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[joe_eyemobi]

Hey guys,
I found this site the other day by Emmy Jonassen about indie marketing.  I started my premarketing campaign for KS a few days ago and was getting quite discouraged by the less than stellar reponses so was pleasantly surprised to come across this.  This video covers a complete step-by-step guide about how to market your game effectively with a small budget.

It covers:

• Effective use of social media
• Building top notch promo material
• Nurturing your fanbase

It's not a magic formula - it requires a ton of hard work, but it is a logical sounding strategy.  And to many of us indie devs, we just want to get on with developing the freaking game!!    However at the end of the day we do need to sell it, so marketing is paramount.

http://www.indiegamegirl.com/no-budget-marketing/

EDIT 15 Apr:
Pixdeo below has kindly summarized all of the key points of the presentation for those of you who are too lazy/busy  :lol:to watch the 1 hr presentation (still worth it!).

Also here is a linked in discussion I started asking for advice on effective twitter acquisitions:

Linked In Discussion

You might have to join the group, I don't remember what the restrictions are.

EDIT 19/4: A breakdown of a good single page website:
http://www.indiegamegirl.com/landing-page-design-and-how-to-use-it-to-sell-your-indie-game/#comment-1928

[ryansumo]

That is a long ass video.  I'll have to give it a watch when I have more time, thanks for the tip!

[wc_nate]

Just watched it and took some notes! This is a great find, threw a shout to this thread on Twitter for good measure. Thanks for the link!

[Pixdeo]

Hi, this is my first post in TIGForums, I took some notes from this great video, maybe they are useful for you guys too:

My Summary

95% of Indies are non-profitable
Indies skews their efforts far too far towards production and away from marketing.

Why do so few indies do marketing?

Myth: "successful marketing requires a *gigantic* budget"

3 sets to achieve marketing success:

• 1. Irresistible promotional materials (so alluring they compel sharing and discussion)
• 2. Score Articles in top-tier publication
• 3. Build an adoring fan base

Irresistible promotional materials (so alluring they compel sharing and discussion).
Ex: your trailer. Irresistible: you need to make them share it, because your material is awesome.
Make your material Viral (or make viral material).

Must have this promotional materials:
1. Trailer Video
1.1 90 secs or less
1.2 Attention-grabbing info
1.3 Music/Sound effect (this really contribute to the effect).
1.4 In-game footage. Complains: No gameplay. So, put it!
1.5 Reviews: They add a sense of authority to the video.
1.6 End with next steps: Where to buy it, find more info, get your game. No fade to back!

2. Screenshots
2.1 Should be a piece of art.
2.2 composition
2.3 HQ

3. Press Release
Your press release is going to act as the article.
3.1. grab attention and summarize theme/important info in the first paragraph.
3.2. Use quotes.
3.3. Company and contact info
3.4 Send Screenshots and trailer video
3.5 include hyperlinks

4. Landing Page
Purpose: Convert visits to customers
4.1 Should not have navigation to other things.
4.2 grabbing headline: super-minimum text, a quote or an engaging line.
4.3 Social sharing icons
4.4 Strong Call to action
4.5 Trailer video
4.6 Idem screnshots
4.7 Testimonials/Review (give authority)
4.8 Contact and press kit buttons or links

5. Development Blog
Gives 50% more traffic
5.1 Post x1 per week minimum
5.2 Use images
5.3 Link from homepage
5.4. RSS feed
5.5. Email subscription
5.6 Social subscription
5.7 Social sharing buttons
5.8 Promotion at the end of the post

2 Score Articles in top-tier publication

Organize in Tiers
Separate Devlogs from gamers blogs
 Tiers 1 IGN
 Tiers 2 Bob's gaming daily
 Normally find the Editorial Information in a link in the magazine/youtube/etc

Create an email template to introduce your game
* Make sure it answers a writer's most important question "Why would my readers give a shit?"
* Customize the email towards each writer/site
* Attach shots and press release

Thank You Notes
* Thank any writer who replies to your email, republishes a PR or write and publishes and article.
* Email thanks yours are fine, but handwritten notes go the extra mile. (WTF! we are in 2014...)

Keep in touch
1. maintain relationships with media (you don't mown when you'll need again)
2. Check in often with a quick hello via Twitter, FB or media.
3. Comment on articles your contacts publish every now and then

3 Build an adoring fan base
Fan should discover easily the game.
1. Set up G+, FB, Twitter.
2. Become active in forums, blogs where your fans hang out.
3. Participate in game jams and other events.
4. Get involved with the local development community.
5. Start a crowfunder.

