Marketing Your First Game (From A Marketer's Perspective) [Part I/III]

I am just going to start this out by saying that this is the first time I have actually marketed a game. I have been able to help market a film release (*cough* X-Men *cough*), local businesses, churches (the ones that don't sell chicken), and more. But this is the first time I actually market a video game. Which makes this experience very special already. But it is even more special when I remember that this isn't just any product or client. This is my brother's game.  A passion project that has allowed our whole family to be involved in.

I chose this intro because I wanted to present how deeply connected I am to the game. It is not just any product for me. It is something that I actually care about. So not only is this from a marketer's perspective, it is from someone who has invested time into the labor of this product. And this is what we did, learned, and plan to do in the future. 

Part I: Budget & Public Relations

We had none. To this day, a month since launch, we have not used any paid advertising. But I put on my PR pants and started typing emails & DMs like an insane person. Since we wanted to focus on a local audience in Puerto Rico, we agreed that we would search for all the video game-related outlets we could find that would share our stuff. We mainly focused on Facebook, which in my past experience, it is the one used the most in PR of the other social media platforms. It is also a place where lots of communities are in. Many with good engagement.

So, when working without a budget, it is very important to work on your outreach. First, find who your audience is (or could potentially be).  Think of a customer persona (or variations of them) to kinda get into the mindset of your potential players/customers. You can go ahead and search with keywords on various platforms for outlets & communities where your potential audience is at. If you are fortunate enough to live in a place like Puerto Rico, that has lots of communities online, especially for gaming, then locally could be easy to find outlets. If you live in a place that does not have those types of communities, you are going to have to search a bit harder. You may have to reach communities that are bigger and maybe even more crowded than local ones. It could be a bit difficult, but it is doable.

Communities 

Places where you can find communities are of course obvious ones like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and other social platforms. But, you can also find some success in Discord servers and even platforms like Telegram (which I have yet to use). And of course, the new kid on the block, TikTok is a nice place to be present in as an indie dev. You may not know how to "renegade", but if you are/have an animator, your character can (content idea!). Lastly, places like indieDB, Giant Bomb, and other game focused forums are great places to have your game and network with people too. You can also link back to your store/website with these outlets. 

Networking

When networking and reaching out to outlets & communities, sometimes you don't have to be too formal. Not everyone is a business person. Sometimes the people behind these communities & outlets are also just gamers. They can even be fellow developers that are excited to see young (and even not-so-young) talent creating new projects. But just because you are not being formal, doesn't mean you can't be professional & considerate. Make sure you are respectful, but also be friendly when doing outreach. Most of the time, especially on social media platforms, a simple DM will work. Sometimes you will have to cold email. And that is something that takes some courage to do. Personally, it is the same as knocking on someone's door. You have to be very smart when doing something like this. Timing, content, and context are very important when cold emailing. It can be pretty daunting, but if you really care about your project, you will do it. 

What's next?

When it comes to marketing anything, it takes time and effort. Which may be something difficult for a solo dev and even for a team of devs. Which is why I wanted to start writing this 3-part series. To present what we had to do leading up to and post-launch. In the next two parts, we will go a bit more in-depth on what we learned and what we plan on doing moving forward.  Also, what type of software and services to use to ease marketing your game.

In the mean time, check out ProtoHunter: