by tomtraplin@gmail.com | Jan 20, 2019 | Marketing, Podcasts, Tech, Tools
Over the course of the last year, Chatbots have been making a lot of noise in the industry. They are either the cutting edge in marketing technology, poised to change the way people interact with businesses, or they’re a fad flash in the pan. Just another shiny...
by tomtraplin@gmail.com | Jan 14, 2019 | Podcasts
Gordon Johansen is back on the Manaverse Podcast along with John Coviello and Wayne Mittlesteadt to talk about holiday sales and driving big numbers during the holiday season. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and the Christmas season are the focus of this...
by tomtraplin@gmail.com | Jan 14, 2019 | Podcasts
Gordon Johansen is back on the Manaverse Podcast along with John Coviello and Wayne Mittlesteadt to talk about holiday sales and driving big numbers during the holiday season. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and the Christmas season are the focus of this...
by tomtraplin@gmail.com | Jan 6, 2019 | Podcasts
2018 has been an interesting year for the games industry. We’ve seen a glut of excellent board games hit the market and more mainstream adoption of the gaming hobby by the ‘mundanes’ as John Coviello would say, but we’ve also had to deal with...
by tomtraplin@gmail.com | Jan 4, 2019 | Articles, Community, General Business
Game stores of all stripes have a problem. A big problem. A tragedy of the commons in a way. At least the ones that have dedicated play space do. The question is “What do you do about the people who want to use your space without spending money with your...
by tomtraplin@gmail.com | Jan 1, 2019 | Marketing, Tom's Blog
Making your goals public drastically increases the odds of you actually accomplishing them. It also helps to have something great in your life to work towards. It doesn’t have to be grandiose and world changing, it just has to encompass more than just the day to...
by tomtraplin@gmail.com | Dec 6, 2018 | Podcasts, Tech
The days of Magic Online are numbered, at least in its current form. The question we explore today is “Will Wizard’s of the Coast shut down Magic Online?” and how will this affect local game store owners. The short answer is “yes”, the...
by tomtraplin@gmail.com | Nov 22, 2018 | Community, Fundamentals, Mindset, Podcasts
In this super short episode of the Manaverse Podcast, we ask the question “are you focusing on the right things?” Specifically, are you building a business, or are you building a community? I’m going to give away the plot on this one and take a...
by tomtraplin@gmail.com | Nov 19, 2018 | Articles, Marketing
I originally wrote this article early in 2016 and at the time, it was pretty thorough. But the times are changing so it seems like now would be a good time to update and reevaluate our strategy for the coming new year. The first thing I want to point out is that the...
by tomtraplin@gmail.com | Nov 12, 2018 | Fundamentals, General Business, Marketing, Podcasts
Matthew Vercant has worked for three game stores, done shipping fulfillment for various Kickstarters, managed shipping for Minion Games, and now owns Just Games Rochester. His background before entering the games industry was in publishing and teaching. He also just...
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