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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperBusinessIndie Devs - Would you use freelance PR?
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Author Topic: Indie Devs - Would you use freelance PR?  (Read 2082 times)
SohNata
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« on: October 11, 2014, 09:07:52 AM »

Hello TIGSourcers,

I've recently been brewing up an idea in my head. One of the things that really saddens me at the moment is seeing a lot of great games - usually from independent developers - get released to little or no fanfare and barely any word about it. Even if the game is great and deserves to have as many people playing it and enjoying at possible. The more I've looked into this, the more I realise that a lot of these games have been promoted and marketed very little, or not at all - or sometimes there's been attempts but it's been done poorly. Ultimately this leads to them emerging in an increasingly crowded market, relying on a stroke of luck to get noticed and receive the coverage it deserves which very often, does not happen.

I believe I can help with this. I have experience working in the marketing industry as part of my current job, alongside a strong amount of knowledge about how certain games are able to ensure they get out there and make themselves prominent. I'm wondering if this is a role I can fill, working freelance/self-employed. The idea would be that I would help indie games market themselves - essentially handling the PR & Media roles that a lot of indies don't have access to and have to do themselves. The benefits would be twofold - the first one obviously being that it could help the game get coverage and increase the chances of success - and also giving developers more time to focus on actually making the game than investing the time on tasks such as getting media coverage & interviews, or securing a spot at a games convention.

Essentially, what I'm asking you all as developers is if this would interest you as an option - I'm still putting it together in my head, so I don't know how much it would cost (But assume it would be fair and highly negotiable - with options maybe seeing payment based on success - and I would certainly trial run it pro bono on a few games first. I know money is not the largest resource an indie has!) but as a concept - would offloading all the stresses and difficulties of marketing to somebody who would be able to find the best approach in ensuring the game gets coverage - would you go for it?

Cheers,

SohNata
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VampireSquid
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« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2014, 11:08:19 AM »

The general idea definitely appeals to me.  I think it would help a lot if you had a portfolio of projects you had already promoted, but I guess you could just adjust your price depending on where your portfolio is at.  It would have to be pay per performance.  

What types of tasks do you envision falling on your side?  I assume writing press coverage and emailing those out.  But would you engage in a twitter/facebook campaign or generate video's for a developer?

Anyways, 100% yes, this is something I would think about if I can ever get my game to a point where it's releasable.  Best to focus on your core strength's and marketing is not one of mine.
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SohNata
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« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2014, 03:08:44 PM »

The general idea definitely appeals to me.  I think it would help a lot if you had a portfolio of projects you had already promoted, but I guess you could just adjust your price depending on where your portfolio is at.  It would have to be pay per performance. 

What types of tasks do you envision falling on your side?  I assume writing press coverage and emailing those out.  But would you engage in a twitter/facebook campaign or generate video's for a developer?

Anyways, 100% yes, this is something I would think about if I can ever get my game to a point where it's releasable.  Best to focus on your core strength's and marketing is not one of mine.

I agree I would need a portfolio - I'll certainly take on some projects for free initially to build up a reputation of proven results first before I go asking people for money. The plan is to be flexible with pricing for sure.

While this list isn't exhaustive, I'm thinking major tasks would include:

  • Writing press releases
  • Getting press coverage - including finding the journalists & sites who are a good fit and more likely to want to cover your game long-term (i.e. they pre-dominantly write about the same genre as the game you're making)
  • Looking to get the game noticed on Youtube/Twitch
  • Helping find conventions & events you can showcase your game at and setting up press interviews at those events
  • This is a very long-term goal and ambitious, but if I were working with several games, looking into taking several of the games/devs to the offices of magazines/websites as an event type deal to showcase several and really put them on the radar of the media
  • General advisory role and being able to set up a solid plan of how to best market and promote the game until and after release

There's other things of course. As for social media, I would be willing to do that, although I could also offer advice on how best to run your twitter if people aren't comfortable with somebody else running the twitter for their game. Making videos and such doesn't strike me as the best idea though and it's not a skill I have yet. I could certainly advise on what would make a good trailer though and what's going to garner interest and how to avoid getting lost in the shuffle.

The main idea is to be flexible though. Some devs may want somebody to handle most, if not all of it, but others may just want specific advice with one medium, or maybe don't want anything produced for them, just want somebody to help them in an advisory role. Others may know what they want to do with a press release, but just want somebody to write it.
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Sik
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« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2014, 06:55:50 PM »

I think the biggest problem is that the indies that need PR the most are those that don't have money to afford PR in the first place (and yes, this leads to the chicken and egg problem). Not sure how you plan to handle that, remember you need to consider this after you've build up your portfolio and decide to start business for real.

That said, I think that hiring an expert in PR definitely would be a good idea for anybody that can afford it.
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Fenrir
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« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2014, 04:55:30 AM »

I think that's definitely something with a huge potential, it's actually what small publishers promote currently, helping with all the PR, marketing and distribution stuff. But yeah, you'll need a porfolio but as you said, if you're flexible and first "customers" have nothing to loose working with you, it should not be a problem.

