Advice on Sales!!

So i've kindly been donated a store by Efe Ansar too have as my shop *grin* It's adorable little boutique, so when i'm open you'll have too come and have a look but in the mean time, please go have a look at his stuff, cause it really is sweet)

So shop down, now just need too build in it, place my stuff and a logo. I have gotten a couple of ideas on how to decorate my stalls and the shop *grin*

Great news! Are you able to put your own parcel name and description in or can he do that for you? Ir means the shop parcel has to be cut out of the main parcel, but for most land owners that is no problem. Very important though to be found in search.

About your shop logo: you can change it as much as you want in this stage, since you are just starting. After being established, it's hardly possible without concequences though.
The change you made, makes the sign more readable indeed. What I would do though (but I am sure no logo artist!!) is go back to the slightly darker version, and put the words in white or yellow or whatever stands out. Also maybe a bold typeface. You want people to remember the words after all, that is what they are going to search for if they like your designs.

Though I would go even further: R.E.F. in a bigger style, the rest somewhat smaller. People might remember that better then the full name. But maybe people knowing more about branding can say something sensible about this, I am an amateur myself

Anyway, good luck to you!

Mzzz look who is talking.

After my posting I looked at my signature, and my brand name is harder to read then the rest of the sign. So I might have to follow my own advice

I love it when a plan comes together.

And I love this thread. I'm giving advice and learning at the same time. WooooHoooo

Marcel - I'm not really sure about that I'll have too ask, i really don't know much about land I'm afraid. I like the idea of my name in a smaller style, though i have too admit i do like the rose and diamonds in the image. Maybe i could change the background colour? I'm not much of a logo artist myself and i thought that looked jazzy lol, proves how wrong you can be hehe.

Oops maybe i explained it wrong, I've been donated a shop he made and Mickey has kindly offered too let me use some of her space. She has set up the store i just need too start adding too it

Lol i have too admit i like your sign it's pretty cool and quite jazzed up, though you are right on the writing hehe.

You should let the rose and diamonds stay indeed. What I ment was a change to the right half of the picture. Keep the words on the same place as they are, but with the following changes:

- Bolder
- Lighter in colour for the contrast
- Bigger Capitals for each word, so it reads REF from top to bottom, which could the the actual brand name. Easy to remember.

Maybe you could ask Mickey wether she could make the land that shop is on, its own parcel, so she can add your parcel name and description. She would still be owner, but would be found in search. Something I did for one of my tenants as well, and works great.

I'm going to need your help with this....because I've never divided the parcels up, before. I just plopped the store down, close to mine....and it didn't occur to me, until I made her a landmark, that she wasn't going to have the benefit of showing up in a search.....because the whole parcel is for my store.....didn't really think the whole thing out.....so walk me through this, please

The plot is a long rectangle....my store sits on the corner of it....to the right of hers. Her store is very close to mine...I thought it would be best that way....since I can put a big arrow saying Clothing on the side of my store...and they won't have to go far. So hers is sitting right in the middle of the parcel. To the left of hers, is all open land which I do not use....because I'm using those prims in the store.

So I ask Sirux to just cut a hunk out in the middle? It probably wouldn't be a good idea to move her way down to the end of the parcel, and cut that chunk off....because there is traffic for 3 stores near the corner, close to where my store is, and I notice some of those people come to my store....and it's pretty dead at the other end of the parcel.

Any suggestions?

This all comes down tot the question why has ownership of your land. You mention Sirux? Is that your own landlord?

If you have land ownership (many rentals on estate have that as well) you can simply edit the land, select witht he Land select tool the parcel her shop is on, and divide the land. The biggest parcel remains the description and statistics (I had to ask a few questions about that one recently as well ). The smaller parcel can get a new name and description by the owner of the land.

If you rent the land from a landlord, and do not have full ownership, you should ask your landlord wether he/she is willing to assist in it.

The location of her shop on your parcel is irrelevant in this, because all allocated prims will be available on either parcel as long as they are in the same sim, as long as the owner is the same. The parcel I cut out for my tenant, is not on the edge either.

