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Marketing For Indie Video Game Developer - Getting Started
Marketing For Indie Video Game Developer - Getting Started
MARKETING
FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME
DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
XSOLLA
PARTNER NETWORK xsolla.com 1
MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Targeting
• Publishing as Marketing
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
INTRODUCTION
Creating a video game is a major achievement, but it's just the first step in your
studio's journey to monetization. To connect with and grow an audience that
will support the game you've created, you'll need to plan and execute effective
marketing.
In this ebook, we'll break down the basics of modern video game marketing
and provide the tips and tools that will help you make the most of your hard work.
This comes down to doing research, creating messaging and content, connecting
this messaging and content to a potential customer, driving the customer to a point
of sale, and tracking your results. Only by following all of these broad steps can you
tell if your marketing is effective and evaluate what you can do to improve your
efforts.
To reach these potential players, you'll need to create awareness about your game
where they will see it. Next, you'll need to connect these players with an easy,
frictionless path to buy or otherwise support your game, complete with convenient
and secure payment systems.
Then, you'll need to add value to converted players to keep them interested,
engaged, and loyal to the point that they will advocate for your game and help
spread the word. This process will ensure lasting relationships that can help players
help you, and create a harmonious ecosystem with enough longevity to earn you
a profit.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
Depending on what kind of game you're making and what kind of monetization path
you plan on using (premium, free-to-play, subscription-based, hybrid, etc.), your
goals may vary and even change over time. The important thing is to understand
where you want to start and where you need to go. Without a goal, you'll have
nothing to work towards and no way to measure your progress.
TARGETING
Before you can effectively deploy marketing messages, you need to define your
target audience. Ideally, you’ll want to reach the biggest audience possible,
but it’s important to focus first. By concentrating on specific targets, you can
maintain momentum and identify trends and opportunities as you go.
One of the most common ways to identify your potential audience is by identifying
games similar to yours. Consider your game's core attributes — its genre, tone,
and aesthetic. What other games inspired your game? In doing so, you can
research games like yours and identify the broad characteristics of their audiences.
Visit a similar game's page on Steam, Amazon, or other digital marketplace. Most
of them will display "more like this" sections or show a selection of titles that
players have looked at or purchased. You can also search YouTube, Twitch, Discord,
and other video game communities for fans games comparable to yours, so you
can build a list of titles with audiences that may enjoy your game. Keep drilling
down your searches until you can find out as much as possible about
the audiences for these games.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
In some cases, you will be able to buy ads or boost social media posts specifically
targeted to fans of games with convertible audiences. But be mindful that
marketing to followers of extremely popular titles will generally be more expensive
and less efficient than marketing towards smaller titles. The more targeted you can
get, the better.
Your targeting research can also yield something else extremely important:
differentiation. By examining what your game has in common with the competition,
you can also zero in on what makes it different. This will help you craft marketing
messages and content capable of standing out and exciting potential players.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
In our next section, we'll talk about the common marketing channels that you can
use to create a customer journey, and the usual marketplaces — including direct
sales from a custom website — that you can use to shape your game's sales funnel.
For the purposes of this ebook, we'll be discussing these concepts in rough terms
as if you're working to initiate a one-time premium game purchase. If your game
is designed to be free-to-play or uses other monetization models involving in-game
commerce, etc., these principles will still apply, but will of course require some
extra steps. In any case, always focus on making the process as easy as you can
for players.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
While AAA games can broadcast marketing messages nearly everywhere, indie
game developers need to narrow their focus to be effective.
Your best bet for social engagement is to leverage the strongest shareable assets
you have on hand, including screenshots, trailers, developer diaries, making-of
content, concept art, positive press, and anything else your followers will respond
to. The more unique, the better.
You can either post this content in an effort to drive engagement, or include a link
to help drive your followers to pre-order your game or take another off-platform
action. Be thoughtful with your copy by keeping it short and on-message,
and include any hashtags that you think will help people discover your game as well
as allow you to track your efforts. And don't stop after launch. You'll need to engage
with your community continuously to grow your audience over time.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
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You can manage each social channel natively, or use free and/or paid all-in-one
social tools like Hootsuite and others to consolidate and monitor your efforts.
