This is an "updated-for-slideshare" version of a 30-minutes conference I gave at the "Future is Bright" conference organized by the Icelandic Games Industry organization in March 2012 at Reykjavik.
It touches lightly on key tips for small video game studios to be more visible on the media scene, and understand better what they deal with as they start promoting their games internationally.
6. Entering the digital distribution era
Number of games in selected digital platforms:
1500 400K 600K 453 XBLA 20K
2349 XLIG 650 VG
Digital distribution has broken some barriers but one remains: visibility.
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7. Communication & marketing still matter
In communications schools, they still teach that the
Communication rule #1 is: ”You cannot not communicate”
Actually... You can.
It is called being invisible.
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8. 3 main types of communication
PR Marketing Community
Management
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10. Know whoYOU are, and do PR your way
Be remarkable
Don’t try to mimic what others
do. Being remarkable is the
most effective and cheapest
way to attract attention. If
you’re indie, freedom is your
best asset, so use it !
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11. Know whoYOU are, and do PR your way
Be yourself
Just as you can’t out-Zynga
Zynga, you can’t out-
Behemoth The Behemoth. Find
your own way to create and
communicate, and respect the
creation of others. Being a
copycat because it’s « easier » is
not a solution for you or the
industry.
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12. Know whoYOU are, and do PR your way
Be Human
Gaming & Tech media are
composed of human beings
passionated about gaming, just
like you. Loose the corporate
formatting: it won’t make you
appear bigger or more
professional. Simple gamer-to-
gamer relationships are the
most effective.
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13. Be Human – Part 2
• Be personal in your
communication, know who you’re
talking to and what they want
• Reward your early supporters, no
matter how small they are, and
never forget them
• PR is Community Management,
your community is just different
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14. • Understand your media contacts:
• Get to know who they are before you ask for favors
• What they want -> <- What you want. Like with any
relationship, it has to come from both sides
• Don’t spam: Even small blogs get up to 5 outreach from indie studios
per week. Be remarkable to stand out.
• Understand strong cultural differences if you market your game
internationally
• Most game editors are not professional, they do this by passion on
their free time. Don’t waste it.
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15. Press Coverage Equation
1) Physical and cultural distance
• The farther you are from your contact, the least relevant
you are
• Cultural proximity can overcome geographical distance, or
make the barrier stronger
Exemple: France and Japan are geographically
distant, but culturally very close.
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16. Press Coverage Equation
1) Physical and cultural distance
2) Media prominence
Who you are and what you’ve done matters a lot in your
chances to get media attention. Try to develop your own
media prominence, becoming the go-to expert on
specific topics will secure you a lot more opportunities.
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17. Press Coverage Equation
1) Physical and cultural distance
2) Media prominence: The Kickstarter Exemple
Brian Fargo
> Derrick Smith
Tim Schaffer
Chris Allen
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18. Press Coverage Equation
1) Physical and cultural distance
2) Media prominence
3) Novelty
Something NEW will always get more coverage than
something old. Media feed and live on novelty. If your
studio is just doing new versions of something that
already exists, your chances of getting covered are much
lower.
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19. Press Coverage Equation
1) Physical and cultural distance
2) Media prominence
Ex: The 3rd Gen of DotA games have a lot
3) Novelty more trouble getting attention. The genre
isn’t new anymore.
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20. Press Coverage Equation
1) Physical and cultural distance
2) Prominence
3) Novelty
4) Audience targeting
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21. Press Coverage Equation
1) Physical and cultural distance
2) Prominence
3) Novelty
4) Audience targeting
Don’t blast your communication everywhere and hope
that something sticks. Target your efforts, don’t waste
time, energy and credibility contacting partners without
a solid belief that they’ll be interested by what you have
to offer.
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22. Press Coverage Equation
1) Physical and cultural distance
2) Prominence
3) Novelty
4) Audience targeting
5) Relationships
PR is about building relationship with people over
time. One-shot blasts never work, and results are
measured over time. Remember: You’ll need many
shots !
