Notes from Konsoll 2013: Marketing Indie Games on a $0 Budget
> “Emmy Jonassen: To become a successful indie game developer, you must first become a successful indie game marketer. Trouble is, for many indies, marketing doesn’t come naturally or fit the indie budget.”
#1 Trailer video
#2 Screen-shots
#3 Press Release
#4 Landing Page
#5 Development Blog
Trailer video
– Keep it short (90 seconds or less)
– 3 to 5 seconds to capture attention at the start
– Music and SFX very important to video
– Show game-play
– Add review text etc if possible
– End with next steps (where to buy, website etc)
Example: Guacamelee release trailer
Screenshots
– High resolution
– Excellent composition
– Well lit
– Engaging scene
Example: The Witness by Jonathan Blow
Press release
– Press don’t like to write
– Your press release will be used, cut and pasted
– First paragraph most important
– First paragraph must grab attention
– First paragraph must contain all important info
– “Use quotes”
– Company and contact info
– Send with screen-shots and trailer video
– Use in-text hyper-links
Example: Dajabon Games, Boston
Landing page
(The game’s web-page)
– Purpose: convert visitors to customers
– Remove all navigation
– Grabbing headline (only text that will be read by majority)
– Social sharing icons
– Strong call to-action button (most important – the action you want visitors to do)
– Trailer video
– Screen shots
– Testimonials / reviews
– Contact and press kit buttons or links
Development blog
– Companies with dev blog bring in 55% more traffic on average
– Post x1 per week minimum
– Use images
– Link from home page
– RSS feed
– Email subscription
– Social subscription
– Social sharing buttons
– Promotion at posts end
Next
Reach out to press
– Research publications you should be on
– Research publications you want to be on
– Record in a spreadsheet list
– Categorize publications into three tiers based on traffic
Find writer’s contact info
– Visit each publication’s site on list
– Search the websites for “Editorial Staff” link
– Take all information and add to spreadsheet
Get in touch
– Create email template to intro yourself and game
– Customize template per site, per game
– ANSWER “why would my readers give a shit?”
Thank you notes! Very important
Keep in touch
– Maintain relationships with media
– Social media
– Comment on their articles
Build adoring fanbase
Make your game easy to discover
– Set up social media channels and post daily (Twitter, Facebook, LinkdIn, Google+)
– Become active in forums, blogs, and other relevant sites
– Participate in game jams and other events
– Get involved with the local development community
– Start a crowdfunder
Covert visitors into fans with content
– Give tips
– Game and company updates
– Data and other insights, experiences (share research)
– Opinion pieces
– Interesting articles
– Random or funny post (personality)
Nurture your relationship with fans
– Respond to comments and questions in a timely and personalized way
– Initiate and engage in discussion
– Thank fans privately and publicly
– Ask for and incorporate fan input
– Respond to criticism in a thankful and professional way
Q&A
“How early is too early?”
– Put together a road map.
“Old screen shots?”
– Keep in touch with press.
Smaller publicity is valuable. Networking.
Treat bad press like a troll
– Respond directly, privately initially
– Request more feed back to understand what they didn’t like
– Respect them
Thank you Emmy Jonassen!
Awesome presentation and valuable tips and info.
We will put it to good use.