Have you considered the fact that your next job interview could be in the virtual offices of your future employer in Second Life? No? Well, you’re not alone - I’ve never considered it either. But, an article last month in Kiplinger’s magazine about virtual interviews by companies such as Verizon, Microsoft, and HP leads me to believe that the possibility isn’t so remote.
More importantly to small business marketing is how far we are away from actually having to consider adding virtual world marketing to our plans and budgets. Admittedly, my mind was pretty closed off to the possibility. I couldn’t imagine myself, buying real estate in Second Life and flying my avatar around to meetings. But, a few recent news stories have me thinking other virtual world technologies may become more mainstream for small businesses.
Cisco recently announced a Second Life-like site for resellers and developers - sort of a virtual trade show. From the article:
The new Cisco site will be accessible through Cisco’s Web site, but it is not open to the public. The ISPN was designed and housed on servers owned by Unisfair Inc. in Menlo Park, Calif., Sage said. Visitors to ISPN will be able to click on buttons to navigate as they move through trade show halls and booths, a meeting hall and a lounge, along with various “shadow people,” without the need to pick attire or facial characteristics as in Second Life. However, they will be able to chat with one another in ISPN to compare technologies. In coming weeks, Cisco plans to allow voice communication between ISPN participants through WebEx and Skype, he said.
Hitting closer to home, a major distributor of ours is hosting virtual trade shows for the manufacturers of products they carry and the resellers and end users who buy those products. You wouldn’t believe how life-like the interface is! I can actually see our company participating in an event like that - or at least trying it to see what kind of quality leads we’re able to obtain.
So, it looks like we have another avenue to consider for future marketing efforts or at least keep an eye on. If your interested, I found a webinar being hosted by BtoB about how marketers can achieve ROI in Second Life. The webinar is this Wednesday, September 26th (tomorrow). I won’t be able to attend, but would love a recap if anyone decides to check it out.
What are your thoughts on virtual world marketing? Fad or viable marketing effort?
Tags: BtoB, Cisco, Second Life, small business marketing, trade show
Patrick,
Excellent post and a subject we marketers need to pay attention to. We need someone to break through the barriers of reaching the right audience using virtual marketing, and then we can follow that lead and add our own ideas to it.
Hey Lewis,
It’s funny - virtual world marketing wasn’t even close to being on my radar. But, with new ideas and twists on the technology, it’s starting to be something to take seriously.
No doubt that every business should have a web site but virtual world marketing? It seems real annoying and tacky to me. You wont be finding me on a virtual market website its just too rediculous