Advice on Sales!!

Ama i keep an eye ona lot of fashion blogs to see whether people are blooging me but often the blogger themselve tell me or someone here dos or just random peopel from their store.

there is no easy way.

However you could try a google search with your store name and see wht comes up

I'm more interested to know if people are seeing the recipients of the DSN freebies come to the stores and buy stuff. If it doesn't have that effect, I see no point in the DSN system from a store owner's point of view - all it does is give freebies away without even the need for people to be in the store seeing the products there.

Phil you dont actually hve to put in a free item at all into the network. It is up to you what you choose to add. Gifts are encouraged but certainy not mandatory. Examples of things I have gotten as a participant have been demos of skins and hair. A Bed with no poses in it so you can see the quality of the work without the functionality.

I have also recieved many gifts and those are well recieved by me and i have found new stores and purchased through it. To be honest Im not keeping a close eye on who is gettign agift from the DSN in relation to who buys as it is a little difficult becuase i cant find a way to download the data from the DSN network to my store spreadsheets.

If you dont like the idea of sending a gift maybe you could send an item without poses in it or somethng phil? also make sure to include a notecard with pics and more info about other items in your store (i love the ones that do this, gives me a real chance to browse their store before tping if i like the gift)

Yes but I'm still more interested in knowing if recipients go to the stores. It's no good for sales if they don't. I don't mind the idea of giving freebies as long as it's beneficial to my sales.

Well- I did some awesome great hair i have been wearing now for days- and tell everyone that has asked where it came from- I didn't myself go buy more 'cause it's guys hair and i can only use so much short hair- but it looks super!

I have also gotten some textures- i definitely will be checking that one out-

And some- OMG - ARMPIT hair which i asure you went straight into the trash without even being seen- blech!

Phil I think the answer is yes. If your stuff appeals to eople they do go to the stores. I remember checking the first 24 hours i put it in and i had several sales from those who got the item. My guess is i probably had a higher amount who came to the store and may not have been excited by anything else as my stock is still relatively small.

Heheheh i think you are hoping someone will give you a detailed anaylis of the number of people who got the gift versus how many came into the store and how many purchased. Well if i had a way to get the data off their website easily i would have give you that but since i cant im soooo not going to spend the next 5 hours compiling data haha.

the thing is... even if it works for me and everyone else here in terms of sales, or only works for 1/2 there is no garantee it will work for you. Especially considering the items you sell are very different from everyone else in this thread that is currently using it. honestly why not buy the system (its like $1 US) ad try it out. If it doesnt work for you pick up the box and stop, or change from a gift to a demo...

This is a bit like Rha's question earlier about picking one notice over another to look at and read. There is no pattern to what people will do as each looks at it differently. I do think this system is a better one for advertisement in the sense the person had soemthing of yours in their inventory now (ok sothey might open it and delete it but they HAVE it) you are already one step ahead of the other groups in that sense. If they open your gift they now have a lm in your folder and an item of yours to chek out. If they like it well wow they now have info on you, a free gift (goodwill goes a long way) and your lm.

Marketing is better than not marketing. Even ifit is only one customer i ever get from the DSN that person will be wearing my stuff and other people might nspect it, or ask about it or they might recommend me to their friends. Same goes for me about the gift. In essense ithink you are looking at this in the wong way phil. The people who get it may never turn into customers but thosethat see what you have given out just might.

HAHAHAAH Armpit hair!!!!

I also got some great hair from a lace called tiny bird. I went and checked out her sotre and although i liked nothing else she had up i did join her group to find out abut future releases.

/me grins. Yay! My turn as the featured designer on the DSN blog today!

Yay for you- saw tht

Which brings up another question--- they suggeted a picture of one of your itmes in the instructions.. I am leaning more to logo representative. Yours looks very nice and the one right before you, GT Designs- looks very nice as well. I took their advice and sent the pic for one of my items but am thinking I iwll change it to my store logo one. After all it shows items and has the added impact of name recognition building---i hope!

I am not a big shopper so the two top things that make me decide to visit a store, and when I do, it is most often to pick up the particular item I am seeking:

1. I saw something in world I liked, clicked to see the designer, looked for the designer in People Search, checked their picks/classifieds and went to store. (Those merchants who do not place their stores in their profiles - and who wouldn't!!! - just lost a sale.)

2. Recommended by someone here in RA or a friend.

I hardly ever use search to find items (I use that for classes and dancing locales). If I walk into a store and it overwhelms me due to size or disorganization, I'm gone.

If I'm strolling around in world and see a shop that catches my attention - generally a small "boutique" - "Mom & Pop" store or anything that says "Vintage, Antique, Victorian" I'll pop in for a look. (Same in RL because those are my interests.)

You google the store name in quotes. By doing that I just found your DSN sample was blogged on Friday:

http://slexandthecity.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/reek-n-malt-n-more-mah-big-post-of-awesome/

That post went onto the Fashion Shopaholic feed, so a lot of people got to see it

ROFL! I got that armpit hair as one of my first items from DSN and went .... errrmmmmm..... HUH???????? The name of the shop kind of says it all.

I LOVE YOU!!! Thanks so much- cause I had Googled me and came up with the same amoutn of pages as usual Thanks Skell.

