Viral Marketing

[Matt Machell]

Several forum posts both here and on RPG.NET have touched on "how to get new people into gaming" and "how to effectively publicise your game". I was considering both of these, and it occured to me that one of the recent internet trends, emailing cool stuff around which is actually an advert AKA viral marketing, could be capitalised on.

After all, things like "all your base are belong to us" are weird, cool and funny, so are many freely available indie games.

So I'm wondering, has anybody here tried something like this with an RPG?

For a more traditional RPG the target audience is limited, but probably likely to be receptive. Some Indie games (quick to understand, non-GM, Narativist/Gamist hybrid offerings for example) would appeal to non RPG players, if only they knew about them.

After all, the code for a "send this page to a friend" button is pretty easy to put together, and yet remarkably absent from many Indie game sites (mine included, better sort that out).

Any thoughts?

Matt

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Matt,

That's definitely a concept to consider, although personal tastes about how to apply it will differ.

Speaking only for myself and what might be good for Adept Press stuff, I think that a site button for someone to email the URL or a cool graphic or something to a friend is a great idea. In contrast, I'll avoid mass-mailings of any kind.

Best,
Ron

[Laurel]

Banner ads and page links are to my personal tastes.  They didn't prove cost effective to the big industries, but the banners at RPGNet for example, do lead to be clicking to sites I would never have visited otherwise.  They haven't led to me making any -direct purchases- yet.  

RPGNet is a site for gamers so ads there aren't going outside the established the gaming community.  I suppose if I was trying to lure newcomers into gaming, I'd advertise on teen sites, alternative lifestyle, video game, anime, Interactive Fiction, MUDs, fan fiction and comic book sites that catered to the kind of people who I think would be interested in RPGs but have either quit or never started playing them.  

I'm anti-mass mailing, anti-pop up window, anti-intrusion on other people's privacy, and I'm also cheap- so I'd personally be picking a list of potential virtual advertising mediums carefully and make sure I was welcomeand even encouraged by the Site Owner, especially when advertising in a forum.

[contracycle]

"Viral Marketing" is a bunch of complete hooey.  What it really says is "people tell each other stuff", which we already knew.  It is much more symptomatic of late industrial capitalisms tendency to construct "major insights" out of sel-evident bits of the world; to ratioanlise the next trenche of investment on some spurious claim about extending margins.  Its hogwash.

[Matt Machell]

What it really says is "people tell each other stuff", which we already knew.  

True, but it's amazing how few people miss the basic fact that: "if you make it easy to do something, people are more likely to do it".

The point is that you design with that factor in mind, rather than just assume that if people like it they'll tell their friends.

Matt

[Jared A. Sorensen]

"Viral Marketing" is a bunch of complete hooey. What it really says is "people tell each other stuff", which we already knew. It is much more symptomatic of late industrial capitalisms tendency to construct "major insights" out of sel-evident bits of the world; to ratioanlise the next trenche of investment on some spurious claim about extending margins. Its hogwash.

It may be hogwash, but there are ways of making it easier for people to "tell each other stuff." Things like mailing lists, message boards, embedded "tell a friend" forms, etc. etc.

[contracycle]

Both of these presuppose that the producer can intelligently intervene in the post-purchase behaviour of the consumer, which I feel is unlikely.  Establishing a mailing list could be a Bad Thing if your product sucks and people say so.  The very principle of consumer action is based on the concept of horizontal, inter-consumer communication which praises or disses a given product; viral marketting is trying to duplicate something which already exists.  My suggestion is that Viral Marketing is more accurately a scam; like a pyramid scheme, its primary function is to justify the fee of the consultant.  After all, by its nature, the effectiveness of viral marketting as a delibrate strategy can never be tested or verified.

[Ron Edwards]

Gareth,

I agree with you entirely regarding the actual term, "viral marketing," which to my mind is no more nor less than saying "advertising" in the first place.

Part of the reason for my position is that I don't think advertising, as generally perceived, affects consumer activity except as mediated through the social, person-to-person process anyway. (People don't buy because they saw the commercial; they buy because they talk about the commercial, or more likely, the product per se.)

So this thread has two topics: the term itself (flush! in my view), and the actual problem at hand - which is a big deal to those of us who sell our games (filthy swine that we are).

I confess to being such an idealist that I have no interest in marketing-methods that sell crappy stuff. That is a whole process in and of itself; however, I am only interested in methods that presume (rightly or wrongly) that the stuff I'm selling is really good, and produced/priced cheaper to boot. Given that, how to disperse the info?

