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XD Yah lol. A few times where we would have to kind of create our own festive mood and save menewsha money at the same time, right? :3
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I know that in market share, Menewsha's position in double jeopardy - bigger brand (Gaia) has more customers, who are also more loyal (buy more often). There are four p's in marketing strategy - price, place, position and product and I am going to question you about two of them. First, your positioning. Have you ever thought how are you and your team positioning Menewsha well enough? Think about your advertising method and your brand management. Based on empirical research, 50% of sales comes from 20% of your loyal consumers and the other 50% comes from your 80% of your light consumers. For your advertising method, what kind of approach have you take? Think of your advertising and your consumers as in leaky bucket. The leak represents your consumers and the function of advertising is supposedly to fill out more water because it is better to have overflowed customers instead of empty customers, right? Therefore, I suggest you to create advertising that would nudge your 80% of light consumers. Yes perhaps based on the statistic you have provided it is true that there is a declining numbers in people with anime interest and since there is nothing else you can do, perhaps it is better to start promote it to the new level where you gonna attract different market, ie. those who like music or RP (and FYI mene has huge range of attire for RP!). My advice is that to rethink your marketing strategy in advertising. Use the weak advertising theory! It helps! Lastly, your products. If you look around the website you would notice that some sub forums or even forums appear dead. Is there any way your staff could do something to attract your users to be more active in that area? Also, you need to do a research why many users become less active because some of them ( no matter how little in number) are those who would donate to the website. You can ask them what causing them to be less active and see if there is any improvement you can do. Ok sorry if its too long.... @[email protected] I tried my best to shorten them |
I like the way you described that visually. It does seem very true that the people who are more dedicated to this site are the ones that have more inclination to donate. Just as in some churches, if you were to say that they had to pay a decent chunk of money to attend every day, less people would come than if you made it free. But of those people who would still pay, it means that they are more dedicated and believe in what they are doing as a good thing. Now menewsha isn't going to be a place where you have to pay to "get in" or participate, but it does keep money to keep it running just like it would take money to keep a building running with water and electricity, and even more to provide food and special events.
I certainly am under the impression that many people who use this website for at least long enough to start getting the hang of things tend to favor it over several other avatar sites. It's not to say this is a big competition by any means, but there is inevitably gold to be had in the field. The more people see this "gold", and appreciate its value, the more we can keep this site running, with new improvements and events. If there were some way to fix this all in a heartbeat, I'd do it right now. And so would many others here, as I have seen by their saddened posts of this news, and lack of apathy in the announcement as a whole. So I suppose in the end, it all boils down to how much we are willing to sacrifice. That is to say, something has to change unless there is some kind of miracle, looking at the trends in the charts and such. Maybe we should all say what we would be happiest with and what we could deal with? I mean, it all plays into the budget too. Which makes me curious. What amount of money could be expected to be saved from the specific suggestions made so far? |
*can't believe she read through the whole thread, even if she didn't read all pages straight in one go*
Anyhows, first of all, I really appreciate the transparency. Like some have mentioned, I've picked up on the hints that Mene hasn't been doing as well as it should. You're not beating around the bush any longer, and while the news is indeed saddening, at least you're honest. Speaking of honesty though, right now I don't have any new ideas to bring to the table. :x Although I would like to reiterate the idea of an RL auction of sorts for limited merchandise? Limited merchandise would mean that you won't have to spend as much on production costs. Then again, I have no idea on how much production costs are over there. =\ But, I like the idea, if that counts. ^^;; It would also be nice if the SMS donating service would work for other countries like the Philippines. xDD;; Honestly, I can be a consistent donator. But as I don't trust Paypal (if Paypal already exists over here, as I remember it didn't for a time >.<), I can't find any other way to donate. :'< It's probably just selfish of me though, because in the Philippines' case we're probably, what, less than 10 members? But it might work? I'll try and think up of other suggestions when my brain comes back. xDD;; |
I just want to say that something that would make me come back is a more graphically-appealing, tidier website. Gaia really went downhill over the years with their page designs (to the point where they've truly become messy; I understand that this could have come from all of their features and advertisements, but it's simply become hard for them to find the drawers to put things in), and Menewsha's isn't really that visually stimulating to me either (while already smaller and simpler, I admit). While I love the community itself, I feel that bright/unique color combos and schemes would keep someone like me coming back simply because the layout is attractive and the navigation is easy to use. This website doesn't strike me as having a style of its own (despite having many NPCs that call Menewsha home).
