The WoW Guide to Building an Empire
For those of you that don’t know, WoW stands for World of Warcraft and is a MMORPG (massive multi-player online role playing game) designed by Blizzard Entertainment.
It’s one of the most popular franchises of all time, and currently boasts a subscriber base of 11.5 million, each paying approximately $15/month.
Take a minute to think about those numbers.
This is essentially a continuity program that generates approximately 172 MILLION USD per month. Per freakin’ month!
But that’s not the stat that I want to talk about first.
The most telling statistic here is not the monthly revenue, but the amount of people playing.
One would think that WoW is just a game for kids and teenagers right?
Wrong.
It was hard finding statistics for this, but eventually I found a Nielsen report stating that on average, most WoW players are between the ages of 25-54, with a very small separation between males and females.
Even more interesting, was that there are nearly as many 55+ males and females as there are 25-54!
Being in the closet
What this tells me is that there are WoW players hiding in every neighborhood and workplace…in fact you could be sharing a cubicle with one.
The funny thing though, is that outside of teenagers and young adults, many people simply won’t admit that they play.
There’s a stigma attached to the game because of shows like South Park making parodies and because of the general perception that WoW players are unemployed, living in their mom’s basement, overweight, and single.
However, this isn’t the case at all…most WoW players are well-adjusted married folks earning decent wages.
So what does this tell us?
1. WoW has such an immense draw that many users can’t stay away, despite their unwillingness to share their use with the people they know.
1. Perceptions aren’t always reality. Gaming has gone mainstream and Blizzard has found a way to hook a shitload of people on their game.
How did they do it?
Building a community
You know how people like Seth Godin talk about the importance of building a tribe and creating a place where people are dying to hang out?
This is how it’s done.
As entrepreneurs, it’s time we start looking beyond the basics of blogging and selling ebooks and examine the business principles of companies like Blizzard, clearing a billion in revenue per year.
How did Blizzard do it? They created a community, built a tribe around that community, and turned it into more than a franchise, but an empire (sound familiar?).
1. Who Doesn’t Like Dragons?
I’ve been a fan of dragons, wizards, and warriors as long as I can remember. It probably started with some of my favorite books of all time…the Dragonlance Chronicles.
There are literally hundreds of millions of people that love this type of thing. It’s the same group that enjoys watching Lord of the Rings, reading fantasy novels, and in many cases, studying history.
This group has never had a way to play inside of a world like the one designed in WoW, and as a result, it’s like playing inside of your favorite novel.
Brilliant.
How Can You Do This?
Find a way to make dreams come true for the people in your niche. What do they want more than anything? How can they get more of what they want?
We’re all looking for that immersive experience…one that gives us another way to spend more time in our niche.
In my case, as a triathlete, it’s triathlon forums, magazines, books, triathlon camps, personal training etc…but there’s still room for more.
Why not a gym for triathletes. Why not triathlon TV? Why not a festival? Why not a real-life community?
See what I’m saying? There’s always room to go +1.
1. Create the Hangout
Blizzard built a place inside the game where people could sit around and talk while still logged in. They build in-game chat, grouping, and a variety of other methods that keep people wanting to hang out in the game.
When the game goes offline, they head straight to the forums, which act as sort of a refuge for people when they don’t feel like playing (or in many cases, forcing themselves not to play).
Build Your Community
When my wife was pregnant, she found some pregnancy forums to hang out in and didn’t leave until recently, when she took some time to rest.
My father is a huge golfer, and when he’s done playing golf, his group hangs out at the course or at their favorite local pub.
Club lovers hang out at clubs.
Bodybuilders hang out at the gym.
Audiophiles hang out on blogs, forums, and chat rooms.
Etc.
The key to really killing it in an industry is by creating “the” place that your tribers want to hang out.
That’s part of what creates the addiction…the fellowship…the basic human need of hanging out with people that you have something in common with.
It keeps you “in the game” and allows you to feed the addiction.
How can you do that in your niche?
3. The Carrot
This is where Blizzard is brilliant.
How can you keep people paying monthly beyond the normal attrition threshold?
By using a carrot on a stick.
In WoW, you can’t win. The game never ends. You can’t beat it.
There’s always another level, always another enemy, and always more “gear” to get.
Just when you think you have it all, they release an expansion, which is usually time perfectly in order to bring back players that quit previously, and re-energize the platform for another year.
More levels, more enemies, and more gear.
How can you quit when there’s always “one more thing” to accomplish?
What’s Your Carrot?
What can you do to keep people coming back for more?
Does your membership site suffer from bad attrition rates? Try offering a carrot at the end, such as a certificate of completion, access to special “members only” products, or a chance to become an affiliate.
If people buy one ebook from you and then bail, find a way to bring them back by offering a 2nd edition (hint…the print business does this all the time).
Create upsells. Use an autoresponder to bring them back. Keep them in the community so that they know when new products are released.
The list could go on and on…
My point here is that as an entrepreneur, you need to put your marketing hat on and think about how you can increase both first-time and repeat customers.
It doesn’t end with the product, that’s the easy part. It’s the rest that takes time, attention, and skill to accomplish.
Blizzard pulled it off to the tune of nearly 200 million per month.
They did it by following these 3 steps and then expanding their empire overseas.
How does your empire look right now? Is it growing, stagnant, or non-existent?
Don’t just focus on how to sell…focus on how to:
1. Sell stuff that matters.
2. Keep people coming back for more.
3. Expand your empire.
What do you think? How many closet WoW players do we have here, in this audience?
Who is ready to think beyond blogging and become an entrepreneur?
Let’s make it happen.
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