1) Disperse the end-customer use. Don't flood the bandwidth with logos; make users' enjoyment itself public.
2) Reward the use. Maintain direct contact with users, establish a community among them, provide constant feedback, attention, and service. Don't screw anyone.
3) Know the infrastructure. In RPGs, that means distributors, release schedules,
4) Free yourself from said infrastructure, to any reasonable extent. Hence the on-line sales and similar things, which operate well for the infrastructure or for me, as the customer sees fit.

Best,
Ron

[Matt Snyder]

So this thread has two topics: the term itself (flush! in my view), and the actual problem at hand - which is a big deal to those of us who sell our games (filthy swine that we are).

(snip...)

1) Disperse the end-customer use. Don't flood the bandwidth with logos; make users' enjoyment itself public.
2) Reward the use. Maintain direct contact with users, establish a community among them, provide constant feedback, attention, and service. Don't screw anyone.

Ron, you've made some excellent advice here, and these are precisely the tactics big companies use to "spread the word." Everyone has no doubt realized by now that the Forge operates partly as a viral marketing tool not only for Sorceror, but a host of other games, like Wyrd, InSpectres, The Pool, etc.

I guess what I'm saying is that I think poo-pooing the term Viral Marketing as a Dilbert-ish term is a knee-jerk reaction to consumerism. That is, the term is indeed "made up" so marketers can talk to each other easily in a fast-changing world, particularly with the Internet. But, speaking as a guy who works for a big ol' media corporation with marketers galore, the term is useful, even if it describes an seemingly obvious practice.

Think of it this way -- suppose two doctors were comparing notes about a bunch of symptoms two of their patients share. If you're a patient, would you rather they argue about whether Fnord's Syndrome is a silly name, or would you rather they go on and discuss the syndrome in a way that's easy to understand quickly? Of course you choose the later. Marketers are doing the same thing, because -- particularly with the Internet -- business changes so rapidly that they need a lexicon to keep up. Just my observation ...

[Clinton R. Nixon]

I have to vehemently disagree with you both, Ron and Gareth, and slap your hand, Ron, for changing the topic to non-viral marketing. You're normally the one who stops others from getting off-topic.

Viral marketing does exist. I can understand not liking the term - most new, 'hip' terms piss me off as well. Nevertheless, there are way to spread a meme that entices people to purchase or at least examine your product.

One is just to make your product name synonomous with the industry. For example, I'm reading a graphic novel right now called Powers: Roleplay. On the back cover text, I see "A group of college kids who 'role play' their favorite real life super heroes D&D style are being murdered one by one." If you went and asked a co-worker that you know didn't roleplay if he wanted to join your Thursday game, he'd probably reply, "You mean that D&D stuff?" D&D sells the most not because it's better than anything else, but because the name equals roleplaying in most people's minds. (This is much like Coca-Cola. In the South, where I grew up, people don't say 'pop' or 'soda'. All soft drinks are called 'Coke.' I've seriously heard this conversation: "I'd like a Coke." "What type of Coke?" "A 7-Up.")

Another way is to associate your product with something unrelated that does interest people. Mountain Dew is known for having more caffeine than any other mainstream cola product. It's not that much more, but the idea that it gives you more energy is widespread. This isn't from commercials, but through word-of-mouth (although I'd imagine that Mountain Dew helped this in some fashion.) Because of the high energy it's supposed to give you, Mountain Dew's been able to attach itself through commericals to extreme sports like skateboarding, bodysurfing, or snowboarding. It's almost assumed that's what you'll drink if you're a young, punk-rock, skateboarding kid. (It's also what I see people drink when gaming late nights most often, much for the same reason.)

There's about a hundred other examples I could give (use of the word 'indie' to spread popularity, for one), but to bring the conversation to something useful: I find that a lot of viral marketing is almost accidental (or planned really well - well enough to look accidental.) The science of figuring out which cultural memes will spread is wildly inexact. Does anyone else have any insight into this, and how we can use it to spread our games?

(Last, final example, becasue I can't help myself: Jared. Jared doesn't have advertisements. Jared acts like he doesn't even like games, or care if you download his games. But Jared posts like a madman on gaming forums. Jared also displays an attitude that gets people riled up. People visit his site, not just because they might like him or his games, but because he's made them interested just by being there. He's one of the most well-known and well-respected indie game designers out there, and none of his games are longer than 10 pages, and most would only fill 2. I would purport [and I hope Jared doesn't take offense to this] that the idea of Jared is what sells. The attitude, the mohawk, the fatalistic outlook hidden in laughter - this stuff grabs people. The games rock - but that's not why people read them in the first place.)

