Advertising and the Spiel
July 28th, 2010 Posted in businessAs many might know, I advertise on the Spiel, a gaming podcast. We signed up for a 6 month contract, starting in October of last year and then taking a break for a period of 3 months before going back to it. We just finished our run with them.
Production wise and service wise, we’ve been more than satisfied. They’ve been great and I can certainly say they’ve done the best that they can to both promote the store and their own podcast (i.e. growing it).
However, while they are large, the vast majority of their listeners are in the US. That leaves us with a relatively small percentage in Canada (our target market). Dollar for dollar, on a directly trackable basis (and yes, it’s not that trackable…) we’ve made a lost from advertising there.
Reasons for supporting (continuing to advertise) on the Spiel:
- Supporting the podcast & the gaming community through them
- Branding / awareness generation among non-customers in Canada
- Generating goodwill among existing customers who listen
Reasons for not supporting the Spiel (assuming we’re using the same funds for marketing)
- Too broad a market targeted via the Spiel
- Funds can be directed to more targeted (i.e. Canadian) advertising locations (e.g. other sites, Cons, etc.)
- Additional modules can be added to site to increase effectiveness of site
This is one of those cases where I think it’s worthwhile actually asking - should we continue? I’d love to hear from you, our customers.
7 Responses to “Advertising and the Spiel”
By Darryl on Jul 28, 2010
I feel like the relationship doesn’t work for another reason — it sounds like the hosts don’t really know what to do with you when sponsor promotion time came around. I listen to fewer than half of their podcasts, but it seemed to me that they would usually just rattle off your prices for various games. On the other hand, they did highlight your selection, which is one of your strengths.
I think in terms of building awareness, it had to have been fairly successful, as it’s a high-profile podcast. But a continued sponsorship of the same podcast would likely not mean increasing awareness at the same rate as when you started.
I agree with your cons — the sponsorship money may be better spent on site improvements and more Canadian-targeted advertisements.
By Jamie on Jul 29, 2010
Just to show a counter opinion:
I’m a board gamer just outside of Ottawa and honestly had never heard of Starlite Citadel before “The Spiel”.
I found “The Spiel” about dozen episodes back and really enjoyed it. I know a number of my gaming group listen to it as well - so you are getting some Canadian audience.
Up until then, I had in fact been doing all my online buying though a different retailer.
I was looking for a particular game and they didn’t have it in yet. I wasn’t looking forward to ordering it from some place I didn’t know (I’d been burned in some online purchases in the past), but I figured that “The Spiel” wouldn’t ally themselves with a fly-by-night company so I took the chance on Starlite Citadel. I’ve since ordered a few times from Starlite Citadel.
So, for what it’s worth, Starlite Citadel has gained at least one long term customer thanks to “The Spiel”.
—-
As a side note, I can’t think of a better “Advertising Location” that a gaming podcast - it’s likely much further reaching that a con (particularly since board gaming cons are much smaller affairs in Canada). I know, at least in my gaming group of 20ish people, only 3 regularly attend any sort of con. But almost all of them listen to gaming podcasts including “The Spiel”
By Chris Johnson on Jul 29, 2010
I’m a board gamer from Alberta Canada and a listener of The Spiel and wanted to throw in my two cents.
I had not heard of Starlit Citadel prior to the advertising on The Spiel. Due to the Spiel ad’s I did search your web site quite often. I am impressed with the selection available!
However - I have never bought any games from the site. Why? I find the prices higher than other Canadian on-line retailers. In 2009 I probably spent >$800 with on-line game purchases. Not sure how that compares to others but if the prices had been closer I probably would have switched my buying to Starlit in support of The Spiel.
So for me The Spiel ads brought me to your web site, but prices kept me from buying.
Couple of thoughts on where to put advertising dollars. There are very few direct channels to board gamers from what I can see. I think the Spiel did a great job in talking about your site. They are easily the most professional and polished podcast out there. For me other than the ads I see on BGG for Starlit I’m not sure how I would find your site. Yes they are primarily a US based podcast but I’m unaware of a quality Canadian board game podcast. An idea might be to emulate what Myriad Games seems to be doing by spawning /supporting a bunch of podcasts through their connections and website.
I would agree on Jamie points regarding “cons”. Most of the board gamers I know do not travel to cons but do listen to podcasts.
By Chris Johnson on Jul 29, 2010
Hold on…
Just compared prices to my normal retailer for my next order and …
well I’ll place an order with Starlit…
Not sure if your prices went down or the other guy went up but looks much better.
By Tao on Jul 30, 2010
Thanks everybody for your comments. I’m going to wait till after the long holiday before making my decision, but getting feedback is helpful.
By Bryan on Jul 30, 2010
I listen to the Spiel and other gaming podcasts, but I knew of your store from before. I agree that your prices were higher than other CDN retailers which is the reason I haven’t ordered more from you in the past. However, I always check your store when it comes time to purchase…
I do go to conventions and I make a point to visit the sponsors sites, but without knowing what The Spiel charges for ad rates I couldn’t tell you if it’s worth it or not.
You may want to try a different podcast since I’m sure not everyone listens to The Spiel. I tend to listen to other podcasts before I get to The Spiel, but they’re all sponsored by Myriad Games, or Fun Again already so its probably not feasible for you.