Are freebies hurting SL content creators?

Rethink of this post (on my part) ...

When I came to Second Life, like many, I grabbed every freebie I could find. Once funds became available, I came to realize that freebies were free for a reason. I don't think I have scored a free item in quite a while.

This post got me looking at free items once again. The increase in quality is shocking.

The Market ... well, it is great for consumers, and they are part of the market.

Content Creators ... well, I guess it will hurt you, unless you keep increasing your quality above what it offered for free, or close to free. An example, I went to a shoe store that used to be packed when I came to Second Life. Nobody was there ... and there was not a single item in the store that I had never seen before. My guess is that those two thing are related.

1 user agreed

Just a little inside joke.

Late to this thread, but I'll put what I put elsewhere: I always thought people getting upset over freebies just don't understand the way the human mind works.

If it is free, people devalue it! Period. Even if no one else had it, and the fact is, EVERYONE else has freebies!

Plus, no one who stays in SL any length of time depends on freebies alone. So the only "sales" anybody is losing are really mostly just sales that never would have been made, to those who don't stay here very long anyway.

I'm sure there are exceptions to that, but I myself went six months without buying a thing, in order to save my Lindens when I first arrived in SL, and I can tell you that was WAY beyond the expiration date for being happy with freebies only.

Then, too, the person who stays in SL and finally decides to part with some money may well wish to return to the place that provided his/her favorite freebie.

coco

P.S. IF they would give basic players $50 a week like they used to, more people would stay in SL *and* more would buy things.

Removing that stipend, I am still convinced, is the single biggest mistake LL ever made.

The problem is that the new marketing uses of freebies - limited-time freebies, hard-to-find freebies, "hunt" freebies, etc - have removed this control. A limited-time freebie by definition has exclusivity, removing that value from paid items.

Cmon
New Avies need Freebies, that is one of the first stops. New skin, clothes whatever, it is practically SL initiation! lol

If you want to slap someone's hand for misuse of freebies look to the stores that sell freebies for 10L or more. I have gone into so many stores such as scripting stores only to find broken up freebie box items being sold for 70L or more. I don't take issue with those who sell the boxes for 1L maybe 2 if they are meaty or difficult to find overall. In that respect I am paying the person for doing the hunting for me.

Recently I had taken a few months off and those who have been in SL for sometime know how SL time seems to be 1 day SL= 2 weeks RL lol. When I returned I fell for several stores regurgitating freebies as their own, selling outfits for 300L or more. Maybe you think "more power to em, it is the nature of the beast" I don't feel that way, I would rather blacklist them and the selling plazas they are in.

To the posters who think some of us (or maybe that was directed just to me)...should "worry about our own business".....

Business owners should work together....support each other....share concepts and ideas and plans on what does work and does not work. We were not "complaining"....we were having a pretty good discussion....pardon me for getting sidetracked with "value"....thought it applied.

The way we run our business and the policies we put into place has an effect on each others' businesses.....it also has an effect on someone's overall shopping experiences.

There's a mix of shoppers and business owners in this thread....of course there is going to be entirely different points and opinions....you're discussing a topic from two entirely different angles.

One of the things that hit me after reading this thread....is that creators might think that they "have" to give away freebies to pull in traffic and to compete and survive....or that they "have" to undervalue their product. No. You don't have to. There are a number of other ways to pull in traffic and keep business.

When I used to shop more....I had a list of a dozen stores that continually offered great product and great service....those businesses are at the top of my list as good role models and examples of how to run a good business in SL. I don't ever remember them tossing out freebies. I'm sure there are a dozen different reasons why....I simply took note that they didn't. It must mean something.

Those businesses are successful. Not offering freebies obviously did not hurt their business OR their customer relationships.

The people who do shop at those stores must be shopping there for reasons that have nothing to do with continually being tossed a freebie. Most of us know what those reasons are...just good business practices....common sense....good product....good service. We use those....and we won't have to continually toss out "bribes" to get people into our stores. Give them other reasons to show up.

I think free gifts (freebies) help businesses and SL. Because when you’re new (I am still fairly new) to SL you don’t want to spend any RL money on it until at least you know your going to enjoy the game and want to continue playing it. While learning the ropes of SL I think freebies play a big part in helping newbie’s learn and get a good feel of the game. Without freebies I think the new player would get bored fast resulting in not coming back to play SL. Less players = less sales. I think for the most part once a newbie decides they like the game that one of the first things they want to do is improve the look of their AV. This is when they start looking to find places where they can buy better stuff.