• YouTube
• Twitch
• and more.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
Email
Email is a powerful way to connect with and grow your game's audience, so obtain
as many email addresses for your mailing list as you can, whenever and wherever
possible. Have a sign-up portal on your website. Authenticate players via email.
Collect addresses at events. Create a list of press contacts. Save addresses
gathered during any crowdfunding you might conduct. Anywhere potential
recipients are willing and legally able to opt-in, you should work to get addresses
so you can reach out to as many potential players as possible.
Platforms like Mailchimp and its many competitors often offer free accounts
with basic toolsets that can tell you what you need to know about how your emails
perform after you've sent them. Mailchimp specifically can even be integrated
with other sophisticated website tools, including Xsolla Site Builder.
No matter which service you use, you'll want to monitor several reporting metrics
to help determine your effectiveness overall and per email. To start with, your most
important performance metrics will include your email open rate, each message’s
clickthrough rate, and your email list's overall unsubscribe rate.
There is more performance data you can learn from over time, but these basics will
help give you an idea of whether or not people are reading what you're sending,
if they're clicking your links, or even if they're interested in your emails at all.
Events
Video game industry events and conferences are a great place to make
connections, seek out funding, learn new skills, and even run a booth to directly
promote your game to retailers, publishers, and players. Depending on your
location, your budget, and your goals, you'll want to calculate the potential benefits
of attending events as a guest or as a vendor.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
• IndieCade
IndieCade’s focus is independent games, with producers from Asia, Latin
America, Europe, and Australia and anywhere else independent games
are made and played. At their festival, attendees can take part in classes,
panels, workshops, keynotes, and more to sharpen their skills and network
with other creators and industry professionals.
• Gamescom
One of Europe's largest trade fairs for digital games culture, gamescom
provides indie developers with multiple opportunities to market their game
over the course of the festival.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
• GamesForum
GamesForum's events give indie developers access to thought leadership,
business development, and brand awareness education in the form
of panels, talks, and more. With global attendance, it's a good place
to network.
• Unite
If you're a Unity developer, you'll want to check out the game engine's
Unite events. You won't necessarily be marketing directly to your audience
here, but you will gain access to experienced industry players and their
knowledge.
Communities
Your fellow indie developers can be some of your best advocates. Joining
and participating in a community can help more experienced and successful
developers discover your game and share it with their communities, while also
giving you insights into their experiences that will assist you in building and refining
your own strategies.
Be sure to read and follow each community's posting rules to become a member
and remain in good standing. This is especially important on Reddit, where anything
resembling spam is not tolerated.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
• /Play My Game
• /Let’s Play
• /iOS Gaming
• /Indie Gaming
• /Android Gaming
PUBLISHING AS MARKETING
With multiple platforms available, wherever you decide to publish your game
matters. Whether you self-publish and sell game keys through a dedicated website,
publish across popular mainstream channels like Steam, the Epic Games Store,
GOG.com, or all of the above, your publishing choice is also a marketing choice.
After all, your marketing communications should send potential players to key
points of purchase, and some players may prefer certain platforms over others.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
They include:
Steam
For PC games, Steam reigns as a top digital video game marketplace for many
players. Since its launch in 2003, Valve's ecosystem has evolved to include
player-favorite features including forums, an events hub, cloud saves,
and cross-device streaming. In 2020, Steam had 120 million monthly active players
who made a collective 2.6 million new purchases. This audience size and activity
alone makes Steam a solid place to publish your game and push marketing efforts
towards, even if it's highly competitive.
Source: Steam
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
GOG.com
While not as large as Steam or the Epic Games Store, CD Projekt's PC and Mac video
game marketplace still boasts a massive — and growing — player base. In 2020,
GOG reported $562.9 million in annual revenue. Though much of that revenue was
supported by its game Cyberpunk 2077, GOG's overall monthly active users rose
208% over the previous year, with new user registration up 392%. Depending on your
resources, that makes GOG.com a potential growth platform for your indie game.
Source: GOG.com
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
Android
Android games are sold through a variety of branded platforms, including
Google Play, which generated $31.9 billion in games revenue in 2020. Depending
on your capabilities, you can dedicate your attention to a handful of Android stores,
or work with third parties (including Xsolla) to sell across a variety of them
on a global scale.
Web Games
If you're developing a web or browser-based game, you aren't just limited
to hosting it on your own site. There are specialized distribution channels that can
help you reach larger audiences through game networks. One example is the Xsolla
Web Games Distribution solution, which you can learn more about in our one-pager.
