Greetings, I am Terwyn, the marketing director for City of Titans. I’ve been asked to provide a bit of an overview of how we view the need for marketing. I’m well aware that many people have a significant distaste for advertising – even those of us within it find the constant barrage of information to get a little tedious at times, but it is a necessary aspect for the success of any company.
Now, I’d like to think that everyone is familiar with the classic introduction to folk tales and similar stories. I am, of course, referring to “Once upon a time.” Many don’t realize it, but marketing and folklore have a great deal in common, as both strongly involve the communication of values. These days, we refer to this particular strategy as “word-of-mouth,” and it remains one of the strongest and most effective means of marketing a product or service to this day.
One of the primary themes that we are going to explore with City of Titans is the idea that all folklore is real, to some degree. Considering that we are building a super-powered comic book world to explore and, for those so inclined, attempt to conquer; however we try to present it, we’ll always be dependent on the power of “Once upon a time” in our marketing ventures.
This is why we haven’t actually seemed to engage in much marketing beyond simple usage of social media – of the hundreds, if not thousands, of news articles surrounding our project, very few of them were started at our initiative. When people come directly to you to find out more about what you are doing, it is a dream position for any company to be in, because it allows unprecedented flexibility in how one relates to the community. This is because the flow of conversation between developer and the community remains entirely natural, without need for anything to feel forced. In short, it allows for an incredible level of trust; provided that you don’t screw it up.
Of course, we’re going to also engage in traditional marketing and advertising strategies, but it remains far too early for us to do much of that; it wouldn’t do to for us to make promises that we don’t know we can’t keep, for example.
Any company that sits back and lets word-of-mouth do all the work is making a fatal mistake, because instead of relying on the trustworthiness of its products and services, it is relying on the trustworthiness of second-hand accounts of the same. Most people would have a difficult time believing things they cannot at least know where to go to prove, so I can confidently say that any marketing or advertising claim we make will certainly have proof to back it up. While ideas are bulletproof, we marketers are not, so this is a sensible precaution.
One of the most important things that the developers of City of Titans and the leadership of Missing Worlds Media have learned as we’ve progressed is that City of Titans is really not a product; it is a service. If that sounds strange, that’s because it is.
With the view that we are building a service comes the realization that an MMO really is a massive platform in which virtual communities collaborate and socialize in the name of entertainment. In other words, an MMO is a social network, and should, at some basic level, always be recognized as such. It was a difficult lesson to learn for most of us, because it changes the entire approach to a great many things.
How many of you heard of us because someone you know told you of our existence? That, my friends, is why stories endure. Once upon a time, a thing happened, and this is what that thing was: A city was being built. And then more things started happening. What will they be?
Written by: Terwyn
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Join the discussion here: [url=http://cityoftitans.com/forum/disccus-once-upon-time-business]http://cityoftitans.com/forum/disscus-once-upon-time-business[/url]