Author Topic: Marketing AH (Read 1000 times)

eskimo2 · « **Reply #15 on:** April 01, 2002, 10:19:37 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Curval

Dude, ya don't need to pay someone for coming up with ideas...leave that to us!

As far as demographic studies etc..pay for it on a case by case basis.

Curval,
Marketing folks do much more than come up with ideas...
A person who can make the right decisions as to where and how to advertise is well worth the salary. I'm sure that BB posters can come up with lots of ideas for advertising... Sorting through all of the available options and choosing the most efficient methods is what counts.

eskimo

Curval · « **Reply #16 on:** April 01, 2002, 10:27:07 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by eskimo2

Curval,
Marketing folks do much more than come up with ideas...
A person who can make the right decisions as to where and how to advertise is well worth the salary. I'm sure that BB posters can come up with lots of ideas for advertising... Sorting through all of the available options and choosing the most efficient methods is what counts.

eskimo

I know, I know..I was being flippant.

Fact is though...a marketing guy can only present options. Hitech is gonna have the final word no matter what the marketing guys say.

Also, in my experience the marketing types have been wrong as many times as they have been right! You can survey the demographics and calculate all the standard deviations you want, but marketing has always seemed to be "hit and miss" to me!

Airscrew · « **Reply #17 on:** April 01, 2002, 11:53:01 AM »

I discovered AH purely by chance, I went over to BigWorms apartment he showed me some basic stuff and I've been hooked ever since. Except for Tachyeon I have never played an online game before this. One reason I decided to play was because I just got a cable modem. I read those gaming magazines occasionally but I dont think I would have ever played or download Aces High based on an ad, because there are so many games out there to choose from. You have to get it in their hands, get them in the game.
Movie idea is good too 30 sec spot.

My suggestions for marketing would be
1. An insert or something when people sign up for DSL or Cable

2 You could do the AOL thing and just mail out Aces High on CD
Select a test area and mail out the cds
Also putting Aces High on those demo cds the gaming magazines put out wouldnt hurt either.

3. Have a display with free copies of the CD at checkout stands at electronic stores and or hobby stores, like Best Buy, CompUSA, Hobby Lobby, anyplace that sells pc games or RC planes.

4. Local PC shops, work out a deal to include a copy of Aces High with new pc purchase.

J_A_B · « **Reply #18 on:** April 01, 2002, 01:18:47 PM »

They also need to do something to KEEP those new players here.

The learning curve in AH is really, really steep.

J_A_B

Nash · « **Reply #19 on:** April 01, 2002, 02:38:33 PM »

Reminds me of what a CEO said at a stockholder's meeting (roughly). A lady got up during the question/answer period and said:

"It seems to me you're spending far too much on marketing & advertising."

CEO says.... "You know something, I think 90% of advertising is BS. The problem is, I don't know which of it is the 10% that works."

midnight Target · « **Reply #20 on:** April 01, 2002, 02:39:39 PM »

I always heard "Marketing" was "Sales" only with a degree, and without the pay.

mrsid2 · « **Reply #21 on:** April 01, 2002, 02:43:16 PM »

90% of the people I've told about Aces High have tried it and now actively play it.

There's a lot of potential with the people who haven't been reached. Most of those people aren't active web users even, still they get excited about AH. That's why it could - could - be beneficial to advertise outside the web too.

qts · « **Reply #22 on:** April 01, 2002, 02:44:23 PM »

One thing that would really help newbies is being able to start in the air - 10k-20k - and thus have a certain amount of E. This is because they'll look for a field with some action, try to up, and likely get vulched. If they were to start in the air, then that would give them a safety net.

And there should be a beginners' arena.

mrsid2 · « **Reply #23 on:** April 01, 2002, 02:52:46 PM »

Air starts could be used in the beginner arena but that's a very dangerous path.

We've all seen what happens with the relaxed realism arenas, FA3 being a good example. It's better to force the newbies to learn something new instead of just point&shoot.

Elfenwolf · « **Reply #24 on:** April 01, 2002, 02:55:31 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by SUPERFLY
I see where you are all coming from, and I agree with you too. This is why we are looking for a marketing person. We don't have those kind of l33t skillz.

Heya Fly, The problems with flight sims is a built-in diminishing player base with few new players becoming involved due to the steep learning curve. If the game is made more arcade-like then the old time players would jump to War Birds.

Gaming magazines are limited in scope because those that read them are generally looking for a CD off-line game or a game that's easy to master, and Aces High is in an absolute niche market and is offered up without compromise in flight modeling, which is how it should be.