Something with maybe some potential would be to help with foundraising campaigns too.
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Chris Koźmik
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« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2014, 10:00:09 AM »

I wish there was some service (preferably run  by some experienced YouTuber) that says "will organize a kickstarter campaign for you for a profit share".  Sadly, I never could find one Sad
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Cheesegrater
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« Reply #6 on: October 13, 2014, 12:02:55 PM »

There are several outfits like that: http://gizmodo.com/inside-the-booming-business-of-kickstarter-coaches-1638798372

It is getting to be like the situation with agents in the publishing or film industries, though - the firms that have a good track record are going to pick and choose the clients they take.
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OnslaughtMike
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« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2014, 12:30:37 PM »

I would be very interested in this.

For the moment I develop my games in the evenings after I put in my normal 8-10 hr workday.

A lack of money is one of my major blockages the other being lack of PR knowledge so a person with PR experience that is willing to work at a more friendly rate for us indies or for a percentage of profits would be a great thing. The other big thing is most companies I talk with expect me to do this as my full time gig and respond to requests at a speed that I can match since I am at my day job all day. So being understanding of that would be a big plus.
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Julien
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« Reply #8 on: October 13, 2014, 12:34:17 PM »

Marketing feels like hell to me and takes a significant portion of my limited time, so yeah, that would definitely be interesting Shocked
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MaxShields
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« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2015, 07:48:06 PM »

Potentially, but we tried a Kickstarter-centric PR team for our Kickstarter, and generally saw very little come out of it. Your portfolio would be very important, as well as an ability to reach out to your previous clients for their feedback/reference.
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OccamsRazor
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« Reply #10 on: February 03, 2015, 07:19:13 AM »

I agree with most of the above - the portfolio would be hugely important. It would go a long way to demonstrating proven results, and showing that you have contacts in the industry/gaming press. The idea of doing early projects for free/cheap is probably the right way to go - it allows you to build up your contacts and develop your skills, and gives you a solid foundation for future business.

Maintain good relations with your indies - if they are successful, they're very likely to recommend you to others! Wink

On the whole, I think this is a great idea, and something I would quite possibly take advantage of. I've got a game nearing completion, and I won't lie, the marketing aspects are stressing me out a bit Tongue
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Uncle Scotty
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« Reply #11 on: February 04, 2015, 11:48:49 AM »

Very interested, sent you a PM. Cheers
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SheridanR
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« Reply #12 on: February 04, 2015, 12:54:57 PM »

Very interested, sent you a PM. Cheers
That makes two of us, PM sent.

Methinks you're on to something here, haha...
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Lost Shrine
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« Reply #13 on: February 07, 2015, 07:43:26 AM »

For reference, we had a similar concept/inspiration behind our project Lost Shrine in terms of collaborative communications and marketing support specifically for independent developers.  If you'd like a chat (including the OP as we appear to be on a similar wavelength here), feel free to drop a PM or get in touch via the contacts on our website, listed in the signature.  Genuinely not intending to hijack the thread, this is a subject I'd definitely enjoy chatting about with you lot and it's cool to see it being discussed.

In terms of our small team, definitely echo the sentiment in terms of seeing promising indie games fall by the wayside.  The more crowded the indie game scene gets, for all the benefits that undoubtedly brings, the more it seems that just having a great game isn't enough.  That was a realisation that inspired us a lot to try and make a difference.

Personally, an annoying side of that is seeing a rise in, for lack of a better word, really cynical marketing techniques which seem to go against the 'spirit' of a lot of great indie creations.  As in, it's a shame to see interesting indie projects being spammed, the use of bots on social media, that kinda thing.  People are, understandably, jostling for visibility but I definitely believe that if the game's good and you've got some engaging PR ideas behind it, it can do wonders without resorting to so-called 'dark arts'.  We ended up starting the Lost Shrine project as friends who love games, who have done design and marketing/communications roles in our previous/current jobs and have collaborated together on independent/DIY music releases before - so I guess a lot of our aesthetic choices and ideas about collaboration come out of that.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2015, 07:59:07 AM by Lost Shrine » Logged



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Dreii
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« Reply #14 on: February 10, 2015, 03:00:46 AM »

I would love a service like this, marketing is my weakest skill right now. Im really not built for it. The only problem I see with a service like this is everyone says that to market effectively you have to do it mid development. So you'd have to work closely with the developer for quite some time which could get expensive for indies. But ohhh boy would I throw money I had at that if I had enough haha.
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kirtov
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« Reply #15 on: February 10, 2015, 04:54:52 AM »

I love the idea, and the payment based on success is very appealing. I suppose an external PR is not the best thing, but for a little team can be the perfect solution, specially with those cool payment options.
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Impmaster
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« Reply #16 on: February 10, 2015, 07:05:36 AM »

This is what Devolver Digital does, right? They seem pretty successful, but they're the only indie publisher I can think of off the top of my head. Try it out, the market seems to need something like that.
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Ryuno
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« Reply #17 on: February 13, 2015, 03:07:03 AM »

I do something like that with Cavern Kings and it really worked out for us, but I would only accept other gigs in the same vein if I could dedicate them the same amount of time and effort. Good PR is full-time work and doing it for profit share only will certainly require some funds out of the freelancer's pocket to operate until the project takes off commercially, which isn't guaranteed.

It's tricky because it would not be hard for anyone doing it to end up losing a lot of money and time that could be used on other business ventures.
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