Most relevant news, techniques and tools for authors looking to promote their books inexpensively off and online. We refer to and utilize many of the Guerrilla Marketing techniques and have created some of our own geared specifically to book promotion and marketing. Our website is the ground where we put into practice our marketing efforts. Membership is FREE.
Guerrilla Marketers' Cafe
Free Book Promotion Site
I finally did it. Tried Second Life that is.
After reading all the hype about Sears launching a virtual store in Second Life, as well as all the negative and positive opinions from the business world, I didn't have a choice.
So, is this a real and serious opportunity for marketers, or the next internet bubble?
Read this 1st article in the Second Life series to see what big marketers are doing in Second Life today.
First, the Personal View and Social Dissapointment
Now, I won't use this space to ramble about how I don't understand ..
a) the real-life attitudes and seriousness of people in the game (oops, "virtual world");
b) how people can actually spend money on virtual beer, virtual clothes and virtual sex;
c) and actually worry about their PR image in the virtual world.
As a person, I'm deeply worried about how our world is evolving if people start leading real lives in a virtual environment. Anyway, Darren Barefoot already expressed this sentiment much better with his GetAFirstLife.com parody website.
How About The Marketing Value?
But, as a marketer, I am starting to see a scent of what might become a viable marketing tool in the future.
The first companies in (IBM, Sears, Circuit City, Nike, Toyota, Nissan, Sony and many others) are certainly getting their share of free publicity supporting Second Life with in-world presences. But besides the media attention, can they really expect much more right now?
Besides getting the upper edge by testing new marketing approaches early, I somehow doubt that the 1,037,804 users that logged-in in the last 60 Days will have an impact on their bottom line, altough these people have spent $1,357,490 of real money in the virtual world just in the last 24 hours. But not on buying physical products in the real world through the Second Life interface ...
The economies of scale just aren't here yet to support creating real marketing value yet. And with the difficult-to-use user interface certainly won't be in anytime soon.
What Are Companies Doing in Second Life Right Now?
Regardless of the lack of economies of scale, some companies are pushing hard to make Second Life a real life marketing venue
a) IBM
IBM owns about 24 virtual islands in Second Life, using this virtual land to help companies like Circuit City build their own virtual retail stores, as well as hold IBM's own internal conferences.
b) Sears
Sears launched a "Sears Virtual Home" showroom prototype, where potential customers can browse Sears products, play with product colors and even create a whole garage.
Their eventual plan is to allow users to re-create their living rooms and such and furnish them with Sears products, seeing how they would look in real life. Steve Rubel speculates that the next logical step for Sears is actually allowing customers to order directly from Second Life and have the delivery done in the real world.
c) Nissan
Nissan is giving away virtual models of their cars and allowing the virtual world's users to drive them on a virtual race track.
GM and Toyota on the other hand are selling virtual models of their cars for a few $, of course in the Second Life currency Linden Dollars.
d) Ogilvy
Ogilvy, a full service marketing agency, and many others, are using Second Life to recruit employees --> people with real-life experience in Second Life, to work on client projects for the virtual world.
e) Music artists
A folk singer Suzanne Vega performed live in Second Life, to a virtual audience, with a virtual avatar.
And here's an even better one from myadsl.co.za:
"On February 3, comedian Jimmy Carr will perform a live show simultaneously in real life in London and in the virtual world of Second Life. His onstage movements will be replicated in near real-time through his avatar."
f) CNET
... and other media are conducting interviews within Second Life.
g) Starwood Hotels
The owner of the Westin, Sheraton, and W chains set-up a new hotel in Second Life, prior to doing it in the real-world. Their aim is to observe how people use the hotel, and then try to use that knowledge when building the real thing.
[source: BusinessWeek]
They are actually hoping that the virtual world residents will be able to save them money, by preventing them from making mistakes when building the real thing.
h) American Apparel
This real-life clothes company is selling virtual clothes to the residents of Second Life, for about $1 or less per item. They're hoping this will boost their sales in their real retail stores.
[source: BusinessWeek]
i) Philips Design
Philips wants to get feedback from Second Life users on new innovative projects and involve them in creating new products.
[source: Shaping Thoughts]
j) ABN AMRO
This Dutch financial services company will use Second Life to offer information on financial products, allow their customers to interact with each other and even host virtual seminars for their target audiences.
