Friday, September 21, 2007
Good Marketing Means Speaking Up
I went for lunch today at the nearby mall food court, but I hadn't quite made up my mind. There was a chinese food place (a Panda Express wannabe) to my right, and I guess the girl minding the counter noted my indecisive glance over the contents, but she immediately spoke up, holding up a free sample.
While I tasted the sample, she was already asking what she could get for me. But her attitude wasn't pushy. It was like she was trying to be helpful. After all, I was hungry. She was providing me with food. For cheap. I accepted, thanked her, and congratulated her on doing such a good job roping me in. Now, I can't say the food was all that great. But I got a cheap lunch, and she got a sale, and so I can't say it was a bad thing.
I guess over the years I've gotten to the point where I think that "marketing" is a four-letter word. We're bombarded with advertising. On the web, on TV, on the radio, on T-shirts, on signs... it's very difficult to escape. And yes, I've grown disgusted by much of it.
But done right, it's a service. My wife and I love seeing movie previews when we go to see a movie - so long as they don't go too long. We get annoyed by Coke commercials in the movie theater, but we like seeing the movie previews. I've always enjoyed looking at the ads in gaming magazines so I can see what's coming. And hey, all else being equal - when I'm hungry but don't know what I want for lunch, a taste of free food and an offer in broken English wins out over vendors just standing there with vacant expressions on their faces.
When we talked about whether or not there is hope for indie RPGs, one of the key things that seems missing for indie games in general is marketing. Indies maybe learn the wrong lesson with their disgust over the tasteless, ruthless, tactless, truthless multimillion-dollar marketing screamfest that serves as mainstream marketing efforts for AAA games. I know I've actually been turned off to products based upon bad or annoying marketing (but I'm probably one of the exceptions). But it's not marketing itself that's a bad thing.
Indie game developers really need to figure out how to do it right. Done right, it serves both parties. And sometimes it can be as simple as knowing how, when, and where to speak up... and doing so.
(Vaguely) Related droning:
* Utah Indie Developer Night, Summer 2007
* Indie RPGs: Just Not Worth It?
* Is There Hope For Indie Computer RPGs?
* How to Avoid Making Money Making Indie Games
* How To Make $8000 / Month Making a Free Flash Game
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Labels: Biz
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:30 AM (Permalink)
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It's one of those classic noise v. signal problems that's exacerbated by a lack of advertising budgeting (or a lack of caring on the part of the companies).
It's cheaper and easier to just run as many ads as you can afford in as many places as you can get ad space than it is to do some in-depth research on where and when your ads will have the most impact and place them there (which would shift them away from the annoyance side of the spectrum and towards the service side).
The mistake that's extremely common is that assuming everyone wants or needs your product, and the only thing keeping them from buying it is a lack of knowledge. This is almost never the case.
Car insurance ads in a movie theater are bothersome. Car insurance ads at a car dealership are informative and helpful. Targeted and appropriate advertising is welcome. Spam is not.
It's cheaper and easier to just run as many ads as you can afford in as many places as you can get ad space than it is to do some in-depth research on where and when your ads will have the most impact and place them there (which would shift them away from the annoyance side of the spectrum and towards the service side).
The mistake that's extremely common is that assuming everyone wants or needs your product, and the only thing keeping them from buying it is a lack of knowledge. This is almost never the case.
Car insurance ads in a movie theater are bothersome. Car insurance ads at a car dealership are informative and helpful. Targeted and appropriate advertising is welcome. Spam is not.
Very true.
I understand the rationale of canvasing untargeted groups. I mean, there's not like some place where people seeking to change their car insurance for a car they already own congregate.
But that is the type of marketing / advertising that irritates the most.
But when I was looking for a new computer, I subscribed to mailing lists for Alienware and other vendors to try and take advantage of special offers or anything else. I wanted to be marketed to.
And I found the vendor I went with in... surprise! A computer gaming magazine.
I understand the rationale of canvasing untargeted groups. I mean, there's not like some place where people seeking to change their car insurance for a car they already own congregate.
But that is the type of marketing / advertising that irritates the most.
But when I was looking for a new computer, I subscribed to mailing lists for Alienware and other vendors to try and take advantage of special offers or anything else. I wanted to be marketed to.
And I found the vendor I went with in... surprise! A computer gaming magazine.
The mistake that's extremely common is that assuming everyone wants or needs your product, and the only thing keeping them from buying it is a lack of knowledge. This is almost never the case.
This is true... to a point. Frequently lack of knowledge about a product really is the limiting factor. With indie games in particular, I find that I'm pretty ignorant of what's out there, and I appreciate the ads I've seen, and the reviews on sites like PlayThisThing (my new favorite). I think it's more true to say that too many advertisers make the assumption is that it's equally useful to get that information at any time, so they take the shotgun approach to advertising. Which gets to your next point:
Car insurance ads in a movie theater are bothersome. Car insurance ads at a car dealership are informative and helpful. Targeted and appropriate advertising is welcome. Spam is not.
I think this is why Google's ads are so successful, since you only get them when you're searching for something similar. Marketing seems to work best when it's done like fishing: wait unobtrusively until you get a bite (however tenuous), and then gently reel it in. The potential customer needs to pull a little before the advertiser should start to push.
This is true... to a point. Frequently lack of knowledge about a product really is the limiting factor. With indie games in particular, I find that I'm pretty ignorant of what's out there, and I appreciate the ads I've seen, and the reviews on sites like PlayThisThing (my new favorite). I think it's more true to say that too many advertisers make the assumption is that it's equally useful to get that information at any time, so they take the shotgun approach to advertising. Which gets to your next point:
Car insurance ads in a movie theater are bothersome. Car insurance ads at a car dealership are informative and helpful. Targeted and appropriate advertising is welcome. Spam is not.
I think this is why Google's ads are so successful, since you only get them when you're searching for something similar. Marketing seems to work best when it's done like fishing: wait unobtrusively until you get a bite (however tenuous), and then gently reel it in. The potential customer needs to pull a little before the advertiser should start to push.
Wow. I post an article about how marketing can be a good thing and that indies need to do more of it, and some spambot appears here in the comments and makes me eat my words.
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