Guidance for managing the public relations landscape
The indie gaming sector is evolving at a rapid pace, creating a more competitive environment. Gamers have limited choices each year, elevating the significance of PR as a crucial strategy for developers to navigate these challenges and enhance the visibility of their games.
To make the most of available PR tools, developers need to employ effective tactics for audience engagement. Understanding how to provide value to publications and influencers is also essential. Based on experience, PR methodologies vary significantly between AAA projects and smaller indie titles like The Case of the Golden Idol, demanding a versatile approach in marketing and outreach.
Today, adopting diverse strategies to connect with the audience is more critical than ever. Influencers and journalists, being highly attuned to their audience's preferences, emphasize the need for quality PR to ensure indie developers succeed with their latest releases.
But what practical advice is there for indie developers aiming to leverage PR effectively in promoting their new games?
Building Connections and Knowing Your Audience
In PR, establishing connections is fundamental. While marketing outreach can potentially reach millions, PR often focuses on thousands. Maintaining relationships with such a large number of contacts is nearly impossible, leading some studios to undervalue the importance of relationship-building with media and influencers, opting instead for a broad 'spray and pray' tactic.
While this approach can be necessary early on, over-reliance on it can harm your effort to build meaningful connections. Hence, refining this method is vital. The primary tip for indie devs is to foster genuine relationships with media and influencers based on initial interactions.
Identify the contacts who positively responded to your outreach and customize pitches tailored to their interests. Even a negative initial response can be valuable, providing insight into what to avoid in future pitches.
After curating a list of contacts with understood preferences, tailor your pitches accordingly. For instance, avoid pitching a first-person shooter to a journalist who dislikes the genre.
Identifying and tailoring pitches to the appropriate platforms is essential for indie developers leveraging PR.
The method of reviewing varies between traditional gaming websites and YouTube influencers, for example. Gameplay screenshots might interest an online publication but hold little value for a Twitch streamer.
The success of the game Balatro highlights the importance of targeted pitching. Not all influencers received pitches for the game, but strong outreach to gaming sites and review platforms resulted in overwhelmingly positive feedback, with reviews scoring 9/10 and 10/10. This media attention, in turn, attracted individual influencers.
Understanding Mutual Benefits
Tailoring your pitch goes beyond just understanding preferences; it's crucial to recognize how the other party benefits. With the media landscape becoming more competitive, journalists and influencers focus on content that aligns with their KPIs and audience interests.
A relevant example is The Case of the Golden Idol, which excelled in reviews but presented challenges for streaming due to its cerebral nature. Influencers might not engage with a game that doesn't fit their typical content, risking negative impacts on their channels.
To achieve a mutual benefit, we encouraged an influencer to play the game privately first and consider covering it on social media only if they enjoyed it. This approach provided exposure for the game while maintaining the influencer's content quality, resulting in a 'win-win' scenario.
Shift from a discoverability focus to fostering mutually advantageous partnerships is essential. By recognizing that media outlets and influencers operate as businesses, PRs can craft pitches that ensure mutual benefits, paving the way for successful game promotion and robust professional relationships.
The Champions
There has been a notable shift towards a mutually beneficial approach, yet discoverability remains a crucial concern for many independent developers in the gaming industry. Essentially, the essence of effective discoverability lies not just in public relations (PR) but in executing high-quality PR.
Consider the example of Balatro. Merely sharing screenshots and brief gameplay clips failed to generate significant interest; out of context, these visuals appeared as just cards on a poker table, insufficient to communicate the game's essence.
In essence, the key to discoverability is not just PR, but good quality PR
A simple yet effective strategy involved inviting key influencers – identified through thorough research – to spend at least 20 minutes with the game, ensuring they would be captivated enough to continue playing for hours. The game itself was the narrative, and it required the right voices to share it.
Once suitable advocates are on board, it’s important to remember that all discussions surrounding the game will affect its visibility. Both positive and negative feedback can draw attention, and the way this attention is leveraged will ultimately influence the success of your PR efforts.
Media platforms play a crucial role in shaping public opinion and sparking online discussions, which can define a game's cultural significance. Securing media coverage ensures that your game is part of these important conversations, enhancing its discoverability.
The importance of the initial asset
For indie developers initiating a PR campaign, starting with an outstanding asset is vital. This could be anything from a trailer to screenshots or engaging gameplay clips that capture the target audience’s interest.
Crafting an impressive trailer was one of the significant steps taken before the launch of Mortal Shell. This trailer, featured on IGN's platform, inspired influencers to stream the game, thereby promoting it to a broader audience. This initial asset provided early momentum, shaping the subsequent PR strategy.
However, some studios might not have immediate access to such resources. It could be that the creation of these assets is time-consuming, or the existing materials might not resonate well with the intended channels.
It is important to appreciate that a tepid response to these assets can, in some cases, be less productive than no engagement at all
The essential aspect of using creative assets is understanding their impact and being prepared to adapt if the response is not as desired. If an asset generates strong, positive engagement, capitalize on this success as part of your ongoing strategy.
If an asset does not attract significant traffic, it’s crucial to recognize that a lukewarm reaction may sometimes be less beneficial than no reaction at all.
Ultimately, the primary goal should be to focus on achieving a 'win-win' situation. Reducing barriers to coverage as much as possible is fundamental for the success of emerging indie studios.
For example, sending an influencer a demo that includes a lengthy one-hour tutorial before reaching the main content is likely to be unfavorable for their channel’s engagement.
Creating sharp, engaging, and exciting assets tailored to your targeted PR audience is far more likely to achieve the desired engagement. Above all, remember the 'relations' aspect of PR. Be specific, understand the content your chosen channel produces, and customize your pitch to suit their needs.
