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[Axelarc]

I've been pretty active on a lot of forums online, trying to promote my game wherever. I certainly didn't think it would be this hard. I think if I could just get to the top new paid/free on the Android market the game would take care of itself.

But do any of you have any marketing tips? What should I NOT do? What are some of your marketing experiences?

[Sakar]

Don't be MattG

If you don't know who he is, look him up on these forums. Doing what he does just tends to piss people off

[Kramlack]

Don't be Flytrap/Bob's Game

If you don't know who he is, look him up on these forums. Doing what he does just tends to piss people off

Also this.

[Ashkin]

Forums aren't just a tool for advertisement, no matter how you go about it.

[Axelarc]

lol cool mining game

[Ashkin]

... I think you're kind of missing the point here. You treat the forum as a platform for advertising. I put my game's devlog in my signature in case people actually care about what I'm working on. There's a difference.

[starsrift]

Forums aren't just a tool for advertisement, no matter how you go about it.

I think it's better with a swap of words: Forums just aren't a tool for advertisement, no matter how you go about it.

There's some other threads about marketing, over in Business, I believe - have you tried emailing gam review sites and stuff and getting them to take a look?

[Reives]

Let's all just get along for Frodo.

I think a vital thing is to force yourself into the mindset of someone who knows nothing about your game (and is flooded with delicious options everywhere they look) before thinking of ways to promote/present it. It's pretty easy to subconsciously assume that people already know what it's about, and that can really distort the way you try to get their attention.

Promotional material should probably be made as an individual entity as well, as opposed to something that's just to demonstrate the game (which is important as well, of course). I suppose it's mainly a matter of flow; you spent a lot of time to get the flow right for the game, but that never gets translated if you just pop in a bunch of scattered footage from it.

Instead, treat something like a trailer as its own narrative -- make it have a distinctive beginning and a satisfying ending, and whatnot, etc. etc., and what have you.

[Kramlack]

Seems you've removed them now but I got a screen cap so we're good. Did you have a change of heart or just didn't want to start drama? Perhaps a mod got to them?

[Uykered]

omg drama!

[Sakar]

omg drama!

tigs drama is best drama

[Kramlack]

Jersey Shore TIGs Edition.

Also Sakar, while you're here, where's your avatar from? I know I've seen it recently (a music video iirc), but god forbid I remember the name.

[Sakar]

@Kramlack

[Netsu]

I think it's perfectly fine to make a topic for your game on a forum you're active on, even if only for marketing. Or to put in your signature or whatever.
What is not fine is mentioning you game in threads that are NOT about your game. This is what MattG was constantly doing, trying to make every topic be about his game.

But apart from that I have no marketing tips, and could actually use some myself.

[CEDE]

You basically need to realize that as soon as you finish the game, marketing the game becomes your day job.

I would suggest for starters outlining and scheduling your marketing plan day by day. You are starting completely from scratch so being organized and having a road map will be a huge help.

Here are some basic things you should cover or try out:

• Write a great press release, something that says the most in the fewest words possible.
• Make a trailer video for your game, and before doing so look up some tips online for the best formula for creating a trailer.
• Make sure that the video is posted to the right places like youtube, vimeo, gametrailers (user uploads), etc.
• Lock in your social networking urls (Facebook and twitter)
• Set up a basic website - either dedicated or a section of your game studio
• Set up a hosted press zip. Make it easy for people to download a package for your app that has written details, screen shots, icons and anything else that will make it even easier for people to write about you or talk about you.
• Figure out what areas you can target - gaming sites, pixel art sites, communities, reviewers, etc. Any place that could realistically feature your game.
• Set up a basic newsletter. Make it easier for people to sign up so they can stay up to date about your game. It will be slow going, but over time you can develop your own list organically if you are making the right stuff and promoting it a positive way.
• Go to Barnes & Noble or your local book store. Grab some coffee and a stack of magazines and start compiling contacts
• The same as above, but online. Browse around and collect as many contacts for sites and reviewers who would realistically talk about your game.

Once you have all of these materials set up then you can start contacting people. Some you may want to write personal emails for. Others could be part of a newsletter blast. But be conscious of writing messages people will WANT to actually read and do not spam people. Keep in mind that most people get loads of emails and can't always get back to every one. Contacting them every 5 minutes won't help much.

Also have a plan for how they can review your game. Promo codes, demo, gifted whatever method you have available.

A lot of this may amount to common sense, so its really just the tedious busy work at the end. Be willing to do that tedious work and cover all the ground you can. Its often said that the time spent building the game should be equal to the time spent marketing it. They are both mutually important for a game to be successful.

[st33d]

Getting a positive reaction from game journalists is always good.

I think there's some people at the Edge magazine offices who are now Nitrome fans. They feature the company quite a bit.

I've personally benefited from showing my own work to roguelike fans (I'm not making any money from it, but the more people who play the game, the better it gets because two people reporting an issue sounds like it needs to be fixed, one person reporting an issue might be just a nutter).

Get involved with as many communities as possible. Don't be known for your game, but offhandedly let them know you've made a game.

Case in point: I just put an update on IndieDB over Christmas and a guy on Indie Game Magazine wrote a nice article about it.

[tomka]

The best marketing tip I ever got went along these lines:

As developers we're always concerned with adding features to our games. We place a lot of value on our features and so we tend to want to tell players about our features thinking that they will see the value in those features. This is wrong. Players want benefits and experiences. As a developer you place a lot of value in the fact that you have 100 levels, as a player you don't really care how many levels they are but you do value the experience of a large game world. Don't sell your game on the fact that you have a bunch of levels, sell your game on the fact that it's a large and rich game world (for example!).

Likewise it's a feature that you have an epic sword in this game. The benefit that is relevant to players here is that they can feel powerful as they destroy heaps of enemies.

tl;dr:
Don't sell features, sell benefits and experiences.

Don't spam forums telling people about all your features, interest your audience by showing off the benefits they will get from playing your game.

[CEDE]

The best marketing tip I ever got went along these lines:

As developers we're always concerned with adding features to our games. We place a lot of value on our features and so we tend to want to tell players about our features thinking that they will see the value in those features. This is wrong. Players want benefits and experiences. As a developer you place a lot of value in the fact that you have 100 levels, as a player you don't really care how many levels they are but you do value the experience of a large game world. Don't sell your game on the fact that you have a bunch of levels, sell your game on the fact that it's a large and rich game world (for example!).

Likewise it's a feature that you have an epic sword in this game. The benefit that is relevant to players here is that they can feel powerful as they destroy heaps of enemies.

tl;dr:
Don't sell features, sell benefits and experiences.

Don't spam forums telling people about all your features, interest your audience by showing off the benefits they will get from playing your game.

I think I see what you are saying. Its like having two ways to write about one thing and one says it better than the other.

From your perspective could you give two examples (right and wrong) about how you would tell a potential player about having 100 levels?

[Painting]

ahahaha

[gunswordfist]

Forums aren't just a tool for advertisement, no matter how you go about it.

I think it's better with a swap of words: Forums just aren't a tool for advertisement, no matter how you go about it.

There's some other threads about marketing, over in Business, I believe - have you tried emailing gam review sites and stuff and getting them to take a look?

I'm stealing this idea.