At least that is what my experience was when I first started SL in Sept 08 it took me about a month of using freebies before I decided that I liked this game enough that I would be willing to put some RL money into.

A few years back I tried another online game and since I did not want to put money into a game I was not sure I liked yet, the fact that everything I wanted to try required me to use RL money, made it frustrating and much harder to get the full feel of how the game worked. Well it took less then an hour for me to lose interest in that game. (I don’t remember the name of the game.)

SL got my interest because as a newbie it was great to have all those freebies to try out and play with which also helped me to get the feel of the game and get hooked. Once hooked the first thing I wanted was to improve my AV during this task I spent close to $100 RL money shopping at places that I found vie using my freebie creator profiles.

But when did these businesses develop? The situation in world today is much different than the situation a few years ago. There is a ton of competition. How can you show potential customers that you have a good product or that you have great customer service if you can't find a way to get them into your store in the first place, as opposed to the other 500 stores that come up in search? Some of these shops that are still successful now are successful in part because they are so well known...because they had already established a customer base and made a name for themselves in a time when there was not as much competition. Now, many of them can sit back and relax a bit, because they do have a solid customer base.

The thing about a free market is that things change over time. If you are new now, you need to attract attention or fade away among a sea of new.

So, for myself I think I have two options. I can make what I like to the best of my ability, charge whatever anyone else is charging, try to make do with the meager marketing tools available to me, and quietly and politely fail. OR I can make what I like to the best of my ability, and COMPETE for the available market. I choose to compete.

Edit: sorry hit submit before I was done (I hate when that happens)

Mickey said "There are a number of other ways to pull in traffic and keep business." I create (I think) a good product and learn more every day. I provide excellent customer service (they always leave smiling thus far). I run a classified, I put keywords into all my prims. I use shopper groups to get the word out. I post in new products both here and in XSSL new products forums. I run homepage enhancements on XSSL. I maintain a few satellites in places where they are likely to be seen. I participate in fund raisers, fashion shows, etc., whenever I am asked. All of those things together do not generate the interest that a few freebies do. Is there some easy marketing tool I am missing?

Correct. If you know what you're doing and you have decent marketing skills and can provide both good content and customer service than that's half the battle. You don't neccesarily have to rely on a sole marketing strategy based around handing out "Freebies" to be successful. As you highlighted there are many businesses that have become successful without "freebiezing the grid"

My whole point is that too many are "playing business" and lack any marketing skills. I can't tell you the number of different advertising & marketing techniques i've tried in order to raise awareness as well as traffic....even today i tried a new gimmick and decided it would not add any value or increase overall sales so ditched it.....in fact most of my brainwaves or gadgets i eventually ditch......but i'm constantly looking for new techniques, trying to search for the most effective schemes without bombing the grid with more "Freebies". RL marketing does not equal SL marketing, that i've learnt pretty quickly.

As it stand "Freebies" really only effect some primary business sectors and does not effect all.

What if a quality builder like Barnesworth Anubis decided that he would make all his Shop builds free for a month.....and say that 5000 were picked up during that period of time. It would not be unreasonal to assume that a significant % of those 5000 folk would never spend a single Linden on shop build for the remainder of their SL lives. Why would they? ....they recieve a quality shop build for free which meets their individual requirements and saved a couple thousand Lindens in the process.

That would translate x % of potential "future"sales forever lost in the Shop building sector from that act alone. Now several hundreds maybe even 1000's of creators handing out "quality" freebies has to impact the market long term......some sectors more than others. "Quality" being the operative word......i'm not talking about Freebie havens like The Dove or Yadnis which have been around for donkeys years, not the BIAB full perm resellers with their low quality junk.......i'm talking about "Quality" freebies.

Having a sustained, successful business usually requires two things:

1) Bringing in new customers, and;
2) Giving the customers who come in something so great they will come back or recommend you.

You can have the greatest product in the world, but not sell a single item because no one knows you are selling the greatest product in the world.

And, you can have the greatest marketing campaign in the world, but if you don't have something good to offer when people actually come in, it's all for naught.