Ok had a play around in Photoshop with my logo, changed the colour and the text style. Is that better?

I own the land...Sirux is the sim owner.....I've bought and sold a ton of land, but never divided it myself....I think I have to have sim owner's permission....shouldn't be a problem.....this will be a good lesson!

When I was out and about last night.....I dropped into a new designer's sim....and ran into the designer, Efe Ansar.....I told him what the project for the evening was.....and he lead me over to an area where he had the smaller prefab stores. He insisted on donating this store for Rhianna, and was very sweet about it......so please keep him mind.

I was the first visitor to his sim, he had just opened it.....so naturally we went into the discussion of traffic and sales. Man.....there are so many new designers out there, that have great products, that need to Brainstorm together on the marketing. I run into them every day.

Is there a well known group on that which is actually "Active" ??? I haven't stayed long in those groups, because no one is doing anything in them, and to be frank.....the tips and advice were always lame, because the advice was coming from someone who didn't actually have a business going.....but just labeled themselves as a "marketing expert."

Very nice Rhianna! Can you sharpen the original rose and diamonds? The writing is excellent now

I know there has already been a bunch of response to the original question, but I would like to throw in my two cents...

You have to understand that the clothing market is beyond saturated with extremely talented designers...not only do fashion designers have to up-the-ante and offer super high quality products, but they also have to give themselves plenty of time to spread to the market. Word of mouth...promotions...ect.

Don't count on OnRez to bring you sales. Perhaps in the coming years it may offer more, but right now it's almost not even worth placing items there. SLX is a much more profitable solution. Personally, I would set a store up in both SLX and OnRez...just don't expect anything from OnRez.

From a graphic designers point of view, I think your ads are pretty boring. The typography is bland, and the font is ugly. Search around for really nice product boards, and mimic what you like--I'm not saying steal or carbon-copy someone...I'm saying, 'be inspired.' And for the love of God, don't go too flashy...nothing is worse than super-busy, flashy product boards.

Your product itself is pretty good. I don't think it stands up against the pros or big-names...but it has a style. Keep it up. Purchase fashion mags and study material and color...and most importantly, 'what's in season', and create that for the 'now.'

Make sure you have a nice brand logo and description. If you don't think it's very strong, hire someone to create it--it's worth it to invest in a 'first impression' element for your company. As of now, your sig is unimpressive and technically weak--it's blurry and simple. If you feel you must create it yourself, at least make sure it's high resolution.

Listen, do not take offense to my candid nature. The way I see it, if someone is looking for advice, it doesn't help to sugar-coat and save feelings. Lying to you only hurts your company. The truth may not feel the best, but professionally speaking, graphic designers and marketing agencies have no problem telling it like it is...nor should they. They get to the root of them problem, and see things from an unattached manner.

If you need services or advice, please IM in-world.

Good luck.

Thank you Amarathin, i'll have another go and mess around with the rose, though i don't know how i could sharpen it more but i'll see what i can come up with hehe.

Michael - I completely understand that it is saturated but not too be nasty too any of the other designers out there, i don't spend and will never ever spend more than 300L tops on a full outfit, i can't see the justification in spending 600 - 1000L on 1 outfit sorry. Thats what i want too do in the long run, create really nice things but at reasonable prices for the lower budget of us out there. I'll try inprove on my ads but i have said i'm not much of a graphics expert, i am still learning Photoshop everyday and i am really trying. I was told too use a white background ages ago because the colourful ones can sometimes clash with your outfits so i stuck with white.

I am working on my logo, the one you see on here is my logo and i am trying too make it better before sticking it inworld

May i ask though what it is you do Michael, i've never heard of your company?

Alright- keeping the Ever Quest (sorry) of broadening market awareness... what about other web places such as Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, etc? Just put up Myspace and a blog- working on youtube vid- any other suggestions? Come on people let's brainstorm and corner our respective markets!

I have heard of blogging and even on your face book, my space pages but not on You Tube, how would that work?

Priorities. Quit SL and make finding a RL job your full time occupation. Come back when you have leisure time again.

