12 tips for talking to the press about your indie game

As with all things, pitching your game to people goes a lot better with a little know how and some extra effort. Below we cover 12 tips for talking to the press about your game.

Pitch to the right people

Not everyone will care about your game. Certain sites focus on XBLA, other on iPhone apps. Rock Paper Shotgun focusses on PC gaming. And they don’t read releases about games that aren’t on the PC. Make sure you’re pitching to the right people. And don’t forget the little guys, the smaller blogs and online magazines. They may not drive as much traffic, but every little helps and every link will boost your SEO.

Customise your approach

There’s nothing worse than receiving a bland, copy and paste email. The key to getting coverage about your game is to stand out. And that extends to how you outreach to people about your game. If the person you are emailing is known for liking side scrollers, and your game is a side scroller, then talk about side scrollers. Do you research, find out why the individual will be interested in your game. Start a conversation with them, don’t just dump a copy paste email in their inbox.

Build relationships

Building on from the first two points, promoting your game isn’t something that you ever stop doing. You should constantly be looking for way to get new people interested. Successful PR hinges on having good relationships with journalists, if you treat them like crap, it’s you who will suffer. And even if they’re not interested in your game now, that’s not to say they won’t be in a few weeks, months or even years.

Avoid attachments

I don’t tend to open attachments from people I’ve never met. So I wouldn’t expect journalists to either. Where ever possible link to images and video etc.

Know what makes your game a newsworthy story

You game needs to stand out. Otherwise there’s no reason for people to write about it. Do you have a new innovative approach to pricing?

Proof read. Then Proof read again.

An instant way to make you look unprofessional is to have glaringly obvious typos in your copy, email interviews and general correspondence. Now excuse me whilst I run off to re-read this post in a fit of paranoia.

Show your game in the best light

This is your shot.  Your chance to get people’s attention, to get them interested in your game. Don’t ruin it by having grainy low res screenshots, or grabs from the worst level in the game. Make sure the game you’re showing off looks the best it can.

Don’t mislead

Take the above comment with some trepidation. Yes the aim is to get people to play the game, and you should show off the game in the best way possible, but don’t extend this to lying, or bending the truth. The only result you’ll have is pissed off gamers, and nobody wants that.

Craft an elevator pitch

We live in a busy world, with hundreds of distractions. People don’t want to have to sit and read the intricacies of your game to get interested. If you can’t get them interested in under 30 seconds, you’re doing something wrong. Make sure you can explain, succinctly, and in an interesting or funny way what your game is, and why it’s worth playing.

Reply promptly

You know how you’re normally really busy? Well, so is everyone else, especially people who work as journalists. The difference is, they don’t really care about your game. If you don’t reply promptly you risk them not replying at all, and worse, not covering your game. Also, it’s just rude to take ages to reply to emails.

Make a movie

They say a pictures says a thousand words, so with 24 frames a second, that’s one hell of a story you can tell with a video. And it doesn’t have to be just trailers. You can create behind the scenes videos and developer interviews. Everyday content for you can be really compelling content for your audience.

NEVER use clichés.

Do you have the next big thing, a ground breaking, game changing highly anticipated game? So does everyone else. Clichés make it sound like you are trying too hard, like you don’t actually have anything to say.

So there you go. Twelve tips for talking to the press about your indie game. Do you have any others to add to the list? Let us know in the comments.