[Matt Snyder]

I have to vehemently disagree with you both ...

I'm not sure to whom you're refering, Clinton, but I'll reply.

Nevertheless, there are way to spread a meme that entices people to purchase or at least examine your product.

One is just to make your product name synonomous with the industry.  ... (This is much like Coca-Cola. In the South, where I grew up, people don't say 'pop' or 'soda'. All soft drinks are called 'Coke.' I've seriously heard this conversation: "I'd like a Coke." "What type of Coke?" "A 7-Up.")

Clinton, that's not what my co-workers would refer to as viral marketing. That's what they'd call Brand Recognition, the Holy Grail of marketing. At my job, that aim might as well be stamped on everyone's forehead.

Another way is to associate your product with something unrelated that does interest people.

Again, not what I'd call viral marketing. Rather, this is simply marketing! The most fundamental approach. For example, take Trident gum. Does it really help your teeth? No, it's gum! What it does is satisfy your sweet tooth and urge to chew. That it freshens breath or is approved by Dentists is marketing hogwash, and angle to differentiate the product from competitors.

Last, final example, becasue I can't help myself: Jared. Jared doesn't have advertisements. Jared acts like he doesn't even like games, or care if you download his games. But Jared posts like a madman on gaming forums ...

YES! Jared is a good example of viral marketing in action, as people share the good word about his cool games whether he intends that as the result or not. BUT, the "image of Jared," if in fact that's the case, is again just good ol' marketing, not viral marketing. The indie image of a company -- in this case maybe MomentoMori -- may be appealing to consumers (marketing). But, online-savvy gamers aren't talking about his mohawk, they're talking about his games (viral marketing).

I keep saying that or this ISN'T viral marketing, so I'll attempt to define what it IS, based in my professional experience/understanding. Viral marketing is a usually deliberate attempt by a company or entity to encourage people to talk about the company's product. How is that different than good ol' marketing? The key word is "stickyness." The word spreads, much like a virus spreads among people, and the company spends little or no money while their brand recognition and product awareness increases. In fact, they need not even release traditional marketing products -- releases, advertising, promotions & sweepstakes, etc. Instead, they latch on to, say, an email listserv or a discussion group and let Joe Consumer be the best salesman they every had, no commission necessary!

Good ol' marketing, on the other hand, typically engages in various active campaigns to promote product, increase sales, offer up new angles and sales pitches, increase brand awareness.

I'll grant that the boundary here is pretty blurry. Welcome to the world of marketing ... so it goes.

[Laurel]

I found a great website on Viral Marketing that can help everyone get on the same page.  I wasn't, until the last post.  :)

http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viral-principles-clean.htm

[contracycle]

Well, I've just read the 6 principles of Viral marketting, and I have to say I am not much impressed.

What are Soap Operas?  Well clearly they are "viral" marketting according to the 6 principles - something given away free to attract people to your normal advertising, our regularly scheduled commercial interlude.  So much for "the law of giving and selling".

Next we have the "communicability" of the proposed virus.  To say that elegantly phrased concepts are more likely to be communicated to others is once again self-evident.  We have an established model of "idea virii" in the concept of memes - packages of conceptual understanding passed from person to person.  On this basis, the concept of viral marketting is really saying "if people like your product they tell others about it".

In "scales form small to larger" the writer fails to give an example (and I intend to challenge the use of hotmail as an example for previous "laws" anyway).

Exploits common motivations and behaviours.  Well, this one I find more mind-boggling the more I think about it - surely, anything one human does with the express intent of passing it to others as a good idea is NECESSARILY aimed at common motives and behaviours anyway.  If you are producing a product for retail, you are doing so because you think it conforms with other peoples desires and actions; you are only likely to sell frisbees to people who want to play with 'em.  (I'm ignoring the creation of a new product niche here mostly becuase that is not the kind of thing that VM, as an operational concept, is aimed at).  Again, this is a restatement of a self-evident and necessary pre-condition for commodity production at all.

Utilises existing communication networks - my what a radical idea.  Perhaps people would start putting ads in newspapers, according to this "new" principle.  Or, again, more likely it is simply the restatement of the obvious in marketing jargon.  Furthermore, this is essentially the same point as 6, with the only distinction between law 5 and law 6 being the subject.  In law 5 it is the mythical consumer, in law 6 it is other marketers.

