Publicity: How To Get It And What It Does For You
So I’m only talking about what I’ve seen and what I’ve actually experienced in the short time that we’ve actually run this team/blog/flash production. So if you have anything to add or state that you think its wrong, please do.
What is Publicity?
Publicity is “the deliberate attempt to manage the public’s perception of a subject.” (Wikipedia.org). It is also the “deliberate attempt to manage the public’s perception of a subject.” (Reference.com) Since they seem to have the exact same information, that leads to the conclusion that they are either completely agreed on the same definition or someone just copied. But hey, lets be nice and assume they are right.
What does Publicity do for you?
It gets you attention. It gets you views. It gets you imprinted in the brains of dozens to thousands of people. Is that good? Well, if you want to make money then for sure its good. Taking a look at Kongregate.com, you can easily establish a great base for publicity. User profiles that you can almost completely customize, friends, fans, forums, etc. Its the right place to start making this happening. And when you do get Publicity, Kongregate.com has the user base that is active and loyal, and something you can work with easily. Not to mention that by making a base here for it, you can get a pretty steady flow of cash coming in.
Publicity and Contacts
Something that is very useful, as proven by our experience is contacts! You’ve got to know some fellow developers that can get some publicity for you. David knows RobotJAM. What did that do for us? So far its just given us an awesome source of encouragement in the beginning and helped the project get rolling. Using FlashGameLicense.com and their chat, I’ve come to know some more active developers such as xDragonx10, Benologist, Rocketman, LongAnimals, robchester, and more. They can give you an unlimited amount of knowledge on how to succeed in getting publicity, since they have the experience and have done it themselves.
Publicity and Blogs
Another great experiment of ours was this blog. I’ve seen tons of other developers have blogs and so we decided to get one too. Its really helped, since we’ve gotten over 1,000 views so far. I’m betting that has established a few, regular fans of ours. Its still better than none. With our blog, we can post useful information and attract more attention to interested views, or newer people.
Something else that has come to my attention is that a simple blog like ours, posting on the progress of games is not nearly as effective and as attracting as something with useful knowledge, like the info post. When I saw xDragonx’s Blog, it really struck me as the true way to make a blog that people will actually want to visit and learn from. Its surely gotten attention faster than ours.
Publicity and Users
This is where you really need to pay attention. This is the factor that might make you or break you. If you have made plenty of games and never interacted with users, then all you’ve got is a user fan base of people who can’t wait for your next game or just simply think you are a great developer.
Why not extend that? If you interact with your fan base then you can actually become more than just a good developer. You can become friends with your fans and that is the key that leads to loyalty. As mentioned earlier, Kongregate is a great way to do it.
Don’t believe me? Lets take a look at the developers of GemCraft. WOW! They made a great game. But who are they? I don’t know. I’ve never heard of them much, despite the mention of them with the game, and only then when their fans have looked at the developer name, or when other developers talk about them. Luckily in this case they have the powerful force of an extremely good game to make up for the lack of contact. Now what if they had made friends with their fan base. I’m sure that they would have had tons more publicity than they do now.
Publicity and Money
Yes, we all know that more views is more money. That extra publicity IS going to make that difference. Want some proof that its really going to make the difference? Spend the next 45 minutes watching this conference. You can see how the publicity, made by their PR company and by Apple has made him tons more than he could have ever done by himself. However, in this example, he didn’t need to contact anyone or do anything to get Apple’s attention besides making a great game. But he did spend money on his PR company and it really made the difference.
Cheers,
UnknownGuardian
