Seeking some answers to probably obvious questions

[SomTechUK]

So I've been giving a lot of thought into how I might market my gaming business and thought it would be useful to think on the matter in a semi-public manner. If you have any thoughts then it would be massively appreciated.

What I do know:

• The market is there, the gaming market is growing as is the high-end gaming PC kit, I won't show my working but I'm fairly satisfied that this is a given
• However, there is a threat from Google Stadia (the cloud gaming service) in terms of sales of video games especially, and also PCs secondarily. I'm not too worried as the kit I'd be offering is as much a fashion statement as it is a premium experience.
• Video games will only make money on volume because of the margins, that being said, the margins on PC build sales are better.
• The market for video games is a fairly broad brush however in terms of PCs I'd be targeting young to middle-aged professional men (AB, maybe C1 because of the value of the PCs).
• I don't want to spend a fantastic amount of money on PPC advertising unless there's a return on it and I'm fairly skeptical on the merits of it

What I don't know

• Marketing is a difficulty in my mind and there's no obvious strategy that has emerged in my head. Social media is a thing, but how do you light the match rather than having an unliked Facebook page? Equally, if one blogs about the subject matter than how do you get people to see it?
• I have always debated with my business partner if we should have if not premises than a physical presence somewhere. The plausible conclusion that we have reached is that we would like to run events, but how does one market the events well?

I guess I'm struggling with the basics here and I acknowledge that. I'm not expecting some magical situation to come from this conversation but maybe some hints or things to think about might help me, or others in a similar boat.

 

[MOIC]

The market is there, the gaming market is growing as is the high-end gaming PC kit, I won't show my working but I'm fairly satisfied that this is a given

Totally agree. We supply gaming products globally and this has increased in volume over the past year.

However, there is a threat from Google Stadia (the cloud gaming service) in terms of sales of video games especially, and also PCs secondarily. I'm not too worried as the kit I'd be offering is as much a fashion statement as it is a premium experience.

If you are offering products (apart from video games) which are bespoke and have your brand/style, I wouldn't worry too much about the competition. Presuming you are buying correctly, the bigger boys will be working on much higher profits

Video games will only make money on volume because of the margins, that being said, the margins on PC build sales are better.

Don't just do PC's, there are a multitude of products you can offer/sell allied to gaming.

The market for video games is a fairly broad brush however in terms of PCs I'd be targeting young to middle-aged professional men (AB, maybe C1 because of the value of the PCs).

It's a growing sector . . . . .for all ages!

I don't want to spend a fantastic amount of money on PPC advertising unless there's a return on it and I'm fairly skeptical on the merits of it

Hopefully forum members who have experience in PPC, as well as different methods of marketing your products/business will be along shortly.

Good luck with your project!

 

[mattk]

What sort of price point will your products be targeting? I assume we are talking circa £1k for a gaming PC.

Ask yourself how you decide how to spend that kind of money? If it was me I'd want to buy from a reputable company and I would be steered by reviews from trustworthy sources.

To me, this means things like PPC/social media are good for getting traffic, but you will need to offer exemplary quality and customer service, with a rock solid returns policy.

I've had a quick look and it seems a very crowded market place. What will be your USP to make yourself stand out from all the other gaming PC suppliers?

 

[Mr D]

What sort of price point will your products be targeting? I assume we are talking circa £1k for a gaming PC.

Ask yourself how you decide how to spend that kind of money? If it was me I'd want to buy from a reputable company and I would be steered by reviews from trustworthy sources.

To me, this means things like PPC/social media are good for getting traffic, but you will need to offer exemplary quality and customer service, with a rock solid returns policy.

I've had a quick look and it seems a very crowded market place. What will be your USP to make yourself stand out from all the other gaming PC suppliers?

wow, 1k for a gaming pc. last time I priced one up I went over 5k - from Alienware.

 

[alan1302]

wow, 1k for a gaming pc. last time I priced one up I went over 5k - from Alienware.

Could have gone higher as well

 

[SomTechUK]

What sort of price point will your products be targeting? I assume we are talking circa £1k for a gaming PC.

Ask yourself how you decide how to spend that kind of money? If it was me I'd want to buy from a reputable company and I would be steered by reviews from trustworthy sources.

To me, this means things like PPC/social media are good for getting traffic, but you will need to offer exemplary quality and customer service, with a rock solid returns policy.

I've had a quick look and it seems a very crowded market place. What will be your USP to make yourself stand out from all the other gaming PC suppliers?

The other commenters are right in that it can be way, way more.

Reputation is earnt over time and currently we are obviously no-one. That being said, I think physical demonstrations of high quality pcs would sway people enough to get the ball rolling if the customer service is good.

My observation is that the customer experience is pretty similar for if you buy a 1k pc vs a 5k pc - apart from fringe cases it gets put in a box and sent to you. We want to focus on installation and personal service that someone paying that kind of money would expect, in my mind.

 

[Nochexman]

Have you thought about selling through a retailer?

 

[Julia Sta Romana]

• Marketing is a difficulty in my mind and there's no obvious strategy that has emerged in my head. Social media is a thing, but how do you light the match rather than having an unliked Facebook page? Equally, if one blogs about the subject matter than how do you get people to see it?

Before you can come up with a marketing strategy, you have to start with a specific marketing goal in mind. For example, how many units do you want to sell for the next quarter? How much do you want to money do you want to make?

Once you have answers to those questions, you then work your way back. How many queries or leads do I need to get to that number? Where would I most likely find the leads I need?

When you know the answers to these questions, this is actually when you can start building a marketing strategy. You know how many leads you need. You know the leading markets you need to tap. Now, what you will need to do is identify the channels that you would most likely reach them. Is it on social media? Having a website? Running ads? Identify the channels you feel that you have the biggest chance of success and focus on building specific campaigns from there.

• I have always debated with my business partner if we should have if not premises than a physical presence somewhere. The plausible conclusion that we have reached is that we would like to run events, but how does one market the events well?

To market an event, you need to really build a community first. They're the ones who would attend your event and bring friends along. So if you have a local gaming community, ask them. What event would they want to go to? What would they want to see? When the community is as invested in creating the event, it would be easier to market your event.