I was interviewed last week for this ClickZ article, but my quotes were left on the cutting room floor. No biggie, except that probably the most important point about marketing in virtual worlds got left there, too. Thankfully, though, Jay Goss of Numedeon (creators of Whyville) and Ian Schafer of Deep Focus touched on it in the piece.

“Unless you understand the behavior of the people in that virtual world you are going to come across as disingenuous or inauthentic,” Schafer correctly says. Goss takes it to the next step, noting that it’s important to give virtual worlders “something to do while interacting with the advertiser’s message, as opposed to passively receiving the advertiser’s message.”

Exactly. It’s all about what the inhabitants of the virtual world want to do, not about what the company wants the inhabitants of the virtual world to do.

Takeaway for marketers: If you’re an advertiser getting involved in virtual worlds , you need to be asking, “How do I best enhance someone’s online experience?” before asking, “How do I best slap my ad somewhere in that world?”

This entry was posted on Monday, July 9th, 2007 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Internet Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Marketing Takeaways.