I know you all greatly enjoyed the last guest post by Travis Taborek so today he is going to be talking about a different way to get the word out about your game.
Hi! I did a guest post for GildedOctopus about influencer outreach for indie games. Today, we’ll be talking about another kind of outreach: pitching your game to journalists.
Games journalists are your next best way of getting your game to your target audience. That means they are your best friend. You will be well-served by building relationships with them and staying on their good side.
But first, you need to have an understanding of what makes your game unique and newsworthy, how to find the right people in the press to write about your game, and how to talk to them once you do.
In this post, we’ll cover:
- How to write press materials that get their attention
- How to make your game newsworthy
- How to research PR leads
Unique Selling Point
Before you go about pitching your game, you need to understand what makes your game special. In marketing this is known as a USP, or Unique Selling Point.
Rengen Marketing, an indie game marketing agency, has a great article on this subject. If you subscribe to their newsletter you also get their marketing plan template, which I use myself.
So, sit down and ask yourself questions like:
- Who is your game’s target audience? Who is your game for? (Hint: don’t say everyone)
- What can your game offer that other game’s in your niche can’t?
- What inspired you to make this game in the first place?
- What does it add to the industry or your game’s genre that other games don’t do?
- A unique story? A moving soundtrack? Professionally done voice-acting? A twist on a gameplay mechanic? A subversion of a genre trope?
Whatever makes your game special, highlight that. Keep it to 3-5 bullet points that people can easily understand and that you could put on the back of a box.
How to Write Press Materials
You can’t just go DM these people and expect them to play your game. Journalists are busy people. They get inundated with story tips all day every day, more than they could possibly ever have time to cover.
You need to give them a reason to care about you. Your game has to be news.
What counts as news? I used to be a journalist in a former life, so I like to think I have a little insight into this question.
Well we’ll get more into the specifics later but it can be any or all of the following:
- A new game
- Game-changing new features or technology
- Events (convention appearances)
- Partnerships (or other business-related news, like investments or grants (thanks Unreal))
- New research
- Awards
You need to ask yourself: why would a journalist cover this? Why is this news?
And to answer that question, you need to ask yourself: how do journalists think? What do they want?
Well, I’ll shed a little light on that.
The Inverted Pyramid
Here, look at this.
This is called an Inverted Pyramid. It’s the basic structure of all mass media communication, from journalism, to PR, to marketing. You start with the most important information, then you work your way into the final details.
Any news story answers five questions: Who, What, When, Where and Why.
What the hell happened, Who the hell was doing this shit, When did this shit go down, Where did shit hit the fan, and Why the hell should I care?
Those are the basic elements of any news story, and they should all be answered within the first two to three sentences of your press materials or outreach emails. By using this structure within your pitch emails and press releases, you’re essentially writing the story for them and making their job easier.
Adding Emotion to the News Story of Your Game
Here’s the thing though. You need to make the journalist’s job easier, but you ALSO need to make it interesting to read.
Let me show you what I mean. Here’s the scenario:
My last client was a 2D space RPG on Steam. We were announcing a sequel to their game in the form of an April Fools’ Day prank meant to troll their fans.
So first, I just went with the bog-standard approach and wrote this: https://ttaborek.xtensio.com/t4lmw5uu
Dreadful, isn’t it? It’s boring. It’s stoic. It’s flat.
The lead developer said it read like a news story about Farmer Joe and his Dairy farm. And he was right. Nothing about this gives me any reason to be excited about the game’s release.
So I tried again. And this time, I tried to get more in the spirit of the holiday: https://ttaborek.xtensio.com/st428zu4
Boom. Can you see the difference? BIG improvement.
The headline uses more attention-grabbing power words and the body is MUCH more interesting to read.
That’s really the takeaway here. Your press release needs to not only make the journalist’s job easy for them but be interesting to read so they get excited.
It not only needs to get across the basic facts as quickly as near the top as possible but also make the person reading it feel something.
AIDA, FOMO, WIFM and the Art of Persuasive Copywriting
So how do you do that? Well, it usually goes a little something like this.
HEY YOU!
Yeah, you.
Has [PROBLEM X] ever happened to you?
Yup, us too. That’s why we made [SOLUTION Y]!
Not only does [SOLUTION Y] gives you everything you need to solve your problem, but it’s better than Jesus if he were better looking and it even dispenses chocolate chip cookies.
You like chocolate chip cookies, don’t you? Who doesn’t?!
Here, if you’re not convinced, why don’t you try {SOLUTION Y} for yourself. For an extra $5 we’ll even give you a cookie.
Don’t be the only one on your block who hasn’t found Jesus. Get {SOLUTION Y] today, and you’ll only pay for shipping!
Jesus. Cookies. Free shipping. [SOLUTION Y].
The above text embodies three different concepts in copywriting for marketing materials: AIDA, FOMO, and WIFM.
AIDA stands for:
- Attention
- Interest
- Desire
- Action
You want to grab your reader’s attention, highlight how your product makes their lives better or simpler in some way, make them feel some emotion in association with your product, and get them to take action.
FOMO stands for: Fear Of Missing Out. Make them feel like they’re missing an opportunity if they don’t get on the bandwagon.
As for WIFM: What’s in it for Me. Highlight benefits, not features. Point out how your product makes their lives feel happier, simpler, easier etc.
Here, watch this video by Brian Dean, the founder of Backlinko and the inventor of the Skyscraper Technique. He can explain it better than I can.
How to Research Them
That’s all well and good, but now you need to find these people. How on earth do you do that?
It’s simple, silly. You Google them!
You’ll need a few tools though. Try these:
Ok. Let’s break it down:
1. Type the name of a game that’s similar to yours into Google, whether thematically or in the same genre category.
2. Click the “News” tab. It’s this button right here.
3. Find the name in the byline (where the writer’s name goes), and type THAT into Google with the query (name + email). Journalists often have their own website and blog.
4. Get their Twitter too. Oftentimes these people are more responsive on Twitter than they are in their email.
5. Put their name, contact info and email into Airtable: https://airtable.com/
6. If their emails aren’t to be found, then try using RocketReach instead: https://rocketreach.co/. Be warned that RocketReach isn’t always accurate which is why at the end you should…
7. Verify their emails with Email Checker: https://email-checker.net/
8. Do this 50 times until you have a list of 50 press contacts.
9. Put their information into here: https://mixmax.com/
10. Send them an email describing your game and a link to your press release!
That’s all I got buckos. Now, you can either execute these strategies yourself or hire me to do it for you! If you’re curious to learn more about me and how I can help your game, feel free to check out my website.
The post How to Pitch Your Indie Game to Journalists by Thinking Like They Do appeared first on Gilded Octopus.
