Business And Economy Archive
Thread: SPAM Time for it to end
mistereous1 wrote:
Sorry, but there isn't enough population anymore to spread word of mouth. 4 months ago these tactics used to work, I know because I employed them all. Now people shop malls because they are the most convenient and they know, normally any mall is going to be well stocked. Only the longest playing crafters have access to be in the malls people frequent. Even new malls don't get any business. It's spam or die now. Check your friends list, how is it compared to 4 months ago?
*shrug* My friends list is larger than it was 4 months ago. Networking is a good thing. My January vendor revenues are 150% higher than last year's vendor take, and I only advertise in my forum signature, these boards, one third party forum, and the planetary map. Zero in-game spam required. Never have, never will. Neither will my contacts - all multi-millionaire businesses who opened their shops late, after the first generation of crafters already had their foothold on the market.
Even since the debut of other games which have thinned out some of the population, I've seen theopening of several businesses which do not spam. Their secret? Simple. Be reliable and focus your marketing. If you're lucky, opening next to an established shop is also a plus, but it's not necessary.
The new malls I've seen and the new shops which are spamming up the starports have a very significant number of near-empty shops with a handful of average-quality items for sale. Sorry, but if someone's set up a spambot to advertise that, it's no wonder they can't compete. Sure, someone might argue that it's because they've sold their items, but after having satisfied the first 3-6 customers, that ad serves to invite people to a place which they will never go back to, and even the first customers will try to return and see that the shop's 'gone downhill'.
Perhaps it's time to make a few more connections instead of spamming. If you employed all of those tactics effectively 4 months ago, you wouldn't need to spam at all.
I must agree with you, spamming isn't needed in the least. I am on Wanderhome(one of the least populated servers)which might be way I've never had lag from spammers. If you cannot get a business going without spamming than you aren't doing something you could. The earlier post described some business practices for advertising, and there are a few extra things you can do instead of spamming. The merchant friend or another merchant helper program is very useful for tracking customers. Every time I move or open up a new location I email all of my customers(since I got the program)with a wp and what's generally in my selection. I also tend to put some cash prizes in the mail, so that people both remember it and read it. If someone buys an item from me over one or two million, I make sure to personally thank them instead of just sending a thank you mail. If you see someone in your mall/shop looking at your vendor, chatting with them briefly i another good way to make sure they remember your business. In a competitive business it's an advantage if the customer likes and remember you.
Callyndra wrote:
*shrug* My friends list is larger than it was 4 months ago. Networking is a good thing. My January vendor revenues are 150% higher than last year's vendor take, and I only advertise in my forum signature, these boards, one third party forum, and the planetary map. Zero in-game spam required. Never have, never will. Neither will my contacts - all multi-millionaire businesses who opened their shops late, after the first generation of crafters already had their foothold on the market.
Even since the debut of other games which have thinned out some of the population, I've seen theopening of several businesses which do not spam. Their secret? Simple. Be reliable and focus your marketing. If you're lucky, opening next to an established shop is also a plus, but it's not necessary.
The new malls I've seen and the new shops which are spamming up the starports have a very significant number of near-empty shops with a handful of average-quality items for sale. Sorry, but if someone's set up a spambot to advertise that, it's no wonder they can't compete. Sure, someone might argue that it's because they've sold their items, but after having satisfied the first 3-6 customers, that ad serves to invite people to a place which they will never go back to, and even the first customers will try to return and see that the shop's 'gone downhill'.
Perhaps it's time to make a few more connections instead of spamming. If you employed all of those tactics effectively 4 months ago, you wouldn't need to spam at all.
The Square is filled with people hawking everything from newspapers, tshirts, hotdogs and pornos. Its not this lil neat orderly place where people only speak when spoken to because THATS NOT NATURAL!!!
All the player spam in the cities is a major part of what gives them the big city feel. If not for that all we would see if the drivel the NPCS speak when wandering around.
I would rather SWGs starports look and feel like bustling commerce centers, not the lobotomy ward at the mental hospital.
I say spam is good in this case!