Marketing Strategies?

AlanRivera380482

Hello fellow arcade owners, I currently own a small VR Arcade and would like to know what marketing strategies have worked for you guys?

We are only 4 months in and it has been a great experience, but we are having a little trouble with marketing VR everytime someone does it they are absolutely amazed and often come back or recommend other people to come, but from marketing the arcade on social media and other methods have not seem to be working, people don’t really understand what it is we offer since they do not understand what is VR (I am the only VR arcade in the city and nearby cities) and the people who think they do mostly only have experienced mobile VR and think thats what we are offering… I would like to know what has worked for you guys?

Jayson_Paglow

Hey AlanRivera380482 ,

As a former arcade operator I can say that we rarely had success with traditional advertising and social media. Social media is great for amplifying your identity, ie posting pictures of helping out at a local nursing home etc. but for attracting new customers I think the best marketing is to do as many mobile events as possible. During the events pass out coupons, marketing collateral, sign up people for upcoming contests, charity events etc.

No one knows how awesome VR is until they try it so having mobile events as the front of your marketing funnel is a great way to get initial leads.

KatePlayItVR

AlanRivera380482 we opened in February, and you could be writing our story as we have exactly the same situation! I can’t say we’re through the woods and successful yet but things are picking up. I’m not even sure where to start on all we’ve learned so far. I’m writing on my mobile right now, so will post more from my computer!

AlanRivera380482

Jayson_Paglow Totally agree, it’s next to impossible to market VR to someone that has absolutely no idea what it is, especially through social media, we mostly get customers who bring their kids because they think it’s just video games for kids but while they’re there we convince them to give it a try and then they absolutely love it and recommend it to others and come back, so our “marketing” it’s mostly through word of mouth, while good it’s kind of hard to grow and expand the way we would like to with just word of mouth thats why we are looking for ways to improve our marketing in social media and the “old school” ways.

About the events, we bought a tent to take to events, activities, etc. and currently are negotiating with 2 schools to bring the equipment to them.

But I think we might do malls and events to give free demos with the quest like Scotthan suggested.

Thanks for the feedback really appreciate it.

Scotthan

Your “tribe” is hanging out somewhere. Find them. For us it’s a local craft brewery around the corner.

Let me know what you think about this simple plan :

Buy an Oculus Quest.
Get a retractable banner … keep it simple (location, hours, contact info)
Load the Quest with Ritchie’s Plank, Beat Saber, boxing demo … just 2 or 3 for your target “tribe” - Remove as much as you can from the menu.
Talk to owner and make a plan for demo’ing on best date/time where your targets will be.
Bring a stack of business cards/coupons with “Half off if you bring a friend” (Drives more people in the door)
Keep a timer for just 2-3 mins - giving them a taste and wanting more.
Profit! :-)

We all know it’s about the experience. No video, brochure, explaining is ever going to work. You have to “take” the experience to where they are. We also have a coffee shop, that’s a great target too. Bowling alley/movie theater would be great, but that’s a little dicey sometimes because you’re taking some of that traffic and dollars they would spend there and redirecting to you.

Speaking of experience, in the Quest you can cast the view of the headset, so bring a TV and a Chromecast … it can be buggy, but should work.

Thoughts?

AlanRivera380482

Scotthan I had thought about the quest before to give free demos, nice to know that someone has done it ands its working. Thanks for the feedback!

KatePlayItVR

Scotthan SpringboardVR doesn’t support the Quest yet, how can you get commercially licensed games on it?

Scotthan

AlanRivera380482 Yeah, just make sure you only pick demos you also have in your arcade :-) … although the Vader Immortal stuff is fun!

thevrclub

Keep in mind you need an internet connection for the Quest to cast to a Chromecast, which can be hard to organise for off-site events if at all

AlanRivera380482

thevrclub I have a portable router given that were my business is currently located I can only open on weekends and also have plans of doing activities and events, so anywhere I go I just connect to an outlet and I will have internet connection.

AlanRivera380482

KatePlayItVR he is recommending it for free demos which you don’t need commercial licenses for since you will not be charging (at least as far as I know) will have to look further into this to see if is a viable and profitable option for our marketing

WaylonFisher71220

KatePlayItVR You can message some devs directly and work out licenses. We commonly do this for event licenses in which we bring a quest.

MasterControl280734

KatePlayItVR by the way oculus quest cannot be used commercially because you can’t get it into steam, oculus has no commercial license for it as well. So if you see your competition running around charging people and using oculus quest, you can kill them instantly by reporting them to oculus. Their licenses will be revoked and you’ll yank the rug out from them. Conversely, if you do that be sure your competition doesn’t see you do it so they can do it to you. It has happened. Don’t let these fools tell you otherwise. A private license does not allow you to sell its use. Nothing says you can’t just show it off for free tho. While you do that free thing, hand out fliers and cards and book as many as you can on the spot. That’s perfectly legal.

VR-ARRIVAL

AlanRivera380482 - my understanding for commercial licensing is that it doesn’t matter if you are charging for it or not, if you are presenting it to the public, you require a commercial license unfortunately.

Scotthan

Yes, I’m pretty sure this is a gray area, and I would never advocate anyone doing anything they are uncomfortable with.

That being said, I’ve only ever worked at big companies and I’ve never seen them go after a little fish, especially when :

A - They doing marketing for the bigger company
B - Likely selling some headsets for the Christmas holidays with the demos

OVPowerPlay

We are going to be doing mobile events. Not all the places will have wifi, so using a vive we should be able to still do some titles to let people play them, we just won’t be able to use Springboard’s launcher. Due to this, we’ll have a separate account with demos and such or games we have purchased specifically for this mobile device. I’m just hoping we won’t need internet access for all of the titles we want to use, which is only like 4 or so. 🙂

mindstormlab

OVPowerPlay Just provide internet via your phone

MasterControl280734

Fair warning: MOBILE IS DANGEROUS - be careful where you market it, a business savvy owner will see you marketing your product see you rolling with people interested in it, see the $$$ and take the idea and roll with it and run you right out of business because they will already have the clients and the money to do what you’re doing.

VR is still very new, just offer a free demo to everyone who comes in.

when people are watching their kids play, offer a free demo to the parents.

give free demos to everyone who comes in. Even people who say “no” are just scared. Don’t thrill those ones with richie’s plank, amaze them with a mellow game like the blu.

the proper term is “the 2D TV doesn’t do this justice, when you’re in the headset you see 3D. It’s not something someone can be told about, you have to be shown.” You are literally Morpheus. Don’t let them leave without putting a headset on them and you will get resell.

if you get 2 people in the door ALWAYS up sell 2 stations. “VR is best experienced WITH someone”. It’s one thing to watch from the couch, offer the second player half off. GET THEM IN A HEADSET NO MATTER WHAT. They will come back.

once they’re in the door they’re a captive audience so make sure they experience it and make sure it’s on their level. Have a mellow zen game for new players young kids and older adults, have a thrill game like richies plank for teens and young adults, and have something in the middle for people who want something interesting but not too thrilling and not too zen. I’m still looking for a good mid level game so if you find one let me know.

VR-ARRIVAL

MasterControl280734 - just to clarify, my understanding is that you can’t use software in a public setting if it is in any way tied in with a commercial business. Eg. if a museum had a VR headset there for free use to draw customers in, they must use a commercial license. Likewise if you are doing marketing for your business while offering free VR trials, you must use a commercial license. Whether or not you will be picked up for it is another thing entirely, but that is my understanding of how it all works….