How do you promote your stuff?

Having spent the last few weeks developing some new items (and it's been a while for me....I sort of gave up creating & selling in SL because it just seemed so tedius)....I'm now looking for creative ways to develope recognition.

Just wondering what you guys have done as special promos.....give aways....contests.....what seems to work.....what seems to be futile.....that sort of thing.

I'm thinking photo contest because it's something I've always enjoyed and I'll even go so far as to hunt them out in search. But aside from the obvious smattering of ads all over the grid.....what do you do?

Well utilising the forum here in new products and similar areas at XStreet (if you have an XStreet account) and SLUniverse.

Hunts do seem to be all the rage, there's a Gold nugget thing I saw a link to the other day but can't remember the name of, that people were citing as successful, I haven't tried it myself (otherwise I'd remember the link).

Someone near me recently employed a free to play sploder, which annoyed me because it brought the sim to its knees due to filling it for an hour or so but it obviously attracted a lot of people, I wouldn't reccomend that as I wanted to stick Ceera Murakami's pitchfork a place where the sun doesn't shine on this business owner.

The best advertising I have found is a Homepage listing on XStreet. This seems to be especially true for new products. Just make sure you have a SLURL to your shop in the ad somewhere (XStreet has a field for it now.) Many people prefer to buy in-world even if it is the same picture on a vendor. With my poses, it is highly advantageous for them to be able to see themselves in the actual pose. With my sculptees, people want to see what they look like in-world.

I promote my stuff purely on merit, with salary commensurate with responsibility.

I "promote my stuff" by wearing tight jeans.
Oh this question was meant for content creators?
My bad.

I'm embarrassed to say that I was off the grid for about 72 hours from Monday to Wednesday, and my estate did better without me.

I'ma go sniffle in the corner now and reflect on what that means.

Then have a drink.

An expensive drink.

grin

It only means that you have hired good people

I promote my stuff by publishing a Promotion Order, and holding a ceremony in which the Stuff's new rank is pinned on by its spouse.

Along with all the usual adverts and events a great way to get the word out about a new product is to hand one to all your friends and everyone you see.

Get people wearing/driving/sitting on/living in whatever it is you make. This has a viral effect and has helped some of my things get off the ground.

Well....I spose that'd do it. LOL


Thanks for the tips gang. I am set up on xstreet and I do run ads in the forum classifieds. I was curious about other tricks of the trade. I don't yet have an in-world shop.....my island was designed souly for the purpose of doing the gallery and since it's a homestead I'm bit wary of setting up a small shop there. Of course, that's assuming it would attract droves of customers I definitely wouldn't add anything like a sploder.....I want to preserve the over-all integrity and feel of the island.

The other issue, of course, is the adult content irritation. I could easily put the more revealing images on xstreet and use only head shots for items in-world. It's something I can change easily enough when the dreaded time comes.

the "advice on sales" thread has a ton of ideas on how to promote your biz...its long, but if you scan through its worth it.

i was thinking the same thing but might has well go a head n tell * unzip* and they come a runing,,, sorry no guys lol

If your products are clothing a fashion show always boosts sales. Do a model call (offer them free clothes and some Lindens), get yourself a fashion show coordinator (pay her $1,500L per show she puts together). Rez a simple runway in your store or rent a runway and promote. Have your clothes available for sale around the runway. This is a great boost for sales and a very inexpensive marketing campaign.

.

currently i utlise a LOT of different methods to have my stuff seen

-everything i sell is on Xstreet
-use the new products sections of Xstreet and here
- hunts
-in world grooups (fashcon)
-in world freebie groups (fabfree, freestyle)
-picks (and offering those who add me a chance to win a fat pack from my store)
blogs (fashionworld of sl)
-handing out things to random people
-fashion bloggers
-optimisiing my parcel for search
-events listing in world (for sales etc)
-offering prizes for club events (and having info about my store there)
-cross marketing with other peoples stores (they have a lm to my store at their shop i have one at mine)
-having a non group mailiing list (this is good cos people join them more readily)
-signature here
-satelite stores


oh god there are loads more. thsi is just what i could think of right now

All of that is good

Plus another new idea-- people may like to join the Designer Showcase Network. This is a subscription service allowing you to send and receive daily promotional samples. It's an alternative to the traditional designers groups which tend to saturate people with group notices.

A linky..
http://cleverthings.info/dsn/lang/en/

looks interesting but the only downfall as a creator is that it only sends your showcase item to each member once and only once (not much use for showing off new items and such)

I plan to check it out though

I agree that that is a downfall, and don't plan on using it to replace the usual channels for promoting releases. The sample you send can be updated as your skills improve, but you do only get one crack at each person.

Least it's not as labour intensive as keeping up with all the groups.

The best way to promote your store is to make a small sign and attach it to your crotch facing towards the ground. It has to be small enough to fit inside your system skirt. Then wear a short system skirt. I guarantee you will get at least a 1000 views just walking around. As a bonus you can make it hand out landmarks if clicked.

/me snorts

Excellent idea Bree, but my clientelle is female. None of them look. No males do, either. So I'm basically stuffed.

yeah sometimes sending to all the groups can become more labor intensive than the actual creation process LOL

Well I decided this time around, I am not gonna overwhelm myself, and just send out the notices when I can, post new product info on here when I can, get it on xssl when I can.

I also put out the midnight madness again, I figure this time around, I will use it as a way to get out samples to folks, in a fun way. Just need to find a way to announce it without being spammy in groups (maybe there are mm groups out there, will have to check.

rofl that is priceless

I would try that but I highly doubt any women are looking under my skirt LOL