How to get the right type of attention
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Indie marketing basics for a shoe string budget based on personal experience :)
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How to get the right type of attention
- 21. Ohlook!RECAP!(ohno,bulletpoints..) Don’tbeselfish Behonestandyourself Friendsandfamilywillalwayshaveyourback Personalcontactsandfriendsareessential Lookforattentionintherightplaces Cultivateandtreasure personalcontacts Beagoodfriendyourself Shareyourpassionandforgetaboutsellingaproduct Whenindoubt,remember thecryingbabyontheplane;)
- 22. Somehelpfulstuff(tomakeyourlifeeasier..) dopresskit.com PGpublicmediacontactlist Contactually.com Hootsuite.com Promoterapp.com Linkedin.com
Notes de l'éditeur
- Rock Pocket Games currently consists of 10 very motivated and experienced team members. We have been developing mobile games since 2008 and just last year finished 7 mobile games for external clients alone. The last one being Mr. Melk Winter Games for the biggest Dairy Brand in Norway.
- Buuuuuuuuuut enough about me and to the topic I want to talk to you about:How to get (the right type of) attention. It’s always hard to prepare talks thatfiteveryone and talkingaboutappmarketingwould ask not only for much more time butalso for me to preparetonsofstatistics. So I am doing back to basicsinstead. Now you probably wonder what is the right type and is there a wrong type. I guess that not everyone would agree with me but to me the right type (for an indie) is the one that gives you the must bang for the leastbuck. Or in other worlds, the most efficient way for the least amount of money.With that out of the way, let me ask you guys a question: Who here came by airplane to Malmø? Ok and who here had a crying baby on the plane?All right, you know the thing is. When it comes to traveling, especially flying, I am a freaking baby magnet. You can bet that no matter where i sit there is a crying baby either in front of me, behind me or in the aisle next to me. I just came to the conclusion that it is a law of nature.So the other day when I was on my way to a conference (and of course I had a baby crying behind me) i realized that they are a very nice metaphor for how I do approach marketing.
- So voila! These are our marketing specialists for this evening. And they look as surprised as you probably just were, right? Well, like actual marketing «specialists» they do some things right but mostly they do things wrong because let’s face it, Marketing and Advertising is pretty much learning by doing and through trial and error.The baby on the plane is basically trying to get what we all want: Attention. Quite obviously it succeeds but the problem is that the most part of the people whose attention it got is annoyed about the interruption. The only people who are not annoyed are the family and people who either have babies on their own right now or generally love babies. So lets call them «friends». The main problem here is that the baby wanted attention from its family but got much more than it bargained for and in turn annoyed the most part of its audience. The ones that are annoyed basically just try to ignore it and most probably but in some earplugs to damp out the crying.This is what can happen when you try to get attention for your game too. So let’s break it down a bit and I try to give you some example of personal experience.
- So what do we ultimately want? ATTENTION much like the crying baby on the plane. Buthow to getthatattention and how to getthe right kindof..
- Somethingreallyimportantifyou talkaboutyour game, no matter ifyouareonsocialchannels or during conferences..be yourself and do not try to be someoneyouare not. Not only will people find out, in marketing and pr everything is about trust. Once you have lost that trust it’s incredibly hard to get it back so do not screw that part up.
- Pitching is annoying, interrupts people and is not why they are listening to you are what they want to hear from you.Even worse, if they don’t know you they won’t listen to you anyway (or believe whatever you try to say and explain, no matter how important it is)Actually, forget about selling a game and instead think about it as making friends and sharing your passion when you interact and communicate.Remember the crying baby on the plane? People just ignored it because to them it was annoying, selfish and interrupted them in something they didn not want to be interrupted in, and pitching and only talking about you on social channels is annoying. Specially advertising..there is a reason I either get my ipad out, grab some food or go to the toilet during ad breaks..the same will happen on social channels if you try to get attention by only focusing on yourself. It won’t hurt if you talk about others. Specially in twitter. Retweet interesting topics from other people and get other developers attention as well. The more you give the more you get back and you will make some friends in between as well.
- Family will always give you attention. Sometimes or (most of the time even more then you want) so if you are just starting out on social channels ie facebook, don’t be afraid to ask them to like it and also share it with their friends. Speaking about friends, the same is true for friends. Don’t be afraid to ask them for help. They generally have a much higher tolerance limit and they will most likely tell you of something in your update or social channel doesn’t work..
- So, again, friends will have your back (unless there is a camera and an embarrassing moment involved...)Either way, my whole marketing approach is based on MAKING FRIENDS!If we get back to the baby metaphor..friends know you and what you stand for, they know for example that the baby is crying because it gets a new tooth and as an added bonus, have a higher bullshit tolerance for your quirks. If you try to build attention for your game it’s basically all about making friends (or building a community). I tend to look at it that way:AAA companies buy friends (with super expensive CG trailers, adds, expensive marketing campaigns) while we indies want to «make or get» friends. Or oneapproach is to getcustomers and theother is to get fans.I generally tend to think that the ones you do not have to pay to give you attention are the more loyalones, wouldn’tyouagreeonthat? The ones going for fancy trailers and expensive goodies will just leave you for the next best shiny thing.This is true for both building a community and also having an easier and more efficient conversation with journalists. Establishing personal contacts and makeingfriends is key.But now, how we start? Social Channels, Forums, Twitter, Facebook.
- Forums: Of course a starting point for many is to create social channels but also join forums to talk about your game. After all if you have a community that fits your target audience or shares your passion you should be able to talk to them, right?Well, let me tell you a short story (MS forum story). So, my point in question, get to know people and let them know who you are first.
