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Greetings once more - your favourite supplemental GAD fest is back again, taunting you with prizes you probably won't win like a carrot in front of a donkey. If you didn't love it, you wouldn't keep coming back.
Something a little different this time, in that this competition actually requires you to think a little rather than splatter your 'artistic' daubings on a banner :) What we'd like you to do is come up with some ways in which Special Reserve could promote themselves effectively. Bear in mind we haven't exactly got the backing of the Sultan of Brunei, we'd like you to drop us a few ideas on how best to get across the fact that Special Reserve are cheap, reliable and have a wide product range.
This could be improvements to ways we currently run things, new product ranges you think would appeal to our customers (bear in mind we currently sell rather a lot of stuff - see left sidestrip), new exciting ways to advertise our existing offers or just any ideas that have been floating round your head. Is there some range of products you just can't get hold of that would be perfect for us to sell? Let us know!
Post your ideas in this thread and we'll announce a winner at around the end of February, let's say the 27th. The best suggestions will win whatever prizes we give them, most probably yer standard £25/£50 GAD prize.
(And before anyone brings it up, yes we do think about this stuff ourselves, but we wanted to see what you lot think as well. So button it!)
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And the winner is..... phi11ip, for the following suggestion:
"Here's an idea, and if carried out correctly could be very beneficial. I've got a nice example too just to prove to you just how beneficial it is. www.staghosting.com was a free hosting service set up last year with the intention of boosting the ratings of a a few sites belonging to a company, one of these sites was www.actiondays.co.uk. Basically, unlike your free hosting, this hosting only offered hosting to domain names, you get 200MB disk space and 4 Gig bandwidth a month, you can upload from any connection unlike Freeola. So basically the company which has nothing to do with hosting has just set up a hosting site, sounds stupid doesn't it? What the requirements of this free hosting are though is that you must display a couple of small text links on your site, on mine you can see them on the links section on the side of the page. Google counts each link as a 'vote' and increases the pagerank of the site in question meaning that it shows up higher in searches, I see you've got 'cheap games' pretty much sorted but you don't show up anywhere when 'PS2 games' is typed in. If people were to display these text links on their sites it would soon make you appear high up on the search results. www.actiondays.co.uk was absolutely nowhere when it started, it had a low pagerank and didn't appear on searches. Have a look now though and you'll see that searching for 'corporate event' on Google.com returns the site as number 2 out of 6,500,000. Think about it. You've already got the hosting capabilities, all it would require is a server and someone to monitor the sites every now and then to make sure the links are there."
Congratulations and well done to everyone who entered.
Something a little different this time, in that this competition actually requires you to think a little rather than splatter your 'artistic' daubings on a banner :) What we'd like you to do is come up with some ways in which Special Reserve could promote themselves effectively. Bear in mind we haven't exactly got the backing of the Sultan of Brunei, we'd like you to drop us a few ideas on how best to get across the fact that Special Reserve are cheap, reliable and have a wide product range.
This could be improvements to ways we currently run things, new product ranges you think would appeal to our customers (bear in mind we currently sell rather a lot of stuff - see left sidestrip), new exciting ways to advertise our existing offers or just any ideas that have been floating round your head. Is there some range of products you just can't get hold of that would be perfect for us to sell? Let us know!
Post your ideas in this thread and we'll announce a winner at around the end of February, let's say the 27th. The best suggestions will win whatever prizes we give them, most probably yer standard £25/£50 GAD prize.
(And before anyone brings it up, yes we do think about this stuff ourselves, but we wanted to see what you lot think as well. So button it!)
---------------------------------------------------------
And the winner is..... phi11ip, for the following suggestion:
"Here's an idea, and if carried out correctly could be very beneficial. I've got a nice example too just to prove to you just how beneficial it is. www.staghosting.com was a free hosting service set up last year with the intention of boosting the ratings of a a few sites belonging to a company, one of these sites was www.actiondays.co.uk. Basically, unlike your free hosting, this hosting only offered hosting to domain names, you get 200MB disk space and 4 Gig bandwidth a month, you can upload from any connection unlike Freeola. So basically the company which has nothing to do with hosting has just set up a hosting site, sounds stupid doesn't it? What the requirements of this free hosting are though is that you must display a couple of small text links on your site, on mine you can see them on the links section on the side of the page. Google counts each link as a 'vote' and increases the pagerank of the site in question meaning that it shows up higher in searches, I see you've got 'cheap games' pretty much sorted but you don't show up anywhere when 'PS2 games' is typed in. If people were to display these text links on their sites it would soon make you appear high up on the search results. www.actiondays.co.uk was absolutely nowhere when it started, it had a low pagerank and didn't appear on searches. Have a look now though and you'll see that searching for 'corporate event' on Google.com returns the site as number 2 out of 6,500,000. Think about it. You've already got the hosting capabilities, all it would require is a server and someone to monitor the sites every now and then to make sure the links are there."