I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on creating a truly unique logo for Menewsha (something simple, possibly featuring Yumeh as opposed to a small, somewhat forgettable rotating banner [generic font and all] at the top of the forum)? A logo as well as a tidier/more modern color and design overhaul might give older visitors a reason to check things out a second time. I remember when the current logo was being designed when I was on staff; the creative resources just weren't there so this is what we got. Not bad, but if you want to take that "next step" then a major website overhaul (not just color, but shape, link placement, logo, everything) might be something to consider if you really want to surprise people and show everyone what you (as a website) are made of. Overall, I'm sorry to hear that Menewsha is in this state of things since it really is a wonderful place to be. I'd like to thank you for taking the costs into your own hands for so long. You absolutely are a one-man band at the end of the day! I'm hoping that you'll be able to take enough ideas, thoughts and other feedback from this and take Menewsha to the next level, despite worries re: "selling out" and other popular terms. I know you'll do what's right as you seem like the right driving force this site needs to move forward. If there's ever anything I can help out with, definitely let me know. I may not have posted in ages but I stalk every chance I get because I care about this community. Menewsha will always be a home to me. :) |
I still love you papi!
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Along the lines of what Reverie said, maybe we need to look harder into getting the webcomic back and active. Webcomics are hot right now, and we're losing a huge advertising space by not updating ours. Also, the webcomic shouldn't be for the forum... the forum should be for the webcomic. That's how you'll bring in revenue, I think. People who want to buy the comics in book form, swag related to NPC's, etc... I realize that there's a cost associated with this, but by bringing it back, perhaps even with a new art style, and by giving it a much better focus (a front page link perhaps?), you can involve a new group of people--ones that aren't necessarily forum-goers, but love having a bit of reading material ;)
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I would buy a comic form!
I could auction hand made rl mene merchandise? I'm fairly handy with a sewing machine ^.^ I have a website, and I may be able to sway a friend of mine to help me set this up, all proceeds go straight to you guys? |
I like the comic idea a lot but I don't really see how it can reel in any real income for the site.. I would think you'd end up paying more for the artists then people "paying" to read. Aren't web comic normally free? They usually stay afloat by selling merchandise. (like that T-Shirt design)
When it gets right down to it forums are mini social networking sites, obviously different corners of the ring, but Menewsha is about meting people and making a connection. As Insomniac stated in order to survive Menewsha needs to evolve a bit... So how do other Gaia children make cash? Monthly Items Merchandise Sponsors How do other web sites stay afloat? Advertisements Affiliations Monthly Fee's Premium Memberships One last inspired possibility would be looking at the MMO industry. In the last 7 years it's has exploded into Free To Play business models. They make their revenue through flashy impressive items, similar to Avatar monthly items. They probably got the idea from these form sites. But they've taken it even further by having one time payments to unlock convenient features or premium packages. ^ So what I'm saying is you could make a secondary line of paid items, separate from the monthly items available at any time without the time constraints. These items would be better then shop items but not as cool as the monthly items, NOT meant to replace monthly releases. Then having beginner packs, regular perk packages, or how ever you'd like to call them be packages of say 3-5 of paid items with a discount. like 15% off and so on. You could organize sales with these items, have randomized packages, etc. There are tonnes of options could be expanded onto here. If you were able to add Premium features for the Avatars you could have a similar system. say pay $7.99 for a new mouth pack, a new skin set, different ears. What ever. A basic avatar that is all ready here would be free to use, and for more customization users may choose to improve their look at their leisure. -I am aware that making changes to skins and such is difficult but paying users would be worth it yes?- --MMO's some times use a monthly payment style as most know, some Free to Plays have special feature packs on monthly payment plans (Eg. Changing the number of characters you can have), in Menesha's case I think that would direct at customization features of Avatars. But I don't think monthly payments will ever float in Avatar communities.-- So.. There's eight different revenue options (some of which Menewsha uses) which are popular strategies from other companies. Hmm I'm going to go eat. ^^ |
leasfy on the previous page made me realize something... if Anime isn't as popular and we're competing with a massive corporation, maybe we need to focus our advertisement on something Gaia DOESN'T have. Now I don't mean don't advertise to other things like promoting RPers, Artists, and other things, but Gaia has those. What it doesn't have, at least not anymore, is a very obedient and unique community where any age can get along.