- Also, again with the Baby. If it would have cried at home it would automatically have gotten the attention of the people it wanted it from and ONLY from them. Limiting the amount of annoyance to others to 0.This is true if you contact journalists as well. Make sure you do use the proper channels or otherwise you waste time on something that wont bring any fruition.For example, there is absolutely no real reason to send RockPaperShotgun a press release or an email with news about a mobile only or console game. Well you can try but the chance is extremely small and that time is better spent elsewhere. So take a bit of time to research and know your journalists and potential target audience. Or youcoulduseour list ofpublic media siteswe have online as a startingpoint. More onthat at the end.
- Somethingelsethat I think is reallyimportant:Don’tgetdisheartenedifyou send out press-releases and don’tgetanycoverage or feedback. It’s quitehonestly a veryunthankful and frustratingjob to try to getcoverage from the media. At times it reallydoesseem like youare sending stuffinto a black hole never to be seenagain. The keyhere is to keeppersistant, especiallyuntilyou do have some personal contactsestablished.
- Doessize or theamountof visitors a siteget matter in terms ofwhereyouwant to be features? One thingyouneed to keep in mind is howmuchcompetitionyougeton a specificoutlet. In general I madetheexperiencethatit’s more efficient to target small to medium sites IF you do not have yet personal contacts at anyofthebigones. Simplybecausehardlyanyofusarepros at writingcompelling press releases, catchingtitles or findthatspecial hook thejournosarelooking for. Coupledwiththefactthat journalists onbigsitesgethundredsof emails per day and need to decidewithin a fewsecondsiftheyopen an email or not, it makes it really hard to get a foodintothebigsites.It’s actuallysmarter to try to target somesmalleroutletsthatyouknowaregettingpicked up by thebigsites. Becauselet’s face it, that is howthe media works..My littleexperimentwithpixelprospector and whathappened.
- It’s reallyimportant to getoutofyourcomfortzone.Leavethat basement (wellyouobviouslyalreadydidotherwiseyouwould not be here, so well done!)Establishing personal contacts and talking to people in persons is worth a million. You never knowwhathappens at conferencesPhil Fish strory and Tim Schafer Story. Youget to hang outwithamazingpeople…not to mentionafterparties is weredealsgetmade and the best contacts start.
- It’s reallyimportant to getoutofyourcomfortzone.Leavethat basement (wellyouobviouslyalreadydidotherwiseyouwould not be here, so well done!)Establishing personal contacts and talking to people in persons is worth a million. You never knowwhathappens at conferencesPhil Fish strory and Tim Schafer Story. Youget to hang outwithamazingpeople
- Cultivate and Treasureyourcontacts. Onceyou do getcoverageit’salwaysnice to get back, addthe journalist in question to yourcontacts and shootthem a thankyoueitherontwitter or by email. Theymight not answerbut I am sure theyappreciate it. Who knows, theymighteventakethe time to get back to you and voila, yougotone more personal contact.Generallyagain, thatalsomeans: be a goodfriend. Don’t just thinkaboutmakingfriends in order to make friends. It’s seriously all about giving and receiving and when in doubt I alwayssay, thinkof it as giving more from your side. Retweeting and supportingotherdevelopers and appreciatingyour fans and community is oneofthe most importantmarketingtoolyoucan have. Don’twaste it..
- Unfortunatelyusing forums, socialchannels and general makingfriends and networkingtakes time butit’sreallyworth it in thelong run and buildingcommunities and a networkwithimportantcontacts is a goldmine and willstaywithyou for a long time. Especiallyifyoutakethe «makingfriends» seriously. It’s a bit like carding (kinda fitting withthesnailsmetaphor right? ;). Youneed to pamper and takecareofsmall plants to have themgrowintobigtreesyoucanenjoy for a long time.
- Something I getasked a lot and have a lot ofdiscussionsabout is thequestionon, howearly to start withgettingattention to your game. When it comes to building a community or getting fans for your game: Youcan’t start earlyenough. Seriously! If you start afteryour game is released, youaretoo late to the party. Createsocialchannels and talk to potential fans as early as possible. Shareyourpassion.Someofyouprobablythinknow «butwhatifsomeonesteals my idea?». I hate to burstyourbubblebut most again, like withthe baby, nooneprobablycaresaboutyour game as much as you do. Like parents, youthinkyour baby is the most precious and most beautiful under thesun. We have to learn to get over ourselves in thatregard. Also, ifsomeoneactuallymanages to copyyouridea and get it outbeforeyou, thenyousimplydid it wrong. It’s all aboutbeingthe first to themarketanyway. It’s a bit different withcontactingthe media. If theypickyou up from their side withoutanyeffort from your part, great! However, do not contactthemtooearly or youaregoing to blow all yourammunitiontooearly. A goodidea is to establishcontactwiththem as early as possiblebuton a friend and get-to-know basis and then later whenyouarecloser to release, youcan start pushing it to the media as well. You do not wantthem to gettired and you do not want to run the risk ofrunningoutofcontent to feedthem.And yup, that’s me ;)
- Summary
- I learnedthe most aboutwhatworks and whatdoes not work from mistakes. I thinkspeciallymarketing and trying to getattention is all about trial and error. Even thepros start multi-million dollar campaigns and fall ontheir butt..badly. Just look at someofthe PR desasters in thegamingindustry by AAA studios..sodon’t be afraid to make mistakes..