Practical Marketing: who engages whom?

Marketing in virtual worlds has had a pretty spotty start. Granted, it is in its infancy, but already you have marketing teams turning away from virtual worlds or strongly urging you not to get involved.

Its boring! There's no engagement! There's no return on investment! They'll never amount to anything! Remember those phrases? That's what your last marketing team was saying about the Web about 12 years ago. Odd that, isn't it? What's really wrong here?

Well, virtual worlds aren't instant-win for starters.

Your marketing team went in expecting high-profile and low-effort, and frankly, they just didn't do their jobs. Virtual worlds are plenty busy enough, certainly. They're full of people who are doing things that they find far more interesting than the half-hearted effort devised by your marketing team. Its possible that the target demographic doesn't exist in large numbers in the world you chose to market in (basic research failure).

Maybe your team gave up on the first pass. Perhaps they actually had a second attempt, and actually attempted to interest the target demographic. In the main, they probably didn't succeed. Its almost like they don't understand the target demographic, isn't it?

Well, probably they don't.

Today we've got the new media (or more correctly the new, new media which will eventually become the old, new media, and finally just the old media). In the new media your target demographic controls the conversation. Virtual world marketing is many things, and one large part is conversational marketing.

If you try to control the conversation, you lose. You lose the respect of your target demographic, because you're showing that you don't respect them. Virtual worlds marketing is not about pushing your message. You need to be the message, and be available.

Walk into the store of a brand whose message is "efficiency and care"; If the store or staff are sloppy and careless you walk right back out the door. Then you tell your friends. And twitter. And pownce. Maybe you'll blog it. Word gets around.

Walk into the store of a brand, regardless of the message and if everyone's too busy to serve you or answer your questions, again you're out the door, and once again word gets around.

You understand this, and you work hard to align your stores and outlets and web-sites with your message. You work to make sure the availability goes beyond the location of the store, and extends to the way it operates.

This is all old-hat, old-tech and old-media. We know how to do this. We've been doing it for a very long time. At least, out there.

Then we dive headfirst into virtual worlds, where its all new, and we don't even try.

Your team expected success. They've been succeeding for a long time. Why not now? Because this is new and has to be learned. There's no book to tell you how to get this right. There's no Marketing MBA programs giving out diplomas on this. Your team might not even be clear on what success is and how to measure it.

Your marketers can't be organizers in the new media, as they were in the old. They must be inventors and experimenters.

They (and you!) have to know that some of those experiments will fountain black soot and leave a mark on the ceiling. Prepare!

Your team knows how to approach this - they did it with the Web, and developed new competencies. Now they need to develop another new set.

Your marketing team may need to adjust its skillset. You need smart, articulate people. People who speak English (by which we mean, can speak to the target demographic in their own tongue) - using words like 'franchise', 'strategize', 'monetize' (or, for that matter 'target demographic') at your target demographic is generally unwelcome. It can be thought of as Nature's way of saying "Don't touch."

Your marketers have to make you (your company; your brand) available to others, and they have to adapt. For your part, you have to be the message. The customer is no longer outside, and you're no longer pushing polished media at them. The customer is choosing. It might help if you think of it as the customer engaging you, not the other way around.

That's a healthy way of thinking about things.

If this sounds like your marketing team should be driving the company, think again. This is the very definition of customer focus, where your whole company aligns with its image. Where you be the message and be available; not push the message and keep everyone at a distance. This alignment is a role for everyone, your marketers, engineers, designers, producers, hell-desk, executives - everyone.

Your target demographic should be engaging you, not the other way around.

Practical Marketing is an irregular series on virtual worlds marketing. Previous columns are available here.