This is honestly one of the few forums I've seen where age didn't matter. On Gaia if I said my age they would likely say "GTFO", as a 21 year old adult is "too old". Here a 60 year old user can talk with a 15 year old, and it's quite rare elsewhere to see them chatting. I hear about "Geezer guilds" that older people join (some from jelly) on a lot of different sites, but we don't need one. That's something special. Also... there are some people concerned with Ads being certain ways... maybe there are 2 things we could do to solve this. 1. Make a thread where we can give ideas on how to advertise. 2. Make a thread where we can post (and only post) our drawn advertisements to allow easy browsing for staff. 3. Pick and choose the advertisements you like, saving you time and money having to hire staff to make the ad, and giving us the chance to contribute to the site by trying to entice new users, as we ourselves were drawn to the site, we have an idea what might draw others. There are plenty of people who can't PAY to help menewsha... and I think if we could at least A) Give an idea and/or B) create a finished product for the site, we could do something instead of nothing to help the site. |
I havn't donated in a couple months, but hey, that's what happens when you lose your job.
---------- Insom, I've got a site that I own for a game. I run it purely by myself, no middle man. In less than a year I've gotten over 300 users, with more to be expected with the map update coming ou tin a couple weeks. If you want, give me a banner that's linked, or one of your existing ads, and I'll place it on my site free of charge. I know it's not much to help, but hey, every little bit helps right? |
for me, i fall under category 2. so until economy lets up, i really don't have too much extra cash to spend on avie sites. -_-
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Wow. I thought more people would have donated to the site :-/
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More frequent comic updates might be nice--especially as long as they keep getting updated on other websites (we have a Drunkduck, don't we?), and therefore could attract more people over.
I don't know if this has been proposed (because I missed a few pages), nor do I know whether or not it's feasible or even beneficial, but maybe letting people download music from some of the games for a price? Game-apps for iPhones (those are popular, right?)? I don't know how much extra work would go into it, nor if any potential new members who might be attracted and the people who purchase it would actually make that balance out. :sweat: |
Damaru- Feel free also to use the banner in my siggy. (: I altered the picture from the front page and made both a large picture and a banner.
Kaze- Great ideas. I can't wait to see what inso's feedback is on that~ Wordstreamer- Interesting idea. : o Huh. Do you mean like menewsha themed music? |
I wish I could donate to Menewsha every month. I did in the early days, but for the past year and a half I've been constantly on the edge of not having enough money to survive, and I've had to be very picky about what I spend money on. Assuming the economy ever improves and I get a full-time salaried job, donating to Menewsha would be one of the first things I started doing again.
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Maybe making it so that you have to be logged in to download and so you must be a user, and you have to pay.. hmm maybe 50 cents - $1 per song download, but if you are downloading an album all at once it is slightly cheaper (not by much, but just a tad bit). I was wondering if you meant like, instrumentals and singing about Yumeh or Mr.Mayor or something haha. Because that would be just epic 8D
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@ Word - Hmm something like that would be reasonably priced at like a dollar methinks... cheap but helps mene with small donations..
I think menewsha ringtones would be cool XD @ Cami - Gotta agree with you there... if I get a full-time job I'm so donating to mene every month... @ Strange - OMG menewsha needs a theme song!! |
Kaze- Omg it totally does! 8D There should be a ringtone package and a full length package!
Honey do you mean before or after moving? ;O |
Before moving... 5 bucks a month wont kill my paychecks no worries XD
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Hmm, Menewsha was based off of an Island community, so maybe bring back that into the forums and into the theme song.
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mene has a theme song?? O_o
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@ Lin - no... but mene needs a theme song XD
@ Dragon - maybe that should be a heavily focused area? That little island appeal... as islands usually have good communities |
a mene theme song would be pretty neat! :lol:
and i like the idea of an island community too! |
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