It just isn't true that if you build it, they will come. They have to know about it to come. Just having a great product isn't enough.

Offering freebies is one way to deal with the getting people to come. Even if people just come for the freebies and do no shopping, the store's traffic is increased, a key to those search engines which are really the dominant means of advertisement in Second Life.

But then, there are some people who will be conservative at first, but then later decide they like SL well enough to spend money. That high-quality freebie in someone's inventory is probably the best possible advertisement for a store- more meaningful than a mere landmark, receiving priority over a search for unfamiliar stores.

Offering freebies is not the only marketing strategy possible. Sure merchants can build successful businesses without offering freebies. But they have to be doing something as far as marketing goes to build that customer base.

I remember a couple years ago watching a new business open, which I found because I was hopping lucky chairs. The lucky chair prizes were so incredibly good that it drew heavy traffic to the store (with the help of chatter on freebie Groups, I'm sure) and catapulted it to the top of search rankings. The search rankings drew in people willing to spend. Once people got to the store, they found extremely high-quality products for sale. And when I moved past living on freebies to spending money, it was one of the first stores I went back to. That store has not changed the lucky chair prizes in a few years, so the lucky chairs seem to bring less traffic, but now the store has such an established customer base that it doesn't need the traffic that the lucky chairs generated anymore.

Plus, I'm pretty guarded with my spending in SL. Having a freebie as a preview of the quality of items in a store helps me feel better about risking my money buying something.

I doubt it is the case that people who might be willing to spend decide that they do not have to just because high quality freebies are available. Freebies may be great if there is no alternative to them; but you may not be able to find exactly what you want in a freebie, or find something unique, and thus you pay. My guess is that a lot of the people who live on freebies would not purchase items if no freebies were available; they would just stick with their n00b stuff or leave SL to find another free diversion. Thus, I doubt that providing freebies actually hurts one sales, or least hurts them just minimally.

Not true at all!
A couple of my business units made more sales in Spring 2007 befrore the gambling ban with just 15-18k logins then do now in May 2009 with 80k logins. That is also true for several fashion houses I've spoken to recently.

The difference was "consumer mentality"....people generally spent money to play pure and simple. Sure there were several "Freebie" outlets which we all visited in our Noob days...but the quality of "Freebies" would never stack up with the real content being sold.
There wasn't that expectancy that products should be made free as you get now. Some would have the entire SL economy dismantle and make everything free with the exception of Land. (although that's debatable too!)

On these forums, i'm sure nearly everyone that replied to this thread are normal consumers who spend and purchase products actively on SL. This forum is not representative of what really happens in SL.....i would say a good percentage of the users online now are pure freebie hunters ....they join groups to recieve Designer freebies, take part in Hunts, join Groups that find freebies 24/7, take part in sploders events.....and doubt they spend any RL money at all. This type of consumer doesn't add any real value to the SL economy imo.....sure a few might flip over and become more comitted to SL and decided to spend some RL cash, but the majority don't. Look at Second Life's retention rate.....what is it? ....a few percent?

The thing is that some of the 'design houses' (for lack of a better term) who are making the most noise are ones that have not changed their pricing to conform to changes in the marketplace.

It is simply Economics 101 here, as supply increases, demand decreases, and prices fall.

Change happens, be proactive. Don't be blinded to the forest by staring at the trees.

Not sure thats true...maybe some yes. When i first arrived in SL creators like Noona Hedges were selling their dresses for around 1000-1500 L ......a year later she dropped all her products down to 500 L including her wedding dresses. Not sure what she charges now. In order to survive you can't rely on reputation alone......those that do, will sink and several have!

Hi, Ralektra

I'm confused by this:



You mean all the prims that you use in making your clothing/items, or keywords in ads, classifieds, XStreet, etc.? I never thought about putting keywords in prims.

To continue with your post: I have a freebie silver dress I got at your store and a freebie sweater I picked up at Amar's. I have had people commenting on them each time I wear them and asking where I got them. Others on this thread disagree, but I still think this is great advertising as it makes people aware of a great store they may never have known existed prior.

Unlinking my store and putting keywords into the descriptions on each prim. Someday I might finish that job lol.

