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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MThibault" data-source="post: 471505" data-attributes="member: 7971">Back to the question of how to bring more customers to the shop to keep up with the increasing number of products.Off the top of my head, there are a few ways that advertising can be leveraged to do this.  But what are the benefits and drawbacks of each.  I'm just throwing this out for discussion, I'm probably way off base way too often to run with this, but hopefully it can be turned into something useful.1. Differentiation:  If I recall the RPGNow ads in Dragon they were very broad.  "This is our service.  Its easy.  Try it."  That is the impression that I was left with -- there may have been more details, but they didn't stick with me.That's a good message, but it is not very focused.  Emphasizing one or two key selling points will have more of an impact.  Ideally these selling points should differentiate the service from other vendors: Amazon, B&N, and, unfortunately, FLGS.  These are places where people buy RPG materials.  I think that a service-based ad-campaign should really emphasize "why should you buy products here instead of there".  You really need to answer the question, What makes PDF purchasing better than print purchasing?, and answer it clearly and unequivocably.Speed, Convenience, Time Savings, Inexpensive, Unique Products, Cutting-Edge Products, etc.  Pick one or two adjectives, maybe three if two of them are closely related and sell those adjectives in relation to the Site.  I would probably go for the Cutting Edge and Convenience angles so you don't sound like a bargain-basement store.2. Parity: Many people already know the basic drill of purchasing online.  If the potential customer has internet access and a credit card and still isn't checking out RPGNow there must be another reason.  The advertising should make the similarities to book purchasing (through Amazon as well as FLGS) as clear as the differences.I would start with the broad selection (there is a comparable number of d20 products in RPGNow as in my FLGS or on Amazon).  Browsable? Well, to an extent. You can't flip through the product, but many products have previews, samples or web-enhancements available.  Publishers should really take the lead on this one and provide a representative sample, as well as a full table of contents on their web-site.  Ideally, RPG now would host these so that you don't have to leave the site then return to purchase the product if you like it.  I would also emphasize that it is a specialized RPG materials store.  Amazon doesn't have a separate category for RPG books, let alone separate categories for Fantasy d20 vs. Superheroes d20.  RPGNow is laid out for the convenience of Gamers, and only Gamers.3. Flagship products: WotC has an entire marketing strategy built around selling a small handful of flagship products.  But I do think that this is synergistic to a large degree and the flagship products also sell the supplements.RPGNow (and this goes back to the "cutting-edge" angle) sells a few products by big-name publishers before they are in print.  The more people who can be convinced to set up an account to purchase Monte's next book or the next Natural20 book the wider the potential market for everything else in the store.We already see this effect in the large number of referals from ENWorld.  It might be beneficial to enter into a partnership with Malhavoc to share certain advertising costs -- higher profile advertising that neither company would use if left to their own budgets.  This would help out both companies directly int he short term (immediate increased sales of that product) and indirectly in the long term (expanding the customer-pool for subsequent products).  Obviously the numbers have to be crunched, but it would be something that I would be looking into.Additionally, I might even offer limited time reduced fees or advertising subsidies for other established publishers/authors to encourage them to place high-profile products on the site.   In fact, if it can be done without losing the company's focus, reselling advertising might be another revenue stream.  RPGNow purchases in bulk and offers space to publishers at a rate that is lower than what they would normally pay, but higher than a bulk rate.  Again, numbers would need to be crunched and specific advertising contracts examined.So that's my brainstorm for strategies to increase the customer base.  LIke I said, I'm probably wrong in a lot of places so be gentle (and constructive) if at all possible.Cheers.Mike</blockquote>

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