.
I laughed to myself, because a famous quote from south of the border came to mind. "Ask not what your country can do for you - but what you can do for your country!" I laughed because I gained insight. While the statement looks like it's the exact opposite of the "Ok, but what can you do for -me-?!" it isn't.
The quote was playing on the individuals patriotism. On the surface it said 'Forget about you, think about us.' but to the right person, it says 'Now is your chance! Do something for what you believe in! You will be a hero!'
... So the lesson from that was actually exactly what the book was saying. "Don't talk try to impress with yourself, impress with what you have to offer."
Hmm... I think it was MJ that posted a video some time ago that posted the studies that show people who are thinking about money, become more self-reliant and less apt to help other people. While I haven't connected the dots yet to use that, it did show me that there are powerful ways to influence peoples frame of mind, and if I do gain the insight I expect to have 100% better advertising capabilities.
Games and social networks have taught me one thing. People feel entitled to keep getting what they've always gotten, or something better. I've gotten many invitations to very popular (yet misguided and unfortunately malicious) groups on facebook that bitch and whine about "no I'm not paying facebook 9.95 a month
issed:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"In the games I've watched enthusiastic developers say 'We're thinking about trying a revenue model, would any of you guys pay $5 a month to help us out?" and I can just imagine the poor bastards reading the comments. "wtflolno!" "no plz don't make us pay I can't afford it!!!! or at least make it so the people already playing get to keep free! that would be best!" "FU-cK you! I'm not paying a fiver for this Sh!tty as$ game! If you charge us everyone is just going to quit! And then there won't be anyone to play with and NO ONE will pay!" ... Then one guy will say "Guys, it's just $5, come on. If you like it is it really that big a deal? You pay more for a WoW subscription." "yah but woW is good graphics and awesome gameplay this game is 2d so not worth it."
... Getting carried away there. Point is, it makes me feel that if you're going to charge, indicate that the free period will expire from the get-go, or charge right away if you can get away with it.
On a very similar note, people hate to feel tricked, profited off of or scammed. It's a chronic condition with some people. I once mentioned that I knew a business owner who wouldn't recycle because the propoganda about it, is that recycling is all about the environment. Since the recycling companies make a profit, he doesn't do it.
There are people who will strip out the affiliate number on links because they don't like the idea that you benefit from them. I think it's most often a misguided feeling that they're being tricked into benefiting you, specifically. At least when I get that urge that's why.
You need to be very careful with what I shall call 'limited truths'. When you lure someone with the notion of "free", for example, the people you attract for the most part will expect everything to be free unless otherwise stated. If this is a 'limited truth', say, you have a free article that leads to a book with the useful information, and you lure someone in by saying 'free information on how to frame pictures!' by and large people will feel cheated and displeased.
Group mentality is important. If you can tap into it, trends, cultures, and even the simple thought of "I'm not the first, so it must be legit." will help you sell. This is what people mean by word of mouth, and why they seek reviews. Since people are social animals, you want them to socially purchase.
As you can see there's very little in there about actual strategies - Just things that might give you insight of what my mind would go through if I were trying to scheme up an advertising campaign. I hope those of you with the stomach to read long winded posts got something out of it, and of course I welcome agreements, disagreements, tips, tricks, insight, questions, experiences and donations of quality beef jerky.
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