I remember that silver dress when I was trying to put together something for the SHINE thing, that was one that wasn't quite right for it

You could just use you product BUY prims for that, unless you're using a Vendor systems that contains numerous products

Is there a limit to how many I can use, or how many work? I am also going through doing it to my product prims as well.

I hear this in RL every day.....I work in a RL market that is dominated by old timers....it's very hard to break in. I heard the same thing when I started....you'll never make it....there is no way you can compete against the ones that are already established.

Wrong. They were using the same marketing tools they had been using for 20 years, or they weren't using any at all and riding a wave. Not to mention, they became lazy. Things change.

I run the SL business for profit to pay some RL bills.....it's a job....effort is required....so if you're doing it for pure fun...or "playing" business...no....you're probably not going to make a profit. Nothing wrong with that. Ralektra you say you want to "compete." You have great products/design skills....so you have that part covered.....you're more than halfway there.

There is something new you can try every day. There is always something that someone has not tried....or you simply use an old tool "better." Some things will be bizarre. But they will work. To compete with someone who is already in place....all you have to do is work a little harder and be a little more creative. That's all.

Google Guerilla Marketing. Look up Jeffrey Gitomer....read through some of his stuff. All those "concepts" apply to any market...you just tweak them to the market you're in....SL included.

I can't speak for those businesses that have been here forever....but I doubt seriously that they are just kicking back and enjoying the ride right now....look at all the issues coming up that they have to deal with.....they also have to keep up with the same increased competition that we do. Some of them are about to get booted to a new continent and will have a whole new market to get a grip on....possibly half the size they are used to.

If they ARE kicking back....now is a perfect time to move in....with all the changes coming up. Most people do not like to change. Guaranteed.

In answer to your last question....there are probably 500 marketing tools that we are missing.

You can tick as many as you want for Search, but setting 100's of prims for search might do you more damage than good in the ranking lists.

why?

Your response to Less players = less sales. (I haven't figured out how to double quote yet)

I think there are still only 15 to 18k online ....but that's a topic for another thread.

I pretend there are 10,000 online and awake. 3000 shopping. 1000 shopping in my market. I look at the map....3 people are in the store....there are 997 more people online to hit right this minute. There will be a different 1000 online to hit in 5 hours. A different 1000 in 24 hours. All I have to do is get 5 of those a day....then shoot for 10 a day the next week....20 a day the next week.....and still have not even touched the potential. It's there.

I believe there are just as many large well known designers giving out freebies on a regular basis...so to say that most are not is really not accurate. I think of Bewitched, House of Heart, Lemania...some of those change the freebie DAILY and it is blogged and gets them a TON of traffic.

to me the point is to do what works...if what you are doing is working...great. if not, try something different. freebies done well are a boon....just as are some other methods.

the prob with evaulating people's concerns is we dont know if they good products, poor products, good info, any marketing etc. there are sooo many variables that i truly dont see freebies as a threat to anyone.

also, all the people i hang out with buy things. i dont know anyone older than about a week who doesnt. so this legion of people who survive solely on freebies im guessing are newer folks. the many that i know on my sims, in my groups etc....spend ALOT of money in sl. and most cant be bothered to spend the time hunting down freebies.

Can you explain?

I don't mean to derail the thread but I would love to have more info about this

I know the owners of Bewitched and they don't get tons of traffic at all...if you map the Bewitched Sim you'll see that yourself. If i were a betting man....i'd say they might be calling it a day.

Well i guess it depends what circles you run in......i beg to differ and will say that most new users don't spend more than the money they recieve from camping, sploders, traffic cones etc. This doesn't help the growth of economy at all......it's just recycled money that is effectively being transferred from larger shops those that can afford to pay for traffic to smaller shops who can't.....via those type of consumers who might spend in those smaller shops.

Growth only comes from fresh money supply i.e the use of Lindex (or alternatives) to purchase actual Lindens. Take a look at these stats.(a couple months old)






A staggering 86% don't have payment on file with SL....sure a small percentage of those can get Lindens using other means like 3rd party Exchanges (e.g eldex,Anshe Chung). Also out of that 86% will be BOT a/c's and also many ALT a/c's too
Still one cannot hide that less than 10% of 4 million registered users have payment on file......that is the ECONOMY, the fresh money supply! Everything else is just recyled money supply