I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but it's what I'd tell my own kids if they were out of work and spending time here.

Prior to giving my advice I'm going to say: I don't really make a living in SL. I make money to take out every month though. I have a pretty nice day job that I don't want to leave anyway.

1. Fashcon is worth it. Very worth it.
2. Invest in your own land or in a mall that has many other designers that you recognize. When I did malls (I do one mall now- House of Heart) I always looked at traffic, made sure that there was no bots, and made sure I recognized some names. I would sit in a mall for hours and watch traffic for a couple weeks.
3. I also, around 3 months into the opening of my business decided to spend 150USD in advertising, about 50 USD a month. Yeah, sounds like a lot but I wanted to make my business successful. The first month I bought ads in Second Style and Aspire (SL Magazines) and then also advertised in Linden Lifestyles (purchased impressions from SLX from them). Long story short, I got to take out the 150USD Plus the next month and have never put money inworld for my business since them (except the day I bought my sim)
4. I sometimes post on the forums here, and never on SLU (going to do SLU I'm just lazy) so factor that in.
5. I started a blog (http://blog.kesseret.net) and got on the 2 fashion feeds for Second Life fashion. Every new release I blog. Intermittently I blog some random stuff fashion or jira or other related to Second Life.
6. I have a review pack that I send to some bloggers every couple months. This pack contains a 500L gift card (I spent the money on the TMC gift card- the money was paid back in time within 30 days), a notecard with my new release pictures and an LM. I always add the disclaimer that because I hand them a card doesn't mean they are obligated to use it or even buy anything. They can toss/use at their discretion. I only ask that if they find a fatal flaw or don't like my stuff they tell me please.
7. I also have a couple freebies and when I change those out I post in free*style group.
8. I had lucky chairs until I moved to my sim- I happened to get my chairs in a couple blogs for having really good stuff, so that was really awesome. I may bring one back!
9. My stuff is on Onrez and SLX.
10. I paid 1900 for the SMS group system. I used to use subscribe-o-matic (awesome product) but it got to expensive when my group got really big. Not having to depend on a 25 limit means more people see my group notices and new releases.
11. My vendors, I spent probably about 5 weeks designing the vendor template and the store logo. This is my 2nd generation logo and I've even fixed it up a bit since then for my business cards.
12. I put out new releases about once a month. I used to do once every 2 weeks but I'm old and I work 40-60 hours at my day job. I enjoy SL and plan to continue, doing a release every month makes me enjoy my hobby.
13. I have a 50L classified, don't spend anymore. I may drop that.
14. I keep my picks for Business related stuff. It helps.

I guess that's all I do with my business. It may not be a cash cow but it's a nice little hobby and I think I make pretty darn good stuff for a killer price. I hope that this makes sense. Please feel free to IM me inworld. Feel free to disagree, this is just my 2 lala's anyway. DISCLAIMER: I'm no expert.

Well here is what I ended up with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y1AGK12tI8

It is a video catalogue of my line so far.

I created the blogspot page in my siggy and a myspace too: http://www.myspace.com/talonfaire

Hey- you keep throwing stuff out there something will stick to the wall.

Lindel Kidd finding a job is alot harder than you seem too think, i am looking for work. I've even been too a couple of interviews but each time i got the response of no it just put's me even more into depression. I am doing this too give some pleasure other than spending all day long looking for work and getting into more fits of depression. I'm sorry but i am trying and not too be nasty but my RL has not got much too do with you.

Kesseret, what r ways u have gotten Fashncon to pay off for you? Also, how were you able to get on with the fashion feeds?

Rhiannon, I believe Michael is a photog and graphics designer-

Thanks all...

I have found this thread absolutely fascinating, and I think it should be stickied, as a fund of advice for selling your product in SL.

I am one of those people who is fairly creative, but have no business sense whatsoever, find accounting, marketing, stuff like that (ie, real work) boring. I have a little shop and i sometimes make some sales from passing trade, but accept that without doing real work on marketing and so on, i will never do any better.

I admire and take my hat off to those designers and creators and clever people who have taken the trouble to give their best tips to someone starting out.

