Well, I just sort of threw in an off-hand remark about marketing (and making you people do it), and I can't believe the response! I didn't intend for that post to be a discussion of marketing at all, but it seems to have exploded. I've got people asking what they can do for me, and suggesting things, in my email, my PMs, and on the forums. Maybe some in chat, too, I don't recall! So there is definitely a market for marketing for me.
I definitely appreciate any (legal) efforts made to get the word out. That is awesome. The tricky thing is I want to develop a program by which you could be rewarded for such efforts. I can't come up with anything which really encompasses all the elements such a thing would need, though. Here are 2 ideas I have:
1. Allow people to type a username into the coupon field when ordering. Then I can reward anybody who gets such a referral (say 30% of the purchase price, in yerfbucks). I've already got a program rewarding you for bringing new people to Dumb Accounts, but it's the sales that matter - if you got me a sale, I have a tangible result, and I'm more than happy to pay back.
2. Develop a mini-game that is not for sale. Nobody gets a copy but me. You can see screenshots, maybe video. You want a copy? All you have to do is email me a true story of how you spread the word of Hamumu. The game's page on the site could contain summaries of each story, too. As long as your action is remotely worthwhile (and not illegal or harmful), you get the game! It's up to you whether you want to do something fairly significant like spray painting the moon to look like Yerfdog, or a smaller thing like getting five friends together for a Hamumu party to show them the games. The only rejections would be lies and things like "I invited my friend Bob over to play Kid Mystic." Of course, if you really did that, you could still parlay it into something worthwhile by getting Bob to make a Dumb Account, thus earning you a trophy!
Both of these plans are probably good ideas (though #2 will require developing the game first!), and address different needs. But neither really goes anywhere near far enough. Ideally, it would be great to provide a way for people to get very real benefits by promoting Hamumu - AKA cash moneyz! That's much trickier to do, what with tax implications and all. Affiliate programs do that sort of thing (and have the same problem, tax implications), but in the end, I would like people to be promoting my site, not their site that sells my games. It's sad because I'd have no problem giving up 30 or 40% of every sale that someone brings in. The problems are the tax forms and properly crediting the salesperson.
So what I'd like to do is get you people all as one giant international Street Team, spreading the word everywhere. The tricky bit is I don't know how to provide rewards on a level that would inspire that kind of behavior. It would be great if I had something in place significant enough that people would actually go out and spend money, in the hopes of getting a real return.
Feel free to keep the ideas and suggestions coming, whether they are for ways I can market things, or ways I can get you to market things. It's all good food for thought at any rate!
And in the meantime, just put it all out there - let people know what Hamumu games you like, tell them to just compare the clocks, tell people to have a Dumb afternoon, everything. If you cast a wide enough net, you're bound to catch something.