Convert visitors into Fans through content
1. Game and company updates
2. Data and other insights
3. Opinion pieces (new game in your genre post an opinion)
4. Interesting articles (valuable for your audience)
5. The occasional funny and random post

Nurture your relationship with Fans
1. Respond to comments and questions in a timely and personalized way
2. Initiate and engage in discussion
3. Thank fans privately and publicly (more)
4. Ask for and incorporate fan input (incorporate it into your game)
5. Respond to criticism in a thankful and professional way (turn them into your biggest fan). Oh, you don't like the character? How do you think it can be improved?

[mixzed]

Thanks for the tips. I may not be speaking for myself but I can be working on games for weeks at a time before I realize that I've gone a month without updating my website or anything. Easily the hardest part about game development is the marketing.

[joe_eyemobi]

Nice Work Pixdeo!  I was about to do this but you've saved me the trouble thanks 
This will be very useful for other indies who need a starting point.

Hi, this is my first post in TIGForums, I took some notes from this great video, maybe they are useful for you guys too:

My Summary

95% of Indies are non-profitable
Indies skews their efforts far too far towards production and away from marketing.

Why do so few indies do marketing?

Myth: "successful marketing requires a *gigantic* budget"

3 sets to achieve marketing success:

• 1. Irresistible promotional materials (so alluring they compel sharing and discussion)
• 2. Score Articles in top-tier publication
• 3. Build an adoring fan base

Irresistible promotional materials (so alluring they compel sharing and discussion).
Ex: your trailer. Irresistible: you need to make them share it, because your material is awesome.
Make your material Viral (or make viral material).

Must have this promotional materials:
1. Trailer Video
1.1 90 secs or less
1.2 Attention-grabbing info
1.3 Music/Sound effect (this really contribute to the effect).
1.4 In-game footage. Complains: No gameplay. So, put it!
1.5 Reviews: They add a sense of authority to the video.
1.6 End with next steps: Where to buy it, find more info, get your game. No fade to back!

2. Screenshots
2.1 Should be a piece of art.
2.2 composition
2.3 HQ

3. Press Release
Your press release is going to act as the article.
3.1. grab attention and summarize theme/important info in the first paragraph.
3.2. Use quotes.
3.3. Company and contact info
3.4 Send Screenshots and trailer video
3.5 include hyperlinks

4. Landing Page
Purpose: Convert visits to customers
4.1 Should not have navigation to other things.
4.2 grabbing headline: super-minimum text, a quote or an engaging line.
4.3 Social sharing icons
4.4 Strong Call to action
4.5 Trailer video
4.6 Idem screnshots
4.7 Testimonials/Review (give authority)
4.8 Contact and press kit buttons or links

5. Development Blog
Gives 50% more traffic
5.1 Post x1 per week minimum
5.2 Use images
5.3 Link from homepage
5.4. RSS feed
5.5. Email subscription
5.6 Social subscription
5.7 Social sharing buttons
5.8 Promotion at the end of the post

2 Score Articles in top-tier publication

Organize in Tiers
Separate Devlogs from gamers blogs
 Tiers 1 IGN
 Tiers 2 Bob's gaming daily
 Normally find the Editorial Information in a link in the magazine/youtube/etc

Create an email template to introduce your game
* Make sure it answers a writer's most important question "Why would my readers give a shit?"
* Customize the email towards each writer/site
* Attach shots and press release

Thank You Notes
* Thank any writer who replies to your email, republishes a PR or write and publishes and article.
* Email thanks yours are fine, but handwritten notes go the extra mile. (WTF! we are in 2014...)

Keep in touch
1. maintain relationships with media (you don't mown when you'll need again)
2. Check in often with a quick hello via Twitter, FB or media.
3. Comment on articles your contacts publish every now and then

3 Build an adoring fan base
Fan should discover easily the game.
1. Set up G+, FB, Twitter.
2. Become active in forums, blogs where your fans hang out.
3. Participate in game jams and other events.
4. Get involved with the local development community.
5. Start a crowfunder.

Convert visitors into Fans through content
1. Game and company updates
2. Data and other insights
3. Opinion pieces (new game in your genre post an opinion)
4. Interesting articles (valuable for your audience)
5. The occasional funny and random post

Nurture your relationship with Fans
1. Respond to comments and questions in a timely and personalized way
2. Initiate and engage in discussion
3. Thank fans privately and publicly (more)
4. Ask for and incorporate fan input (incorporate it into your game)
5. Respond to criticism in a thankful and professional way (turn them into your biggest fan). Oh, you don't like the character? How do you think it can be improved?

[joe_eyemobi]

Haha I feel your pain - marketing/business - it's the bane of an indie developer's existance   I'd rather just make my danged game rather than have to worry about all this boring **** to be honest!  But ah well I guess I just need to gamify it and make myself enjoy it 

Thanks for the tips. I may not be speaking for myself but I can be working on games for weeks at a time before I realize that I've gone a month without updating my website or anything. Easily the hardest part about game development is the marketing.