So lets look at hotmail, the standard bearer of the Viral Marketing charge.  Was it free, yes.  Did it contain a short and pithy ad-line?  yes.  the rest is a bit fuzzier; it exploited established networks in the form of other peoples email clients (duh) and "common motivations" - the desire to speak to people, yes.  However, lets see it in a different light - here is indeed a free "product" (although it's not really a product at all, but never mind) valued for its utility and carrying its own ad banner.  Much like, say, a kettle with "made by X" on the bottom.  Or, in fact, roughly equivalent to the Artisan identifying their work in the pre-Capitalist economy.  The supposition made by the author of the article is that the hotmail "success" story provides an example of viral marketing in action.  However, I suggest that an equally internally consistent model is that the product was valued for its utility, and thus a bog standard consumerist decision was the operational factor.

However: one product which DOES seem to accord with all the viral marketing principles is viral marketing itself.  A catchy name, given "for free" in terms of lectures and advice and exhortations by self-styled "experts", is consistently transferred to others becuase of the endles Red Queen-like capitalist competition for market share, rides existing channels and resources via existing advertising techniques merely rephrased as viral, and certainly exploits the common motivation to edge out the competition.  Thus, I think, the primary product that viral marketing sells is viral marketing.

[All of which is great news for me, putting my Commie hat on.  The accumulation of capital investment in advertising and "brand value" falls well within the accumulation of constant capital in Department I, which then places profit pressure on the throughput of the rest of the business and produces the observable tendency for the rate of profit to decline.  Brand value may be the holy grail of marketing, but may well also be the death- knell of capitalism.]

[Matt Snyder]

I think you're making a mountain out of molehill, Gareth. I simply disagree that viral marketing is an intelligence-insulting Bad Thing. Further, I really don't see at all how brand recognition will be the fall of capitalism, or even contribute to its exaggerated death. Again, drawing from my professional experience, I work for a corporation whose product brand recognition is likely responsible for better than, say, half its revenue. And when I say half it's revenue, we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars. Brand recognition is not diminishing its profits, but rather significantly contributing to profit more and more each year.

I think we'll likely have to agree to disagree on this issue. So it goes. Regardless, we've strayed far from the path of gaming and promoting games. The question then becomes, how does viral marketing relate to gaming, and is it worth a damn?

I say yes, absolutely it is worth a damn, particularly to independent publishers like Ron, Jared, James West, and ... very soon myself and my fellow partners! Following some of the examples given in the page Laurel provided, I'd suggest the following specific viral marketing tactic for small press publishers:

1) Offer something for free -- That's relatively easy. Create a small download, likely a PDF, and let people check out your good stuff. The product should be useful somehow -- a quickstart game, a valuable resource than they can use -- use is the operative word. Make sure the free product is easily transportable. It should be small enough memory-wise to be attached to an email -- that means less than 1 MB file, typically. This likely means it's also easy for folks to print out. If you don't technically know how to create such a product, ask Forgers for help. I'd be happy to work with anyone to help create PDFs of their work, and I'm sure others might do the same.

2) Try to get the download on many different sites -- the Forge, RPG.net, Gaming Outpost, RPGnow.com, etc. in addition to your own web site. And yes, you should have your own web site if you've got something to offer or sell. Even if you simply post a notice in the many RPG-related forums, make it known that you have a fun, free and useful product for folks. Also, create a blurb for your d-group posts and email sigs that let's people know in one sentence what you're offering and include the link on where to get it. Watch out -- writing such good, concise blurb is not easy. Finally, work with friends and associates you like and respect here on the Forge and elsewhere who are working on other independent products and projects. Get them to share links, even offer links to your free download, and return the favor.

3) While you should include a copyright statement, make it clear that people may print, copy and distribute the freebie as they see fit. Tell them to share with their friends, post on their websites if they want, etc. Also, encourage them to ask their local game store to put it next to the register as a freebie, even.

4) Talk about your game on d-groups and relevant listservs. Encourage feedback and quesitons, and reply to each one. Win people over one person at a time, and you will find you have allies who spread the word, mention your game/product as an example, etc.

5) Be patient, and keep at it. Within a few months of diligent effort, I think you'll find it gets easier and easier as people begin to spread the word and do the work for you. That's the real benefit of the tactic, whether you want to call it viral marketing or not!

Hope that helps!

[Matt Machell]

After all, by its nature, the effectiveness of viral marketting as a delibrate strategy can never be tested or verified.

I thought I'd pick up on this point particularly, as there are ways and means, and it's impact can be tracked. Yeah, Viral Marketing is a naff Buzword, but that doesn't stop the concept from working. People like amazon.com can, and do, track it's effectiveness, that's why "email this to a friend" is on so many pages.

But this is besides the point really, the issue is: how can we make better use of word of mouth/email in promoting our games, whether you use a piece of jargon for it or not


Matt