Learning to market offline and expand opportunities

I spent most of last week and the start of this at Worldcon in Glasgow.

Worldcon is an international science fiction and fantasy literary convention that this year was held in the UK at the Glasgow SECC as Interaction.

It is effectively a gathering of the SFF literary industry - the authors, agents, editors, and publishers - all connecting with a hardcore fan base of the SFF world. It’s a two-way dialogue experience run by volunteers, that benefits people on all sides of the industry.

There are programmes of presentations, of course, but one of the key selling points is that it is an event where the best-selling authors in science fiction and fantasy are very accessible, approachable, and happy to casually chat to fans.

ABOVE: The SECC in Glasgow

The reason I went was to raise the profile of my science fiction and fantasy site, the chronicles network, as part of a brand marketing exercise, to a group of people I felt I needed to be noticed by for its long-term aims.

Despite the costs involved, everything I have done on the internet has been motivated on one ultimate goal - providing a strong marketing platform for the time when become a published science fiction and fantasy author.

It was learning to self-promote on a shoe-string that led myself into SEO, webmaster development, and online marketing in the first place.

Therefore Worldcon Interaction became an inevitable place to set up a marketing presence.

However, in setting up a table there, issues of understanding offline marketing, and the significance of exploiting opportunity, were very much underlined.

For a start, as Worldcon is essentially a literary event, there were very few people dressed up, especially on the opening morning. So when I turned up dressed in homage to the Matrix films, I was one of the most costumed people present.

This led to a team from the Scotsman - Scotland’s national daily newspaper - asking me to spend a half-hour modelling for them. Their resulting coverage in the center pages was topped by a half-page photo of myself.

I also spent time being interviewed by Radio Scotland.

However, on neither occassion was I able to get a mention of the chronicles network on national distribution.

This experience in itself highlighted the importance of being prepared for unexpected opportunitity, and grabbing it properly where possible. I intend to be a little more prepared next time.

The offline experience was also very illuminating - having never run a table, exhibit, or stall of any kind, I was woefully underprepared. Importantly, though, some of the key components of marketing online are as important offline.

ABOVE: A photo for the Scotsman

For example, people love free stuff - the more the better. A table next to mine was promoting e-book authors who had provided a dazzling array of freebies, including free audio CDs, pens, flashlights, and bookmarks.

People were happy to stop and pick up what they perceived to be of value. Usefulness for immediate direct sales is likely limited, but the opportunity for brand marketing speaks for itself. Next time I bring a table to Worldcon, I’ll have a lot more to give away.

Another is the interractive element - the bigger the interractive experience, the more likely you can capture people’s attention. After all, we are fundamentally a curious ape, and if you can overcome initial suspicion with the projection of something different and worth experiencing, then you can grab people’s attention sufficiently.

In this regard a number of stalls enaged and attracted with working full sized models of the Tardis from Doctor Who, and a StarGate, to intricately built models of spaceships from popular TV, with an array of working electronic systems.

Some of the marketing lessons were more fundamental though - and the importance of getting the basics right were very much hammered home.

One of my worst mistakes is that I had a set of business cards done to promote the site name and URL, but failed to identify myself or my contact details.

ABOVE: A chat with George R R Martin

This became an acutely embarrassing issue when approaching people to set up interviews on the site, and I almost certainly lost an interview with best-selling author Terry Pratchett because of it.

Overall, the convention was a success - I went with personal goals and achieved all of them, and more than that, began a process of integration into what is essentially a massive viral network.

Next year’s Worldcon is set for LA as LAcon. Because of proximity to Hollywood there is expected to be an elevated film media presence. I don’t intend to be caught short as I was in Worldcon Interaction. But I expect to come away with important lessons to build upon.