Indie PR Refresher Tips, Tools, and Reminders Joseph Lieberman - VGSmart

2 The Nuts & Bolts Sales Material –Website –Distribution Strategy –Event Submissions Press Material –Press Releases –(P)review Builds –Reasons to Interact –Media Kit

Sales Material Website Tips –Clean Design –Goal Oriented Sell Product? Collect ? Get Downloads? Forums/Social Media? –Oh So Pretty –Design with Press in Mind! Easy access to screenshots/videos/information 3

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Distribution Strategy Kickstarter -> Greenlight / Press -> Pre-Order / Early Access -> Release! This means having your game nearly done at the time of the Kickstarter event! Lay down a roadmap that keeps new content, offers, and information flowing every 2-4 weeks up to launch. Expect a LOT of time to go into promoting your product rather than development in the final 2-3 months. 5

Event Calendar Sign up for every competition you can! Get involved with events and awards. Free press, excellent for networking, and great for credibility. 6

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Press Releases Used to announce anything newsworthy. Focus on a smart and catchy headline/subject line of your that also tells the story. Feel free to include informal messages before the press release. Send it as text as opposed to as an attachment (or both). – I use other clients use Mail Chimp – both are great. 8

Press Contacts Where do you get Press Contacts? –Hire someone –Go get them yourself! PR Ninja (iOS Only) –Use a service Can’t Find an ? GUESS! 9

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Review Material Have a preview build as soon as its “ready to show.” –Don’t be a prude and wait until its super-perfect, sooner is usually better for previews. Send out review copies as soon as its perfect –You can send out review copies BEFORE launch with an embargo date, however, some writers are almost certainly going to break your embargo rule. Youtube and Twitch reviews are VERY VALUABLE. A single good video is worth more than every print review combined. 11

Reasons to Interact Have some reason to establish a dialogue with your reviewers. –Easier for some game types than others (IE: Online games, co-op games, etc.) Create guides, send advice, or whatever it takes to get a dialogue going with reviewers 12

Media Kit Often times people are going to want your media kit without a lot of talking. Have it readily available. Media Kits contain –Description of the game (Often in the form of a Sell Sheet) –Recent Press Releases –Screenshots / Videos / Artwork(This is the most important item) –Banners and Ads You can use to create a simple media-kit site. 13

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Recap and Resources One-page sites can often be done via Wordpress ( Event Calendar can be found on for template for Press Releases. Submit your press releases to (and directly!) if you don’t want to create a custom downloadable press kit for PR Ninjahttps://itunes.apple.com/us/app/prninja/id