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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Learning the Business & the Business Learning Marketing

Vanessa Clark: As many of you know, I am the new marketing director for Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc. While I am knowledgable about marketing it has been quite a ride learning the in's and out's of the "gaming" industry! Of course, while Steve Cole has been taking me by the hand and has been teaching me about the industry and our games and products, he's had his fair share of learning. I have been learning things like Frigates, Cruisers, Booster Packs, combat terminology, etc. and Steve has been having to learn tricks of the trade in marketing such as being consistant with the little things...fonts, color, etc and learning new marketing jargon like "branding." =) We've both had some trying days when we are both so tired because he's teaching me and I'm teaching him and we are both learning. Thankfully, I think we are both bringing the company and it's products to a new level.

What do I do? One afternoon Steve and Leanna laughed when they realized that Steve didn't know what my job really was other than "marketing stuff." Yes, I market ADB's products through a variety of ways. If any of you have ever seen Steve's version of a press release and have gotten on my mailing list to get the new press releases called Star Fleet Alerts...you know what I've been doing. Before I came to ADB, Steve was so busy creating and trying to do everything that he couldn't get a press release out on a regular schedule, not to mention it was just text and black and white. It has taken a while, but now retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and players that email me asking to be on the release list get a news letter and/or press release every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the form of a colored PDF. On Monday's the Alert is about upcoming new products ranging from Federation Commander to Federation & Empire to whatever Steve has created that is coming out soon. On Wednesday's we focus the Alert on our Legacy line of Star Fleet Battles products. On Friday's it's usually just a reminder of what has just been released. The Alerts is just one way I've changed what goes on around here and everyone including Steve is excited about how we as a company are changing.

Things I've been working on including rebuilding bridges with retailers and our wholesalers and bringing in new markets...Australia, new distributors here in the USA, and others from around the globe. It's taking a little time, but it is getting done. Next week I'll be going to local retailers to see about working out a contract for carrying our products locally. I also plan on trying to get in with some bigger chains, but I won't mention names until it becomes something real.

Enough about marketing; if any of you would like to be put on the list to recieve the "Star Fleet Alerts" I've been talking about, please email me at marketing@starfleetgames.com with the subject: SFA mailing list, and I'll be happy to add you to the list. If you have any ideas or you see something that I'm doing that you aren't sure about, please let me know. I am here to help ADB. I can't do that if our customers don't talk to me and give me feedback.

I hope you all share the excitement I have in pushing Amarillo Design Bureau into a new place with its products and games!