How bout a New Users Only arena available to players for the first six months of membership, maybe made available by link from various WW2 Aviation sites? Face it, for any new player to put up with the steep learning curve they would have to love WW2 aircraft, and the average reader of Gamer magazines doesn't fit that profile.

I'm not sure AOL would be interested in offering AH as a free service, but I'd check out that angle too. Most of us aren't AOL subscribers so I don't think it would cut into the player base too terribly much.

A bigger problem, in my view, is how do you keep new players? AW had a great support community where organized training missions were run (once again, New Users Arena would be useful). You guys should tap this resource of the many players who WOULD be willing to become volunteer staffers.

Somebody doing a free 2-week trial, getting vulched every flight where they aren't crashing, will leave at the end of the two week period rather than PAY to die every flight. A New Users Arena might make people more interested in sticking around if 1) They actually get answers to questions from an on-line staffer and 2) They are matched against players of roughly their same skill level.

Bottom line is, Aces High has to be fun to keep a New User, and getting waxed in MA every flight isn't fun. Just my 2 cents worth, but good luck.

PS- To the Aces High Community- Do what you can to help out the new guys. Take some time, be patient with them, show them the ropes. And PROMOTE Aces High. Let's not what happpened to AW happen here.

OZkansas · « **Reply #25 on:** April 01, 2002, 03:23:48 PM »

Get Tech-TV to interview and tour AH!!

Curval · « **Reply #26 on:** April 01, 2002, 03:25:16 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by mrsid2
Air starts could be used in the beginner arena but that's a very dangerous path.

We've all seen what happens with the relaxed realism arenas, FA3 being a good example. It's better to force the newbies to learn something new instead of just point&shoot.

I don't think air starts are necessary at all. For one thing you can use the auto take off function (although I have never even tried it), but the other thing is that take offs are the easiest thing to do in AH. (Unless trying to take off in a fully loaded F4UD on a carrier...but, I digress) If a newbie keeps getting shot down while trying to take off at one airfield and doesn't attempt to go to another one, well, then maybe he/she shouldn't be flying in AH. Perhaps they should simply go back to banging their heads against a wall for entertainment

Also...probably the BEST thing about AH IS the steep learning curve. It is very much like golf in that one day you think you have the game all figured out...the next day you are complaining about being in a slump. New users should be informed that as AH is the best flight sim on the net it requires time to master it. Sure you will lose some...but you will gain a whole lot!

I don't know how the AH community has been stereotyped as being unfriendly:confused: This is my fourth tour, so I am a relative newbie and I have found the exact opposite!

superpug1 · « **Reply #27 on:** April 01, 2002, 04:13:54 PM »

Huhu.

Beating dead horses. huhu.

Superfly · « **Reply #28 on:** April 01, 2002, 05:06:07 PM »

We do have volunteer trainers in the game right now. I'm not sure how often they offer their services, but they are there. I've seen them take people into the TA to give lessons. If you want to become a trainer, I believe you can email Pyro or even support@hitechcreations.com
Getting new players to stay has a lot more to do with the way the community accepts them. If you see someone asking how to do something, you should try to help them if you can. I always try to help if I'm not busy. I think it would also be helpful to put together an offline tutorial, but I have a feeling coding it wouldn't be that easy. Training films would be helpful too. These could be player made, and if they were well done, it may not be too big of a deal to link them on our site. However that would really be up to HT or Pyro, not me.

Elfenwolf · « **Reply #29 on:** April 01, 2002, 05:16:31 PM »

Curval, It's not just WHERE you take off from. It's that because of the steep learning curve, which we all agree is necessary to keep realism in the game, tends to run off new users. I'd be curious to know how many new people have canceled their subscriptions in frustration over not having a chance in the air against the average Aces High vet.

I propose an arena for those who don't have the experience yet to have any hope of survivibality in the MA to find competition on a level playing field with like-skilled players. Maybe limit the New User Arena to six months, or so many points, or a certain ranking, or whatever. Keep the same flight dynamics, but make it kind of like a "rookie league" like baseball has.

Staff it with volunteer trainers, make the New Users look forward to "graduating" to the MA, charge the 15.99 a month, allow MA vets into New User arena but without ammo so they might be able to help train newbies (and look out for those with ability who might be suitable for squad recruitment) and let's see how many new users stick around long enough to help Hi-Tech's bottom line.

As for your comparison to golf, on a golf course you play against the course as much as against other players, so maybe a more proper analogy would be to compare the AH learning curve to basketball. How many times will you get waxed by Michael Jordan before you get tired of it...and take up golf?

My own experience in sales has convinced me the real trick is to keep your clients, not find new ones. If we're selling a game like Aces High to new users who don't have a clue then all the two week free trial does is convince many of them they'll never master the game so they quit.