Agreed! I tend to give my items away randomly. I don't do it FOR this reason, but since I'm one who shops primarily by admiring something someone else has and asking where they got it, it is quasi-marketing.

Two years ago I worked as a Cigar Girl in a jazz club. As a tip, one woman gave an outfit from her store to me. Even though I had never heard of the store or the woman prior, I was thrilled to receive such a unique tip. Later when I tried it on, the outfit was of such a higher quality than anything I had thus far (I was brand new to SL at the time).

The woman: Raven Pennyfeather The Store: RFyre

You can bet that store sticks with me due to that "tip." Even not being a shopper, I will check RFyre out for new dresses. And...my Main Shoppe is now across the street from one of her satellites!!!

Recalling how much I enjoyed that tip, I will now sometimes do the same for instructors of classes I take, especially those classes that are many weeks long that I paid for. I always get great responses from that small gesture.

Ty, Eclectic. I might give it a go.

It occured to me that people in this thread are talking about the stuff they got for free, which is fine, of course, but, for me, the objective would be to get sales from it.

Hehehehe well the objective for all of us is to get sales. However having peple talk about your products is a good first step

Actually my problem is that I do not know what to focus on, so I am scattered and at a loss.

Good news, I tried something different and so far seems to be working.

Usually when I send out a notice, I make the notecard basically the facts and that's it, I try to keep emotional comments out of it.

however yesterday I could not help myself... I released a new pair of footwear and I like them so much, that the excitement I am sure came through the notecard.
(can't help it, I think they are cool LOL)

Anywho, after sending it out, only to my group at that point in time, I started immediately having sales, so that is a good thing LOL

I also have it listed in these forums (which I noticed lately that do not seem to have the lookers it used to, you can see how many views each thread gets)
And I put it on my blog (which has very few lookers)

So I guess my group works sometimes LOL

Still have to fashcon it as well as a few other places and get it listed on slex.

Almost done with the item I mentioned in a previous post (the before and after using a premade clothing template)
tried not to change it too much, LOL but did make some minor changes, just wanted to see what I could do in ps, instead of just a "add color" type thing.


Thanks for the input (from those who commented) about the why pick one over another. Yes I know nothing is exactly the same.. would be stupid to think it was, and I am not stupid, I meant generally the same, why choose one over another, but I think Skell answered that best, he doesn't choose, he goes to both, then whatever he likes he buys (if he feels like buying)

I get a lot of notecards from pose shops about new poses,props etc..I tend to not really read the ones that are just factual. Though I am like that with anything I read. Emotions can be a good thing,grabs the reader's interest.

The notecards I always enjoy getting the most are the once-a-week ones from Ivey Deschanel of Sn@tch. She really is entertaining, and if her notecards arrive late, I'm actually disappointed. They're that much fun

maybe my next release will be entertaining and factual LOL

I dunno, but at this point I am willing to try just about anything to grab the readers attention

wahhh (crying emoticon needed) I wd like some ways to get folks to drop by- liek maybe advertsing in a radio format or such? Along time ago there was a radio station set on my land that played SL related stuff and even had SL advertising- anyone know what I am talking about?
I do try to release things fairly spaced - a bout a week or so between- so as to not overload people but keep them interested. XStreet seems to be doing relatively favorably for me for which i am glad but wd like some peeps to come by the store from time to time. Not a fan of hunts and such so wd rather avoid that- I did sign up for the DSN and while i am enjoying getting some nice things (nvm the armpit hair...) it wd be nice if some of tht turned into sales. I did find on their site where they list to whom your samples have been given- since i havent noticed a sudden rise in sales i cannot imagine folks are beating a path to my store based on that...

never heard of it amar but if you find out about that station let me know!

That would be a cool thing to have playing on my land (well as long as it is good music LOL)
the only drawback is you would be advertising for others at the same time, but... if they play it on their land, they would be too!

I suppose one can put in an ad without having to play the stream.


That leads up to this idea I just had...

(I guess this would go out to the DJ's) what if we made little radio ad clips things, and approached clubs to play them on their stream (we would pay or donate or sponsor an event or some such things, for them to play it)

unless one wanted to sit through an event, it would be on an honor level, that the DJ is indeed playing them.

I would love to make a radio type ad, and have it played at events, that would be cool.

When I first started way back when.. I belive there was an official SL radio station that played right off help island. The default music setting was that your music streaming was active. It had some advertising and newbie type tips. Some Lindens pet projects. I think it might have even had some music compossed by Torley.

Hard to remember. I could completely have it wrong, but I don't think so. Anyway one of those things that has changed, so I suppose it doesn't truely matter.

That wd proly be it- i recall hearing music such as "Furry Lolita of Gor" and other actually very creative and good stuff on it- and yes- they had newbie news type stuff. I just sent an IM to someone I recall specifically used to advert there.

Amar - you could try the list of radio and TV stations listed in the wiki as broadcasting from SL

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Second_Life_Radio_&_TV

I know that SLCN TV has an advertising plan, and even a home redecorating show (Meta Makeover, I believe). Last I checked the rates were pretty steep for my budget, but it might be good exposure.