Or consider taking your mobile game to the web, through Xsolla’s Mobile to Web
solution.
DIY
Selling your game through a dedicated website is one of the most potentially
profitable options for any developer, but it requires stability and security that you
may not have the means to design or the ability to monitor yourself. There are
ready-made options, however. By utilizing Xsolla's products and solutions, you can
create a landing page where you can securely sell your game to a global audience
in minutes with no upfront costs.
For more information about how you can create a fully-branded landing page
where you can market your game and its related content, or how you can
add robust ecommerce functionality to your existing site, visit our products page
or reach out to an Xsolla expert directly at business@xsolla.com.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
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Analytics should be integrated into most of your owned sales platforms, such
as a dedicated landing page. Keep in mind that these metrics are only a starting
point to help you make sense of who is supporting your game, and whether your
marketing strategies are working.
Steam, the Epic Games Store, GOG.com, and other platforms will provide some
of this reporting data, but it's worth integrating as many of your sales platforms
as you can with the analytics platform you go with in order to access the most
comprehensive data possible. The more you can find out about each customer's
journey, the easier it will be to identify trends and isolate which of your marketing
strategies are working and which aren't.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
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• Twitch
• Video game streams: an influencer plays a given game live for their audience
• Twitch Drops: temporary events during which viewers can earn rewards
by watching streams
To successfully promote your game, influencers will require different assets such
as review copies of your game, exclusive giveaway content (game keys, in-game
items, and others), landing pages to send their fans to, promo codes, artwork,
videos, and more. These will allow them to promote your game, and help you
measure their performance.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
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• Referred sales: how many sales an influencer refers using links, codes, tags,
or other tools
Your ability to use different compensation models will affect your ability to attract
different influencers. It will also affect which tools you might need to accurately
measure success and provide proper compensation. In some cases, you may need
to have a budget set aside to pay an influencer in advance, while in others, you can
pay influencers for their performance after they've driven sales to your platform,
or even by sharing revenue.
Depending on your marketing goals, you can interact with and compensate
influencers with different models, which include:
You can read this article to learn more about common influencer compensation
models.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
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AFFILIATE MARKETING:
DRIVING SALES THROUGH AFFILIATE NETWORKS
In the video game industry, an affiliate network is an intermediary between game
publishers or developers and merchants — including influencers, content creators,
and other potential advocates. These networks give merchants a place to discover
and participate in an affiliate program.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
These insights, among others, can help you determine where your game is popular,
where it has room to grow, and if there might be bottlenecks in your purchase flow
that are preventing users from completing a purchase.
Many affiliate networks provide some basic data, but the deeper your data goes,
the better.. By studying purchasing patterns, you can determine what's working,
what can be improved, and whether you need to change your strategies to achieve
your sales goals.
Xsolla Partner Network, for example, makes monitoring and quantifying your
affiliate campaigns easy with completely transparent reporting that you can use
to optimize your marketing strategies.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
If you're an indie developer with a set amount of funding, you may want to allocate
as much as 25-50% of your overall budget to marketing. If that's not feasible, you
will want to consider all of the "free" or otherwise no-cost ways you can promote
your game yourself, including public relations outreach and word-of-mouth. Bear
in mind, however, that these efforts will require, at minimum, a time and energy
investment on your part. These are real resources, and managing them will be
necessary to complete, promote, and market your finished game.
If you are a developer seeking a publisher or lead investor, you should consider
applying to the Xsolla Funding Club.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
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Influencers
Partner with verified influencers, create revenue share programs
and cross-platform campaigns using a Creator Tag, track individual influencer
performance with attribution tracking, and automate fully compliant
performance-based influencer payouts. You can also run Twitch Drops campaigns*
using Partner Network.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
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Affiliate Networks
Collaborate with a global directory of affiliate networks to create and customize
campaigns with accurate and comprehensive conversion reporting in one place.
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MARKETING FOR INDIE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS:
GETTING STARTED
Sign up to join Xsolla Partner Network today and start using our easy-to-integrate
solutions.
Already an Xsolla user? Learn more about how Xsolla Partner Network can integrate
with your current workflow today.
NEW TO XSOLLA?
Get started by registering for a Publisher Account.
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