Introduction
EFG Amalgamated Ltd. LLC or simply EFG is a two year old business offering tools which help enhance telecommunications, also known as audgets. The business targets both business markets which utilize audio capabilities as well as consumers who purchase the product for personal computers installations. Like any other technology, the products have limitations such as quality of transmission being affected by the number of users participating in a single transmission, and users not being able to install them well. For this reason, the business needs to find an avenue which will help it increase its market size as well as educate clients on how to install and use the products.
One of the avenues for this is Second Life. Second life is a web based program with limitless possibilities for businesses intending to establish their presence in a market and interact with their customers. Its effectiveness as a marketing avenue is evident by the number of multinational corporations such as Dell who have so far established a virtual presence in Second life. EFG has a wide range of options to choose from in Second Life, all which are effective, cost-efficient and efficient for them to do marketing.
Advertising in Second Life
One way EFG can use Second Life to market its products is promotion and relationship management. Second Life has proven itself a very effective way for businesses to brief agents and customers about their products. Businesses intending to educate their clients on products find limitless academic possibilities in Second Life. Since EFG is in the systems and communications industry, it can particularly be active in different activities such as developing working models of existing and new products. According to Tahmincioglu “people find the Second Life experience more enjoyable, sociable and most importantly more real than conference participation” (11).
EFG can also benefit from cross selling and building brands. This they can do by cross selling Second Life products and the company’s real life products. It is also achievable by using Second Life as one of their advertising channels especially for products which the company has designed for a particular demographic. It is however important for the business to create appealing Second Life and Real Life products considering customers are not attracted to dull and mediocre products.
Second Life is a good avenue for EFG to develop a low cost international presence. It attracts people from all over the world and some areas may share market characteristics with the market EFG is targeting. By observing and interacting with people from such markets, the business will definitely have made its first steps towards understanding its market both locally and internationally.
The business can use the avenue to model and monitor its operations. A good example of a successful modeling and monitoring operation is that of AT&T where its Engineers from different cities are using Second Life to monitor their tests jointly (REF). This technique has been so successful especially on network devices and EFG could use it to test its telecommunications enhancing tools.
A very critical benefit from using Second Life is networking. Today, networking is the most effective way for a business to establish a presence. Second life gives businesses the chance to make connections with people from specific interest areas and get information which is very essential for a business’ research. The most important source of information for businesses is customer feedback. EFG will be able to get this information from the many members of Second Life both on their Second Life products as well as real life products. However, this will only happen if the business is willing to spend time finding out what is happening in the network and making an effort to contact as many people as possible.
Another important benefit arises from the fact that Second Life is a cost effective way for distance advertising and conferencing. One of the challenges EFG is facing is its customers not being able to install widgets correctly. As a result, they do not experience any improvement in their connection as they would expect. This is of course damaging to the reputation of the brand and costs the business a lot of money in handling customer complaints. Second Life will give the business an avenue to showcase its products and educate its clientele on how to properly install the products. It is not only cost effective but is also an easy way to reach as many customers as possible.
Conclusion
Regardless of the size of a business, Second Life has a long list of benefits to businesses who wish to establish both local and global markets. For EFG, it is a good avenue to announce to local press and make customer newsletters available for their customers. It will offer the business a permanent 3D multi-user interactive and collaborative exhibition (Tahmincioglu 11). The business will be able to hold meetings and train customers by creating 3D prototypes of products to show clients. It will be able to easily hold company events and invite millions of people to their meetings which including product exhibitions and new products launches. The business will be able to increase creativity, productivity and its levels of innovation. Most importantly, it is a cost effective option, an advantage that is especially important for a young business such as EFG. With environmental concerns being an important consideration for businesses today, Second Life offers a carbon-friendly environment to ensure an environmentally friendly marketing option.
An example of how businesses can hold presentations and conferences in Second Life
Reference
Tahmincioglu, Eve. “Business, and Start ups in Second Life.” Business Week 2008: Print.