Congratulations and well done to everyone who entered.
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béSSánt wrote:
> and everything, prephaps a new store in 1-2 years down south or where
> there are no stores.
I think Tonty said himself that the only problem with putting a store down south, anywhere north of Bucks or anywhere else in the country is that the warehouse is within the M25, and so the shops have to be accessable. Something like that anyway.
This looks fun, yet hard. :cD Everyone has stolen my ideas :c(
> and everything, prephaps a new store in 1-2 years down south or where
> there are no stores.
I think Tonty said himself that the only problem with putting a store down south, anywhere north of Bucks or anywhere else in the country is that the warehouse is within the M25, and so the shops have to be accessable. Something like that anyway.
This looks fun, yet hard. :cD Everyone has stolen my ideas :c(
Obviously, the only way to go is to put stickers, bumber stickers if you will, in the parcels you send out to customers. Then they'll put these on their cars/windows to advertise for you.
Something catchy like...."I shopped at special reserve"....or "Mr. Snuggly gave me a GAD" only not this cheesy (more cheesy if anything).
Something catchy like...."I shopped at special reserve"....or "Mr. Snuggly gave me a GAD" only not this cheesy (more cheesy if anything).
I noticed you occasionally do advertisments in magazines (normally taking up a page). I'm not sure if you still do these, but why not give more focus on GameADay? In fact, why not completely focus on it? If you dedicate a page to giving away free games in a magazine rather than prices of games etc. then more people would be likely to enquire.
If you see an advert, you'd soon check something that gave you free stuff than cheaper prices. Then they'd have a look around the side and see the great prices you have to offer.
Or they'll realise they actually have to do something to win games so they'll just go away.
If you see an advert, you'd soon check something that gave you free stuff than cheaper prices. Then they'd have a look around the side and see the great prices you have to offer.
Or they'll realise they actually have to do something to win games so they'll just go away.
Do a media stunt! In the style of Art Attack or something ... find a nice massive open space and make a picture of Mario or Pikachu or something out of retro consoles (since they're NICE and cheap), cartidges and stuff ... then take a birds eye photo of it! Then get the lovely games press to print the picture.
Either that or employ people to dress up in suits made out of old CD32 games and get them to walk round major cites shouting 'Look at us in our suits made from old outdated games that were no good ... if you don't want to end up like us, go to Special Reserve and buy something cutting edge'.
But seriously, games are well known for being kinda cliched, the same old stick a girl in something skimpy holding a PS2 or a picture of someone with a LARGE gun idea ... the successful adverts are the ones that baffle, amuse and generally stand out for being MAD rather than appealing to the supposed market cliches. Whack something odd out there, make people say 'eh?', pay attention and then tell their mates about it.
And perhaps your site COULD do with being brought a bit up to date, it IS cluttered and there is a hell of alot of linking to this URL, that URL. Perhaps a nice simplified front end that shunts you to PC, Xbox, Nintendo, Sony, Sound/Vision, Community front ends ... THEN expand out on what you have to offer, hardware section, software sections ... perhaps turn the news section into a small section that flashes up different news items, which you then click on if you see something that interests you. Expanded 'expected due dates' sections would be good. Just sift round the web and you'll see examples of cutting edge web design, people WILL be swayed by presentation ... and with the rest of your competition also appearing to be stuck in yonder old days with their websites, by sticking your neck out first, it could reap benefits.
Either that or employ people to dress up in suits made out of old CD32 games and get them to walk round major cites shouting 'Look at us in our suits made from old outdated games that were no good ... if you don't want to end up like us, go to Special Reserve and buy something cutting edge'.
But seriously, games are well known for being kinda cliched, the same old stick a girl in something skimpy holding a PS2 or a picture of someone with a LARGE gun idea ... the successful adverts are the ones that baffle, amuse and generally stand out for being MAD rather than appealing to the supposed market cliches. Whack something odd out there, make people say 'eh?', pay attention and then tell their mates about it.