[source: Shaping Thoughts]
l) Cisco Systems
Cisco is using Second Life for both their customers and their employees, even offering virtual classes to the virtual community. Their goal is to use Second Life as communications tool for their customers, answering their questions and feedback about their various products. Yes, they are paying their tech-support staff to work in the virtual world.
[source: Technology Review]
k) Sun Microsystems
Sun held a press conference within Second Life, followed by the launch of an interactive pavilion where consumers can watch videos of Sun technology.
[source: NetworkWorld]
m) Adidas
Adidas jumped on the bandwagon by doing a store featuring their latest shoe. But, they went beyond just offering the product as a simple virtual item, actually adding features that demonstrate the product to the consumers --> when wearing the shoes, users can jump and even use a test trampoline within the store.
[source: Future Lab]
n) Autodesk
The software maker is building a virtual place to interact with a community of architects, designers, engineers and others. [see their invitation]
o) Vodafone
This European mobile operator started out the same way as most other companies, with an island, offering various information. But now they're planning to expand that with virtual handsets that will enable users to better communicate with eachother in the virtual world, as well as an SMS service.
[source: BusinessWeek]
p) Richard Minsky
Richard Minsky, the real-life founder of Center for Book Arts, is launching a Second Life magazine, to discuss various art issues.
[source: artnet]
To find out more about these various examples, just click on the source links below them.
Certainly, many companies are exploring practically unlimited opportunities within the virtual world, hoping it may pay off some day.
But, Is There a Real Marketing Model NOW?
There certainly is ... for ad agencies and the PR industry.
For marketers, the opportunity right now seems more related to getting free publicity and testing the grounds for the future.
But of course, let's not forget about the real winners of the "game" --> hundreds of virtual entrepreneurs, even a "new world" millionaire, who are making their living running businesses within Second Life.
But this is still a little far from real world marketing ...
In the 2nd article of the series read about the burst of the Second Life bubble and the prospect of 3D virtual worlds replacing the 2D internet.
Additional Sources
Reuters/Second Life
The Reuters news center for latest Second Life business news. Not the virtual news, the real life news.
Valleywag
While most have a positive attitude towards Second Life, this website brings you all the latest negative business related news on the virtual world.
It's Not a Game
A comprehensive CNNMoney.com article on why the tech thought-leaders believe that Second Life is the internet model of the future.
Finding life (or not) in Second Life
An article discussing why Second Life may not be the real thing yet, but that there certainly are implications of an internet future to be found here, especially in terms of online collaboration and communications.
I got my job through Second Life
An article with examples of how companies are recruiting from within Second Life.
Interview with BMW About Their Second Life Plans
A summary would be better, but even the transcript provides some food for thought.
Real cars drive into Second Life
CNN article about automobile companies stepping into this virtual world.
Top IT companies embracing virtual reality
The title about says it all.
Second Life Backlash Continues
All is not well in Second Life for companies. This blog post discusses how some residents voted all the agencies and marketers out.
Second Life Strategies for Companies and Future Uses
A video interview with tips for companies wanting to use Second Life.
Big Media Gets a Second Life
A BusinessWeek article covering the media outlets set-up by real-world media companie in Second Life.
Tune in for more soon.
| How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing? Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers. Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS. |
Guerrilla Marketers' Cafe
Free Book Promotion Site
Guerrilla Marketers' Cafe
Free Book Promotion Site
Could this be the reason the NYTimes is adding social media elements to their online stories?
Seems all eyes are focused on "what's next?" Marian Salzman, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of JWT Worldwide, has weighed in with 70 products, services and trends that will define the new year.
While online activities don't dominate her list, Salzman does have two important ones on there:
A rise in social networking and one she says may surprise us - the impact of citizen journalism.
Time already tipped user-generated content as the one thing that most impacted the news in 2006, Journalism is under pressure because of online news and people like you and me who have found the power of voice.
So while it may be a surprise to some, it won't be unexpected to those who know the impact of blogging. It's one trend that should be on the PR radar. Dealing with journalists is an important part of the job. It may well be an unexpected trend to have to deal with citizen journalists.