[Pixdeo]

Nice Work Pixdeo!  I was about to do this but you've saved me the trouble thanks 
This will be very useful for other indies who need a starting point.

Thanks joe_eyemobi, you're welcome!
Marketing, is really important. The scariest thing is the 95% odds against us.
You have to blame the power law for this, the unevenness choice of the market tends to concentrate around a spiked head and away from a fat long tail.
Interesting information about this issue:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_tail
http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0307951790 (good book)

Anyway we must do our homework, have some luck!

[joe_eyemobi]

Yeah that is a scary figure, so we as Indies need to do our homework when it comes to planning.  If we treat it like a business venture I'm sure our chances will increase significantly 

Nice Work Pixdeo!  I was about to do this but you've saved me the trouble thanks 
This will be very useful for other indies who need a starting point.

Thanks joe_eyemobi, you're welcome!
Marketing, is really important. The scariest thing is the 95% odds against us.
You have to blame the power law for this, the unevenness choice of the market tends to concentrate around a spiked head and away from a fat long tail.
Interesting information about this issue:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_tail
http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0307951790 (good book)

Anyway we must do our homework, have some luck!

[mixzed]

That 95% rate is scary, but It would be a lot scarier (to me) if the figure is 1% and I was the only one un-profitable. Atleast a 95% rate means you are not alone and not the only one that's not doing well. It's a prime time to be indie and the market is over-saturated as a result. It's harder to stand out and the results are wildly skewed. It's not just good graphics, story and gameplay that means sales. There is also stuff like gimmicks, popularity and utter luck that comes into play. Struggling indies need to come together with a plan to overcome.

[joe_eyemobi]

It's true - and the sad part is that there are a ton of massively talented and deserving devs out there.  I think luck plays a small part, if you look at these article about what you need to do have an effective marketing strategy, it takes serious hard work.  Even from this one video from indie game girl you can see there is a ton of promotional material to prepare as well as a huge investment in time for nurturing a fan-base and reviewer relationships. It's all time where we aren't developing our game, so it does feel annoying to do so most people won't do it.  However, if we do want to be successful indies we just have to do it, or partner up with someone who is good at it.

That 95% rate is scary, but It would be a lot scarier (to me) if the figure is 1% and I was the only one un-profitable. Atleast a 95% rate means you are not alone and not the only one that's not doing well. It's a prime time to be indie and the market is over-saturated as a result. It's harder to stand out and the results are wildly skewed. It's not just good graphics, story and gameplay that means sales. There is also stuff like gimmicks, popularity and utter luck that comes into play. Struggling indies need to come together with a plan to overcome.

[NickyB]

Validation that the work I am doing in advertising my game isn't just me being crazy.  HAHAHA  Actually seriously enough I have been questioning how much should I do and take away from development time and other things.  Seems the strategies and ideas I have been working on are pretty legit and there were even more nice to know tidbits.

[joe_eyemobi]

Yeah I know what you mean - I have barely done any coding in the last week too
It doesn't feel right that I'm not making the game better, but I guess there's more time for that if we get kickstarted.

I guess if you feel like you're doing too much marketing, that's probably a good thing and the right amount, since as devs we usually do none

Validation that the work I am doing in advertising my game isn't just me being crazy.  HAHAHA  Actually seriously enough I have been questioning how much should I do and take away from development time and other things.  Seems the strategies and ideas I have been working on are pretty legit and there were even more nice to know tidbits.

[Chris Koźmik]

I disagree (I'm in the Seth Godin's camp :D). The key is the product, not marketing. Especially nowadays, where traditional mass advertising is not working anymore.

Take a look at Minecraft, was any marketing needed? No, it was destined to succeed due to the original idea and insane demand for this kind of game.
Also, I'm hearing about "awesome games that failed due to marketing" all the time, do you have *ONE* example of such game? Because as I see it all gems (OK, maybe except some niche of the niche thingies) were discovered sooner or later.

Also from the other side, usually when I read "I sold 5 copies of my game" topics I frequently notice these games were match 3 or minecraft clone of some sort or traditional tower defence without any twist, etc. The failure of these games was not caused by marketing, it was caused by the product.

I think only good games require heavy marketing for survival, awesome games don't need it.




BTW, I recommend reading some books of that guy, quite inspiring and contrary to traditional beliefs http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/

[Kingel]

I disagree (I'm in the Seth Godin's camp :D). The key is the product, not marketing. Especially nowadays, where traditional mass advertising is not working anymore.

Take a look at Minecraft, was any marketing needed? No, it was destined to succeed due to the original idea and insane demand for this kind of game.

