How Virtual Environments can Market Your Business and Product
Every good entrepreneur knows the value of the internet for their business. Information can be placed online as a supplement to diverse off-line merchandise such as mp3 players, facial creams or swiss army knives.
In fact many of these products already come with a company URL on the packaging. Making more money from the same customer in the future requires some future thinking.
Are you only going to rely on the strength of your product? Will it be good enough to compete with other brands which offer the same features and similar or lower pricing? One cannot reasonably assume that the product will be profitable forever.
Here is where the internet comes in. Websites can offer valuable add-ons which can boost your product or service competitive advantage. Webkinz, a toy company from Canada is a good example.
Webinz and Virtual Marketing for Retail Products
Marketed to children from the ages of 6 to 12, Webkinz is toy retailer which sells physical plush toys with built-in virtual gaming environments.
Their toys come with a digital code which allows children to register and create electronic versions of the same soft toy online.
This virtual world allows children to take care of their pets by feeding and playing games with them or other pet owners. To obtain other digital pets, you’ll need to purchase more Webkinz toys in order to get the digital codes.
Children don’t just buy the soft toy and put it on the bed or closet. They interact with the company brand through an online interface which evokes an interest with the company’s other products/services.
While they aren’t as big as Neopets, another virtual pet website, Webkinz’s unique combination of virtual and physical toys is a good example of how websites and online environments can be utilized to extend your product reach.
According to a recent Wired article, other companies like Disney have found it profitable to combine real-world merchandise with virtual environments.
Like Webkinz, Disney’s virtual world is the bait: The profit comes from real-world promotions and merchandising. Tourists engage in quests in Disney’s real theme parks to earn digital exclusives online, and the parks sell some items, including a line of T-shirts, that come with online duplicates for avatars to use.
“We were interested in taking the concept of Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom and extending it online so this kids audience could have contact with Disney theme parks every day, all day long,” said Paul Yanover, executive vice president and general manager of Disney Online.
How to Create Virtual Supplements to Your Offline Business
Here are some quick tips on how to provide an online add-on for your business. These methods aren’t resource-intensive and their main aim is to capture the user’s attention and interest, which first developed when they purchased your product.
- Create a free newsletter. This is one of the most basic methods which work for all industries. Create an online newsletter which offers product updates and free articles/tips on the topic in question (e.g. acne care). The aim here is to get future customers who will be likely to make second purchases.
- Create a blog. This provides a human voice or front to your business and is an exceptional method to pick up search engine traffic. Blogs are also easy to maintain and may increase consumer support for company philosophies.
- Offer a free tool. This is simply a page on your website which offers an online tool related to your product. For example, this could include a calorie calculator, exercise spreadsheet, game or video tutorial.
- Develop a Members Only area. Creating an area only for registered members is a good way to get visitors to regularly visit your website. This denotes exclusivity and develops public curiosity. Good features to include a free email address, ecards, classifieds section, bulletin board, social networks or forum. Allow users to interact with each other and you’ll build yourself a community.
All of these add-ons can also be used even if you don’t deal with offline services or products. The principle here is to develop compact online environments to encourage deeper viral interaction with your site and brand.
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Great analysis as usual, Maki. You never fail to pick the right examples.
While I don’t run an offline business, the ideas illustrated here will be useful for most online endeavors.
I particularly liked the four tips at the end. I have some friends who run retail stores who could really put some of this stuff into practice. It’ll really help to boost their sales.
Thanks for the insightful article.. I’ll share it some the people I know.
Virtual environments (also called worlds) are the hot thing of internet business. So hot that some got burned in rushing in it without the clear idea what should they do there.
About year ago, Second Life became hype. It’s user base multiplied, and lot of companies seen it as an marketing opportunity. New things comes and, once again, nobody wants to miss the initial wave.
And they were actually right. Second Life might be a great thing to promote a business. Problem was, not many of them had an idea what they should do there. So, couple of months ago, we had media turning their attention to Second LIfe, again. This time, they were not so benevalent. Forbes reported that residents of SL are more interested in having virtual sex than to visit corporate islands of virtual world. Well, that is probably true, but who is to blame? http://metaverse.acidzen.org/2.....econd-life
I remember getting LifeSavers candy as a kid and they had some website you could go to and play games and work in the candy factory or something like that.
I don’t know if it’s still around - maybe they were ahead of their time
nice post dosh, i love the social networking idea.
Thanks this is some interestng info I can use this info to gain more profit for the company I work.