I guess this is a more general question directed to ssolie/hyperion, amigakit, vesalia, trevor and any vendors in general;

The backgrund for the question is tonis emulation of ppc as demostrated by Epsilon;
Have the sales of AOS4 spiked somewhat lately?

Judging by the intrest people display regarding the upcoming AOS4 there seems to be a decent number of eager customers waiting for the release.

Secondly; Im assuming not every potential customer is reading a.org or aw.net. How are you planning to get the news out to the maximum count of people?
General email info to those listed as registered owners of earlier versions of AOS? Or even members of a.org aw.net?

For example AmigaForever isnt particularly shy in sending info about their updates, and pretty much every game company do this on intervals reminding past customers about expansions etc
Links to good presentations like Epsilons blog if he has reviewed the particular topic being covered in the marketing email (granted he gives premission) or if something is favorable presented on youtube (sketchblock, amistore etc).

Just some public relations/marketing questions since Amiga companies in general seems to have some ways to go in that regard.

To be honest, I dont mind the odd mail now and then. If you dont frequent forums you easily miss new software or hardware, updates etc.

Last edited by Overflow on 29-Oct-2014 at 09:33 AM.
Last edited by Overflow on 29-Oct-2014 at 09:17 AM.

@Overflow

Why should they tell you? Give me just a single valid motivation.

@paolone

Noone have to do anything.

When asking a question, all I risk is getting "No" OR an answer.

I have no problem with either.

I think that the Amiga "scene" is a niche so small that marketing and advertisement isn't needed. I mean, once something new comes out, the news is replicated in every Amiga forum and Amiga news site.

Now, if there were adverts from Amiga companies targeting people who do not even know what an Amiga is and try to sell an Amiga related product to them (X1000, Sam460, Minimig etc.)... now THAT would take same serious advertising skills. But I don't think Amiga minus nostalgia has any commercial value at all.

Hopefully one day, Amiga becomes appealing to a wider audience, but I am not holding my breath (yet).

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@Everblue

Well, while I somewhat see your point, assuming potential customers come running to you isnt a very viable for any buissniss. Espesially not one that has said out publicly that they do it fulltime.

Composing a nice generic informationbased email format with graphics, relevant info, links to assosiated pages and youtube if needed/available for the newsitem etc.

The "industry standard" of such updates/emails are easily available if you signed up for example Elite Dangerous, EVE Online, Diablo (blizzard) and probarly countless other companies/games.

Seems like a quick and low cost (no cost beyond manhours composing said mail) way of reaching out to and beyond a few forums.

Espesially since you say in your last line;

Quote:

Hopefully one day, Amiga becomes appealing to a wider audience, but I am not holding my breath

While Im not holding my breath either, if you hope for that day, you should agree email info is the bare minimum...?

Anyhow, its just an suggestion.

Last edited by Overflow on 29-Oct-2014 at 06:15 PM.

@Overflow

Quote:

Im assuming not every potential customer is reading a.org or aw.net.

I think your first problem is defining what is this potential customer.

For example Cloanto is selling Amiga Forever: old and new Amiga users are their potential customers. I dont know if they are still advertising but they used to advertise AF on Amiga forums and paper magazines.

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Amiga Developer
Amiga 500, Efika, Mac Mini and PowerBook

@overflow

Any 'marketing' is purely carried out by enthusiasts on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. From conversations with Matthew at AmigaKit and from public knowledge you can see that AmigaKit do what they can (in the UK at least) by attending Expos and such like which can bring in huge crowds outside the Amiga community.
You see, its very much community orientated, there is a no huge investor throwing millions at projects - marketing is the responsibility of everyone.
Every mug, mouse mat, usb stick, game, software, hardware you buy from AmigaKit and no doubt others is reinvested back into projects to grow and sustain the platform.

Last edited by djrikki on 29-Oct-2014 at 08:25 PM.
Last edited by djrikki on 29-Oct-2014 at 08:24 PM.

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@Overflow
Quote:

Have the sales of AOS4 spiked somewhat lately?

I don't track sales numbers but I do track registrations. There has been a small spike in registrations since WinUAE started supporting PPC emulation. I would guess that is people trying it out in emulation as I can't tell the difference.

Quote:

Judging by the intrest people display regarding the upcoming AOS4 there seems to be a decent number of eager customers waiting for the release.

Let's hope they take a chance and put down 30 EUR on Final Edition to try it. Hyperion officially does NOT support running Final Edition on emulated hardware but that doesn't mean you can't try.

Quote:

How are you planning to get the news out to the maximum count of people?

I have no idea how Hyperion is planning to do that. Likely the usual channels.

@all
I'm not representing Hyperion in this post. Don't try to read between the lines because all you'll get is a headache.

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ExecSG Team Lead

@ssolie

Thanks for the reply :)

@djrikki

Aye, Im not suggesting Matthew/Trevor aint doing their best to get their buissniss platform known and demostrated by going to Expos. The comment you make about "everybody can spread the word" also makes sense.
I do spend some money on Amiga Vendors/developers as Ive defined myself squarely as a "enduser".

The point I was making was that I cant remember ever reciving Emails notifications about new versions of OS, new hardware etc. I keep repeating this point since I do assume the bigger companies do it for a reason; it catches peoples attention and some of them will spend a dime or two, or in this case maybe start frequenting aw.net or a.org.

@itix

Cloanto advertise thru email every now and then, and it has lead me to upgrade my AF version.
So it pays off. You will catch some "fish" that way

I obviously have no idea if its worth the effort vs the return, but I looked in my email and found "Final Hours for Amiga & C64 Forever 2014 Upgrade‏". Looking at the amount of effort they put into that mail (not much), if they get 10 to sign up, its worth it id say.

I keep getting mails from a workrelated shop too, once or twice a week with nice graphics included.
It has led to a few purchases, but for the most part they end up in the trash/deleted.
If the mail only includes dry text, you mostly just glance at it and delete. If it includes some pictures/youtube etc, people might stick around long enough to give the email a chance.
Another example; got a link to a workrelated youtube clip. Watched it and ended up buying a DVD and a book with tons of good information.

Last edited by Overflow on 29-Oct-2014 at 10:24 PM.
Last edited by Overflow on 29-Oct-2014 at 09:55 PM.

@Overflow

Gotcha, your talking to the converted. I make mobile friendly newsletters nearly every week as part of my regular job.

Ofc as you probably know already you can get free limited email delivery services just to get you going.

Last edited by djrikki on 29-Oct-2014 at 11:14 PM.

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@ssolie

Quote:

Don't try to read between the lines because all you'll get is a headache.

Or in my case, a couple of blurred lines, if my eyes can still count.