Lazy man’s marketing – go IRL with your URL

We covered in a previous post how you can promote your indie game online by ensuring you have a link back to your game tied to your online profiles. However, just because your game is digital doesn’t mean all your marketing efforts have to be. In this post we explore how you can spread the word offline.

The premise remains simple, you can’t always be talking about your game, but with a few additions to your offline life you can make sure you’re still working to promote it, even when you’re not actively promoting.

Mugs

If you are like me you’ll struggle through the day without your morning coffee. I have at least one coffee and several cups of tea on any given day. And again, if you’re like me you will probably use whatever mug you can find in the office. But imagine your mug had one of your game characters on it, or your logo? What a great conversation starter. And if you have the URL on there too, you’ve essentially got an advert sitting on your desk.

T-shirts

By designing your own T-Shirts you can turn your whole torso into an advert! If you have an informal office environment, you can wear it at work, if not, there’s always the weekend.

Greetings cards

Chances are you’ll give out a dozen or so greetings cards a year. Why not spend some time creating new artwork so you can create unique cards that you can give to your friends and family?

Business cards

You may think you don’t need business cards. I’d disagree. Savvy developers won’t spend all their time making the game, but will spend a significant chunk of time trying to promote it (and meeting other developers to learn and socialise). And with business cards you have an advert in your pocket ready to give straight to someone who may be interested.

Business cards don’t have to be plain and stuffy. For years designers have been printing beautiful business cards to show off their skills. It’s about time you did the same for your game.

Stickers

With stickers you can turn almost anything into an advert. You can put stickers on your laptop, your note pad, the back of your phone. Your face. If you wanted too.

Important notes

It’s very easy to overdo it. If you start walking around with a branded t-shirt, drinking from a branded mug, handing out business cards with a sticker on your face, people are likely to avoid you.

Design is really important when it comes to promotional content. Make sure you have a good quality images (300dpi is a must) and that, well, it looks good. The aim is to get people interested in your game, not turn them off because of an ugly t-shirt.

If you have a sizable and loyal fan base, some of these items could actually be sold in a store on your site. It won’t be suitable for all of you, but selling t-shirts and other merchandise can help bring in a little cash. Print of demand services such as Spreadshirt allow you to put a store on your site and receive a commission on every shirt sold. You make less money per t-shirt, but there’s no risk.