And perhaps your site COULD do with being brought a bit up to date, it IS cluttered and there is a hell of alot of linking to this URL, that URL. Perhaps a nice simplified front end that shunts you to PC, Xbox, Nintendo, Sony, Sound/Vision, Community front ends ... THEN expand out on what you have to offer, hardware section, software sections ... perhaps turn the news section into a small section that flashes up different news items, which you then click on if you see something that interests you. Expanded 'expected due dates' sections would be good. Just sift round the web and you'll see examples of cutting edge web design, people WILL be swayed by presentation ... and with the rest of your competition also appearing to be stuck in yonder old days with their websites, by sticking your neck out first, it could reap benefits.
mattribute wrote:
> Oh, and the magazine - the last time I saw it, itr was little more
> than the crappy things you pick up at GAME or Gamestation. You need
> to make it as though the SR magazine is a 'must have', and a good
> read, rather than an advert for your Prices. You should re-structure
> your magazine to have a little news section at the front, from
> upwire, then with possibly a few posts from the forums in an article
> style format, with a few user/staff reviews as the main body. After
> that I suggest using your walkthrough and Cheats from the GAD entries
> to bring an end to it all. Of course, you'd have your prices and
> offers dotted around the magazine. in other words, make it more
> subtle and passive for the reader, whilst harnessing your GAD entries
> for good use. A good magazinme with SR advertising? super Cool.
Oh god, the magazine ... I used to have this YEARS ago, but the reviews really were off the mark. Ok, I know you're trying to sell games and the like, but the reviews seemed to lack a certain depth, coming across as a copy and paste job from a press sheet ... and when it came to scores, every game was like 'this game is fantastic, you should buy it today!'. Of COURSE you want us to buy it! But you'd be a bit more trusting if the review appeared to come from someone casting, say, a more critical eye over the game.
Also, another advantage of the internet is that you can monitor what people look at ... if someone has a registered account and you can track what games they look at, what items of news interests, you can tailor emails sent out to match their interests. Say someone flicks through Final Fantasy XII news, as soon as new news or a release date pops up ... BOSH! trigger an email!
> Oh, and the magazine - the last time I saw it, itr was little more
> than the crappy things you pick up at GAME or Gamestation. You need
> to make it as though the SR magazine is a 'must have', and a good
> read, rather than an advert for your Prices. You should re-structure
> your magazine to have a little news section at the front, from
> upwire, then with possibly a few posts from the forums in an article
> style format, with a few user/staff reviews as the main body. After
> that I suggest using your walkthrough and Cheats from the GAD entries
> to bring an end to it all. Of course, you'd have your prices and
> offers dotted around the magazine. in other words, make it more
> subtle and passive for the reader, whilst harnessing your GAD entries
> for good use. A good magazinme with SR advertising? super Cool.
Oh god, the magazine ... I used to have this YEARS ago, but the reviews really were off the mark. Ok, I know you're trying to sell games and the like, but the reviews seemed to lack a certain depth, coming across as a copy and paste job from a press sheet ... and when it came to scores, every game was like 'this game is fantastic, you should buy it today!'. Of COURSE you want us to buy it! But you'd be a bit more trusting if the review appeared to come from someone casting, say, a more critical eye over the game.
Also, another advantage of the internet is that you can monitor what people look at ... if someone has a registered account and you can track what games they look at, what items of news interests, you can tailor emails sent out to match their interests. Say someone flicks through Final Fantasy XII news, as soon as new news or a release date pops up ... BOSH! trigger an email!
Essentially then, what you are looking for is a source of widespread advertising at a low price.
What you need is an affiliate system. Letting heaps of other websites advertise your products, and you only have to pay them anything at all when you actually sell something to someone who was directed here by their site. You pay a small percentage of the purchase price to the site, and gain yet another devoted customer.
For a reputable affiliate setup site, I recommend www.affiliatefuture.co.uk. This is how it works:
1. A Merchant (someone who wants visitors to come to their site to increase sales, leads etc.) registers with AffiliateFuture.co.uk and adds a programme to the site. A programme is a combination of a banner or text, an offer of commission, and a link to the Merchant’s site.
2. An Affiliate (someone who wants to add adverts to their site to generate revenue) also registers with AffiliateFuture.co.uk, and subscribes to the programme offered by the Merchant.
3. This generates code which the Affiliate adds to their site.
Using this code, AffiliateFuture.co.uk tracks visitors to the Affiliate’s site and tracks visits from this site to the Merchant’s site. It also records whether the offer conditions are met.
4. AffiliateFuture.co.uk processes all the data and credits the Affiliate with the relevant amount of commission.
Please don't think I'm trying to plug the site for the sake of it, I simply think this would by far be the most effective, and finance-friendly method of widespread advertising.
The beauty of the system is that you never pay a penny for the advertising unless the people linked from another site actually buy anything from you.
You will also have no problems getting other interested websites to join your affiliate scheme, as to them it is simply a handy supplementary income.
Hope this helps SR!
