Marketing Strategies

[Soulstress]

Hey!

I was wondering... How do Classified Ads work? Are they worth it? My bosses shop mainly sells Ocean items. Ocean Waves, Kayak, Surfboards, Marine Animals and so forth. We are looking for a way to make more people come to the store. From what we understand from classified ads you pay money to run an Ad and the more you pay the higher it is in the ranking.

Second how does the Search Function work? Is there a way to make it so people can "Search" for our Group/Land and Teleport there?

Do you guys have your stuff listed on secondlife.com/destinations ? Is it difficult to get the land listed there? Is it worth it?

What kind of incentives can we give to get customer feedback? Like giving them small amounts of $L for filling out a survey or maybe a promo or Coupon for an item in the store?

We are also trying to hold a surf contest event. What are some good ways to promote it? So far no one has signed up...

Lastly, I use Phoenix Viewer and when I open it they display "What's Hot" "Destinations" and "Events" how do we go about having our stuff listed here?

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

Sincerely,

Ocean Engineering Staff

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Panthalassa/146/123/44

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/31943

[Chelsea Malibu]

Wow, what you are asking here is just short of writing a thesis to answer.  You have some very broad questions that can be pretty much defined as "How Do You Market In Second Life"

I would suggest perhaps doing a search on Marketing or specific questions first. You can also look at http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/How-to-market-your-products/ta-p/700181 to get some high level overviews on marketing in SL.  Most of your questions have been asked her in part and many times over.  You should go through those and get some basis for marketing in SL first.

"How does search function" has dozens if not hundred of threads on that alone.

From there, if you any specific questions, you can come back and ask away but at present, this is a very broad post.

The answers to all of your questions are both yes and no.  It depends on many elements and more over your product set as well as how you gage success.

 

[Paula001 Goldschein]

i picked one question:

to get into destination guide is easy.

good luck!

 

[Polenth Yue]

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Paula001 Goldschein wrote:

i picked one question:

to get into destination guide is easy.

good luck!

 

---

I submitted some time back, and no one with a Linden name has visited the land and there's been no other response. So it might technically be relatively easy, but it seems to be really, really slow.

[Paula001 Goldschein]

have you checked the destination guide for your venue?

i remember when applying myself, i have heard nothing either.

also had a visitor tracker up back then and no lindens have visited. a few days later i was wondering why there were so many noobies around all the sudden and then it dawned on me and yep, there it was! in the destination guide, totally neat!

 

[Rene Erlanger]

I would say getting into Destination Guide would now yield the best results in terms of In-world traffic....when compared to the Search Engine or Classified Adverts. A decent customer group and or one covering that market (e.g Fashion Consolidated for fashion.) is also very effective.

it's a sad state of affairs when the most effective In-world marketing tool is in the hand of the Game Gods....and they decide who makes it into their exclusive listings.

 

[Amethyst Jetaime]

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Polenth Yue wrote:

I submitted some time back, and no one with a Linden name has visited the land ....

---

Actually Lindens can (and frequently do) go around the grid and visit places without anyone or anything detecting them unless they choose to reveal themselves. It makes sense to do this when they are inspecting a place for inclusion in the destination guide.

 

[Sassy Dirval]

 How do Classified Ads work? Are they worth it? 

Classifieds can be pricey for the number of visitors they generate.  Events are the way to go if you are willing create an event that is enticing enough to draw a visitor (see events reply below).

 

Second how does the Search Function work? Is there a way to make it so people can "Search" for our Group/Land and Teleport there?

When it comes to the search, think in terms of SEO (search engine optimization) for your parcel/land.  The search catalogs more than the parcel description and includes items on the land.  Most builders ignore naming all objects while building.  Be sure to name those "objects" with keywords to help improve your search rankings.  I'll take the time here to plug a very useful product made by a frequent voice on the forums, Darrius Gothly:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/SEO-Research-Analysis-Package-SRAP-HUD-Tools-to-Optimize-Your-Rank-in-Search/1271231

He could answer more specifics about improving your search results better than anyone here.

 

Do you guys have your stuff listed on secondlife.com/destinations ?

Already addressed by replies, just keep at it and focus on making sure your destination has something special to set it above the rest.  Keep in mind, every merchant has a "destination" in SL and the guide should address those that are a cut above and represent the best of the best on the grid.

 

What kind of incentives can we give to get customer feedback? Like giving them small amounts of $L for filling out a survey or maybe a promo or Coupon for an item in the store?

We are also trying to hold a surf contest event. What are some good ways to promote it? So far no one has signed up...

 

Promotions can be very successful in SL as long as you can promote them well through events, blogs and groups.  As a beach oriented sim, I'm sure you have a plethora of options; from surf contests (be sure to offer a freebie starter board), bikini contests, and even retro beach parties like the old "bikini beach" movies.  Just be creative and promote it.  I address most of these topics in my SL marketing blog at:

http://secondmarketing.wordpress.com/

 

Lastly, I use Phoenix Viewer and when I open it they display "What's Hot" "Destinations" and "Events" how do we go about having our stuff listed here?

All part of the SL listings discussed, just another area it is displayed. As for viewers, I think it's important for all merchants to use and understand how each viewer displays those items to use them to their fullest.  While the SL viewer main screen does a fantastic job at branding these promotions, the 3rd party viewers tuck them neatly away and they loose impact.   Be sure to use them all and understand the differences.

 

 

Hope this helps.