In the context of this topic, Notch did market Minecraft by starting a devlog very early in the development, in which he also included a playable demo, right here. It's a good example of how to drum up interest for your game from the start. This is something you can do even if you're not making the next Minecraft.

[Chris Koźmik]

In the context of this topic, Notch did market Minecraft by starting a devlog very early in the development, in which he also included a playable demo, right here. It's a good example of how to drum up interest for your game from the start. This is something you can do even if you're not making the next Minecraft.

I just meant to not waste so much time on promoting, not to ignore it completely (going from one extreme to another is a way to nowhere in most cases). To use most resources on production not marketing. But you of course need to make a demo, a few screenshots and post about it somewhere so people have a chance to find your awesome game :D

[joe_eyemobi]

I don't remember ever saying that you don't need a good product to start with.  My opinion is that you need both aspects - i.e. a great product with great marketing to be successful.  This isn't a new concept and it certainly isn't limited to just games.

"Good" is subjective too, and it depends on the demographic you're pitching to.  Would you say Flappy Bird is good?  I most definitely would not, but I'm not the target audience. 

Based on my own subjective measure of "good", if you want examples, just take a look around these forums.  There are plenty of good games (to me) that probably could do a lot better commercially if they were only put in front of more eyeballs, i.e. marketed better.  So yes good game/product+good marketing+other good business management = success 

I disagree (I'm in the Seth Godin's camp :D). The key is the product, not marketing. Especially nowadays, where traditional mass advertising is not working anymore.

Take a look at Minecraft, was any marketing needed? No, it was destined to succeed due to the original idea and insane demand for this kind of game.
Also, I'm hearing about "awesome games that failed due to marketing" all the time, do you have *ONE* example of such game? Because as I see it all gems (OK, maybe except some niche of the niche thingies) were discovered sooner or later.

Also from the other side, usually when I read "I sold 5 copies of my game" topics I frequently notice these games were match 3 or minecraft clone of some sort or traditional tower defence without any twist, etc. The failure of these games was not caused by marketing, it was caused by the product.

I think only good games require heavy marketing for survival, awesome games don't need it.




BTW, I recommend reading some books of that guy, quite inspiring and contrary to traditional beliefs http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/

[Chris Koźmik]

"Good" is subjective too, and it depends on the demographic you're pitching to.  Would you say Flappy Bird is good?  I most definitely would not, but I'm not the target audience. 

Based on my own subjective measure of "good", if you want examples, just take a look around these forums.  There are plenty of good games (to me) that probably could do a lot better commercially if they were only put in front of more eyeballs, i.e. marketed better.  So yes good game/product+good marketing+other good business management = success 

I meant "good" in a pejorative sense. There are tens of thousands of good games and no one need more of these. If you made a good (read: mediocre) game you need to resort to heavy marketing or no one will notice your game (because there are so many good games). But if you make an awesome game (Minecraft, Castle Story, Prison Architect) you don't need marketing (of course you need at least to post about it/etc, do the very basic stuff), people will share it with others on their own.

[deWiTTERS]

But if you make an awesome game (Minecraft, Castle Story, Prison Architect) you don't need marketing (of course you need at least to post about it/etc, do the very basic stuff), people will share it with others on their own.

Notch started blogging in May 2009, way before it was finished. He did 81 posts that month. That's about 2.5 posts per day! The months after it he posted less, but still on average more than 1 post per day.

He also posted video's on YouTube, at about 1 video a week.

He contacted the press that month and the months after it because he got plenty of coverage on his newly announced game: indigames.com, Jayisgames, Destructoid (link already gone) and TIGSource.

Just like any good marketer, he uses discounts, time pressure and experiments with different revenue models.

Remember, marketing is much more than advertisement alone. He didn't only put much effort in developing his game, but also into getting the word out, and using sale techniques. That's marketing. Without it, we wouldn't know about Minecraft.

Same story for Angry Birds. If they didn't market it, almost nobody would have heard of it.

Also nice to know: Games are a hit driven business, and hits are really hard to predict. So odds are that the game you are working on is not a great game, but a good game. So if you want to live off game development, marketing is inevitable.

[joe_eyemobi]

Thank you Dewitters for a fact-based and well-researched response!   

Those links are fascinating.  I always knew Notch had done a little marketing but I didn't realize he focused on it to this extent.

This is also the first time I heard about Infiniminer!  The core gameplay basically is minecraft.
That is so amazing that Zachary Barth potentially could have been in Notch's place today had he commercialized his game.

Angry Birds is a another great example, and the interesting thing is they took their gameplay from another game too!

Well done! Once again hard facts prevail over opinion

Notch started blogging in May 2009, way before it was finished. He did 81 posts that month. That's about 2.5 posts per day! The months after it he posted less, but still on average more than 1 post per day.