Over at the Tales of the Rampant Coyote, Jay wrote the first part of his 10 Quick-and-Dirty Indie Game Marketing Tips.
I’ve been studying marketing over the past couple of years to the point that I get strange looks when I tell people it’s a hobby of mine. I own The Indie Developer’s Guide to Selling Games that Jay mentions in his article, although I’d argue that it should be titled “Guide to Marketing Games” to be more accurate. I read Seth Godin’s blog as well as Joel on Software, the latter of which is surprisingly about how to think about business concerns outside of writing good quality code.
When there are tips on marketing games, grab them like gold! I was told at the Software Industry Conference in Boston that marketing games is tough compared to utilities and applications. Those pieces of software usually have a problem they are solving. You can monitor your file server automatically with Foo v1.0! What about games? They solve boredom? Yeah, but ALL games can make that claim. What makes yours special? Jay’s Tip #3 addresses this issue.
I can’t wait for part two of Jay’s article, but I’d like to suggest that one of your biggest assets is your email list. When people opt-in to learn more about your products, and especially if they have bought something from you before, they are demonstrating that they have an interest in what you’re doing. According to Jay and Sterling at Internet Business Mastery, the purpose of your website should be to get people to join your mailing list. Listen to their podcast to get more information on why they think so, but you should also do research on direct email marketing. EDIT: Here’s the specific podcast titled The #1 Purpose of Your Web Site (even above selling products).
My own website is not currently doing anything to encourage people to join a mailing list because I don’t have a list in place. I plan on rectifying this situation this week since there is no reason to put it off any longer.
[tags] marketing, indie, business [/tags]