lol, i get all riled up about marketing and Maria had a post about a company that says “the lack of a marketing budget is the single biggest mistake made by virtual world startups.”
my response to that is a respectful and demure “that’s not really it”
they do make a great point about some VW startups being arrogant and thinking their world is so awesome that they don’t need to market it
let’s look at Linden Lab versus InWorldz. LL has a real marketing budget and even managers charged with very specific marketing tasks. one of the two managers i met a few years ago at LL in San Fran was Betsy who was a “key account” executive – mainly new business accounts. she was well paid for her job as was the budget for marketing (in the millions and that budget bough fish tacos for me and subQuark!) =D
let’s look at InWorldz – i bet their formal budget is far less that just Betsy’s salary (she left LL last month)
which of the two has a reputation of being passionate about virtual worlds and their customers?
ah, that was a trick question – i did not ask who was marketed better, i asked who was more passionate =)
if you think InWorldz is more passionate about customers (and non-customers like me) then clearly their “marketing” is superior to Linden Lab’s
their marketing success has little to do with budget, it has to do with being involved in the community that their service operates in and caring as much about me and you as what they offer. in other words, they offer something that they truly believe adds to people’s lives and, if successful, the revenue will follow
another example, Sim-on-a-Stick – my advert budget is zero and my overall budget is $34 a year (domain name and hosting and a far cry from KZero’s suggestion of $750,000!). google it and see if you think it is successfully marketed, read about how Kate and Lisa are implementing it in the classroom and see if you think it is successfully marketed . . .
the single biggest mistake by VW startups isn’t a lack of marketing dollars, it’s a lack of genuine passion for what they are offering and what it can do for you
don’t market to people, they aren’t demographics – share with them something that you believe will make their lives better
this is my marketing 2 cents and purely an impassioned opinion from someone that casually walks the talk (nothing against KZero or their 1,000 followers)
*waves to 35k followers with a huge happy #followfriday* =p
“my response to that is a respectful and demure “that’s not really it””
And my response to you Ener is a respectful, and finger waving `A diet solely of poutine and sardines has unhinged your mind from reality`.
Not really. I just making a funny :)
But…this project(including SoaS) does have a marketing budget. Its just more hidden because a person with design & marketing skills(IE you) is involved. Someone that another operator is lacking and can’t afford to pay.
It *is* a big advantage and a by proxy allocation of resource to a budget by having an Ener Hax.
While still on Poutine adled stupors, you are 100% correct about passion. Simon Sinek covers this in his Golden Circle talk(google it).
Those that believe with passion are those more inclined to succeed. And people are more inclined to follow.
Breen Whitman
26 Oct 12 at 1:03 pm
well that is very sweet of you to say about the skills. i have some persistence, albeit not as much in the techie things
yes, someone does put in effort for this blog and it’s 40+ months of at least one post per day with no day missed
and there is effort in updating SoaS when it comes out BUT the time i spend in doing all of this would be time in front of the TV
when the average American watches something like 2.8 hours of TV per day, then i say there is time to do these types of endeavors
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm
and if you don’t have time to blog, then actively tweeting can do a pretty good job as well
but i am preaching to the choir because people like Breen are hugely active and contributing people to the marketing of OpenSim!
Ener Hax
26 Oct 12 at 1:57 pm
I agree with Breen. There’s something to be said about passion. Rosedale after he stepped down from running SL, came back on two occassions when SL was approaching a crisis situation.
There’s also something to be said about cash assets also. Sweat equity can bootstrap an enterprise, but without money it’s slow and some windows of opportunity are missed.
Given the above, the post should have been about the role empowering leadership plays, although sweat equity and cash assets have their places.
joe
26 Oct 12 at 9:15 pm
You can’t sell something unless you believe in it, and people are passionate about what they believe in. After that, its all how-to :-)
Sarge Misfit
27 Oct 12 at 10:51 am
reading this i find that i am not clear on what i want either. i spend an hour yesterday answering an email from an CEO for a small game company.
he said “what is virtual studio”. the fact i shouldnt spend a hour at that. i should have a 30 second speech and a one-liner. instead i rambled. a book by guy kawasaki, formly from apple and now chief of a startup venture group, call “Art of the Start”. interesting but i dont like doing the exercises.
opensimulator has one but not many people know him– J. C-C. you dont need a marketing department. just one person that live and breathes the project 24/7 365 days a week.
for grids and content…well thats a different story.
bristle
27 Oct 12 at 3:46 pm
i <3 Guy Kawasaki! and that JCC guy is an awesome person =)
Ener Hax
15 Nov 12 at 6:58 am