Just posted in HotLine...

Chip I usually agree with your comments, but this is way off the deep end IMO.

Advertising coerces people to buy products, its always been that way. You can have the greatest products in the world but the people with the big advertising budget will do you out at the cash register every time. It's never been about the best product (think EverReady batteries), it's about the best ad campaign and the most aggresive marketing techniques.

It's just naieve to think that if someone has the talent they are "bound to succeed," the world is full of examples of the exact opposite being the case and SL is no different. At the very least, the "talent" you need to succeed, has nothign to do with art or design, it is a talent for self-promotion or promotion in general.

Ssince I have been here I have seen some people who came here much later, surpass me in sales sucess. Almost all of these people are the ones that had the bucks to make the big stores and do the big advertsing blitzes. They are also the ones that pump out tons of cheap product without reard to quality and shove it on the market, again, with some flashy marketing.

The ones I see that have suceeded the most of all in SL since I arrived, are the ones that latched onto some exsisting "famous" designer or group of designers and ingratiated themselves with that circle of people.

It really is who you know, who you are in bed with, and how much "push" you can give to your products that makes you sucessful. Talent (in terms of designing good products), has little to do with it and I see hordes of talented individuals that are not doing squat in terms of business, simply because all they have is talent.

Talent is not enough.

Let me begin by stating that this thread is absolutely overwhelming. Thank you so much from a man used to having his voice go unheard. (Actually I was wondering if I was going to get suspended for saying what I did...chuckle)


Chip I have always had and continue to have great respect for you but that said I would like to point something out. My post to the hotline was actually outrage that this Linden is in effect saying that if you don't pay alot you don't care enough about your advertising or product.

In my opinion this is very wrong. Many people in this world think something is a law simply because a Linden said it. This statement will cast a pall on products and businesses that is entirely unearned simply because they cannot or willnot spend more than is wise for them to spend on advertising. Regardless what we think about the new Classified system (I personally think it stinks) statements such as this need to be rethought and rewritten.

Wellll... it's a rationalization of their business model.

I'd much rather they did things like this rather than selling content development on eBay.

Besides, we're paying these with L$, so in a way, content developers are supporting the L$. Which makes sense, in a way, as they are the ones profiting by it.

This is true Blaze BUT there are much better ways to say it.

I wonder if it never occurred to Jesse that the price people are willing or able to pay for advertising often depends on the cost of what they're trying to sell. It makes sense to pay L$5000 if you're trying to sell multiple plots of land, or L$3000-a-pop skins. It doesn't make sense to pay that much if you're selling L$50 shirts or a limited amount of items. It simply doesn't warrant the cost because you most likely wouldn't earn it back.

That's a fair point, but I think you're overstating your case to the opposite extreme. The truth is somewhere in the middle. There are plenty of ways to promote yourself and get your name out there other than the classifieds, which are not really necessary for finding success or gaining fans of your work. I don't think that having a classified ad that's not at the top of the list is the harbinger of doom, any more than I think that having an ad at the top is the key to success.

People want immediate gratification. If two weeks after they've made their latest and greatest they haven't achieved fame and fortune it doesn't mean they're a failure, or that the odds are against them. It means they're impatient. I bet if you took a poll of businesses that are seen as very successful now and asked how long it took from the time they started to the time they became successful the average time would be more than a year. I get the impression that some people think they can just stick their thumb out and the gravy train will instantly swing by and pick them up, and when it doesn't happen there must be something wrong... the top businesses are too successful and impossible to compete against (untrue), or the system is stacked against me (untrue), or I've arrived in SL too late to have a chance (untrue), and on and on. These inequities, real or imagined, become a convenient scapegoat.

Heh,

Fair enough back at ya, but... overstating my case is kinda my "thing."
How can I stop now after all these years?
*bangs fists on table*

I am glad to hear that a sucessfull SL presence might take a year or so because that puts me right on track.