When we have a thread where somebody says we are all too quick to put people down on the forums, and make smart remarks, we should direct them here.

imogen.

As a shopper I'd like to suggest putting out signage for new products, something simple like 'New Item' or 'NEW'. You could also establish a spot for displaying new clothing.

I've also been seeing more designers who put some kind of 'watermark' on their vendors/box product images. It has been anything from saying 'display only', company name, etc. You could go take a look at some other stores and see what they've done along that line. This is to help stop product theft.

Do you have your business in your own Profile 2nd Life and Picks List? Every time you make a new outfit, put it in your Picks List.

If you see a newbie who is in desperate need of some good clothes,then give them an outfit from a special folder for that purpose. You never know how some good will and kindness will be repaid in the future.

Freebies can be a good thing as long as the quality matches the for-purchase outfits. Go to one of the NCI Centers and speak to a volunteer about donating a outfit to their freebie wall. Package your freebies nicely for the store and rotate what is out on the floor.

Don't forget to upgrade older outfits as your skills improve, add 'Updated' to the box/vendor.

Start planning now for SL6B, the Relay Raiders Clothing Fair(part of the Relay for Life of Second Life fundraisers scheduled for next spring). I'm sure others here can suggest more events where your clothes could be seen.

Look in Groups, Events > Charities/Support for your favorite RL charities. See if they have come in-world and ask if they have any kind of fashion show planned. This is another way to help out and expand your network of contacts.

Do a little something for some of the holidays, it doesn't have to be a full outfit.

If you have a group, send out notices on new products or sales. Keep a record of who buys a lot of your clothes, send them a free copy of a new item every so often with thanks for being such a good customer.

Visitor counter scripts are free at a number of places. If you'd like one, just IM me and I'll give you a copy of mine.

Have on your Picks if you do custom orders and how you prefer to be contacted about it.

Okay, I think that's all I can come up with for now.

I also found this thread fasinating. This has inspired me to update my display pics for my store, using hotoshop to make them more appealing by using a nice background and adding text to the displays.

I am lucky a great friend made me an amazing logo and that logo helps with branding, but i think adding elements of that logo to my display pics will help.


Though there is one point i disagree with most in as far as seling goes. I have both a store on its own plot and a space in a mall (ok so it is my mall connected to the club i own with my partner). However my sales have jumped more than 20% with the use of a vendor space within that mall and others within our mall are reporting similar results. I think the RIGHT mall can be useful for getting your name out there. Making sure a mall has good real traffic, people who spend money etc is useful.

I know I personally as a shopper wander malls to find those little designers no one knows about. It helps me to not look like everyone else who all wears the same creators items. However I do think the use of malls alone is worthless as 20 or 40 prims is not enough to display all that you do. Having a LM giver is essential in any vendor space you use ina mall (esp one which logs who takes a LM). Compare who takes a LM to who buys in your main store. My sales from my vendor space are not always huge but I will find a few times a week someone has taken that LM and spent in my mainstore.

It is really hard as a new creator to get your stuff noticed, but just keep on podding along. Everything you do helps. Focus on it as a hobby and keep on enjoying it. Find what you love and just keep doing it, keepgetting better.

Ohhh and somene mentioned giving away your items?? When you get a main store set up create a texture in photoshop which says someting along the lines of "L200 Gift voucher" with your logo etc on it and make it no mod/no copy. I prefer to hand out thee for my store rather than just the items. People prefer getting a choice of what they buy and they come to your store and browse all of your items, sometimes bringing a friend. Many of our vendors in our mall for my club do this. The guests love it as theyget to see new stores and they win something. The vendors love it cos they get traffic and often sales. And we love it cos it means we an keep running the club

I have had a go at sharpening up your logo, not redesigning :



I really think logos are important with clothes sellers as if someone can't photoshop a decent logo I would be concerned about the quality of their textures, as unlike furniture etc, we can't see before we buy.

Great work Denise!!

Where I would go from here, is making the rose and diamonds part some smaller, and the text bigger, but this one is already much and much better readable then the first one.