How to Get Press with a $0 PR Budget

How to Get Press with a $0 PR Budget

If you’re an indie developer, you probably don’t have a whole lot of cash to hire a PR firm and promote you’re game’s launch. The smaller the shop you are, the less likely you even have a marketing person on staff. Don’t fret! Here’s how to get press with no dough.

1. Make a List

Before you reach out to any publication, do your homework. Make a list of all the publications you want to be featured in. Wikipedia is a great place to start building your list. (Don’t forget blogs, forums and social media).

Next, categorize the publications into three tiers:

  • Tier 1 is for publications you would literally kill someone to be in. These are the IGNs, Game Informers and Kotakus of the world. These publications receive a ton of traffic and will in turn drive a ton of traffic to your site.
  • Tier 2 is for publications that aren’t the most read in the industry, but still get a good amount of traffic. These publications help spread the word and could lead to reprints.
  • Tier 3 is for lessor-known publications that are lower trafficked. These publications are most likely new and local. They crave content that the big guys don’t have. If you get an article published in one of these, you can use it as leverage for a Tier 1.

Tip: create your list in Excel or as a Google doc to easily sort and find publications.

Record your publications in an Excel spreadsheet or Google document

2. Find Contact Info

After your categorized publication list is in place, start visiting the publications’ sites to search for writers’ contact information. Most sites have this information available under an “Editorial Staff” link in the footer. Record everything you can, most importantly: email addresses, phone numbers and twitter handles (if they have them).

Where to find video game publication writers' contact information

3. Create “Copy & Paste-able” Promotional Material

Here’s a little secret: writers don’t like to write. Unless you’re EA Sports, a writer is not going to take the time to interview you and write a 10-page article from scratch. All writers want to do is show some cool looking screenshots and copy and paste text to build their article. If you make it easy for them, you’ll have a far better chance of getting mentioned.

Make sure you have the following handy:

  • Press Release: this is what writers will copy and paste from. Make sure it’s attention grabbing and includes all relevant facts. Here is a great article on how to write a press release.
  • Screenshots: treat screenshots like you do your game–they are art too. Screens should be vibrant and beautiful. Also, try to capture them as hi-res as possible.
  • Teaser/Trailer Video: 30 seconds is ideal, but absolutely no more than 60. Make sure to work your company’s name/logo and game’s name/logo into the intro and end the video with where to go and play, download, buy or get more info on your game.

4. Get in Touch

Grab that Excel sheet and organize it by tier. Contact Tier 1 publications first, then Tier 2 and so on. Make a column called “Status” to record the date of your first contact and every interaction thereafter. This will help you remember what you sent/said to who and when. It seems like overkill, but when you’re contacting hundreds of people, you’ll thank me.

Here’s how to start contacting the press:

  • Email: the shorter, the better. Even if you’ve never spoken with a writer before, don’t waste time introducing yourself. They don’t care who you are, they just care about your content. Use your first sentence to introduce your game and why it’s awesome. List the secondary pieces of info as bullet points. Make sure to provide links to more information and your teaser/trailer video. Attach your screenshots and press release. End with your contact information and when YOU plan on following up with a phone call.
  • Call: unless a writer replies to your email, follow up with a phone call. Cold calling writers can be nerve racking, but worth it. Just remember, writers write articles for their readers NOT you. Make sure to speak about your game in the context of what their subscribers find interesting.
  • Repeat (without being annoying): pretty self explanatory.

Tip 1: start contacting writers at least one month before your game’s launch. Even if a writer is interested in doing an article, it can take him/her a while before he/she actually publishes it.

Tip 2: upload your press release to Games Press. Writers check this often for material and even if they don’t write an article, they usually reprint the press release in some fashion.

5. Thank You Notes

Here’s another little secret: no one writes thank you notes to writers. (If Emily Post were alive, she’d be appalled). It’s true. I once sent a writer a thank you note and instantly he wrote back thanking me! From then on, I was able to pass him press releases and always get a mention. (Of course I continued to thank him).

6. Keep in Touch

Whatever you do, don’t fall off the face of the Earth with the contacts you worked so hard to make. At the very least, reach out once a month through twitter, Facebook or email just to say hi or comment on an article they wrote. Writers are your biggest allies for traffic generation…and you never know when you might need them again.

Emmy

Emmy Jonassen is a marketing pro who helps indie developers build adoring fanbases. Marketing people who love buzz words call this "lead generation."

14 Comments

Luca

about 12 years ago

Emmy, as always, the instructions are very clear and useful!

Reply

Emmy

about 12 years ago

Thank you ;) LOVE it when I hear that.

Reply

Joanna

about 12 years ago

Your articles are always really informative, smart and a great insight to publishing on the web. Thank you very much for such great content so far, keep it up!

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Emmy

about 12 years ago

Thank YOU for the comment. So happy you're finding the site valuable.

Reply

Kent

about 12 years ago

I almost did the same thing as you did. I created a list of press in Malaysia. Search for their contacts on LinkedIn, talked to them by giving them valuable content (they needed it) to build relationship and meet up. Because of this strategy, I was able to get myself interviewed by local biggest newspaper. :)

Reply

Dread Knight

about 11 years ago

Cool article, learned a thing or two :-)

Reply

Emmy

about 11 years ago

Glad to hear it! Thanks for the comment.

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Julia

about 10 years ago

This is really helpful and well-organised. I'm currently working on marketing a new indie game that will go on Kickstarter, and this article is making planning so much easier. Thank you! Julia

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Chris Parkinson

about 10 years ago

Great post Emmy! I just finished watching you video about zero budget game marketing and I loved it! So much good information there. I definitely was in the camp of thinking that marketing is expensive. We have a super high fidelity and good looking game in the works and marketing is something I am definitely trying to squeeze in between coding. Thank you so much for the tips and please keep up the good work. Thanks again! -Chris Parkinson-

Reply

Emmy

about 10 years ago

Glad to hear you found it so useful! Good luck with your game (and marketing).

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Kevin

about 10 years ago

Top top top tips. Great stuff, thank you!

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Chris Bailey

about 10 years ago

Really helpful article. Thanks Emmy!

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Tavian

about 10 years ago

Your tips are always so helpful! I'm just starting to study marketing and this has been a godsend. Thank you so much and keep up the amazing work!

Reply

Krzychu Wolski

about 10 years ago

Hi, Thanks for really helpful tips! We are just starting with our games and we need to go with your checklist step by step. Cheers

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