What you need is an affiliate system. Letting heaps of other websites advertise your products, and you only have to pay them anything at all when you actually sell something to someone who was directed here by their site. You pay a small percentage of the purchase price to the site, and gain yet another devoted customer.
For a reputable affiliate setup site, I recommend www.affiliatefuture.co.uk. This is how it works:
1. A Merchant (someone who wants visitors to come to their site to increase sales, leads etc.) registers with AffiliateFuture.co.uk and adds a programme to the site. A programme is a combination of a banner or text, an offer of commission, and a link to the Merchant’s site.
2. An Affiliate (someone who wants to add adverts to their site to generate revenue) also registers with AffiliateFuture.co.uk, and subscribes to the programme offered by the Merchant.
3. This generates code which the Affiliate adds to their site.
Using this code, AffiliateFuture.co.uk tracks visitors to the Affiliate’s site and tracks visits from this site to the Merchant’s site. It also records whether the offer conditions are met.
4. AffiliateFuture.co.uk processes all the data and credits the Affiliate with the relevant amount of commission.
Please don't think I'm trying to plug the site for the sake of it, I simply think this would by far be the most effective, and finance-friendly method of widespread advertising.
The beauty of the system is that you never pay a penny for the advertising unless the people linked from another site actually buy anything from you.
You will also have no problems getting other interested websites to join your affiliate scheme, as to them it is simply a handy supplementary income.
Hope this helps SR!
Give every member of SR a unique referrers ID, like mine would be:
http://uk.special.reserve.co.uk/ search/special.php?co=wv&referrerid=FantasyMeister
Include it as a field in the "Your Details" section for each member.
Then do the usual 'Fly my pretties!' routine and get us to go out and post "Cheap Gamez" type posts all over the forums we visit or e-mails we send including our unique referrer ID.
Or make it so that when someone asks "Where can I get SOCOM 2 and Headset for less than £40?" it's simple for us to provide a link directly to it on this site and still add our referrer ID.
Most sales generated by a referrer in a month wins a GAD.
Most sales generated by a referrer in a year wins a console of their choice.
This is cost effective and good advertising because:
a) Relatively cheap to set up (bit of programming, a webpage here or there)
b) Everyone in on the referral scheme is a potential spammer anyhow
c) Free advertising
d) SR members do all of the legwork
http://uk.special.reserve.co.uk/ search/special.php?co=wv&referrerid=FantasyMeister
Include it as a field in the "Your Details" section for each member.
Then do the usual 'Fly my pretties!' routine and get us to go out and post "Cheap Gamez" type posts all over the forums we visit or e-mails we send including our unique referrer ID.
Or make it so that when someone asks "Where can I get SOCOM 2 and Headset for less than £40?" it's simple for us to provide a link directly to it on this site and still add our referrer ID.
Most sales generated by a referrer in a month wins a GAD.
Most sales generated by a referrer in a year wins a console of their choice.
This is cost effective and good advertising because:
a) Relatively cheap to set up (bit of programming, a webpage here or there)
b) Everyone in on the referral scheme is a potential spammer anyhow
c) Free advertising
d) SR members do all of the legwork
Design a company Mascot, stick it on the club magazine, all official documents, e-mails and advertisments.
Make it a memorable one - perhaps like 'Poochy' out of the simpsons, only not as pathetic, with an "SR" collar on. Instantly making your discount more quickly recognisable, even to illiterate, knuckle dragging types!
Ye can't g' wrong.
Make it a memorable one - perhaps like 'Poochy' out of the simpsons, only not as pathetic, with an "SR" collar on. Instantly making your discount more quickly recognisable, even to illiterate, knuckle dragging types!
Ye can't g' wrong.
Design a company Mascot, stick it on the club magazine, all official
documents, e-mails and advertisments.
Make it a memorable one - perhaps like 'Poochy' out of the simpsons,
only not as pathetic, with an "SR" collar on. Instantly
making your *discount network* more quickly recognisable, even to illiterate, knuckle dragging types!
Ye can't g' wrong.
documents, e-mails and advertisments.
Make it a memorable one - perhaps like 'Poochy' out of the simpsons,
only not as pathetic, with an "SR" collar on. Instantly
making your *discount network* more quickly recognisable, even to illiterate, knuckle dragging types!
Ye can't g' wrong.
My chair lists to one side. You could start selling office chairs, and other minor office equipment such as computer desks, as a natural progression from all the other kit you stock.
Big leather chairs please, I want to know, when I sit in it, that several cows have died to make it. Comfort is murder ain't it :D
Big leather chairs please, I want to know, when I sit in it, that several cows have died to make it. Comfort is murder ain't it :D
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