Independent games are not plagued with large corporations breathing down their necks.
They don’t have to worry about ramping up profitability, even at the expense of player
enjoyment. They don’t have unreasonable deadlines, and their creative process can be free.
As any independent creative can tell you, the downside to this industry isn’t creative
expression. It’s the platform itself. AAA games have big marketing budgets, host
conventions and events, and generally generate a lot of interest from the gaming
community.
How can you compete when gaming mags and even national news cover the
AAA game releases, but you can barely get a good social media following going?
You follow these steps to build up hype for your indie game:
1. Create Great Marketing Materials
Try your best to create great marketing materials. When your game is still in concept, this
could be the concept art, and then behind-the-scenes videos. Try to make them as
professional as you can and even consider hiring outside help to put together a great
marketing package.
2. Create a Website and Social Media
If you want to advertise your game, you need to have digital real estate to do so. This means
having a website and social media channels where you can post and engage with your
growing community. Ideally, it would also be a good idea to collect emails from interested
persons so you can inform them of big milestones and eventually when release is.
3. Invest in SEO and PPC Marketing
PPC marketing, particularly on search engines, and SEO are going to bring in the most
interested parties to your door. After all, they will be searching with a keyword related to your
business. Done right you can work to rank organically or strategically invest in AdWords to
attract the greatest number of visitors to your site who won’t just click away. This takes a lot
of time and a number of strategies, so unless you are able to dedicate someone to this task
full-time it is better to hire SEO management services to get it done right.
4. Get in Touch with Games Journalists
It never hurts to get in touch with games journalists to let them know about your game. Indie
gaming is a big industry and rounding up the best upcoming indie games is a common topic
from games journalists. It is a good idea to get in touch directly with people who write more
about indie games than those who focus on AAA games, but as you go on, it doesn’t hurt to
at least try to get in touch with as many games journalists as possible to ideally drum up
coverage about your launch.
5. See if You Can Get Leading Gaming Accounts to Test Your Game
Just as you should get in touch with games journalists it also helps to get in touch with
gamers and streamers to see if any would be happy to try out your new game and showcase
it to their followers. This can be a great way to get huge coverage and the recommendation
from big names.
