Business development and marketing strategy for an Indie game developer
Granted, this is niche but bear with me. This post is in response to a conversation I had with a friend of mine earlier this week. To put it in context, he has developed a computer game which is available of Steam.
The game is developed but he is struggling to come up with a strategy to get more users to the game. He approached a marketing agency who said they would create a strategy and work with him for a substantial amount of money. Below are my thoughts for free!
Who are the customers and potential?
Customers are the key thing… Getting more customers downloading the game gets money in the door and grows the brand. Thinking high level, there’s the opportunity to target customers individually or collectively such as schools/communities.
Individual customers/users
The game here is how to attract users to use the game on an individual basis. These users are computer literate, intelligent people who are au fair with the internet and internet gaming given the type of game it is.
You need to think about where these customers hang around… Reddit, Facebook, Twitch, YouTube, Snapchat (maybe), Podcasts…
With this in mind, there are two choices generally; chase customers yourself to create true brand-customer engagement through organic and paid adverts/engagement, or tap in to influencers’ fans.
Influencer marketing
Personally I would target low-level influencers who have 5k to 50k fans or followers. I would engage with their posts and streams, if they ask for something I would jump at the chance to help them out and then message them letting them know about your game and invite them to play and ask their opinions. Think Gary Vee and his jab jab jab right-hook.
I would do this over all the platforms… even platforms that are not that big at the minute. Being on the attack with this and being aggressive when adopting new platforms means you will be well placed when it blows up.
Paid traffic
Getting customers into your funnel is what this is all about and paid traffic can be a fantastic way of doing this. The key here is to highly target your prospective customers as your game will not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Thinking about Facebook for a moment, set up a series of adverts that target an audience who like similar games to your, like influencer pages, and are in certain locations. The more niche you get, the better.
Start by mapping out your funnel and how you will put a series of adverts together that engage cold, warm and hot traffic.
Initially you want to introduce the game to people who are cold to you and direct them to your website. Use custom audiences to then re-target these visitors and tell them your story, who you are, why you created your game. These people will have warmed to you by now. If influencers have reviewed or featured your game then this is the next message to communicate to these customers. It builds trust.
Collective user groups
Let’s think for a minute what collective user groups there could be… employees or a company, social groups/clubs, sports teams, students at schools or colleges. I know there are a lot more but in the interest of being brief I will leave it at that.
Out of these groups I would focus on schools/colleges and social or interest groups (I’m thinking Meetup groups).
Schools and colleges
Broadly there are five groups of stakeholders when you think of schools or colleges; students, staff, governors, associations/regulators and parents. In terms of ability to highly target and engage with people I would focus on students, staff and associations.
Old school cold calling
To engage with staff and associations I would honestly just get on the phone, send emails, message on LinkedIn or if need be, write letters. Introduce yourself and say you are doing some research to understand how schools can use games to benefit student learning.
Associations
In terms of associations, think of the school association but also gaming associations and education associations. DO NOT SELL TO THEM… approach them and say you are doing a project on gaming and students… be vague and friendly. I would say 7/10 people will not speak to you but it’s still worth it. Pick their brains, understand how the purchasing process goes, who makes decisions and tap them for contacts of good people to speak to.
Student wellbeing
You will not be able to get the principal or headteacher of a school very easily. You want to go for teachers who head up student wellbeing/welfare. Get their thoughts on gaming used for good. Get them on side etc. These people will be able to influence decisions and vouch for you if you get a great relationship.
Students
Targeting students directly could be a bit tougher and you would almost certainly have to do this with paid traffic. Target these people with information how gaming can be good for learning, give them ideas of how to approach their school to get gaming on the curriculum, benefits they could see, how to game responsibly, use it to combat cyberbullying etc.
Meetup etc
Meetup and other social group apps are fantastic. They bring together all sorts of people who would never usually cross paths because they have a shared interest. These range from a love of beer to chess, logic and starting businesses.
Join these groups and go along to them all without an agenda. Create relationships and start dropping in your game into conversations. Creating and publishing a game is interesting for people so they would love to chat about it. Take along some cards that explain how you can download the game etc and give them out if people show an interest.
Warning – avoid primarily going to game developer Meetups with the intention of spreading the word about your game. These guys and girls are great to have on your side but they have their own projects that they want to share with the world.
Concluding the ramble
In closing, there’s a hell of a lot you can do and you can explore a lot of avenues. Hard work will pay off but you need to have a strategy and plan in place with actionable steps to take.
