Being an indie game developer is not an easy task; whether as a first-time designer to someone coming from a major studio. One of the biggest areas where a lot of indie developers mess up on is branding; specifically, having a marketing presence. For today’s post, I want to go over the bare minimum that you should have when it comes to indie game marketing.
Marketing yourself is a complicated topic with a lot of points to go over. While these three are big, there are many more areas to talk about. If there’s anything else you would like me to talk about, please let me know in the comments.
A Website:
This first one should be obvious, and yet there are developers who mess up on it. You need to have a place on the Internet to call your own. Your site can be as simple as a blogger or wordpress blog, or as complex as a completely customized site. If you have a separate site for your games, then those sites have to be connected back to the main one.
The point is about building good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and credibility. Your company or game should be the first things come up with a Google search. Your site serves two other purposes when it comes to getting the word out. This is where people can find out about your game, and more importantly, where members of the press can get in touch with you.
The worst thing is to have people wanting to find out more about you, but are unable to find your site. Once you are serious about making a game, a site should be #1 on your to-do list. As you advertise your site and add more content, it will improve the SEO rating on it. We could go into detail about what information should be on your site, but that’s too much for this topic.
It’s never too early to start thinking about how you market yourself
For a quick list, you should have the following: Contact information, press kit, screenshots and videos, links for purchasing and general information.
YouTube Channel:
As we have seen over the last few years, video has become king for publicizing video games. If you are putting out video content, then you need a YouTube channel. Having a YouTube channel will not only store your videos, but can be a source of marketing.
Having a YouTube channel as a game designer is not about subscribers, but about getting the word out about your game. For new developers starting out, this is going to be a slow burn, as you’re not going to be putting out daily videos.
The goal is to have a YouTube channel all set up for when you start doing actual marketing of your game. Once word gets out, the videos you have about your game should be the first ones that people find when wanting to look it up.
If you are putting out video content, then you need to have a YouTube channel. The more places you’re connected to, the more of a presence you have online.
Social Media:
For our last topic, I want to talk about Social Media. Social media can be the hardest of the three to start if you didn’t grow up with it. With all manner of options out there, it can be overwhelming to decide what to focus on.
A good suggestion from a friend was to focus on one or two at the start as your primaries. As a developer you’re not going to have the time to be all over the Internet and design a game. I’ve found Twitter to be the easiest for quickly communicating to people.
Simply put: YOU NEED TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA. Being able to build connections and help expand your reach is critical for an online presence; let alone game development. Over the last year, I’ve gotten more contacts through Twitter than I had before with just email.
Getting Rolling:
The key takeaway is that one or all of the above are not going to immediately work. The idea is to get the ball rolling and build a community while you are working on your game. You don’t want to start marketing yourself one week before your game comes out. You are laying the foundation for your marketing and awareness, so that when the game is about ready, you already have a presence online.
Darkest Dungeon’s success can be contributed to the work Redhook did with marketing themselves, the game, and their social media options. Having a strong foundation is critical if you want your game to succeed, and these three steps should be the first things that you do.