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23. Press Coverage Equation
1) Physical and cultural distance
2) Prominence
3) Novelty
4) Audience targeting
5) Relationships
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24. Press Coverage Equation
1) Physical and cultural distance
2) Prominence
3) Novelty
4) Audience targeting
5) Relationships
6) Etc.
Many more things factor in your equation, such as the timing of
your announcement, the importance of your information, the
platform you’re on, the languages you use, etc.
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25. Press Coverage Equation
1) Physical and cultural distance
2) Prominence
3) Novelty
4) Audience targeting
5) Relationships
6) Etc.
1) + 2) + 3) + 4) + 5) + 6) = Your chances of getting media coverage
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26. Examples – At beginning of communication
Distance Distance Distance
Prominence Prominence Prominence
Novelty Novelty Novelty
Relationships Relationships Relationships
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27. How much does PR costs ?
• PR requires time, money, or both
• If you don’t have time but you have money, you can hire.
PR Agency fee = 5K$/month on average per country. Can
vary a lot depending on the contract and services.
• Besides salaries, never for get to add to the bill:
• Travel costs
• Assets production costs (physical and digital)
• Tools (most are free, some paid ones can be useful)
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28. Social Media
• Social media allows you to communicate directly to your audience
… but it doesn’t guarantee that anybody will be listening
• What you use is not necessarily what your audience uses. Adapt to
your userbase, because your users will rather leave than change for
you.
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30. BE EVERYWHERE
• Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, XBLA, PSN, etc.
• Distribution leaders: Steam, Retail
• and runner-ups: Impulse, Gamersgate, Origin, GamesPlanet, DLGamer, Amazon, Getgames,
etc.
• Renters: Gametap, Metaboli, Onlive
When you’re new and unknown, make it easy for customers to find you, and claim
the space. You can be picky when you’re known enough that customers will look
for you on their own.
Requires time, experience, network (and an adaptable tech)
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31. BE FLEXIBLE (with the price)
• If you’re confident in your game, then let
people play it as much as possible !
•Flexibility is a key advantage small
structures have over large publishers
• Sales can have a negative impact on your
bottom line, so make the most of them,
market them heavily
•Your free users are extremely important,
don’t forget them
• Word of mouth/Virality
• Cross-promotion
• Microtransactions
• Etc.
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32. BUILD TO LAST
On iOS, the more games you make, the more money-per-game you’ll make.
Source: streamingcolour.com/blog/
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33. BUILD TO LAST
Iterating on several projects will bring you:
• Experience
• Community
• Cross-marketing opportunities
• Media prominence
• Relationships leverage
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34. Platform-owner features
• Most effective marketing in closed
environments
• No magic recipe, but possible to
optimize your chances:
• Understand the platform’s
audience
• Use the latest platform’s features
• Build relationships
• The possibility of being featured is
too random, hope for it but don’t
rely on it
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36. What is a Community ?
« A community is a place where everyone knows your name »
What do you need to start a community ?
• Something to talk about
• Somewhere to talk about it
• People (they do the talking)
There is a big difference between having a community and having followers on
Facebook or Twitter. A community implies bi-directional relation with the studio,
as well as among the members.
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37. Everything is Community
• Communities are about social contact: Make it easy for players to create
relationships with you and among themselves. Once again, it’s all about the
people.
• Everything you do will reflect on your community: Gaming communities
are capable of everything and anything, never underestimate them. The
slightest change in gameplay, the smallest interview can have a strong
impact on them. Trust and Loyalty are the most important currency in
community management, but they’re also extremely fragile.
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38. SUMMARY
• Know who you are and/or who you want to be
• Know who your audience and your partners are, understand them
• Communicate often, share information, build relationships
• Beware the ethnocentrism
• Be everywhere
• Be flexible
• Reward those who support you
Visibility isn’t easy, but you don’t invest resources in getting it, don’t expect
people to invest time in you.
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