Guerrilla Marketers' Cafe
Free Book Promotion Site
Guerrilla Marketers' Cafe
Free Book Promotion Site
According to comScore Media Metrix, MySpace recorded 38.7 billion U.S. page views last month, compared with 38.1 billion for Yahoo Inc.
News Corp.'s MySpace recorded 38.7 billion U.S. page views last month, compared with 38.1 billion for Yahoo Inc., according to comScore Media Metrix. MySpace's growth was 2 percent over October and triple the 12.5 billion recorded in November 2005.
The numbers underscore the rapid rise of the social networking site that encourages visitors to stay and make friends through free tools for messaging, sharing photos and creating personal pages known as profiles, said FoxNews.
The PR utility of social media remains unclear, but it's certainly now safe to say that the industry should reinforce efforts to exploit the medium, said Bulldog Reporter.
I'd think twice about that one. Exploiting social media doesn't work that well - ask Sony and Wal-Mart.
Learn to genuinely become a part of the conversation. Be open and authentic and you can get your messaging across without exploiting the medium or the audience.
Seems the iPod was one of the most popular holiday gifts this year. iTunes was been overwhelmed by the rush to download items from their site.
Auto manufacturers have seen the light - BMW recently rolled out a built-in iPod dock in many of its vehicles, and various other brands like GM and Ford are being equipped to suit the needs of the Apple generation, USA Today reports.
If you're not podcasting, it should be on your list of to-dos for 2007. We're no longer tied to our computers - we can get our info where and when we want it - on portable devices like PDA's, cell phones and iPods.
"Beware the marketer who doesn't remember this and doesn't format blog posts, etc. to be read on a cell phone or Treo!" says Debbie Weil in a look forward to 2007 from Society for New Communication Research members. "If you're not including podcasts, embedded video and cool images with your blog, then you're soooo 2005."
Guerrilla Marketers' Cafe
Free Book Promotion Site
Guerrilla Marketers' Cafe
Free Book Promotion Site
Pheedo, SilverPop and SimpleFeed co-sponsored the third RSS Roundtable Dinner in San Francisco Oct 17 in conjunction with the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Annual Conference.
Yes, this was still back in 2006. But the lessons learned still remain, and since I'm doing house-cleaning after 6 months of inactivity, why not start with this.
One thing was made painfully clear at the roundtable, speaking with the attendees --> everyone wants to do RSS marketing, they just still don't see how to make it work as a marketing vehicle.
The answer is clear: it's just marketing.
Many of those using RSS today have forgoten or choose to ignore the years of lessons and experience from the direct marketing world. But in the end, it's just marketing.
Problem #1: Capture Subscribers
No one is subscribing to your feed?
Well, what incentive are you giving them to do so?
"Here's my feed, please subscribe" just won't work. It doesn't work with e-mail, it won't work with RSS.
Information overload is worse than ever. And as lead generation marketers have learned long ago, cutting through the clutter with your free subscription offer demands a bribe. As simple as that.
The Solution
Migrate from saying "Here's my feed, please subscribe" to giving additional value to those that reward you with their subscription --> whitepapers, additional content access, discounts, free video, free webinar access, free consulting, etc.
Problem #2: Customize, Personalize & Target
Most e-mail marketers have learned long ago that their response rates and consequently sales increase when they precisely target the right offer to the right person.
It's database marketing 101. Pure & simple.
And RSS and the good companies behind it support it.
If mass communications & content delivery don't work for e-mail, why do you think they will for RSS?
The Solution
Capture additional data from your RSS subscribers and track their behavior. Then get the right content and promotions to the right person.
The Ultimate Solution
RSS is just another marketing channel. Don't ignore the decades of marketing expertise just because it's a new channel. The same success principles apply.
| How Can RSS Power Your Internet Marketing and Publishing? Find out more in the most comprehensive and best guide on RSS for marketers, as acclaimed by leading RSS experts, developers, marketers and publishers. Click here and get the step-by-step guide to taking full marketing advantage of RSS. |
Guerrilla Marketers' Cafe
Free Book Promotion Site
Guerrilla Marketers' Cafe
Free Book Promotion Site
Guerrilla Marketers' Cafe
Free Book Promotion Site
Guerrilla Marketers' Cafe
Free Book Promotion Site
